Lord of the Flies
When "Lord of the Flies" appeared in 1954 it received unprecedented reviews for a first novel. Critics used such phrases as "beautifully writeen, tragic and provocative... vivid and enthralling... this beautiful and desperate book... completely convincing and often very frightening... its progress is magnificient... like a fragment of nightmare... a dizzy climax of terror... the terrible spell of this book..." E.M. Forster chose it as the Outstanding Novel of the Year. "Time and Tide" touched upon perhaps the most important facet of this book when it said, "It is not only a first-rate adventure but a parable of our times, " and articles on this and subsequent Golding novels have stressed these twin aspects of Golding: a consummate control of the novel form, and a superb all-encompassing vision of reality which communicates itself with a power reminiscent of Conrad.
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Community Reviews
Read this to discuss with my thirteen year old son. So glad I did. It is really a commentary on man's sinful and rebellious nature. My son could not totally understand the point of the book especially because he loves fantasy where good overcomes evil.
Now the plot of the book was pretty much the same as I expected but my prediction of the ending was a little incorrect, overall it suited the plot so I was *pleasantly* surprised. But the repetition of incidents that shadows the theme of savagery vs civilization was done so many times that the plot seemed rather dry. Sure many things are going on hypothetically but all of these are so repetitive that it bored me. I don't know if I would have liked it more if I was in the same age group as them cause sometimes I was not amused by how simply the boys got manipulated, was I that naive (p.s-dumb) back in my kiddy age? The depiction of a power struggle between two boys was something that I think was very well done and I theorized that maybe they were mentally prepared for extreme situations(cause there was a world war going on) when they get used to being stranded on an uninhabited island so easily.
3 out of 5 stars.
3 out of 5 stars.
Golding horrifyingly represents the animalistic nature within us and proposes the question, is it hidden within us, suppressed by civilised society? or are the boys actions reflections of the backdrop of war that plagues society?
Great read as a teen and as an adult once again. The underlying message I got from this book has stayed with me. Worth a read!
I attempted to read this years ago and I got so so far and just stopped for some reason. I got as far as Piggy’s death, which is really far. I was like, 20 pages from the end. I’m so dumb.
My memories of reading this the first time was alright. I understand the story of Lord of the Flies and what happens and what it means and blah blah blah. But I didn’t remember that they killed a boy before Piggy. Or that they attempted to kill Ralph as well. I also don’t remember Ralph being such a jerk to Piggy. Poor little fat kid. And I honestly didn’t know they were rescued at the end. Crazy.
Why were all these boys on an airplane with no adults? They didn’t even find bodies of dead adults. Where were they going?
Even though I own multiple copies of this book I listened to the audiobook. It was read by William Golding himself and I always like when the authors can read their own books. He had a really beautiful introduction
My memories of reading this the first time was alright. I understand the story of Lord of the Flies and what happens and what it means and blah blah blah. But I didn’t remember that they killed a boy before Piggy. Or that they attempted to kill Ralph as well. I also don’t remember Ralph being such a jerk to Piggy. Poor little fat kid. And I honestly didn’t know they were rescued at the end. Crazy.
Why were all these boys on an airplane with no adults? They didn’t even find bodies of dead adults. Where were they going?
Even though I own multiple copies of this book I listened to the audiobook. It was read by William Golding himself and I always like when the authors can read their own books. He had a really beautiful introduction
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