I love Conrad, so I was very disappointed when I read (or slogged through) LORD JIM. Conrad was heavily under the influence of Henry James when he wrote this book, and if you like Henry James, then you'll probably like this one. But, as Michael Crichton said about Henry James, "I can't stand Henry James. His stuff reads like a first draft." Conrad writes like Henry James here in that the sentences are eternal and convoluted, and take forever to make a point. And every little thing in LORD JIM is symbolic of...you name it: man's despair, etc. As I said, I love Conrad: HEART OF DARKNESS, NOSTROMO, his short stories. But I found LORD JIM a totally unwelcome change in his writing style, and it was pure tedium for me to make it to the last page