I will never forget the summer that I read this book for the first time and Lord of the Flies continues to haunt me all these years later. It's a brutal, soul-shaking novel that eases you in with rational young characters who, you assume, are head-to-toe innocent and that this is simply a story of survival...it never once occurs to you that they're not only facing the elements. The erosion of order and reason is sickeningly believable, as you see the threads wearing thin between characters, particularly Ralph and Jack, and resentments beginning to build to unbearable heights. The destruction of these children is horrifying to witness, and the inevitable outcome is utterly devastating. The barbarity and cruelty of human nature is truly laid bare here, and it's one of the most unsettling books I've ever read.