Rating: Summary: One word... WOW! Review: This book is my favorite book of all time. Burgess uses a self-made language here that's unique and out of this world. By the middle, you will feel sorry for Alex, the main character, despite the terrible things he did in the beginning of the book.This book will really get you thinking: 1) Is it better to choose to be bad than to be forced to be good? 2) Are we still human if we don't have the right to choose what we want to become? You will learn that even if we do have a 'perfect citizen', the problem might not be the person him/herself, but society.
Rating: Summary: A Must Read for All Review: I had first heard about this controversal novel through the constant padories and tributes of the film adaption. I wanted to see the film for a long time, but it soon gave way to me reading the novel before I saw the film. Please note, the book and film are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VERSIONS. In best intrest, I suggest reading the novel and igorning the film. Kubrick's version is a wonderful peice of work, but I felt robbed of that feeling I had after I had finished the novel, so I regret seeing the film. Onward, shall we? The plot deals with a teen rebel named Alex, who, along with his gang of "droogs", terrorize the streets of London by raping, killing and barging into homes of those whoever they wish. Suddenly, Alex is left in abandonment by his friends and is arrested in a failed break-in. He is sent to a faclity to undergo a radical experiment inwhich he is "reprogramed" into a model citizen. Burgess' novel is grand and explores the meaning of a person's personalty and well-being. He also states the questions Is it right to control a person's personality and his free will; as well as the set up of such a program, is is right to do so? While the vocabulary is often confusing and can leave the reader dumb-founded, Burgess based it on the slang of the British and the Russians, which has promted many to formate their own lists of translations, which are proven helpful. The novel left me amazed and pondering those questions for the longest of time. If you are looking for a good, thinking man's novel, this is a must read.
Rating: Summary: I viddy this a real horrorshow book! Review: I came accross A Clockwork Orange sheerly by accident. I was looking for another book entirely; however the title caught my attention, I read the back, and forgot about the other book. A Clockwork Orange is an amazingly well written book. Burgess' Alex narrarates the entire story using his made-up Nadsat (teenage) language. On reading the first sentence, I was like, "What the heck is this?" It left me completely confused, yet I promise you, that by (at most) the 5th page, you will understand entirely what is meant by viddy (see), metso (place), litso (face), nogas (feet), horrorshow (fantastic), so on, so on. Anthony Burgess takes you into the mind of a teenage boy and asks you whether or not a person who does only good because they have no other choice is better of than a person who chooses to do bad. It is amazing and leaves you thinking and laughing all at once. YES, you heard me, LAUGHING! A person may be so cought off gaurd by what is happening to even realize that the book is laugh out loud funny. Read A Clockwork Orange. Now. You'll love it. I Promise.
Rating: Summary: Delightful and very funny!!! Review: I agree with Burroughs here. This book in so funny I was constantly reading aloud scences to anyone that would listen. Don`t be put of by the strange dialect when you first read it. With in the 5 pages the context clues clue you end and then its all fun after that. Perfectly execueted narrative voice. On on those main characters you will never forget. I don`t it a such a serious life changing book like everyone else does though it does raise a question or to. The events in the story are highly improbaple. Morals are still good and this book doesn`t prove that they aren`t. Calm down people this book is mostly fun. I didn`t know that classics could be so much fun. You would laugh the whole way. Also the author really really makes you feel like your watching the whole thing go down. You actually want to be there and hear the narrator speak more. Had some great laughs thanks Anthony for this great novel. It was so funny. Seems to have much lighter elements in it from Native Son by the way but not so serious!!!!
