Rating:  Summary: A masterpiece of the word! Review: Ken Kesey was ever a master of language and expressed ideas, but 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' takes his writing into a new dimension. The novel inextricably links evil to society, demonstrating the power it wields and how we are forced to reconcile with it to survive. 'Kesey' focuses on the occupants of a mental hospital - a microcosm of the outside world - and whilst reading about the redemption of the in-mates after years of mental torture and abuse the reader is forced to assess how much society controls his own life, and more specifically, whether he has any choice in it. The imagery is beautiful and the moods and emotions of the in-mates are consigned to writing in an easy mannor which would shame most of today's writers. Easy to read - impossible to put down. Prepare to be enlightened!
Rating:  Summary: A great book but.... Review: This is a fantastic book with memorable characters but I always wonder, it paints such a black view of mental hospitols. I wonder if we have released people to the street who can't cope because of our reaction to the book? Have we formed our mental health policy as a reaction to this view of the system? I grew up in Oregon during the 50's and 60's. Kesey does such a wonderful job of evoking the feel of the state and the times. He is a powerful writer; but was he right in condeming all mental health facilities? I know that was not his intent, but that is what many people take away from this book. Just some random thoughts.
Rating:  Summary: A forever classic: One of the best books I've read Review: The story begins with the harmless antics of McMurphy as he continues to dominate the ward as the Big Nurse stands out of the way. The story is absolutely fascinating and the dramatic sequences after the suicide of Billy Bibbit really makes a person think about life.
Rating:  Summary: This book was so good that I couldn't put the book down Review: This book is about a guy that went to a mental hospital for raping a girl, but the girl said that she was seventeen, but she really was fifteen. When McMurry was in the hospital he was very rawdy, and he broke all the rules. He made all the nurse mad, and he also ran gambling in the hospital. He knew that the Chief wasn't deaf or stupied, and he proved to the other patients by telling him to raise his hand for the World Series.
Rating:  Summary: this is a powerful book Review: this book is a powerful masterpiece. i know people who have to read this book in high school but i didn't.. i just now stumbled upon it and i love it. a moving, powerful, and deeply meaningful book. it definately left me thinking. at times it made me laugh out loud like i've never laughed out loud before (and i rarely laugh when reading books). at times it was unbearably sad.
Rating:  Summary: Amazing, amazing book Review: I first read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest during my senior year of high school, while I was playing Nurse Ratched in the play. The book, the play, and the movie are all amazing facets of the same story. It really took over my life at that point and I'm glad it did. I visited mental hospitals and talked with the Head Nurses in my area, and it was really quite interesting that they often did not find the character of the Big Nurse out of line at all, that her actions were completly justifiable and McMurphy was, indeed, nothing but a trouble-maker. The book is disturbing in the finest of ways. It's one of my favorites
Rating:  Summary: Kesey reports on the attitudes that made the Sixties. Review: Ken Kesey closely examines the cultural world of the mental hospital and the machine that runs it in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest." His running commentary on life in 1960's America is an introverted inspection of the American government and all of its toadying subordinates. It gives a fine look at the attitudes that led to the upheaval that occurred in this most turbulant decade. Kesey uses his own sabbatical in a mental institute as a study on fellow inmates and most importantly, a study on himself and his beliefs. This book will instantly become one of your favorites
Rating:  Summary: The question here is "Who is really the insane one?" Review: "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is one of the best books I have ever read. It is very interesting and it manages to keep the reader hooked. It has all the elements of drama, suspense, and comedy. It makes the reader laugh at times and it makes the reader sad. The book delivers some memorable lines. It's question is "Who is really insane?" The novel looks at human nature and shows the psychology of certain people. In McMurphy, We see a good man, A basic symbol of American entertainment. Someone who believes in having a good time. In Nurse Ratched, We see everything we don't want to be. She is a symbol of the negativity of human society. Someone who enjoys life by making others suffer. The book looks at human society and it really makes you think who is really bad
Rating:  Summary: "I liked it very much." Review: Dear "Amazon" Folks:
Here is a book review by Claire Min-Venditti, age 6, dictated to her
dad after he read the book to her over a period of 3 weeks:
The book was called "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." It had a guy in
it named McMurphy, and he was a pretty good trickster and gambler. He
tells lies a lot to people, but the book did not have a happy ending.
There were a lot of people in it, but it was a good story. I like it. It
was written by Ken Kesey, and it's about a mental hospital and a nurse
that runs it, and she's mean to the patients.
And McMurphy just came in because he's a new patient to come to the
hospital. He was trying to get out of the hospital, because he didn't
want to get treated that way anymore, so at recess time he climbed over
the fence because there was this guy, and they called him "Chief," and
he was big and strong and tall, and he was pretending that he was deaf
and dumb. So McMurphy got on his shoulders and climbed up the fence
because he was very tall.
And there was a bus there, which he snuck into and drew the other
patients away and drove them away in the bus. And it picked up one of
his girlfriends, and he went fishing without permission.
When he got to the fishing place, he told the captain that he was going
to go fishing. And he paid to go fishing, and the captain said, "If you
want to go fishing, you have to tell me if anyone will let you go
fishing." So he told the captain to call an old abandoned hotel in
Canada, but when the captain was about to tell him that he was already
on his way on the boat, fishing. So when he came back, the police were
there, but he didn't get arrested for taking the boat, but he still
paid.
That night, his two girlfriends came over and bought some wine and they
had a wonderful party and messed up all the things and played tag down
the hall in wheelchairs and sprinkled cough medicine all over people's
heads. And they had a lot of fun, and they told the girls they could
stay there overnight, and the nurse didn't like that.
The next morning, the nurse came and saw all that mess, and she was very
mad. And she saw a patient named Billy sleeping with one of the girls,
because he fell in love with her. And she said that she was going to
tell his mother, and he didn't want that to happen, so he went into a
room by himself and killed himself with a broken glass. And then one of the younger nurses saw him and came screaming out of
that room and told the bigger nurse when it happened. And so everyone
was trying to look and see inside of the room, but the big nurse shoved
them out. But later, after that, when they were sleeping, they cut out
part of McMurphy's brain so he was turned into a vegetable, and he
couldn't talk and he couldn't walk. And the Chief, the big strong guy, came over to his bed with his pillow
and smothered him. He was so strong and big that he picked up the
control panel in the tub room and threw it out the window, and it broke
the glass, and he was free because he didn't like that place at all
because the big nurse treated him and all the other people so bad.
I think only a little bit of people would like this book, because it
doesn't have a happy ending, and the big nurse doesn't treat anybody
good in the book.
Rating:  Summary: This book changed my life. Review: I first read "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in a mental
hospital at age 17. Three days after finishing it, I was
released. Since that time, I have written countless papers
on the book, a biography of the author, and taught the film
in a freshman composition class as a graduate student teaching assistant. I attribute a good deal of my present
sanity to the drastic re-ordering I got from reading that
book. The levels Kesey relates, political, spiritual, (even biblical), and psychological, are astounding.
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