Gothadh's Reviews > Lord of the Flies

Amen.

I was a middle class American adolescent boy when I read it, and I hated it too. I think the "truths" Golding wanted us to believe are universal just aren't as universal or as true as he seemed to want to believe.

The bombs were going off everywhere as i was sitting in a bunker in Nam. i hated this book.

Get over your childhood experience. Does having nothing in common with the main characters really prevent you from appreciating literature.

You dont need to have anything in common with the protagonists to appreciate something but I truly agree this book is horrible.
Its easy to hate something when youre forced to read it (I read it in highschool 4 years ago) but this is on another level..(for me anyway)

@lambert Theres literature & literature. this is crap shoot. Let her/him hate it if they want to..

I truly agree.

Yes, I would argue you do have to relate in some human way to a character to appreciate literature. In fact, I think that's the whole point of literature.

Nice review. "I hate this book because I can't relate to it." Does that mean others shouldn't read it?

You could look at the book in another way. It is not because you can't relate to the book that you can't like a book. I mean when you look at movies you usually can't relate to them but you like the story, it is the same with the books, even if you can't relate to it you just go with the story.

Yes! Thankyou! Im in my first year of college and we had to study it last year for my GCSEs (final qualifications when you are 15-16 for those who would be unfamiliar with the name used in England). I take my grades and all my exams very seriously, I would do every extra piece of work as well what was required to get a good grade, I would never gamble on a real exam, that was all until year 11 English class...when we were told we would be studying this astonishingly terrible book!

I will not leave a book unfinished, even if it's boring and im forcing myself to finish it, I physically cannot leave it un finished and when I am reading a book I can only put it down at the start of a new chapter or when the paragraph ends at the end of the page completely - the new paragraph's first word must be on the other page- my mild OCD would not let me leave a book any other way! That was until I learned control over it when reading this book.

This book was sooooo terrible I stopped reading it altogether! In the middle of sentence, mid-paragraph, mid-page, mid-chapter... Mid-book. To this day, I have not had one nagging feeling to find out what the rest of the sentence was, It was brutal enough watching the film...IN BLACK AND WHITE...3 TIMES!!!!!!!!!! That meant for the first time ever, I had left a book unfinished and not just any book but a book that my exam was based on, I read chapter summaries on spark notes instead. That is how much I hated it!

Worst part, my teacher and some students actually liked... No wait... Loved the book!! What? So confused!!! Glad to know I wasn't the only one that found the book dreadful but sad to know that other schools are being put through the same hellish topic!!!

Just because you don't have anything in common with the characters doesn't literally mean that you have to dislike it. This novel is meant to be seen in a completely different perspective. While you read it, it requires you to ponder about the deep message that it's trying to relay, which is the darkness within human nature. It truly is horrifying; some parts of the story I mean. But it's trying to show us just how savage humans can be without the rules and order of society. The novel is also pretty difficult to understand at first; I know, the way it was written got me confused at first as well, but the more I get further into the novel, the more I understand all the symbolism and allegory of the story. I seriously don't understand how someone can find this book terrible, but oh well.

P.S. The 1963 movie was really really well done.

Agreed to your every word!

I think having "nothing in common" with these characters make it a "safe" read. Because when you do see you have "something" in common with the darker sides of this book, you have plausible deniability.

I read this in high school and loved it. Most people don't have identical backgrounds to the boys in the book. But the situation could happen to any group of people....

I am just wondering why you hate this book? I suggest re-reading the book with a new mindset, since you've read this book when you were 12 years old. There are a lot of hidden messages and deeper meanings that you might of not caught on to. I also have nothing in common with the characters, so I understand if you had a hard time relating to their situations. There was also some times where Ralph would describe just watching the snow fall with his family and I think almost everyone can relate to that on some level. "The fact that we had to read the book in class at the pace of some of the slower readers, didn't help." I am sure that this did not help to enjoy this book, try reading it by yourself with leisure and try to figure out the true message of the book.

The book wasn't that horrible, it was ok. When saying that you had "nothing in common with the characters" made me think, well how could anyone relate to these children? I also couldn't relate to any of the characters in the book. Keep in mind that this book was also written back in 1953, so of course peoples thinking was a bit different. "just wished they would all kill each other as soon as possible so the book would finish." I think you were a little to harsh there, but also Piggy's and Simon's deaths were kind of interesting. I think reading the book again well make you think differently to how the book was written, and maybe find something that seemed interesting and connects with the book (World War), and find messages Golding threw out there in the book

I think if you had read this book at a much more mature age, you would understand and appreciate the symbolic events that happen throughout the story, If you were only 12 when you read the book, you were probably way too young to realize the symbolism and true meaning this book has. You said " I had to read it in secondary school when I was about 12 and I never remember disliking a book so much which was surprising as I was a voracious reader." You most likely enjoyed action packed books at your age. I really recommend that you try reading this book again and really notice the symbolism all through the book. You also mentioned “I just could not relate to the story at all and just wished they would all kill each other as soon as possible so the book would finish.” This shows that you did not understand the symbolism at all and you just thought it was about boys stuck on an island. When you look closer, you will be able to see the entertaining hidden messages. I should also say that you don’t need to relate to a character in a book just to enjoy it. That also shows how you were way too young to read it and understand it.

