One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Picador Books)

The book describes wonderfully the way in which one man can make a difference in their own world and changes the lives of those around them if only they are prepared to stand up and be counted. However, it also describes humanity wonderfully because in the end the lone voice is cut down as so often happens. The book, overall, is a very astute study of mankind and the way we relate to each other. A must read!


Devastatingly Brilliant   November 30, 2002
D McNicoll
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Ken Kesey’s novel is narrated by Chief Bromden, a 7 foot giant of an American Indian, residing in a mental institution where everybody believes the Chief is both deaf and dumb. He draws a dark, confusing picture of the ward in which he has spent the past ten years under the dictatorial rule of the Big Nurse - Nurse Ratched - and her cronies. Into this grey, sterilised environment, where the in-mates are treated brutally, comes Randle Patrick “Mack” McMurphy. McMurphy is a smooth-talking, hard-gambling, booze-swilling womaniser, who plans on taking the rest of his prison term easy by declaring himself insane. Shocked by the cowed nature of his fellow inmates, McMurphy resolves to wage total war on the oppressive system, despite the danger it poses to his own release. Mid-way through the book, and the doctors are already plotting his downfall: “He’s definitely a Potential Assaultive.” McMurphy manages to bring out the laughter, courage and hope in the other patients, and has a dramatic impact on the Chief.
The novel is an astoundingly easy read, reeling you into a very sombre world before relieving the tension with fantastically funny set-pieces and dialogue. Meanwhile, the brooding, unfeeling menace of Nurse Ratched makes her a more frightening monster than any big-budget horror film has ever produced.
Perhaps the most touching moments of the novel occur outside of the main action. Kesey discusses Catholic guilt with much the same relish as Graham Greene in Brighton Rock. One of the nurses in the ward has a mark running from the corner
of her mouth down across her shoulder. The Chief describes how she goes home and scrubs the stain away with a wire brush, retiring to bed with a “raw, oozing hide”. “But she’s too full of the stuff. While she’s asleep it rises in her throat and into her mouth, drains out of that corner of her mouth like purple spit...In the morning she sees how she’s stained again...How could it be? a good Catholic Girl like her?”
The Chief describes his father’s descent into alcoholism as he sees it: his father literally becoming smaller and smaller. “Every time he put the bottle to his mouth, he didn’t suck out of it, it sucked out of him.”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is wide-screen, focused, touching, lewd, funny, tragic and heroic. What more do you want?


A great book on perserverence, freedom and human dignity   May 30, 2002
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book is at both brutally true about life in mental institutions and optimistic of the way things can be changed. An alternative title could be "How One Man Challenged The Oppressive System"- the conclusion of the book, inpart sad and happy, shows the reader the bitter-sweet nature of life. The final question to ask yourself after reading this is: "who has won after all?"


absolutely brilliant!!!   February 26, 2002
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book is a must for readers, you just have to read it. It had me totally gripped from the very first page. It really makes you laugh out loud cos it is so funny . McMuphy is a brilliant character and the conflict between him and the Big Nurse is written so well. The ending had me in tears! I only read it cos my psychology teacher recommended it to me and so i am recommending it to you now. Go and read it. Its well worth it!