Fantastic. A few of the chapters among the best things I've ever read. Conrads plays around with the chronology especially in the first half, but it feels justified (I'm looking at some later Iain Banks books...) as it enables our understanding of the characters and story to develop in ways that are ultimately more rewarding and thought-provoking.

Basically, Conrad embeds a very personal story about the character of one man into a broader setting of intrigue in the development of a Latin American region, all informed by the wider politics of the day, not just the liberal versus conservative contest that plagued the development of Latin America but also wider issues about independence movements and the role of old world and, increasingly, American capital as colonialism moves into a new phase. If anything it was the personal story that resonated less than the wider events, it's slightly too 'inevitable' or didatic in comparison with the other events, but it's a very minor criticism.