A Clockwork Orange

Written by Anthony Burgess and made into an iconic film by Stanley Kubrick starring Malcolm MacDowell, A Clockwork Orange is a book that is both compelling and repulsive. It is also one of the few books where I think its ok, even a good idea, to watch the movie first. Filled with political, youth oriented, conformist, and “modern-age” themes, A Clockwork Orange is a wonderful book, a bit tricky to get into at first, but once hooked, you cannot put it down. 

Teenage Alex lives a life at night, leading his gang of lads around and committing acts of robbery, rape, drug taking, and ultra-violence. But one night a routine robbery goes amiss as Alex is set up and betrayed by his mates and he ends up getting caught and thrown into the city’s overcrowded prison. After two years, Alex is plucked from the criminal masses to be a subject of a new reform treatment: a treatment that involves brainwashing poor Alex causing him to feel physically sick when contemplating any act of wrongdoing. Soon after being released as a reformed criminal, Alex finds his new life of good completely unbearable, even more so as society continues to punish him for his past behaviour. 

The book is very poignant and forceful and very disturbing. It’s based on a Russian gang of teenage thugs that Burgess encountered in St. Petersburg and takes some very strong jabs at popular culture, the rise of conformism, and the psychological conditioning of the 1960s, something that Burgess found quite objectionable. So there are some very strong and bluntly put political themes that are presented in the book as well as a few strong jabs at the generational divide. Set in a dystopian future, though not too distant from the 1960s, we see a lot of the young victimising the old and then, later on, visa versa. The phrase “victim of the modern age” comes into play quite a bit and it really sets the old brain whirring with thoughts as to all meanings that phrase could harbour. 

I mentioned before that A Clockwork Orange is a book that can be read after seeing the movie first. Normally, I am quite against this, but Kubrick’s film was such an apt adaptation that gave its audience, not only the visual gist of what was going on, but also a taste of the language and dialogue used in the book. The book is written in the first person, from the point of view of young Alex, reflecting on his little adventure. The language is a combination of rhyming and Russian slang and it can be rather hard to get the gist of what’s actually happening if you have not seen the film. You’ll find that, for a time, you’ll be playing a fair bit of catch-up. It’s very brutal, conversational, reflective, and frank; nothing long-winded or grandiose, but very much as though Alex himself were actually right there telling us his story over a cup of chai. I absolutely loved the writing of this book.

 Filled with violence, crime, brainwashing, drugs, betrayal, and reflection, A Clockwork Orange is a wholly wonderful book and, once acquainted with the style of writing, a very easy and compelling read. The language is without a doubt my favourite part of it: you just don’t see a mixture of Russian slang and Shakespearean prose side by side anymore. And using word such as “horrorshow” instead of “nice”, well I’m going to adopt that and use it everyday! I LOVED THIS BOOK!