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A Clockwork Orange  By  cover art

A Clockwork Orange

By: Anthony Burgess
Narrated by: Tom Hollander
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Publisher's summary

A vicious 15-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic. In Anthony Burgess' nightmare vision of the future, where the 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?"

This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, as well as Burgess' introduction, "A Clockwork Orange Resucked".

©1962, 1986 The Estate of Anthony Burgess (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"I do not know of any other writer who has done as much with language as Mr. Burgess has done here - the fact that this is also a very funny book may pass unnoticed." (William S. Burroughs)

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What listeners say about A Clockwork Orange

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

An unexpected masterpiece

You’ve like seen the Kubrick film. You’ve maybe read or- like me- attempted to read the book.

I am here to tell you that A Clockwork Orange in audio form is something you’ve never experienced.

The performance, the words, the amazing syntax of the bananas language- know as nadsat- works so well. Far better than in the film or on the written page. Add the absolutely spot-on “humble narrator” and this version is an A+.

All the elements are there. Unexpected delicasies, such as randomly added symphony at the beginning of certain chapters, will grip you.

Your rot with be agap with horror. You’ll laugh with joy. You’ll be sickened with indigity.

Grab this audiobook, droogie.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Oh my bothers!

Tom Hollander does a splendid job! The vocabulary is so difficult and he reads it so well. The story is a bit rough… almost made me sick to my stomach. Tom made listening worth it.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

It's was alright.

me being a dumb American I couldn't understand a lot of the vocabulary and words the writer was saying.

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Beautifully Narrated

Hollander captures the voices of every character perfectly, delivering a wonderful listening experience. If ever one has been intimidated by Burgess’ literary masterstroke due to the challenge of the vocabulary used within, then this particular audiobook is the way to go; the terminology, slang, vernacular, etc. will be much easier to digest in this format. My favorite audiobook to date, I cannot recommend A Clockwork Orange by Burgess/Hollander enough.

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Great Story, Great Narration

Close enough to the movie you can picture a lot of it, however its the subtle differences, especially the ending that put it over the top for me. Good listen.

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Real horror show read

Really enjoyed this read. Takes me back. But this is better with narration so skillfully done. Beautiful. The extras were a wonderful surprise. Best book in a while.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Different than the movie

I saw the movie when I was younger, and loved it. When the book was originally written, it was released two different ways. One with the original ending, and one that is in the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, you might want to listen to the book first, and then compare it to the movie. There is particular jargon in the book that can be hard to follow as the main character has his own language. With time, you begin to understand what words are in reference to, as similar words are used, but initially you will be confused.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

This book is too much work for too little benefit

This book isn't written in English - not English as anyone I know speaks it - and so trying to figure out the secret language and rhyming slang of Alex, the young protagonist, and his gang was possible, but tiring. It was all apparently to have Alex tell us his version of his psychopathic violent exploits in his "mother tongue", but I just don't see the benefit. At least not for as long as it did! I don't really want to listen to hours and hours of him talking about his gang fights, murders, robberies, and rapes, no matter where the story will go in the end, and it's even worse when I have to figure out the phrasings and slang. (The story does go where the movie didn't, as the final chapter was never included in the US version of the novel, nor in the movie.)

Absolutely not worth the time or the credit.

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A true classic...ten times better than the movie.

Loved this title...unfortunately I saw the Stanley Kubrick adaptation film before I read it...but to my surprise I enjoyed the book much more than the film...a real mind blowing experience.

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Violent but fun

The coolest thing about this book is all of the super British lingo. The use of words is original.

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