A Clockwork Orange

This novel asks the questions 'If a person's free will to choose evil is taken away, does that make them a good person?

Is a person who chooses good because they feel compelled to by some outside force (religion, punishment, etc.) actually good?

Should a person's free will be taken away for the good of society?'

I know Burgess was anti-communist, and in this book it's the government doing these horrible experiments to try and make society 'homogenous'. I've read this book 4 or 5 times, and it was only right before this most current re-read that I read up on Burgess himself and found out about his political leanings. This novel reads (to me) more like a conservative government trying to control the population, although I know that Burgess show more most likely intended it to be a liberal government.

Ultimately, this book answers all of the above questions, and makes you truly think about the world and how it works. And it gives hope in the fact that people can and do change, not because they have to, but because they want to. show less

Like a dose of smelling salts, A Clockwork Orange arrives with force and leaves you feeling queasy, but also leaves you alert. Author Anthony Burgess' dystopian world of teenage gangs roaming about committing random, nihilistic acts of violence sounds disturbingly prescient when viewed from 2025, when news headlines regularly inform us of some new depth plumbed by elements of our society, whether that be school shooters, machete brawls or child-rape gangs. Burgess' world is made even more disturbing by the government's response to these "droogs": comprehensive brainwashing during incarceration which leaves the perpetrators confused, hollowed-out shells who are in turn abused by the weak, vindictive society after they are defanged.

This show more is where the book's enigmatic title comes from; something that ought to grow naturally but which has been hollowed-out and made into a pointless automaton. For such a short book, A Clockwork Orange gets its point across remarkably well. It's hard to pinpoint a specific theme; Burgess doesn't overtly moralize and when he does, in the final chapter, it falls flat – I find myself agreeing with the book's original American publisher when they cut the final chapter from their edition, making the ending darker. But the author's world convinces; his invented slang for the teenage delinquents (the book is written in this vernacular) is surprisingly easy to grasp, and helps pull us into the story rather than push us away. A Clockwork Orange convinces in its nihilistic, dystopian fetish for violence, the government's totalitarian reaction to it, and a weak society's passive acquiescence to it. The latter is not often acknowledged, but often the most important and damaging of the three. The most disturbing thing, for me, is that from the perspective of 2025 the acts of depravity committed by Burgess' characters now seem almost tame compared to the real world. show less

4.5/5

An excellent, short dystopian novel with a unique style and subsequent challenges. A Clockwork Orange follows a delinquent teen, Alex, and initially his three friends on their nighttime drug-induced tours of violence. The book is written from Alex's point of view and in English, but leans heavily on 'nadsat' slang, something that Burgess created out of Russian. This nadsat is what most teenagers use in A Clockwork Orange when addressing each other, a language that confuses the 'starry' (old) class of people. Much as it did for me, for awhile.

A lot of the meaning behind these words can be gleaned from the context clues that Burgess gives you, but it's still a steep learning curve at first. The usage of nadsat continues throughout show more the book, and rarely are actual definitions ever given. I think your enjoyment of A Clockwork Orange is largely dependent on your opinion of this slang language, and the graphic violence that Alex is fond of. Personally I found the nadsat to give the novel a fresh feeling despite it's age. Usually in these older SF novels, the author will include the slang of the period they are writing in, which at the time of publication might make the author seem less like an old fogy, but reading it 50 years later it typically makes the writing pointedly dated. Nadsat gives the world of A Clockwork Orange a unique and real feeling, something that I doubt will dissipate quickly.

The writing itself is typically long-winded in a semi-stream of consciousness style. I had mixed feelings about this, but I loved the structure of the plot itself and the repeated motifs within. I can see merits to both of the two 'ending' chapters (the copy I read included the final chapter that was omitted from the Kubrick film and many editions of the novel), though I think chapter six is a stronger finish to the novel, a resolution that also seems in line with the rest of the work.

A Clockwork Orange revolves mostly around the concept of free-will and choice. What does it mean to make someone 'good', especially if they have no choice to be 'bad'? Can there be rehabilitation through control? These are questions that Burgess doesn't answer directly, but leaves at the reader's feet for examination through Alex himself. There's also commentary on the prison system, government overreach, and police brutality to name a few. Burgess has things to say and doesn't pull any of his punches, which I respect.

