Under Western Eyes

Paperback, 184 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 2007 by Digireads.com.

OCLC Number:
154784830

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3 stars (6 reviews)

49 editions

reviewed Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad

Sad eyes

3 stars

This is a depressing read about the Russians, Russia and the proverbial Russian soul. About the omnipresent material and moral poverty and alcoholism. About despair and futility. Applicable to modern-day Russia, unfortunately.

The story is irrelevant. There are no likeable characters. Conrad means to show the European and Russian worldviews not as competing, but as intrinsically alien to each other.

Review of 'Under western eyes' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

The thing you have to be prepared for when reading Conrad's political novels, is that he was writing 100 years ago and a disturbing amount of what he portrays fits the present day, and probably always will. I suppose I should see this as the mark of a talented author--he's really just describing people, and we really don't change--but I can't read one of these without becoming somewhat disillusioned by just how little has changed in 100 years of "progress".

Anyway, to the story. This is the least action-packed of Conrad's works that I've read, and it's kind of refreshing. All the real "action" happens before the book starts, and to a character who barely appears in the book himself. The story, instead, is about the consequences for everyone else around him. It's a brilliant ruse to focus on what Conrad does best anyway: writing about emotions and interpersonal conflict, …

Review of 'Under western eyes' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

The thing you have to be prepared for when reading Conrad's political novels, is that he was writing 100 years ago and a disturbing amount of what he portrays fits the present day, and probably always will. I suppose I should see this as the mark of a talented author--he's really just describing people, and we really don't change--but I can't read one of these without becoming somewhat disillusioned by just how little has changed in 100 years of "progress".

Anyway, to the story. This is the least action-packed of Conrad's works that I've read, and it's kind of refreshing. All the real "action" happens before the book starts, and to a character who barely appears in the book himself. The story, instead, is about the consequences for everyone else around him. It's a brilliant ruse to focus on what Conrad does best anyway: writing about emotions and interpersonal conflict, …

Review of 'Under western eyes' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

The thing you have to be prepared for when reading Conrad's political novels, is that he was writing 100 years ago and a disturbing amount of what he portrays fits the present day, and probably always will. I suppose I should see this as the mark of a talented author--he's really just describing people, and we really don't change--but I can't read one of these without becoming somewhat disillusioned by just how little has changed in 100 years of "progress".

Anyway, to the story. This is the least action-packed of Conrad's works that I've read, and it's kind of refreshing. All the real "action" happens before the book starts, and to a character who barely appears in the book himself. The story, instead, is about the consequences for everyone else around him. It's a brilliant ruse to focus on what Conrad does best anyway: writing about emotions and interpersonal conflict, …

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Subjects

  • General & Literary Fiction
  • Modern fiction
  • Classics
  • Fiction / Classics
  • General
  • Fiction
  • Literature - Classics / Criticism