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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 50th Anniversary Edition
Unavailable
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 50th Anniversary Edition
Unavailable
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 50th Anniversary Edition
Audiobook10 hours

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 50th Anniversary Edition

Written by Ken Kesey

Narrated by John C. Reilly

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

A fiftieth-anniversary edition of Ken Kesey's searing American classic.

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Turning conventional notions of sanity and insanity on their heads, the novel tells the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the story 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 powers that keep them all imprisoned.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 31, 2012
ISBN9781101538777
Unavailable
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 50th Anniversary Edition
Author

Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey (1935-2001) es el autor de Alguien voló sobre el nido del cuco (1962), una de las más extraordinarias novelas de la literatura norteamericana del siglo XX, Casta invencible (1964) y Garage Sale (1973).

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Reviews for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Rating: 4.50597609561753 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There's no denying either that there's a reason why this book is a classic or that it's a deeply, terribly problematic one.We all know the story of the struggle of the individual against the oppressive system embodied in a mental patient's battle of wills against the ward's head nurse. What doesn't come through so much in the play (or, as I recall, the movie, but I've only watched it once while I've seen the play twice and read the script several times) is that it's *not* a generic system, or conformity in general, that he's fighting against. It's explicitly framed as a matriarchal system supported by black men. The orderlies are referred to as "the black boys" more often than anything else, so there's no question that their blackness is meant to be their defining trait and not just incidental, and the narrator, the Chief, says that Nurse Ratched prefers the darkest ones she can find because the blacker they are, the more they hate. Multiple characters frame the situation the patients are in, either at the hands of Nurse Ratched or in respect to the world in general, as one of men that have been castrated by women. Never mind that women and minorities have as a rule been more oppressed by "the system," whatever that system was at the time, than white men. Never mind that Harding, who all but comes right out and says that he's gay and that his pathologies stem from shame over that fact, is being made to feel ashamed because of the patriarchal sexism that says a man has to be traditionally masculine. And on multiple occasions people suggest that the only way for a woman to be fixed or defeated is through sex. Sometimes it's vague enough that it could refer to seduction or regular consensual sex (at one point one of the other nurses says, in reference to the trouble of Nurse Ratched, that any nurse still single at the age of thirty-five ought to be fired), but at one point they're clearly discussing the idea that somebody ought to rape Nurse Ratched, and even if nobody actually intends to do it the other patients do seem in favor of MacMurphy doing so.And yet. There's the startling narration of Chief Bromden. The reason that I love the play and haven't bothered rewatching the movie is Chief Bromden's soliloquies, taken directly from the book. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised how much differently the play registers from the book. The script was adapted by Dale Wasserman, who also wrote Man of La Mancha, and who more or less created the image most Americans have of Don Quixote in the second half of the twentieth century. But unlike Don Quixote, Wasserman didn't rewrite the plot of Cuckoo's Nest so much as he knew what to leave out. He elided the bits of conversations that were explicitly racist or misogynist and left the audience with a generic story of struggle against authority and conformity that people of any sex or race could see themselves in, but everything that's left once the ugly things are taken out, everything powerful and beautiful, also came from the book.I unabashedly love the play. When it comes to the book, our relationship is complicated.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    After page 150 out 272, I couldn't keep reading, I skimmed through to the end. It was torture. I do not understand how this is a favorite classic taught in schools! The writer is a misogynist racist who believes that women (the new matriarchy, he labels it) and black people (the black boys working under the matriarchy) are after castrating little poor helpless white males, and yes he says 'ball-cutters'. The good women are the prostitutes, they help them out, and they are honest and nice, not like the matriarchal women. Oh, it's so awful, and I have been VERY PATIENT, I was Job, until I couldn't take it any longer. This is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy overrated, it's poorly written, not enjoyable, makes no sense, is based on hatred of women and black people, and there is no rebellion whatsoever about this Irish gambler (go figure why it was an Irish and an Indian, I don't feel like knowing, enough is enough!)
    I am DONE with Kesey, and I am once more disappointed by English classics...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The movie left me unable to speak afterward, so I had to read the book. As is often the case, the book was more complex and diffused, and some of the characters are different--and the ending lack's the movie's high drama. My old college paperback was getting pretty yellow around the edges, so I spent some money on this beautiful slipcased edition. Just got the movie on bluray too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Of course I saw the movie starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher – the first movie since “It Happened One Night” to win all five of the top Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. But somehow, I’d never read the book.Randall Patrick McMurphy has it all figured out. McMurphy is a con man, a braggart and a larger-than-life personality. He’s been sentenced to six months at a work farm for gambling and battery, but if he fakes mental illness he’ll get a “cushy” assignment to the mental hospital where he doesn’t have to work out in the hot sun, he has a clean, nice bed, television, radio, and great food, including orange juice. Yes, he has gotten the best of the system. But he wasn’t counting on Nurse Ratched. And he didn’t understand the full implication of the fact that, unlike most of the other men on the ward, he was committed, and his “sentence” wouldn’t automatically end at six months.The story is told by another of the patients – a “Chronic” called Chief Broom because he spends his days sweeping or mopping. Everyone thinks he is deaf and mute, because he gives no sign of hearing and he never speaks. But, in fact, he hears and sees everything, making him a great narrator. Chief tells us how McMurphy affects everyone on the ward, how he reminds them that they are men, not rabbits, and how Nurse Ratched controls what happens. The friendship Chief develops with McMurphy and his reaction to what happens give us a hero to cheer for.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Emotionally shattering end to this novel. As someone who works in the mental health field I often struggle with representations of the mental health industry as trying to show difference as pathology. That said, I am aware and think there has not been enough acknowledgement of this approach to mental health.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A little hard to get into at first, but after a time I was FLYING through it and could not put it down. I had seen the movie about ten years ago but didn't really remember what happened so I was still shocked by pretty much everything. Told through the viewpoint of Chief, the longest resident in the asylum, this story chronicles the changes that take place when Patrick McMurphy, a loud swaggering gambler, comes to the mental hospital. Happy to be off the work farm he thinks that the hospital will be a nice respite from hard labor, but little does he realize how trapped he'll soon become. The big nurse (Mrs. Ratched) has it out for McMurphy from day one and it becomes a battle of the wills to see who will come out on top. Fascinating and heartbreaking. I can't wait to watch the movie again. What a brilliant classic!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a very well-written, beautiful and profound book. I would highly recommend it as I found it utterly engaging and absorbing from the first page. Naturally, comparisons will be drawn with the film. I personally think they are both great in their own ways and they certainly both can be independently appreciated.Kesey was a character in his own right and it is a shame he did not write more.