Category: Modern Classic, Fiction
Published: 1954
Audiobook
Review: 4/5 stars
This is another one of those books that is hard to review. I could give it anything between 3 and 5 stars. I recognize that it is regarded as a classic and I think the distinction is well deserved. I wouldn't say that I particularly enjoyed it, though. I'm glad I listened to it but it is rather a disturbing story. The audiobook I listened to was read by William Golding himself, and I quite liked that about it. In the beginning he tells a little bit about how the book came to be and then he starts reading and it feels like you are sitting there in the room while he reads from the book. He doesn't use different voices for the different characters; he just reads it and reads it well. There is a short interview at the end that is also very interesting. While I was listening to the book I found myself thinking that I just wanted to get it over with but once I was done with it I was very glad to have read it. I finally decided on 4 stars even though my personal enjoyment of it was more like 3 stars.
Rating: 1.3.2 There are some scenes of violence along with disturbing images and a little bit of mild profanity.
4 comments:
This is the second review I've read of this book this week, and it's one that I have never finished. Not because I disliked it, but it just gets set aside a lot. Maybe I should try audio. It sounds interesting that the author reads it.
I think I told you this before once when we were talking but in case I didn't: This book was assigned reading in my 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th grade English classes- along with Hamlet (3x) and Huck Finn (2x). ("They have a FABULOUS teacher correlation system up there in ThatPlaceThatIUsedToLive", she said sarcastically.) Anyway, having been forced to read and discuss it four times I can tell you in no uncertain terms that 1. I didn't like it. and 2. The ICK factor increases with every reading. Yay for you knocking out another one from the AP reading list. It always feels good to finish a classic, yeah? Like you've accomplished something.
I've totally avoided reading this book and watching the movie, because of the difficult topics. Good idea about listening to it instead of reading it.
You know, I was supposed to read this when I was in 10th grade. But I am not sure if I actually read it all or just skimmed and probably used cliff notes (I was a good student, really I was. Ha!) Maybe one day I'll actually read it all the way through.
Post a Comment