(Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century; Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century
192 pages
English language
Published Oct. 1, 1999 by Penguin (Non-Classics).
Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize–winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality.
The novel has been generally well received. It was named in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 41 on the editor's list, and 25 on the reader's list. In 2003 it was listed at number 70 on the BBC's The Big Read poll, and in 2005 Time magazine named it as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. Time also included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time. Popular reading in schools, especially in the English-speaking world, a 2016 UK poll saw Lord …
Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize–winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality.
The novel has been generally well received. It was named in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 41 on the editor's list, and 25 on the reader's list. In 2003 it was listed at number 70 on the BBC's The Big Read poll, and in 2005 Time magazine named it as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. Time also included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time. Popular reading in schools, especially in the English-speaking world, a 2016 UK poll saw Lord of the Flies ranked third in the nation's favourite books from school.
I'd probably have liked this book if I'd not taken it to pieces in high school, but even without that it probably would have struck me as clunky.
Incredible story. So tragic and provocative.
Somehow I managed to avoid reading this in high school. A good story, very well written, rather exciting, certainly more violent than I expected it would be. I'm not sure it works as a kind of cautionary tale, as some say it does, other than to caution us to not leave pre-adolescent children alone on an island (which frankly seems rather obvious).
I remembered enjoying this story quite a bit as a kid, probably because it was gory and shocking and quite a bit different from the boring stuff they usually had us reading. Stuff like Great Expectations and Jane Eyre, which were both snooze-fests for a 14-year-old boy. Probably also because it deals with human nature and now, as an adult, I know that I'm really into those types of books from years of sampling across genres.
Lord of the Flies was very good the second time around, as an adult, and the story has aged well. The ideas it presents are still relevant and come up for debate every day. Most significantly, the importance of law to maintaining society.
I'll definitely be rereading this one again in the future, but this time I won't wait 16 years for another go at it.
We had to read this in school when I was about 17 years old. We read the German version "Herr der Fliegen", but I nevertheless quite liked it. We even went to see the movie (black-and-white) which was on at a cinema in town then.
