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A review by trilbynorton
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
4.0
The continuous use of like nadsat is a real horrorshow way of getting us to inhabit the bezoomny mind of our molodoy droog Alex, and it is a malenky bit uncomfortable a mesto to inhabit.
But the final chapter (excised for Kubrick's film adaptation) does let the book down. It's not so much that Alex's decision to be good is a poor ending - after all, whether it is better to be forced or to decide to be good is the point of the book - it's that it has Alex decide to become a normal, functioning member of a society which the book has spent most of it's length describing as deeply flawed. Burgess doesn't so much advocate for goodness as he does for complacency, something which, whatever you think of it, the film can't be accused of.
But the final chapter (excised for Kubrick's film adaptation) does let the book down. It's not so much that Alex's decision to be good is a poor ending - after all, whether it is better to be forced or to decide to be good is the point of the book - it's that it has Alex decide to become a normal, functioning member of a society which the book has spent most of it's length describing as deeply flawed. Burgess doesn't so much advocate for goodness as he does for complacency, something which, whatever you think of it, the film can't be accused of.