A Clockwork Orange.

So, for my second book I chose A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. My initial reaction = impossible to read. After I read the first page I was having second thoughts about continuing the novel, but from what i've heard from those who already read it, you get used to it. It's interesting how Burgess makes the reader figure out his unique language. Personally, half the fun about reading the book is figuring out what the words mean via context; however, for those of you who are reading and want a shortcut you can click here for a glossary of the terms.

Before I get into what I think of the book so far, I want to share a few thoughts even before I began reading it. Mr. Bernardi, the oddest teacher i've ever had, actually told me the movie version of the book was really good. He failed to mention that the majority of people find the movie disturbing beyond all belief. The video below was a user review on the movie. It's funny how she goes, "It is the most messed up movie." She continues to review the movie and ends with, "it's a fascinatingly weird movie." Although movies have a tendency of being very different from the novels the are based on, i'm curious to how the movie took the book and created such a disturbing movie. I want to know what was in the book that inspired the movie makers to portray it in such a way. Furthermore, the cover of our books create an interesting image. Its the bottom half of person apparently screaming, with the top half in flames. Although it's probably just an aesthetic tool for marketing, It has to have some meaning in the book. As i continue to read i'm just excited to see what goes on. Ken, who sits in front of me in English highly recommended the novel; however, i'm 54 pages into it and all i've encountered were meaningless acts of violence. So far Alex and his droogs beating up on people. When i read the part when they go into the cottage and find the book, "a clockwork orange" I expected something wild, but I didn't. I guess the book develops more as it goes on. I'm starting to understand the society they live in, where the young are able to roam freely abusing their elders. Personally, coming from a strict Korean household, abuse and even simple disrespect for elders is intolerable. As for a novel goes, i'm enjoying reading it. It's very different from what I would expect to read for school. By the way, sorry for the quality and ads in the video. Yahoo video is awful.