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The Sterile Cuckoo

John Nichols

3.58 · Rating details · 494 ratings · 55 reviews

“A hilarious, sad…all too true novel about the rough underside of a college love affair.”—John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace

When eighteen-year-old Jerry Payne first meets Pookie Adams at the Friarsburg, Oklahoma, bus depot, he is hardly aware that this moment marks the beginning of the most memorable love affair of his life. Overwhelmed (and yet secretly enchanted) b ...more

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Paperback, 224 pages

Published August 5th 2013 by W. W. Norton Company (first published January 1st 1965)

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Nov 13, 2009 Ivan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

You can tell Holden Caufield to go home and stop bitching and moaning. I'll take Pookie Adams any day. The book is quite a bit different from the film (which has virtues of its own - notably Liza Minnelli's heartbreaking performance); is it better? What do you think? (Yes, it's better). John Nichols has done a masterful job of drawing two characters just coming into flower - emotionally needy, confused, exhilerated, excited, horny, discovering sex, questioning the sincerity of their feelings for ...more

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Oct 29, 2013 Amber Dyson rated it it was amazing

Oh, man. This book was given to me by an ex-boyfriend who knew I would love it. I loved it so much, maybe as much as I loved him. Then he would laugh at me whenever I would talk about it (which was often), and say, "Oh, you just wish that *you* were Pookie, don't you?" in a nasty, derisive, and withholding way.

That was true. I did wish that, but it still feels like a punch in the gut when I think about it all these years later.

And that's kind of what this book it like: a love story that you kno ...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Erin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Read my mom's old hardcover six or seven times when I was a kid. College! Drinking! And sex! But beyond, a sweet story about first love with a wacky female protagonist. I'm not sure it would merit five stars if I read it again, but it was a five star read at the time. ...more

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Apr 18, 2009 Evan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, yearning, fucked-up-women, __in-my-collection

I've been casting about for something that really comes boffo out of the gate and grabs me and this did it. This was made into a movie with Liza Minnelli around 1969, I think, which I vaguely remember seeing, part of anyway, and it was a popular novel in the mid-'60s; the story of a shy nerdy guy who meets a wacky girl as he's going off to college. I got this for 50 cents at Half Price Books.. So let's see how it goes. It should be very fast.

FYI, I have an earlier edition than the one depicted h I've been casting about for something that really comes boffo out of the gate and grabs me and this did it. This was made into a movie with Liza Minnelli around 1969, I think, which I vaguely remember seeing, part of anyway, and it was a popular novel in the mid-'60s; the story of a shy nerdy guy who meets a wacky girl as he's going off to college. I got this for 50 cents at Half Price Books.. So let's see how it goes. It should be very fast.

FYI, I have an earlier edition than the one depicted here. Mine was printed in 1969 (List: 95 cents!) to coincide with the release of the film and shows Liza and other characters from the film on the front and back.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
Wow, this one rollicks! The girl is crazy and talks a mile a minute and naturally the dude is a bit of a science nerd and gives her free reign to do so. She provides a nice vessel by which the author can freely express himself and show his mad skills -- the best of which is that he keeps it moving and it's never boring. Some of it is, admittedly, overdone and precious, and I'm not thrilled that the girl's name is "Pookie", but whatever, this is just fun to read...

ONE THIRD MARK:
Well, it does get overly precious and cutesy at points (the thing with the fish drawings in the sand might cause some to wretch), but by God the thing is written so smoothly and I just enjoy the shit out of this mentally disturbed free spirit Pookie. Jerry Payne and his college antics are a bit tiresome and I still don't get much of a sense of who he is or what he thinks, if anything. And whatever we're getting about Pookie comes from his perspective; and in this the author seems to give him more perception than he seems to display about much else. This is a college novel about what college was like a half century ago, so it will come off as dated to some, but that, in itself doesn't bother me. For now I'm giving this book the benefit of the doubt mainly for being written so well; the sentences and the pages just fly with little wind resistance.

