Review | Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

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Clockwork Orange is a well-known work, mainly because of the wonderful film directed by Stanley Kubrick, so its story is no mystery and everyone knows it's amazing!

Anthony Burgess wrote, in a very informal way, a very profound book, one that has been a reason for reflection for several generations. Here, we know Alex, a young man whose entertainment is violence. He and his group often go out at night, drink and beat up random people. One night, Alex ends up killing a lady in one of his “pranks” and ends up being arrested, with a sentence of 15 years in prison, which is exactly the age of Alex, so this prospect of spending so much time in a prison makes him uncomfortable. leaves desperate.

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Our protagonist even tries to behave in jail, but it doesn't last long and ends up being placed in an experimental program where they do a kind of brainwashing to cure young people of their violent impulses. In this experiment, Alex suffers what we can call torture, being injected with medication to make him feel sick when he sees something considered inappropriate. But that's not the worst part, after the experiment is over comes the biggest difficulty: adapting to society again.

Clockwork Orange analyzes human behavior and the importance of freedom of choice. The main argument of the work is that the worst thing that can happen to someone is to lose their free will, and after some reflection we came to the conclusion that this argument is correct, have you ever imagined what it would be like not being able to do what you want and being forced to to control even your thoughts? Politics and ethics are subjects that are discussed a lot here, in a very fluid way.

Burgess was very astute in the way he decided to put his criticisms in the book. Alex was a very well built character, the kid has no reason to be violent, it's pure fun. The lack of psychological problems in him, who is loved by his parents, intelligent and an art lover, leaves no room to protect his actions, and yet we cling to him, even feeling sorry for the way he was treated. To reinforce the portrait of society, Alex speaks in a slang language, Nadsat, used by all teenagers there. This language gives a much higher quality to the reading experience, but it can be tiring at first since you have to stop to look at the glossary all the time, but we quickly learn the meaning of the words and that little problem is gone.

Glossario

Clockwork Orange it is a profound critique of society that should be read by everyone. I tried to put as much as I could of my experience with the work into this review, but I couldn't. I can only say that I finished the reading in awe and wanting to applaud this classic.

About my edit:

My copy is from the beautiful edition launched by Publisher Aleph, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Clockwork Orange. It is full of extras, which made my reading even more complete. I loved seeing the author's statements about the repercussion of his work, his opinion about the film adaptation, the origin of the title and some explanations about the references in the book. It is an edition that I recommend to fans of this beautiful work.

Extras Laranja Mecanica

23 COMMENTS

  1. Hello, Wow, what a review, although you said at the beginning that everyone knew the story, I unfortunately did not, and I had never seen any review about the book, and I loved it, it even made me want to read the book, who knows I might not put him in the huge pile of books I have to read? haha

    Kisses

  2. Very good! Recently I also published a review of this same edition there on Literasutra (www.literasutra.com), and I invite you to read it, so we can exchange some points of view. I liked what you brought up… You were straight to the point and expressed your opinion very well. Little kisses!

  3. I really like to use this book to work on Violence at school, it's a sensational idea, in addition to dealing with other very interesting topics as well. I have this new version and I want to reread it this year for a review on the blog. But does Alex really have no reason to be violent??

  4. Hello, how are you?
    I think I'm the only one in today's society that hasn't read A Clockwork Orange, I feel excluded by this and I always think about buying it to read but it gets on that list of books to buy later.
    I have read only positive reviews of this book, I find it very interesting.
    I really enjoyed your review!
    Kisses, Larissa (laoliphant.com.br)

  5. This is another classic that I need to have on my shelf and devour as soon as possible. I've stopped myself from watching the movie several times because I haven't read the book yet. I really hope to like the work, but since it's a dystopia, I know it's halfway there rss.

  6. Hi Taranis,
    A Clockwork Orange is a work that I really want to read, in order to better analyze the sociocultural aspects that went unnoticed, or were shown superficially in the film and at the same time I harbor a certain resentment towards it at the moment I see so many young people romanticizing it. and idolizing Alex, who to me is just a sociopath, misogynist. That's why I believe this is a very dense read and deserves to be well thought through.

    http://conversasdealcova.com

  7. Hello, how are you?
    I really want to read this book! I've been wanting to buy it for a while, but I always end up leaving it for later. I find the subject very interesting and everyone talks very well!
    Kisses <3

  8. Everything related to free will makes people confused, I haven't read this book yet but I've seen a lot of people thinking they're helping and it ends up interfering in the decisions that people in general need to make alone and every reading should be well thought out. like yours, I even want to read this book after reading the synopsis. Cheers and thanks for the tip!

  9. Clockwork Orange is a book that I've been wanting to read for a long time, even if it's not my favorite genre, I don't know why but the title makes me very curious/interested. This edition is very beautiful. I liked the review.

  10. Hi!
    I'll be honest, this is the second review I've actually read of this book. The first one didn't have those things and I loved yours! I found it very detailed, well developed and made me really curious.
    But I confess that I felt sorry for Alex's victims, this is one of those complicated characters, lol.

  11. I loved your review, it reminded me of my reading where following the story with Alex was very strange, we are totally different, but feeling what he felt and understanding his thoughts was the best way to not judge lightly. The pain he caused and then the pain he felt, knowing that we should hate the character, but at the same time realizing that he is also pitiable.

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