So as disturbing as Camus', The Plague was, it suffers in comparison to A Clockwork Orange. If you choose to read this book be prepared to walk into a big wide world of weird. It's Extremely violent and disturbing.
It is a story of a post modern society and follows the life of Alex, a cruel and ferociously violent young man. As we follow his path of disturbing and amplifying ruthless antics it becomes clear that he is the protagonist in the story and yet it's hard to feel empathy for him. It becomes a little easier once he is incarcerated and forced into a brain washing treatment meant to cure him of his desire to be violent.Anthony Burgess forces us to examine how we o feel about "forced morality." It brings up the questions of recidivism, reform, government involvement in behavior modification, to name a few. So many moral issues, so much to think about. Forcing a "bad person" to do "good things" is so unnatural it is like a clockwork orange, something which is suppose to be alive yet is robotically mechanical. As you read you ask who get's to decide what is bad, what is good, where is the line, what is the response.
A Clockwork Orange is one of those books you don't think twice about reading at 17 but would have nightmares after page 4 and would probably put it down by page 12, if you read it in your 40s. But I will say it is thought provoking if you can stomach it!
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