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A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)

by Anthony Burgess (Author) "'WHAT'S it going to be then, eh?' ..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (225 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (25 April 1996)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140188827
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140188820
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 1.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (225 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 45,270 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Foremost in the genre, this novel uses difficult and disorientating language - Burgess's own invented teenage argot of Nadsat - to relate a story of extreme violence and moral anarchy. Four thugs run riot, until their leader, Alex, is caught, jailed and an attempt made to reform him by methods as depraved as his own. A brilliant and terrifying examination of the nature of good and evil. This was made into a controversial film by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. (Kirkus UK)

The previous books of this author (Devil of a State - 1962 - The Right to an Answer - 1961) had valid points of satire, some humor, and a contemporary view, but here the picture is all out - from a time in the future to an argot that makes such demands on the reader that no one could care less after the first two pages. If anyone gest beyond that - this is the first person story of Alex, a teen-age hoodlum, who, in step with his times, viddies himself and the world around him without a care for law, decency, honesty; whose autobiographical language has droogies to follow his orders, wallow in his hate and murder moods, accents the vonof human hole products. Betrayed by his dictatorial demands by a policing of his violence, he is committed when an old lady dies after an attack; he kills again in prison; he submits to a new method that will destroy his criminal impulses; blameless, he is returned to a world that visits immediate retribution on him; he is, when an accidental propulsion to death does not destroy him, foisted upon society once more in his original state of sin. What happens to Alex is terrible but it is worse for the reader. (Kirkus Reviews)


Product Description

15-year-old Alex and his three friends start an evening's mayhem by hitting an old man, tearing up his books and stripping him of money and clothes. Because of his delinquent excesses, Alex is jailed and made subject to a chilling experiment in reclamation treatment.
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225 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (225 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The joys of Bach and beating someone's face in, 2 Mar 2009
This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
From its opening lines, A Clockwork Orange stands out as an extraordinary tour de force in imagination and characterisation, a unique depiction of a troubled teenager and his love for gang violence in a dystopian future, where a sinister government struggles to keep order against a rising tide of gang crime. Although the narrator speaks in the street jargon of the future, his story is instantly recognisable and the imaginary world created by Burgess is both alien and familiar. This is the future, and it could be happening right now in street near you. Alex will repulse you, and you will love him. The violence will shock you, and you will laugh. This is a modern day fairy tale to scare the parents. Definitely a contender for the greatest book of the twentieth century.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Undoubtedly a 20th Century classic, 29 Jun 2006
By C. Collins (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
The strange lingo is called Nadsat and, it's not/never was a secret - it's based on Russian. This book is a massive cultural milestone, as is Kubrick's adaptation for the big screen. It's probably about 15 years since I read, and fell in love with, this book. Haven't actually gotten round to reading it again, but I bought several copies to give to friends, etc. You couldn't claim to be interested in popular culture and not have read this book - even if you don't enjoy it (and the violence is graphic), it's a must-read! I remember how strange the book felt, being written in this weird lingo which, at first, seems to alienate, but then, very quickly, has the effect of drawing you in to the world of Alex and his Droogs. At the time, Kubrick's film was still banned, and I waited several more years, until 1996/7, to see it (on a foreign satellite channel). Great film, better book.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Real Horrorshow, my brothers!, 29 Aug 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: A Clockwork Orange (Essential Penguin) (Paperback)
Burgess's masterpiece, and to his own dismay a confirmed cult classic. He never escaped the influence or the infamy of this book, and I doubt he ever will, even in death. Alex, the 'Beethoven-loving' central character maraudes throughout a future dystopia with his three droogs without restraint in a disturbing and gripping tale told through in the language of 'Nadsat'; a bastardized conglomeration of nonsense and English.(The language may seem a little incomprehensible at first, but don't be dissuaded, the book wouldn't be half as good without it; in a way it's what makes it so original and you soon get used to it, or should I say fluent in it. I found myself using Nadsat phraseology in my own conversations while I was reading it, just for fun).That is until he is betrayed by his droogs and imprisoned. The real message of the book then begins to appear however, and all the violence that assaults us in the first part of the book suddenly serves its purpose. While imprisoned Alex agrees to become a guinea pig in an experiment; an experiment to alter his mind, to cure him of all wicked impulses. He agrees in the hope that he will be let out of jail early, and he gets his wish. He is systematically brainwashed with aversion therapy, until he cannot willfully inflict harm on anyone without becoming violently nauseous. And so fully cured, he walks free. Then his troubles really begin, because he no longer has the ability to cope with the dystopia he previously relished for all its anarchy. He gets beaten up by his former droogs, now policemen, and is subjected to a number of encounters in which his former victims are able to take their revenge for his former deeds. Eventually he depairs and tries to kill himself, and in doing so becomes the centre of attention as the politicians try to use him to win their arguments concerning the brainwashing scheme. The book ends on a hopeful and cheery note though, a point many people forget to mention, and by the last page Alex's adventure has almost become a rite of passage.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clockwork Orange
This infamous tale of Alex and his `droogies' is well worth a look. It is well-paced, with a unique language of its own - `nadsat', or `teen-speak', which both veils and distances... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Nicola Sloan

5.0 out of 5 stars Horrorshow - in every sense
Anthony Burgess' novel is a fascinating journey into a satirical fantasy that kept me engrossed throughout. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Barney McGrew

5.0 out of 5 stars An apparently repulsive yet philosophical novel
'A Clockwork Orange' is one of those rare novels that manages to burrow into the deepest layers of your cortex and refuses to extricate itself. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. P. J. Duffield

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clockwork Orange (Y)
I absoultely love this book! The delivery wasn't too long either, ive already read it twice im obsessed with it! :D
Published 4 months ago by Ms. L. L. Pemble

1.0 out of 5 stars Good idea ruined by gibberish
I was looking forward to reading this but gave up after a few pages. I wish I'd thumbed through it first in a book shop. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Paul Symes

1.0 out of 5 stars ...Pardon?
I bought this book as it is highly regarded as a 'classic' but be warned - when they say "no-one has done as much with language as Burgess..." they mean it. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Floyd O'Doyle

5.0 out of 5 stars ahh language!
it's truly amazing how Burgess manages to do so very much in so very short a novel.

in a recent stand up gig michael mcintyre suggested that any word can be used in... Read more
Published 5 months ago by J. Flintoft

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Weird
This book is one of those all time classics that I felt I just had to read- and I was not disappointed. Not having seen the film, I think this was a good base to start on. Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Valcin

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning! Determination Required
This is quite possibly the best book I've ever read, and I've read a lot. Alex is an amazing character who, despite his obvious mental issues (he does go around raping and... Read more
Published 8 months ago by F. Gibbon

5.0 out of 5 stars 'A real horrorshow veck, O my brothers'
As my eyes glanced over the last line of this never-before-encountered-the-likes-of novel ('But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex that was. Amen. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Marlyly

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