HALFWAY:
The two have finally had their first sex after a long drawn-out nervous dance of sorts and it was charmingly handled.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The last quarter of the book has a certain lyricism, a sense of inevitability that I liked. Pookie really "owns" her own sexuality, far more so than her uptight boyfriend. This is the two and a half year story of a first love marked by frustration, failed connections, striving for understanding - two young people needing love but never quite fully connecting. It's hard to imagine anyone quite fitting well into Pookie's limitless universe. Both characters in the book seem to flounder; like many young people their futures are a foreign concept. I liked this book a lot, admired Nichol's excellent ability to write clean, simple prose that flows without being simplistic. The preciousness of it constantly made me question whether it was great literature or not, but, ultimately, it was such a relief to read a book written for readers and not so much for posterity. Though I think this book might have a good chance for rediscovery.

ALSO:
There are a couple of instances of casual racism in the book that kind of stuck out like a sore thumb; I question whether they are supposed to be part of the characters or are/were part of author Nichols' worldview and attitude, only because they are stated so casually. I didn't want these blips to ruin the book for me, and they didn't. They just seemed odd to me. ...more

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Dec 22, 2015 Jen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, own, meh, romance

“Several years ago, during the spring semester of my junior year in college, as an alternative to either deserting or marrying a girl, I signed a suicide pact with her.”

Right from the opening line it’s evident that The Sterile Cuckoo isn’t your typical boy-meets-girl type of story. Sure it’s about being in the throes of first love as all of the hallmark feelings of awkwardness, enthusiasm, and horny sexual abandon are present, still this isn’t a charming or passionate love story, and Jerry ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Alan Dupay rated it really liked it

Shelves: default

John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace, said it best in his review: “A hilarious, sad…all too true novel about the rough underside of a college love affair.” It wasn't my college experience, but seems to fit many descriptions of college life that have been related to me, although that is not to say it was the norm. ...more

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Aug 31, 2016 Jim rated it liked it

Having just read The Remains of the Day after seeing (and loving) the film adaptation first I thought I’d try another novel of a film I love, The Sterile Cuckoo. This was a very different ballgame. The film and the book are very different beasts. The film focuses on the two main characters and, of the two, Pookie dominates; it’s Liza Minnelli’s film and she rightly deserved an Oscar nomination IMHO. The book, however, is narrated by Jerry and so Pookie is interpreted for us. Of course she’s a my Having just read The Remains of the Day after seeing (and loving) the film adaptation first I thought I’d try another novel of a film I love, The Sterile Cuckoo. This was a very different ballgame. The film and the book are very different beasts. The film focuses on the two main characters and, of the two, Pookie dominates; it’s Liza Minnelli’s film and she rightly deserved an Oscar nomination IMHO. The book, however, is narrated by Jerry and so Pookie is interpreted for us. Of course she’s a mystery—that’s the attraction—but that mystery is diluted by the book’s filling in her backstory. In the film virtually every actor is uncredited apart from Minnelli and Wendell Burton and so it feels like a chamber piece; they’re the only ones onscreen for some 80% of the time. In the novel, the story takes place over three years. This was shortened to a single school year for the film which was definitively a wise choice. In that respect it reminded me a little of Sweet November in which Sandy Dennis’s character blows into Charlie Blake’s life, changes it forever, and then vanishes again. Although too old for the part I can imagine a young Dennis giving a credible performance as Pookie Adams: fragile, quirky, offbeat.

Jerry Payne is nowhere near as interesting a character as Pookie. He’s almost the Nick Carraway character whose job it is to observe and record. What Pookie sees in him is quite beyond me other than he’s available when she’s vulnerable. She clings to him from the moment they meet but I’m not convinced it’s love at first sight. Besides doesn’t love at first sight need to be mutual? Jerry makes it very clear at the start of the book that he was far from bowled over by her. He goes to his college and she to hers and it’s months before they meet again. In the interim she writes long, semi-fictional letters to which he never replies but she refuses to take the hint. And that’s the thing about her even in the book: she drives events on by the pure force of her personality; Jerry’s seduced by her desperation. There’s no doubt that there’s something captivating about her but how long until the novelty wears off? Three years feels too long but with gaps between visits it’s believable. It also allows time for both of them to grow. The thing is they seem to grow in opposite directions. Jerry becomes somewhat more level-headed but Pookie’s neuroses finally overpower her and she ends up quitting school. As Roger Ebert put it in his review of the film back in 1969:

When they're able to fulfil their needs simultaneously, they convince themselves they're in love. But making love is not the same thing as giving love, and the movie is about how they gradually figure that out. It shouldn't take them as long as it does, but Pookie is so neurotically dependent that she hangs on much too long. And Jerry is slow. Stupid might be a better word.

