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Lord of the Flies  By  cover art

Lord of the Flies

By: William Golding
Narrated by: William Golding
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Publisher's summary

Get ready for an adventure tale in its purest form, a thrilling and elegantly told account of a group of British schoolboys marooned on a tropical island. Alone in a world of uncharted possibilities, devoid of adult supervision or rules, the boys begin to forge their own society, their own rules, their own rituals. With this seemingly romantic premise, and through the seemingly innocent acts of children, Golding exposes the duality of human nature itself: the dark, eternal divide between order and chaos, intellect and instinct, structure and savagery.
©1954 William Golding (P)2002 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Lord of the Flies gives the reader a lucid and chillingly objective mirror to our modern society. William Golding's narration is as impartial as his work, yet his grumbly, grandfatherly voice, complete with mid-sentence sniffs and swallows, is intimate." (AudioFile)

"Lord of the Flies is one of my favorite books. I still read it every couple of years." (Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games trilogy)

"I finished the last half of Lord of the Flies in a single afternoon, my eyes wide, my heart pounding, not thinking, just inhaling.... My rule of thumb as a writer and reader - largely formed by Lord of the Flies - is feel it first, think about it later." (Stephen King)

"This brilliant work is a frightening parody on man's return [in a few weeks] to that state of darkness from which it took him thousands of years to emerge. Fully to succeed, a fantasy must approach very close to reality. Lord of the Flies does. It must also be superbly written. It is." (The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about Lord of the Flies

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5,770
  • 4 Stars
    2,547
  • 3 Stars
    1,179
  • 2 Stars
    387
  • 1 Stars
    315
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,270
  • 4 Stars
    1,838
  • 3 Stars
    1,303
  • 2 Stars
    599
  • 1 Stars
    512
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5,418
  • 4 Stars
    1,835
  • 3 Stars
    835
  • 2 Stars
    205
  • 1 Stars
    207

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great story - bad narration

I love this tale. Read it years ago and so looked forward to hearing it. However, the author should NOT have read this book. Had some difficulties with his lack of expressions. Quality of sound improved a little after chapter 5. I hope that some day it is re-done with a different narrator (unabridged of course!).

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199 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Professional Readers Only

The book is awesome, we all know it is. The problem is that the author narrated the book. That was a huge mistake. I couldn't listen to it. I ended up just reading it because there was no other option for audio available at audible. The voice has a slight English accent, no problem there but it is very monotone with little variation on character voice. I would listen to an excerpt before purchasing.

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115 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

writing - A+, narration - C

My first "read" of this book is in listening to this audio version. Although the writing is good, frankly, the narrator's voice lulls me to sleep. He sounds like he has marbles in his mouth much of the time. I respect the author highly, but not as a narrator. I am struggling to pay attention, wading through this classic.

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90 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Horrific narration

An awful narration -- the worst narration I have ever experienced. The author should have thought twice before deciding to narrate. A professional narrator would have brought the whole essence of this beautifully written story alive. What a shame!

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76 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Other than Narration, I Beg to Differ

First of all, let me say that I agree with the criticism of the narration. After listening to somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 audiobooks, I can say without reservation that this is the worst narration I've heard. There are times when it is great to have the author read the book, but this was not one of them. Little to no expressiveness in the voice, even when dealing with dialog in situations dealing with life & death.

Sadly, I cannot tell whether the poor narration affected my view of the book. This was one "classic" that I was left scratching my head, wondering why it is a classic. At 5 disks, one track, the story doesn't really get moving much until midway into the 4th disk. I will say that the last disk is interesting, but in my opinion, didn't make up for the rest of the book. After hearing so much about how great this book was, I was greatly disappointed. Ranks far below classics such as "Oliver Twist", "Wuthering Heights", "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and others that really live up to their billing. In my opinion, this one did not.

One other positive was the author's commentary on his writing of the book and the meaning of the book in both a prologue and appendix. This was interesting in spots.

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45 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great

I love how the narrator was the author.(William Golding) the story was also very memorable👍

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic story

I had to to read this book in school, and found it amazing. it brought back fond memories.
It is refreshing to hear the author reading his own story.
What a fascinating book and I say this book should be put in the schools for the kids of today and the future to enjoy.

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A STICK SHARPENED AT BOTH ENDS

WE'RE ENGLISH, THE ENGLISH ARE BETTET AT EVERYTHING
You should have read this in high school, if not I order you to read it now. If you have not read it since high school, read it again. This could be considered a horror, mostly for it's accuracy of what, would most likely happen. There are some intense scary times towards the end.

HE'S CALLED PIGGY
In preschool, kids notice difference in skin color and they notice handicaps, but they don't judge. By elementary school they have learned who to hate and who to feel superior too. In the 60's I remember a girl in my fourth grade class who was constantly put down, because she wore metal braces on her legs. I would like to think things have change since then, but just a few years back, I made friends with a guy at the gym. He often had to use a walker and one of his legs was bent inwards. I never asked him what was wrong and he never said. He was in his mid twenties. One day he was telling me about a guy who threatened to beat him up, because he was handicapped. The guy told him he hated people who were handicapped and they did not deserve to live. In this story Piggy, who has no name, while everyone else does, is constantly treated like a stupid no body. Piggy is overweight.

GOLDING
I love Golding's introduction on why he wrote the book and his after words on what you should get out of it. A lot of people had trouble with his narration. He is not a polished narrator and normally I prefer polished, but I thought his reading fit into the whole theme of the book. It is about boys, not a reading of Shakespeare.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a great listen

This book is both beautiful and terrifying; timeless and of its time (post world war 2, mid 50s). It gives real insight into the human condition. If you have not read it, or even if you have, I highly recommend this recorded version.

I have listened to hundreds of audio books over the past few years and often refer to reviews, but this is the first one I've written. Some of the other reviewers do not like the naration, which is by the author. The naration has a "matter of fact" quality and is not a dramatization. But in my opinion, this does not detract from the story. As the author states in his concluding remorks, "it is not what the author brings to the story, but what the reader takes from it that matters." His calm tone makes this reading all the more powerfull.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Must-Read(Listen)

I had never read this book as a teen but am glad I gave it a listen. It has so much to say about what savages human beings are. It's not just a story for kids. Some grown-ups in positions of power should have to read or listen to it. I really like hearing authors read their literature.

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21 people found this helpful