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A Clockwork Orange: A Kino Journal

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A 300 page lined notebook of one of the finest kino franchise in cinematic history. Use it as a journal or a collection of one of the many kino merchandise.

300 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2021

12 people are currently reading
49 people want to read

About the author

Anthony Burgess

357 books4,272 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Seriocomic novels of noted British writer and critic Anthony Burgess, pen name of John Burgess Wilson, include the futuristic classic A Clockwork Orange (1962).

He composed also a librettos, poems, plays, screens, and essays and traveled, broadcast, translated, linguist and educationalist. He lived for long periods in southeastern Asia, the United States of America, and Europe along Mediterranean Sea as well as England. His fiction embraces the Malayan trilogy ( The Long Day Wanes ) on the dying days of empire in the east. The Enderby quartet concerns a poet and his muse. Nothing like the Sun re-creates love life of William Shakespeare. He explores the nature of evil with Earthly Powers , a panoramic saga of the 20th century. He published studies of James Joyce, Ernest Miller Hemingway, Shakespeare, and David Herbert Lawrence. He produced the treatises Language Made Plain and A Mouthful of Air . His journalism proliferated in several languages. He translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac , Oedipus the King , and Carmen for the stage. He scripted Jesus of Nazareth and Moses the Lawgiver for the screen. He invented the prehistoric language, spoken in Quest for Fire . He composed the Sinfoni Melayu , the Symphony (No. 3) in C , and the opera Blooms of Dublin .

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Realini Ionescu.
4,181 reviews23 followers
July 2, 2025
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess – what it means with the paramount elections taking place next week, wherein Orange Jesus aka a version of the psychopath Alex has 2 in 3 chances at the betting houses of getting the dictatorship he wants – a previous look at this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/... where you find thousands of other reviews…
And a lot about Orange Alex, a calamity, but likely to be president next week, just like the mass suicides of the past

10 out of 10

This is the fourth time I take on A Clockwork Orange and I think it is not the last – Insha’Allah, you never know, with Orange Felon favorite to win the most powerful job in the world, however diminished if the fool is getting it, who knows what will happen, maybe this will be a province in Russia, and I will be in the gulag

They did bring communism here before, we had Ceausescu and I stood up and fought against tyranny, here is the proof http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... I am mentioned in the Newsweek covering the December 1989 toppling of one of the most vicious despots…
Come November 5, we could see the making of something we have never seen before, and not in the sense the lunatic keeps in his mind, but because he will take what was once the greatest democracy in the world, and smash it into the ground, the real carnage he spoke of about eight years ago, to quote George W Bush:

‘That was some weird shit’

Now, I think A Clockwork Orange is not just a fabulous chef d’oeuvre – and here is a second look at the magnum opus https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/12/... - but it is also so accurate, useful in explaining some of what we see now in America, the part worshipping the Orange Crook
In the Anthony Burgess masterpiece, Alex is the antihero and I see the one I try not to name, expect using the nicknames provided by his cohorts, Orange Jesus, the criminal record he now has, Orange Felon, because he has been found guilty on what was it, thirty-four counts, and he clearly has done so much more

Alex is vicious, violent, irate, aggressive, but on a small scale, and although the supporters of the Orange Demon would say ‘look, it is exactly what the radical left does, they make up things, haunt the poor guy, witch hunt and the rest’, I say the man who had been president for four years has shown with acts and words how awful he is

So, what do you choose, if the alternative is a psychopath, with limited power, or a sick bastard with narcissistic personality disorder, who will have access to the nuclear codes and the button, his defenders say ‘he has been there, and we did not see Apocalypse Now, but that was because he had some sane folks nearby
And it is a miracle – like in The History of The World by Mel Brooks – almost all those sensible generals, secretaries of defense, chief of staff, vice president, I mean dozens of the ‘best people’ (for the idiot said and keeps saying that he always selects the best people, what a lousy leader) say he is an imminent threat to democracy

At least Alex gets punished – he attacks innocent men and women, then he is abandoned by his partners in crime, and he gets punished, even tortured, so now we are in contrast territory, Alex has similarities with Orange Jesus, in my mind at least – doing the ‘weave’ - but there is also the severe contrast, one mentioned above
The Orange Alex however was not abandoned by the hoi polloi (his garbage crowds, I think Biden was confused when he said it, maybe he meant it after all, but then I see it as one of those absolute truths, for Musk and all) they worship him, it is a cult, he is the Chosen, no less, and they connect him with Cyrus in the bible

And yes, he gave them these three fucking stupid judges, and then the end of abortion, reproductive rights in so many states, and the whole thing looks like a nightmare, it is also a question of Influence https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/10/... the rules you find in this classic
Robert Cialdini explains how you can have mass suicides, as in Guyana, some decades back, when they followed this Trump-like prophet all the way to South America, and then when the lunatic decided it is time for…mass killing, they just obeyed, that is the Principle of Respect for Authority for you and you can see some weird experiments

Then there is the Social Conformity, we tend to follow the example of others in unfamiliar territory – when an accident happens, one has to name the ones that need to help, because the tendency is to just pass and do nothing, but if you say ‘you in the blue jacket, call 911, and the red shirt, come and help, then you may get through
Finally, I must think of the Zen Master Story, wherein all kinds of bad, then good things happen, but the Master has equanimity all the same, it is mentioned at the end of Charlie Wislon’s War, and then maybe we get more wisdom from https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/08/... Ian Morris is a fabulous author, he has also written Why The West Rules For Now, and it is fantastic

