For the last several years I’ve made an effort to read some of “the canon” when I have the inclination or run across a book I’ve heard about but never read.
Bought Lord of the Flies a week ago and finished it last night.
I’ve heard people describe how impactful this book was on them but since I knew ahead of time at least one of the major shockers I didn’t feel really emotionally jolted by the story. I did find myself very drawn into reading it though and was quite motivated to finish it yesterday.
I am not a fast reader (no it did not take me a week to read it tho’ I am a slow reader…just buy) but I do immerse myself when reading and I did not really want to put this book down until I fished it. The ending reads like a blockbuster action movie actually.
Once I read one of these classics, I head out to Google and do some research on the themes of the book, characters, history, etc. to see how well I “got it” since I no longer attend a class on Literature. I do a lot better than I did when I was in school that’s for sure.
Good story if you’re into trying to understand the conflicts that human nature can spawn. The basic premise is “this is what happened when a group of boys gets deserted on a tropical island.” What happens, sadly, is not entirely unexpected given the to and fro’ of human emotions and where the book leaves off is at one point in the pendulum swing. One has to wonder if the pendulum would ever naturally swing back the other way.
Anyway, a good quick summer read if you’re interested.
You can get Lord of the Flies on Amazon.