Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

7 reviews

thet0meraider's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

31 anni dopo l'uscita di Arancia Meccanica, Anthony Burgess ha detto, in un articolo per The Observer in cui riflette sul ruolo della sua novella nella diffusione della violenza giovanile: "[In the book and movie adaptation] the question was asked: is it permissible to kill free will in order to ensure the stability of society? Not many viewers of the film took notice of the question: most were too excited by the violence to bother about the philosophy of the concept".

E aggunge: "My argument was that action was anterior to art; that aggression was built into the human system and could not be taught by a book, film or play. [...] If one wished to believe that a book could instigate violence, the Bible could be one’s first choice, and yet this was taken to be the Word of God. [...] From the film of A Clockwork Orange youth did not learn aggression: it was aggressive already. What it did learn was a style of aggression, a mode of dressing violence up in a new way, a piquant sauce to season the raw meat of kicks, biffs and razor-slashings".


"Arancia Meccanica" è un romanzo straordinario che affronta temi complessi e sempre attuali con una prosa coinvolgente e innovativa. La storia, ambientata in un futuro distopico (anni '70, con il libro pubblicato nel 1962), segue le vicende di Alex DeLarge, un giovane delinquente immerso in una società violenta e decadente. Uno dei punti di forza del romanzo è sicuramente lo stile linguistico unico, che mescola l'inglese con uno slang che richiama il russo inventato dall'autore, noto come "Nadsat" (letteralmente, "adolescente", nella lingua del romanzo), arricchendo così la narrazione con una profondità e una vivacità impareggiabili.

Il tema centrale del conflitto tra libero arbitrio individuale e controllo sociale è trattato in modo magistrale, portando il lettore a riflettere sulle implicazioni morali delle azioni di Alex e sul ruolo della società nel plasmare il comportamento umano. La narrazione è avvincente e incalzante, mantenendo costantemente l'attenzione del lettore e offrendo spunti di riflessione profondi e stimolanti.

Ho trovato straziante, dall'inizio alla fine, la volontà di Alex si essere cattivo, punto e basta. Il ragazzo, appena quindicenne, non fa del male per ribellarsi al mondo - lo fa perché gli piace, ne gode, lo fa sentire al settimo cielo. E questo, devo dirlo, mi ha profondamente scossa. Non solo: finché rimane un ragazzo, Alex non ha intenzione di redimersi. Anzi.

Ci sono stati dei momenti in cui il mio metro morale mi ha portato a sentirmi in pena per Alex: vedere un ragazzino che piange per sé stesso, estremamente infelice, non è mai piacevole. Eppure le sensazioni altalenanti che ho provato nei confronti del protagonista devono portarmi anche a ragionare su di me, sulle mie credenze. Mi sono scoperta a provare godimento nel sapere Alex sottoposto alla cura riabilitativa forzata. Ho gioito nel sapere che non sarebbe più stato in grado di fare del male, anche se sotto forzatura, e nel constatare che la punizione era doppiamente efficace, perché ha rimosso anche il piacere che il ragazzino provava nell'ascoltare musica classica - peraltro con una spocchia davvero insopportabile.
Ho però anche sofferto per lui in diverse occasioni: nel vederlo usato e strumentalizzato da diverse fazioni politiche; nel saperlo respinto dalla famiglia (anche se se lo merita! Questa dualità, argh!) e solo e, per una volta, forse ingiustamente picchiato dalla brutale polizia (o magari, ancora, se lo è meritato per tutte le brutte azioni fatte in passato! Aaaaargh). Persino delle tendenze suicide mi sono dispiaciuta, pur restando dell'opinione che se la sia cercata.

Il romanzo trova una degna conclusione, a parer mio. Se si fosse chiuso diversamente, su una nota ancora negativa dopo tutto quello che abbiamo visto nel corso del romanzo, forse non lo avrei apprezzato così tanto.
Forse la cura è davvero solo la maturazione, forse basta solo davvero diventare grandi.

Sono davvero molto contenta di aver affrontato questa lettura. Sono arrivata senza aspettative e me ne sono andata arricchita, stimolata, piena di riflessioni da compiere sul mondo e, soprattutto, su di me. 

Consigliato!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Violence

cjfooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

You know what, I actually enjoyed this. I got to say - I wasn’t expecting to.
It was one of those books I wanted to read to say I’d read it and to watch the movie, which I know is a cult classic (although tbh I don’t feel the need now). The only other thing I knew about it going in, was that it was very graphically violent - and wow it definitely is, but not in the way you’d expect. 

Firstly, the first part is quite confusing because by this point, not only are you still trying to understand the book’s world and meet characters, but the language is actually its own unique dialect of English. 

They mention it at some point, but it’s the young people slang of this fictional world and includes a lot of Russian-derived words in place of English ones. This means most commonly used nouns and verbs are totally incoherent at the start. But towards the middle and end I actually really enjoyed this part of it and now, after reading, sort of miss listening to it, in the way you might miss hearing an Irishmen speak after visiting Ireland for a week. 

I’m also really glad I read it  for the first time as an audiobook for this reason - I think I understood it quicker and better this way. 

When it comes to all the violence though, it’s dampened considerably by the language factor in a very clever way, never using the words like ‘r*pe’, ‘screaming/crying’ or ‘bl**d’ instead ‘the ol’ in-out-in-out’, ‘screeching’ and ‘krovvy’. Between this and the matter-of-a-fact narration about atrocities from Alex (the main character) i think the point here is to try and make the reader read in Alex’s detached perspective, instead of their own. 
The language does change throughout the book and, man the way it’s written is so a unique, that I can’t help but respect the heck out of it (which is also why I don’t think the movie could ever do it justice). 

Once Alex goes through ‘rehab’, the language he hears and starts using, changes to the ‘ugly’ words we’re used to (I.e. r*pe, etc.) and, this, combined with Alex’s correlated nausea, makes the impact of the violence that much stronger.

In terms of plot, it’s heavily a character development, rather than plot. And seems to be making some sort of a point but I’ll admit - I still don’t really get it.
To me overall, it’s a cleverly written story about morality, cruelty, karma and a very clever use of language. 

I wasn’t expecting to say I’d read this again but I think I would - and would recommend it in certain cases - but only for horror fans (though I wouldn’t actually call this horror) who can stomach a lot of violence in books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Animal death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Rape

moscatel's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

interesting concept with okay execution

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, Death, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

hildayay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Hade gett högre betyg om inte för den första tredjedelen av boken som var extremt jobbig att läsa (vilket också är hela meningen men men). Den känns också som att den simplifierar den komplexa sak som är människan på ett sätt som jag inte älskade. Annars: intressant historia, gillar språket som ger stämning (när man väl kom in i den, i början var det asjobbigt att läsa) och ger en en tankeställare kring kriminalpolitik (ish?). Skulle rekommendera, men inte om man är känslig för äckliga saker.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Kidnapping, Rape, Blood, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Misogyny, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Cancer, Addiction, Genocide, and Antisemitism

fieryashes's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Murder, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gore, Body horror, and Addiction

Moderate: Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Police brutality, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality

sur_la_route's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Violence

annavonwillingh's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Vomit