Victory

By: Joseph Conrad

Narrated by: George Guidall

From one of the greatest modern writers in world literature comes a magnificent story of love, adventure, and rescue, played out against the shimmering South Seas. Alone on a tropical island, a Swedish baron and a beautiful violinist discover the long-lost joys of love. But when two treasure hunters arrive on the beach, the lovers know that evil has invaded their romantic paradise—an evil they are powerless to stop.

Victory is a timeless classic that showcases the probing psychological insight, the masterful drama, and the breathtaking atmosphere that have won Joseph Conrad generations of fans.

Public Domain (P)1995 Recorded Books, LLC

Beautiful, sad and powerful

"I had, in a moment of inadvertence, created for myself a tie. How to define it precisely I don't know. One gets attached in a way to people one has done something for. But is that friendship? I am not sure what it was. I only know that he who forms a tie is lost. The germ of corruption has entered into his soul."

The more Conrad I read/listen to, the more I love Conrad. Victory is a not just your standard story about good v. evil, West v. East, innocence and savagery. It is about being an actor in life and love and not just an observer. It is beautiful, sad and powerful.

If it wasn’t an audio book, this would be a boring read

Great performance by the narrator. Story was good and insightfully philosophical however the pacing was slow, the climax mild. But not a regrettable experience.

Fiercely boring.

Sez it all… great narration, though. To be read as a historical artifact, or sleep aid.

Uneven tale of good and evil

This book takes place in the tropics. Conrad is a wonderful writer, and he sailed the tropical seas in real life. Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite books.

So, I wish I liked this one more. It seemed like Conrad kept trying to beat home his points about his characters and about good vs. evil. Sometimes he would go on and on about something, and even though I thought I knew what he was trying to get at when he started, by the time he was done I'd be only confused. He kept bringing up what it means to be a gentleman, but I honestly am not sure what he was trying to say on that particular subject. But, it was still a good story, and it was uncanny how it kept pulling me back in. Also, I was glad I'd been alerted to the fact that the narrator point of view shifts through the story.

Conrad's Masterful Storytelling...

shines through again in this intriguing and romantic Elizabethan style tale of love and revenge. We see some of the psychological elements again in this story for which Conrad is so well known, but more in the subtle Shakespearean sense rather than the more obvious symbolism used in Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer. Conrad is always reliable and this stands as one of his great novels.