Product Description

Chief Bromden, half American-Indian, whom the authorities believe is deaf and dumb, tells the story of a mental instituion ruled by Big Nurse on behalf of the all-powerful Combine.

Into this terrifying grey world comes McMurphy, a brawling gambling man, who wages total war on behalf of his cowed fellow-inmates. What follows is at once hiilarious and heroic, tragic and ultimately liberating.

Since its first publication in 1962, Ken Kesey's astonishing first novel has achieved the status of a contemporary classic.

'Kesey can be funny, he can be lyrical, he can do dialogue, and he can write a muscular narrative. In fact there's not much better come out of America in the sixties... If you haven't already read this book, do so. If youhave, read it again' Douglas Eadie, Scotsman

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40785 in Books
• Published on: 1973
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Stunning - one of the best books I have ever read
This has planted itself firmly in my favourite books of all time. The narrative comes from the perspective of a patient on the ward of a mental asylum and offers the perspective of someone whose experience is often tinged by fear and delusion. This adds to what is a wonderful parable about life and conformity in society. The book is incredibly sad, but yet offers something of an optimistic message at the end. I can't recommend this book hearily enough. Inevitably many people might say 'I've seen the film'. The film was great in its own right but just reflected what is an astonishing book.

Devastatingly Brilliant
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 Modern Classic
This book is brilliant. A true modern classic. The story of the inmates of a mental insitution is gripping and incredibly moving. The use of the apparently deaf and dumb "Chief" as narrator is a stroke of genius in 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, and so provides a wonderful perspective on the other characters. All of the characters are very well written and it is easy to empathise with them all.

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!