One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

by Peter Fish

A guide to reading "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" with a critical and appreciative mind. Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812034333
• ISBN13: 9780812034332
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 121 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.2" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Living is easy with eyes closed; misunderstanding all you se

The book, One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest, written through the point of view of an Native American, named Bromden, who has a sophisticated way of looking at things. He sees right through the facade of the physical and into the hearts of man. The subtleties are not to decieve this simple man, but they do imprison him. He lives in an asylum for rehabilitation into society, yet their life affirming egoes are put down by the "Big Nurse" whom acts as if conforming is to be spiritually dead. To change all of this is R.S. McMurphy, a country wit who has the biggest ego of em all, boasting to win every bet even life. He doesn't plan to stay in this nut house, he is saner than any man could possibly be; he loves to be alive. By being in the asylum, he contradicts all activity that occurs, he laughs and sings, and everyone else, is dead. McMurphy's antics disrupt the Nurses control over the asylum, and they start what can be called a psychological war. The Nurse is declared savior of the asylum, yet through Bromdens insight we clearly see the opposite, as the men in the asylum are destroyed by the pressure placed on their minds. These two dominating charachters create two choices for the men; to stand up for their identities and gamble them in life, or to leave their minds to be molded in the Nurses structure. The antics of both maintain the book full of thrills and anticipation as the showdown between the Nurse and McMurphy comes to hand. The ending will move you. This has the benefits of genius, Ken Kessey writes so that every detail be investigated, and he affirms that with every defeat comes a more intricate victory.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - A Must-Read!

This book may not be uplifting, but is masterfully written because it grabs hold of the reader and does not let go. I could hardly put this book down, and when I did, the only thing I could think about was how much I hated the Big Nurse. She is truly one of the worst villains I have ever encountered in literature. She needed psychological help perhaps more than any of her mental patients. The symbolism and imagery used throughout the book was wonderful and I thought about this book long after I finished it. The ending was bittersweet, yet satisfying. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.

the greatest book of all time

The Chief sees. He sees the combine and he sees the truth. He sees R P McMurphy enter the sterilised world of the ward and he sees him wage total war on The Big Nurse. The story he tells is at once tragic, hilarious and life affirming. Ken Kesey is a visionary and a radical who saw through the facades and lies and produced a book that no free thinking individual can do without. This is a literary classic and I urge you to read it. It will change your life.

I love this book. It's much better than the movie.

I'm an ninth grade student and this is the best and one of the only novels that I have read. I like how the Chier narrorates the book, unlike the movie. Movie=2 stars Book=5. -Nikko Ganacias Federal Way Wa. NDG18@aol.com

Look at the world inside-out!

What is the world you see when you read this book? It may not be real, but that doesn't make it any less true. Here is a place where feelings become sensations and overpower the "real world". On the face of it, the action takes place in a lunatic asylum. It could just as well be our world. It's populated by a lot of characters that feel more sane than the keepers of the place. The maker of all the rules - the Big Nurse - is the scariest of all, in her confidence that this is entirely her world, run as she likes. Enter Randall Patrick Macmurphy. Rules? What rules? They don't exist as far as he's concerned. This world is just another to be moulded to his liking. Within a minute of his entry, he's run up against the Nurse. Every inmate sees something new about life- it's possible not to follow someone else's rules and live to tell the tale. The Nurse's world cracks up, bit by bit. R.P.Mcmurphy too realizes the extent to which it's possible to fall into the games life creates. This is one character you'll remember forever - and the lesson he preaches. All the inmates - you included - learn that the game is a game only as long as you know you're playing it. Get caught up and you're just a token on the board. Ken Kesey talks through Chief Bromden - an indian who plays at being deaf and dumb in an effort to run from the game. Grammar is an easy prey to the Chief's onrushing thoughts as he struggles to keep up with the speed of events around him. The prose sparkles with electricity as he "sees" his feelings and expresses them as events. Hostility in the air becomes a chill, and the sensation of death is falling into a furnace. This is a book that reads like walking through a "hall of crazy mirrors". You look back on yourself and don't know whether to laugh or cry.