A Clockwork Orange (Novel Review)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

 Goodreads Summary: A vicious fifteen-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic, whose stark terror was captured in Stanley Kubrick's magnificent film of the same title. In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alex—to "redeem" him—the novel asks, "At what cost?"

 I'm fairly certain this is the most terrifying novel I have ever read in my life. 

 The story follows a teenage criminal, Alex, along the terrors he commits as his group's leader - until he is finally caught.

 In this horrific dystopian novel where crimes go unpunished, Alex is finally caught and forced to "redeem" himself. 

While I can say this novel definitely made me squirm and feel uncomfortable in every way possible, I commend Anthony Burgess for having the ability to write a novel exactly the way he intended to. The symbolism of society within this novel is remarkable and if every high school across the nation could read this, it would likely teach youth just how important government actually is and why the justice system is vital for the protection of society.

Burgess also does an impeccable job at creating the confusion in the reader's mind on whether or not they truly hate Alex or if to sympathize with him.

Similar to George Orwell's 1984, Anthony Burgess warns society about the path it could potentially end up on if we aren't more cautious. However, unlike 1984, Burgess argues about the good and evil of people while Orwell emphasizes the good and evil of the government.

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