Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Lord of the Flies

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

7 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 🥲

Content Warnings

nineinchnails's review against another edition

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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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