A Clockwork Orange in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jan 10, 2011 Marta rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, dystopia, own-print

This is one of those books that I am glad to have read but not necessarily liked. The invented slang is fascinating. I also liked how easy it read (after you kind of figured out what the words meant) and how it read a lot like The Catcher In The Rye. The story is told in first person and what exactly "Your Humble Narrator" thinks when he does what he does. This perspective makes it fascinating for not so much of what the protagonist feels or does, but more what he does not.

The first half of the This is one of those books that I am glad to have read but not necessarily liked. The invented slang is fascinating. I also liked how easy it read (after you kind of figured out what the words meant) and how it read a lot like The Catcher In The Rye. The story is told in first person and what exactly "Your Humble Narrator" thinks when he does what he does. This perspective makes it fascinating for not so much of what the protagonist feels or does, but more what he does not.

The first half of the book felt very dated. The invented slang is very Slavic - an allude to the cold war, I am guessing - also the notion of "young people are dangerous" must have been an early sixties phenomenon when the baby boomers were just reaching teen-age, and for the first time, were listening to rock music (that Elvis boy with his hip-shaking) and doing scandalous things like smoking and letting their hair grow over their ears. Beating up on old(er) people for fun is just a stone throw from there, right? All youth do it, you can't stop them. Well, that is what the book's conclusion seems to be, which is very.... well... dated.

There are a lot of modern elements though. About halfway through I started feeling like I actually have read a similar book not so long ago - and that was "Mockingjay", the last book of the currently very popular "Hunger Games" series. Much of that was devoted to a youth being forced to do things they did not want to do, and using people via the media for political purposes by both the government and the anti-government forces. The real question of the book is the will of the person involved. In Hunger Games, a good kid is forced to do bad stuff - here, a bad kid is forced to be good against his will. Is this right or wrong? Can you do that "for the betterment of society"? And, is it really the betterment of society, or just willingness to do anything to win an election?

The book probably would have been better without the last chapter that was originally left off the American edition. It would have made you draw your own conclusions. I don't like how he ends up chalking all the violence up to "youth". What we are getting from Alex is not youth behavior, it is full-blown psychopathy. He enjoys torturing people and feels no remorse. People who are like that don't grow it "out of their system". Yeah, people do crazy stuff when they are young, but if they are not psychopaths, they don't do it because they enjoy torturing people, they just do stupid things and usually feel remorse if the stupid thing involved hurting someone.

The book on its literary merits deserves five stars. The language and pure craftsmanship of the story is absolute genius. Some questions and themes are universal, but much of it is rooted in its time and simply does not hold up for the modern reader - thus the four stars. ...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Monica rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-book, fiction

I don't know where to begin in writing a review for A Clockwork Orange. I have heard of this book before and of the movie. I have not seen the movie and didn't read anything about the book prior to deciding to read the book.

The language in the book makes it very difficult to read A Clockwork Orange at first. The language is made up teenage slang. The story takes place in a world of poverty, violence and in the near future. Once I got past the language and started to understand the usage the book ...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Jim Townsend rated it really liked it

A classic but an acquired taste.

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Nov 17, 2015 Marie (UK) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-reading-challenge

I enjoyed this book more than i thought i would when it was picked for our book group read. I am not sure it is classically dystopian but certainly it gives you an alternate look on life if LUdovico's technique had been a workable alternative to jail. The language is off putting at first but I don't hunk it is necessary to understand it all. The context and structure of the novel come through the action as well as the language ...more

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May 08, 2018 Baroness Ekat added it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf, banned-books

I may return to this book another time. But audio is not, for me the best format. I did over an hour and found that the language was one that I had to pay way too much attention to in order to follow and that for me makes it difficult to listen to (as I am usually driving or doing other things when I listen to books)

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