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What's to stop the machine, the 'combine,' from taking you over, too? Telling you what to do, what to think, what to say, what to feel, what to write..."So she works with the an eye to adjusting the outside world too. Working alongside others like her who I called the 'combine,' which is a huge organization that aims to adjust the outside as well as she has the inside, has made her a real veteran at adjusting things."The fog descends upon all, and Chief Bromden realized that there was safety in the fog, so instead of fighting the fog, he used it as a cover, an impenetrable shield of being lost in the all-encompassing, ever-present world of the combine. He was safe there, in the system, until McMurphy, a burly, well-built IrishMAN showed up. McMurphy descended into the fog and pulled the chief out of it, made it clear to see, perhaps for the first time in decades, what life was, or what life could be, for a man. What life could be if you lived it on your own terms, in your own way, without anyone else putting limits on how you live. McMurphy was the last primal male. He was the last of his kind before the fog rolled in and 'civilized' him. "Peckin at your balls, buddy, at your ever lovin balls."The genius in Kesey using the Indian to show the connecting fight between the last Indian males to fight the system, and losing, and how it is now the white man's turn. The last brave Irishman before the system takes out his kind, too. The age of the white male is over! "Papa says if you don't watch it people will force you one way or the other, into doing what they think you should do, or into just being stubborn and doing the opposite out of spite."The prototype manly man that had the power, the balls, to fight the system, the combine, by taking on one of its head enforcers, the male impostor, Nurse Ratched. Through the total tyranny of the ward, Nurse Ratched would squeeze the pressure on the men bit-by-bit. She never let the men get to her, and she knew that she would always get her way, at least in the end. And she did. "wait for a little advantage, a little slack, then twist the rope and keep the pressure steady. All the time.""It could no longer conceal the fact that she was a woman."This book is quite the ride down modernity lane. Like Kafka, Kesey shows us the myriad of complex, invisible lines that pull and push on humanity, without ever being visible to us. The rules and policies can be maddening, but them's the rules, friend! McMurphy gets lost in the combine, picking his battles where he can to fight it. But the combine is bigger than he is. Bigger than all of us. When we are gone, it will still be here. When our children are gone, it will still be here. Rolling out and rolling over anyone that opposes it. "It's not just the big nurse by herself, but it's the whole combine, the nationwide combine that's the really big force, the nurse is just a high-ranking official for them."Progress!! "This world belongs to the strong, my friend! The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the week. You 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 as 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?"
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me longer than I expected but I finally finish this book. The first part took me a long time to read and i was not getting into it. But after that I couldn't stop. The book absorb me and the characters so well describe in the beginning started to take action. Is a great reading and a most - do. It shows you a place were the doctors rule and patients are lab rats. Is a lesson in life a lesson that no matter where you are you have to keep your spirit run free and smile, never forget the power of a free smiling spirit, even when you feel like a bird in a cage.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An unsettling story of what life is like on the inside of a picturesque mental hospital, Kesey’s groundbreaking, tell-all (as narrated by a mute long-term patient) introduces readers to Randle McMurphy, the wise-cracking know-it-all who is intent on breaking the system that Nurse Ratched has so rigidly in place. Ratched runs her ward with a cold and ruthless determination and McMurphy (who doesn’t really have any mental incapacities, but has chosen the ward over prison) decides that he is just the man to lead a revolt against the powers that be. A brutal story at times, Kesey’s captivating novel really shines in the descriptive and emotional interactions between patients. Readers will find themselves unintentionally identifying with a specific patient- hoping for a recovery and ultimate survival. An unexpected ending challenges the reader’s belief about what is right and what is wrong- as they disavow the horrific practices and customs of treatment that became common practices in mental institutions well into the 21st century.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What, exactly, makes some of us "crazy" and others "sane"? Kesey switches things around to show us the sane ones in the looney bin and crazy ones running it. Fantastic vehicle for Jack Nicholson too in the Milos Forman film of 1975 (it won five Academy Awards). It shows us how even the oppressed can rise up, and though they may not triumph, they can at least get some good licks in.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow, is all I can really say. This book was at once heartbreaking, funny, and terrifying.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One awesome book! This is the first novel I read in college and therefore was the first book I ever discussed at length with a group of educated people. I LOVED it! I've read it 3 times and have seen the movie a few as well. Had a profound effect on my perception of the world around me. Where's the chief now?
    Julie
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “…Three geese in a flockOne flew EastOne flew WestAnd one flew over the cuckoo’s nest”The book’s narrator, Chief Bromden, who has been institutionalized since the end of WW II shared the ward’s events through his eyes. While he may have mental instabilities, he had the clearest vision seeing through what will set off who and how. He protected himself by acting deaf and mute. While the narrative centered primarily on Randle McMurphy, a character made famous by Jack Nicholson in the film, it is Bromden himself, his imaginative words describing what he sees and his background, that truly made this book a triumph.McMurphy is the newest patient into the ward; he orchestrated his own transfer from a prison work farm to the ward to avoid the hard labor. He immediately took over being the top dog and started a series of antagonizing events to gain additional freedom from the iron fist of “Big Nurse”, Nurse Ratched. While such freedom provided temporary relief, the price paid was also high. Weaved between these tales, we learned of Bromden’s father, Chief of the fictional Columbia River tribe (though there are genuine tribes that occupy the river), the interference of the government that brought about the demise of the tribe and ultimately his father to alcoholism. Several characters, including Bromden and McMurphy, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTD) as a result from their military time served. Bromden’s mind is invaded by screams of “AIR RAIDS” while McMurphy has a vacant emptiness that needs to be occupied by his random acts of rebellion. While I don’t recall the movie, I am aware of the ending which contaminated my enjoyment of the book. Having read the book now, I readily place Chief Bromden as the central figure instead of McMurphy. The exploitation of Native Americans, the PTSD of veterans, and the maltreatment of patients in mental institutions are all heavy subjects that are cleverly mixed with poker games, prostitutes, the World Series, and a fishing trip. Interestingly, Ken Kesey volunteered for a paid experimental study with the U.S. Army to take mind-altering drugs. He also worked as an attendant in a hospital’s psychiatric ward. These experiences led to the writing of the book. P.S. He hated the movie script and never watched the movie.Some Quotes:On Familiarity – no matter how twisted it is:“I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe. That’s what McMurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at.”On Alcoholism:“And the last I see him he’s blind in the cedars from drinking and every time I see him put the bottle to his mouth he don’t suck out of it, it sucks out of him until he’s shrunk so wrinkled and yellow even the dogs don’t know him.”On Laughter as a necessity:“Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. He knows there’s a painful side; he knows my thumb smarts and his girl friend has a bruised breast and the doctor is losing his glasses, but he won’t let the pain blot out the humor no more’n he’ll let the humor blot out the pain.”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved it. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is told from Bromden’s perspective, a native american everyone assumes is deaf and illiterate. He has been at the asylum the longest and roams around the ward cleaning while overhearing conversations. A newcomer McMurphy is the main focus of the story, he is loud and rebellious. He tries to get the others to lighten up and likes to test the main rigid nurse. He gets to her and gets the other men to rise against her as well. They are constantly battling each other, trying to get the best of the other, Bromden get’s to witness a lot of the planning and the events unfold. McMurphy gets Bromden to talk and Bromden is shown a way out of the fog being around him. The final showdown between McMurphy and Big Nurse is a much awaited match and it is a worthy ending.

