"The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away."
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It's difficult to write a concise review for a book which touches so many issues and represents so many different ideas.
There are definite religious and political parallels drawn in Lord of The Flies, and the idea of how a society thrown together in a loose semblance of democratic order can quickly break down and become savage has since (and indeed before) provided a good spine for a story.
The real strength of this book however is the human story. A novel dealing with young boys stranded on an island was always going to be emotive - and Golding seems to have steered away from making the book over sentimental. This maybe takes away some of the raw emotion the reader ought to feel, but it also makes the book feel more authoritative - strengthening the underlying political messages.
Central to the book is the relationship between Ralph and Piggy. Ralph being the broody leader of the group; the nearest thing to an adult mind. And Piggy being his aide, albeit not officially - him being the only boy able to unite the group, even if it is a union of mockery. There are some tense moments in the book, particularly towards the end where there is a struggle for power between Ralph and choir-boy-turned-bad, Jack.
Golding manages to use subtle devices to convey a wider meaning with only a few words, or a simple gesture. The way the boys simply deny an event happened to ignore the horror of their actions. The way the conch shell seems to symbolise power, and how an innocent uttering can be loaded with vitriol.
It's the power-struggle and the desire to know the ultimate fate of the boys on the island which compel the reader to read on. This is a fascinating read and it plays on your mind for a while afterwards. The ending seemed a little flat, almost too convenient, but it also vilified Ralph's constant request to keep the fire burning.
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am I missing the point?
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Found it very hard to get excited about this book. The prose doesn't seem to exactly sizzle and it was tough trying to empathise with the characters. I found myself longing for something interesting to happen but it never came.
I'm well aware of the parallels Golding was trying to draw between the behaviour of the children and the real world. Countless essays have explored in depth of relationships between the characters as their plight worsens, so without a doubt it does stand up to critical analysis.
But it also 'does' bore me.
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The Lord of the Flies
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An absolutely brilliant book. Extremely powerful. I read it for GCSE and do not regret it. A brilliant work by Golding, some would say it was semi-autobiographical. The main theme being; 'the disease of being human' and how wrong the book 'coral island' was, which was why Golding wrote it. After years of teaching at a school of public boys, and serving in the navy, he knew the perfect life on Coral Island would not be possible.
Absolutely recommend, and remember the context. Golding poured his heart into this, no wonder he won a Nobel Prize for literature for this book.
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Ghastly misanthropic tabloid book
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A caricature, a vicious and nasty attack on humanity - it could only have been written by a deeply religious person!
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Read it with a Notes book or similar!
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In order to get the most out of this book, it is imperative that you get a Notes book or something - anything, even if it's a GCSE cheats guide or similar!! Reading it alone, I'd give it 3 or 4 stars, but once you're really actively thinking about the relationships and characters and symbols and the island, etc etc, you can't stop! It's like a neverending discovery of connections both within the book and between the book and the real world. Even now, 6 years after first reading it, I can think of the symbolism and make new inferences. It really is a truly brilliant book.
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