Lord of the Flies

ugh, i just got done reading it for my english class. im in 10th grade and i have to say, i thought it was a pretty bad book. i think it was partyly because i didnt understand a lot of the parts and the description of where everything was on the island. i have recently found a map online of the island and i think that would have helped alot while i was reading it. i actually drew a picture of where they had their meeting to try to understand better. i didnt like it at all and i dont think many people here did. my feeling towards it is that, maybe if we were older we would like it, but it is not a book for 10th graders to read. just my opinion but most of you said you didnt like it when you were young too. maybe if i read it again i would understand it better, but i dont think it'd be good because i'd know the ending already. o well.. i give up on this book... next?

I loved it, when i read it at school (wouldve been about 14 i think - still young enough to titter at ralph making a farting sound as he blew the shell) Over the summer i tried to get my eldest to read it, and she loathed it.. i was quite surprised really, as she has a very mature taste in lit... i should re read it really...

Maybe it not visual enough for kids today. After watching tv and movies and playing video games, Lord of the Flies would probably come across as very tame, even wooden. Also, the psychological aspect was fresh and innovative at that time, but now it has been commonplace for so long, the impact is much less. That's my guess.

I love 'Lord of the Flies', as much as I love 'Freefall' and 'The Spire' by the same author. It has always felt like a very visual novel to me, or at least it produced very vivid pictures in my head. There's a whole raft of things that I like about it; the very true representation of children; ralph's wonderful vision of home and encroaching adultness; the wierd kid's increasingly seerlike behaviour; the clever plotting. I've always been a sucker for books that examine people outside of their normal environment.

I think it's an interesting book, the kind of book that stays with you..

Oh, LotF is faboo. There's this bit where Ralph's stood on top of the island, and he looks down, and the whole island's in the shape of a boat, and when he sees the tide rushing out over the rocks, it feels to him for a moment like the whole boat's moving steadily astern. When I read Golding's description of that, I actually *felt* myself unconsciously adjusting my balance to compensate... However 'literary' it is, at a basic level of sensory detail and narrative skill, William Golding am the man.

I didn't like Lord of The Flies the first time I read it, when I was about 12, but I have to study it for school now and I like it more. It's the kind of book where each time you read it you notice things you didn't notice before.

My favourite William Golding is The Inheritors. I think it was his second novel after LotF and it shows what a powerful imagination he had. Also Pincher Martin, which is just plain terrifying. He's at his best when he dumps you in a completely foreign society or situation. I don't think he was so successful in his stories set in the here and now.

I never managed to get through the Inheritors. It was not that is was a bad book by any stretch, quite the opposite. But it could be heavy going at times, and a little confusing. It was taking me ages, then my first year at Uni began, together with compulsory reading, so it kind of got pushed to one side. Maybe I should go back to it. I studied Lord of the Flies at GCSE, and found that to be quite an enjoyable experience. I remember getting started with it, and not thinking much of it; just some boys on an island. Then, as it got darker, my enthuiasism grew. Simon's confrontation with the Lord of the Flies is superb (I think in general Simon was handled very well), and I couldn't help but empathise with poor Piggy (probably because I am asthmatic, and was a little bit podgy at the time (o: ).