One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is now a new all-time favourite. Harrowing and heart-breaking, brilliantly written and thought-provoking I savoured every delicious word with frequent pauses to process and absorb.

Nurse Ratched runs her ward in the Oregon state mental hospital like a well-oiled machine. She controls the Acutes and the Chronics, the Walkers, Wheelers and Vegetables with an iron-clad fist and a rigid daily routine until Randle Patrick McMurphy rocks up, committed by the state from the Pendleton Farm for Correction on the grounds of insanity orchestrated by the man himself hoping for a cushier number. A self-professed con artist and gambler he immediately ups the ante betting he can deal the cards that will crack Big Nurse’s poker face.

The characterisation is sublime: Mack, the user and hustler, womaniser and disruptor with his red hair and big arms, cap, grin and swagger; manipulative and sadistic Miz Ratched preceded by her bolster bosom and wicker basket with her trepidatious, hand-picked minions bobbing along behind her and half Indian giant Chief Bromden, our befogged, paranoid and seemingly deaf and mute narrator sprang into life, burrowed into my brain and held me in thrall. There’ll always be a special place in my heart for stuttering, man-child Billy Bibbit.

Nurse Ratched has sedation and seclusion, the Disturbed Ward and the Shock Shop, therapeutic adjustment and surgical reconditioning at her fingertips to emasculate, subjugate and humiliate her charges. McMurphy has charisma and joie de vivre, playing the system and playing the fool, provocation and intimidation up his sleeve to sever the puppet master’s strings and transform his colony of timid little rabbits into a pack of teeth baring wolves.

Images from the film only served to enhance my overall reading experience. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. One of a kind! ( )

#362 in our old book database. Not rated.

Life in the worst kind of insane asylum, more metaphorical than I could grasp, probably. ( )

This was a pick for my works book club, and I wasn’t too excited. I watched the movie years ago, and doubted the book would add much to the story. But boy, was I wrong!

“What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it. ”

In an Oregon State mental hospital ward, Nurse Ratched rules over her patients with manipulation, mind-numbing medication, and electroshock therapy. Her carefully curated regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy - the swaggering, fun-loving trickster who resolves to oppose her. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt with the powers that keep them imprisoned.

What is surprising about this book is how much fun it is! Through the character of McMurphy, Kesey portrays a rebellion against Ratched with ever increasing antics. The novel also highlights the institutionalization of individuals who do not fit society's expectations. Chief Bromden as the narrator allows the reader to see the events of the novel through the eyes of someone who is both inside and outside the system. His descriptions of the "fog" and the "combine" are confusing at first but are powerful metaphors for the way the patients are treated so that from the moment of McMurphy's arrival I felt completely on his side. A strange juxtaposition to how I would feel if I were to meet his behaviour in the real world.

McMurphy's efforts to unite the patients and challenge Nurse Ratched's authority lead to a sense of camaraderie and mutual support among the patients, who had previously been isolated and oppressed until ultimately the characters are forced to confront the consequences of their actions and the limitations of their freedom.

While it is worth noting that the novel's was written in the 60s and attitudes towards women and race may be considered outdated by today's standards, I still enjoyed the book immensely.

A devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.

A great portrail of the border of sanity and insanity, the neglect many people are treated with in institutions, and the abuse of authority. ( )