Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
By John J. Joex
Book Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Audio Book Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars
A Clockwork Orange is Anthony Burgess’ dystopian novel of a near future world that has succumbed to crime and rampant violence. First published in 1962, it looks at England several years ahead (though no actual date is given) and tells the story from the point of view of the narrator, Alex. He is a teen-ager who heads up a gang of his “droogs” that comprises himself and three others and they frequent the town at night committing random acts of violence while dodging their truant officers during the day. Alex, though, falls victim to a power struggle within his gang and the other three leave him for the police when one of their infiltrations goes awry and their victim dies. He finds himself sent off to prison for murder, which he discovers to be an unbearable existence even though he gains favor with the Chaplin when he pretends to enjoy reading scripture (he only truly likes it for the violent passages). Alex hears of a treatment that would allow him to get out early, though, and he volunteers for this new procedure thinking it will be a simple and easy way to exit from his situation. But this is actually aversion therapy that conditions his body to react a certain way when he demonstrate violent or anti-social behavior, i.e., he becomes violently ill when he tries to commit an act of violence. And because classical music, which he loves, is played during the treatment, he finds that he has violent reactions to hearing that as well. Once the treatment is completed, Alex finds himself deposited back into society where his former gang members and several others he had wronged wish to take retribution on him. And because of the conditioning, he cannot defend himself.
Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange back in the 60’s when youth violence was on the rise, but did not set out to simply deliver a reactionary novel. He takes dead aim at both conservative and liberal views and exposes the flaws of both with the satire contained in the book. The “treatment” that Alex undergoes stops his anti-social behavior but also takes away his free will. He is no longer a menace to society, though not because he saw the error of his ways, but because of the conditioning and how it affects him. Many people in Burgess’ future world are opposed to this conditioning and they take an immediate interest in Alex, but simply to advance their cause of removing the conservatives from power in the government. They turn him into a martyr for their cause and undo his conditioning, but that ultimately results in Alex returning to his prior violent behavior.
Note that earlier versions of A Clockwork Orange printed in the United States omitted the twenty-first chapter because the original publisher felt that American audiences would not accept the ending the Burgess presented. (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! Skip the rest of the paragraph to avoid.) In this chapter, Alex approaches manhood and starts to lose interest in the violent path he has followed the past few years. He even starts to image what it would be like to settle down and have a family. The original version of the book printed in the States left this part out and ended on a more nihilistic note with Alex returning to his old ways after the reversal of his conditioning. Stanley Kubrick’s movie followed this version as well, and I have to admit that, despite Burgess’ protestations, that seems like the better place to end the story. The original version, with the twenty first chapter, feels watered down and seems to suggest that people will simply grow out of their violent ways. And while it may work out like that in some cases, I believe that statistics demonstrate a tendency for individuals to stay the course of violent behavior. And as far as the story of A Clockwork Orange goes, the truncated ending where Alex returns essentially where he was before his time and prison and before his conditioning delivers a more gut-wrenching conclusion. In any case, the final chapter has been restored in the print edition (and is included in the audio book version reviewed here) and Burgess leaves it up to the reader to decide as he says in his preface to the novel (also part of the audio book).
As far as the audio adaptation, British actor Tom Hollander reads the book and I don’t believe they could have had a better voice for the novel unless Malcolm McDowell himself (who played Alex in the Kubrick film version) had stepped in. Hollander gives us the perfect cockney accent for Alex and he plays easily off the narrative style that Burgess uses that assumes the audience is sympathetic to Alex’s plight. You never really think of Hollander as the narrator, but as Alex himself. Now I should issue a word of warning about the extensive slang that Burgess uses in the novel and how it translates to the audio adaptation. The author creates a lingo used by the teens of his future world that combines some Russian words and phrases with English derivatives and the novel is written assuming that the audience understands this slang. Alex does explain a few words, but otherwise carries on as if whoever is listening can easily follow his narration. This is a bit easier to digest when reading the book, because you can reread a passage several times. It’s not quite as easy when listening to the audio unless you want to repeat sections multiple times. It’s especially jarring when you first start listening, but you find yourself picking up the lingo pretty quickly and soon it’s much less of an issue. And this audio book is widely available from Barnes & Noble at a reasonable price (around $20) and through the eMusic.com, Audible.com, and BooksFree.com services.
In any case, A Clockwork Orange is definitely a must-read for Science Fiction fans as well as those of us drawn to dystopian literature. It’s an especially amazing book considering the time it was written and it still stands up well today as an equally pertinent piece of social commentary despite all of the changes that have occurred over the past fifty years.
Some More Reviews of Dystopian Novels from the Audio Files:
