A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess

Apr 2025 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this eBook

One of Esquire's 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
"A brilliant novel.... [A] savage satire on the distortions of the single and collective minds."— New York Times

In Anthony Burgess's influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, a teen who talks in a fantastically inventive slang that evocatively renders his and his friends' intense reaction against their society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess's introduction, "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."

Ratings and reviews

Though the slang was a bit hard to get through at 1st (able to find a guide on the internet which I could quickly refer to while reading on my HTC Rezound) I'm so happy I finally came around to read this book. The book goes into so much detail that the movie never could, I finally have learned what "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE" means (which helps me understand the book so much better), and it has the final chapter that Stanley Kubrick's movie lacks. I now feel cheated by the MOVIE and Mr Kubrick, for he chose to throw away the real ending. The book brings the story of YOUR HUMBLE NARRATOR to a much better ending, and I was sad to say good bye to Alex.

I wanted to read this book after seeing the movie. I'm left with a hundred questions about the dialogue and the flow of the story, not being able to make out half of what is said. For people my age who value Kubrick's visual representation, this story without that prominent feature of Clockwork Orange is completely different, much more predictable and tame in bare bones, but more engaging by virtue of YHN's constant connection with the reader and lingo, which becomes more familiar the further read.

This ended up being a lot like my life, so I don't know how to explain that aspect of its effect. Its an incentive novel stylistically, and disturbing, which is what I have often been into genre wise. Still, it's not for someone who is into general fantasy or even horror; this is more antisocial, disturbing. But it does have a good narrative, and through to the end, it kind of has a happy ending.

About the author

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) is the author of many works, including The Wanting Seed, Nothing Like the Sun, and Re Joyce. A Clockwork Orange is one of the "100 best novels" of both Time magazine and Modern Library and is on David Bowie's Book List.