Lord of the Flies book review

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Published by Penguin Books on October 1, 1999
Pages: 182
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At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

Lord of the Flies was a reread for me and one that I haven’t revisited since my school days. I knew I had enjoyed the concept of the story back then and wanted to see if I could get anything new from the story. I do have to say I really liked certain aspects of this book and I think it has a really good commentary on human nature when left to their own devices. However, there were some parts of this book that left me wondering what the heck was going on and I think there was some potential missed when I think about what could actually have been achieved if it had been seen all the way through. I really hope they continue to teach this book in schools because I think there are definitely lessons to be learnt. I won’t even talk about how unrealistic this book was in terms of how they were able to survive because that was beside the point.

The characters in Lord of the Flies are all based around young children who have crashed landed on a deserted island on their way to be evacuated in WWII. There are two separate groups, one which want to have a series of rules and laws to help them stay safe and the other who want to give in to the more savage and free-spirited side of the children. I really loved the juxtaposition between the two and how even at moments they ended up relying on one another to keep the peace. I also really liked the descent into savagery and the complete lack of foresight, it was as though they had turned into the most extreme version of the children they were. One thing I wish that had been explored a little more was Simon and his experience on the island and what actually happened to him, I think there was something really great started there it just felt a little unfinished. I also forgot how whiny Piggy actually was and actually how much of annoying character he could be at times.

I think the best bits of Lord of the Flies was definitely the commentary and the way the two groups are pitted against each other. I think reading this really puts into perspective how easy it would be for our society to slip into savagery with the justifications to go alongside it.

The worst bit of Lord of the Flies for me was most definitely how underdeveloped some of this book felt. There were moments that I thought needed to have more time spent on them to really drive the point home.

I don’t think this one will be on my list of favourites but there is definitely

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!