A Clockwork Orange

Rating:
Summary: Don't judge a book by its movie!
Review: If you're tired of reading the same ol' stories with a goody two-shoes protagonist, who has some sort of dilemma then through a miraculous epiphany he finds his way and everyone holds hands and sings kumbaya, then this is the book for you! (Whatever you do, do not read the last chapter!!!!)

This is a very dark and satirical novel with a very fresh dialogue. Burgess uses a language called Nadsat to alienate the main character and his "droogies" from the rest of the world. If you have the capacity to read at a slightly higher level (like Shakespeare or Dante), or are enamored by the challenge, then this story will have you quoting it months after you're finished with it. And if you're IQ is above average you might even recognize the author's sporadic humor and sarcasm.

Alex suffers from some kind of psychopathic disorder, and the society he lives in has incubated all the malice that lives within him. He is very clever, brave, witty, articulate, and not exactly what you would call a delicate flower.

After the government experiments with a highly effective and novel rehabilitation method, Alex becomes an ideal citizen, but he suffers every day and wants to kill himself. His life becomes "Clockwork" and loses its purpose (I don't know where the orange part comes from).

As you read it you will be confused as to how you are cheering on this menace, which kills, robs, and does other horrific activities. However, this is where Burgess' genius becomes apparent and makes the book a classic. You the reader experience what Alex experiences when he goes through the rehabilitation process, he starts feeling and doing things that are contradictory to his natural state of being, and hence becomes mere "clockwork." Even though he is a malevolent character you yourself are in oppression of something greater and can't help liking him and hoping for his reincarnation so to speak.

All of the characters are interesting and the encounters with one another are real. The only folly of the book is its 21st chapter. I don't know hat happened here but the book is pure magic until its last chapter, where it abandons its key premise and succumbs to social pressures and suddenly becomes politically correct. Nonetheless, the book is profound intelectual bliss-you can end with the 20th chapter and it makes complete sense.

I recommend this book to anyone who is not superficial and is looking for a thoughtful experience. Please do not judge this book by its movie! This cliché was probably coined specifically for this book. The movie has a completely different ambiance and misses the artistic brilliance of the author. The book is probably 5 times more interesting, more entertaining, and much better.

It's a great read, and will have you scratching your head by the end of the book, not because it's confusing, but because you can't put it down and thus have no time to shower.

In My Humble Onion
John G (Find Me Please)


Rating:
Summary: A clockwork orange taste good!
Review: The first thing that should be known about this book is it's literary style. The book is based in a british slang called nadast. Don't be discouraged by this style of writing and decide not to read this book. I know when i first picked up this book and i had read the first page i thought to myself, "man, this is one hard book to follow." At that point i had almost put the book down and planned on not reading it. But, people telling me how good this book was kept me reading the book. After a few pages into the book taking it slowly i started to make sense of this confusing text and now i'm use to it, and it's a wonderful book. SO FROM ME TO YOU, IF U PLAN ON READING THIS BOOK DON'T PUT IT DOWN THE TEXT WILL MAKE SENSE THE FARTHER YOU GET INTO IT. Hey, Maybe you'll even start talking like them, this being a very horrorshow (good) book.

As for the actual review of the story, i will start with the beginning but i dont plan on giving it all away (you can read someone elses if you want to spoil it for you.) Also im not good at reviews or writing in genral.

First off, the book starts with a young 15 year old boy named Alex, who is sort of a juvenile delinquent. His average days consist of Hanging out with His Droogs(friends,also gang members) sitting at a milk bar (drugged up milk is drank here) and doing several delinquent acts such as rape,thievery and maybe even MURDER! The first main thing to happen in this book is they take a little trip to a authors hows to have a little fun. Alex using his charm to make the kind young lady open the door enough for them to run in and attack and rape his wife and him. Later they return to the milk bar and a young lady starts to sing a little opera, when Dim (the dumbest and biggest of them)makes a very ignorant gesture/noise towards this women. Which results in a nice kiss to the face from the leader Alex. This makes his droogs to conimplate betrayal and hatred towards there leader. Then the droogs go off to another house to go for more vicous acts. Alex leads in and is confronted by a older woman who puts up a terrible fight. As Alex leaves the house he is confronted by his droogs to see that they have come to betray him. They knock him to the ground which results in him getting caught by the cops.

