One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: A Novel

by Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey's bracing, inslightful novel about the meaning of madness and the value of self-reliance, and the inspiration for the new Netflix original series Ratched

A mordant, wickedly subversive parable set in a mental ward, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest chronicles the head-on collision between its hell-raising, life-affirming hero Randle Patrick McMurphy and the totalitarian rule of Big Nurse. McMurphy swaggers into the mental ward like a blast of fresh air and turns the place upside down, starting a gambling operation, smuggling in wine and women, and egging on the other patients to join him in open rebellion. But McMurphy's revolution against Big Nurse and everything she stands for quickly turns from sport to a fierce power struggle with shattering results.

With One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey created a work without precedent in American literature, a novel at once comic and tragic that probes the nature of madness and sanity, authority and vitality. Greeted by unanimous acclaim when it was first published, the book has become and enduring favorite of readers.

• ISBN10: 0140043128
• ISBN13: 9780140043129
• Publish Date: 25 August 1977 (first published 1 January 1962)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 29 January 2010
• Publish Country: IN
• Publisher: Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd
• Imprint: Puffin Books, India
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780140043129

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Tragic, funny, sad, endearing. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a great book. The story is set in a mental hospital, and after having seen the movie, I was surprised that it was written from Chief's point of view. This large Native American man who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia has convinced the doctors in the hospital that he is deaf and mute. One day, McMurphy, a loud, smoking, laughing, brawny man is admitted to the ward, and he engages into a power struggle with the dominating Nurse Ratched.

The story is written amazingly well - the perfect combination of hallucinatory commentary and subtle characterisation. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest deserves to be a classic because of its writing alone, but it also offers and interesting view on individualism in a time of collectivism. While I don't necessarily agree with all the points made in this novel, it's fascinating reading.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

A classic tale into the human mind; I was quite fond on the movie but the book was way different and much more interesting. A dark and at times humorous look into a Psychiatric hospital and the institution processes used in this asylum. This was a story of the fine balance between treatment and processes; there is a balance between healing the mind and just controlling the patients.

I was very interested in the way these patients lived and how their healing process was disrupted at times by the doctors and nurses. I’m not an expert with mental health but I think I gained an insight into just how fragile the human mind can be. This book was really enjoyable and would recommend it to anyone interested in psychology.

It takes a lot for me to be unsettled. This book left me feeling ill. I finished it but I was seriously debating giving up. It was unbelievably sad and horrific in its content and even now I still feel utterly devastated. It could be that that's not a good reason to judge a book "worst book ever" but as far as I'm concerned reading should be enjoyable whether that's pure "light reading" or because the book educates and challenges you. This book just made me sick.