Review: Lord of the Flies | By: William Golding

Lord of the Flies is a dark and deep dive into the innate, animalistic and untamed nature of children, boys in this case, in the absence of societal guardians or parents. Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was the debut novel of William Golding. The book begins with British schoolboys, marooned upon an empty and undiscovered island, where Piggy, a pudgy and short boy encounters a fellow he was yet to meet earlier, "the boy with fair hair." They explore the island cautiously and come to the horrifying realization that on this island, no grown-ups existed, the boys were on their own, fending for themselves, mere children (aged roughly from 6-12 years old.) William Golding compares the developed society to the misconceptions and stereotypes of the 1950s of Indigenous peoples, where the Aboriginals were supposedly, "not humans," or , "savages." 

Ratings: This is an older and more classic book, filled with the misconceptions of the early to mid20th century. It is still a must-read however. 

Review: Solaris | By: Stanisław Lem

   

  Solaris is a cult classic of the science fiction genre. Written in 1961, originally in Polish later translated to English in 1970, it popularized the SF genre alongside others, such as H.G. Wells (War of the Worlds) and Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc). Within the universe of Solaris, Kelvin, an up and coming scientist enters Station Solaris with one main purpose: to identify whether the seemingly living and almost-intelligent planet should continue to be studied by mankind.  However as he spends more and more time floating atop the "thinking ocean" he experiences almost-lifelike visions of past memories, buried memories. These visions seemed to affect everyone on board, convincing Kelvin, more and more that these were not visions but memories temporarily brought back to life by the ocean... 

    Solaris is... not the easiest read. It is a slow-burner, for the majority of its pages, albeit relatively short (roughly 214 pages). However it is indeed worth it. The whole book is classified as a science fiction genre, however it ventures out to various genres: romance, morality and a brief amount of thriller.

Ratings: A must-read for all science fiction buffs. Solaris is psychologically thrilling and raises many questions of morality.