Rating: 
Summary: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Review: this was a brilliant book. once again, ken kesey establishes wit, courage, and remarkable tactics in his words. well done.
Rating:
Summary: Fear,hope and rebellion
Review: One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is a novel about rebellion over power and control. Set in a mental hospital, the novel is told thru the eyes of a Native American named Chief Bromden. One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest is a story about how fear can make you do what others tell you to do and how hope can change things around for you. Two of the central characters of the novel represent these emotions, namely, Nurse Ratched, fear; and McMurphy, hope. By following the interactions of these two personalities, the reader sees how their behavior can change the lives of others. All patients in the psychiatric ward are classified as being Acute, able to be cured, or Chronic, those who behavior leads to electroshock therapy or lobotomies. The staff in the mental hospital is mean and cruel and is led by the Big Nurse, Nurse Ratched. But things change when a new patient, Randle Patrick Mc Murphy arrives. Mc Murphy is different than the other patients as he constantly refuses to do what he is told. He openly dislikes Nurse Ratched and eventually convinces the other men to do the same. This is easily seen when Nurse Ratched turns off the power to the television and Mc Murphy has the patients sit with him and watch the blank screen. When McMurphy learns that Nurse Ratched decides when he can leave the hospital, he begins to follow the rules better. However, the suicide of another patient puts McMurphy back on the rebellious track and he smashes a glass window to get at cigarettes. McMurphy takes some of the patients on a fishing trip despite Nurse Ratched's warnings of danger. Ratched becomes furious at McMurphy for defying her power and tries to get the patients suspicious of him. This works for a while but then McMurphy and the Chief get in a fight with hospital aides who are mistreating another patient. McMurphy and the Chief both receive electric shock treatments for this action and are now seen as heroes by the other patients. Some of the Acutes now feel strong and are ready to leave the hospital but they see that McMurphy is becoming weak and plan his escape. But McMurphy is unwilling to leave since he promised a friend, Billy Babbitt, a chance to have sex with a prostitute. When Nurse Ratched finds Billy in bed with the prostitute, Billy kills himself out of fear of punishment. McMurphy becomes furious and tries to strangle Nurse Ratched. He is sent to be lobotomized and when he returns, the Chief suffocates him. The Chief then escapes from the hospital. Chief's escape from the mental hospital is a victory for McMurphy. Even though he has died, McMurphy has made Chief free and able to resist authority.
Although confusing at times, One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest, is a good story to read. The reader can learn many lessons. Following authority without thinking can be bad to any individual as it leaves one with little individualism. Also, rebellion can be a good thing if it maintains your freedom and your rights.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Difference
Review: I guess that I did ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST in reverse. I saw the movie about four years ago, and then I saw the play last year. I have just now gotten around to reading the novel. For those of you who saw and enjoyed the movie version with Jack Nicholson, I would recommend reading this book. The book tells the story of his committal and experiences in the insane asylum from a completely different perspective -- that of Chief Bromden, the deaf-mute Indian. Having the story told not from the point of view of the main character, but from that of a person committed by the state for the same mental instability that R.P. McMurphy is faking, puts the entire story into a new, and very interesting, perspective. Even though I had already experienced this story more than once, I was still captivated through the entire book. Even though I knew before I opened the book how it was going to end, I was on the end of my seat until the very last sentence. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read. However, this book is not intended to be flipped through at the dentist's office. Although the reading itself is not at all difficult, the content must be read together and savored.
Rating:
Summary: 'Cuz His Soul Was Psychedelicized
Review: When I read this book in high school, I knew it would be "important" in my life. I couldn't quite put my finger on what made it so compelling. Twenty years down the line, I understand completely what I liked so much. Kesey wrote this book after having participated as a guinea pig in Veterans Administration studies of psychedelic [chemical substances]. He also worked in a mental hospital and even underwent electric shock treatment, just to see what it was like. As I see it, McMurphy and Bromden are alter egos, both aspects of Kesey. The charming, redheaded, muscleman is quite transparently Kesey. He is an old-fashioned Everyman. In the regimented, industrial world such a man is both a legend and a throwback. There is no way for him to regain his former dominance, though, by his strength or his machismo. He has to go inward and find something else. A key passage is the one in which Bromden notes his surprise at McMurphy's "feminine side." The side that paints pictures and writes letters. The part that is other than the mythical Everyman, and that must be awakened fully if a man is to escape the Combine. Bromden, with his hallucinations and fog, is the new Ubermensch, call him Psychedelic Man. His visions are not truly out of touch with reality. They are always symbolic of the spiritual and psychological realities that the earthy Mr. McMurphy can't put his finger on. Once Bromden finds his voice, his escape is inevitable, and so is the [end of life], literal and/or symbolic, of McMurphy. What I found jarring, and what I think dates the book, is the reliance on certain ...types as metaphor -- "the frigid woman" (Ratched), the wise, inscrutable Indian (Bromden, whose mother is a white "Ice Queen" who emasculates his father), and the black boys carry much of the message via established ...types. Overall, the book is a rich modern version of the ancient myth of awakening.
