Rating: 
Summary: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Review: This is a fine piece of literature. Golding achieves high
drama throughout most of the work as the audience wonders
whether or not the group of stranded boys will come to their
collective senses. The setting is an island semi-paradise
where a group of boys are stranded temporarily. As time
progresses and no-one seems to notice them, a restlessness
takes over. Before long, the boys begin turning their
attention to the leader of the pack and his friend "Piggy".
The book depicts some of the worst human emotions of
children . It progresses from an understandable
restlessness to progressive violence and ultimately murder.
This is a good rendition of group dynamics including
leadership, role-playing, group cohesiveness, the breakdown
of group cohesiveness and the complex dynamic
involving rewards and punishments in the pursuit of
group goals.The work depicts both the positive side and negative side
of group conflict. Its positive side is constructive
argument leading to a successful resolution of a problem.
The negative side is violence in the pursuit of group
survival goals. In the instant case, the violence is directed
toward "Piggy" whose pleadings to move the group toward
constructive conflict resolution are ignored. Ultimately,
the group embraces "the herd mentality" until the consequences
of its murderous actions are irreversible. The chaos
seems to halt when an authority figure steps off a search
boat and views the scene for the first time. There are
many lessons to be learned from this work. These range from
group cooperation to the negative impact of group deviancy
from normal modes of civil conduct. The work is appropriate for
young teenagers, persons studying group dynamics and others
interested in quality English literature. The work is well
written. The sentence construction is good for a book depicting
small talk between and amongst typical teenage boys in middle
school. The work shows how groups deteriorate into destructive
behavioral modes when logical problem resolution fails to
produce generally acceptable alternatives. A typical assignment might be to read this book and have
the class critique it in small groups of 4-5 students.
Participants could discuss control points surrounding the
breakdown of order, as well as alternative negotiation
strategies aimed at enhancing group cooperation/cohesion.
Rating: 
Summary: Review of Lord of the Flies
Review: For this book review, I'm writing my opinion on the book 'Lord of
the Flies'. This book has an interesting concept. A plane full of boys,
literally, boys, crashes on an island. The pilot is dead, so there is
absolutely no adult supervision. Seeing this opportunity, the boys try to
plot out their stay on the island, in hopes of rescue. Ralph is chosen as
the chief, which basically gives him the power of calling the shots.
Ralph was the most logical out of all the boys, so it was a good decision.
Ralph wasn't the only one with leadership qualities. Jack is a
hunter, and that's all he wants to do on the island; he doesn't want to
put in his time to get rescued. But the boys soon realize that they
weren't very willing to work together. Their personalities clashed, which
separated Jack & Ralph. Jack's group became the "savages", hunting for
pig. Ralph's group became the reasonable bunch, putting in full effort
to get rescued.
Are the leaders so commanding, that they may be permanently
stranded on the island- or will they find a way to put their differences
aside and work on getting rescued? Read this adventurous and
unpredictable novel for your answers.
***I think that this was an interesting novel. At times, you may
doze off-but Golding will bring you back with an unexpected scene. I
like this novel because it portrays the truth with the use of a
metaphor---the boys are like mankind.
Can humans work together no matter their differences for a
priceless prize- or are they so stubborn that they would rather work
alone than with a team? Each character brings different qualities to the
novel. Ralph is the smart and obvious reasonable leader. Jack is also a
leader in his own sense, but isn't willing to cooperate with others who
don't agree with his tactics. Piggy may be a coward, but he is a true
friend, until the end. I recommend this book to people who are
curious--- curious what a group of boys will do to survive when stranded
on an island.***
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Sometimes you just happen upon a book that just draws you in and becomes an important part of your bookshelf. This happened with Lord of the Flies. I'm normally one who steers away from literature in the 'classics' section at Borders, as it gives me memories of bad books that we've all been forced to read in high school (then again, maybe I'm just to young too appreciate The Awakening or Mainstreet... ) I just happened to randomly pick this book off the shelf and start reading while I was waiting for a friend to find something. By the time she came back, I was so engaged in the first chapter that I bought it. I enjoyed it...it's the type of book that you can ponder about afterwards and it's not a boring read (*cough*Lord of the Rings*cough*). In fact, I ALMOST enjoyed writing a paper about it senior year! If you'd like to read something unique, disturbing, and thought provoking, then this something you should read.
Rating:
Summary: an enduring classic
Review: I first read this novel some years ago in junior high, and it remains one of the few to which I continue to return and re-read. And each time it offers new meanings and insights. Part of its charm derives from the fact that it can be appreciated on so many different levels, however hackneyed it may be to suggest so. It can be read through and enjoyed as an adventure story, full of drama and suspense. But, of course, it is much, much more, and this is why it is such a wonderful piece of literature. Lord of the Flies is best known, probably, for its symbolism, and as one critic has opined, it is a symbolism that works. Each element, each symbol, operates individually, independently, but also interlocks with everything else in the book--not simply the other symbols but also the characters, the setting, the theme--from which it draws its deepest meaning. The conch, the platform, Piggy's specs, the pig's head, the island itself--they all fit beautifully and memorably together, along with Golding's stunning descriptions of places, characters, and events, to create the picture of a society corrupted by flaws in its constitutive human beings. It richly deserves its reputation as a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Exquisite, incredibile, and a must read.
