Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

William Golding's classic novel starts out when a plane full of young British schoolboys crashes on a deserted island. As they all find each other, the leader (Ralph) begins delegating tasks. They soon discover that only a select group is responsible enough to do the tasks that need to be done. The older boys desert their posts at the signal fire to go out hunting, and this leads to a fight when they see a ship out on the ocean - a ship that would have seen them if the fire had been going. The boys dissolve into two groups - Ralph's group, of which there are few, and Jack (the older boy's) group. While Ralph's group stays civil, Jack's group dissolves into savagery and chaos - a clear allusion on Golding's part as to the darkness of human nature. Satan himself even makes an appearance to one of the boys, foreshadowing what is to come, incarnated as the Lord of the Flies - a man so covered in dark flies, his face cannot be seen. One of the boys is murdered during a hunting game (on purpose), and the dark pull of Jack's savage life tempts Ralph immensely. When the boys are finally rescued by Naval officers, one of the men asks Ralph what happened to cause all the savagery. Ralph weeps for his two lost friends as well as his lost innocence. I thought the book was overall very good, but very deep. I had to read several passages many times over to realize that the Lord of the Flies was, in fact, the devil. Reading up on Golding's life was very interesting to - he had several life experiences that contributed to his desire to write a book exploring human nature. I disliked that Golding was heavy on the descriptions. I prefer dialogue, and there wasn't much of that in the first half to three-quarters of this book.

Overall: 7 out of 10.

Details:

Paperback: 190 pages
Publisher: Perigree Books; 1954 19th Printing edition (1953)
Language: English
ASIN: B000FXT2LA

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

Catch-22 is the satirical story of a fighter pilot squadron during WWII. The book is full of wit and humor, as well as dealing with some very serious issues and underlying political commentary.Heller opens the story with a fighter pilot named Yossarian who appears to be a deserter - faking illness to get grounded off combat missions, as every time he comes close to the required amount, the number gets raised. Heller's story is really about Yossarian, but it is told in an anecdotal format, so each chapter is told from another person's perspective. All the stories intertwine beautifully, leaving you with a very complete story. Several themes appear and reappear throughout the book, such as (for those who have read it): the Chaplain's plum tomato, Milo's black market enterprise, egg-selling, Nately's whore, the countess and her daughter-in-law, the maid, Capt. Flume and Chief Halfoat's threat, Hungry Joe's cat, etc. The story also reveals the original Catch-22 - the only way to get prematurely grounded from combat duty was to be determined crazy, and if you didn't want to fly more missions, you were sane, but if you did, you were crazy. The book explores the theme of several versions of Catch-22, all perfectly told, and possessing their own witty, ironic humor. I would recommend this read to everyone, but to fully enjoy it you must be in possession of a sense of humor.

Overall: 10 out of 10. A great book.

Details:

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 4, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0684833395
ISBN-13: 978-0684833392

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld

For my teen book club, I read Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld. To be honest, I felt like it was trying to be a futuristic dystopic societal commentary (think Soylent Green), but fell far short. The story is basically about a future society where, at the age of 16, everyone gets an operation to be pretty. The main character, Tally, joins her friend Shay in running away from "Uglyville" (imaginative name, right?). Westerfeld organizes the society in a way that is completely unrealistic. In the story, after Shay runs away from being pretty, Tally is prevented from having the operation by Special Circumstances, an organization of government officials. It has an air of being a "big brother" society, but it's like having only half a story - there is absolutely no motivation presented for Special Circumstances to WANT to run a society of made-mindless pretties. The pretties produce nothing and have nothing the government could possibly want. All they do is have parties. They also have not bothered to restrict access completely to the outside world. After Tally runs to the Smoke, a city of renegades run away from the society and hunted by SC, she meets David (of course she does) and falls in love (despite only knowing him for about a week. That totally happens.). The progression of Tally's relationship with David was laughably unrealistic. Another peeve about Tally's relationship with David - Westerfeld made them out to be perfect, which bothers me for whatever reason. Seeing as relationships aren't perfect, there's no point in trying to fabricate them as such. The second half of the book was better than the first, but the whole premise of the society was ridiculous and I couldn't take it seriously. This all being said, the book is a trilogy, and I will probably read the second book despite how much I disliked the first.

Overall: 4 out of 10.

