Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Hey guys, this is Ethan. Over the summer, I read the book Lord of the Flies,
written by William Golding,  and I really enjoyed it. I heard it was a good book,
so I thought I would give it a try, and it totally exceeded my expectations. 



First, here is a very brief and simplified summary (warning, spoilers):
The story starts with the aftermath of a plane crash on a deserted island in
which all the adults died, and the only surviving people are children.
The children quickly realize this, and they quickly appoint a leader,
which turns out to be a controversial decision among the group.
Before long, a bad argument separates the group in half, creating one
seemingly normal, reasonable tribe, and one violent, savage-like tribe.

The extreme violence shockingly eventually results in deaths. When adults
finally come to rescue them, they are amazed that something this horrible
could happen. When all of the kids look at what they had become, some actually
started sobbing at how much they had changed.



Onto my book review:

As I said, I really enjoyed the story. What in particular attracted me to it was the
philosophical ideas that Golding suggests, entertaining the idea that kids will
naturally become savages if left to their own devices. Even though I don’t fully
agree with this idea, it is very interesting to think about. 
Philosophical stuff aside, the book was a really fun read because of the well formed characters and their drastically different personalities. The book starts off tame, but quickly evolves into an action-packed, suspenseful story. Although it does end quickly, I enjoyed trying to fill in the gaps left out by Golding. Overall, I would rate this book 7/10 stars, and I definitely suggest reading this book. -Ethan Roberts

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