One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)
If you have seen and enjoyed the 1975 Jack Nicholson film based on the book and you want to take the experience to a whole new level, read the Ken Kesey book.
Where the film was romp led by Jack’s trademark grin, the book is told from the point of view of the traumatised and apparently deaf and dumb half-caste Red Indian (to use the language of the time) Chief Bromden.
Before writing the book the author spent time as an orderly in a mental hospital and had volunteered to take various drugs including LSD (Acid) in a controlled experiment, and he uses these experiences to give Chief Bromden’s paranoia about the ‘Combine’ (who he believes is trying to control his mind) a surreal reality.
This makes the book sound depressing, but it’s still a romp – only tempered by seeing everything through the Chief’s insanity which emphasises the battle between control and freedom.
Some online reviewers have criticised the book for being misogynistic but I think that this is the old problem of trying to impress current moral standards on previous generations of authors. It’s like criticising Dickens for his portrayal of the Jewish character Fagin – pointless. Another thing comes to mind – just because McMurphy attacks and humiliates Nurse Ratched, it doesn’t mean that Ken Kesey was a woman-hater; any more than Thomas Harris is a cannibal just because he created Dr Hannibal Lecter.
Anyway, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a damn good read.
No comments:
Post a Comment