Heart of Darkness vs Journey Without Maps: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Description and travel, Travel
Heart of Darkness
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Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Charles Marlow. Marlow tells…
Journey Without Maps
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This is an account of a trip Graham Greene made in 1935 with his cousin, Barbara Greene, through the previously unexplored interior of Liberia. It was an extremely uncomfortable journey, with Greene falling seriously…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Heart of Darkness is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 4 for Journey Without Maps.
- Heart of Darkness has the widest readership — 573782 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Heart of Darkness | Journey Without Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.4 (573782) | 3.6 (1890) |
| Hardcover | 2.0 (1) | 2.8 (4) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (2209) | 4.0 (8) |
Reception
| Heart of Darkness | Journey Without Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 573782 | 1890 |
| Editions | 553 | 39 |
| Citations | 52 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 340601 | 3344 |
| Reading it now | 22862 | 376 |
| Written reviews | 26235 | 162 |
| Wikipedia attention | 52853 | 420 |
| Pages | 130 | 249 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Heart of Darkness or Journey Without Maps?
Journey Without Maps has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Journey Without Maps 3.6/5, Heart of Darkness 3.4/5).
Which is shorter to read: Heart of Darkness or Journey Without Maps?
Heart of Darkness is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Heart of Darkness (130 pages, ≈ 2 h 24 m); Journey Without Maps (249 pages, ≈ 4 h 37 m).
Which is harder to read: Heart of Darkness or Journey Without Maps?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Heart of Darkness: Challenging; Journey Without Maps: Challenging.
Have both books been made into films?
Heart of Darkness: 5 film adaptations; Journey Without Maps: no film adaptation on record.