Joseph Conrad.

Heart of Darkness is an excellent book, as is Nostromo. Haven't read anything else, but those two are enough to warrant a not crap. He created some of the deepest, multi-faceted, evil characters in literature.

I liked Heart of Darkness. Some people think he was racist. I dunno.

Not crap for some of those descriptive passages in Heart of Darkness.

Funny, I just took a collection of his out from the library. Currently reading The Nigger of the Narcissus. It's compelling, so far. Even the preface is pretty damn good.

I voted NOT CRAP, but he is really dense and boring to read.

NOT CRAP.

He was a fucking awesome writer. I read a couple of his books and I found none to be boring or dense. I think his books are very readable and very well written. I didn't thought about any racism when I read Heart of Darkness, but I thought a lot about what a great book it is.

NC at all.

Chance is narrated by HOD's Marlowe and it's really good.

My fave is The Secret Agent. Nostromo is good but tedious in some parts.

Chinua Achebe is an ass.

I've always wanted to read Under Western Eyes, which as I understand is both Conrad's tribute to and parody of the Russian novel.

I liked Heart of Darkness quite a bit in college--bet I'd like it even more now--The Secret Sharer less so.

But what I really loved was Victory, a little-read novel of Conrad's and less bleak than the other books of his I've read. Haven't read it in twenty years, but I really liked that book a lot.