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Lord of the Flies cover art

Lord of the Flies

Written by: William Golding
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
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Publisher's Summary

Skilfully exploring the tension between individuality and conformity, the desire for civilisation versus the lust for power, it is unsurprising that William Golding's debut novel went on to become such a triumph. 

A plane crashes on a desert island, and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assembles on the beach and waits to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys’ delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.

©1954 William Golding (P)2012 Faber Audio

What listeners say about Lord of the Flies

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Enjoyed listening to this classic

Loved the book, my only complaint was when they bleeped out “Indians”. Can we not except literature understanding that it was written in a day that’s different than our own?

3 people found this helpful

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Take a walk on the dark side

I read Lord of the Flies long ago, so I was ready for a new take on the classic. Fortunately, it was long enough ago that I didn't remember the plot details. Oh my, what dark sides we humans have.... and so interesting to see how they come out. Good vs evil. Dark vs light. Excellent narration, which really added to my experience ~ I felt I 'got' the characters.

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simply beautiful

now i understand why this story is a classic masterpiece. the meaning behind the story really reflects on society. overall amazing. must read for sure!

2 people found this helpful

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Brilliant Speculative Fiction

What would happen if a bunch of boys were stranded on a Tropical Island and had to develop a Society? William Golding endeavors to answer this question. He explores psychological resilience, ethical/moral decision-making, and personal responsibility vs leadership. Golding uses vivid imagery and unparallelled character development to dive deep into these issues. His hypothetical nascent society spirals into chaos.
This book is quite rightly discussed in classrooms and English Lit classes for it's brilliance. The metaphorical symbolism is astounding - the conch, the fire, the beast, etc.. The imagery is compelling - the Fire, the Dance, etc..

Martin Jarvis does a good job bringing the story to listeners - using generally well-chosen cadences and accents for the characters - but the voice choices for Piggy and Jack get grating after awhile.
The performance is nothing special.

This recording of a classic tale is worth 9.5 stars out of 10.

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Meh.

Its was hard to follow but had to power through it for the school curriculum :(

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Classic

it is well written and we'll narrated book. I came to think this is how humans might have behaved before civilization and how Gods and ghost where created.

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Excellent

A story for the times.

A more than worthwhile read, with flawless narration. I cannot recommend this book, enough.

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Great read

It was a very pleasant book to read especially in the winter when there’s nothing to do

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Classic book on life & psychology

Classic book on life & psychology. Makes you ponder what it is to be a human being.

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Disturbing

When I was in high school, this was required reading every other year. Unfortunately, it was not to be my year.
40 years later, I finally got around to it and I'm glad I did.
Amazingly harsh description of how society can disintegrate and how easily people can fall to violence and brutality, when there are no reprocutions or consequences.
Excellent book!

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  • ESK
  • 2012-11-12

Story of cruel innocence

It's a story of spiralling down into savagery and brutality, a story of making a choice between good and evil, peace and war, God and Satan. The name Lord of the flies is actually translated as Beelzebul, one of the three main fallen angels along with Lucifer and Astaroth.
It is revolting to see how quickly and without compunction children can lose their innocence and become unruly bloodthirsty criminals.
As for the narrator, I was overwhelmed listening to M. Jarvis' performance. His rendition was exceptional.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Ian
  • 2012-09-20

Classic - if a bit disturbing.

Another classic that I have been seeking on audio to add to my library for a while. This one because I had read it as a boy and enjoyed it greatly and wanted to add it to my rotating library of repeat listens. It makes it to that list very very easily.

The basic story is probably fairly well known. Group of boys. Desert Island. Add some time and wait for chaos to reign. I remembered that much from my boyhood read but there are layers here that I didn't get as a spotty teen.

And I'm coming to the conclusion that this is what makes a great book great.

Every time you read it it makes you think about some element of it differently and see some feature in a new light. Ostensibly this is a book about how small boys will happily become savages if left without authority. It is also wider, deeper and longer than that if you pause the recoding every now and then and let your mind wander over a scene for a few minutes and think about whatever else it throws into your head. Bit like tasting a good wine where you can (I'm told - cheap plonk man myself) start to seperate out individual notes from the flavour. "I'm getting - the beginnings of religion - the draw of superstition - mans inhumanity to man.........."

That said , if all you want is a good book with a good story well told and well read then this will do that for you too. Just that there is more there if you want it.

Martin Jarvis does an excellent job on the narration.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Matthew
  • 2021-01-25

Add a small chapter at the end for ralph.

I loved the book but wish thet there was another chapter at the end for Ralph to get his justice and for Jack to be reprimanded.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Chris
  • 2015-04-25

Was forced to read this book but it was ok

Decent book, decent story line, better than reading the words.

And I have to add another 10 words to make this count

1 person found this helpful

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  • C. Brink
  • 2023-05-13

A masterful classic deserving of the Nobel Prize

This is a truly masterful classic. A true reminder of what darkness lies in the human heart.

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  • Futureshocked
  • 2022-09-06

Didn’t have Bingus or Walt jr

Wish it had a Bingus Walt jr cross over. Bad. Very bad. Sad. Very sad

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  • Kerry
  • 2020-04-18

Always a thought provoking classic

If you are not familiar with the book this is a great reading enjoy it

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  • RF
  • 2019-12-12

Golding says ululating a lot.

That's it, great book, killer ending, poor Piggy, oops spoilers, you knew, fifteen words byeeeeeeeeee!

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  • Henrik Ebbeskog
  • 2019-09-25

Carried away in thoughts

I sometimes got carried away in thoughts. Not a good sign that it was a book for me.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2019-03-18

The book was one of the best I've read, but

Overall this was a great book, but the emense amount of discription of the environment made it a lot more boring to read and listen to. Other than that the book was amazing, the story, characters and this weird concept made you really think about how cruel the world is. Hey, and I liked the narrator to!

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  • Isabelle
  • 2021-04-14

Great read


Great story and Martin Jarvis' enacting is brilliant. Highly recommended! Wish there was a sequel. Life after the Island.