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)

Great narrator but not as good as I expected

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, but only because it added to my book collection. And it got me introduced to Audible

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Displeased and let down. I expected a better ending, especially with the controversy between 20 versus 21 chapters was mentioned. Honestly I didn't like either ending.

Which character – as performed by Tom Hollander – was your favorite?

Definitely the main character. He really brought him to life; loved the accent and made the times feel real.

Could you see A Clockwork Orange being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Well I know it's already been made into a movie. I've never seen it however but I am now curious to view it because hopefully it will be better than the book.

PHENOMENAL PERFORMANCE!!

Absolutely 💯 loved it! "Real horrorshpw!" Tom Hollander brought the story to life. You love the protagonist, despise him, shame him, pity him, and love him full circle.

Interesting story

I found the story hard to follow in the beginning but as it progressed it got better. I do not think I would have read this story without Audible. Alex the main character took me through a wide range of emotions and allowed me to widen my view on this character and the world at large.

Disturbing and Entertaining

This was everything I wanted in an audiobook. Fantastic performance by the narrator combined with a dark and engrossing story. Every but as compelling as the film that was based on this book. I couldn't stop listening.

An Oomny Plosh of Raskazz

To slooshy this audio edition of A Clockwork Orange, o my brothers, is to slooshy it well. It's fun, it's flip and it's bezoomney horrorshow. If you can pony it, you shall think it well and dorogoy as it fillys upon your mozg. Waste not a minoota, o droogs. Every slovo will bring a smeck to the rot of any chelloveck. Choodesney, hound-and-horny, nadsat and real, real horrorshow, oh my brothers.

Amazing narration performance

Listen to this as an audible book narrated by Tom Hollander. His performance is so much better than reading on your own and so much better than the movie. His performance brought all new life to the book. It was incredible.

This book was “read horrorshow”

A classic. Also, such a strong message about conditioning society to follow the “social norms” and about the morality of free will. The language was very hard to follow in the beginning but I think the audiobook helped me get used to it faster. Honestly, if I were reading it physically I most likely would’ve given up and/or thrown the book across the room. Also, this book is so violent it’s scary. However, I understand the psychology behind it. Alex loves the violence, he loves the music and he loves getting his way too.

amazing

Loved it, oh my brothers, lovely to slooshy such a production. Well worth the malenky bit of cutter my droogs. if you slooshy this then you will be at the heighth of fashion.

Brush up on Russian first

The made up “teenagers’ language” in this book is mostly mispronounced/altered Russian so if you don’t know any I think it would be very confusing and frustrating to read. I learned some Russian years ago and that helped a lot.

Getting past the language, the story is great! I never knew that the movie didn’t include the last chapter... I didn’t much like the movie when I saw it years ago but now plan to rewatch it in the hopes that having read the book, it will make more sense.

Masterpiece

50+ years on this remains a visionary work of genius. Kubrick captured the brilliance of the book, although the film is its own separate work. The book and the film are complimentary works of art.