Perigee

William Golding

Jul 1959 · Perigee Issue #1 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

Golding’s iconic 1954 novel, now with a new foreword by Lois Lowry, remains one of the greatest books ever written for young adults and an unforgettable classic for readers of any age.
 
This edition includes a new Suggestions for Further Reading by Jennifer Buehler.

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate. This far from civilization they can do anything they want. Anything. But as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far removed from reality as the hope of being rescued.

Ratings and reviews

We read this book in high school while at the same time dissecting fetal pigs in biology class. Classmates co-opted a fetal pig head from biology and put it on a stick as the boys did in Lord of the Flies. It was presented to our Lit teacher in a spur of the moment presentation that was memorialized in our yearbook. I enjoyed the book at the time, however now as I look back at Lord of the Flies it becomes a disturbing all-too-real analogy to the de-evolution of American society.

this is too gruesome and depressing for me. it will stay in your memory and teach you a lesson, but it's not how I want to spend my precious free time

Meh...it's OK. It's not our best representation of the obvious theme of what Man's Nurture vs Nature, but it's probably the shortest one. The movie is actually better than the book. Golding spends a lot of time describing in depth what doesn't need to be described so thoroughly.

About the author

William Golding was born in Cornwall, England, in 1911 and educated at Oxford University. His first book, Poems, was published in 1935. Following a stint in the Royal Navy during World War II, Golding wrote Lord of the Flies while teaching school. It was the first of several works, including the novels Pincher Martin, Free Fall, and The Inheritors and a play, The Brass Butterfly, which led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
 
Lois Lowry is the two-time Newbery Award–winning author of Number the Stars,The Giver Quartet, and numerous other books for young adults.
 
Jennifer Buehler is an associate professor of educational studies at Saint Louis University and President of The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English.