Well, for those of you who have read it (and those of you who don't care and are reading this because you're bored), I have to say A Clockwork Orange is probably one of the most memorable stories I've come across. I think a lot of people would say that though.
What other author writes in a dialect as confusing and intricate as this one? I mean, other than J.R.R. Tolkien (and every other devoted fantasy writer alive).
It's not just a few words here and there. It's a LOT of words, all the time, from the very beginning.
When I first opened the book, I died a little.
The first line wasn't that daunting.
It was the following that made me want to curl up in the fetal position with a copy of the dictionary.
It took me until the third or fourth chapter to finally catch on to some of the more frequent one, but even after finishing the book, I still don't know the meanings of some of the words.
On top of trying to get the hang of the lingo, I also had to drag my eyes through pages of unspeakable, unforgiving horror. Drugs, violence, theft, more violence, rape, more theft, killing. My fragile constitution almost collapsed under the darkness and crime.
After all that crap, Alex is put through horrible rehabilitation methods that make me twitch.
Certain types of psychology and the whole idea of hypnosis frightens me. The description of what they did to Alex (that's the protagonist for you n00bs who haven't actually read it) were a little unrealistic, but just realistic enough to keep me from being like, "Yeah, that's stupid."
The shot that made him sick and weak was the portion that really scared me. I know there are medical drugs that can do that to people. Combined with horrible images of violence, I just shudder. Shudder, I say.
I mean, have you ever eaten something and then, either because it was rife with E coli or because you had the flu, you ralphed and then ever after that you always get a queasy feeling when you think about or smell that food?
It's the same thing with this horrible reformation. Makes me tense!
Don't drug me, Doctor. Prease.
<segue> </segue>
Anthony Burgess is a genius. He really is.
I think he is the only author that could fashion a story that dark and confusing and still have it be fascinating, powerful and mind-blowing. Of course, the darkness and confusing-ness of this book might be the reason it's all of those things.
After finishing the book, I had to sit and breathe for a little while and just focus on not crying. I'm usually not stirred up by violent and malicious things. Hell, I write stuff like this.
Something about the protagonist character makes me want to just give up hope for humanity.
I'm sure most who read this post, if any at all, are going, "Lady... it's fiction, calm down."
But fiction holds Truth. Truth! Just ask Nathaniel Hawthorne. He'll vouch for me.
Well, this has to be the lamest post ever. I have no more steam to write this. I'll probably come back to it later.
I go back to school tomorrow. So, you may or may not ever hear from me again.
My apologies. See you at the end of the world!
Peace off.
I am DYING to read this book. I just...need to get off my butt and go find it first. >>;
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