“Lord of the Flies” -William Golding
Firstly, I feel like they at least should’ve given the poor kids a starter pack. I mean, in every dead end icebreaker that goes something like “what three things would you bring with you on a deserted island,” you usually aren’t too worried about your whole “alone on an island” situation due to your infinite supply of food, water and Wi-Fi. I feel like the whole plot of this story could’ve been prevented if they were able to bring some gadgets with them, as the situation they are put in is just as ridiculous as the icebreaker. Either way, I tried so hard to put myself in the character’s shoes, but for some reason my visions never led me to a jungle face to face with an evil fly swarmed pig head. William Golding definitely described himself as artsy and mysterious. I don’t even know how he was able to keep track of all his own symbols because personally, I didn’t enjoy reading between his lines to figure out that the fire on the mountain represented hope and savagery. He could’ve just said that. It would’ve saved me hours of my life and numerous terrible test scores. 4/10
AP Lang textbook -McDougal Littel
Sometimes as I read this textbook, the words start to melt together until all I can see is “philosophy, romantic, analyze, rhetoric, philosophy analyze.” Honestly, I feel like this book lacks depth and the plot is extremely hard to follow. They keep introducing random characters like Henry David Thoreau. Actually, there are way too many people named David in this book. They could’ve at least chosen a less generic name if they didn’t wanna put in the effort to find new characters. It’s been a couple of months since I dug into this book and I’m on track to finish reading by 2030. 2.5/10
“Romeo and Juliet” -William Shakespeare
This story is a staple in the English curriculum. However, it probably should’ve been taken out at least 30 years ago. While “Romeo and Juliet” shares some sincere lessons about love, trying to decipher Shakespeare’s word choices will take longer than the amount of time those lessons will stay really with you. Reading this story is kind of like watching a horror movie. You are stuck watching all the ridiculous decisions made by the characters that lead them closer to their death, and yelling at the screen to turn around or to stop screaming and the characters just keep moving forward in oblivion. Shakespeare however, did a great job painting Romeo as someone that would definitely be insufferable to talk to in real life. Sure he can be a cutesy lover boy, but I know the second he’s faced with a situation that doesn’t involve him getting some play, he would be a deer in headlights. 6/10
