Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.

William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them—the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories—and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible.

HOLY F*CK, this book is disturbing yet it was a good read; a must-read classic!

I thought I wouldn't connect to any of the characters, but I was wrong! Ralph was a born-to-be leader, brave chief that only had one goal in mind shared with Piggy: to be rescued from the island. I wish we got to know more about Simon because man hE IS PRECIOUS. RIP to Simon and Piggy. They didn't deserve to die at all. I'm not even going to talk about Jack. No.

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”

To be honest, the beginning was a bit boring, and there were times where the dialogue gets confusing. Other than those, the story was well-written!

Stressful, but solid, reading.

My rating is based on how much I personally enjoyed the story. It was pretty heavy reading, and perhaps more so as I knew there was an underlying bullying aspect that ran through the story - and bullying always puts me on edge.

The book itself is brilliantly written and the climax of the story is masterfully executed. Golding does an excellent job of slowly building up the tension throughout the story until it's crashing so hard at the end of the story it seems like there's no way out.

Ralph's (one of the protagonists) feeling of peril at the end of the book is visceral. Reminding me of my typical nightmares and stress dreams where I'm unable to escape the terror no matter what choice I make.

Another book that proves my fears of reading the classics to be true.

“A plane crashes on a desert island, only children survive, they try to establish a society to live in. They have to deal with food, shelter, order and trying to be rescued.” This could have been one sentence, it is the 50% of the book however. Nothing interesting happens, the characters are very uninteresting. Think the opposite of Ender. They all are children and behave as such.

Here are some of the events. They may seen somewhat interesting, but they are not, really. Maybe if it were as concise as I describe it would be acceptable.
- the plane crashed, and all of the children are dispersed on the island. Ralph, the main protagonist, meets “Piggy”, who finds a conch and give to Ralph to blow and with the loud sound, attract everybody to him. Among other kids, an “army” of children comes marching in guided by a boy named Jack.
- they decide to vote on a leader. The decision is between Jack and Ralph. Ralph is chosen. Jack is a little resented.
- Ralph decides to explore the island, to make sure they are really on an island, surrounded by water and wether there is anybody else living there. He, Jack and Simon go on to explore, but they find no one.
- fruits are plentiful, but it is not long since they see the need to form a group to hunt down boars for meat. Soon a small rivalry between the hunters and the “gatherers” start to form.
- they try to build a fire to produce smoke to be seen from afar by a possible rescue ship.
– first the fire spreads and destroy a good part of the forest. They worry that some of the younger kids may have died in the process, and they have no way of telling if that is the case because of a failed attempt of a census previously.
– second, a group of kids is assigned to keep the fire running at all times. When a ship passes by, they have abandoned their post.
- they choose a common place as bathroom, where their leavings are easily washed away by the ocean tide. The younger children don't quite follow that rule.
- some of the smaller children have nightmares about a creature that comes in the night. They start to spread panic among the others.
- they also need to build a shelter. Most kids soon give up in favor of playing in the water, while only Simon and Ralph remains. This makes Ralph more bitter.

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