    This book is just about perfect. I loved that it’s told from Bromden’s view and that he’s just in the background in most of these scenes that he’s witnessing. Even though Bromden isn’t the main character the plot is around he still very insightful about what he is seeing and his past. It can be hard to understand what he is talking about at first, but it becomes easier. I loved the relationship between McMurphy and Bromden, it’s so simple. McMurphy is obnoxious, but you root for him. He’s doing these guys some good. The Big Nurse is a bitch, but she’s doing her job and trying to make it go smoothly, so you also understand where she is coming from. Seeing these two butt heads and test each other is funny but tense. The ending is crazy, even though I had a feeling what was going to happen, I kept willing it not to happen. But even what I thought wasn’t the full ending. It’s beautiful ending in its way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    So they're running a radio play version of this on BBC, and when I saw it, I thought, why not, maybe I'll listen to it. Then my emotions caught up with my brain and I decided to write a cathartically scathing review instead. Because when I read this in high school, and it left me feeling furious--not particularly with the "correct" villain of the piece, Nurse Rached, but with McMurphy and Kesey himself. (No, this was not a popular viewpoint with my highschool teacher.) It must be said, however, that the sheer memorability of the plot, aided by my clarifying heat of anger (and possibly the class's egregiously slow pace) indicates the quality of the book's writing and the author's success at engaging the reader's interest.

