Customer Reviews
One flew too many... - By: C. J. Statham, 01 Apr 2005 
Kesey excellsin this classic yarn of good-old 'Joe Public' against the great whims of society's 'institutes'. A fun & pacey read that leads you into a world of mini triumphs over evil. From start to finish I guarantee that you'll find this book entertaining & interesting to the sam e degree. McMurphy getting his inmates to go on an illicit sea fishing trip is hilarious & heart warming.
Any people who have the seen film will instantly identify with the characters & after this, it is nigh impossible to get Jack Nicholson out of your head. But what can I say? It works!
A Modern Classic - By: Stracs, 06 Sep 2004 This book is brilliant. A true modern classic. The story of the inmates of a mental insitution is gripping & incredibly moving. The use of the apparently deaf & dumb "Chief" as narrator is a stroke of geniusin my view. It means that you see the story through both the eyes of an inmate, but someone who is also removed through most of the book, & so provides a wonderful perspective on the other characters. All of the characters are very well written & it is easy to empathise with them all.
The book describes wonderfully the wayin which one man can make a differencein their own world & changes the lives of those around them if only they are prepared to stand up & be counted. However, it also describes humanity wonderfully becausein the end the lone voice is cut down as so often happens. The book, overall, is a very astute study of mankind & the way we relate to each other. A must read!
Devastatingly Brilliant - By: D McNicoll, 30 Nov 2002 Ken Kesey’s novel is narrated by Chief Bromden, a 7 foot giant of an American Indian, residingin a mental institution where everybody believes the Chief is both deaf & dumb. He draws a dark, confusing picture of the wardin which he has spent the past ten years under the dictatorial rule of the Big Nurse - Nurse Ratched - & 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, & the doctors are already plotting his downfall: “He’s definitely a Potential Assaultive.” McMurphy manages to bring out the laughter, courage & hopein the other patients, & 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 & 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 Greenein Brighton Rock. One of the nursesin the ward has a mark running from the corner
of her mouth down across her shoulder. The Chief describes how she goes home & 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 risesin her throat & 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 & 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 & heroic. What more do you want?
A great book on perserverence, freedom and human dignity - By: , 30 May 2002 This book is at both brutally true about lifein mental institutions & 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 & 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!!! - By: , 26 Feb 2002 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 & the conflict between him & the Big Nurse is written so well. The ending had mein tears! I only read it cos my psychology teacher recommended it to me & so i am recommending it to you now. Go & read it. Its well worth it!
