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Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
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Sometimes a Great Notion

by Ken Kesey

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1,172173,272 (4.21)74
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Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)
The one major downfall of the book is that it is long, longer than it needs to be.

That being said, the author does a wonderful job of establishing the characters and the setting. You'll really care about all the folks before the end of the book. Well, at least the likeable folks, and most are. He uses a couple of different narrative techniques to present different perspectives of the same event that might be off-putting to some folks, but I rather liked them.

If you're a fast reader of modern literature, I'd say go ahead and read this book. Don't expect it to have a similar feel to One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest thought. ( )
  JonathanGorman | Dec 19, 2009 |
Oh, that hand twisting in the wind on the Columbia River, or wherever. It was so long ago, and it painted quite the image.
  grheault | Jun 10, 2009 |
This falls under the category of 'Please, please read this.' To be honest I almost gave up on it twice within the first one hundred and fifty pages because of Kesey's shifting point-of-view, and because of what seemed like extraneous details and story filler. Giving up would have been mistake. The story--of a life-long rift between two brothers in a logging town in Oregon--twists and turns and is amazingly written. I was surprised by the ending but it was better than if it had ended how I wanted it to. It takes patience to get through all of the six hundred tweny-odd pages but it was well, well worth the time spent.
  thatpersonlkdjinvope | Mar 26, 2009 |
This might just be the perfect novel: epic and sprawling in scope yet meticulously constructed; completely absorbing and able to sustain a pretty incredible tension. The midcentury cold war doomsday bit that Lee suddenly takes on for about five minutes near the end of the book struck me as a bit random and was about the only part of the book that really felt "dated" in a limiting way. Even all of the incestuous homoeroticism - brothers watching each other through peep holes until fin...more This might just be the perfect novel: epic and sprawling in scope yet meticulously constructed; completely absorbing and able to sustain a pretty incredible tension. The midcentury cold war doomsday bit that Lee suddenly takes on for about five minutes near the end of the book struck me as a bit random and was about the only part of the book that really felt "dated" in a limiting way. Even all of the incestuous homoeroticism - brothers watching each other through peep holes until finally they exorcise the woman so that they can be together with their logs? Come ON Kesey - manages to escape being ridiculous (although a queer reading of this book would be rich and hilarious.) There's only about four books in the world I can imagine starting over again directly after you finish them, and this is one of them. Totally fantastic. ( )
1 vote nlerud | Mar 6, 2009 |
I read this almost 30 years ago and was bowled over. Found it to be compelling, layered and relevant. One of those books that I'd like to re-read and see if it was the book or the time in my life. ( )
1 vote sproutchild | Sep 5, 2008 |
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Never give a inch!
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Sometimes a Great Notion

Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0140045295, Paperback)

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Following the astonishing success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey wrote what Charles Bowden calls “one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century.” This wild-spirited tale tells of a bitter strike that rages through a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers. Out of the Stamper family’s rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:23 -0400)

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