Ken Kesey
1962
Around 320 pages
Around 320 pages
Our tour of misogyny continues with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I was ambivalent about the movie. It's not really my thing, but I have sexually confused feelings about young Jack Nicholson, so it was fine. But the book is even uglier than the movie, and I have no desire to revisit this story ever again.
The novel is narrated by "Chief" Bromden, a giant Native American patient of a mental hospital, who pretends to be deaf and mute so everybody will leave him alone. Randle McMurphy is a rebellious criminal who faked insanity so he didn't have to serve his sentence at a work farm. Randle is constantly waging war on Nurse Ratched who is hellbent on controlling the ward.
Nurse Ratched could be a really good villain, but I feel like the patients' perception of her is so rooted in misogyny, that it's hard for me to enjoy rooting against her character. I also found the story rather predictable, which is probably because so many other novels that take place in mental hospitals have borrowed from this plot.
I guess this is a classic, but honestly it's skippable.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Time magazine included the novel in its "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005" list.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of America's most challenged and banned novels.
UP NEXT: The Collector by John Fowles
1 comment:
I stand for the banned, but I personally don't want to read this. The movie was upsetting enough.
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