One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)

by Ken Kesey (Author), Joe Sacco (Illustrator), Chuck Palahniuk (Foreword), Robert Faggen (Contributor) "They're out there..." (more)
Key Phrases: shock shop, seclusion room, least black boy, Miss Ratched, Billy Bibbit, Doctor Spivey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“A glittering parable of good and evil.”
—The New York Times Book Review

Product Description
A visually arresting deluxe edition of Ken Kesey’s counterculture classic

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Now in a new deluxe edition with a foreword by Chuck Palahniuk and cover by Joe Sacco, here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy’s heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them all imprisoned.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (November 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143105027
• ISBN-13: 978-0143105022
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,622 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ken Kesey refused to see the film of his book, February 7, 2009

By	David Seaman (Boston) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

On can understand how Ken Kesey would say, "I will not go to see what they did to my book." "They" was a crew led by Milos Forman and the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest", won all of the major Oscars that year: Best Picture, best director, best actress, best actor. Only one other time has a film done that-1992, "Silence of the Lambs" And it is interesting that both of these films differ who tells us the story from his own perspective-on of a very small and unimportant manner from the book in the same way.

"One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" is a book that sustains itself by allowing the reader to be inside the head of one of the characters and it is he, a very large Indian who everyone believes to be mute and deaf, that we learn about life in a mental health institution in the 1950's. The book is a masterpiece, an American Classic. So is the movie. both are remarkable works of art but if you have seen the film you have not read the book. And if you've only read the book, you've not seen the film. The two stories teach different things-or rather approaches different parts of our soul to teach the sam thing. I am not sure which.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read, March 16, 2009

By	Aubrey Mishou "Luxx" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ken Kesey's novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a whirlwind of eccentricity and brilliance. In a plot that is completely character-driven, Kesey skillfully manipulates stock characters to reflect on larger ideas regarding the individual and his place in society (both on the ward, and at large). The evolution of character and self - highlighted by the "reality" of life on their ward - is fascinating; Kesey attempts to prove that insanity is a product of contemporary culture, and that reality is not as fixed as those in power would have the masses believe. I am currently teaching this novel in an introductory-level English class, and it has proved to be through-provoking and inspiring - even to students who otherwise have no interest in reading novels. This is a novel everyone should read at least once.