20. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

This book can now be added to my ‘read after seeing the movie and regretting it’ list. Same goes for Trainspotting and several others that escape me at the moment.

Reading the introduction to it, I realised I might actually struggle with the nadsat language used, but after just a chapter, it wasn’t an issue. The context is plenty, and it definitely adds to the story - especially towards the end where it’s use is slightly decreased. Often I have trouble with complex language in books because I don’t take my time reading it - reading aloud would be okay, but reading to myself not. Thankfully this was fine, fantastic even, it’s a fascinating use of words.

The story itself, if my memory serves me right, differs from the book slightly. Probably because I can’t remember the movie so much (it’s been a few years), I found the book to have a lot more substance and story. It could just be that I’ve forgotten details, but it’s no surprise that I’d prefer a book over the movie. It’s also started to renew my interest in how the mind works, and the nature/nurture and conditioning debates. I didn’t enjoy studying psychology at school, but I still find the subject interesting and this definitely made me think a lot more about it.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone that asked. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely worth a read at some point. Then watch the movie, because it’s pretty damn good as I remember. Must watch that again.