Title: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Genre: Allegory
Pages: 248
Category: 15. Read a popular book, with at least 1 million ratings on any one website
Format: Paper
Date Started: May 30th 2017
Date Finished: June 4th 2017
Okay, so I’m a couple of months behind on these posts. So expect a lot coming in the next couple of weeks. Starting with this classic. This one had been sitting on my shelf for quite some time after I bought it from a second hand bookshop many years ago.
I definitely have some problems with this book, largely with the portrayal of Piggy. When Piggy is first introduced it is with a description of an overweight child who nobody respects despite the fact that he certainly has the most reasoned ideas of anyone on the island. In addition to being fat Piggy has asthma and has trouble keeping up with the other kids when it comes to collecting firewood and hunting etc. He is basically portrayed as completely useless because of his weight and medical condition. Oh and of course, he can’t see anything without his glasses. So he’s 3 for 3. This seems like lazy storytelling to me, to make a character who is slightly larger than the rest of the kids, and who has a medical condition and to stereotype them as the weakest link. Of course, this book is a product of it’s time so this discrimination isn’t overly surprising. Of course, most people wouldn’t be surprised by it today either which is sad.
Okay, so despite my issues with the book I actually did enjoy it. While I’m sure that if I had read it at school for English, then I would have hated it. Perhaps, simply being able to read the book without being forced to examine every aspect of it is a gift, particularly with this novel which despite it’s relatively short length is surprisingly complex.
For anyone who hasn’t read it, I will not spoil the ending, although, I was somewhat surprised by it, but that’s a different story.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Middle Earth to Wonderland 