[показать]Last two weeks were tough on reading. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself go through more than a couple of pages per day. In addition to simple laziness, it had to do with the fact that I wasn't too excited about the book. Even thought "Lord of the Flies" wasn't too bad, I didn't find it to be a very interesting read. Perhaps, it has to do with the fact that it was a bit too allegorical and philosophical for my taste.

"Lord of the flies" is a story about a group of boys who are trapped on the deserted island after a plane crash. Being old enough to understand how civilized society should function, they try to replicate the traditional society by electing a chief and dividing a number of responsibilities between the rest of the group. The boys seem to be doing fine for a short while, but, as the book progresses, savagery is gradually taking over them. The reader can clearly see that, free from numerous constrains that were previously imposed on them by the society, the majority of the boys give themselves to their primal instincts and can no longer tell right from wrong. This becomes apparent from the fact that hey forget about the need of being rescued, are overwhelmed with the idea of terrible beast that does not exist, and, most importantly, loose respect for human life. Hunt, chase, kill are three things that the boys derive pleasure from and and are what consumes their minds.

To be honest, if I hadn't read the book with the help of SparkNotes, I would have probably found it to be just an ordinary story and would have been wondering why, on earth, it is a "must read". As SparkNotes helped me to find out, all the accolades have to do with the underlying message - there is no such thing as natural goodness of the human species. On the contrary, we are born with some time of defect (aka the original sin) for which civilization is not responsible. Overall, even though I didn't particularly enjoy "Lord of the flies", I found it to be an ok read. If you're not a type of reader who'd spend time on a book you might not even like just because someone decided that it is a must read for every educated person, I wouldn't recommend it. Otherwise, give it a shot.

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