• Title: Lord of the Flies
• Author: William Golding
• Genre: YA Fiction, Allegory
• Pages: 190
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Published: 1954

What happens when a group of kids crash-landed on an inhabited island? Well, let me just say that they would not be peacefully waiting at the beach to be rescued. I honestly do not like rowdy kids. And aside from Piggy, the rest of the kids are just rowdy, some are bullies. Yeah, I was aggravated by some of the situations in this little novel. Of course, this is not just some kind of adventure book about preteen rowdy boys. No way. To the core, this is a story of the fall of society. This book takes a closer look at how human nature shapes society.

I found myself aggravated as the story progressed. From the bullying that Piggy constantly got from these boys to the increasing descent to savagery and cruelty. It was hard to see some of these kids lose their morality. For the most part, I forgot that these were kids because when it all comes down to it, I think people – adults – would respond the same way when put in this kind of situation.

Now, I am not about to dissect this novel and discuss the symbolism of a novel like this. I am not planning on writing an essay ala English writing class. One thing that I can say though, this is a thought-provoking one. And that is what I enjoyed the most about reading this book. I am glad that I never had to read this in class when I was in my teens. The subject matter is dark and the book definitely has violence in it. I mean, reading it now as an adult was difficult (maybe I’m just sheltered) and all I could think of was “This was meant for children”? Young adult? Maybe.

I need to read more classics like this.