stunned by a clockwork orange

a book by Anthony Burgess

having reading enough fictions through the years, i was taken by surprise to find one so foreign: the story, the style and, of course, the language. i was almost certain that i wouldn't like it after finishing the 1st of the 3 parts. yet, the story moved on with intriguing plots and i slowly realized its power and the very strong messages....

clockwork orange is a well written book about the interplay of human nature, the evil side mostly, and social engineering, the futile and cruel kinds. the main character (narrator) was carefully developed, being both distinct and believable. i don't like the strange language, however - a made-up one by mixing words from mainly Russian and some German, making the reading unpleasant. on the other hand, though, the story was not meant for pleasure.

until very recently (in eighties) the US edition didn't publish the last chapter. amazingly, the message was almost completely altered by such a seemly slight omission. both appeared to be logical ends to the story. my sympathy goes to the author, however, who lamented about the lost beauty of the original perfect design of chapters and the meaning of the total chapter number, besides the loss of his own understanding of juvenile development.