Rating: Summary: A fine piece of literature Review: Undoubtedly a fine piece of literature for all generations!Burgess' exploration of the human physicality, sociology and conscience in his reinvention of semantics proved to be absolutely entertaining, creative and insightful! A must-have in anyone's library!
Rating: Summary: Adequate Review: A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange takes place in England and was written by, Anthony Burgess, in 1962. The story is about this boy that is growing up in England, living with his parents by day and trying to rule the streets by night. The main character is named Alex and at night he rules the streets with his gang(droogs) causing chaos. He loves to get his hand on money or pretty poly as he refers to it. They have there own slang terms like rook which is hand and he uses the term, "O Brothers," numerous times. At night he would go around robbing people and taking part in violent acts. Alex's dad suspected something when Alex brought home a lot of cash but, never accused Alex of anything. One night while the droogs were taking part in these violent acts, the cops finally caught up with them. Alex went to jail for the crimes that he had committed and was locked up at the age of fifteen. Jail didn't do him any good. There he even tried to fool the system by getting out early, but he wasn't ready to face the consequences of his actions. There he under went a detox experiment, only they weren't taking the alcohol out of him but, the violent side of him and trying to make him more humain in society. They finally release him back into society but he had nowhere to go and his family didn't really want him. There he went back onto the streets of England. I recommend this book because it settles all the hype that you hear about it but, I thought it would have been better than people said it was. I've heard people say that this book was too gross for them to read and it gives them goose bumps but, it's all hype. This book isn't as bad, if not less intense, as any movie out today. I don't think this book should have even been band in the sixties because it not really that vulger. This book was ok to read yet, it had its slower parts. I think the best thing about this book was that you kind of had to decode some of the phrases that Alex was trying to say. This book reminds me of a Shakespeare play, in that the langue is hard to understand. Unlike Shakespeare, you don't have to decode every line word for word, for the book to make sense. After a while you get a feeling for the langue that Alex's uses. This is what I like about the novel, trying to figure out what the character was trying to say. This made the novel better than it might have been. If they had this choice of books in high school, I would have rather read a book of this nature,to prepare me for novels like Mac Beth. If you think that you are going to read a novel filled with acts that are unheard, then maybe you should read another book. There is only one major shocker when he breaks into this ladies home after playing a nasty trick on her. This is a type of book that you should read through a second time to get the whole story, and to understand it completely. My thoughts were that this book was going to be a type of story that was taboo but, it was about as bad as brutal as someone getting mug, which happens everyday. Over all I would have to rate this book a five because I feel it didn't live up to the magnification
Rating: Summary: burgess is talented, for certain... Review: as with many of his novels, he is a one-man showcase for his use of the english language as well as his other learnedness, including, as many reviews have already indicated, his knowledge of the russian language. the author has incorporated this into a teen-gang-speak (which bart simpson has used in several episodes, with the requisite cockney/estuary accent) that no one should really be diverted by. humans build their knowledge of written language by understanding an unfamiliar word in the context of the familiar, and can even identify nonsense words as being used as verbs or nouns, as in lewis carrol's "jabberwocky". so knowing russian would in theory be an asset, but then you would be missing out on the exoticness of the unfamiliar word and its conferred membership of the disaffected underclass to which alex and his friends belong. the violence was indeed hard to stomach and i'm sure it serves some literary purpose and is not meant to be gratuitous. the film version was much more graphic, more of a 70s depressive state, and the ending of the film was far less hopeful than the novel. (a male theatre patron behind me hooted approvingly of all the mysogynist scenes inthe film, while i mockingly tee-hee'd girlishly in reply to this brute. my partner was certain he would get beat up after the film). if you read more of burgess than this book, you will start to understand how demented the author is, and against which backdrop to judge this particular work, which, to a tyro, may be a shocking dystopian novel, but is in fact just another twisted and well-crafted, original commentary from the mind and pen of anthony burgess.
Rating: Summary: A Classic That Is Worth Your Time Review: I will admit, that I saw the movie befor I read the books so, I had some idea of what to expect or so I thought. The novel is a lot more detailed, in my opinion, then the movie. I will admit that the novel's main form of speaking is through a new type of slang and it may be hard to understand at first, but after a couple of rereadings of a few parts, I feel it will come to you. In the end, Burgess creates a wonderful novel that not only challanges the mind, but also society at the same time.
Rating: Summary: Nothing like this one, a hell of a book Review: I was pretty excited when I first picked up A Clockwork Orange a little over a month ago; I had heard how this book had changed the way people thought and lived, and now I'd see for myself how this tale of a bleak future could do that. It took some time to adjust to the garbled Russian-English slang called Nadsat, and seeing as the paperback that I purchased didn't have a glossary of the lingo in the back, I spent less time following the story and more time making an effort to translate. After you figure it out, you'll definitely appreciate some of the dialogue. The book follows a young no-good-nik, Alex, and his cohorts. The book begins with Alex and his 'droogs' at a bar, where liquor isn't served, but milk, because the milk is laced with a plentiful variety of opiates and hallucinogens. Alex spends every night having fun, which, for him, means raping wives in front of their husbands, beating the daylights out of old vagabonds on the street, killing random people, and theft. He is morally a disgrace, but I really liked how honest he was as he narrated the story. When he is thrown in the slammer for two years, he learns about an experimental Government program for turning homicidal delinquents, like himself, into reformed, productive members of society. He tries it, since it'll get him out of jail in a fortnight, but he didn't know it involved a forced, VERY long viewing of different films of rape and violence, while being injected with nausea and pain-inducing drugs. The Government, arrogant in it's certainty of success of the experiment, thinks this will change his patterns of thought and that Alex will associate rape and murder with pain and vomiting, rather than thrill and ecstasy. Nonetheless, it seemed to cure him, and he was sent back out into the world, which more or less turned on him, driving Alex to attempted suicide. A Clockwork Orange isn't a light read. The book provokes questions of whether or not a person should go through such a horrific process to become an upstanding citizen, or if he should be able to choose his path in life, being a lowlife or a decent person. Anthony Burgess writes with fantastic intensity, and the reader won't want to put the book down. The language in the book is imaginative and colorful, but I won't spoil it in the review. This is definitely one of the century's great novels, and whether you like it or not, it'll at least give you something to think about for a while.
Rating: Summary: ClockWork Orange Review: In a terrifying society placed in the future, Burgess takes the reader and shoves us into the reality of a boy named Alex and his three friends. Their world is one focused on ultra-violence; outrageously low performances of betrayal, as well as brutally untainted sadism. If one were to look deeper into this novel, beyond the despicable acts of violence, you would find that Burgess has posed several questions worth considering. Some of these points are especially disturbing. Alex, being the criminal he is, was brainwashed. He was supposed to be morphed into a person that would chose to behave morally in his society. This made me question whether or not a man who was restricted from his own free will could be considered moral and ethical, or if it has just made him a brainless sack of idiot. If one is rendered incapable of evil, would that make him better than a man who is evil because he chooses to be? Even more unsettling is to question if it is moral, in a sense of punishment, to confine a human being's free will to the point where he is a zombie? Furthermore, after this point of zombie-like moral restraint, are the remains a man, or something less than that? Burgess will have the reader fantastically engaged in all of the problems that lead one to contemplate these disturbing questions. Although this book is a complete horror show, all these issues are entirely worth considering. I liked it very much.
Rating: Summary: The Review Review: A Clockwork Orange is a literary masterpiece written by Anthony Burgess. The story shows a grim and dark "future", where free will is not something that is commonly seen as it is today. Alex, the main character in the story, is not the usual "hero". He is a cruel and evil man who rapes and kills people, which makes him seem more like a villain. But things happen which cause Alex to change. By the end he seems to have become his complete opposite. He no longer wants to kill, but to start over and even start a family. The NADSAT is a very interesting tool that was used in the creation of this book. It is the futuristic form of slang that is used throughout the book. Like so many people say, it is difficult at first, but it does get much simpler as you progress through the book. The NADSAT adds a lot of flavor and makes things seem more "realistic". For those who just can't seem to understand the NADSAT there are glossaries in some of the books, and glossaries can also be found online. All you have to do is search using a search engine such as Yahoo or Google. I recommend this to every reader whether young or old. It will work your mind in many ways and make you think of things that you never thought of before.
Rating: Summary: A Clockwork Orange Review: I'd like to start off by saying I throughly enjoyed this novel. Anthony Burgess's masterpiece of a novel is deeply intriguing, insightful, and enlightening on matters of free will and human rights. Through the first person view and acts of violence on behalf of the central character, Alex, we gain insights into the moral issues of what the persuit of happiness can begin to mean; at what point does your pursuit of happiness begin to violate somone elses rights as a human? And at what point does somone have the right to tell you that you cannot act a certain way?
Rating: Summary: A Clockwork Orange Review: A Clockwork Orange is a brilliant novel written by a British author by the name of Anthony Burgess in 1962. The main character Alex narrates the book that is divided into three parts with seven chapters each. This book takes place in the future of Alex's hometown during the beginning and the end... There is a lot of crime in this futuristic world and not very much law... You may find that while you are reading this book there is a lot of vocabulary you've never seen or heard of before. If you try to look these words up you will never find them in a dictionary. This is because Burgess made up most of the language in this novel. Some books are equipped with a handy glossary in the back. Mine did not have one. It is hard to understand at first but after a while you get used to it. The new vocabulary is based on the Russian language. It really offers a feeling of being in the future and knowing what it feels like to be there since it seems that you are reading the lingo of the future. You should try not to use the glossary because it fun to figure it out on your own.
Rating: Summary: A Clockwork Orange Review: I found Anthony Burgess's book to be very strange. The complex Russian slang (Nasdat) that was used in the book was very annoying at some parts but was also a very interesting technique used by the author to keep you very interested and locked in to what you are reading. Alex, the main character, and his droog friends were wreaking havoc during the night, also drinking milk that was spiked with hallucinogenic drugs. Eventually the cops caught up with the boy and he was the focus in an experimental punishment used by the government. He was sat down and forced to watch many horrible things in history. The hope was that after seeing all this horror, Alex would be so incredibly sickened that his crime days would be put to an end and he would be a much better citizen. Burgess really keeps you interested through out the entire book with some very clever language. There is an extremely high level of violence used through out the book. In my mind the violence is used for an extremely important reason. The way Burgess pounds the violence in to you, describing every detail, you begin to get a great idea of what this book exactly means. All of his ideas and points in the story are bashed into you when you hear about these nasty minor things that many other authors would leave out. The more you read, the more intrigued you are to find out why these boys could do such sick and disgusting things and just what punishment will be laid on them if any punishment will. All in all I was extremely pleased with what I got out of A Clockwork Orange. I would highly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in sci-fi.
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