Customer Reviews

Coles Notes: Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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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

This is a great story. I have seen the movie a few times and just finished reading the book. The story is told from the believed to be deaf and mute Indian, Chief Broom. Being that no one believes he can hear he is privy to all the goings on at a mental institution with the patients and the staff. He tells the story from his perceptions, distorted and warped that they are due to his own mental illness. When the storys main figure, Randall McMurphy decides that he has had enough of a prison work camp he feigns insanity to complete the rest of his term at the institution. When McMurphy meets the 'Big Nurse' of the ward the battle begins betweem him and her, it's a battle between their two minds over who will break the other. Kessey writes as well as some of the great writers of our times in this story. The way Chief Broom tells us the story is awesome.

You cannot get better than this. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, and it makes you see.