Alex is then charged with murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison. 2 years in prison leads to a scientific discovery made by government officials to "brainwash criminals to be good" and Alex is "forced" into the program. They give Alex a drug that inflicts pain on him which then they keep his eyes open as he watches disturbing videos; so as the drug co-insides with criminal acts triggering when he does wrong.

There is more to this book but like i said early i am not about to give the book away thats pretty much to much info right there. If you want to know what happens next then look at someone elses to find it, like i said im not giving it away. Also Yes! there is a movie on it but i reccomend you should read the book instead or at least read it before it is certainly much better and more enjoyable then the movie.




Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I have a peculiar trait of not reading what i am told to read. When the teacher tells us to read sheakspeare for homework, that is the one thing i dont do. I read quite often, and I DO IT FOR PLEASURE AND ENJOYMENT. This book was one of those books that I would pick up apposed to doing my calc. I enjoyed this book very much, It tickled my mind more than whatever I wasnt reading in school would have, I guarentee it. This book brought to the light issues of free will, governemnt, humanity, and morals, or lack there-of. Kindof funny isnt it. Morals. I read this around election time and morals seem to be the hot topic, especially with the right wingers. People seem to think government can improve peoples morals, what a load. Lets take a look at alex's world. His government is the epitomy of controlling ones feeling and morals, but lo and behold is Alex a nice person? What about his droogies? NO. Even with alex's transformation at the end he is miles from what we would call acceptable today. Let us not forget that the goal of being "moral" is to provide an enviornment where an alex must change, not to change an alex. I think we are forgetting that, and this book is a good reminder. And if you disagree with me then you are wrong.

Rating:
Summary: A Spectacular Book.
Review: Due to the absolutely amazing film by Stanley Kubrick I had to read Anthony Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange" and I wasn't dissapointed.
There is a rarity bewtween these two works as well.The first being that the movie is actually better than the book. The movie is a little more graphic,when the main character Alex pulls the old in-out,in-out on a poor victim there is no details about it and it is left to your imagination. In Kubrick's film nothing could be more farther from the truth.The language Burgess uses in the book is spectacular and the structure of the book is well done as well.
Alex and his band of "droogs" sit at the Korova Milkbar (also something that isn't really mentioned in the book but comes to life in Kubrick's film) plotting what to do with the evening,and eventually end up at a house where they beat and rape a woman
while they forced the husband to watch.Well this goes on for a while before Alex is caught and sent to prison. He's there for two years and he learns about a new form of technology and which they make you "viddy" films which depict violence while they hold
his glazzies open so he is forced to watch.An amazing book,have to read. A+.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous, Simply Marvelous
Review: This is a striking peak into the future faintly paralleling the worlds that Orwell and Huxley foretold. The narrator and main character, Alex, leads his droogs (friends) to vandalism and anarchical acts. Burgess uses a slang language derivative of Russian that creates a strange futuristic tone. At first, the language made it hard to understand and read, but as one begins to indulge themselves in the story, the language is nearly non-existent. Burgess puts this group of kids against all the best wishes of society and they survive society's grasp. Burgess also uses parallelism of his future with our reality to show what might happen. Strangely enough, and quite ironic, Alex, the leader of a vicious group of street hooligans, finds favoritism in classical music such as Beethoven, Handel, and Bach. This contrast was obviously intentional to show the influence of the past in the near future. It is a great story that I quickly started reading and enjoyed every slash of Alex's britva and every beating of innocent bystanders. To enhance every brutal scene, Burgess uses a mix of dialog and narration. Burgess' use of strong language, a pioneer of his time, helps create an atmosphere of anarchical lunacy. I would highly recommend this book to anybody that can take a good old graphic novel filled with suspense and fun.