We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(7) Snow Line
You can definitely understand what Conrad's saying in this book, but every now and then, you might have to read a sentence two or three times to figure it out. This is probably why even in Conrad's time, Country Life magazine criticized the book for having a "dense and elliptical style."
This description basically means that Conrad's sentences can sometimes contain contradictory or circular logic, refusing to lead our thoughts in a comfortable, straight line. You know, like life.
You can see this style cropping up in passages like this:
She congratulated herself more than once on having nothing to do with women, who being naturally more callous and avid of details, would have been anxious to be exactly informed by what sort of unkind conduct her daughter and son-in-law had driven her to that sad extremity. (8.43)
Hoo boy. That's a mouthful. The phrase "to be exactly informed by what sort of unkind conduct her daughter and son-in-law" is especially difficult to follow, and it takes quite a bit of thinking to figure it out. That said, you can figure it out… if you're willing to do the thinking part.