Review: 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess, 219 pages - Instagram @c_reads_books

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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is a classic dystopian novel narrated by the story's protagonist Alex. At first it seems that Alex is just another teenager mixed up in gangs and violence, yet he is different in his true devotion to and love of violence. He sees it as an art, connecting some of his favorite music to his most brutal crimes. Alex and his three ‘droogs’ go out at night, committing crimes ranging from robbery to rape, yet it is not until their crime goes awry one night that Alex is finally put behind bars. While in jail, Alex is subject to a new and experimental ‘treatment’ in order to rid him of his desire and love for violence. Devoid of his ability to make moral choices, Alex is released into a world that he no longer knows how to navigate.

To be completely honest, in a way, I’m still trying to decide to what extent I liked this book, but one sure thing is that it has made me think more than any other book I’ve read in awhile. It was undeniably very different from most books I’ve read, dystopian or not, and I really enjoyed that. There were definitely quite a few very disturbing scenes of violence, yet I overall thought the moral question the book was centered around was extremely interesting and captivating. The story and its ending are definitely controversial in their message, but I personally loved the moral question debating between natural moral depravity and forced morality. Without the ability to choose, humans are no more than a piece of machinery. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science fiction/dystopian novels, or just a very interesting story with a grave moral question!