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Sometimes a Great Notion Paperback – July 28, 1977

by Ken Kesey (Author)

265 customer reviews

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The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sailor Song is a wild-spirited and hugely powerful tale of an Oregon logging clan.

A bitter strike is raging in a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers: Henry, the fiercely vital and overpowering patriarch; Hank, the son who has spent his life trying to live up to his father; and Viv, who fell in love with Hank's exuberant machismo but now finds it wearing thin. And then there is Leland, Henry's bookish younger son, who returns to his family on a mission of vengeance - and finds himself fulfilling it in ways he never imagined. Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals, Ken Kesey crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"As in Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey brings to life people you will never forget . . . Getting into this book is getting into a fascinating, crazy world of a fascinating, crazy family which has a throbbing reality and a desperate dedication to living . . . and then there is that great gift for comedy, for purely sensational writing. When Kesey describes the Canada honkers flying over the woods you can almost see them; when he describes the smells of the grass and the tastes of the strawberries you feel and you smell and you taste."
--Ralph J. Gleason, San Francisco Chronicle

"Sometimes a Great Notion, a big book in every way, captures the tenor of the post-Korea America as nothing I can remember reading . . . Beyond the PTA and the beer commercials, beyond the huge effluvium of the times, exist people who live by the ancient passions, and Mr. Kesey in the fullness of his material discovers them for us."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A tremendous achievement . . . Set against the damp and brutal background of an Oregon logging community, the book by turns gasps, pants, whoops, and shrieks . . . you cannot help but admire Kesey's vigor, his profligate command of the language. And you have to stand back in awe of the man's ability to create character."
--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

About the Author

Ken Kesey was born in 1935 and grew up in Oregon. He graduated from the University of Oregon and later studied at Stanford with Wallace Stegner, Malcolm Cowley, Richard Scowcroft, and Frank O' Connor. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, his first novel, was published in 1962. His second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion, followed in 1964. His other books include Kesey's Garage Sale, Demon Box, Caverns (with O. U. Levon), The Further Inquiry, Sailor Song, and Last Go Round (with Ken Babbs). His two children's books are Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear and The Sea Lion. Ken Kesey died on November 10, 2001.

Product details

Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books (July 28, 1977)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0140045295
ISBN-13: 978-0140045291
Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 265 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #323 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Classics
- #851 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary
- #1422 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Life

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A Western story written by an ex hippy

August 30, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

An amazing book. The author has created a world of realistic characters in a small logging town in Oregon, each one telling a part of the story in his/her own voice and from a deep personal perspective, sometimes more voices cross one another, the result is surprising, it is like being there among fir trees, sweat shirts, axes, logs and rain, lumberjacks and union men. It is a Western story written by an ex hippy who analyses the mind of each character, in a style so captivating you can't wait to read the next chapter. I recommend the same title movie with Henry Fonda and Paul Newman, you'll get an idea of Kesey's masterpiece and its incredible appeal.

9 people found this helpful

Comment

If you live in Coastal Oregon this is a big must read.

July 15, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you live in Coastal Oregon this is a big must read. Especially the south coast. I've been reading it quite slowly. It took me a moment to figure out the quick changes in narrators. It's pretty tricky but quite entertaining -- like being in multiple places at once. And you just know he was smokin' something when he wrote. He writes with the experience of a logger, a well-trained writer, and a pot smoker. This is great writing. He went to Stanford and studied under the best -- Wallace Stegner and others.

5 people found this helpful

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One of the Great Works of a Generation

April 10, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

"Sometimes a Great Notion" is a treasure. This review is in reaction to re-reading this incredible novel by one of America's cultural icons after initially reading it when it was released.

First of all, I recently read "It's All a Kind of Magic: The Young Ken Kesey" by Rich Dodgson. Very interesting treatise and glimpse into what Kesey was up to when he wrote "Sometimes a Great Notion" and prior to the bus and the electric kool-aid acid tests. "It's All a Kind of Magic" ends with someone saying (or words to this effect): "Hey, let's get a bus!" After checking out Dodgson's work, I decided to read "Sometimes a Great Notion" again. It had been close to fifty years since I had read "Notion."

Florid, beautiful prose, with as rich a treatment of the language as I have ever been exposed to. Absolutely incredible work. But also a book that is not a quick read by any means. I spent a lot of time pondering the language, re-reading passages as I delighted in the richness of the language, getting acquainted with the characters, and additionally, Kesey changed the first person narrative constantly. At first this was confusing, but then when you get into the flow, it becomes easier. However, I spent more time reading this book then I have with any other work -- outside of textbooks, of course.

All things considered, this is one of the greatest works of my generation.

3 people found this helpful

Comment

Kesey.... What can i say.... if you don't know him then read it and you will

January 31, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Insane..... not sure if Kesey was a right wing nutcase or a communist liberal?.... But his books are worth reading. He has a different outlook than most any other author I have ever read. Warning..... His characters have grit and are a little too realistic as we all know people like them, but rarely ever do we see them on paper unless Kesey is writing about them..... I'm in Oregon and logging is dead, it died in the 80's with the spotted owl, but this story is completely real describing the logic and culture of that age and employment. Kesey tells a story well, and this one is worth reading.

2 people found this helpful

Comment

Kindle Customer

Narratives change making interesting and enlightening

January 28, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I liked all the diverse characters with so much opportunities for insight given through first person narratives. This was also a little difficult, especially if you are a reader who can only read a little at a time. It was a little hard to keep up with because it can be a little confusing when several narratives change within one page. But, it was rich in the ease with which scenes changed and one could imagine each one as if there. Great writer! I appreciated the depth of portraying small, rural town relationships in all their glory and stubbornness.

One person found this helpful

Comment

Joe Perrone Jr, author of the Matt Davis Mystery Series

An amazing page turner...

October 2, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I saw the movie based upon this novel many years ago (unfortunately it never enjoyed the box-office success of the other Kesey work, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and the imagery stayed with me always. When I got my Kindle several years ago, Sometimes a Great Notion was one of my first purchases. Ken Kesey is an icon to me; he writes the way we all should, from the gut. It is no coincidence that two of his works have ended up as major motion pictures. His characters are three-dimensional individuals, replete with warts and quirks that make them seem as though we've known them all our lives - and we have, too! They are our relatives, our friends, our neighbors. They are real! The Stampers could be any hard-working, hard-drinking family from anywhere in the heart of America. They just happen to be loggers from the coast of the Pacific northwest - and damn good ones, too. Their steadfast resistance to the ongoing union strike is a strong metaphor for the way they lead their lives - in an uncompromising fashion. Doubtless, I will read this book again sometime, because that's the kind of book it is; it is timeless. With all the shallow drivel masquerading as literature that fills the shelves of bookstores these days, it is refreshing to find work of this caliber that we can still sink our teeth into after all these years. This is what a great book should be!

4 people found this helpful

Comment

Amazon Customer

Highly recommended.

November 22, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Epic novel dealing with a number of major themes within the context of a family drama. It's unique, challenging and powerful with expansive prose and rapidly shifting narrative perspective with several characters often narrating in north first and third person at times in the same paragraph. The beginning is a little slow but if you push through literary gold or more accurately timber rewards the intrepid reader. Highly recommended.

3 people found this helpful

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