Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

There are many similarities here, some big, some trivial.

• PLOT: In both stories, a group of strangers crashes on an island and devolves into violent behavior against each other (though Lord of the Flies is about boys and Lost has men and women and a few kids). Both stories have the characters dividing into factions based on beliefs [LotF – Ralph (civilization) vs. Jack (savagery), Lost – Jack (reason) vs. Locke (faith)… LotF’s Ralph and Lost’s Jack are both initially reluctant leaders], and this leads to a lot of reader/viewer speculation on the nature of man and/or the universe.
• CHARACTERS: Both stories have a character peculiarly connected with his island (LotF – Simon, Lost – Locke). Both have a character whose death is seen as a sacrifice to the Island by another (LotF – Jack on Simon’s death, Lost – Locke on Boone’s death). Both have a parachutist arrive on an island, get stuck in a tree, and get discovered by the castaways (LotF – the paratrooper, Lost – Naomi).
• OTHER: Sawyer and Charlie both mention people acting all “Lord of the Flies.” Both the Island and this book’s island are filled with boar. Hurley finds a boar swarming with flies, and in the book, a boy finds a fly-infested boar head on a stick. Both Islands also have rumors of a monster in the jungle. Both have plot points concerning asthma (LotF – Piggy, Lost – Shannon) and a side story about someone’s glasses (LotF – Piggy, Lost – Sawyer).

Thoughts:

Unfortunately, I had to read this book for three separate classes, and in each of those classes, we analyzed it to DEATH. I actually enjoyed this book the first time through, but now I can’t stand it. It’s actually a well-written story about how people create government and society based on crises. It’s also shares many similarities with Lost, so I wish I’d seen this show before suffering through those classes. At the very least, I could have whipped up a decent paper on comparisons and links between the two. And it really is worth reading… I just don’t want to read it myself right now.

Catch-22 – Joseph Heller

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Desmond Hume finds a Brazilian Portuguese copy of this book (titled Ardil-22) in the episode “Catch-22.” The title is appropriate for this episode, as it’s centered around Desmond, who was himself quite confused during his brief stint in the military. (His mind was jumping in time. What excuse does Yossarian have for his fragmented storytelling?) The Portuguese book belongs to the multilingual Naomi. It falls out of her bag when her helicopter crashes. (Oh, crashes are pretty common in Catch-22.)

My Thoughts:

I borrowed this book from a friend who is absolutely in love with it. Sorry, Carolyn, I don’t love it as much as you do, but I still enjoyed reading it. Definitely, I enjoyed the clever word play. I was also pretty pleased with Orr by the end, doing all those odd things that turned out to be intentional.