A Clockwork Orange (Hardcover)

by Anthony Burgess (Author) "'WHAT'S it going to be then, eh?'..." (more)
Key Phrases: malenky bit, real skorry, old baboochkas, The Doctor, Duke of New York, Modern Youth (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
I do not know of any other writer who has done as much with language as Mr. Burgess has done here-the fact that this is also a very funny book may pass unnoticed. -- William S. Burroughs

Novel by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. Set in a dismal dystopia, it is the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent who undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior. The novel satirizes extreme political systems that are based on opposing models of the perfectibility or incorrigibility of humanity. Written in a futuristic slang vocabulary invented by Burgess, in part by adaptation of Russian words, it was his most original and best-known work. Alex, the protagonist, has a passion for classical music and is a member of a vicious teenage gang that commits random acts of brutality. Captured and imprisoned, he is transformed through behavioral conditioning into a model citizen, but his taming also leaves him defenseless. He ultimately reverts to his former behavior. The final chapter of the original British edition, in which Alex renounces his amoral past, was removed when the novel was first published in the United States. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
'What we were after ...was lashings of ultra-violence'. In Anthony Burgess' infamous nightmare vision of youth culture in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him - but at what cost? Burgess writes of social prophecy and free will in this black comedy. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; Rev Sub edition (July 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393024393
• ISBN-13: 978-0393024395
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (638 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #992,357 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

190 of 200 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clockwork Orange, November 27, 2001

By	M. Smitherman (Montana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (Paperback)

After reading the many reviews that have been posted here, I'm afraid mine will not be as eloquent, nor will it be a long and detailed description of the book. However, I might be able to express the importance of this book, and perhaps you'll even want to read it when you've finished my review.

I may have started out reading A Clockwork Orange because my friend told me how good it was. And then I continued to read it because it was engaging, disturbing, and thought provoking. Even though the book was written over 30 years ago, I believe it is still as powerful today as it was back then; perhaps even more so. Alex, the protagonist, is almost innocently committing violent crimes with his friends; for he isn't -trying- to be bad, he just is. He likes violence, and that's the way he is.

When Alex's friends gang up on him and leave him to be arrested by the police, Alex is sentenced to 14 years in prison. But then the opportunity to change presents itself to Alex, and he can't help but take the offer. Without ruining the story as so many previous reviewers have already done, I can say that when everything is said and done, important questions arise: is being good truly good if it is not by choice? Is it good to be bad, if that is what one chooses?

The book first came out in the 60s, and the American version lacked the last and 21st chapter from the original story. When it was republished, the book had the 21st chapter. Depending on which copy you read, with the last chapter or without it, the book will have an entirely different feel to it. The old copy represents the horrible realization that bad minds are always bad; the newer version leaves the reader with hope. Hope for Alex, and hope for oneself. Change is possible, the book says, no matter what sort of person you are.

A Clockwork Orange is truly a great work, one that will appeal to people for different reasons; and affect them in completely different ways. But it will affect them.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And all that cal, May 27, 2004

By	Cameron Ruatta (South Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (Paperback)

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.

42 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not as difficult as you have heard, August 23, 2005

By	Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (Paperback)

I knew about this book way before I actually went out and bought it (of course there was a gap between buying it and reading it, but that's another, utterly irrelevant, story), being aware of most of the basic facts about it, the general plot and so forth. I've never seen the movie, although I've heard it's rather ultraviolent, which seems to be appropriate. The thing that both attracted me and made me shy away from the novel though was the prose itself . . . for those who aren't already aware, Burgess sprinkles the novel liberally with a made-up slang that the main character uses. I had seen a few pages at my local library and thought, "Crap, this isn't going to make any sense to me at all". But it does, somehow. There might actually be some editions floating out there with a glossary of sorts, giving you a clue as to what the more obscure slang terms might mean but you don't really need it. Reading the novel, it's very easy to figure out what's going on and the text isn't impenetrable at all. Most of the slang you can figure out via context and for the linguistically agile among you, I believe most of it is derived from Russian, mixed with some Britishisms and other stuff that I'm not smart enough to figure out. The end result of this is that it gives the book a weird sort of driving rhythm, half the words seem made up but it flows anyway and I never had any trouble figuring out what was going on at any given point (not that you don't have to read carefully, but it's not Finnegans Wake or anything). So that's that. But what is it about? The story is narrated by Alex, a teenager who inhabits a future Britain that has fallen into dingy decay, gangs walk the streets at night committing all sorts of violent acts, there hardly seems to be any hope and the government has become rather oppressive. But Alex doesn't care because he's quite enjoying himself. The book is a lot funnier than you might think and the violence (it's ample but not graphic) is almost slapstick. Alex and his pals spend the first third of the book (it details a typical night) basically walking around and beating up everyone they see, the narration makes it clear that Alex is intelligent enough to know what he's doing but he likes it and would like to keep doing it. One incident lands him in prison and while there and serving a long sentence, he's given a chance to get out early. All he has to do is submit to a new procedure that will make him nonviolent and he can go back into society. That procedure and its consequences drive the rest of the book, showing how things can seem to get better while actually getting worse. It's a testament to Burgess' skill that he manages to make Alex a nearly sympathetic character, to the point where I started to feel bad for him, especially in the scenes where he's denied the joy of his beloved classical music. The moral dilemma he poses is an interesting one, questioning whether society really becomes better if you take away free will. The edition I have (and most recent editions, I'm sure) restores the previously "lost" final chapter . . . it was cut from the American edition for various reasons and it and the actual final chapter end the story on two utterly different notes. I prefer the real final chapter, I think it closes the book on a reflective note, rather than the implied middle finger of the prior chapter, and I think it's more faithful to Burgess' intent. But your milage may vary and if you really disagree just stop before you get to the end. I don't know if it's the best Burgess book but it's certainly the most famous and quite the reading experience for those who prefer more experimental prose styles. It was published forty years ago but still feels contemporary and it certainly worth reading even today, in a future that Burgress might not have imagined but may be closer to his than we suspect.