Rating: 
Summary: A Brutal, But Excellent Novel
Review: "A Clockwork Orange" is a great read in numerous ways. First off, Burgess did a brilliant job with creating an invented language of the teens in the future-set society. At first, it is hard to follow and might be a little frustrating to some, but if you are patient, you will get used to it and realize how incredible it is. The novel also has a very important theme to it, which displays the importance of moral choice. The central character, Alex, is nothing but a clockwork orange (I'll leave it to you to figure out what that is by the end of the book). There are some that might argue that the novel is too violent, but the high level of violence is actually needed to strengthen both the setting (a future society filled with crime) and the theme. The movie was also good, but I enjoyed the book more.
Rating:
Summary: delicious
Review: This book by Burgess explores into the mind of a genious. The grammar alone brings you into the psycodelic world of the mind of little Alex. This troubled youth I found to be very funny and witty. And when the government stripped him from the greatest gift god gave us, it made me extremely mad. Free will is the greatest gift in the world. I cannot tell the end but it surely is good. I would also see the movie by Stanley Kubrick.
Rating: 
Summary: Very rich and very moral. An enduring fable
Review: Anthony Burgess originally wrote this novel when he was told by a doctor that he had a year to live. After this was found to be false he re-edited his manuscript. Perhaps though, the urgency and pace of his writing reflects his own brushes with mortality. The book is incredibly rich right from the start. Burgess writes using a patois slang called 'nadsat' which is the books voice of youth. The first person narrator Alex (Russian for Outside-the-Law) is an uncontrollable delinquent, but don't write him off yet as he has a refined taste in classical music, a large vocabulary, an ironic sense of humour and dollops of charm. When he steps over the line once too often the state reform him, but in doing so turn him into a 'clockwork orange' a fruit that has lost it's goodness and beauty because it is simply a mechanical object. The heart of the book is the classic moral dilemma- is it better for someone to choose to be bad or be forced to be good. Burgess clearly chooses the former. The end chapter of the book, which was omitted from Stanley Kubricks masterful film shows Alex reforming himself, and from this perspective the book can be seen as a rites of passage, we all learn by our badly intended mistakes after all. The book is less than 250 pages but contains enough for a book twice that length. Burgess has created a fascinating dystopia and a warmly moral tale, once you get used to the graphic descriptions of ultraviolence. Although not on a par with some of his other work, including the brilliant 'earthly powers' this is still an essential novel.
Rating:
Summary: Horrorshow
Review: "A Clockwork Orange," perhaps Anthony Burgess's most famous novel, is also one of my favorite novels. The classic film by Stanley Kubrick keeps the spirit of the novel, but read the novel anyway because there are certain points not addressed in the film, especially the infamous omission of Chapter 21 and a long sequence involving the droogs bribing some old women with drinks. As for the summary (not very descriptive of the novel or film but I like it), a young man enters a government-sponsored rehabilitation program in order to curb his violent nature, only to reemerge in society no different from who he once was.I used to have nightmares about this type of society. In respect of politics, the novel has some very key points that the film (or any film) would have difficulty trying to add in to the story. But it's a great book, with a particularly odd writing style that uses a language called "Nadsat" (Russian for "teenager"), a mix of Russian and English. Classic. Read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the tastiest fruit I've tried, but pretty good
Review: A Clockwork Orange is a good book in many ways, but it falls short of being an enduring masterpiece. Anthony Burgess himself was chagrined that this book became his best known novel, its fame assured by Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation. The book has an imaginative first-person writing style that is replete with a slang built mostly from Russian words. This edition contains a twenty-first chapter that had been removed from the first American edition of the book. In his introduction, Burgess rails bitterly against this omission, but I have to say that I agree with the American editor. Chapter 21 transforms the book from a disturbing vision of the future into an overly simplistic allegory on human nature. Burgess' message? That the urge to violence and destruction is natural and unavoidable among the youth of a decaying society, but they'll grow out of it and become productive, nurturing adults (I guess Burgess forgot about such grownups as Hitler and Stalin). It is an oddly weak note on which to end one of the most forceful and disturbing novellas of the 20th century.
Rating:
Summary: Horrorshow, Real Horrorshow
Review: I read the book in a matter of days. I found it disturbing, yet darkly funny, thought-provoking and brilliant. Burgess' use of 'Nadsat' is facinating. Its amazing how well you adapt to the very inventive slang of 'Alex and his Droogs'. The first chapter of the book is full of bizarre words such as droogs, deng, viddy etc. But through the course of the book, you find it easy to get to terms with and can enjoy the book a whole lot more the second time you read it. I urge you to read it, no other book has kept me glued to its pages like 'A Clockwork Orange'. Anthony Burgess has achieved non other than a masterpiece, a classic of our time. 'Viddy Well, all who read it'.
Rating:
Summary: Viddy Well in Your Nearest Public Biblio, O My Brothers!
Review: What else can I say about this bolshy great horrorshow book that hasn't already been said? Nadsat, live on! Real horrorshow and savage!
Rating:
Summary: Fresh and somehow disturbing
Review: This is because it`s slowly creeping up to be prothetic. It is a wonderful, well written book, with an abunance of scenes which are moving and engrosssing. Its language gives it a certain edge, it is both extremely funny and enlightning.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant writing
Review: This book is a refreshing substitute to the Stanley Kubrick movie with the same name. While Kubrick does follow the story line until omitting the final chapter, his intent seemed to be focused on the shock value of the violence and sexuality of the story, not the message. Readers of A Clockwork Orange will find that Burgess does not put Alex on a pedistal; rather, he tells a story about a hooligan who at first glance deserves the treatment he receives. It is up to the reader to determine if such punishment is an acceptable alternative to current means of criminal correction. I highly recommend A Clockwork Orange to anyone who has seen the movie and wants to better understand what Alex was thinking as well as doing. This book is much more relevant to today's world than 1984, Animal Farm or Brave New World, as Burgess more accurately predicted what the world today looks like than Orwell or Haley. Further, Burgess does not discount the ability for humans to think independently, while Orwell and Haley simply believed we were all incapable for making good judgements. In fact, it is this distinction that enables Burgess to be so accurate about how violent, yet free of dictators, we have become.
Rating:
Summary: A Few of Margo's Views on A Clockwork Orange
Review: A Clockwork Orange is a page-turner that captivates the interest of all who read it. Burgess's invention of the "Nadist" language is pure brillance. The message of the book (which is left unmentioned, to capture the intrest of the "unexperienced" reader) is a message that can still be applied today, aproxemntlly thrity years later, to the modern society. The discriptive language paints a vivid picture of the violent acts described. I wish I could have read the book the way the author had intended it. He was upseted by the American transformation of the book. The last chapter (Chapter 21), was left out and a glossry of the Nadist language was added. Despite these suttle changes the novel is interesting and though provoking, overall very enjoyable.
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