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Summary: a book that reveals so much about our times today
Review: this book, among others, shows the true nature of humanity. though it may not be the most optumistic book in the world, but the book is so realistic about how people act and think that it would make you cry with shame. this book reveals the true cruelity of humanity as we strieve to survive in any way we can.
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Summary: Well-written but unbearably anthropocentric
Review: I was assigned this book for 10th grade English Regents, and had quite an argument with my teacher over it. Normally this is the kind of book I would have loved: I readily absorb any work of fiction that offers insight into the human situation. But this book I found very offensive and I don't understand why, in an age of political correctness, so few others agree.To the best of my understanding, it was the intent of the author to reveal the innate evil of humankind; to show that without laws, without civilization, we are all generally animals. To illustrate his point, he drags out every unfair stereotype about so-called "primitive" people (I prefer Daniel Quinn's term, "Leavers") in the book. For example, the children divide themselves into what Golding calls tribes. The book's vicious depiction of a tribe is wholly different from the reality of tribalism, in which a group of people (usually blood-related) are connected by a common goal and a common set of laws and customs. Again and again and again Golding shows his contempt for Leaver peoples; the children grow more and more "savage," painting their faces and ululating (making a stereotypical American Indian war cry). Ironically, Jack's "tribe" - which supposedly becomes the epitome of savagery - is more like our civilization than most tribal societies, all of which are egalitarian in structure. You can't really blame Golding for his anthropocentrism; LOTF was written over half a century ago, when no one (anthropologists excepted) would have questioned the book's theme. But now that we are a society aiming for understanding and tolerance of cultures different from our own, it is horrifying that teenagers like me should be forced to read this. This book epitomizes every ignorant message that we should be wiping from our collective philosophy. If you must read it, understand that LOTF's theme stems from a prejudiced viewpoint. We do not become violent savages once civilization is taken away. Rather, it is civilization that has allowed us to reach new heights of evil; that has allowed us to become crueler and more violent and more destructive than Hobbes or Golding could ever imagine. It's a shame - this really is a beautifully written book, with descriptions that make you feel like you're really there and insightful metaphors. But the underlying theme of it all is just plain wrong. I hate to think that Golding's mid-20th century bigotry is considered a classic and assigned to children when Daniel Quinn's Ishmael trilogy - "Ishmael," "My Ishmael," and "The Story of B" - primarily relies on word-of-mouth to gain readers, despite its infinitely truer philosophy.
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Summary: Lord of the Flies
Review: I liked in Lord of the Flies by William Golding how the kids disagree about how to survive on the island. I liked both Ralph's and Jack's opposing personalities. I believe if this situation were to actually happen, kids could act this way. William Golding's book is believable. The theme of Lord of the Flies is decision-making affects your future. Ralph's conservative, hard work ethic is a good philosophy if getting off the island is the goal. Yet Jack is a liberal, spontaneous soul with no other goal than to have a fun time on the island. At times I have to make vital decisions just like the older boys. On one hand they can decide to build a fire for smoke to signal to ships passing by and also make huts for shelter. Or they could spend their time hunting, feasting, having fun and hoping for a ship to fortuitously come rescue them. William Golding makes the story believable by revealing all the younger boys and most of the older boys to be impulsive. I feel that real boys probably would behave the same way in this situation. When all the "biguns" except Ralph and Piggy decide to hunt instead of make huts, it isn't what I would do. But many of the boys I've known would take Jack's philosophy. I have seen people take foolish risks and I have seen people not take enough risks. Some of the former have lost the desire to do well in sports in which they had great potential. While the latter have lost friends from isolating themselves. The book is average until about two-thirds of the way in. There was one part of the book that hooked and reeled me in when Jack confronts Ralph's leadership ability. The one line that made the book great in my eyes is on page 127 when Jack angrily asks, "Who thinks Ralph oughtn't to be chief?" This line sets up the way the book plays out and it got me really thinking about what was going to happen next. I would highly recommend this book to others because in the beginning it just seems like an average book and then it gets exciting, worrisome and hard to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: I was asked to read this book, and I thought the title was interesting. Well, I was wrong. The only good part was the last chapter!!! Here is a basic synopsis of the book: A bunch of boys are stranded on an Island. They know how they got there, an airplane. None of them know each other (unless they went to school with others), yet they were all on the same plane. The pilot did not survive. Some of the boys become obssessed with killing while others are obssessed with being rescued. Kids die and a few turn cannibalistic. I won' t tell you the end, but there is absolutely no point in reading this book unless you like being bored out of your mind when reading. By the way, the title has relatively nothing to do with the book.
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: Like most people, I had to read this in school. For me it was highschool. I didn't like it very much then but I've sinced realized why that is. I like thinking about the books I read but I don't want to write three essays on a part of it I don't care about. I'm sure many of you agree with me.
Anyways, this book is thought provoking. I've seen the movie too and they are both good. It makes you wonder what life was like many years ago and how we have evolved. (NOTE: This has nothing to do with creation vs. evolution, even if you believe we were created, we have still evolved since we were first put on this earth.) It's about savages and human nature. A similar book that I would recommended for older teens and adults would be Second Nature by Alice Hoffman.
