2007-10-15 missed opportunity?

There is a problem with this book.
It is a good enough story, and Conrad can set the scene really well; his descriptions of the surroundings, including the inhabitants are like oil paintings that bring the story alive.

Nevrtheless, here's why i think the novel doesn't quite work.

Firstly, i think Conrad is too long-winded and overinclusive. He puts in a lot of detail and characters and their stories that, i think, detain you from the main story. This doesn't help in a story that is by its nature pretty slow anyway. The novel would have benefitted from some robust editing.

Secondly, this is really a story in two parts and a coda.
The first part is about Jim in our world falling from grace, and his inability to put this behind him. So far so good. Next comes the second part, which is about Jim settling into another world in some remote spot where there are no other westerners. Here Jim can rebuild his life and accomplish his dreams (because he has been able to run and hide from his own demons). For me this second part didn't sit comfortably with the first. As if Conrad had strayed into side issues and had forgotten about the main theme - he kind of lost me here: i speeded up my reading in an attempt to rediscover the main issue: how Jim will, eventually, confont and deal with his problem(s). I think this second part could have been halved at least. The coda fortunately saved some of the story for me: i thought it was a satisfying enough conclusion.

Of course, one could look at the unsatisfactory transition/relation between the first and second part (and the distracting nature of part 2) like this:
essentially Jim doesn't deal with his problem, but runs away; and this is precisely how i was made to feel when reading the second part, which in the story after all is Jim's ultimate denial of his problem: in a very real way i was made to feel the inadequate and unsatisfying way in which the problem had been dealt with. If that was his intention - then my hat of to Joe Conrad. Still, i wonder - and am left slightly dissatisfied...