Reviews

Arancia meccanica by Anthony Burgess

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dr_julian's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

sheccabaw's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad 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

4.25

sburleson's review against another edition

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4.0

Interesting and thought-provoking read, but I absolutely hated the language it was written in. It made it very difficult to actually read the story. So 3.5 stars out of 5 for this book.

books_n_bananas's review against another edition

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3.0

Bizarre.
I still am confused by Burgess' choice to invent a new language for the protagonist based on an agist criteria. I just don't see how it added much to the overall point of the work except to keep the reader invested. Unfortunately, I haven't read anything else by Burgess so it's difficult for me to know whether this has more to do with writing style than the plot or point of the book.
Secondly, the characters are pretty damn difficult to identify with. I understand the thought process of these young characters being violent and angry in their youth, especially with the factor of an undisciplined family structure and unenforced school attendance policy of the entire society. The youth are in the power position of society so they're able to be foolishly violent and uncaring in relationship to others... and yet, it's just not realistic or relatable. However angsty we all become in our teen years, we still don't have the drive to rape, kill, maim, steal, and all the more-- enjoy it aaaaand on top of that, the entire society is made of up of these type of youth(s)? That's just not how we, as humans, operate.
At the same time, this young character is approximately 15 or 16 throughout the novel and yet doesn't seem to even be able to understand basic concepts and verbiage said to him by the police, doctors, or political groups. Again, he portrayed as a powerful young criminal and yet intelligence-wise, is a complete oaf.
Despite all this, the premise is still interesting and has an overarching philosophical theme-- that if one is forced to be good, and does not inherently choose to be good, is one actually a good person? It brings to light the ethics behind conditioning people to behave or be a certain way. We should all have the right to our choices and our freedoms.
Good ideas. Weird execution. Completely unrealistic characters.

zermaslan's review against another edition

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5.0

La naranja mecánica es una muestra de genialidad que no se ven todos los días, Anthony Burgess juega con el lenguaje de una manera tan exquisita que por momentos el alto contenido de nadsat es imperceptible, pudiendo meternos de lleno a la historia que nuestro humilde narrador Alex nos cuenta por 21 capítulos (incluido el capítulo perdido de la edición estadounidense y por tanto de la película) dividida en tres partes que se pueden resumir sin mayor problema en ultra-violencia, redención y evolución.

Sin ninguna duda, este libro es una gran obra de la literatura y se lo recomiendo a quienes gusten de un cruda y divertida historia que contiene muchas moralejas y también a quienes hayan gustado de la película, pues es mucho más gratificante y el conocer el último capítulo nos abre un nuevo panorama de la obra misma y su significado.

gsroney's review against another edition

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4.0

“If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange—meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil.”