Rating: Summary: Six stars for a horrorshow work of literature Review: This book is absolutely fabulous! Simply fantastic. Reading this book, one cannot but be totally embedded in the sadistic mind of Alex, a trouble teen who'd like nothing more than to kick you in the teeth for doing absolutely nothing, like minding your own business on a street corner. But this is anything but a mindless read. On the contrary. After being arrested, Alex is embarked on a Reclamation Program where the Government attempts to brainwash criminials by conditioning them to do good. The story veers into a serious exploration of the morality of free will: is it better to be evil and free; or good and without choice? For the first part of the book though, expect very brutal and gruesome scenes of the crimes committed by Alex's gang (what he terms droogs). These scenes would be very grim to read, if not for the inventiveness of the author who cleverly pens in a self-invented slang known as nadsat. Queer words like viddy (see), slooshy (hear), horrorshow (good, fantastic), metso (place) and veshch (stuff) abound, so much so that the scenes become somewhat alien and bearable. I suppose, nadsat is a really a double-edged sword. Readers may be put off instantly after reading the first 2 pages. I guarantee you that most would come out scratching their heads, comprehending 20% at most. Take heart, push on - you won't regret it. A glossary would come in handy for sure, but that would rob the fun of deciphering the pecularities of the lingo. By the third chapter, the prose becomes much more fluid as readers grow accustomed to Alex's street talk. In fact, nadsat is so fundamental to the book - that's where we find Alex's voice and establish a connection to his character. I would like to say that the book is funny (because it FELT funny) if not for the gravity of the crimes committed and the degree of suffering decked out by our hero's careless actions. In Alex's voice, the wanton acts of violence seem "muted" - and thus, charming. One is not confronted with the carnage of the his brand of violence because everything is seen from his eyes and in time, you'll empathize with his pitiable state. It is little wonder that 'A Clockwork Orange' remains shrouded in controversy. Nonetheless, this is a superb read, by any standard - short and sweet, morally substantial and totally out of this world. Go and buy this book!
Rating: Summary: Dazed and confused Review: A Clockwork orange is a good choice for reading material if you have a lot of time and you feel like reading a book twice. I was very confused all through this book. It is not something that I would read again. I didn't care for the language, I found that it made it very difficult to understand and follow. The message of the book is sort of good. The people really want to help Alex but the way they go about it can be debated. Some people i'm sure will love this book, but I have found that this book wasn't for me.
Rating: Summary: A Clockwork Orange Review Review: A Clockwork Orange was a book like none of its kind. Since none of the characters are easy to relate with, we have look to the themes for it to make the most sense to us. The ideas of free will and revenge is what leads to the conclusion of A Clockwork Orange, a conclusion that might have been a surprise to most who have read it. I enjoyed reading it, yet would only want people with open minds to read such a novel. If you can see through all the violence and rape, you will understand the main idea that Burgess is trying to get across to those that dare to read it.
Rating: Summary: A Clockwork Orange Review: A Clockwork Orange expresses the fears of Burgess in a way that the reader eventually comes to sympathize with the main character, Alex. Even though he dotes upon raping and stealing, the end leaves the reader wanting a better life for him. Afer he is taken to prison when his friends turn their backs on him, a certain attachment forms to Alex as he is subjected to Ludovico's Technique, one in which his free choice is taken away. Violence soon makes him want to vomit and commit suicide, along with the classical music he once loved. The moral questions raised in the story about the dreadfulness of having free will taken away from any person raises a bold emotion in anyone reading the story. The haunting emotions Alex feels when he leaves the prison gives an eerie feeling that can't be shaken. However, the ending leaves a satisfaction and a somewhat renewed confidence in those that were once thought to have been so horrible. This is a perfect summer read for those long nights. It is nothing close to a bedtime story, but one that will keep you turning the pages for hours. Absolutly mind-catching.
Rating: Summary: What's It Going To Be Then, Eh? Review: Well hello my brothers, Heed my soviet as I recommend a real horrorshow novel called A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess. This zammachat book was also made into a dorogoy sinny starring Malcolm McDowell. Feast your glazzies on this raskazz about a molodoy baddiwad named Alex and his youthful indiscretions, such as krovvy oobivatting, crasting and a bit of the old in out in out with unwilling ptitsas. Also govoreeted in this tale are his bitvas with tolchocking millicents, authoritarian chellovechs and other grahzny bratchnies. But the bolshy veshch about this malenky story is the oomy language vareeted by the author. It's called Nadsat. I am using some slovos from that Bogspeak in this review. Many appy polly loggies to those of you who don't pony what I'm skazatting. So my droogs, save a pretty polly and itty on down to your local biblio to viddy this bolshiest lomstick of literature. What's it going to be then, eh?
Rating: Summary: A Classic Review: Quiet a bizzare and at times, complicated book. But its classic. Anthony Burgess uses language like no other. Its a true work of art.
|