Customer Reviews: Read 614 more reviews...
 "Oh, it was gorgeosity and yumyumyum." November 22, 2008
I. Gazarek (Gainesville, FL)
This sentence from the second-to-last chapter of our modern Dante's journey through Hell sums up this book in many ways. Intellectually stimulating, violent, fun, beautiful, dark and open; you won't find a better dystopia.
The problems I tend to have with dark novels about possible futures are that the authors tend to be extremely proud of themselves, and this smugness can ruin a book--and also that the changes in society often seem too clever or silly for me to actually enjoy the story.
A Clockwork Orange, however, pleases the ear as much as it does the mind. Maybe this is because most of Burgess' new words are actually words stolen from other languages. Whatever the reason, this counter-culture comes off as eminently plausible; and one that embraces violence without condemning it is a refreshing change from all these didactic novels about the "dangers" of the nature of humanity.
Fantastic, yet complicated October 9, 2008
Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
I say complicated because of the language that's found throughout the novel. The entire book is written in first person, and we focus on Alex, whose language will be really hard for some people to get into. But if you read it the second or third time, then you'll understand what's happening and what the characters are trying to say.
Anthony Burgess's philosophical novel is a must-read. It deals with modern society and government experiments. Basically, the book discusses the idea of driving a criminal away from crime, but "at what cost?" Many scenes involving rape and violence are especially disturbing (I imagine that Stanley Kubrick's film version is just as gruesome). And the government testing scenes are fairly frightening. The last chapter of this book (the 21st) is now restored, as it has been omitted the first time this was published in the States. It's somewhat controversial, but I won't give you the details, you'll have to read it yourself.
A-
Fantastic novel September 1, 2008
B. Israel
A Clockwork Orange is a great read for anyone interested in a unique and compelling story of a personal battle of a violent teen with his surroundings and inner-conscience. A Clockwork Orange draws in the simple reader with its raw brutality and violence and leaves them greatly affected with the social implications of this literary masterpiece.
Regarding the Russian-English slang spoken by the protagonist, Alex, and his fellow hoodlums; it's initially hard to comprehend, but after the first chapter, one should have no problem reading it.
This book is more than just a thriller - it also touches on the psychological and social aspects that are prevalent in today's society.
A Clockwork Orange August 11, 2008
Grigoriy Sidelnikov
In response to one of other reviewers,
That, what you call "made-up slang" is a language called dsat which is more or less Russian words written using the English alphabet. "Horror Show" for example translates to "good", because if you say horrorshow in one word really fast, someone who understands Russian will likely think you are saying the word "good" in Russian. This language idiosyncrasy alone makes a good point of good vs. evil, which is one of the focuses of the book, where horror show actually means good.
I don't like to believe that this is a study, the author is obviously a genius.
I'm glad you enjoyed the book, and hopefully the film. A must read for anyone, especially those interested to be philosophically stimulated.
Don't forget, many of the ideas in this book are influenced by Nietzsche.
 Good but have to work to get into August 1, 2008
Verner Lofstrand (Leduc Alberta)
This book is very good. It hass undertones as to the situations that are presented in society now even though it was written so long ago. The disregard of youth for the laws that are put in place to protect them and ourselves leads to their inability to function in society and their eventual decomposition to vagrants that put weight on the already weighted prison system. Upon finding a seemingly just punishment and solution the spin doctors find a way not only to persecute the "afflicted" youth but also use it to defeat their own enemies. Very good book however the slang that he was praised for using and developing was very difficult to get into. It actually made me not want to read it at first but getting into it and eventually learning it allowed me to really enjoy the read.
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