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nineinchnails's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i love the premise and i think the pacing was perfect for me. it felt a little slow in the first half (or longer im not quite sure) and then picked up fast like the calm before the storm. i do wish there was a little more development with the characters - at some points i was having a hard time figuring out who was speaking, too - but it wasn’t a massive issue with this since it still holds up quite well. it’s darker than i expected for a children’s book, but that’s what made it so hard for me to put down. the overall message was pretty bleak but i think the ending helped a lot.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Blood, Fatphobia, Gore, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Excrement, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit
Minor: Death of parent, War, and Racial slurs
3crowsinatophat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Animal cruelty
livilu_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Cannibalism
gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Reminiscent of Peter Pan and the lost boys and some really good character analysis of humanity as a whole when faced with struggles. How we try to achieve this collective control at all times but quickly fall down to hysteria and paranoia when faced with the unknown.
I felt like this was a really interesting look at life with an island of stranded boys and how they try to survive the wilderness.
I know a lot of this probably went over my head and that reflects in the rating as I didn't understand all the themes, but I'm glad I read this.
Graphic: Violence, Death, Fatphobia, Child death, Abandonment, Stalking, Murder, Body shaming, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Torture, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Gore, Bullying, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
emory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Murder, and Gore
Minor: Racism
Short comment towards the end of chapter 11 where a character compares the violent boys to Native Americans.ephalent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Fatphobia and Injury/Injury detail
mattyvreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Then, recently, I was looking through a list of classic books and I thought “why not?”
It is so understandable to me that this is a classic. It’s horrifyingly compelling and perfectly paced. The characters are memorable, and the philosophical discussion of human nature is just as mystifying today.
That debate is: in a perfect vacuum, or let’s say… an early 1950s deserted island suddenly infested with immature and uncooperative schoolboys — are people essentially good, or essentially bad, or essentially both? I bet Hobbes and Rousseau are getting all jazzed up in Heaven, just reading this damned review.
The book itself is incredibly well-written. The story builds to it’s climax in such a profound and unsettling way, as you see their humanity chip away and their animalistic urges take over. Golding prays on the reader’s imagination and paranoia. We see the boys suffer the same fate — they become pray to their own delusions and fear, and for some, it is the death of them. It’s a story of children, in over their heads, thinking (or forcing themselves to think in order to survive) that they have it all figured out. Suddenly living to survive turns into a new way of life, and eventually, living to kill.
Damn, I gotta quit while I’m ahead. That was good.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Child death
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Mental illness
star_witch's review against another edition
2.0
If there is a book that properly makes the reader "evaluate the concepts involved in social and political constructs and moral frameworks" (which is what this book promised to do) it's most certainly not this one.
Probably the best example of incredible premise, very bad execution.
I feel betrayed.
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, and Fatphobia
kaz_brekkerrr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Murder
Minor: Racial slurs, Blood, and Gore
seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Torture