Review: This book opened my eyes to the wonderful world of classic literature. If my mind were erased and I could only keep one memory it would be the lessons taught by this book. Golding wrote a masterpiece. I was forced to read this book 2 years ago when I was in 10th grade. Being the highschool slacker that I was I kept to my sparknotes. One night I actually got the responsibilty to pick up the book and start reading it. I finished it that night, I could not put it down. I researched all the symbolism in that book. Now every essay I write I use Lord of the Flies. This book is incredible. I urge everyone to not only read it, but study it. This book is so powerful it turned a highschool slacker into a English major!
Rating: 
Summary: Possibly The Worst Book I Have Ever Read!!!
Review: I hated this book! It was full of blunt, unequivocal sybolism. I think that is one of the major problems; every few sentences you discover a new oddity that is supposed to directly link itself to the majority of underlying human disposition. However, I found that most of these allegories just didn't quite manifest as true on the whole. Golding has taken simple facts and drastically over-exaggerated them. My second point is that the characters seem underdeveloped and because of this I found myself wishing they would all die off and then just maybe a more interesting story could arise. Perhaps I had more trouble relating than others might because of the fact that i am not living in the time period of the book and that all of the characters were boys younger than myself. You see, I am in 10th grade and had to read this book last year for my english class (and by the way I read many, many books in my spare time). I found all of the main personae in this book caustically unlikable (as I said before I found myself wishing they were all dead). I also think it is sad that this book is so repetitive, through the whole book the troupe was splitting... then there was one, well the rest couldn't have that so they try to kill him and aside from actually saying who went with which group and when and why, the boys' monologue seemed to be 'what is the other tribe doing?', 'what will we eat tonight?', 'when and how can we be rescued?', etcetera. This did not fit well with the consistent symbolism and was not very well integrated into the story. Ok, well, all grumbling aside, the last two chapters were at very least full of action but of course i was dissapointed that they didn't all perish in the end of the book. I suppose though to each thier own, because this is definitely a love it/ hate it type of book. I do not recommend this to anyone who likes to relate to books in any way, but if you must read it at least it is fairly short...
Rating: 
Summary: A pretty good book
Review: I read Lord of the Flies knowing it's a classic and for the most part I thought it was pretty good. It details the story of young boys stranded on an island after a plane crash. At first, the primary character of the novel, Ralph, heads the dictatorship that begins, but as time passes, Ralph comes to blow with Jack. Where Ralph sees the boys' primary concern being signaling a passing ship for help, Jack is concerned with hunting. So, two groups emerge with Ralph and Jack as the leaders. After that, some very dramatic and interesting happenings take place as the reader sees savagery and visciousness develop amongst the boys. The only real problem I had with the story was the lack of explanation about the boys. The novel starts after the plane crash has taken place and the author never offers an explanation for who these boys are or where they were going. Also, I found it somewhat unrealistic the way in which the boys seemed to get along so well on their own. They didn't seem nearly as frightened as I'd imagine boys would be in their place in reality. Overall, I say this book is worth reading if you're interested. It's not too long and has a pretty good story.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Negative Look at Humanity
Review: This book is more of an insight into Mr. Golding's view of humanity than it is an insight into humanity itself. Needless to say, Mr. Golding has a very negative view of people. Perhaps his view is colored by the fact that he lived through the development and dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan (atomic bombs are brought up in the book as having hit the airport from where the boy's plane departed) and the rise of Nazism in Germany. Mr. Golding uses a group of plane wreaked boys to tell his tale of what he thinks is the natural denigration of society. Still, I can't find his view at all consistent with the world around us. If savagery was natural for people we would not have developed into a civilized society. In fact, with few exceptions, all peoples form structured societies that impart rules for the welfare of the group; not the other way around as Mr. Golding would have us believe. Except for few notable exceptions (like Nazi Germany) savagery is not natural for people. Even there, civilized peoples prevailed. Additionally, I believe this book has racist overtones in that Mr. Golding chooses to use the jungle motif to display his version of savagery. Why couldn't he use another back drop? Technically good writing gets the book three stars.
Rating: 
Summary: totally unbelievable
Review: this book, while trying to simulate a society of youths thrown together in unusual circumstances, is simply too far-fetched to work. the psychological component would not be present without a string of huge coincidences that cannot be taken seriously (im talking about the parachuter on the top of the mountain, among others). i continually found myself comparing lotf to animal farm by george orwell, another "simulated society" novel. the latter is by far more convincing, even if its main characters are nothing but common barnyard animals.
Rating:
Summary: a depressingly sadistic unrealistic look at life
Review: Boys leaving london for a place safe from the war are ship wrecked on an island. The boys among them: Ralph, Piggy and Simon then set about to create a soceity. This is meant to be a microcosm of our own society. Although, I know that boys can be mean I have never witnessed the unspeakable cruelty that they seem at ease with committing. I know that he was trying to prove a point, but I just couldn't believe the story. Don't read it unless you have to.
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