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Book Review of Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
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"Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us."

Lord of the Flies is a tragic exploration of unrestrained human nature and the "beast" inside. The novel uses a group of school boys as an allegorical representation of human society. Stranded on a deserted island, the boys begin as a civilized society and the lure of power and dominance gradually leads them to savagery.

The characterization was brilliant, each character representing a place on the spectrum on human nature -- from the civilized member of society to the savage, unrestrained side of human nature.

I found the book a little slow, I was about 60% of the way through the book before it really picked up for me. Some of the dialogue was difficult to follow, even in a two-person conversation as the speaker wasn't always specified.

I didn't read Lord of the Flies in school, and I'm glad I didn't. I'm not sure I would have understood it. Even now, I think there are lots of symbolic messages in the first half of the book that I failed to pick up on. It's definitely a book that I'll be re-reading to get the full effect.