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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Author: Ken Kesey
You've never met anyone like Randle Patrick McMurphy...the hero of Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" — He's a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the ward of a mental hospital and takes over... — He's a lusty, profane, life-loving fighter who rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of ...  more »
ISBN: 188659
Publication Date: 1962
Pages: 272
Rating:
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0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Signet
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 48 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
An epic struggle of good against evil, human against machine, willpower against absolute power, pits the archetypal American hero - cowboy, fighter, hustler, gambler - against the cold efficient machinery of power. In the end, you get to decide who won.

One of the greatest American novels.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, this is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, life-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 awesome power of The Combine.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 32 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Life in an asylum through the eyes of a patient paints an interesting picture. When the monotony of the ward's daily life is interrupted by a boisterous new patient, McMurphy, the authoritative Big Nurse knows that her way of running the hospital is threatened. In the all-out psychological battle that ensues, the other patients (our narrator included) are changed forever.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
My favorite book!
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 11 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In the early 1960s, fresh out of Stanford's creative writing program, Ken Kesey supported himself by working as an attendant at a psychiatric hospital. It was there that he wrote what became his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which Viking released on February 1, 1962. This hardcover edition, which includes new introductions and more than twenty-five line drawings that Kesey made while composing the novel, commemorates the fortieth anniversary of the publication of this American classic." Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, this 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 awesome power of the Combine. Hailed upon its publication as "a glittering parable of good and evil" (The New York Times Book Review) and "a roar of protest against middlebrow society's Rules and the invisible Rulers who enforce them" (Time), this powerful book is as bracing and insightful today as it was in the 1960s.
Read All 40 Book Reviews of "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest"

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reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 22 more book reviews
An amazing novel, story of a rebel who cannot be contained. Very easy to read. over 7,000,000 copies in print.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 8 more book reviews
I am also posting cliff notes for this book. Will ship together.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 9 more book reviews
A classic.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 4 more book reviews
An interestin first person account of a mental patients experience. As always, the book was better than the movie, and the movie was great.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 4 more book reviews
This book is very well written. I loved it.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 16 more book reviews
ndal McMurphy in the mental hospital. You know what it's about. A great read, classic. Funny, sad and mischevious.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on
boo! it sux.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 22 more book reviews
I had heard of this classic title, but had never read it before and I was not dissapointed. A good story, well read, with an interesting interview with Ken Keasey at the end. Well worth the time!
booksalicious avatar reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 43 more book reviews
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a novel following the life of a prisoner McMurphy who got himself moved from a working prison to a mental hospital in the 1960's. It follows the up's and downs of his journey and growing relationships with other patients in the mental ward run by the ultimate villain Nurse Ratchet or 'The Big Nurse' who enjoys using her power in her role as caregiver to employ other sadistic caregivers and to inflict pain and mental, and physical anguish on the patients who are left in her care. I decided to read this book because I have loved the movie since my early teens, and although the characters were colorful, and the plot was one that you did not want to put down, I did find the writing style confusing and somewhat monotonous throughout the second half and towards the end of the book. I do think however if you are interested into a look into what psychological treatment might have been like for patients during this point in history (1960's) this might be a good reference to read, or I'd recommend the movie. As far as the novel itself its not one of my favorites but it was alright. For me as someone with multiple psychology degrees hearing how the author chose to have the patients describe themselves, and their disorders was very interesting, and hearing how their main caregiver used therapy to manipulate them for her own means to really in a way torture then psychologically was disturbing to me and just makes me want to help people in a positive way even more.
wyattandtwins avatar reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on
So glad I finally went ahead and read this book. It really made me think and actually question myself concerning certain preconceptions. Classic.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on
Unfortunately the copy I received through Paper Back Swap was so soiled and tattered I had to throw it away without reading it. All the other publications I have received through membership have been in great condition.
beccalaa avatar reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 11 more book reviews
Oh, what can I say about this book? I am so glad that I finally read this after all these years. Those that only saw the movie are missing out if they think that is all there is to this story. Told from the viewpoint of "Big Chief", this book incites internal riot, satisfaction, melancholy, anger, laughter, disbelief, understanding and finally, peace. I loved it, will never forget it and am so happy that I finally read it.
Alpine Ray  avatar reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 16 more book reviews
Awesome story. Man's desire to be free comes in many forms, and you find them all in the nuthouse our characters occupy. Many are overcome, but the ones that break free leave the reader with positive emotions of achieving beyond the odds.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 6 more book reviews
Funny, a good, thoughtful read.
Patouie avatar reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 132 more book reviews
I've been on a gradual mission to reread books I remember from high school. Some don't really hold up at all, but others, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, shine even brighter. A great book that speaks to many parts of my day-to-day life.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 10 more book reviews
Kesey paints a moving portrait of the realities of mental health care in the 60's, filtered through the eyes of a counter-cultural hero. It is well written without being overwritten or too preachy.
reviewed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on + 36 more book reviews
I LOVED this book. Incredible, dreamy, intense first book by Ken Kesey. It's the book that was made into the movie that made Jack Nicholson famous! Fantastic! The characters are given thorough personalities and you are fully involved with each one. Very moving and memorable.


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