William Golding (1911–1993)

A book club pick :)

Imagine two aliens landing on Earth, and attempting to study humans. One of them lands in a concentration camp in a totalitarian state, the other in a scout summer camp. They will have very different views of what humans are like. These views will not be untrue; neither will these views be true. They will be limited and one-sided.

Lord of the Flies is a fable of darker sides of human nature (disclaimer: I hate fables). The book is packed with symbols and allusions that I got tired of. I prefer not to be hit over the head with author’s messages. The characters are two-dimensional at best, and I would have preferred to care for them more. I liked Piggy, the voice of reason, very much. There was very obvious fat shaming, though. The bullying was awful. “Piggy was once more the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal.”

The grisly, beastly things were true, very plausible, and horrifying. According to the book, this seemed to be the only possible view of human nature, though. The reader who thinks that this is not always true will not be satisfied.

But I thought that the writing was very good. Golding pulls you in, you keep reading almost despite yourself, you cannot let the book go, except to say “what a great sentence”. A saving grace!

“They were twins, and the eye was shocked and incredulous at such cheery duplication.”

“Darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea.”

The ending has too much of deus ex machina and feels anticlimatic.

One more thing: other reviewers pointed to “the real Lord of the Flies”, a story that is quite different from this book. It’s an interesting read, I’ll say no more.… (more)

I'm the kind of person who likes to believe in the inherent good of every person, whether it is true or not, but this novel basically takes that idea and throws it out the window altogether. Can society devolve as quickly as it is presented in this tale? That may be a question that can't be answered; we may never know for sure. But if something like this could really happen, why doesn't it happen more often. Sure, kids can be cruel, but can they really turn into bloodthirsty animals so quickly? I'd like to think that in reality a good portion of their moral values would be retained enough for them to establish a somewhat humane society instead, rather than the absolute worst, as Golding seems to believe.… (more)