Any thoughts on the book A Clockwork Orange?

A Clockwork Orange certainly ranks as one of the last great literary works. The style is incredibly unique, the language is wonderful, and best of all, it shows no age. I would imagine that this book exists outside of time. Even after all these years, there is not even a hint of it being outdated. The most contemporary reference is Beethoven. Burgess has created his own world, with his own language as well. The book, like the movie is graphic, but unlike the movie, it is not explicit, because Nadsat prevents that. And the last chapter? Let it stand. Burgess had his reasons. He was a traditionalist writer, and the numerology had significance. Twenty-one is a number that represents maturity, and as an old-school British writer, Alex was to mature in that final chapter. And besides, what is written cannot be unwritten, and as Burgess has explained, take it or spit it out. He had written twenty one chapters, you will read twenty one chapters, but you don't have to agree with it. The whole point was to show that men are not predestined to be evil. How could you argue about Alex's character? I'd have to ume that Burgess knew Alex's personality far better than any reader, and after all, the story was inspired through his own tragedies.