Lord of the Flies

William Golding

“I know there isn’t no beast—not with claws and all that, I mean—but I know there isn’t no fear, either.”
Piggy paused.
“Unless—”
Ralph moved restlessly.
“Unless what?”
“Unless we get frightened of people.”

I was so excited to see Lord of the Flies on Time’s Best 100 YA List, not only because I have wanted to read this book for years but because it was being recognized for being an excellent book.  

I love a good dystopian book even more so if it is a young adult or new adult book. If you do not like dystopian stories, survival stories, children, children survival stories, violence, or anything about islands do not read this book.

A plane crashes on an island isolating a group of school-aged boys. There is a vague comment made about an atom bomb being dropped, we can only assume this is true, and the world is in shambles. The boys have no adult supervision or guidance, some barely know each other.

The island becomes a terror as the boys struggle to establish rules, priorities, or trust. Two factions form as leadership falls, the hunters and the fire keepers. The hunters are lead by a dark soul named Jack. Jack and his following become obsessed with the thrill of killing. The fire keepers are a smaller group of boys lead by Ralph. He really only has one goal: maintain the fire in hopes of rescue. Ralph has other concerns besides the fire, their shelter isn’t the best, and Jack’s obsession with hunting/killing is becoming a problem. Civilized concepts of behavior, morals, ethics, talents, and leadership fade away as the boys fight hunger and the darkness within themselves. Through a series of unfortunate, yet predictable, events Ralph is pushed to his limit when boys start to die.

Lord of the Flies will not disappoint you. It is not a typical story, Lord of the Flies is a snapshot of events from a fictional timeline. Why did the plane crash? It doesn’t matter, there is no backstory, there is no closure. The adventure is exploring how the boys handle the situation they are placed in.

I rated Lord of the Flies five stars, this is rare. I loved it. It was short, to the point, and disturbing. What more could you ask for? You can easily read Lord of the Flies in one sitting, I recommend you do. It makes the experience all the more disturbing.

I would not consider Lord of the Flies YA, it is a classic that falls into the YA category. Because of this, younger readers might struggle to stay interested, but older readers will have no problem. After reading Lord of the Flies I can see its influence in many modern YA dystopian reads, if you are interested in the dystopian genre, I recommend you give Lord of the Flies a read.

“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?” 

Have you read Lord of the Flies? Do you want too? Do you like dystopian books?

You can borrow from your local library or snag a copy from Amazon. There is a movie, it is rated R, called Lord of the Flies. It is free to watch with Prime video and is available on youtube. It has mixed reviews, but I think it is a decent adaption.

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