"A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess

"A Clockwork Orange" is told from the first-person perspective of anti-hero Alex, a classical music-loving juvenile delinquent living in a crime and social-ill-ridden near future. Alex tells his story in the slang of his generation, Nadsat, making the book difficult to read at first, but very effective as the reader becomes familiar with the terminology. Alex and his gang of Droogs (friends) indulge in a life of drug-taking, bullying, violent assault, fighting with opposing gangs, home invasion and rape, which comes to a halt when Alex is betrayed by jealous gang-member Dim, and caught red-handed during a bungled robbery in which Alex unwittingly kills an elderly woman. Alex is sent to prison where he is selected to take part in an experimental rehabilitation program, the "Ludovico Technique", a form of Pavlovian conditioning which forces Alex to watch ultra-violent films while causing him feelings of pain and sickness. Alex is released back into society and is no longer able to perform violent or sexist acts without a conditioned response of pain. As a side-effect Alex also feels pain when listening to his beloved classical music. Alex is taken in by a seemingly-benevolent, anti-government group who seek to use Alex to further their political agenda, seeking public sympathy for the poor state the Ludovico technique has left him in. Coincidentally, one of the group is a previous home invasion victim of Alex and his Droogs, who gradually recognises Alex through his voice and therefore plots revenge with others in the group by arranging Alex to be locked in a room playing classical music, forcing Alex to jump from a window, killing two-birds with one stone (revenge and political objectives via Alex as a martyr). However, Alex survives his fall and is taken to hospital where the government arranges for treatments which reverse his conditioning, returning him to his original, violent self.

A really good book. The use of first-person perspective in Alex's nadsat is particularly effective in adding colour to the story, and made it really unique and an interesting read. "A Clockwork Orange" is a dark and cynical novel and I really liked it's gritty nature. That said, it's very violent and sometimes difficult to read, particularly Alex's descriptions of his violent acts, both for the act itself and the use of nadsat in it's description which heightens the sense of Alex's sociopathic nature. Therefore not for the faint-hearted.

The version of the book I read is a reprint of the american print, in which the final chapter (present in the british print) has been left out. In this chapter, years have past and Alex reflects on his violent behaviour remorsefully. Apparently Burgess was unhappy about this edit, claiming the alternative ending glorified Alex's behaviour; interestingly it was this print of the book which was most popular. Personally I found the ending somewhat dark, however there was a touch of poetic justice against the system which had sort to remove Alex's free-will to perform violent acts; the novel certainly does not glorify Alex's behaviour but perhaps the futility in state control over the individual.