    Isn't the massive issue with Nurse Rached the fact that she is a woman who has power and has therefore effectively emasculated the men in her control? Look at all of the descriptions of her power. Her actions are explicitly depicted as castrating her patients and making them effectively impotent. In fact, all of the men are in the institution because of the pernicious influence of the females in their lives, from the doctor's big-breasted wife to Billy's overbearing mother. Because obviously emasculation of men is the secret aim of all women unless you slap them bitches down. Yeah, so Rached does have a massive amount of control and yes, she does have an obsession with discipline, but she's being pushed by an asshole and reacting poorly. McMurphy fights back by belittling her as a woman, demonstrating masculine brute strength, using sexual slurs, smuggling in prostitutes, etc, etc. Do I have sympathy for McMurphy's battle against Rached? Heh. Cry me a river.

    The real issue is that I'm a woman reading about the oh-so-noble struggle of a psychopathic rapist to wrest power from the control of a woman who has done the unforgivable: sexually dominate and humiliate the men under her control. It is a book about the Ultimate Noble Goal: a man's quest to retain his masculinity--via the domination and humiliation of all the women around him. hover for spoiler Yes, there is a way to read it as the struggle of individuality against the totalitarian inhuman machine, but I have to wonder: if a man had been the nurse, do you think this would have been a classic?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Halloween 2013#1I know this is a highly unusual book to kick-start my Halloween readings this year, but the book easily earns its place amongst the spookiest and the creepiest books out there. Nurse Ratched has easily made its mark as one of the most well known (if hated or feared or both) literary characters. I saw and recognised the Cuckoo setting in the "The Real Slim Shady" video, long before I ever read the book (even if I am unsure if Eminem ever formally recognised the inspiration). And then, there was the Jack Nicholson starrer movie version, not to mention countless references in books, TV Series and movies.At a superficial level, the book is about a tug of war between the infamous Nurse Ratched (also referred to as the Big Nurse) and the incorrigible McMurphy. The anti-authoritarian stand Ken Kesey takes through this book is quite obvious and very, very well done - in sheer literary value and impact, it is just a notch below Orwell's 1984, less Dystopian and more realistic, which probably makes it scarier?And then you start peeling and keep peeling and you are never sure how deep the rabbit hole goes. From the physically very feminine Nurse Ratched's sheer dominance over everyone else in the Institution - patients, other nurses, ward-boys, doctors, etc. to the imaginary (?) "Combine" the Chief is so afraid of.There is a very obviously sexist tone to the book I didn't really care much about, but I will put it down to the times in which the book was written and move on, which is probably easier for me to do as a guy.The ending of the book is no less powerful, quite Kafkaesque in its tragedy if you ask me, but probably absolutely necessary for the message to get across.4/5
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A calm, lifeless mental ward is ruled with an iron fist by the infamous Nurse Ratched. Everything goes according to schedule, and she proudly displays her fake, plastic smile. However, one patient, whom the others call Chief, can see through her smile, into her cold evil soul. Nobody questions her authority, until a new patient arrives. Randle Patrick McMurphy, a fast-talking conman who doesn’t care much for what others say to him. He doesn’t take to Nurse Ratched’s tyrannical reign over the ward, and resists every chance he gets. The other patients join him in his crusade, but the Nurse tries to convince them that she is not the antagonizer, and that he is using them, but they don’t buy it. But what will they think when she unleashes her ultimate weapon?The book itself is astounding. It’s deep, metaphoric language is very eye-opening. However, some parts of the novel are confusing. Not much is simple, everything is explained in the way Chief, who is also the narrator, perceives it. Nearly every event is described in a different and strange way. This makes it very appealing though. The fact that it is different and unique makes it a thrilling read until the last page. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a brilliant novel, and it will keep you entertained until the last sentence is echoing in your head.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Power and abuse of power over residents in a mental institution. Absolutely great read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sitting here now, I don't know what to think of this book. I didn't hate it but there was nothing I could find that I particularly loved.
    The story was well crafted and the characterisation of McMurphy, in particular, was one of a kind. McMurphy was inspiring. I could believe him. This is a book that you could empathise with the characters. McMurphy was a perfect hero for this novel.

