4 out of 5 stars

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is an allegorical novel released in 1954. It is 272 pages of a parallel story to the television hit series, Lost. If you like survivor, then this novel is the right story for you. It is considered a forerunner in the theme of stranded characters trying to survive the obstacles and environment they are thrown into. This novel also was one of the first stranded/survivor novels that gained a well-known reputation as a must-read novel. It is also a novel that would be considered a classic on the long list of must-read books.

Lord of the Flies is a novel based during the time of a nuclear war and a group of schoolboys become stranded on an island. They became stranded on the island because their plane went down during flight. They have no adult supervision or ruling authority and are left to survive together. It begins with the boys being civilized, and they have elected a leader to lead them during the difficult time. Everything started off well, and the boys worked together to set goals and strategize a rescue plan. That was day one.

After this, things start to go downhill. Without giving away much of the novel and storyline, you can imagine what happens when there is a group of people, especially children, who have no supervision or adults around to hold together the law and order.

It may not end well, but there may be a silver lining to this storyline. Only you can figure it out for yourself once you take a chance to read this fantastic classic. It shows the fear and darkness in all of humankind. It also illustrates the evil in every person that rises up when there is no civilization and no supervision. Not only does it show what would happen to mankind if this were the state of life now, but it also is very similar at some points to the storyline of the Hunger Games when those people need to fight for their survival.

Overall, even though this is a classic novel in the literature world, it is a novel that must be read before you die. Truth be told, it is on many classic reading lists titled “Must Read Books Before You Die.” I really enjoyed the common theme that is very popular today – survival. It was a quick read and very suspenseful. I have read it about four times now and I have caught something new every time. Not only did I love this book and the simplistic language it uses, but I recently taught it in the high school senior English class where I am student teaching. My seniors loved this novel and could not put it down. I had seniors who also watched Lost while they read this novel and could pick a lot of similar things out between the two. Fun fact of the day is that the producer of the show strategically did use Lord of the Flies as a reference and example to produce the show. It lays out the levels of how things would break down from the order that existed and ends in the total havoc that would never cease to exist once we fall into that category. In the end, this novel is a must read and is very valuable in lessons on what would happen if there is no rules or order to our lives.