Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I could never get past the first six or seven pages of Heart of Darkness, a difficult novella published in 1899. I liked the ominous atmosphere, and I was glad to get out. #2 I wanted to be an academic like Lyndall Gordon, who had a love of literature and shaped and framed it. I was surprised and dismayed when she said she didn’t see me in that role. #3 I was not ready for Heart of Darkness when I first read it. It was a book that took me a long time to love. I thought that the men might enjoy the gruesome, disturbing parts of the story, but I never lost sight of the fact that it had taken me a long time to love it. #4 I began the book club by reading a little bit of the background information on Joseph Conrad and his journey upriver in the Congo. I then read a passage from a letter he wrote to his aunt about his health, which was far from good.