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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)

Laura’s Rating: 3.5/5 Stars


At the time this book was written, big changes were happening in the mental health space, with an eventual move away from institutionalization of many patients. Written by Ken Kesey, the book was made into an award winning film of the same name in 1975. Be sure to check out my 5 star review of the movie here.


The Analysis:


The book is told from the perspective of psychiatric patient Chief Bromden (interesting because the reader knows that he is not necessarily a reliable narrator). The Chief details the events in a ward of an Oregon psych hospital after the arrival of an especially colorful patient named John McMurphy. McMurphy makes it his mission to disrupt the status quo on the floor and push the buttons of the cold and strict Nurse Ratched, while encouraging the other patients to stand up for themselves.


After a few days on the ward, McMurphy comments, “I haven’t heard a real laugh since I came through that door, do you know that? Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.” McMurphy then goes on to relentlessly pursue humor and joy in a place virtually devoid of such frivolous emotions before his arrival. He challenges the power dynamics between the staff and the patients, forcing change upon the ward. I enjoyed that this book examined not only the clinical psychiatric diagnoses of the patients and the methods used to treat them, but also how simply being institutionalized affects them.


Despite some quality takeaways and plenty of thought provoking quotes, I wasn’t totally engrossed in this story the way I had hoped to be.This is one of the rare cases where I enjoyed the movie better than the book. I do think that watching the film before reading the book skewed my perspective a bit, but I liked the changes made in the film. It remains fairly close to the book, while streamlining the story and focusing on the main takeaways. Still, the book is worth the read and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest offers a unique perspective on mental health and institutionalization of psychiatric patients.



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