Rating:
Summary: A great example of an American Classic!
Review: Ken Kesey depicts lives of two very unusual characters who are both living in a state of denial. Although the novel's point of view is by a character named Chief Bromden, whose life is cloaked with mystery and pretends that he's both mute and dumb, making him less and less noticeable. Then we are introduced to a redhead menace who, like Chief Bromden, fakes his madness to avoid paying dues through work. Although he's open with the fact that he fakes his sanity, while the other patients dare not bother questioning his sanity. Not because McMurphy treats the other patients but the fact that they think that McMurphy is their savior, the one that will pull them out of the 'fog'. Through series of events Bromden and McMurphy's interaction grew and became friends when McMurphy's conflict with the evil foe, Nurse Ratched. Their conflict grew to the point where McMurphy rebelled and planned to escape from the institution with Bromden, but rebellion can only go so far and consequences were right behind McMurphy. The author's persuasive voice causes the readers to feel what the narrator's, Chief Bromden, feeling, seeing, and his knowledge about a man who sought freedom from a capitalized world that they lived in. This particular author makes the readers have ease with the pace of the novel without any hesitations. I personally recommend this novel to anyone who adores novels that makes them feel as though they are having a conversation with the narrator (i.e. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and The Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers). One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest, is an amazing, compelling novel that makes it worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Life through the eyes of a man inside it all
Review: Chris Arnold
English
Daniel Smith
Book Review
4.3.03 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The novel that I read was "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". This novel is about a man named Randall McMurphy or Mac as some of the patients called him is sent to a psychiatric ward instead of prison for a crime that he was tried for and the outcome was spending time in the hospital. McMurphy figured out that if he acted crazy, he would not have to go to jail and spend time working and he could lounge around and do nothing in a hospital. Here at the institute, he sees that there are quite a few people whom he will have fun by giving them a hard time. McMurphy's main advisary was a woman by the name of Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched was a large lady and Randall knew that it would be a task to annoy her but that he was willing to accept. Just within a couple of minutes of entering the hospital, McMurphy notices this one large gentleman whom appears to be Native American. His name is chief and he is supposed to be "deaf and dumb" yet in reality does not want to converse with anyone. Chief's first impressions of McMurphy are not good, however further on the fantastic voyage, they will have become best of friends. McMurphy eventually changes or at least has a large impact on many of the patients in the hospital and then everyone notices what his purpose that he felt like serving there really was.
I would recommend this novel to those readers who enjoy a story about a supposed nut-case whom fools everyone and while noticing that the way people are treated in the hospital is unfair and unjust, then he would attempt to change it. Also if readers are looking for someone to show caring, sympathy, and special bonds being friendships to emerge from this experience, then I would really recommend this novel to anyone. You can really see how the detailed description of different characters view on events, or items that either go on or are in the hospital appear to be. Different patients, different illnesses, different perspectives, and different emotions turn Ken Kesey's novel into a masterpiece. Kesey was able to create two characters that would have the biggest impact on the audience, as well as the novel itself. Those two were McMurphy and Chief; the friendship that once was dislike and then slowly evolved into something passionate and heart warming would melt those whose hearts buckle for two people who care about someone with everything they have. Chief helped McMurphy to escape when he wanted and although he had a chance, he would not allow chief to be taken and abused, so he decided to stay back and endure the agonizing struggle to survive under Nurse Ratched's power.
Rating:
Summary: "a good title for a book review..."
Review: Truly a literary magnum opus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kessey, is a book one will never forget. The daring novel brings a many subjects and criticisms into light on the world stage. It discusses subjects ranging from the wounds society has inflicted on traditional masculinity, to the treatment and role of women in our twisted civilization. The novel confronts these controversial topics subtly through the footprints of the story, using the setting and characters as a representation backdrop. The mental institution, a micro universe mirroring the crazy world we inhabit today. The story is told through the eyes of "Chief," a Native American who willingly enrolls himself into the hospital posing as a deaf-mute. As the story evolves, the chief evolves as a human being, taking the reader along for the ride. And I suggest this ride for anyone with an open mind. This isn't the average novel; therefore I don't recommend it to the average reader. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a psychological masterpiece that pulls you in, takes you through the "Shock Shop," locks you in solitary, and throws you right back out. This novel will change the way any reader looks and thinks about life.
