Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:
William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition.

My thoughts:
What a story! It's like a car crash. It's horrible and shocking but you just can't turn away. It's eerie reading as these boys slide further into savagery and downright barbaric behavior. This is one story that will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

The only complaint I have about the book deals with the writing itself. During the conversations it's hard to follow who is saying what.

"As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods, — They kill us for their sport". (King Lear Act IV, Scene 1

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Rate: 4.0

What it's about:
Aldous Huxley's tour de force Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a 'utopian' future - where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthesized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

My thoughts:
At first, Huxley's Brave New World doesn't seem so bad. Drugs and promiscuity are encouraged while solidarity and fidelity are frowned upon. If you're having a bad day, just drop some soma and all your troubles will go away. There's no violence, old age, disease. Everybody seems so gosh darn happy. In fact, you've been conditioned from a very early age to appreciate your role in this society whether you are high or low man on the totem pole.

After a while, the reader sees how these people are not really living at all. How can we truly live a life without experiencing the bad as well as the good. Sometimes we need to see the the awful things in this world to truly appreciate our own lives. But in this Brave New World, if you start questioning society, you may just get yourself a one way ticket to Iceland, or some other island where you can't incite others to start questioning their own roles in society.

This book gets the reader thinking about society today and our own roles in it. Can there really be a Utopia? Is it possible? Somehow I don't think it is. Utopia always seems to turn to dystopia eventually. This book is well deserving of it's status as a classic. I wish it were on a required reading list when I was in high school as it opens up lots of room for good discussions.

"O wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beautious mankind is!

O brave new world

That has such people in't!"

-Shakespear's The Tempest