A Clockwork Orange

Strange, this book. The content is disturbing--a ride in the ultra-violent mind of Alex, a teenager in a dystopian England who spends his nights attacking and abusing anyone with whom he comes in contact. Yet Burgess is doing some things that are interesting, despite my two-star rating.

The language here, first of all, is fascinating. The teenagers of this future speak an amalgam of Russian and English, which makes understanding the narrator both difficult and compelling, a puzzle game of language that is both challenging and rewarding to master.

More interesting is the novel's central question regarding the nature of free will. If, like Satan's plan, we are compelled to do good and cannot do evil, are we really good at all? And is the alternative--the ability to be cruel and vicious beyond measure--actually better, or is it just more "authentic"?

As a companion piece to George Orwell's 1984 I really liked the book. Similar themes--even similar content, in that brainwashing and conditioning are central to both--but a very different approach. Orwell gives us Winston, who we want to succeed, while Burgess shoves Alex, whose every act is repugnant, down our throats. Yet is eliminating the humanity of the criminal more righteous than eliminating that of the hero? Perhaps. And yet that justification brings problems of its own.

In the end, the book is compelling. And while I'm torn between giving this two stars or three, and while I'm fairly certain I won't be reading it again, it is at least thought-provoking. An interesting work. And one you can click to buy.