Hello Gothadh. I believe you are missing the point of this novel. It was not written to be easily relatable to the main characters, but more of an understanding of what some people are capable of in certain situations. The only thing I really have in common with the characters is that I am a boy, but I still enjoyed this horrifying story nonetheless. However, I do understand that your classroom experience was difficult, especially with slower readers (I am a slow reader, but we weren't required to always read as a class, so everyone could work at their own pace). I recommend you try picking the book up again, despite your dislikes and critiques, and really take in the powerful symbolism involved with this terribly incredible book.

Excuse me, I don't think that you are supposed to relate to any of the boys on the island. It shows what type of beasts we could turn into without society for too long. You obviously hate reading books if you hate the book because you can't relate to the boys. C'mon

Well I would Have to disagree with you on the fact that the book not bad but indeed quite interesting. Even though you hated the book mostly because you couldn't compare yourself to the characters isn't a good reason why you should hate the book. As you may not find interests they have as you have you might want to do deeper into their personalities as many of the characters showed certain traits that i'm sure everyone can relate with. Many characteristics that were displayed were bravery, Logic, Intelligence, happiness, and optimism as i'm sure you can relate with those. The point is don't just hate the book because you can't relate with the characters. Go further more into detail on the book and the characters and you might find that you actually enjoy the book.

I disagree with your review because you say "I just remember having absolutely nothing in common with the characters" and I don't necessarily think the reader has to have similarities with the characters in the book for them to have a good experience and enjoy the book. I just read it and i'm in high school. Maybe if you read it at an older age you would've thought differently of it. I thought it was an interesting book with lots of lessons to learn.

I completely agree with some of your points but not all of them. I agree that the books goes on for too long, but I don't agree with the "I didn't relate to the characters" thing. I also had to read it in school but we didn't read slowly, we mostly read it at home. Wile the statement "just wished they would all kill each other as soon as possible so the book would finish" is a bit much I do agree.

I would have to disagree you just because because you can’t relate to the characters just isn’t a good reason lol. You can’t expect to find something in common with every book you read, it just isn’t realistic. I mean how could you with lots of the events in the book? It just sounds like a dumb excuse. Or the fact that you hated because of slow readers in your class, what does that have to do with the actual content of the book? Seems like a bunch of complaining and not fair since you're basing it off your opinion when you were 12. You should try re-reading the book and you might realize and see stuff you probably wouldn’t have when you were a kid.

This comment just showcases how people come to goodreads only to look for a confirmation of the feeling a book gave them. No analysis, no higher understanding was attained. People don't review the book, they just superficially review their own taste.

yeah you are a girl girls are not the same as boys you guys dont have the guts to hurt people us boys hurt each other for fun ever me and my friend are always trying to choke one another until the other is to weak from not being able to breath and the we flip him

I don't fully agree with you for your reasons on hating the book because you can't just hate a book because you can't relate to the characters. If you have ever read a book that is 100% fictional and had no chance of ever existing or being real, there is nothing within a character that you can really relate to besides their personality and things like that. But people can still find joy in those books even though they can't relate to them. You really can't just say that you hate a book because you can't relate to it because there are many books in the world that many people can't relate to and still enjoy just because of the fact that the book is so well written and or the book is just an overall gem. Books or stories like Toy Story for example are completely fake and have talking toys in them, but are such great books/stories to read because of the way the author wrote the story. Lord of The Flies on the other hand is also another great fictional book because of how the author wrote it. The author used real humans as characters in a real world setting to make the book as relatable as possible. The characters did things that were inhuman like during the story, but it never made the book not good for a second to me solely because I couldn't relate to it.

I don't really think that you can hate a book just because you cannot relate to the characters. I also think that you should try reading it again on your own because you then might enjoy the book more without the other slower readers you mentioned.

It was a class assignment for me too . Then I reread it in my 40's , because I thought it was my adolescent brain not letting me comprehend the gist of the story . Still hated it in middle age too .

Well arent you just rude for wanting those kids to kill eachother