A Clockwork Orange

Rating:
Summary: a good book needs to be understood
Review: A Clockwork Orange is a story of the life of a gangster, Alex, and his three droogs (friends), Peter, George, and Dim. What the book reveals about Alex and human nature is startling and must not be taken for a tale of pure madness and ultra-violence. Unfortunately, movie-watchers were only naturally entertained, without understanding the philosophical message behind it. The theme is mixed with Burgess's 'Nadsat language' derived from various languages, mostly Russian. This is the 'lingo' of the gang. One misunderstanding is that the word 'orange' in the title does not mean an orange, it means man derived from Malay. In the preface to this book it becomes all too clear that Burgess is talking about a man who can be wound up like a clock by God or the Devil and has no free will to choose what to be. The priest in the Staja jail also says something like "A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man." What lies beneath Burgess's tale of rape and ultra-violence and undergoing a dangerous treatment for it is a notion of how human nature is never all good nor all evil and to make a clockwork orange of a person is to dehumanize him.

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Summary: MS. VAILL READ THIS!
Review: I loved the way that a book like A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, can make the reader feel bad for the villain. It is the story of a fifteen-year-old boy named Alex, who maims, rapes and robs people for recreation. He doesn't really think much of it, just as we don't think much of killing a fly. Well one night, he and his droogs (gang friends) go to a house to rob it, and Alex ends up killing the lady and then is betrayed by his droogs and brought in by the police. He then goes under a new scientific procedure that will make him good again... One of my favorite quotes from the book pretty much sums it up: "Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?" (p. 95).

I thought this book was eye opening. It really debates whether it is better to choose, for better or worse, or to let people tell you what to do. It also shows how desensitized people get after being exposed to so much violence. At first it is hard to understand, with all of Alex's slang (hands are "rookers," guys are "malchiks," and the aforementioned droogs). But as one gets more into the book, one picks up on the slang, and it is a great language that Burgess writes in.

Rating:
Summary: morons
Review: the negative actions depicted in this book are not a good thing...duh. that was tony's point! "no good, no bad" idiocy makes tony barf his other lung. take responsibility for yourselves!!! (read that again!) try shock therapy if you're still watching sports on TV. help someone today.

Rating:
Summary: A Clockwork Orange
Review: I read Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. I enjoyed the book very much. The story is will developed, and it is written in a creative way. Anthony Burgess uses many words pulled from other languages to replace ordinary everyday English words. For example he uses the word "krovvy" to replace the word blood. There is a Glossary of Nadsat Language in the back of the book. At first the words make it difficult to comprehend what is happening. The first couple of chapters I had to keep flipping back to the Glossary. Then I got the hang of the words. Not only do the different words make it an interesting read, but he also has a creative style of writing.
The story is the first person view of a young boy named Alex. It is about how he and his friends, droogies, like to walk the streets and beat people up. Unfortunately for Alex all the trouble comes back on him. Anthony Burgess uses Alex's story to get across many points depending upon how much one wants to reads into the story. Burgess refers to the change in times and how the police abuse their powers by cracking down too hard. The story is violent, but does not go into details too much to gross someone out. I am not one who likes to read a lot, but I certainly liked this book. I would recommend this book more to males even if they do not like to read.

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Summary: Surprisingly Worthwhile
Review: I have to admit, I was actually afraid to read this book. I have never seen the movie but had heard many awful things about it. I was expecting a book without a purpose (as many described the movie to me) that graphically described countless horrific crimes and then ended. I knew it couldn't be as bad as people described and still be so popular so I decided I would read it for myself. I am happy to report that this book is nothing like what I expected.

The slang language used by the main characters of this novel serves two purposes to me. First, it transports the reader directly to Burgess' futuristic world that quickly becomes frighteningly real while at the same time provides a sort of buffer that allows the reader, for some unknown reason, to still like Alex despite his tendencies toward terrible, violent crimes. It is for this same unknown reason that I found myself appalled at the "cure" Alex was given in order to be released from prison.

This novel poses several very intriguing questions. I found the prison chaplain's view especially interesting. "It may be horrible to be good." Is it better to choose to be bad or to be forced to be good? Being good, or in this case, not doing bad things, doesn't make a person good when their inner thoughts are still bad. The closest Alex gets to being good is not when he is physically kept from committing violent crimes but when he realizes, through his own reasoning, that there is more to life than violence and crime.

There is much more to this book than graphic violence and crime, or even what I have briefly mentioned here. The language of this book makes it one of a kind and the thought provoking questions it raises make it definitely worth reading.

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Summary: And all that cal
Review: A Clockwork Orange is the story of good and evil and the value of choice. The main character, is a 15 year old lad named Alex whose life consists of crime, cruelty, and recklessness. After being betrayed by an accomplice, he is sentenced to prison where he volunteers for a program that corrects the seemingly uncorrectable. Only then does he being to suffer the consequences of his crash and burn lifestyle.

A Clockwork Orange is what I believe to be a fabulous novel. It may confuse a reader at the start because of the language, but its not that hard to understand the slang dialect if you have a firm grasp on English and are a few pages into the book. Also, one must be patient when reading it because the main ideas aren't revealed until later in the novel. There is a lot of building up the characters before hand, which is valuable information but may bore those who are already have a distaste for the book's violent nature. I also highly recommend that you read the British version because the last or 21st chapter is quite important.

Anyways, the book is more oriented those who can see past the gore and sex and can grasp the main ideas the author is trying to convey through a clockwork orange.

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Summary: interesting disutopic sci-fi book
Review: An interesting disutopic sci-fi book on alienation, violence and misogyny. It was even more interesting when I read that it had been published with different endings.

I wasn't as impressed with Burgess' using non-English words, because I speak Russian and that's all the "slang" really was. (Example, the Russian word for Friend is Droog; Hand is Ryka; Milk is Moloko). Therefore it was immediately apparent to me though I liked the mixing of the two languages it reminded me of how I talk at home using both languages interchangeably. In a way I wish I could've read the book as most people did (who didn't use the glossary) and try to figure out the words through context.

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Summary: Some People Are Nuts
Review: Quote "I found this book tiring because it was so wordy and I found no real attachment to any of the characters because the only ones described in depth were cold and violent."
That is the review of someone who 1. Doesn't seem to like reading, and 2. Only wants to read about people like herself. This book is good on so many levels. Read it. You many not care for the characters, their actions, or the subject matter, but there is no denying the thought prevoking aspects of this novel.

Rating:
Summary: a true classic
Review: i do not understand how people can call this "frustrating" after page three it all makes sense. and as for "glorifies violence" i suppose you did not read the last and final chapter, wich is all about young alex changing his ways and chosingly stopping all his violent acts so he may start a new life and have a son. even though i knew certain parts in advance (the films alex is forced to watch) it was still very interesting to hear the way it was described. and as for "if anyone else had written this it would be considered pornography" Burgess was actually not that famous when the book was published, it was this book that made him famous. I hope one day someone will make a film more like the book than stanley kubricks version (all the main charactors in the film look 30 as opposed to 14) all in all this is a great book and i believe that everyone should read this at least once in their lives.

Rating:
Summary: Best book that has ever been written
Review: The title of my review should sum it up nicely....ive read lot of books and i still find myself reading this book over and over and over again, and the funny thing is , i have yet to see the movie.

This story deals with one of the biggest problems in our society, Crime and Punishment.The way the story depicts the charecters and what happens to them is amazing.Alex has got to be one of the greatest characters ever written.

This book owns...buy it.