Pitching an extraordinary battle between cruel authority and a rebellious free spirit, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel that epitomises the spirit of the sixties.
Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electroshock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy’s heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. The subject of an Oscar-winning film starring Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.
‘A glittering parable of good and evil’
‘A roar of protest against middlebrow society’s Rules and the Rulers who enforce them’.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Continuing my alphabet reading challenge One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest presented another opportunity to add a modern classic to my list. This one is another book, and film, I’d not managed to read or watch until now and neither of them disappointed, despite the differences between the two.

Set in an Oregon State mental institution and narrated by inmate “Chief” Bromden, it follows the clash of two titans: the authoritarian and oppressive Nurse Ratched that rules the ward with an iron fist, and Randall “R.P.” McMurphy, an habitual fighter and delinquent with a penchant for gambling, swindling and making fun for his own gain.

I love the character of McMurphy (who Jack Nicholson played to perfection). His antagonistic ways and drive for fun are infectious, seen in how he manages to drag the other patients into his chaos. I equally love Nurse Ratched and her iron clad need for absolute control. In McMurphy she sees a project, a troubled man she intends to break.

Much like the setting of another favourite book, Misery, I found this one to be claustrophobic, only heightening the sense of unnease and tension. The turf war between the two leads made for a compelling read that has quickly become a new favourite read.

My rating: