Nostromo

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: John Lee

Joseph Conrad’s multilayered masterpiece tells of one nation's violent revolution and one hero's moral degeneration. Conrad convincingly invents an entire country, Costaguana, and sets it afire as warlords compete for power and a fortune in silver.

Señor Gould, adamant that his silver should not become spoil for his enemies, entrusts it to his faithful longshoreman, Nostromo, a local hero of sorts whom Señor Gould believes to be incorruptible. Nostromo accepts the mission as an opportunity to increase his own fame. But when his exploit fails to win him the rewards he had hoped for, he is consumed by a corrupting resentment.

Nostromo, relevant both as literature and as a brilliant social study, ambitiously brings to life Latin American history and the politics of an underdeveloped country.

Public Domain (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"I'd rather have written Conrad's Nostromo than any other novel." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

An Almost PERFECT Novel.

One thinks of Heart of Darkness and even perhaps of Lord Jim when one thinks of Conrad (IF one even thinks of Conrad, let's just be honest). Nostromo, however, is an almost perfect novel: complex narrative, compelling characters, writing that makes the biblical J-writer feel she could have done better with her story. I can't think of but a handful of writers (Dostoevsky, Kafka, McCarthy, Melville) who have written a better book.

Must Read for Conrad Fans

This is a very good book that marked a monumental change in literature, but I did not find it a must read. Nostromo represents one of the earliest modernist novels. One feature of this is the entire plot and most character development could be summed up in a single big paragraph, but the novel is nearly 500 pages. The novel is not complex in plot or character, but in the unusual and complex narrative mechanics including vague and sometimes self contradictory inner processes of characters. It has been said that Nostromo can't be read, unless you have read it before. This is not true, but has quite a bit of truth in it.

One of the key underpinnings in Nostromo (and all of Conrad I have read) is that traditional history, the influence of God, and the belief in real human progress can no longer be taken seriously. In the early 1900's this was ground-breaking in a novel form, but has become quite run-of-the-mill. I would not recommend this to most readers, unless they love Conrad or are interested in the historical roots of literary modernism. Read Heart of Darkness, if you love it, do Lord Jim, if you love that, you will likely appreciate Nostromo.

The narration was good and consistent, but a little slow and monotone for my taste.

Great Swashbuckling... Potential

Joseph Conrad had the potential to write a great story and, based upon his introduction it had all the hallmarks of being tremendously exciting.

And yet... it never really delivered.

Set in a fictional South American country generally believed to be a sheer veneer for Colombia in the turn of the century, the story pits nationalist versus peasants fighting over a national generally controlled by foreign business interests.

Nostromo is the lead character, a romantic and swarthy Italian who is the boss of the immigrants who load the boats that transport the ingots from the American owned silver mine. Dashing, with a swagger women love and men envy, Nostromo had emigrated from Italy after having served in the great patriotic war of Italy under Giuseppe Garibaldi and was feted among his expatriate countrymen who did so much of the specialized labor in the fledgling country.

While the warring factions mutually despised the foreign interests that control the wealth of the country, Nostromo is ultimately loyal to the Goulds, particularly Mrs. Gould who was an iconic English woman who entered the hinterland with her husband to hack out a fortune in silver. Nostromo is lured into a plan to assure the silver isn't used as a tool for the warring factions that changes the trajectory of his life.

The story had such great potential. But I don't feel it delivered as Conrad intended. Still, I am glad I was encouraged to read it as it was 47th on the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. I'll give it a try again down the road.

Birdsh*t Coast

For some reason, I always thought Nostromo was a novel about life at sea. Maybe because the ship in Alien is called Nostromo, I thought it must be a boat?

Anyway, this is actually a story set mostly on land, in the fictional South American country of Costaguano ("Birdsh*t Coast"), in the town of Sulaco, whose commerce, politics, and everyday life is consumed by the silver mine. I looked around a bit, and it seems like the real-world inspiration for the setting is Sulaco: Panama, Costaguana: Columbia, silver mine: Panama Canal. Costaguana is a former Spanish colony, which is trying to become independent from the larger territory it is part of, and is backed by the US in doing so because it has "material interests" (a phrase we hear innumerable times in this audiobook).

While Nostromo, aka the Capataz de Cargadores, aka Jean-Batiste, aka Giovanni Battista Fidanza is the titular character of the story, the novel follows a wide cast of characters: the silver mine's owner; his wife; the local doctor; Don Jose, an influential older citizen of Sulaco; Antonia, his daughter, and so on. Until the last quarter of the story, I didn't even understand why the novel was titled Nostromo, because for long stretches, he's not even in it.

The themes of the novel are how wealth corrupts (Nostromo is called "the slave of the treasure"; Charles Gould's mine is characterized as his mistress) and how imperialism exploits-- obviously not unrelated. It is grand in scope, but takes place over a few weeks, with flashbacks and flash-forwards filling out the history. Originally published serially, some of the character descriptions are repetitive, as we have to remind the reader everytime we encounter Old Viola, for instance, that he's a "Garibalidino" a "republican" and so on. I didn't mind, though, as it is easy to get lost in the broad cast of characters.

I can see why this novel is well-regarded, as it builds a picture of a place from many well-drawn characters, each with their own complex histories and perspectives, capturing the history from all angles. At the same time, I didn't like it as much as something like Lord Jim, which has a much more singular character focus. I even felt that Nostromo's character development was underworked, as when he complains about being 'betrayed' or gets upset about how the poor are treated, this seems to come out of nowhere. I guess I was looking for a book called Nostromo that was about Nostromo, and this is only sometimes that.

I had to give the performance 4 stars. John Lee is truly excellent but the audio is really weird. Every ten minutes or so there will be like one word, or a phrase, or maybe a whole sentence, that sounds like Lee was facing away from the microphone or had his head under the table, or it was re-recorded and spliced in or something. It's really distracting, and can quite take you out of it.

Wow

John lee is the best narrator for this novel, especially after listening to him narrate one hundred years of solitude. Story is a true political masterpiece. Quality of audio was a bit spotty at times which is why I didn't give it perfect score.

A hero's journey

A magnificent epic, and John Lee does it fitting service with his heroic delivery. Conrad's vision gets to the heart of the compact between old world and new, drawing out the human tragedies it entailed. Nostromo is a true hero, masterful and flawed, dominating a supporting cast assembled around him - the tunnel-visioned Charles Gould, the cynical wordsmith de Coud, the fallen but hopeful Dr Monaghan, and above all the implacable veteran revolutionary Viola, as remote and ageless as the presiding Mount Higuerota. A narrative in ceaseless motion that resonates as truly today as a century ago, it holds the attention and challenges the recall to its limits. Enjoy the hero's journey.

Loved it.

Typical Conrad in that he made you think about what is the overarching moral to the story. More modern in his styling as he jumped around quite a bit chronologically- at first a bit confusing but second time through made much more sense.

Superb voice talent on this one, with John Lee

If you are trying to choose which Nostromo to download, get this one with John Lee. Absolutely crystal clear, fits the voice of the book. Truly good.

Brilliant

Wonderful, brilliant writing. Exciting plot. Wonderful, interesting, complex characters. Could not stop listening. Strongly recommended.

Perhaps the greatest English novel

Conrad’s brilliant novel, his very best, entranced me from beginning to end. This was my second reading of the book, and I found it as powerful as ever. The characters are beautifully drawn, the setting is sinister and magnificent. The novels reader did a very good job with It, rendering it dramatically, slowly, and eloquently.