That neatly sums up the book too for all its differences.

There’s a lot of drinking and partying in the novel which isn’t in the film. It’s probably realistic but it also paints the two as more social animals than either of them is. Of course the beauty of the book is that the walls of words that break over Jerry’s head, especially on the bus ride when they initially meet, can be pored over and relished; in the film you were just left breathless.

The book’s not perfect—it started to drag a little towards the end and I found the sections without Pookie less interesting—but it certainly has its moment and I particularly liked the ending. The film is bookended by bus journeys—and very nicely done—but in the novel there’s a final chapter a year after which works well too. Of course we would never have had the film without the book but although the film’s not perfect either I did prefer it to the book. ...more

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Apr 17, 2016 Tony rated it liked it

Shelves: 20th-century-usa

Drawn in by the initial surprise at Nichols' verbal gymnastics and admirable concision in drawing characters, I soon began to tire of the characters themselves, and grew impatient with their immaturity. He has probably drawn us an excellent likeness of his own privileged, misspent youth, though I suspect it was highly exaggerated. The love story he presents never has the thrill of actual emotion in it, though he tries, within the bounds of writerly restraint, to cast that spell. The rampant sexi ...more

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Jul 30, 2015 Jeff rated it it was ok

A not-great book with some really great passages. Nichols certainly can write, but spends too much time practicing not being able to write. I'm not exactly sure what the motivation of this book is: push idiosyncrasy to the limit, de-mystify young love, see how random a paragraph can get?

I'm not one to bemoan plotless books but, let me put it this way: if this were a treasure map, the elephant's wings would flap fart dust through the crayon blue sinkhole of Pookie's alarm clock. ...more

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Apr 24, 2014 Adam Di Filippe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is such a poignant book that I read it in just two sittings. And I'm even more impressed with how much I enjoyed this book inspite of being wholly annoyed with the main character's choices throughout the novel. ...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Melissa rated it liked it · review of another edition

the best opening line ever

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Dec 31, 2019 Lily rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book was NOT better in this case! Shock! That said, it was quite different from the movie. Jerry is such an asshole in the book. He is not the quiet, awkward, painfully shy co-ed who is bewildered by Pookie. In the book, he is hard-drinking, insecure, fratty, conforming, and a truly awful boyfriend to Pookie. Pookie is pretty much the same (and the role Liza was born to play by the way.) It made me so much sadder for Pookie that she falls in "love" with this guy who barely even shows that he The book was NOT better in this case! Shock! That said, it was quite different from the movie. Jerry is such an asshole in the book. He is not the quiet, awkward, painfully shy co-ed who is bewildered by Pookie. In the book, he is hard-drinking, insecure, fratty, conforming, and a truly awful boyfriend to Pookie. Pookie is pretty much the same (and the role Liza was born to play by the way.) It made me so much sadder for Pookie that she falls in "love" with this guy who barely even shows that he likes her much of the time. In the movie, she is outwardly more in love with him than he is with her, but the power dynamics aren't nearly as lopsided. Also in the movie, she is totally lonely and a complete pariah. In the book, she has this roommate who she is kind of nominal friends with and she gets along with Jerry's alcoholic fraternity brothers in a surface level partying kind of way. In both iterations, Jerry is this savior for her because she was a deeply unstable and insecure person. But in the book her obsession seems much more misguided.

In the 60s, this was probably a very risqué and modern take on a college love affair during the sexual revolution. Pookie and Jerry are a complete mismatch and their relationship is incredibly tumultuous throughout. They have lots of sex, usually initiated by Pookie, fight at the drop of a hat, and Jerry generally can't figure out her long winded and poetic monologues. But it never really felt like a loving kind of bewilderment like in the movie, but more judgmental embarrassment while feeling kind of shackled to her, every so often proclaiming "I love you Pookie Adams," even though he clearly doesn't. How sad!!

