A Clockwork Orange

By: Anthony Burgess

Narrated by: Tom Hollander

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

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)

Enjoyed and annoyed

I loved this book and the movie as well but I found the ending odd. To me if felt like (And this could easily be considered a spoiler so stop reading if you don't want to know a very small portion of the story) the writer was trying to end it with some kind of notion that raping/killing/and stealing was just part of being a teenage. That aside it was a great book.

Yeah, Why Not A Little Of The Ultra Violence?

Narrator was good
It seemed not to take to long to settle
in to his cadences.
He read the characters well
I enjoyed the story
Having seen the movie many, many years ago
some bits of it came back to me
It's probably just me,but got a little lost on what
was the controversial part.
But like I said it was probably me.
I'm sooner or later going to read the physical copy of
the book.
Good Luck

Nadsat is not horrowshow to slooshy

The book is written for the most part in this peculiar artificial dialect called Nadsat that includes most Cockney rhymes and borrowed Russian. This is why I decided to use the audiobook version instead of reading. It is easier to understand the writing in action and in an English accent rather than my head’s American accent. To this end, Tom Hollander is superb, because his reading is very pleasant to listen to and puts these odd words into action so that I can quickly pick up on words little horrorshow and viddy quickly and be able to enjoy the story.
I know I didnt talk much about the story but that is because you will either like it based on what you’ve heard or you wont.

Hollander's interpretation is outstanding

Anthony Burgess' _A Clockwork Orange_ receives five stars from me. The dystopian novel is a dive into a hideous world. Hideous for several reason. Although on this reading, I felt Burgess might be a slight naive with his ending (maybe spoilers.)

To write this review, I needed to put in a symphony by Beethoven. Unfortunately, I don't have the 9th, so the 5th will have to do. Alex would approve still.

But Alex's approve is of very little importance to me. The character is a horrible individual. So, let's discuss the book first. This is some excellent writing. The narrator speaks his teen slang, which feels like an act of violence done to the language. (Feels like it and maybe it is, but it is also an element of power). By having this different language, I feel the teens become more scary to the people of the time (and to us)--we know what they are saying, but we don't really know.

What I found slightly naive about the ending is simply it isn't realistic based on what we know today about teens who commit the kind of crimes Alex and his droogs commit. Burgess says in his forward that Americans didn't get the final chapter and were left feeling confused. This has the final chapter but I'm not sure I'm less confused. Alex, and his old droog Pete, basically decide that they are too old for that sort of thing. I think Burgess has a point, the behaviors we exhibit as teens eventually change as we become adults. We might even feel the change--it isn't fun anymore. The issue I have is that Alex through out the novel wants the "ultra violence" when cured he wants it back. He never stops thinking about violent acts. But suddenly he thinks this he's getting too old for this? I think the intense pleasure Alex gets from the ol' in out in out and the ultra violence indicates a deeper personality disorder. I don't think it is reasonable for him to just sort of wake up and have an awakening.

Still--the book is real horror show.

The narrator. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. I think for me it is in the way he would say: O my brothers. just fantastic because he would convey different emotions at times, with this line. I think he's great.

Recommended: absolutely. But remember there are some bits of the Ol' ultra violence.

Tom Hollander is a perfect fit for this book

What did you love best about A Clockwork Orange?

I had not seen the Kubrick movie in eons and had never read the book, so I went for it. Hollander is an excellent reader and has the precise timing I think Burgess's "humble narrator" would have. This edition also includes a last chapter omitted from several previous US editions, apparently, and Burgess's Introduction, read by Hollander before starting the novel, is worth not skipping if you are interested in Kubrick's film version versus the original. I am eager to try more Burgess books -- Clockwork Orange was sort of a British, very twisted Vonnegut in style, I found.

Have you listened to any of Tom Hollander’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I bet they are excellent.

A real horrorshow audiobook

Narrator Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean's Lord Cutler Beckett) is perfect in his delivery. Burgess correctly points out in a forward that the 21st chapter is essential to the novel. It completes the exhibition of transformation that marks a properly structured novel. In short, this is among Audible's best work. Real horrorshow.

For some reason, that last hour of this edition is a repeat of the beginning of the book by an older narrator. Is it Burgess himself? I'd like to know what's up with that.

Excellent Excellent Excellent

What a great book on prisoner reform and the struggles of be a youth in a meaningless/disenchanted world.

I'll listen again.... and again

A favorite book of mine for 30 years. The performance is perfectly executed with excellent dramatization and believability.
The intro by Anthony Burgess explained points that I had not previously known.
The first time I got to hear the final chapter, that was cut from the American version, as well as the cinematic version.
Might be my favourite Audible purchase. Highly recommended (for those that can take sex snd violence, with a moral)

A Clockwork Orange

The story is great. if you've only seen the movie, this book goes a little further and includes an additional chapter after the point where the movie stops. The performance was mediocre in my opinion save for the bonus track at the end where the Author Mr. Burgess reads a bit. Mr. Burgess' reading was much more interesting, and I wish he had read the entire audiobook.

Best narration ever

Seriously the man who read this book portrayed all the characters perfectly. His accent mixed with hhis use of Alex‘s Slovos in a unique and amazing way