A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

2 ½ out of 5 stars

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?"

You know a book isn’t going to live up to the high expectations you have set when the introduction from the author includes statements such as “I first published the novella A Clockwork Orange in 1962, which ought to be enough in the past for it to be erased from the world’s literary memory. It refuses to be erased however,” or “I should myself be glad to disown it for various reasons, but this is not permitted,” and when speaking of the Russian inspired slang he used heavily throughout the book, “I have shown enough, though the curtain of an invented lingo gets in the way – another aspect of my cowardice.” Had I paid attention to these quotes, perhaps I would have went in with a different attitude (I still would have read it of course) and maybe even ended up loving the book like so many others. I didn’t. But I didn’t hate it either because A Clockwork Orange isn’t a bad book. It's actually pretty good. That is if you can get past the language, which isn’t easy for everyone. Many find it difficult and even if they do come to the understanding of what all these words mean (and there are a lot of them), it can take so much effort to get there that the story itself becomes lost. What you end up with is more of a homework assignment instead of a good read. Here’s an example: “But there were the golosses of millicents telling them to shut it and you could even slooshy the zvook of like somebody being tolchocked real horrorshow and going owwwwwwwww, and it was like the goloss of a drunken starry ptitsa, not a man.” The whole thing is like that. Luckily some books come with a glossary, making it easier. Others, like the edition I had, did not, so it’s left up to the reader to either figure it out on your own or look it up on the numerous websites devoted to defining the language for you.

As for the story, it is quite violent and the characters extremely unlikable. Even with the original final chapter added, sympathy does not come easily for the protagonist. At least not from me. Because of the brutal acts within the book that he performs, I had a hard time caring what happened to him. Even when doctors went about conditioning him in ways that can only be described as inhumane, I still couldn’t bring myself to feel sympathetic because he never felt any remorse for his actions. The feelings he had towards violence weren’t his own. I suppose that’s the point though. The loss to think and act for ourselves, no matter what those thoughts and actions may be. That should be what scares you. Thankfully I don’t have to like the main character in order for me to enjoy a book and in this case it wasn’t necessary to be fond of him. I just wish I could have enjoyed this one much more than I did. The concept and idea behind it is interesting and that is why I decided to read it in the first place. Unfortunately I think I would have gotten more out of it had there been less unrecognizable slang used throughout it. Of course I will say I understand why the author used it. A means to soften the blow of how disturbing the book truly is. There were times I was thankful that I didn’t fully understand what was going on because just what I was able to figure out without full comprehension made the acts horrific enough, especially when you consider the age of those committing them. I did find the second half of the book easier to read, but that’s mostly because by then I was able to figure out what most of the words meant and I was finally able to really focus on the story. Which would have been great had it not been for the final chapter. I won’t go into it so as not to give it away to anyone that hasn’t read it. I just found it unbelievable.

Now for the question: Who I would recommend this book to? Well, I would say anyone who wants to read it. I wouldn’t avoid it just because of the possible difficulty in understanding it. Some do find it easier to decipher and for that you might find it a bit more enjoyable than I did.

Available at Amazon at the link below:
A Clockwork Orange

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham

 

4 out of 5 stars

I received this book free from NetGalley.

Seven people might have murdered Eric Crowther, the mysterious recluse who lived in the gaunt house whose shadow fell across the White Cottage. Seven people had good cause. It was not lack of evidence that sent Detective Chief Inspector Challenor and his son Jerry half across Europe to unravel a chaos of clues.

Not long ago, I found a few podcasts that play those old time radio mystery theater shows. Since then I have listened to quite a few and really enjoy them. This book kind of reminds me of those. Margery Allingham is known as one of the truly great mystery writers of the Golden Age and it is easy to see why.

The White Cottage is a short story. It was a little slow in the beginning and I will admit that it didn’t initially draw me in. After the first two chapters though, I couldn’t stop and finished it in just a couple hours. Once I was able to establish who all the characters were (there were quite a few) it was easy for me to get lost in the story. The thing I especially liked about this book is how Inspector Challenor focused on each character, went over their motive and probability of having committed the crime, and then ruled them out one by one. There were definitely enough suspects to keep you guessing and right up until the reveal, I had not been able to figure out who it was.

The one thing that was bothersome for me was the Inspectors son, Jerry. An ok character for the most part, he would annoy me at times with his insistence that the killer couldn’t be the girl he was smitten with, because, well, he liked her. A girl he barely knew and had just recently met. It also bothered me that he wanted his dad to give up the case and not bother finding out who did it all because there is a point when his dad suspects the woman of the murder. Luckily this wasn’t annoying enough to kill the story though. Just something I found slightly irritating.

Because it is a short story, character development is lacking. Something to be aware of if you are big on that. Personally it didn’t bother me too much since there really isn’t time to develop them completely. This is actually the first book of Allingham’s I had ever read, but I will definitely be reading more from this author.

 

Available on Amazon at the link below:

The White Cottage

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

2 out of 5 stars

So I decided to add some classics to my reading rotation this year. I didn’t want to read books that I had already read back when I was in high school so I looked at ones that I know others had to read and figured I’d start there. So far I’m not fairing so well. This was my second book in the classics category that I chose and I’m not really sure what to say about it. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. It was basically just ok, which saddens me because I was really looking forward to this book. I liked the synopsis and thought it would be one I would greatly enjoy. It unfortunately fell flat for me. I found most of it very tedious ad boring and I really struggled to finish it. I get the point that the author was trying to make, I just felt like it was too wordy (especially when it came to describing the island…very long winded) and the dialog was choppy to the point that many times I had no idea what they were even talking about because all they did was talk over each other. I get that is what kids do, but it was annoying and it made it hard to follow the story.

Available on Amazon at the link below:

Lord of the Flies

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

2 out of 5 stars

When I was in high school all those years ago, we had 3 English teachers who taught 3 separate Literature classes. When it came to the required reading list, each teacher had a different curriculum to avoid us all reading the same books. Because of that, The Catcher in the Rye was never a part of my required reading so I decided all these years later to give it a go. I kind of feel bad for the other class. I can honestly say I did not like this book, at all. The story is basically about a teenager, Holden Caulfield, who is fighting adulthood and has never really gotten over the death of his brother. I guess it would be considered a coming of age story, except he never really evolves. He pretty much hates anything and everyone and refers to most everybody as phonies. Of course he is the biggest phony himself, which some seem to think is the point of the book. Perhaps it is, but I have a hard time with that since Holden himself never seems to realize it. Maybe it’s not necessary that he does. I just think that if that is indeed the point, him realizing it would have made a bigger impact. Regardless, the most interesting thing about this book for me is that you either absolutely loved it or you completely hated it. There is no in-between really. I’m glad there are people who adore this book and feel so strongly about it. It’s never a bad thing to be taken by a book, but unfortunately I’m going to have to go into the hated it column. The reason I’m giving it 2 stars is because of the strong feelings it seems to bring out on either side.

Available on Amazon at the link below:

The Catcher in the Rye