Steven Godin's Reviews > A Clockwork Orange

First time round I didn't really think that much of this.
For three main reasons.
1. Despite this being something of an 'essential' read before you hit adulthood I wasn't much of a reader then. Maybe two or three books a year. What did I know?
2. I hadn't seen the film (this time around it made a massive difference having Kubrick's visionary masterpiece swirling around in my head).
3. I read a tatty old 70s copy of the novel that looked like it had crawled through a warzone before hiding in someone's underpants for the next 25 years. Discolored pages. Tiny faded text. Mucky. Smelly. Suspicious stains. Just not very nice. Yuck.

Now this mint condition and ever so striking 50th anniversary edition found it's way to me - and it's the Dog's Bollocks! It really is. It's the sort of book that I want keep on my bookshelf with the cover facing outwards and not the spine. You know, like they sometimes do in the bookshops to draw your attention.

The novel itself is without question a work of staggering originality. Sinister & unsettling. Provocative. Damn right addictive. I even couldn't help but read this with a glass of milk or two. And in Alex we have one of the 20th century's most memorable narrators. That slang language - a masterstoke! Basically a way to stand out from others, which creates a stark contrast between the different speech and mind-set of the adults.
Not going to lie - this isn't the easiest of reads, as there is a lot of horrible and nasty goings on here, but it has to be noted that this isn't violence for just for sake of violence. If I wanted that then I'd watch the latest Rambo or something. In theory, it's not really the violence that seeps into your bones, but rather the apathetic view of Alex & co towards it, including their total lack of giving a toss for the age of their victims. Moreover, it was seriously disturbing to read of how their wickedness was simply born out of the common feelings of teenage boredom. Burgess is no fool, and he raises some very important ethical questions that didn't hit me before, such as whether it is better for a person to decide to be bad than to be forced to be good, and whether forcibly suppressing free will is acceptable. I'd say the conditioning methods (the so called 'Ludovico technique') in trying to cure Alex, was just as shocking to read as the brutal violence he and his droogs dished out.

Looks like there is some great additional material included in this version, but I haven't got to it yet. For the novel alone it's got to be a five for me. Maybe the fact that I'm now fully distanced by nearly three decades from the youth here made it a better book for me?
I don't know. Anyway, I'm just glad it came along again and blew me away.