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Lord of the Flies: A Novel

Lord of the Flies: A Novel

List Price: $6.95
Your Price: $6.26
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lord of the Flies By: Sean Hedges
Review: The book Lord of the Flies in my opinion is a very interesting book to read. It is about a group of kids that get stranded on a deserted island. It shows how they survive and get along with each other. I would recomend this book to people that like to read old english and like drama and tension between people. It is a book more for people that can read and understand old english. Other wise it is a pretty good book to read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Child Version of Castaway
Review: This book is one of the greastest books that deals with getting stranded on an island! The book tells you about these four kids who survive a plane crash and now they need to survive in the wild. They find a conch and decide to use it to form an organization. Many events happen in the book which leads them to a point where they all try to kill each other. Then out of nowhere they...actually i would rather just have you read the book for yourselves.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: offensive and silly
Review: this book is ethnocentric, racist and silly. it should not be on any school's required reading list. the juxtapostion of the English "civilized" world and the island "savage" world brings up too much offensive cultural superiority for me. if this book is to be read, it should be read purely for entertainment value.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Breathtaking...
Review: I cannot even use words to explain the sheer beauty of Golding's writing. The novel is about british boys whose plane crashes on a deserted island. They begin to live life on their own and their true animal instinct divulges from the depths of their souls.
I read this book for my ninth grade English class. I usually do not enjoys books in class as much as I do books I read on my own, simply because I did not chose them and I feel as though I am being forced to read them. The Lord of the Flies is more fascinating than any book I could ever pick for myself. The words are strong enough to lift a house. My eyes were stuck to every words Golding described with such thouroughness. The words are more thick with detail than one's eyes could every see. Every word is important and expresses a new meaning to the nature of man kind. I am daring you to take a chance by reading this book, even if it is not forced upon you. You may have a completely different view on the genuine nature of yourself.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Breathtaking...
Review: I cannot even use words to explain the sheer beauty of Golding's writing. The novel is about british boys whose plne crashed on a deserted island, but they are devoid of any adults. They begin to live life on their own and their true animal instinct divulges from the depths of their souls.
I read this book for my ninth grade English class. I usually do not enjoys books in class as much as I do books I read on my own, simply because I did not chose them and I fell as though I am being forced to read them. The Lord of the Flies is more fascinating than any book I could ever pick for myself. The words are strong enough to lift a house. My eyes were stuck to every words Golding described with such thouroughness. The words are more thick with detail than one's eyes could every see. Every word is important and expresses a new meaning to the nature of man kind. I am daring you to take a chance by reading this book, even if it is not forced upon you. You may have a completely different view on the genuine nature of yourself.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LOTF exposes human nature at its very core
Review: When I first read Lord of the Flies during an English Literature class I hated it. I thought that it was dry, boring and more than a little irritating. Then when I reread it more than 10 times over the course of two years and studied every single character and happenstance in depth, I began to appreciate the scope and vision of this literary masterpiece. There is no question that Golding has written one of the greatest novels in the history of time.

The Lord of the Flies is at first glance a simple story of a group of boys stranded on an island who get carried away and grow "wild". Yet upon a second glance we see that it is truly a tale of "the end of innocence" and "the darkness of man's heart" (found on the last page as Ralph grieves). Golding explicitly illustrates the primeval power of human nature, a surging, uncontrollable force that let loose from its bindings of society and order, and laws, can run rampant and revert to the way it was in the beginning: complete chaos.

Golding masterfully uses metaphors and symbolism throughout the book. A few important examples include the fat boy, Piggy, ridiculed by so many of the boys on the island, is depicted as "the voice of reason", while Simon, a shy and insightful boy, is depicted in a saint-like manner, a crusader for peace, a Jesus-like character who possesses the only means to bring revelation to the boys. Early on in the book, the boys find the conch, a fragile symbol of societal law and order.

We eventually find that Piggy is killed, crushing the voice of reason, as is Simon, crushing hope and goodness, and the conch is smashed, relieving the small society of law and order. With all these three things gone, then darkness rages throughout the island. And who is responsible for the destruction of those three important symbols? None other than Jack, the totalitarian ringleader of his island faction, a Hitler-like representative of corruptness, greed, domination, and overall a person totally given over to the dark side of human nature.

Those are just a few of the symbols that are introduced in Golding's book, throughout the novel there are a plethora of many more that require an inquisitive mind to unlock their secrets and achieve a higher level of understand of the constant battle of our existence. This is without a doubt a masterpiece. Golding has created a work of fiction that is not just suited for a younger generation of readers but also for an older generation. At any age, his darkly compelling story is enough to provoke the deepest of thoughts and introspective self-reexamination.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The greatest novel of the 20th Century?
Review: I do not consider it hyperbole to talk of William Golding's Lord of the Flies as the greatest novel of the 20th Century. The way it connects and absorbs you makes you think about life on the whole and how fragile civilisation is - take that away and we're left as savages. I have just read this book in my English lessons. I know it's a classic book and a revolutionary breakthrough in novels.