    The ending was a little confusing but intense. I was wide-eyed till the end

    Like I said, I don't know how to feel about this book but I know I loved McMurphy. The story was excellent and I felt like I was apart of it just by reading it. I liked this novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is slow to get into but once you do stick with it. Good but sad story about the inmates in Nurse Ratchets mental hospital.All narrated by big Chief Bromdem. Bit dated now and I have already seen the film but still worth a read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mention this book and naturally Jack Nicholson jumps to mind. The movie was excellent and yet the book is even better, although it's difficult to avoid seeing Nicholson as the brash Randle Patrick McMurphy. The story is told by Chief Bromden, one of the disturbed patients who makes out that he is a deaf mute while witnessing everything. I feel like I got know each one of the characters personally, cheering on McMurphy, applauding when he, or indeed anyone, scores against the Big Nurse, and commiserating with each patient. The writing is beautifully descriptive. On the negative side, there are racial and misogynistic stereotypes - an indication of the times in which it was written. Funny, chilling, tragic, and utterly captivating. This is one of my favourite books.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Was a bit of difficult read... maybe I should it read it now...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had seen the movie version of this book years ago, so I knew that this would be a humorous story about a mental hospital and the smart aleck patient Randle McMurphy and his battles against the evil Nurse Ratched. But as usual, the book is SO much better than the movie - and the movie was pretty good. McMurphy gets himself admitted to a mental hospital to avoid time at a prison work camp. His wing of the hospital is run by a sadistic Nurse Ratched who on the exterior appears kind, but gets pleasure by cruelly demeaning the patients. At first, McMurphy pulls pranks to entertain himself and his fellow patients, but eventually, he becomes the leader and savior of the inmates. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a half Indian inmate who appears mute and has been a patient for years. What I loved about this book is the transformation of both McMurphy and Bromden, both overcoming some inner demons to become the heroes of the story. The audiobook was amazing - impressively narrated by Tom Parker. Loved it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There is no review that can do this book justice. Wonderfully devised, wonderfully executed. Vitally important life lessons. I can't say enough good about this book. Really, really amazing story. A must-read for all.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Originally read this book in college. Re-read it two years ago while attending an author's conference in San Francisco. Can't believe how much I missed the first time. The narration is brilliant and the developmental growth of the protagonist throughout the novel is truly impressive. A modern day classic tragedy Reading it can be painful, especially for someone who has had a loved one confined to a mental institution, but well worth the risk.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Having watched the movie years ago, I never bothered to read the book until urged to by my daughter. Glad I did. The characters are richly brought to life, the injustice and pettiness of power hungry officials and the power of hope and humor are so strongly portrayed.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In my opinion this is one of those rare occasions where the movie is better than the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The only thing I knew about this book was that Jack Nicholson was in the movie--if that's not enough reason to read a book, I'm not sure what is. Naturally, I thought the book was about him, and in a way it was. Imagine my surprise, though, when after reading the first page, I find out it's being told through the eyes of a patient in the mental hospital. I don't know why this surprised me so much, but it did.

    I thought McMurphy was a great character. This is the story of his battle against Big Nurse. And I was deeply drawn in, right until the end. After reading the ending, I'm not sure of who I believe one, but I lean toward McMurphy.

    If you haven't read it, I would say that needs to change!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Can finally tick this off my must read to list. A powerful piece of literature. The narrator read this so well I could perfectly visualise every character, every scene. Most enjoyable.