Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - A Clockwork Orange

“Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?”

I have so many mixed thought and feelings on this book. Instead of my usual likes and dislikes, I figured I’d talk about some of the interesting aspects of the book.

The main character is despicable, but he’s supposed to be. He’s more a product of his authoritarian society than he realizes, and he embodies many of their core values and falls prey to their whims even as he strives to subvert them.

Language plays an important role in the book, with the narrator speaking Nadsat (a young person’s language) that the reader has to learn to decipher. Alex’s crimes are absolutely horrific, but toward the beginning the reader is so bogged down by figuring out what he’s saying that the crimes themselves almost take on a secondary nature. By the time the reader is able to decipher the meanings of the words without having to think about them, we have moved on to the next part of the story where he’s moved past them in one sense or another. I think some of the violent scenes would have been too much to read were it not for that, and even with it there were times I had to take a break from the book.

Many ethical conundrums are brought up in this relatively short book, to include free will, subversion, and the horrors that can occur when the government has too much control.

I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the book per se, because it was dark and very violent, but I did find the concepts and language very interesting. I’m not sure I’d revisit it in the future, but I’m glad I finally read this classic! I’m also very glad I read this with my book club, because the discussion was excellent.

Content Warnings

strawberrygrapejelly's review against another edition

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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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alexschrade's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This one is difficult to rate. While I was reading it, I didn't really like it. I don't really care for the Nadsat and I just found that it made the entire book incredibly exhausting to read. BUT since I've finished it, I can not seem to stop thinking about it, so I feel like it definitely achieved it's goal extraordinarily well. Definitely a special book.

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