I kind of sympathize with Burgess's desire to not be remembered for a book like this. (Myself, I never made it past the second rape scene.)
That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something AwfulBasically, you have to learn the lingo as you go. Or you could look here
if you want help.
Personally, I liked the book, although I feel it's better without the 21st chapter. That one seems very out of place to me, like it's a tacked-on happy ending that goes against everything that came before.
Incidentally, this is also perhaps the only case where I think the book and movie are about equally good.
no one will notice that I changed thisNot only that, but that book was written at a time when people did not quite understand the concepts of "psychopath" and "sociopath". At the time of writing, people thought that such a person could be treated or cured. Of course, nowadays people know that there's not really much they can do to help such a person!
Still, the story does an interesting job actually causing you to feel sorry for Alex, especially later on when he got "cured". Indeed, the story seems to pose the question on whether a "psycho/sociopath" is a matter of perception, because everyone in the story certainly acted like a "psycho/sociopath" after Alex was supposedly made into a "good" person!
I have to say that the author was very clever to make up his own vocabulary for teenage speak, with most of them basically Russian words with some slight changes made to them. He knew that teenage speak changes constantly, and what is understandable today becomes incomprehensible tomorrow. Yep, making up his own vocabulary was definitely the best way to address that problem!
I wouldn't describe chapter 21 as a "happy ending", either. If I remember correctly, Alex contemplates an endless cycle of teenagers committing the same sort of atrocities.
I certainly found the book interesting, and was surprised by how easy it was to pick up the language by immersion alone. Despite that, I don't think I'll read it again.
"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

Currently, I am trying to read this novel for English class. It's interesting so far, but the Nadsat language is hard for me to get used to.
So, dear droogs, if you've already read this, do you have any tips that I can use that will help me grasp Nadsat better? Or, even if you haven't? Did you like the book (with or without the 21st chapter)?
a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.