Rating: 
Summary: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Review: In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Chief Bromden main character and has been a patient in the Oregon psychiatric hospital for ten years. He suffers from paranoia, hallucinations and delusions. Bromden spends his life and hospital time in fear of an imaginary force called the combine. The combine is force that attempts to control society and pushes people into fall into conformity. The reason that he makes such a good narrator is that he pretends to be deaf and dumb and sits and listens and is able to hear things that are not supposed to heard. The hospital patients are separated into two groups the Acute's, who can be cured, and Chronics, who cannot be cured, they are all male. The hospital is controlled by Nurse Ratched, an extremely strict woman. She encourages people to stay sick by creating traps that the patients fall in to thus causing patients to stay sicker longer. There are treatments for patients that do not follow the rules, they are sent in to receive electroshock treatments and lobotomy, even though these treatments are no longer favored by the medical community the hospital still uses them, because Nurse Ratched uses them to stay in control, she uses them to create fear in her ward. Randle McMurphy arrives from the Pendleton Work Farm he seems to be "normal" he is calm and cool and introduces himself as a man who loves women, cards and drugs. Although it does not seem like McMurphy and Bromden would have anything in common but it turns out that Bromden lets McMurphy in on the fact that he is neither deaf nor dumb and when McMurphy was a child he did the same thing. Although other patients tell McMurphy that there is no defying Nurse Ratched he attempts to deceive her and question her power. Other patients follow his lead and begin to work with McMurphy with things such as refusing to clean. McMurphy eventually learns that involuntarily committed patients are stuck in the hospital until the staff decides they are cured. When McMurphy realizes that he is at Nurse Ratched's mercy, he starts to follow the rules. He sees the power of the electroshock treatments 1st hand and becomes genuinely frightened of the hospital staff. McMurphy arranges a fishing trip for himself and ten other patients, he shows the patients that the outside world is not as scary as it seems and he shows them how to be "men" by teaching them to catch big fish on their own. McMurphy and Bromden get into a fistfight with the hospital aides when they are attempting to defend George Sorenson. After this incident they are both sent in for electroshock therapy. The patients try to get McMurphy to escape, but he has arranged a date for Billy with a prostitute named Candy, and he refuses to let Billy down. McMurphy bribes Mr. Turkle, the night aide, to sneak Candy into the hospital and they have a party on the ward. Billy has sex with Candy while McMurphy and the other patients smoke marijuana and drink. The aides discover the mess the next morning and suddenly the hospital is crazy, when Nurse Ratched finds Billy with Candy, she threatens to tell Billy's mother. Billy freaks out.... McMurphy tries to strangle Nurse Ratched and for revenge she has him lobotomized, and he returns to the ward incompetent. After this they no longer find Nurse Ratched powerful and the patients transfer to other wards or check themselves out of the hospital.....
Rating:
Summary: My Review
Review: One flew over the Cuckoos Nest is a story of the life of Chief Bromden, a Native American patient of an insane asylum. He tells the story of his experience through the eyes of an individual that hides his identity by living a little white lie; pretending to be deaf. The characters treat him naively, being ignorant to the fact that his act of playing dumb is only an escape for him. Not till the day that Mc Murphy checks into the ward and causes a disturbance resulting in the individual characters revealing themselves to the rest of the ward does Chief Bromden learn more about himself, his past, and his potentials. Mc Murphy challenges the boundaries of everyone's personalities and engages with their extremes. The individuals that were once hiding behind their rejection from society now learn who they are and how to achieve their prospective. They make themselves heard, and learn to experience. They learn to engage and interact with another and their surroundings. Mc Murphy, the leader of the pack and cause of disturbance to the ward, takes advantage of his role. His entering upon the asylum is based on attempt to escape from the outside world, and therefore claims to be in need of help as an excuse for his lack in character. He is portrayed as the Hero; he has no inclination of leaving before his job is done and before all limits are tested. Not before it's too late does he realize what his intentions in life really are, but his chance freedom has already passed.
Rating:
Summary: You have to be crazy not to read this!
Review: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a look at the characters in an insane asylum in Oregon. A man named McMurphy comes onto the ward, faking being insane to get out of jail. The books is basically his interactions with the patients and how he rebels against the Big Nurse. It is incredibly detailed and is really a great book to read. In addition to reading this, I also recommend that you watch the movie starring Jack Nicholson. It is good to see two different perspectives on the story.
|
