A review by zorawitchin
Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky

0.5

This book sucks.

I am frequently disgusted by books because of their content. This is the first time I have ever been disgusted by a book because of the writing.

I knew something was devastatingly wrong when within the first three chapters the author portrayed a gluten allergy as something only privileged and bratty people have or otherwise as a means of being privileged and bratty. As someone whose intestines are still messed up by the amount of gluten they consumed before they found out about their allergy, I did not appreciate this.

Still, I could have forgiven it if the book it had happened in was in any way good. What a fascinating way to get Gen Z to like you - making fun of them for 311 pages straight. I know part of it’s an influencer thing, but even the protagonist, who I got the sense I was supposed to sympathize with, was insipid, stupid, and contradictory. 

It’s a disgrace to relate this to the Lord of the Flies. It holds little resemblance to the actual Lord of the Flies, which is a book I enjoy, besides a similar plot, references to pigs, and the setup of having hallucinations on a desert island. Nobody even dies in this book.

I wish I could say that I’m sure this is the last time that I read a book where the love interest (?) is redeemed by the reveal that he lied about dingoes eating his girlfriend, but considering how many other terrible books I consume on the regular, I can’t give that guarantee.

This is lower than a one star book because at least one stars make me laugh.