Book 17 "A Clockwork Orange"

A Clockwork Orange By Anthony Burgess

A violent tale of a young gang member, Alex, who leads his gang of droogs (friends) into the night where they perform random acts of violence. The gang divides into betrayal as one of Alex's droogs (Dim) wounds him at the scene of a murder to be caught and arrested by the police. Alex is later sentenced to prison and becomes eligible for a new type of rehabilitation called 'Ludovico Technique" which basically reforms acts of violence by forcing the person to watch random acts of violence until they are overcome by negative feelings and sickness. Upon the transformation of becoming 'less violent' through the use of the Ludovico Technique the prisoner is released into society.

In the case of Alex, he is released into society only to face his old gang of droogs and beaten to near death. He is also brought to a near suicidal death from a former victim and found alive in the street after jumping from a high story building. He is brought to a hospital where he is transformed back to his normal, evil, sociopath, and hardened self. Seeking to destroy all his enemies.

I added the book to my list to read mainly from the Modern Library, which ranked the book #65 in its list of 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. What I wasn't prepared for as I started the book was the Shakespearean-like language as Burgess invented a new language that clearly mixed Russian with current British slang words (which later earned the name Nadsat) which made the book an interesting read as I learned to decipher the coded language. Words like gulliver = head; malchick = boy; rooka = hand; Bog = God and on and on. The interesting part of adding this language to the novel made the story line stick more as the level of concentration increased as I read.

In conclusion, I would say that it was interesting to learn that Burgess never intended the book to end the way it did. There was a 21st chapter written in the book that was taken out by the editor to appeal to an American audience. Burgess tried to rectify the entire book by explaining to the world that the number "21" referenced to the fact that the maturity of the age of 21 would leave Alex to mature to the point of abandoning his way of violence and living a peaceful life. However, film director Stanley Kubrick felt the 21st chapter was inconsistent with the rest of the book and left it out of the famous film. Therefore, some copies includes a 21st chapter, but most American versions omit the chapter. It was with this omission that Burgess felt betrayed and dismissed the book with an apology of regret for ever writing it.

Not my every day, fun, laid back kind of read. But for the fact of famous literature I would add it to my lifetime reading list.