Although this one took me a long time to finish, I really enjoyed it. It may be my favorite of the four Conrad books on the Modern Library’s list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century—maybe tied with The Secret Agent, which I also liked.

Nostromo starts off interestingly enough, setting the stage by describing the imaginary South American country of Sulaco. Then it hits a slow patch when it goes into the details of the political situation. That’s where I slowed down. But the second half picks up again, with a real adventure tale of stolen silver and star-crossed lovers. Of course, the writing throughout is elegant Conrad.