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”





2 reviews
December 21, 2024
One of my favorite books. Interesting themes explored in a very new way. Style of language makes a more engaging read. Brutal but frank
Profile Image for Andrew Brine.
61 reviews1 follower
August 8, 2022
Obviously very smart and interesting to read, I just struggled a bit with the nadsat
Profile Image for Frank.
9 reviews
March 21, 2024
A Clockwork Orange Is Very Much A Fun Yet Gruesome Title. The Book Is Divided Into III Acts Of Which We Follow The Life Of Alex DeLarge/Burgess. Act I Lays Down The Setting Of A Drab And Dystopian World Where Everything Is A Mess Places Are Vandalised And The Old And Rich In Society Fear The Youth Which Alex Is A Part Of. Alex And His Band Of Droogs Commit Various Acts Of Criminality Ranging From Grand Theft Auto,To Rape,To Murder. Alex Finds Himself Betrayed At The End Of Act I By All Of His Droogs. Act II Places Alex In The State Prison Where Everything Is Particularly Boring. Alex Has A Long Sentence To Serve Until The State Decides They Can Do Something With Him. The State Uses The So Called Ludovico Technique On Alex To Reform His Violent Ways. By The End Of Act II He Is Shown Off To State Higher-Ups In A Manner That Doesn't Prevail In Kubricks Version. Here He Is Placed On Stage And Has Various Types Of Things Happen To Him Including An Older Gent Insulting And Trying To Force Alex To Assault Him. His Response To All They Do To Him On Stage Is To Feel Ill. In The Crowd Is The Prison Chaplain He Declares That Alex Has Had No Reformation And Essentially Brings Forth The Question Of Christian Morality. Can Someone Truly Be Moral If They Adhere To A Religious Code And The Promise Of Paradise. Alex Only Stops Being Violent Because Of His Now Ill Feelings Towards It All Where In Reality He Still Just Wants To Kill, Beat, Rape And Steal. In Act III Alex Is Sent Out Back Into The World And Nobody Not Even His Parents Want To Know Him Because They Still Think He's A Despicable Character. He Heads Out Into The World He Finds Out His Old Gang Are Now Cops Or Dead Bar One Single Member. He Heads To A Past Victims House And Finds Himself Tortured By Him So Much So That He Is Hospitalised And In A Turn Of Events He Is Back To His Ultraviolent Self Because The State Were Getting Bad Press And So Decided To Undo Their Treatment. This Is Where Kubricks Version Ends. However In The Book Alex Is Now Eighteen The Story Picks Up Just In The Same Way It Did Originally Alex Is Now The Leader Of His Own Gang Once More But Actually Of His Own Accord Realises That This Life Isn't For Him Anymore He Bumps Into An Old Droog Of His Who's Now Married And Sees This As His Way Forward Too. And The Story Ends.
In Critical And Revised Editions Burgess Writes A Mini Epilogue For A Newspaper Alex Is Roughly 42 Now But Not Much Is Said About His Life There Is Commentary On How The Youth Are Different To The Youth Of The 60's But I Think The Story Ends Better With Us As Readers Hearing Alex's Fantasy Of A Wife And A Life.

This Is Very Much A Fun Read And Cleverly Immersive. The Language Of The Youth Is NADSAT Burgess' Own Creation And Slowly But Surely Overtime This Bizarre Terminology Becomes Fully Readable, So Much So That You Take Them As If They Are Real Words! I Would Recommend Using Kubricks Version As To Really Immerse You In Burgess' World As He Does An Amazing Job With The Brutalist Architecture Because Burgess Sort Of Cuts Corners With The Setting Of The Scene So Paired With It It Makes For A Great Read. Especially When You Read It In The Style Of Malcolm McDowell Who Played Alex In The Film. Real Horrorshow.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for George.
14 reviews
November 2, 2025
Absolutely incredible. I never usually bother with language experiment/overly abstract, arty styles in literature. For the first 5 pages, I thought it would be an absolute drag to get through. I didn’t get the ‘nadsat’ and it frustrated me. Then, after a chapter, I noticed I had started to understand what Alex was saying. I understood the terminology. This in itself was reason enough for me to persevere, but then once I had got to grips with the language, I found myself entirely immersed in the story.

The blurb of my copy of the text poses the question as to whether this is a social prophecy, black comedy or a study of free will. I feel that it is all three. The overarching message to me, however, is that a person cannot change through force, neither can they be guided to change. They must encounter their morals through experience and make the choices to change themselves. Once a better way is presented to them at the right time, only then can they reform.
45 reviews
April 24, 2022
Honestamente, esse livro me surpreendeu para o melhor, depois de me acostumar com as gírias usadas pelo personagem principal (nadsat) eu praticamente não conseguia largar o livro. Embora o final não tenha sido lá essas coisas, eu teria preferido se o Alex tivesse se lascado no final, a história no geral foi muito interessante e eu adorei os temas, subtemas e simbolismo. Tendo dito tudo isso tenho zero planos de ver o filme, porque não quero ver esses absurdos nojentos que eu li, obrigada.
Profile Image for Jay Edwards.
81 reviews3 followers
March 24, 2023
Peters out at the end, but what language and voice this short novel has!
Profile Image for enna.
1 review
July 18, 2023
aside from making me wanna vom every other page, i really did like it
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