Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8573 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Synopsis
In Burgess's infamous nightmare vision of youth culture in revolt, 15-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the state tries to reform him - but at what cost?

Customer Reviews

Must Read...
Written with relentless honesty and ferociousness, boldly questioning choice and morality. The film would not have been the same if it was ended with the excluded final chapter of the book; an ending I will not spoil.

This reading should be mandatory reading because the book opens the readers eye to mans will to dominate (or force the eye open if you will), and the nature of the beast. It amazes me how this book was written more than four decades ago. How much of Burgess' fiction became reality? Too much.

If you like deciphering fiction the Nadsat language is hilarious and disturbingly childlike. Apparently, Burgess hated the movie. It is clear why he hated the movie, even though the visual representation was spot on.

A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a very good book in terms of credibility and originality. I saw the movie before I read the book, and straight after I viewed the film, I needed to read the book because I don't understood everything.
When I started reading this book I was startled by the strange language it's written in, the principal person Alex, who narrates the story speaks in his own lingo all the way through the novel and that makes the book difficult in the begin.
For me has Anthony Burgess written this very well and drugs, graphic violence & torture are just some of the things included in this novel, but for me is this absolutely the best English book I have ever read.
But it is very hard to read in parts, because of the language. I would give it a 8 on 10.

Ultra-fab, a must read
I am studying 'A Clockwork Orange' for my degree and it has become my favourite book. We view 15 year old Alex's life through his eyes and despite being shocked by his tales of rape and violence, Burgess manages to give Alex a likeable edge and I found myself laughing at the black humour in the novel, then instantly feeling uneasy that I was finding rape humourous. But, I realised that it is not the controversial issues in the book that are portrayed as amusing, it is the absurd way that ultra-violence is contrasted with something as innocent and pure as beethoven's ninth. Alex is not a straight-forward character, there is depth and culture amongst the inhuman brutality and this is what makes the book interesting. The best aspect of the book for me is the language Nadsat. The language baffled me at first, but by the end of the book I was reading it as easily as English.

Definately read this book! I have seen the film and enjoyed it, but I found that the humour of the book was lost in the film and the violence seemed to take over. Try and read the book before you see the film, that worked for me.