Details:

Publisher: Perfection Learning (March 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 075697237X
ISBN-13: 978-0756972370

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

This was a great example of Communism in a small, realistic setting (realistic SETTING!). Orwell's message comes through much clearer in his "fairie tale" than if he had expressed his political opinions in an essay or nonfiction novel. Orwell was a well known democratic socialist, and absolutely hated Stalin, his basis for the pig Napoleon. He also tried to make a statement about the absolute power involved with communism, and that it corrupts - using the outcast pig, Snowball, as his example (modeled after Trotsky). If you really read into the dialogue and events that take place, you will see that Snowball was not actually a champion for the animals. While Napoleon was more direct about his quest for power, Snowball did not protest when the pigs were given special privileges. It is more than likely that Orwell was trying to make the point that the end result of Animal Farm would have been the same, regardless of whether Snowball or Napoleon was in charge. I loved how Orwell showed the progression (or rather, degradation of) Animal Farm by showing how the pigs used propaganda to achieve their goals. For example, they changed the fundamental prospects of Animalism in subtle ways - for example, after the pigs changed the commandment "No animal shall ever drink alcohol", it read "No animal shall ever drink alcohol in excess". They also lied to the animals (for example, sending off poor Boxer to the glue factory) and used made up figures to "show" the animals how the situation was improving since they drove out the farmer (much like the communist nations of the mid-20th century did, when in reality, people were starving). At one point, Orwell goes so far to say, "But sometimes the animals wished they had less figures, and more food." Orwell's book is more than meets the eye, as with many of his books, and is no less a classic because of it.

Overall: 10 of 10.

The da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

I loved this book. While some people (*cough*) classify it as a trashy spy novel, I can easily see how it earned its success. Author Dan Brown is a master, incorporating just enough true facts into spun fiction to almost make you believe him. A lot of work clearly went into writing this novel, and all the invented codes, clues and pieces combined with true lore were beautifully crafted into Brown's overall story. While the book is not to be taken too seriously, as it is a work of fiction, it is almost difficult to remember that it is in fact, fiction. I thought that Brown's "un-indictment" of Opus Dei (which is, in fact, a real organization and prelature of the Church) was masterful in unexpectedly committing Leigh Teabing as the actual "teacher". I loved also that Teabing did not suddenly turn on Langdon and Neveu in the cliche style - he was on a self-justified quest for "the truth", and believed it really was time to release the "truth" about the Holy Grail. The only complaint I have about Brown's masterpiece is the revelation that Sophie is a direct descendent of Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ. To be honest, I saw that coming a mile away when Langdon asked her of her family history after learning her grandfather was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion.

Overall: A work of art. 10 of 10.

Eldest, by Christopher Paolini

I have much the same comments about Eldest as about Eragon - both are extremely well-crafted novels, and both display the same depth of character. I loved Paolini's expression of Murtagh's character, and his presence as the next Rider was completely unexpected. The only complaint I have about this book is that Murtagh revealed an important plot point - the King wants to keep Eragon and his dragon alive, as his dragon is the only female dragon left. If she dies, that will mean the end of the species. This revelation gives Eragon and Saphira a sort of invincibility I don't care for. If the King won't kill them, why do they need to be concerned about their safety? Does that make everything else they've done up until this point meaningless? As for the undeniable strokes of good fortune Roran and the villagers encounter, it seems a little unlikely an entire village's worth of the King's Most Wanted fugitives would escape detection for quite so long. The other plot point that worries me is the terrible coincidence of everything. Everyone is so interconnected, it seems highly unlikely there aren't more just ordinary people.

Overall: 7 out of 10. I was slightly disappointed with this book, but it was still worth reading.

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini

I read Eragon a few years ago, and I came out with mixed reviews. This time, however, I give it a solid thumbs-up. I love Paolini's use of vocabulary, and while the dialogue is not realistic, it is not supposed to be. I also love the flaws in his character, Eragon, making clear that he was completely unprepared for his role as a Rider and adventures with Brom. The only thing I would say that was poor about it was the fact the book was clearly planned out beforehand (which is also what makes it such a winner). As a writer, I know that going so in-depth into your world as to create history, detailed maps and political struggles is very entangling. Sometimes you can forget that readers just coming into the story are unaware of these details and you want them to understand so quickly that you confuse them. I think Paolini did as best he could to immerse the reader in the Empire's situation, but it wasn't until the middle of the book I was remotely clear on who the Varden were or what kind of ruler King Galbatorix was. I loved how Paolini helped the reader to see the relationship between Saphira and Eragon but portraying a depth of mental intimacy that is beyond grasp. I liked also how Paolini included chapters about Eragon's normal life before the action began, to help you understand how boring his life was before, and to help you understand how much Eragon's life and family meant to him. The only other complaint I have is the cliche that Eragon is much stronger than he should be and a fast and instinctive learner of magic. I hate to say realistically, but realistically, it would have taken him months of training to complete the tasks he completed with none at all.

Overall: Except for some beginning mistakes, Paolini's book is a masterpiece. 9 out of 10.

Details:

Mass Market Paperback: 768 pages
Publisher: Laurel Leaf; Reprint edition (June 12, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440240735
ISBN-13: 978-0440240730