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A review by _chelseachelsea
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
5.0
A Clockwork Orange is my second favorite book. I know how pretentious that is, you don't have to tell me. But I can't help loving it. The prose is challenging to muck through, and the violence is atrocious, but the arc of Alex is so consuming I can re-read the entire thing over the course of a day.
I believe this book is important. Not because it postulates some deep, groundbreaking truth about human nature (though it does raise great questions about good vs evil), but because of the utter chaos it provoked during a time when violence was ostracized and literature was inflammatory. To read this book is to inevitably learn about its history - an author who despised it, a film director who rewrote it, and an audience who devoured it, discussed it, and emulated it. In that history is the story of a book that profoundly impacted the world around it merely by existing. And it is important for lovers and devourers of literature to understand that kind of impact.
I believe this book is important. Not because it postulates some deep, groundbreaking truth about human nature (though it does raise great questions about good vs evil), but because of the utter chaos it provoked during a time when violence was ostracized and literature was inflammatory. To read this book is to inevitably learn about its history - an author who despised it, a film director who rewrote it, and an audience who devoured it, discussed it, and emulated it. In that history is the story of a book that profoundly impacted the world around it merely by existing. And it is important for lovers and devourers of literature to understand that kind of impact.