There were many many scenes that the movie left out. Several weekend-long frat parties, Pookie practically giving Jerry a concussion as she throws herself at him and he smacks his head on the train station platform, Pookie's senior year of high school where she gets in a horrific car accident leaving most of the passengers dead. Most notably, Jerry drunkenly rapes her roommate (!!) and later after she forgives him (?!) Pookie suggests a suicide pact! (Now that I think about it, the movie was so different from the book that it should really be "loosely inspired by the novel," instead of "based on the novel.") The raping scene was totally shocking and horrible. It was so briefly glossed over, I suppose because the whole book is from Jerry's point of view and he didn't seem to think it was a big deal. He is sloshed out of his mind and just climbs on top of Nancy Putnam. His explanation is so lame, "Pookie, please! I'm sorry! Come on, Pookie!" I guess it just shows that Pookie is so desperate for love that she'll never willingly leave this boyfriend no matter what he does or how he treats her.

I think the whole book is leading up to Pookie's mental breakdown and the suicide pact. Beneath Pookie's manic ramblings is a deep void that she unsuccessfully tries to fill with sex, Jerry's love, and feeling kind of proud that she is different. There's a really sweet scene on a carousel where with each revolution, more and more children start flocking to Pookie and her horse and by the end she is holding them all rapt in some very Pookie-like story. Quickly though, this little moment of happiness and childlike innocence is snuffed out. In the end, she drops out of school and sends Jerry a suicide note. Jerry and the reader don't know if she actually went through with it and he never sees her again.

All of this said, it's a great skeleton of a story, and a great psychological character study. But Liza Minelli as Pookie is a true work of art, and the way that the relationship is told on film is just better than in the book. ...more

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Sep 27, 2017 Devin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Somehow I came across The Sterile Cuckoo, and it sounded intriguing enough between the sex and college love affair. Older literally really isn't something I read too often, since I'm far more apt to seek out a newer novel. It's always good to switch things up, though, and switch it up I did!

I don't know if it's because I'm used to reading modern literature compared to older novels (say, pre-1990's) but old literature often feels bland to me and that I'm never that sucked in. The Sterile Cuckoo w ...more

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Sep 24, 2019 R. Lawrence rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is an odd statement from me but, the Movie was much better. The Book was entertaining, but it didn’t make me care for the characters the way the movie did. I loved the Movie and it’s taken me a while to read the book. Too bad there was no VW in this one. And the trip to New York was boring. All through the the book I kept wait for, “Jerry Payne, what a lousy name!”

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May 24, 2020 Lisa Tangen rated it really liked it

Frankly, I enjoyed the movie of this book so much that I worried I wouldn't like the book. Those fears turned out to be unfounded. I liked the book as much as the movie. It gave a new perspective on the story and characters. Best of all, I got to spend more time with Pookie Adams and Jerry Payne. ...more

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Feb 20, 2020 Marie rated it did not like it

Picked up this book in the laundry room. It’s terrible.

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Mar 17, 2017 Laurie rated it really liked it

This book was riveting - so crazy and well told.

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Aug 22, 2018 Han rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

Nostalgic, entertaining picture of college life in the 60's--makes Animal House seem tame. The similarities between young adult relationships then and now are astounding. I enjoyed reading the erratic thoughts of the quirky protagonist, a strong female lead who is held back by social rules and oppression. Liza Minnelli won an Oscar nomination for this role, which was perfectly cast. Splendid writing. Docked a star for the casual racism. This was the first time that I couldn't find a book (for le ...more

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Jul 13, 2009 globulon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-i-used-to-own

This was a good find for me. I find I have this dilemma sometimes that I want to read something really and truly random, not in the sense of being avant garde, but in the sense of something I haven't heard of before and don't have any reason to read. The other horn is that I'm always afraid it will be a waste of time, there are so many books I have good reason to think I will like. I won't always, but the point is both having a reason to read a book and not having a reason to read a book are bot ...more

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Mar 15, 2013 David Roberts rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: doctor-authored, new-mexico-author

It's always interesting to me to have become familiar with an author's work and then go back to read their first novel, as it was with Nichols' first work, the story of a likable college couple: Jerry and Pookie. They sure seem to have a lot going for them until they drink their relationship, and apparently themselves, into near-oblivion and oblivion, respectively (though I'm not certain about the latter). The characters are equally quirky, but the novel not as uproariously funny as his later wo ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 Helynne rated it liked it

Back in the early 1960s, the Love Generation had not quite arrived at American colleges and universities, but as this funky period piece proves, students were already pretty wild and kooky. They partied hard, got drunk, were promiscuous, and did a lot of things they lived to regret. I know there were plenty of young people during John F. Kennedy years, who took their pursuit of a college degree very seriously, but in this short, quirky novel, most of the characters don’t seem to see higher educa ...more