It's a classic for a reason. I can see a lot of people disliking, or even hating it for its obsession with graphic violence or the writing style. Still, its a rare book that will illicit strong feelings to either end of the spectrum, and I find these types of works be the most interesting. It speaks to their memorability, their unique qualities that make them stand out of the crowd. A Clockwork Orange is memorable to the extreme, and I'm certain that the memory of reading it will have me back to the well at some point in the future. Interested in see the Kubrick film as well and see how it compares. show less

I gollied over to the ol’ biblio and signed this choodessny book out, pulling out my card from my carman and handing it over to the devotchka behind the desk. No need for cutter or deng, O my brothers. It’s a real horrowshow book if you like that sort of veshch. Not like the other cal. It was ultraviolent in places but other parts I smecked my gulliver off, my litso must have looked funny like. After reading it, I couldn’t zasnoot. I recommended it to one of my droogs though, saying the book was zammechat and such.

Excellent book. But I agree with the American editor who did not publish the last chapter for the US version. I like the ending of the penultimate chapter where the reader is left wondering what is worse the cure or the natural state. In the version I read (published by Easton Press) the original last chapter that was published everywhere else (UK and the world) portrays the The Humble Narrator to be redeemed to some extent. For me, that limits my imagination and the ability of the reader to bring something to the book themselves. Still, this is a great read. The first third of the book I found particularly difficult to read because of the violence. The middle third was interesting from the point of view of how the treatment is show more perceived by The Humble Narrator. The last third is interesting how everything comes back to roost for The Humble Narrator. Is he redeemed? Is it necessary to be able to choose between good and evil in order to be a moral person? Is someone who is hardwired for evil (or for good) amoral? And what is the limits of the state in keeping its citizens safe (or rather in line with state expectations of behaviour)?

Interesting questions.

I like this rating system by ashleytylerjohn of LibraryThing (https://www.librarything.com/profile/ashleytylerjohn) that I have also adopted:
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.) show less

La prima parte è faticosa: Alex racconta la sua storia in prima persona con il suo linguaggio inventato in cui occorre entrare. Poi, se uno ha visto il film di Kubrick, non può non pensare a come lui riesca a rendere alla perfezione questa parte, e a orientarsi sulla posizione "oh, sta a vedere che a questo giro è meglio il film?"
Poi Alex viene preso e comincia la parte della prigione, del Metodo Ludovico (seconda parte) e infine il ritorno alla società (terza parte). E qui, la situazione cambia. Infatti Burgess riesce ad andare a fondo in maniera precisa, in cui ogni dettaglio non è lasciato al caso, in cui i rimandi ad altri punti del romanzo sono precisi e importanti.
Sulle interpretazioni di questo romanzo, credo siano stati show more scritti fiumi di parole, e anche sull'ultimo capitolo che non fa parte dell'Arancia Meccanica di Kubrick (e che, tra l'altro, è stato aggiunto in seguito: Kubrick in prima battuta non lo aveva letto): quello che mi ha colpito, e che credo che mi rimarr, è l'estrema modernità che ho colto.
Burgess lo pubblica nel '62. "La bontà è qualcosa che si sceglie. Quando un uomo non può scegliere cessa d'essere un uomo", dice il cappellano del carcere, quanto ci facciamo anche oggi privare per apparente quieto vivere della nostra libertà di scelta? E ancora, "Ammucchiate dei criminali insieme ed ecco quello che succede. Ottenete della criminalità concentrata, il delitto dentro il gastigo. Presto potremmo aver bisogno di tutto lo spazio delle nostre prigioni per i delinquenti politici", dice il governatore, tirando fuori una quantità di riflessioni sul sistema carcerario e sui totalitarismi che non abbiamo ancora superato. Per non parlare di come Alex viene poi tirato per la giacchetta per essere utilizzato a scopo meramente propagandistico.

Per tirare le fila, 200 e spiccioli pagine dense, non scorrevoli, necessarie. Da (ri)accoppiare con la visione del capolavoro di Kubrick e con tanto Beethoven (e un po' di Mozart). show less

There are not many books that I place in the category of "must read," but this is on that list. The world Burgess creates permeates through past, present, and future cultures. Burgess portrays youth culture as degenerate and immoral, yet his portrayal of how society responds to the hooligan culture is possibly as immoral and degenerate as the youth. Burgess uses a meticulous attention to detail throughout this amazing disturbing tale of youth and Government control to create an unforgettable read.