A Clockwork Orange is a novel written by Anthony Burgess and was published in 1962. The UK got Burgess’s full vision for the book, while the US version omitted the final, controversial chapter. Some will argue that the final chapter contradicted the main point of the book, and others (including the author of the book) will argue that the final chapter provided development for the main character and that there was no point in the story if the final chapter was not there. In my personal opinion, I liked the final chapter, and I can see both sides of the argument. I’m also a firm believer that the creator’s intention is the best way to experience any kind of media, so if I had to choose I’d say the book is better if it includes the final chapter. And if you don’t like it, you can just pretend the last chapter doesn’t exist. Just know that the last chapter is canon.
The story takes place in a slightly futuristic England and follows Alex, a young, fifteen year old teen who is a violent thug that spends his evenings with his droogies getting into gang fights, robbing stores, and committing a bit of the old ultra-violence. After being arrested for murder, Alex is used as a test subject for a new experimental rehabilitation program called the Ludovico Technique. The question proposed by the book is this: Is it moral to force someone to do good? Is it moral to give someone the choice between good and evil, even if they choose evil?
Reading A Clockwork Orange is a bit of a task, as Alex speaks in Nadsat, a language made up by the author. If you happen to get a version of the book without the Nadsat glossary, it’d save you a lot of time to look one up, instead of trying to figure out the meaning of the words yourself. The book is still English, but Nadsat is littered about on every page. Think of it like a Dr. Seuss book when he uses all those made up words. But unlike a Dr. Seuss book a lot of the words are hard to figure out and if you don’t understand them you won’t understand about ninety percent of the book. I found it a little annoying that I had to memorize a bunch of words just to read a book. There’s I think about 200 Nadsat words which might seem a little bit daunting but as far as I can remember only about twenty or so are commonly used. The most common ones are:
droogie/drooge – friend
rooker – arm
viddy – see
gulliver – head
slooshy – hear
smeck – laugh
devotchka – girl
chelloveck – man
govoreet – talk
goloss – voice
horrorshow – good
lewdies – people
litso – face
malenky – little
millicent – police
noga – leg
platties – clothes
slovo – word
starry – old
tolchock – hit
Some of them are easy to decipher using context clues but some had me constantly looking back at the glossary. I couldn’t go a page without having to find out what a word meant, though that problem began to cease after the third chapter or so when I got more used to the language and could figure out what everything meant by myself.
As the narrator Alex is pretty interesting and it’s fun to hear how he describes the events of the story. He also is pretty deplorable. I didn’t hate him nor did I like him. I just found him interesting. Despite his horrible actions at his very core I didn’t really think he was all too terrible. I noticed that the author made the law enforcement and the government experimenting on Alex, even though they were supposed to be on the “good” side, very cruel and sadistic, making the line between “good” and “evil” very blurry.
Although it’s an entertaining read, nothing really leaped out to me as exceptionally good. It’s well written and I was never bored but I can’t say it’s anything groundbreaking or revolutionary. It’s a good story, but that’s all I can really say about it.
The only complaint I have with A Clockwork Orange is the ending. I already said that I liked it and all but there is one flaw I find with it. You can skip this part if you don’t want any spoilers, but you’re probably not going to read this book anyway so here goes. In the final chapter Alex is hanging out with a new gang, but finds that he’s become bored with all the violence. He runs into Pete, one of his old droogies, and learns that he’s been married and has a job. This makes Alex thinks about things and he decides to start living like a functioning member of society.
The issue I have with this is that the ending feels a little tacked on. Even if the events of the book hadn’t occurred then wouldn’t this have happened anyway? With Alex getting bored of gang violence and reforming. None of the events in the book contribute to this ending so it sort of feels unnecessary. Although you can argue that the ending without the final chapter makes the book just as unnecessary, as it ends with Alex being cured of the Ludovico Technique and returning to his old, evil ways.
The last thing I have to say is sort of a nitpick. Alex has a love of classical music which is a pretty big plot point, but I find it difficult to imagine that a thug has any sort of appreciation of classical music. It just feels out of character.