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Summary: Fantastic
Review: I first read this book in 7th grade, for English class. I don't understand why some other teenagers don't appreciate this book. It really is a great book, with well-established themes. The downward spiral these boys take really draws you into the story.
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Summary: A very interesting book to show the animality of humans
Review: A truly revolutionary book for its time. Well written, especially along the lines that the theme forced us to read even when the plot sagged. Not quite on the level of Huxley or Orwell, but could work as a wonderful prelude to those authors. As some of the precedent reviews have noted, it can be at times very dry. I also was forced to read it, but was glad that I was.
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Summary: On Golding's mastery of structure
Review: One cannot fully appreciate "Lord of the Flies" without first acknowledging the sheer volume of levels on which it works. The plot is, at the very least, engaging. Yet the novel's overall power lies in its structure; as it is through structure that the seeds of its meaning (and appreciation) can be unearthed. Once discovered, all else begins to fall into place.Consider that he sets the story on a remote Pacific island and makes his characters children. The island is the ideal setting from which to convey Golding's idea of the universality of evil, as it is untouched by civilization and is therefore open to the emergence of evil on an organic level. The setting reinforces the theory that evil exists in all of us, regardless of locational, political or cultural conditioning. He uses children rather than adults to reinforce the setting, as they are at the point in life whereby Man is at his most honest, and least likely to enter into a new, stark reality wearing the masks he has created for himself over the years. (The irony here being that masks are created in the novel; but as a result of regression, rather than growth. By having a child regress, the natural unconscious state of Man is realized.) As the island is a microcosm of the world, and the boys a microcosm of mankind, the notion of the universality of evil flourishes from this context. Golding suggests that man, by his very nature, is a sinner. Once we had fallen from grace (just as the boys fall from the sky), we condemned ourselves to a life whereby finding Eden is impossible. Our fates seem to be sealed. Early on in the novel, the reader learns through the discussions of the boys that atomic warfare is taking place in Europe. Golding sets the novel against the invisible yet looming backdrop of war so as to suggest that Man's inherent flaw is its allowing evil to dominate his world. This is because mankind at its ugliest (as represented by Jack) is incapable of acknowledging, and in turn controlling his dark side. Yet Piggy can control it, as he is a manifestation of the Freudian idea of the superego. Ralph is the ego, as his dichotemy is evidenced by his waivering back and forth to maintain control and reason. This is because Ralph finds himself slipping into the realm of the id, which of course, is Jack. As the book unfolds, clearly the id wins out, as chaos, aggression, violence and murder permeate the boy's so-called utopian word, just as is the case in the world of "civilization". Man's fall from grace transcends time and space. The macrocosm/microcosm principle of the universality of evil is further reinforced through the novel's organization. Golding expertly structures the movement of the plot on two parallel plains. Note that the entire novel transcends slowly from a world of order, unity and comraderie into one of chaos, fragmentation and ultimately, bloodshed. This wholistic movement of order to disorder is replicated on the small scale through the intra-chapter movements themselves; each chapter begins ordered and ends in chaos. In other words, the physical structure of the novel replicates the thematic structure of the universality of evil. Note, though, that that the only two exceptions in the novel in which this physical parallelism does not occur are in the chapters pertaining to Simon. His chapters in the novel end in a tone of tranquility and spirituality. The first being the chapter entitled "Huts on the Beach" which closes with Simon, engrossed in quiet meditation under the silence and darkness of the forest's canopy. The second is at the end of "A View to a Death", after his murder. Yet the tone is quietly elegant and luminous in its description of the water and sky upon his death. I suspect that Golding made these two structural inconsistencies to denote a message that in fact runs consistently, yet is never directly articulated in the novel. The clue to our own rescue; to our own freedom from the chains of the id, and from a world without faith lies in Simon, the whispering mystic. He is the only one that understands the beast in the shape of the lord of the flies, and can therefore communicate with him. This is because Simon understands that the beast is us. And perhaps from a literary standpoint, it was necessary that Simon be killed. It would suggest that for as long as we our governed by the beast within, without recognizing and controlling it, then we will never be ready to understand and experience salvation from ourselves. "Lord of the Flies" teaches us that without psychological and spiritual balance, we are ultimately doomed.
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Summary: You can't put this book down!!
Review: This was a great book. Full of adventure. You will love it. TRUST ME!
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Summary: Children are meant to be seen...
Review: I find it rather interesting that the majority of folks who "don't get" or dislike this book seem to be high school students. Indeed, high school students rarely like books that they have to read for assignment anyway, but there seems to be a common thread among their complaints. The first is that the book is too confusing and/or too complicated...a sad statement about America's education system to say the least. The second is their belief that the actions of the children in 'Lord of the Flies' was implausible and unrealistic. Indeed, a *very* interesting sentiment when it comes from folks far too young and inexperienced to have a good grasp on human nature and human behavior. Still, who could blame them? They sre struggling to understand themselves (the ignorant youths that they are), and we expect them to understand this book? This is a harrowing tale about a group of lost youths, stranded and without guidance, whose fear and misunderstanding of the world (and each other) drive them to madness, and ultimately, murder...a subject that hits too close to home for most petty teenagers, I'll wager. Highly recomended as a short, cynical look into the human mindset, and of the dangers that lie within us all.
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Summary: Very Confusing and Not Very Fun
Review: I had to read this for a grade in Literature class, as did two of my other friends. Well, we all read the book and we all failed the test. Keep in mind, we are honor students. I would never recommend this book to anyone, especially not if it is crucial to your grade. It is a confusing, negative look at human nature, riddled with dreadful imagery and general savagery. Not exactly top on my list of favorite books, I don't think I could ever bear to read this again.
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Summary: This book is bad
Review: When I finished this book I was very depressed and somewhat angry. Most of the characters in this book remind me of the shooters at Littleton, CO. This book would probably disturb someone who had experienced violence at the hands of thier peers. Why are books like this on middle/high school reading lists? I thought we were trying to promote good values in school, not total disregard for life!
Rating: 
Summary: Great reading for many ages
Review: This is an exellent book.I think that anyone that likes adventure, and likes figuring things out should read it.It was kind of slow starting ,but after a couple chapters I really got into it.I usually don't read much at home ,but I coudn't put this book down.
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Summary: Ralph wept for the end of innocence
Review: This is Golding's first and probably most famous novel, twice made into a film (in 1963 and 1990) and often required reading in high schools and in many college courses. Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature. I found it surprising to learn that a number of reference books lists "Lord of the Flies" as a science fiction novel! I later discovered that the first draft of the book had the boys fleeing from a nuclear holocaust at the start of the novel. Even in this final version there is a brief discussion of the "bomb" and about fighting "Reds." In the novel, after a plane crashes on a deserted island, the surviving boys of a boys school try to set up a democratic society, waiting for rescue. At first, the boys cooperate and Ralph, with his friend "Piggy," tries to maintain order. But, it fails and the boys "evolve" (or, devolve) back into savagery. It is only with the arrival of a shocked rescue officer does a semblance of civilization returns. The boys in the novel have the same names as the schoolboy heroes in R. M. Ballantyne's "The Coral Island," published in 1858. But, Ballantyne's novel is "naive optimism." Golding suggests that the evil is in each of us and that, left on our own, man will always have a tendency to revert to savagery. Is this really what underlies man's true nature? There is goodness and discipline in us and that is represented by Ralph. We just need more Ralphs.-----"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoes with the parody of laughter. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: Lord of the Flies is, by far, the best book I have ever read. It's cynical view into the primal instinct inside us all is fascinating. I suggest it for early teenage readers and older, although it is a good read for anyone.
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