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Summary: We may all be corrupted, even the smallest among us.
Review: This is an amazing story of a journey that goes awry, and of the growing menace that confronts those who survive--a menace from within as well as without. What begins in a spirit of cooperation turns dark as betrayal and temptation overtake our little protagonists. The diminutive leader and his chubby sidekick are good-hearted but unsure that they are fit for this quest, and encounter those who would rather ignore their responsibilities and enjoy life while they can. The wilderness that the Fellowship must confront is hazardous enough, but envy and spite gnaw away at the heart of one who travels with them, who would take the Ring for himself. This was J. R. R. Golding's first novel, and undoubtedly his finest.
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Summary: Madison
Review: ...The main character is Ralph.He is a military boy that gets stuck with other military boys.On their way home from the military the plane crashes on a island.None of the boys know what to do,some cry.There are about 16 boys.Ralph wants to get rescued the most.There is one boy named Piggy whos overweight and wears glasses. There is also a boy named Jack.He decides to go hunting with other boys and picks on Piggy.He leves the 16 boys,soon there are 8 boys with Ralph and 8 boys with Jack.Later Jack kills a pig,there is a feast...The moral of the story is if you have a problem try to resolve that problem.He lerns that rules are very importain.Ralph was forced into being a man because instead of being excided he thinks serious.This was an outstanding book I give it 5-5 stars...
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Summary: Twitchy Lab Rats
Review: Inside us all, evil exists. William Golding uses this, as the focus of his novel, to prove not only that evil exists within, but also within even the purist of human life. There is an ever present struggle of good against "evil" ... good being the morals we are taught through society, "evil" being our subconscious desires. Examples of this include the classic representation of the angel and the devil, sitting on the shoulders, speaking into the ears, of a character. In the normal human life, there is a balanced amount, and the battle ends in a tie. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, however, the evil persists, while the good falls.
A group of boys, stranded on an island, fight between good and evil: the Lord of the Flies, (not a mere decapitated sow's head, but an embodiment of evil, Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies), versus the slipping law and order of society. The Lord of the Flies, the winner of the good versus evil struggle, erases "ethics," and encourages "evil" behavior.
But, as a character, the Lord of the Flies is a very crafty one. If we look at him as an outside force, rather than an idea, he is not merely a pig's head. He is the omniscient viewer, the mad scientist experimenting upon lab rats. The boys, unconscious of his presence, are victims of his research, the deformed and malady stricken rodents, twitching with disease inflicted upon them unwillingly. Unless the lab rats realize they are part of an experiment, they will never escape their cages. In his experiment, Beelzebub not only follows and observes the island boys carefully, but he also whispers in their ears, putting ideas in their heads, controlling them. One of the boys, Jack, remarks, "If you're hunting something you catch yourself feeling as if -- There's nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you're not hunting, but -- being hunted, as if something?s behind you all the time in the jungle," (page 48). Although Jack has that foreboding feeling of a higher power, he cannot grasp the concept fully. It is a feeling, not an understanding. He has no knowledge, just a vague suspicion.
A healthy rat has a greater chance of escape than a deranged and diseased one. As the lab rats become more and more inflicted with the disease, more and more poisoned by experimentation, they become less and less aware of their situation. Simon, a strong and healthy rat, so to speak, becomes aware of who he is and what is happening. Beelzebub cannot let this rat interfere with the actions of the others, and the rat, Simon, is removed from the experiment immediately. The actions of the boys become more severe -- the poisons injected into the rats become more numerous. But, affliction of illness is also very natural. Disease does not exclusively occur in a laboratory, it is merely promoted there. And, as demonstrated in Lord of the Flies, evil does not occur only in the criminal, the evil dictator, or the homicidal maniac; evil does not occur only in war stricken countries or hateful governments. Evil (Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, etc.) is everywhere, in everyone -- even the most "innocent" of us. The reader, and the naval officer at the end of the novel, would never expect children to behave in an evil way whatsoever; "Fun and games ... Nobody killed, I hope? Any dead bodies?" (page 183). There is a mad scientist who lurks in all of us, and he is an eternal power which strikes us with the "disease" of evil. He cannot be destroyed. A lab rat cannot avoid experimentation if he doesn't know he's in a cage.
Rating: 
Summary: OK book
Review: I had to read this book last year in 8th grade. It probably would have been an OK book but it has too much SYMBOLISM!! OMG in every chapter there are like 10 different symbols that you have to think about. If you really like books that you have to think about alot then I would reccomend this book, but if you just like to read a book and get it over with, then this is not the book for you!
Rating:
Summary: um......?
Review: In the book Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding shows the reader what it would be like to be stranded on a deserted island. This book is for thinkers that like peering into the savage part of our nature. Besides, it's about seriously messed up half naked British boys. This book has a great plot because it's about a bunch of psychotic kids killing others. This book was extremely intersting and had great symbolism. I gave this book 4 stars because it was a really good book but not the best.
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