Product Description

In this nightmare vision of a not-too-distant future, fifteen-year-old Alex and his three friends rob, rape, torture and murder - for fun. Alex is jailed for his vicious crimes and the State undertakes to reform him - but how and at what cost?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2560 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
The previous books of this author (Devil of a State - 1962 - The Right to an Answer - 1961) had valid points of satire, some humor, and a contemporary view, but here the picture is all out - from a time in the future to an argot that makes such demands on the reader that no one could care less after the first two pages. If anyone gest beyond that - this is the first person story of Alex, a teen-age hoodlum, who, in step with his times, viddies himself and the world around him without a care for law, decency, honesty; whose autobiographical language has droogies to follow his orders, wallow in his hate and murder moods, accents the vonof human hole products. Betrayed by his dictatorial demands by a policing of his violence, he is committed when an old lady dies after an attack; he kills again in prison; he submits to a new method that will destroy his criminal impulses; blameless, he is returned to a world that visits immediate retribution on him; he is, when an accidental propulsion to death does not destroy him, foisted upon society once more in his original state of sin. What happens to Alex is terrible but it is worse for the reader. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
In this nightmare vision of a not-too-distant future, fifteen-year-old Alex and his three friends rob, rape, torture and murder - for fun. Alex is jailed for his vicious crimes and the State undertakes to reform him - but how and at what cost?

About the Author
Anthony Burgess was born in Manchester in 1917. From 1954 to 1960 he was stationed in Malaysia as an education officer - during this time he started writing The Malayan Trilogy. Diagnosed with an unoperable brain tumour in 1959, Burgess became a full-time writer and went on to write a book a year up until his death in 1993. His many works include: The Complete Enderby, Tremor of Intent, The Kingdom of the Wicked and A Clockwork Orange.

Customer Reviews

Creative and Disturbing
This is a fantastic and clever book. It follows in the same vein as Orwell's 1984, but takes things that one step further. The book is narrated by the compelling anti-hero Alex. It is written in the language of the gangs of the streets of this dystopian future place, which now is not so very unlike our own society. Alex hates school and rails against authority, hanging out with his gang of thugs in the Corova Milk Bar, taking drugs, raping girls and enjoying nights of bloody mayhem.

An ill-judged robbery goes hideously wrong and Alex is incarcerated in prison, where he becomes the subject of a new social experiment which claims to reprogramme the brain so that violence is no longer an option. Alex takes us through these events and their aftermath in his peculiarly charming and yet repellent words.

Burgess takes on the big themes of social control, anarchy and free will in this fascinating and brilliant book. If you have read the book you will want to see Kubrick's film, which is also brilliant in a completely different way. If you have seen the film prepare to be wowed by the book. Stick with the language, after a while it becomes easy to read as you become immersed into Alex's world and it's well worth the effort.

Couldn't put it down and surprisingly understood it!
This book orginally sat in my boyfriends bathroom for a year because I felt this was going to be a hard book to read. When you look at a page without reading it, what stands out is the large amount of words not in standard english, slang and foreign words. Just glancing in it maybe you'd think this was a foreign language book. However when I had nothing else to read and was 'forced' to read this book, I found it surprisingly easy to read and was delighted by the fact that I didn't have to look in the glossary once.
I loved the way the story panned out, was shocked in a way, that the book was more graphic, more controversial than the film. I also think that one feels more sympathetic to the narrators plight than in the film, I suppose this is uncomfortable for some people.
Uncomfortable or not this is a good book.

Better Than The Film
Like most people I saw the film before I read the book and I am glad that I have viewed both.
The film is a wonderful `work of art` and the book is a modern day masterpiece.
Anthony Burgess painted a picture of modern society 30 years before `youth culture` was invented.
This book compares with Orwells 1984, Bowies `Diamond Dogs` and `Till Death Us Do Part by Garry Jackson.
My biggest wish is a remake of the film.