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Aug 15, 2009 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, 2009

John Nichols has read me (http://www.hamilton.edu/magazine/wrec...) and so I thought I'd return the favor, haha. But seriously, folks. Admittedly, I read The Sterile Cuckoo because, I, too, am a Hamilton alumnus, though I have never heard "the call of the VT" (Village Tavern for all you non-Hill folk) as he had, I still wanted to read this homage to the Hamilton I never knew. Truthfully, the Hamilton/Central New York nostalgia this brought on was dwarfed by the amazing writing - very young, very ...more

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Feb 02, 2014 Emily Crow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bird-title-project, read-in-2014

The story of a college romance between our narrator, a rather bland fellow named Jerry, and Pookie, a girl who never stops talking. The novel shows their relationship from awkward first meeting, through the rush of that first infatuation, on to its whimpering demise. The setting is an alcohol-sodden college campus, and the strength of youthful emotion is captured well throughout.

In many ways, this is a rather good novel, and I could appreciate its strengths: how quickly having a wild good time c ...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Jacqueline rated it liked it · review of another edition

Book about falling in love written in the 1960's. It does a good job of describing what falling in love, being in love, & breaking up are often like. Unlike many other readers it seems, I don't find the characters particularly odd or particularly mentally ill. (I am not quite sure what that might say about me.) I find both of them very believable just how they are written.

I was a bit disappointed with this novel though. I think it was another thing that I might have had built up in my head. I th ...more

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Aug 28, 2013 JoMarie DeGioia rated it really liked it

This book might have been published a couple of generations ago but it fits right in with today's college-age romances. No cell phones, Internet or emails, but otherwise it's surprisingly contemporary. It's very quirky yet emotionally evocative, and I defy you not to fall in love with Pookie. Jerry is a typical college guy, though he wants to be more. To have more. And then? Well, I won't spoil it but you'll have to use your imagination to find the happy ending. It's there for me, between the li ...more

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Dec 19, 2016 Laura Edwards rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Wonderful, quirky little story about first love. I loved the character of Pookie Adams. The ending was kind of sad as the relationship played out. And I'm not sure Jerry got it right in the end after receiving the note. Perhaps, Pookie wanted someone to validate what she did or care enough to check and make sure she didn't go through with it (if her words were only a threat). But, by that point, Jerry and Pookie were no longer connecting in a way which worked. And, like Jerry, we'll never know. ...more

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Oct 23, 2008 Cindy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, adult

Loved the movie, loved the book. This movie/book so captures the isolation, alienation, and desolation that predated the subsequent acceptance of the nerd.

The first college romance, as depicted by Pookie and Jerry, two very quirky East Coast college students, is so fragile and so frightfully naive that it is as painful as it is predictable. Maybe you had to be there. Pookie is the female Holden Caulfield, although I have to admit I felt way more empathy for her than him.

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Apr 11, 2011 Alyson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Alyson by: Bought it at an estate sale

The book jacket of my 1965 copy said, "At the age of 24, John Nichols showed the polish and sophistication of a seasoned novelist--his touch sure, his wit sharp, and Pookie Adams, his heroine, a pure original." I enjoyed every minute of reading this book. The characters were interesting and entertaining. I was sorry to come to the end, and have to find a new book to read. I now want to read other books by this author. ...more

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Nov 07, 2010 Wheat rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Fantastic book whose plot meanders a bit, but overall the language and events at any given moment are too intriguing for you to feel that the book is pointless. It let you know rather early on that it was a depressing book, but let you ease into happiness quite a few times. Also reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, but for people a few years older (less angst more real problems).

I liked Pookie.

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Jul 13, 2011 Sylvia rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book could have simply been the story of a college love affair. However, John Nichols created a much more interesting story with his characters. In some ways the book reminded me a lot of J.D. Salinger, but having read Nichols before I know that he can stand on his own two feet. Some people might find the story dated, but I enjoyed the setting of the book (1960s).

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About John Nichols

John Nichols

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John Nichols is the author of the New Mexico trilogy, a series about the complex relationship between history, race and ethnicity, and land and water rights in the fictional Chamisaville County, New Mexico. The trilogy consists of The Milagro Beanfield War (which was adapted into the film The Milagro Beanfield War directed by Robert Redford), The Magic Journey, and The Nirvana Blues.

Two of his oth ...more