Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition)
by William Golding
Book Summary Information
Author: William GoldingIntroduction: E. M. Forster
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-28
ISBN: 0399529209
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780399529207
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition)
Book Review: Lord of the Flies Rivets, Terrifies
Summary: 5 Stars
Categories ossify. Sure, they seem helpful at first. But soon enough they harden, and all you see is the name you've applied instead of the thing itself. Nowhere is this more evident than with literary fiction. To many, it's something with which teachers bore students, a stultifying sort of story that you ought to know about but don't actually need to read. More vexing is that quite a few of these ignored works have genre roots. Take William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a novel whose bloodlines contain post-apocalyptic, war epic, survival story and horror.
The Communist assault on England has become so ferocious that Royal forces are evacuating children from the mainland. But soon after a flight of young boys lifts off, a nuclear strike decimates the airport. Then enemy fighters shoot the plane down, and it crash-lands on a deserted island. A tropical storm sweeps the wreckage (and a good number of the passengers) out to sea, and the survivors, a motley crew ranging in age from six to twelve, must fend for themselves in a world newly stripped of adults. They gather tropical fruit and hunt pigs with sharpened sticks. They start a small signal fire in hope of rescue. Soon a rumor begins to spread among the littlest boys about a bloodthirsty beast that slithers through the jungle, looking for what it may devour. The older boys scoff at such tales, though. They have more concrete troubles. Envy, rivalry and conceit have begun to fissure the bedrock of their new society.
Literary fiction has earned the reputation of having fascinating characters that do absolutely nothing. But not Lord of the Flies. It moves, constantly and inexorably. Also, repeated readings reveal the delicacy of Golding's composition. He wastes nothing, nearly every sentence playing a needed part. A description of three boys rolling a boulder down a hill foreshadows a cataclysmic future confrontation. An older youth's willingness to pick fruit for the tiniest children reveals his unusual sensitivity, a sensitivity that may save or doom the island's inhabitants. And a fat kid's perpetual complaint of "What's grown-ups going to think?" over the group's immaturities adds a chilling irony to the novel's main theme, namely that, left to themselves, societies splinter.
Though plot, setting and character hardly get short changed, theme really is Golding's primary focus. He wants to explore the problem of evil, the main reason for the world's suffering. It's a lofty goal, an easy one to blunder. Yet the depth of Golding's insight impresses. There is a beast the prowls the earth, but it isn't economic inequality or racism or sexism or any of the other isms. No, the beast is very near to us -- as near as breath itself.
Summary of Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition)
The story that never grows old...Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.
Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse,Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic. And now readers can own it in a beautifully designed hardcover edition worthy of its stature.
This Christmas' meaningful gift, the 50th Anniversary Edition of the Lord of the Flies is the volume that every fan of this classic book will have to own.
Golding, William Books
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