Lars Asmundsson
803

              Summer Reading

          This summer I read the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The book is about a group of British boys who get stranded on an island with no adults when their plane crashes. Although I did not like the book initially, towards the end I started to warm up to it.

           The majority of the book is fairly predictable: The group elects a boy named Ralph to be their leader. Ralph tries to keep the island civilized but ends up having a power struggle with another boy named Jack. Jack believes that hunting is the most important aspect of survival but Ralph thinks the boys should keep a fire going to attack the attention of ships going by. The majority of the boys join Jack in a savage society. Ralph stays away from them with his small group of followers. I do understand why the boys turned to anarchy, but I don't know how they were willing to murder each other. The whole premise of the plot is mostly why I like this book, though it is written very well too.

           Towards the end of the book the group of boy-turned-savages hunt for Ralph on the island. They find him hiding in the jungle and he flees to the beach. They follow in suit. As they hone in for the kill Ralph finds a naval officer standing in front of him. The boys fall to their knees and weep. This is the only plot twist in the book and it wraps it up very nicely.

           In conclusion, I enjoyed the book The Lord of the Flies very much. I would recommend this book to kids from 5th grade up. This book keeps the reader interested without have drastic changes in plot every second. This is not one of my favorite books of all time, but it was a good summer read.