A Bookaholic's Book Log

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

READ: 09.02.17 - 11.02.17

BOOK: A Clockwork Orange

AUTHOR: Anthony Burgess

GENRE: Thriller

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of youth in revolt, 15 year old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed, and the State try to reform him- but at what cost?

REVIEW: I went into reading this book without really anticipating what I would end up reading. If there is one thing you should know before reading this book, it's that you need to learn Nadstat slang beforehand. What's Nadstat slang? It's the made-up language that the protagonist, Alex, speaks in occasionally. While it's pretty easy to pick up a lot of the words due to their context in the book, I would still suggest looking up some of the words online so it's easier for you to read the book right from the start. The most common slang words in the novel are probably 'veck' meaning 'man' and 'droog' meaning 'friend'.

The book itself is action-packed, however a lot of the events are skimmed over by the narrator who is Alex himself, and I suppose this only adds to the 'story-telling' vibe of the book. For me, I didn't find any of the scenes too upsetting or offensive because I'm used to a bit of gore every now and then, but if you're not into that kind of thing I wouldn't recommend this book.

To me, the purpose of this book was not solely to be enjoyed, but it was to raise questions about corruption and the choices we make. For me personally, I was left to contemplate some aspects of life as well as aspects in the book. Without giving too much away, you're left to try and work out who is the villain in this book, and if there really is one seeing as they're all as bad as each other?

While probably not one of my favourite books of all time, it did make me think a lot, and it was a new experience reading a book in which I couldn't understand what some of the words meant. By the end you become fluent in Nadstat.

FINAL VERDICT: Read this book if you want to, it's a really thought-provoking book that makes you question a lot of things. It's not particularly descriptive (or long for that matter), but it's an interesting read and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

RATING: 7.5/10