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One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

(Penguin Classics)

By Ken Kesey, Robert Faggen (Contributor)

(142)

| Paperback | 9780141181226

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Book Description

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 NurseContinue

Critics

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

Behind closed doors In 1959, Ken Kesey, then a creative writing student at Stanford University, volunteered to act as a guinea pig in a series of medical trials, partly sponsored by the CIA, into the effects of psychoactive drugs like LSD and mescali ... (read full critics)

bookpage published on Sun, 12 Sep 2010

12 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

Anti-institutionalization -- a special humanist novel

Once in a while, there are lonnies standing in my sight. What had drived them mad? Ken Kesay supplied an answer: The Combine, in his first novel (1962).
The majorities tend to believe there're something uncanny about minorities, without noticing that it could be they who are acting strange. No ... (continue)

Once in a while, there are lonnies standing in my sight. What had drived them mad? Ken Kesay supplied an answer: The Combine, in his first novel (1962).
The majorities tend to believe there're something uncanny about minorities, without noticing that it could be they who are acting strange. Not all rules in life are reasonable. Indeed, many are quite the opposite.
In charge of all the rules (The Combine) are always certain stubborn people who believe they are doing what they have to. Then there're always people who aren't pleased with this stubbornness and tried their dogged best to take over.
It is a story of how the hero, McMurphy, successfully raises the loonies' self-respect previously trampled to the lowest point by the Big nurse, who is in charge of the ward.
It is an uphill battle. The Big nurses have so many weapons to help her get everything in places she desire: the rules, the drugs, and lobotomy (半球切除術), "one of the most barbaric mistakes ever perpetrated by mainstream medicine".
Who wins? Who loses? All are losers, as long as the world doesn't change.
The film adaptation had won many academic awards. While it is not as deep as the original, it is still a good follow-up.
Stylistically, this novel gives me a breath of fresh air. It's kind of like Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury". The method of narration itself deserves some praise.
Even without the "deeper meanings", the story alone is exciting enough.

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phystory said on Oct 17, 2008 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

Freedom of mind...

The tension rises steadily in the book, while mental freedom is at stake. Divers characters bounce together in a closed ward. And then a leader falls between them. The struggle between sticking up for a group or maintaining your own individual safety is so painfully described it hurts. Throw in a po ... (continue)

The tension rises steadily in the book, while mental freedom is at stake. Divers characters bounce together in a closed ward. And then a leader falls between them. The struggle between sticking up for a group or maintaining your own individual safety is so painfully described it hurts. Throw in a pound of embarrassment and tiny moments of pure hatred and you have the overall feel of "One flew over the Cuckoo's nest"

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Jannekemarijn said on Mar 10, 2008 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

The imaginative characters and innovative story structure made Ken Kesey's debut novel ripe for commentary. Take a closer look at One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which also enjoyed critical success as a play and a film.
The title, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest, part of Chelsea House ... (continue)

The imaginative characters and innovative story structure made Ken Kesey's debut novel ripe for commentary. Take a closer look at One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which also enjoyed critical success as a play and a film.
The title, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Ken Kesey, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

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meganzing said on Jul 13, 2007 | Add your feedback

Make no mistakes (Bush dixit) this book is a modern classic!
What an adventure into man's troubled waters. This book will change your life. If not, well next time! By the way, Ken Kesey also wrote "Demon Box".

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jelabino said on Jul 28, 2011 | Add your feedback

I find this book really interesting in the way in which Ken Kesey analyzes the radical changes that happen in the ward after the coming of a strong and charismatic character, whose name is McMurphy: from the first day he becomes the new leader, the only one that faces Miss Ratched, the so called Big ... (continue)

I find this book really interesting in the way in which Ken Kesey analyzes the radical changes that happen in the ward after the coming of a strong and charismatic character, whose name is McMurphy: from the first day he becomes the new leader, the only one that faces Miss Ratched, the so called Big Nurse; while everyone feared of her.
He can be considered a hero that little by little with is optimistic spirit restores patient’s courage and hope; thanks to him they recover their self-confidence.
This book deals with important themes such as the situation of the patients in psychiatric hospitals and in particular the experiments that often the patients had to sustain.
Talking about these great problems the book doesn’t arrive to a real solution in the end, even if the situation in the ward, especially from a human point of view, is improved.

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Miro 92 said on Oct 26, 2010 about the School & Library Binding edition | Add your feedback

Incredible writing. I couldn't put this down!
I had to watch Jack Nicholson in his Oscar win for the movie version, and was pleasantly surprised that the movie is quite true to the original. And incredible film of an incredible book!

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guiltlessreader aka screamingbanshee said on Sep 15, 2010 | Add your feedback

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Book Details

Rating:
(142)
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English Books
Paperback 312 Pages
ISBN-10: 0141181222
ISBN-13: 9780141181226
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Pub date: Dec 31, 2002
Dimensions: 1290 mm x 839 mm x 65 mm Just how big is that?
Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Library Binding, School & Library Binding, Others and eBook
In other languages: other languages 繁體書, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Libri Italiani