You've never met anyone like Randle Patrick McMurphy, the hero of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
He's a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the ward of a mental hospital and takes over...
He's a lusty, profane, life-loving fighter who rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Big Nurse. He promotes gambling in the ward, smuggles in wine and women. At every turn, he openly defies her rule.
The contest starts as sport (with McMurphy taking bets on the outcome) but soon it develops into a grim struggle for the minds and hearts of the men, into an all-out war between two relentless opponents: Big Nurse, backed by the full power of authority ... McMurphy, who has only his own indomitable will.
--back cover
I get why there was a fuss and it became a classic, and it is well enough written that I finished it. I just didn’t find it that great a book, and although interesting it wasn’t really for me. Literarily valuable perhaps and worthy of consideration as a thing of its time and for a view of how people are, yes, but nothing to rave about - rather like Catcher in the Rye.
This book was quite an amazing read. I loved following the adventures of McMurphy as he bucked against the system and tried to help those around him. Seeing through the eyes of Bromden with his psychedelic descriptions were like watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon and really made this story enjoyable.
Ken Kesey wrote an absolutely perfect story, the plot grips you asking what McMurphy will dare next, written from a perspective that happily contextualizes and compares the exploits of McMurphy, until the very end. This is a must read book for anyone interested psychiatry and a tribute to Ken Kesey's literary power.
