Reviews for The Ivory Child (Large Print Edition)

The average rating for The Ivory Child (Large Print Edition) based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-07 00:00:00 Thomas Morlock The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad is a short story / novella of less than 100 pages, yet in it Conrad demonstrates as many great writers do, the simple, elegant power of the short work. Here the writer can succinctly deliver a forceful message in economic fashion. The Secret Sharer is like many of his works (most?) about the seas and a man's command of a vessel. Also like many of his works, the setting is in the South Seas and we find our narrator taking his first command near the Gulf of Siam. The strange young captain finds a stowaway and shelters the other man and the two strike an odd friendship. This story evokes many psychological reactions from the reader, and coming from the author of the Heart of Darkness, the effect is no doubt intensely deliberate. First of all, the title has a double meaning. It could mean a "sharer" of something who is kept secret and it also means a "sharer of a secret". The young captain risks great loss by aiding the wayward seaman and Conrad, in spare words, illustrates the culture of the seas masterfully. Anyone who has ever been to sea, and not just as a tourist, but one who has worked on a boat, must enjoy reading Conrad and he makes me consider his comparison to the American Melville. It is astounding to realize that English was his second or third language and yet he again demonstrates a virtuosity of ours.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-03-03 00:00:00 Robert Moore "I rejoiced in the great security of the sea as compared with the unrest of the land, in my choice of that untempted life presenting no disquieting problems, invested with an elementary moral beauty by the absolute straightforwardness of its appeal and the singleness of its purpose." A fine trio of stories by the poetic sea-dog Conrad. "Youth" is the other story to feature Marlow, of "Heart of Darkness" fame, tells of his early years aboard a doomed but persistent ship. "Typhoon", one of Conrad's finest pieces, is about a stoic, almost simplistic captain weathering a deadly storm. For sheer drama and shit-in-your-pants prose, I've rarely read its equal. I got so nervous reading this I nearly crapped my fo'c'sle. Seriously, though, this one is worth reading even if you skip the others. "The Secret Sharer" tells of a young captain who finds another young sailor, who murdered a crew member of another ship, clinging to the ladder of is ship. He hides the fugitive and shares his story. A story of a "double", in a way, more mysterious and weird than Conrad's other work, but amazing nonetheless.