I finished A Clockwork Orange in just a couple days. It was definitely the most violent book I've ever read, and I've been having bad dreams about creepy guys chasing me and doing violent things. Not ideal.
That being said, I think it's actually one of the best books I've read so far on the Time Top 100 list. I liked how the author broke the story up into three 7-chapter sections. According to the forward from the author, when the book was originally published in America, they only published the first 20 chapters. The publisher deemed the last chapter to be too unrealistic for Americans. The rest of the world got the full text. The last chapter is interesting, it is where the main character Alex actually starts to turn good. I haven't seen the movie, but apparently it's only the first 2o chapters too. The author said that without the last chapter, the book is a fable, not a novel.
I really liked the clockwork orange context. Before reading the book and understanding the meaning of that phrase, I always thought of the chocolate oranges that I got in my stocking every year. But in actuality, a clockwork orange is "A person or organism with a mechanistic morality or lack of free will." (wikipedia). That fits perfectly with the book, as the main character has his free will removed in a state experiment.
I'm taking a break from the Time list for a bit, and reading Candy Girl, about a stripper in Minneapolis. Next Time book: Atonement. Maybe I'll watch the Keria Knightly movie too!
Keep reading,
Mary
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