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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/332613.One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo_s_Nest?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1173825614m/332613.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/332613.One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo_s_Nest?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7285.Ken_Kesey">Ken Kesey</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/22010594?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>I'd never read the book or seen the movie, but I've seen very brief clips or still photos of Jack Nicholson playing the main character, so when I finally read this book I pictured Nicholson as McMurphy from the start, except that as I continued to read, he became bigger and more redheaded. Other than that, I had no expectations. I knew that the story takes place in a mental ward but not much else. <br/> <br/>The story charmed me as it unfolded, and I loved that it was narrated by the Chief, the silent observer for most of the book before he became an active participant -- which was a really big point in the book; most of the characters went from being passive rabbit-like victims reacting to their surroundings or cowering quietly in their corners afraid to live ... to being proactive men who lived life with courage and heart. Their change uplifted me, so much that the deaths that occur in the book couldn't bring me back down; their transformation was worth the price, and I think that's why McMurphy did what he did. He did it for all of them. <br/> <br/>That's why I think this book is beautiful. Just beautiful, down to the core and the very soul. <br/> <br/>I especially love how the antagonist, the Big Nurse, is not in any real sense portrayed as evil incarnate. Her motivations and background are laid out in such a way that you can sort of understand things from her end -- she simply doesn't realize how sinister and abusive an effect she has on people and probably really thinks she does a lot of good in her patients' lives. <br/> <br/>My only pet peeve is all the "would of" and "could of" grammar. The Chief, despite his issues, strikes me as a fairly intelligent man. Intuitive and observant, only he could understand the real McMurphy, and the way that he describes his environment, the other characters, and all the events can sometimes be so poetic and apt, so striking and telling, that you can't help but believe that despite all appearances, the narrator is a very smart man. And yet he says "should of" instead of "should have". <br/> <br/>I understand that it's the author's choice to use the vernacular in the narrative, to illustrate the Chief's voice, and honestly I had no problem with it except for just those three phrases. This being a classic, it perpetuates the bad grammar in schools, and I've seen this incorrect usage in everyday writing so often, used by people who should know better, that it just jumps out at me and annoys me. <br/> <br/>Still, that was the only negative for me. <br/> <br/>In every other way, the book was perfect and sweet. <br/> <br/>Finished reading May 19, 2008. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/104600?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>