Clockwork Orange

by Anthony Burgess

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

A Clockwork Orange tells the story of Alex, your humble narrator; a disturbing 15 year old anti-hero and leader among his droogs. I was expecting a dark and gruesome dystopian novel when I started reading this classic and I did get this but I did get something much better. I remember watching the movie a long time ago, so some of the story line was unclear to me, I remember part one clearly but couldn’t remember the rest happening – I guess this made the book more enjoyable.

Alex and his friends are a typical bunch; of what I would expect from an English gang. They had their own language, which sometimes was difficult to understand (example: droog = friend, golova = head, Bog = God and khorosho = Good). Alex is a really disturbed man, and watching him change through experimental behaviour-modification treatment is a real eye opener. Having reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest recently the two books seem to have similarities. I believe both came out about the same time (1962) and might be a reflection of the time, but the topic of behaviour and mental health seem to go hand in hand.

Without giving anything away, this novel is a dark and really interesting book, I can imagine many people have spent a lot of time analysing the themes and characters in this book. While I can’t get past the similarities in style and concept between this book and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (I wonder if I’m alone in this opinion) I hope to come back to this book again for a re-read. There is a lot in this book and can’t wait to go though the book again and pick it apart. To use a phrase from this book (I'm sure many people do the same); this book is a real horrorshow.