Book 14 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Finished 21st March 2011

This is a fine book. A plane crashes into a desert island during the war, leaving a motley crew of schoolboys to fend for themselves. One of them, Ralph is chosen to be chief, however soon the situation starts to descend into chaos. There are so many emotional undercurrents in this book and the characters are wonderful and real. Soon the boys turn against themselves and some of them become savages and dangerous.

I was particularly fond of Piggy, probably the cleverest of the boys, who unfortunately becomes the butt of all the jokes. There is a moral lesson here entangled within the story about bullying and the nature of childhood.

My only gripe with this, Goldings first novel, is that as a book it can lead you to become as lost as the children themselves. Some of the descriptions left me wondering what on earth was going on and it is not always the easiest book to follow at times. On more than one occasion I found myself having to read and re-read a page just to understand what was going on and this is especially true when it comes to the descriptions of the geography of the island itself.

But on the whole this is a good book and an emotionally charged book. The ending is exciting, but some may say a little convenient. I will never forget Lord of the Flies and although it is a book originally intended ( probably) for teenage boys, this old man enjoyed it !

But what is important to remember is that this book is not just an action story for boys, it is an allegorical and symbolic story of man and war and the nature of being human and of being a child. It is more than just a story and is probably the main reason why Lord of the Flies is often quoted as a classic.

8/10