Lord of the Flies

Very interesting book!!!

The book shows a group of school children stranded on an uninhabited island, after their plane crashes. The author does not dwell too much upon the events leading up to the plane crash. In the book, Ralph is shown as the eldest and the biggest amongst the children . Ralph is the protagonist in the story and is portrayed as a natural leader. The other two main characters in the story are Jack & Piggy. Ralph uses a conch to assemble all the children in the island. Further events in the book take place and Ralph is unanimously chosen as the chief. This decision does not go down well with Jack as he had ambitions of being the chief. Jack is also shown possessed with an obsession for hunting and lacks foresight as he portrays an irrational behaviour towards rescue. As the book progresses , the reader witnesses the metamorphosis of innocent children into savages. The book is essentially about human behaviour and it’s unpredictability. The author has beautifully portrayed the characters and their emotions. The book has been written very well and interests the reader throughout.

Best genre in this book 😀

Got the book from Arushi Enterprise Navi Mumbai, the book was in perfect condition and Amazon did a good job in the packing as well.

With all due respect for highly literary language, excellent craftsmanship fact remains that book is highly negative. Its a fiction after all and there was plenty of scope for positive human values but writer chose to underline "savage" inside human. Its unbelievable that despite being left on unknown island with no hope of near rescue children do not get panic and start forming, organization, rules, strategy....the book misses to touch heart. For more than 50% part in start one does not get clue what it is about...certainly not a good read for for normal book lovers.

Another book that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time but only finally got around to doing now. This is a story about kids but not for kids ....probably because as Stephen Hawkins says in the foreword, it is a book where kids speak and behave like they would actually do in real life. The way the plot evolves from a harmless adventure that the kids enjoy to the baser instincts taking over as challenges mount could be as true (or maybe more) if the characters were adult. That is probably what the author intended to do as well ....effectively saying that human nature isn’t all that different - whether you are an adult or a kid or what your background is ...all it takes is a push for the darker side to take over. Good, good read.

Golding's psycho-politics manifested in the conflict of the Apollonian and the Dionysian makes us surf in our primordial ooze. Similar to Conrad's HOD, Lord of the Flies is visceral and venomous in its macabre portrayal of a society gone rogue. Is that ab-normal? Well, to the humanists, yes. But the prehistoric acid runs inside our entrails, subdued yet waiting for its moment to take over and erupt and discharge the ancient lava of hostility. A lethal read. The horror! The horror! P.S: Simon broke my heart. Also, interested folks, listen to the 1998 album entitled Symphonic Holocaust, especially one instrumental called Morte Macabre.

It's a book about innocence, and the loss of it like no other. Give this book a chance, for every single time you were disappointed by the sheer predictability of a Hardy Boys/ Fantastic Five/ Secret Seven. Let this book show you what inhumanity a mob is capable of, let it remind you of the grotesque truth that the world will never be what it should be, let its savagery consume you, so that when it's over, you are left with the desolation of the abandoned, burnt island a motley group of boys leave behind.

Someone said, a tragedy is a story where you can comprehend every step of the protagonists and foresee their final falling down the cliff, but cannot hinder it. When Mr. Golding worked on this story, seemingly he had such a tragedy in mind. Before I read this story, I have already heard a lot about it, about the evil in human nature, dystopia, etc, which made me even more surprised to see with how much love and empathy Mr. Golding proceeded with the story telling. In this story, no one is perfect, but everyone carries some virtue with him. Even Jack, who ended up as the barbaric despotic leader, started as someone aiming to contribute to the commons, just like every other boy in this story. The boys also have learnt the first democratic rules, such as voting, assembly, and speaking only when the conch is in his hands. It is interesting how Mr. Golding distributed different virtues among the children. Piggy, the one who is best capable of rational reasoning, is fat and lazy. Simon, the one who is best capable of empathy and the only one who could have helped the children to get relieved from their fear, is incapable of good speaking and regarded as batty. He died first, killed by those he liked, thus not able to relieve the children from their fear, which contributed to their drifting to the cruelty. Ralph is the one with the most leadership quality and also chosen as the leader at the beginning. He is no idealized hero who unites all virtues in himself, in fact, there is no such hero in this story, everyone has some drawbacks, has also a lovable side, just like in the real life. Jack is the charismatic challenger. He has hardly any empathy, but he is motivated by doing things he deems as right. In fact, most children in this story think he is right, namely you have to sort the people from good to bad and treat them accordingly. Jack accepted Ralph as the leader because Ralph is good: physically strong, speaks fluently, ready to take the responsibilities. He started to hate Ralph because Ralph is unjust from his point of view: Ralph even listens to Piggy, the fatty boy who is mocked by almost everyone, while his effort to do good for the commons, namely to get meat for the children, is not appreciated. BTW, there is a reason why Ralph has something against getting meat, but you have to read it on your own. IMHO, this is actually a story for adults, not only for children. While no adult would make silly things like being scared of a dead body and mistaking it for a beast, almost all adults must understand the ominous murmuring “the beast is in us”. Look at that dispute between getting meat and keeping fire, look at that killing in frenzy, look at that attempt of denial and avoidance after the first murder, doesn’t it look familiar to you? It seems to me that Mr. Golding is trying to reconstruct the fallbacks during the transition from barbarism to civilization, but I should not say too much, because the most fun of reading is to form ones own opinions. As Ralph keeps saying to himself in this story when he is in danger, “think”. Keep thinking even if you are past 18.

Lo compré de segunda mano. Vino en perfecto estado excepto algunas anotaciones a lápiz que fueron fácilmente eliminables con una goma. El libro en sí es una gran lectura. Historia tensa llena de analogías con la vida real y simbolismos que llevan a posarse preguntas desde el ambito político hasta el antropológico. No es un libro infantil o juvenil. Recomiendo su lectura a alguien que quiera leer un libro más serio.

Nice book and excellent edition. I really enjoyed it. Thanks

As expected and advertised

The book was an exercise for the mind, the vocab is way too advanced and made me search for the meaning of every word, got me tired but also taught me many new words. Excellent book but the advanced vocab got me way too tired.