A Clockwork Orange (Book Review)

Well here I am, writing the book review for Anthony Burgess' classic novella A Clockwork Orange (1962,) a book that was banned alongside its film adaption directed by Stanley Kubrick (1972) for its extreme violence and depiction of sexual crimes. The film was only one of four films to ever be banned in the history of British cinema, requested by Kubrick himself upon receiving death threats over it; the film adaption was reinstated upon his death in 1999, as was agreed. The story is supposed to be an argument against the ethics of taking away the choice of being good or evil so that good will flourish, thereby transforming someone into a 'piece of clockwork', incapable of something intrinsically human and therefore ceasing to be human.

The trivia on the film is not entirely relevant however, though I should possibly point out that before reading this book, I had seen the film a couple of years ago and so could draw upon some visuals or pinpoint from memory, the whereabouts of a scene in the film, in the book. Watching the film is not necessary, though I would highly recommend that you watch it for its brilliant acting and soundtrack. The book is just as good but for very different reasons.

One of the main reasons why many people -at the time and even today- found problems with this book is the fact that it uses very idiosyncratic language (adapted from Russian dialect called 'Natsat') in its first-person narration. Words like 'tolchock' (punch or beat,) 'gulliver' (head) and 'horrorshow' (good) are used to abandon. This can easily put the tired reader off but fret not, for you will get used to the neologisms. Personally, I picked up the context of the words fairly quickly and as a result blasted through it, which is why I finished it these last three days. This is the first reason why it may not be for everybody, the second of course is the violent/sexual content, which, for some odd reason, I found amusing if anything. There are scenes in the book where people are beaten to pulps, humiliated and killed, but it isn't just a book that's violent for the sake of it. So why should you read it, even if all that was off-putting for you?

Well this leads me to my review of the protagonist, Alex; a fifteen-year old lad who spends his time roaming the streets of an unnamed British city, terrorising all who cross the path of either himself or his friends, (named 'droogs' in the book.) Alex is more than that though, he is our narrator, writing his life-story almost in a cross between broken rhyming slang/Natsat/Middle English as he describes in vivid detail, the dystopian world in this future England; his exploits, the violence, the destruction and even his love of classical music, namely Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, all described in wonderfully-constructed detail, weaving between fast-paced dialogue that keeps you turning the page at lightning speed.

Now I don't want to give away any actual scenes, since pretty much all of them advance the plot in some way, the work being so short at barely over 150 pages. What I will say on narrative devices however is how brilliantly Burgess manages to reintroduce certain aspects of the book explored near the start, and use them as means of making something go full-circle and as a result, advances the character development of Alex page-by-page and scene-by-scene, making us actually like him by the end!

But what are the cons of this book: The book is mainly for those who are comfortable reading something that isn't entirely orthodox as far as language is concerned. To get around this however, you can always consult the glossary at the back or -my main tip- would be to just try and think of a substitute for the neologism and you should find yourself at a regular, Standard English sentence, and thus, you may even learn a new language by doing so! After all, who wouldn't want to tolchock someone in the gulliver real horrorshow?

Maybe not everybody, since this is the second non-criticism of the book; those who don't like a great deal of violence or weirdness might not like the story. I personally found it all quite tame, though I recognise that some people have different limits, so don't come back at me thinking I'm soft or some kind of pussy either! In the end we all have different views of what we like or don't in terms of the media we consume, and A Clockwork Orange is most definitely a book that I loved for its fast pace, interesting characters and innovative language use in its highly-intimate first-person narration, which kept me turning the page again and again.

My Edition: The Good4Books Store is Linked