The novel is set in the Second World War when a group of English schoolboys are lost on a desert island after their plane crashed. All the adults are dead and all that remains are a handful of boys aged 6-12. The main characters are Ralph, Piggy, Jack and Simon while the others basically blend into the background. At first the boys love being on the island - it's an escape from the perils of everyday life and a chance to live away from grown-ups. Over time, however, the majority of boys forget about going home - they're too happy living and hunting pigs on the island. Ralph, Piggy and Simon however, all want to return home. As time goes by, a lot of the boys (Jack especially) lose touch with their humanity - as civilisation fades away, they become closer to their savage side; their animalistic core. At the beginning of the novel, the boys agree to keep a fire lit as to attract passing ships so they can be rescued and return home to their parents. They all take turns to light the fire, yet Jack forgets to light it one time as he is too busy hunting pigs and wanting to act as the leader of the group. When a ship passes by which does not notice the life on the island because the fire is not lit, Ralph goes hysterical. "Oh God, oh God!" cries Ralph as the ship sails off into the distance. This "cry" is a plea to God himself; Ralph is asking the God why this is happening. God, however, is not present (he is not listening to Ralph's plea) after the sheer barbarity and destruction humanity has inflicted upon itself in the Holocaust of the Second World War. This is one of the many symbolic metaphors used in Lord of the Flies. Some are easily distinguished, other's not so. But the symbolism of God is definitely one of the former.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I love this book so much I may never read it again . . .
Review: I've read this book twice (almost completely) and love everything about it. The way Golding set it up innocently using young boys as a warning to the entire world they better watch out, the concept is not so far fetched.

The book starts simply enough, stranded boys on a deserted island where they must learn how to survive or perish. First the initial shock of where and how and why passes and soon enough you see the boys imitating their civilized upbringing by creating their own set of rules and laws, establishing a hierarchy in order to survive. A marvelous concept considering they are on a stranded island with no adults, no one telling them they can't play; possibly showing the boys are capable of reason and adapting despite their age and maturity.

The book reads fast and has a message for the reader, and for anyone willing to listen, honestly. Upon devouring the words I hadn't read in over ten years from the first time, I realized a lot was missed the first time around and that might be the point. Don't take things for granted because it just may end up flipping on you and you are left holding the short end of the stick. I think Golding did have a message and I truly wonder if people understood it.

As stated in the title, I love this book. It is a true "classic" and a must read for anyone. I do question why 14 and 15 year-olds must read it, for at that age I didn't understand or care for the topic. The second time around though, I did understand and welcome the topic. Every page left me wanting another, praying these kids understand before it's too late. Unfortunately, there is an emotional connection between me and this book keeping me from picking it up again. Sometimes fiction imitates life too much and at the point in the book where Piggy and Ralph go searching for Piggy's glasses, I learned two planes slammed into the World Trade Towers. What a time and place for symbology.

Nevertheless, "Lord of the Flies" is an excellent book, maybe one of these years I'll pick it up again after the emotional ties to it are a bit more removed, but I feel everyone should read it at least once.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Masterpiece of Modern Literature
Review: Lord of the Flies is, in my mind, one of the greatest novels in the Englsh language. It is an errie combination; it delves into the dark philosophical content of Heart of Darkness in context of a childhood adventure story reminiscent of Peter Pan, and it blends the two perfectly. This confuion of innocence and evil adds a singular flavor to the book, which simultaneously chills and entertains the reader. Lord of the Flies is an absolute must-read for anybody of relatively mature age who is interested in examining the animal side of human nature. The book is thought-provoking, memorable, beautifully written, and entertaining. It carries my unqualified recommendation.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Lord of the Flies
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 great book was written in 1954. Lord of the Flies is a fiction, adventure, novel.
William Golding writes about how the kids on the island face their fears in order to survive. Golding does a great job of painting a visual picture with his detailed descriptions. He describes the emotions and challenges that each individual character is having. William Golding makes Lord of the Flies sound so real that you don't know if the two worlds, the fiction and ours are any different from each other. He describes his book so well that the fearful life the kids have might just scare you too.
I would recommend this book for anyone especially people who like descriptive, puzzling, nightmarish books. I would give this book a 9 ½ out of 10 on the rating scale. In summary, the book had lots of details, a splendid plot, and a very unexpected ending.


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