Somehow this one didn’t get read when I was younger. This was mostly what I expected, however I was surprised at how long it took for the children to turn on each other. I was also agitated by the lack of attention the older boys paid to the “little ones” – in fact, Golding seemed to even forget about them as the two groups of older boys faced off in the final third of the book. I felt for Ralph near the end and could imagine myself in full panic mode. The lack of attribution was highly frustrating – which boy is talking right now?! – and Golding’s accounts of the boys’ surroundings did not easily paint a picture of what he wanted the reader to “see”. It was also difficult to assess just how long they were on the island. The references to long hair suggest many months, but that feels like too long of a time horizon. My takeaways, not mind-blowing: it doesn’t take much for our primal, survival instincts to kick in, and a lust for power is one of humanity’s most deep-seated traits.