Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

163 reviews

strawberrygrapejelly's review against another edition

Maybe I should've read this earlier when I was less bogged down by life and less easily turned off.
I understand that this is part of the point, but I just couldn't bring myself to want to know anything more about the MC or his eventual "rehabilitation."  I'm not a squeamish person, but I found the depiction of SA... gratuitous. I could not bring myself to give a shit after that.  It was a classic that I wanted to get out of the way, but I'll prob read excerpts. 
And yeah yeah I'm missing the point whatever idc bro maybe I am missing out on genius but I've read enough classic dystopian novels to get the gist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

pinkfloydtwisted's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, and Toxic friendship

kingspite618's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bokslukaren's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I've never read a book that plays with language the way Burgess plays with it in “A Clockwork Orange”. The book, though written in English, contains an equal amount of “nadsat” words. These made-up teenage slang words were very hard to discern based solely on the context and for the first 30 pages I needed to have the book's Wiktionary beside the page at all times. The mix of older English and Nadsat was unique, to say the least, with both of the following sentences being said by the same character: “If fear thou hast in thy heart, O brother, pray banish it forthwith.” (page 18) and later “If it was all rainy and cally now on the ground you could have my platties to walk on so as not to cover your dainty nogas with filth and cal.” (page 95). The fact that each of the three parts starts in the same way and pattern, though with different implications, was very satisfying, but alas the story felt shallow and didn't at all compare to other dystopian works I've read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

krmreads2024's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

quillson's review against another edition

Hated the pace and the made up language/slang. Not interested in reading about the character commit violent and heinous crimes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

riep's review

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Please look at trigger warnings first!

I recommend to look up the nadsat-vocabulary early in the reading process, it becomes way easier afterwards. 

A very brutal, honest and deep story. Needs some getting used to, but I definitely recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, and Murder

deathmetalheron's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

If I were more clever + had more time I'd write this in Nadsat, but I'm not and I don't.

A Clockwork Orange is brilliant to say the least, and I think a firm example of where the book is just so clearly a superior format for the storytelling than the film will ever be. Narration in films is often a crutch, but in books it's one of the best tools for establishing character and tone of your story. Alex, the protagonist of the story, is so clearly in his own head that he cannot and will not divulge the details of his misgivings and his deeds. He is clearly a bad person and does horrible things but ultimately the narration is so supremely done because it distances the viewer from these actions--there is no voyeurism here, Alex is evil but so clearly inhuman that I found myself able to read about disgusting or awful occurrences with virtually no misgivings. It's an incredible feat to have been pulled off by Burgess to weave into the text such obtuse vocabulary to build Nadsat, not to mention it was done in three weeks.

Beyond the narration, the commentary being society's obsession with "rooting out" evil and social distortion while at the same time CAUSING said distortion is very palpable. Alex is certainly an evil figure but by the time the story has finished Alex's story feels tragic, but not in a sad way due to the fact it's Alex. ACO sort of feels like a litmus test for authoritarian punishment--do you wish a fate worse than death on the biggest dregs of society?

And it's the final chapter that throws me for a loop and prevents me from going 5/5. On the one hand,

yes, the fact it's so quick and is effectively another story plot line feels very rushed. To be fair I completely sympathize with the American publisher's instinct to get rid of it. At the same time, isn't it incredible how ultimately society's perceived social issues are solved not with intervention but with time? Alex's instincts towards criminal acts disappear the older he gets--while the crimes he commits are heinous, it didn't take the Ludovico technique to fix him--just time. Perhaps the real conspirator of societal evil is not the individual that commits the crime, but the society that enables the method of evil?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

giftofbooks's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

huntahejdare's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail