One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

I had the pleasure of reading this classic a few months ago after I chose it off a list of books for an english paper. Little did I know that I had made a great choice. I have always enjoyed books that centered on individuality and rebellion's against the rest of the society. This book is no different. It follows the story of Randall McMurphy, who throughout the novel tries in every which way to disobey those with power in order to find a way out of the mental hospital for himself and to help the other members of the ward in escaping as well. He becomes a teacher for the ward, a helper for them. Many characterize him as a Christ like figure, as Kesey does provide enough evidence that he may have been notioning such an idea from the beginning through language, character descriptions, and events that parallel events from the Bible. This novel has become one of my favorites and opened up my heart to other classics such as The Great Gatsby and Catch-22. If it were not for "One Flew Over," I'd probably still be content with more recent novels. Thank you, Mr. Kesey, for such a fantastic book. It reads rather quickly and leaves you with a satisfied feeling at the end. "One Flew Over" has one of the best endings I've read in a very long time, possibly ever. I did not believe it would end as it did, but it makes complete sense when you sit back and think of the novel as a whole. Well done, Kesey, your effort is well appreciated and strongly recommended!

As I commented on one young reviewer's post...there should be a rule stating that if you have not read the book then you should not be allowed to write a review for it or even rate it. Most of the poor reviews and low ratings for this novel are from ignorant teenagers whose reviews are barely coherent and furthermore who have not even actually read the book beyond a few pages. Rant over, thanks.

Moving on, I have owned this book for several years but simply never got around to reading it until now. Things to keep in mind: I did see a stage production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but I have never seen the movie. I am not going to summarize the book, I will just get to my point. I will say that Cuckoo's Nest is not by any means a breezy read, and I also had a little bit of difficulty in the beginning fully comprehending some of what was going on mainly because it is not written in any typical fashion and yes, it is written from the perspective of a mental patient whose perception is not always clear...or is it? Not only that but Kesey was volunteering to take part in LSD testing during the time he wrote the book, which he wrote from his experience working in a Veteran's hospital. The first portion of the book is a bit slow, but once you get past the introductions, so to speak, and adjust to the style of the narrator's prose it takes a turn and you can't help but care for these characters and feel what they feel and go through and how they change and evolve. You might even see some of your own experiences or selves in the situations in Cuckoo's Nest, mental patients or not.

I finished what started as a difficult read within two days and it turned out to be one of the most rewarding novels I have read in a long time. I actually cried; this is now one of only three books that has ever hit me in such a way! It's an inspiring and sad story about the power of ideas, spirit, conformity and freedom. Although it may be a little rough at the start, I highly recommend getting through that part and finishing the story...you'll be glad you did!

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is more than a social commentary: it is an allegory-like hyperbole of the psychopathic obsession of the 1960s. The decade marked a drastic proliferation of books that looked at psychiatry and mental illness but garnered little diagnostic or therapeutic value. Despite the prestige of these publications that usually attuned to academic standard in intellectual circles, none of such literature had the widespread impact of this novel written by Kesey who worked the graveyard shift at a mental hospital in Menlo Park, California. He participated in government-sponsored drug experiments during his employment with this hospital and became sympathetic to the patients and began to seriously question the boundaries that had been created between the sane and the insane.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is an unforgettable story of a mental ward in which the despotic Nurse Ratched reigns over the doctor and all the inhabitants. She exercises a somewhat cultic tactics to render her patients completely submissive. In what she embellishes a Therapeutic Community, an outwardly democratic entity run by patients, she imperceptibly manipulates them into grilling each other as if they are criminals. She has over the years has welded an insurmountable power over the ward that even the doctor is rendered frightened, desperate and ineffectual. She has no need to accuse or to enforce obedience because all it takes to maintain that tight grip of power is insinuation, which allows her to force the trembling libido out of everyone without an effort.

The Nurse's unchallenged tyranny begins to whittle as McMurphy, a 35-year-old Korean veteran who has history of insubordination and street brawls, resolves to oppose her every step of the way and raises the racket in her ward. His defiance is justifiable: he is surprised at how sane everyone is in the ward. Nobody and nothing in life have got much of a hold on this boisterous personality, who knows that there is no better way in the world to aggravate somebody (like the Nurse) who is trying to make it difficult for him than by acting like he is not bothered. McMurphy's fun-loving arrival at the ward brings about a different shade of opinion among the staff and the patients. The latter come following him as if he is their Savior, for he is utterly different and has not let what he looks like run his life one way or the other.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is narrated by a patient in the ward, a Columbia Indian whom everyone thinks deaf, mute, and unintelligible, but who throughout the years of his commitment has overheard all the trickery of staff meetings. He epitomizes the mishap of the erroneous boundary with which the sane separates them from the insane. McMurphy's arrival and his friendship with the Indian Chief spur him on to recover his own identity and rebuild his self-esteem. The novel examines the notion of madness in the sense of its own and in the sense of the term being patronized by mental institution. The narrator's seamless observation and eagle-eyed description of the ward illustrate salient flaws of such a mindless system that targets only at reducing patients' mental capability. Kesey considers whether madness really means the common practice that confines to a mindless system or the attempt to escape from such a system altogether. Like its audacious protagonist, the novel itself is a literary outlaw.