This atmospheric novella is as intricate and layered as the jungle it is mostly set in. It is a complex text, open to contradictory interpretations, and built on a triple layer of narrative (the unnamed narrator tells us of another character telling him a story). Similarly the language has the luxuriance of the jungle it so lovingly describes. It is a searing, if imperfect denunciation of colonialism but also fascinating meditation on that age old quandary: nature v culture.