Name: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Rating: 3.970149253731343 (469 reviews)
ISBN: 9780573613432

Ken Kesey

Dale Wasserman

During his fraudulent stay at a mental institution, a charming rogue invokes the head nurse's antagonism by inciting revolution among the inmates

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

A criminal feigns insanity and is admitted to a mental hospital where he challenges the autocratic authority of the head nurse.

Beth Cordall

+ Interesting themes, setting and character development<br /><br />- Racist, misogynist and slow

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.

Carmen Maria

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.

This edition includes a new forward by Kesey, a new text introduction by Robert Faggan, and line drawings the author made when writing the book, many never before published.

--back cover

Jaden Nelson

Sorry, it’s a DNF. I had planned on listening to the rest of the book on audiobook but I don’t really want to finish it that badly. I did enjoy some of the humor and I’m a sucker for symbolism, but it felt stale to me and it just wasn’t really my thing.

Colleen

4 Stars

*Original and perceptive if a bit chaotic in style*


As I worked my way through my TBR backlog, I eventually came to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I went into it a little hesitantly as this is the sort of story that is typically hit or miss for me. Most of the time, I’m not a fan of unreliable narrators or stream-of-consciousness. But I have to say that Kesey did a great job of creating a strange but compelling story. The atmosphere of suppressed frenzy was palpable. And somehow the story seemed both far-fetched but yet believable. Maybe not the specifics, but some of the insights into human nature were quite perceptive.


  “This world . . . belongs to the strong, my friend! The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak. We must face up to this. No more than right that it should be this way. We must learn to accept it as a law of the natural world. The rabbits accept their role in the ritual and recognize the wolf is the strong. In defense, the rabbit becomes sly and frightened and elusive and he digs holes and hides when the wolf is about. And he endures, he goes on. He knows his place. He most certainly doesn't challenge the wolf to combat. Now, would that be wise? Would it?”

Kesey took readers to an unexpected place. And by that I don’t just mean the fact that the story is set inside an asylum. No, what was unexpected was the way the story twisted those forgotten members of society into underdog heroes as they fought to resist the seemingly tyrannical control of Nurse Ratched. 


  “All I know is this: nobody's very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everybody else down.”

I did actually like having a female “villain.” The way Nurse Ratched exerted control was interesting. And it showed how very different people can seem in other people’s perception. It’s surprising how some people jump from female antagonist to sexist though. Yes, she was the only female character with significant page time, but that doesn’t mean the story is sexist. If anything, it shows how easily the men villainize a woman in control. The story is admittedly crude though, and that did boarder on gratuitously crude at times.

Nonetheless, I have to say I was never truly captivated by the story. Oh, I was engaged by it for sure and invested in what would happen. But I was also never wowed by it. The narrative was so inconsistent in structure that it was frustrating at times – although, admittedly, that did add to the atmosphere. 

This is sometimes the downside to reading classics. By the time later generations get around to reading them, those stories have been imitated and retold and reiterated so many times that there isn’t a shock factor. I can absolutely see why this book made such a splash when it was first published in 1962 though. I’m glad I finally read it, but I’m also glad to move on.

 
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

Gillian Rose

I really liked the movie so always wanted to read this. It wasn't my favorite. The characters and story is good but it is slowwwww in the middle. Oh well.

With Illustrations and a Preface by the Author

Amelie

It was interesting with depth, but it still had an element that didn't draw me in, maybe because it was for school.

Fraser Simons

Wild and unnerving with manic flow and prose.

Tameka Young

Kesey's in depth look into life inside a mental institution is a roller coaster ride of brilliance. I *love* a plot that is character driven, and the characters in this novel are more interesting and eccentric than most. I don't want to waste a lot of time examining the hows and the whys and what the book says about our establishment as society because there have been those far smarter and more articulate than I that have done so.

I had the pleasure of seeing an independent production of a play based on the book last night and at the time I hadn't finished the novel. Now I've never seen the movie, so I had no idea what would happen past the first 112 pages. Let's just say my mind was sufficiently blown enough to come home straight away and finish the other 150+ pages while the vision of the actors' performances were fresh in my mind. Kudos to them by the way, it was very emotional,

This novel is incredibly thought provoking, inspiring, well-written, and just plain good. I regret not having the opportunity to read it sooner, it definitely made an impression on me that is still resonating.

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.

--back cover

Fellowes Cynthia

Read it years ago and have seen the play and the movie. Excellent.

B.H. Pitt

Stunning and heartbreaking. Highly recommend the audiobook narrated by John C. Reilly--he really brought all the characters to life.

Tasha Dykstra

didn't initially like it but the ending got me

Sofia Collodel

"I indulged in certain practices that our society regards as shamefull. And I got sick. It wasn't the practices, I don't think, it was the feeling that the great, deadly, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me."


It took me a long time to finish this book, not because it wasn't fun (it was amazing) but because I wanted to fully understand everything that was happening in the hospital.
Tyranical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict, unbending rutine. Her patients, scared with threats of electric shock therapy and numbed with medication don't dare to oppose her. Until everything changes with the arrival of swaggering, fun loving trickster McMurphy. 
The books delivers a very shocking message: that some mental wards are not designed to cure their patients but rather serve as instruments of oppression. The character of sane-yet-confined McMurphy is the first irony of the book. As he is sane, he fights against the wrong methods and stands up against Nurse Ratched aka Big Nurse who, being an obsessive compulsive lady, wants to have everything in order and done by the tick of the clock.
 
The book is told from the perspective of "Chief Broom" who is not a reliable narrator because he is a schizophrenic. But Kesey made use of this to come up with a strangely beautiful and interesting narrative. Had this been narrated in a straightforward manner the novel would not have the same impact and would not have been that good.

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, this is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, life-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient, who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome power of The Combine.
--back cover

Irina 

The kind of book that can you you laugh and very sad at the same time.

Simon Elliott Stegall

A highly entertaining book, but not a particularly moving one. Not sure why it became a classic other than the movie. Still, a good read.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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