One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

By Ken Kesey

 Randall McMurphy gets himself committed to the mental hospital where he makes a big impression. He has a large personality, with a sarcastic wit and a fighting demeanor. He intends his stay as a break from a work farm he was assigned to, but finds himself up against a lot of rules set forth by the head nurse, Miss Ratched, who has the entire staff and all of the patients afraid of her as she walks the ward with her cold smile.

Randall sees her as a challenge to over come, an opponent to beat, and sets to the task of driving her to her breaking point. But Nurse Ratched is not so easily flustered. And she has a lot of power to wield, which Randall underestimates.

As he causes a ruckus in the ward and begins to pull the terrified patients out of their shells, using his charm and intelligence to wrangle some privileges Nurse Ratched is loathe to give into, he comes to find out what the full extent of her power is. When he pushes too far, leading the other patients into a night of partying and forbidden behaviors in the ward, Nurse Ratched finally wins and Randall is not the same afterward.

Narrated by one of the patients, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest takes us along for the ride as an observer and reluctant participant in Randall McMurphy's highjinks. The story is fun and exhilarating, but ultimately comes to a sad and shocking ending. At first I wasn't sure if the narrator's account would be reliable, since he himself has some mental difficulties he is fighting in the hospital, and his visions take on menacing and whimsical variations mixed with the reality of life that surrounds him. But ultimately he plays the most decisive role in McMurphy's story.

I expected a fun and entertaining read, but got so much more than I that. This was a great book about authority and subjugation, control and dignity, and social anxieties and shame. I'm giving it 4 stars.