A Clockwork Orange

Lets start with the book--"A Clockwork Orange."Anthony Burgess grew to hate this book, not because of its contents , but because it so overshadowed all of his other works. Burgess was a man of divers interests which he wrote about in both fiction and nonfiction. He was a superb writer. Words, for him, seemed to come easily.I must say, Burgess deserves mention as a sociological Jules Verne, a man who made stark predictions of future turns that have panned out.In "A Clockwork Orange," which he wrote fairly early in life, he created a deeply disturbing world in which young teens run free to commit violent crimes of all kinds at night. The opening pages of this book are filled with gang fights, muggings, rape, beatings, burglary, and car theft. Alex, the protagonist of this first-person narration, never shows even a smidgen of remorse about the crimes he has committed. He simply relates his tale, including a scene in which he rapes two girls he estimates to be pre-teen. The only violence the sociopathic Alex regards as problematic is violence against him.In the story, he is arrested and eventually introduced into an experimental new program that uses drugs and hypnotics to make people incapable of violence. Note, this does not mean he sees it as wrong, just that he cannot become violent without being sickened. He is a cat without claws or teeth that is placed back in a world filled with enemies (many of whom are the good people he tortured) and the results are as cruel as he is.The story is simple, the telling is sublime. Alex speaks "Nadsat," a slang language of Burgess's creation that mixes Russian words, rhyme, and English slang. A good portion of the novel is told in these words, so the reader needs to pay careful attention in the beginning, learn a new vocabulary, and apply that vocabulary to every paragraph.In my case, I was not a reader but a listener, and that enhanced the experience greatly. It enhanced the experience largely do to the amazing talents of Tom Hollander, a gifted character actor who injects so much into this book. You may know Hollander. He played the parson Mr. Collins in "Pride and Prejudice" and the officious Cutler Beckett in the second and third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. He generally plays the short guy with the big ego. If I had his reading ability, I'd have an ego the size of a mountain. Hollander adds a brash, boastful, cockney attitude to Alex. His range of voices and characters seems endless as he brings old men, politicians, prisoners. thugs, policemen, prison guards, priests, and psychologists to life.There have been a few perfect pairings of reader and text. If you try this audio book and agree with me, you might also want to listen to "The Anansi Boys" as read by Lenny Henry; "Memoirs of a Geisha," read by Bernadette Dunne--there are other productions of "Memoirs" with readers. I can neither recommend nor criticize other versions as I have not heard--I highly recommend holding out for Ms. Dunne's reading; and "The Green Mile" and "Freaky Deaky" read by Frank Muller.

Wow, this book goes after some truly weighty subjects in a short time frame. Burgess tells the story of his narrator, Alex, who is a clearly intelligent young man who has focused his youthful talents on setting out each night to terrorize the innocent citizens of a futuristic London.The book is famous for Burgess' heavy use of a made-up slang that a committed reader will pick up quickly using context clues. It actually serves to focus your attention on the book rather than as a distraction. Further, Burgess uses the slang to differentiate groups of characters within the book and, in some of the book's most interesting moments, one side of a character from another side within himself. The dichotomies created are very clear without being ham-fisted. Very well done.Burgess really creates a gritty, enveloping sense of place and mood as Alex and his pals meander through the city. As the reader, you simultaneously feel their sense of power (empty though it may be) and the victim's sense of fear and helplessness. Another great exploration of the duality of character within each of us, and yet this is still just a warm up for the main event!The story hits its peak once Alex is sold out by his pals and captured by the police (who aren't really good guys). Alex volunteers/is chosen for a new procedure which will "cure" him of his evil tendencies. The scenes of brainwashing that follow are wonderfully crafted and this whole segment of the book artfully asks whether it is better to have a choice between good and evil when only a portion of us will choose good, or whether it is better for all of us to be good even at the cost of our free will. It's a tremendous look at freedom vs. authoritarianism in all its forms.As Alex is released back into the world, we see the flip side of his original self, someone incapable of any form of evil. The string of events that follows brings up as many penetrating questions for the reader as any other portion of the book. Alex finishes (if you get a book with the 21st chapter - make sure you do) slightly older, with more perspective on his situation.A book about the two sides (at least) we all have within us and the freedom some of us have and some of us lack to let the two sides out. Highly recommended, you can see why this one has stood the test of time.