Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

39 reviews

rylin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

this book is not what i was expecting. 

this book is disturbing. it starts out with a few innocent boys ages 4-12 who are stranded on an island, not aware of the war going on around them. as the novel progresses, the boys divide and turn into straight savages. even though the author is not a christian, this book has much biblical allusion. simon is a Christ figure. the very title lord of the flies refers to beelzebub or satan. this book highlights loss of innocence and man’s inherent evil. 

this book is so heavy. i can’t help but feel bad for the boys, even jack. they have been so corrupted to the point that death does not phase them. they are desensitized to murder. i genuinely cried while reading this which is crazy because i have to read it for school. the author did a great job of displaying the horrendous things he saw during his time in world war ii and his years of teaching at an all boys boarding school. this book is a parody of sorts on coral island, showing that a bunch of boys being stranded on an island is actually the farthest thing from paradise. 

i think this book is so disturbing because it would be a reality. the sweet innocent boys at the beginning turn into complete and total monsters. the author perfectly captured the built in evil of mankind. now i’m going to be sad thinking abt this book for a while. 

justice for piggy and simon 🥲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Cannibalism, War, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Gore, Death, Fatphobia, and Medical content

xvicesx's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I get the point this was trying to make, but lordy was it a painful read. I can appreciate it for its existence, but I think I found man's descent into madness and savagery far more enjoyable in Hunger Games. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Body shaming, Murder, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture and War

melissaj09's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

blitz_ramna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I've known of this book since i was young but i never had the nerve to read it throughly until now. 
I'm aware that this book is forced-fed in school (I had to read it when I was a sophmore in high school). I'd be surprised if schools still recommend this knowing of all the book bans. 
Now going back to speaking of the book. This book is actually a good read, even though you may have to read in the mind of a preteen to teen. There are few scenes in which readers may feel uncomfortable, shocked, and tense (probably even get emotional). I, for one, felt all the emotions that I've listed while reading but kept on. Personally, I enjoyed the book, even though I knew what would happen. I also realized that the 1990s version of the film didn't put certain scenes from the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Xenophobia, and Bullying

There was a part of the book where the hunters were joking and doing certain sexual acts towards the pig/boar that they killed during a hunt. I thought I should mention because readers can see this as inappropriate and find it uncomfortable to read.

linnylionheart's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, War, Bullying, Vomit, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death, Abandonment, Ableism, Torture, Fatphobia, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, and Violence

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Excrement

haileyeh's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Violence, Fatphobia, and Bullying

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Vomit

serena_hien's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Torture

nineinchnails's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i liked this way more than i expected to! i haven’t read a classic (outside of rereads) in years so i thought the prose would give me a headache but i actually found it quite charming. it does get a little waffly at some parts but i guess cause i know it was written like a million years ago i have a higher tolerance for it. 

i love the premise and i think the pacing was perfect for me. it felt a little slow in the first half (or longer im not quite sure) and then picked up fast like the calm before the storm. i do wish there was a little more development with the characters - at some points i was having a hard time figuring out who was speaking, too - but it wasn’t a massive issue with this since it still holds up quite well. it’s darker than i expected for a children’s book, but that’s what made it so hard for me to put down. the overall message was pretty bleak but i think the ending helped a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Blood, Fatphobia, Gore, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Excrement, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent, War, and Racial slurs

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Not sure I've ever had much interest in reading this, only I had a specific book I wanted to get to that's inspired by this - Lord of the Flyfest- (as well as some TV shows, films etc that takes inspiration from this classic) and wanted a better appreciation when the time comes.

Reminiscent of Peter Pan and the lost boys and some really good character analysis of humanity as a whole when faced with struggles. How we try to achieve this collective control at all times but quickly fall down to hysteria and paranoia when faced with the unknown.

I felt like this was a really interesting look at life with an island of stranded boys and how they try to survive the wilderness. 

I know a lot of this probably went over my head and that reflects in the rating as I didn't understand all the themes, but I'm glad I read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Fatphobia, Child death, Abandonment, Stalking, Murder, Body shaming, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Torture, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Gore, Bullying, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Torture