one flew over the cuckoo's nest by Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey, a Stanford University graduate, participated in a government research program investigating LSD. He also worked at a psychiatric hospital. That background explains how "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" was conceived. Incredibly I hadn't read Cuckoo until this past month. I should have read it ages ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Cuckoo is the story of an epic conflict between a likeable rascal named McMurphy and the starched control freak Nurse Ratched. Set in a psychiatric hospital it is told by Chief Bromden, a huge, paranoid half native American. Bromden was in this ward for 10 years and had totally convinced everybody he was deaf and dumb. That Bromden's creative hallucinations are so vividly described can be explained by Kesey's personal experience with LSD.
McMurphy is a fun loving petty criminal who scammed his prison work crew bosses into thinking he was insane. He thought it would be fun and easy to complete his sentence in the psycho ward. Much better than slaving on the prison farm. He organized and conned the inmates into losing their money to him through gambling. He was so good the inmates knew he was doing it and they went along and enjoyed it. He was the only person who could stand up to Nurse Ratched. He stood up to her to get privileges and freedoms for all the inmates.
The confrontations between McMurphy and the tyrannical Ratched escalate. The little victories McMurphy achieves do more for the sanity of the inmates than anything the hospital or Ratched had ever done. He gets Bromden to drop his act and talk among other things. The story ends with McMurphy's pyrrhic victory. I wanted more for McMurphy, perhaps a sequel or something, but that was not to be. I was very happy for most of the rest of the inmates. Unfortunately Ratched was able to continue on. I was hoping worse for her. At least she was somewhat emasculated so, while not cut and dry, I was basically happy with the ending.
The Penguin "Great Books" printing linked to above (from Amazon) is high quality. It is a well made pleasure to read that doesn't cost more than the regular version. My copy is an early original edition. The title and the drop caps are not capitalized in my version so I didn't capitalize them here. When researching versions available from Amazon they note that people who bought Cuckoo often bought Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." I read Clockwork before and still have a copy, I think I will add that one to my reading pile. ;)
one flew over the cuckoo's nest read January '10 - My Very Highest Recommendation.
This page written 1/18/2010. Copyright (c) Carl Wohlforth 2010
Help me with my quest oh omniscient oracle:
Have fun! Bid for one on eBay:
Outbid? No worries, try Half.com:
Need a web host? I use & recommend inmotion:
Collect coins? Check out Carl's Coins:
We are affiliates of the businesses listed above. Clicking through our link before doing business with them helps support this website. Thank you!
