A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

[segundus]

I've just started to read it and boy is it a cracking piece of work. Forget about how controversial it is with regards to the ultra-violence, what grabs me is the use of the nadsat slang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadsat) which is a VERY well thought out system of around 200 words bastardising the Russian, American and British language to form some very strange and yet wonderfully constructed paragraphs.

It IS difficult to get grips with at first - especially for the first two pages - but you'll soon pick up Alex's style (as the book is written in his narrative).

The book comes with a lengthy introduction about the origins of the story, about Anthony Burgess, and how the American edition until quite recently omitted the last chapter which proved controversial and caused a lot of upset for Burgess and a bit of rift between him and Kubrick when it came to making the film.

If you'd like a challenging book which pays dividends for the work you put into reading it, then A Clockwork Orange is well worth a look.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/14/43/4360024128a0759a317a5010.L.jpg

M.

[Edimene]

I've seen the movie some years ago and I really liked it; I've always wanted to read the book and maybe this winter will be the good time at last.

[segundus]

I managed to get the movie as soon as it came out on DVD just after Stanley Kubrick had passed away (given that Kubrick had banned the film in the UK a short while after it's initial release due to the controversy it caused within the British public) and found it to be one of his most brilliant works. I've kept meaning to read the book, but have only managed to get around to doing so. It's much shorter than I imagined. More of a novella than a novel.

[otherlander]

I've read a translated version and, as is the case of most translated books, I'm sure some of it got lost along the way.

Anyway, I did enjoy "A Clockwork Orange". It's a one of a kind book. Unfortunately, I read it after seeing the film (which is my favourite film, by the way) and I was slightly disappointed. In the book, that is. Stanley Kubrick's vision is unique and the film had a better ending than the book. I think this is due to the fact that Kubrick wrote the script based on an American edition, that didn't feature the final chapter.