Yuck! What a stupid awful book! I spent so much time trying to decipher the ridiculous made up words that I never could enjoy a moment of the book. If I could have given this one negative stars I would have. Hated this book SO much. :) ( )

The book started off being a bit hard to read, but once I got used to the language, which is described as "odd bits of old rhyming slang, a bit of gipsy talk. But most of the roots are Slav. Propaganda. Subliminal penetration." (86), it turned into being a lot of fun to read. In the end I had most of the slang words figured out, I think, which was also quite a lot of fun in itself.

I am not sure if I really care for the story too much. But it's short and, even though I am not sure if it's meant to be, but funny I find. Quite "horrorshow", no "cal". ( )

I read this book as part of a BookCrossing ring in 2003. I'd always wanted to read it, having seen the movie a few times and having heard good reviews from several friends over the years.

I completely admit that I skipped the introduction and went straight for the story, then once finished, went back and read the intro. The story was a little difficult to get into at the beginning simply due to the sudden deep immersion in the nadsat slang. A friend of mine in high school had an edition of this book that included a glossary which provided a simple translation between the nadsat slang and proper English, and I was a bit disappointed to find that this particular copy of the book lacked such a handy feature. Still, the slang was not too difficult to comprehend through context, despite its continued ability to distract me because I had some difficulty mentally pronouncing some of the terms while reading.

As for the story itself, use of language aside, I enjoyed it, and was a bit surprised that the story continued on an additonal chapter beyond the conclusion of Kubrick's film version of the story. I preferred the conclusion of the book over that of the movie, for the same reason the author disliked Kubrick's choice in ending the film where he did -- the last chapter really rounds out the story and keeps it from being a tale the purpose of which is to simply incite shock and horror and glorify violence. The final chapter puts the rest of the story into perspective, as a grossly exaggerated commentary on the rebelliousness of youth and the way we change as we grow older, in addition to the more obvious theme of humanity's contradictory urges to both embrace freedom of choice and attempt to resolve problems by removing it.

Very challenging because it's written in a slang dialect created by the author. Interesting. ( )

Excelente libro acerca de la naturaleza humana, la programación de respuestas a estímulos y el lenguaje.
Al principio resulta dificil encontrarle la medida a la jerga nadsat y hace la lecutra pesada, sin embargo, cuando la asimilas la lectura fluye. De acuerdo al texto, esta jerga fue incluida en la versión Estadounidense para hacer al libro menos explícito en lo tocante a la violencia, en cierta forma, contribuye a verla como algo fuera de los limites de la "normalidad", algo así como un lenguaje especial para una situación especial que no cabe dentro de lo correcto.
El capítulo 21 es tema de discusión porque presenta a la violencia y excesos como asuntos de adolescentes que la madurez cambia y muchos creen que desvirtua la obra sobre la ultraviolencia. En lo personal me parece tema de profunda discusión sin caer en si debería o no haberse incluido, ya que es cierto que el trabajo y las condiciones que son impuestas en la edad adulta difieren de la libertad y posibilidades que gozas en la adolescencia, lo cual no es bueno ni malo ya que como todo, es relativo.
Hay que entender la violencia como parte de la naturaleza humana, que nos atrae aunque no la consideremos como algo bueno y partir desde este punto de vista para comprender lo que nos expone el narrador, Alex.
La adaptación al cine me parece adecuada y apegada al libro, lo cual no exime el hecho de leerlo, pero complementa la experiencia. ( )