101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Part I
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I am continuing to read Part I of this book and have forgotten how hysterically funny some parts of this novel are. Even though I have never seen the movie, I keep picturing Jack Nicholson as McMurphy. He must have been perfectly cast for the part.
I understand that many people have criticized this book for being both sexist and racist and am wondering what everyone's thoughts here are. I like that this book presents the mental institution as being a sort of microcosm or metaphor of society. Any critique of the institution is in fact applicable to broader society. For me, this is part of what makes the book so powerful.
I was also wondering what people think of Chief Bromden as narrator. His deafness and mutenss render him practically invisible and I think that invisibility is kind of a commentary on the reality for the native American in history. I am referring to their voices not being heard.
Also wondering what everyone thinks of Chief Bromden as narrator. You would think that his obvious mental illness would render him an unreliable narrator, for example, but he doesn't seem to lose credibility with me. In fact he seems quite insightful.
I am so behind!! I haven't even started this yet!! I don't even have a copy of the book! Reading about how much you are enjoying it is making me wish I had it. Hopefully I can talk my husband into picking me up a copy tomorrow while he is out. If not then I have got to make a trip to the library and hope they have it. I've been getting off so easy cause I have been finding all the other books as ebooks free online. Not this one though.
Kristyn,I wanted to get a jump on this book because I want to make sure that I have enough time to read Great Expectations since I am the one who selected it.
I am enjoying this book, though. I first read it in high school and while I enjoyed it then, I think I am enjoying it more the second time around. The characters are just so vivid and well developed.
I just bought it today. I had started reading it on the computer but wasn't liking reading it on there. Kristyn here is a link,btw. http://www.epubbud.com/read.php?g=GQY...
I can`t wait to find out what everyone thinks of this book. It was a great pick Amanda and I am glad that you selected it.
I get most of my books from ePubbud but it always lets me download it on my phone to put in my iBooks. For some reason this one doesn't have that option.
Yea I thought is was weird also that it had that issue. Sorry.
I do really like Chief as a narrator while he seems completely off his rocker in the way he perceives the machines and stuff there is a very great sense about it. I have a hard time trying to stay slightly removed from the perception of the hospital and mental illness in general as it is a rather personal area. Thinking about the way that mental health was dealt with in that era is scary and the acknowledgements that this is a much improved version than the place before make it even more scary to think about.
I have huge issues with the way that mental illness was defined and treated in the 1960s. Take Harding for instance. What is his mental illness? He is an obvious non-conformist with homosexual tendencies and this was considered a mental illness in the 1960s by the psychiatric profession. Today, we would laugh at any sugestion that this would warrant psychiatric treatment.There is a long history of non-conformists being treated harshly by society. As another example, single and unmarried mothers in the 1950s and even as late as the early 1970s were assumed to be feeble-minded.
Ok so I am finally reading this! Yay! I find it strange reading from the point of view of someone who has complete moments of insanity. I guess I am a very literal person and plus I read a lot of fantasy and scifi so when he says people are machines and left u til rust was coming out of them. When he talks about the head nurse basically turning into a monster I have to remind myself that he is crazy and none of that is really happening. I really like it so far I just have to not be so literal!
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I too, am trying to decide how I feel about Chief as a narrator. He's obviously unstable, as he's focused on "the fog" but he seems to accurately depict the others around him. Or, are his more psychotic episodes there to remind us that he is not in fact reliable and we should take everything he relates about every other person with a grain of salt?
Well, I decided that since I have already read the July and August titles, I can use the time to catch up on some of the books you already read that I have not. I just finished part 1 of this book and am loving the book. I think using Chief as a narrator is brilliant. As a mute that slinks along the perameter, he is able to narrator as an insiderwhile not actually altering the story by his interactions. I also think his psychosis is genius. It shows how precarious this situation is. He is lucid and insightful at times and yet just as altered by paranoia and hallucinations at the next minute. The structure and the meds preven him from living in constant terror of a subterranian factory in which he is threatened with being hung from a meat hook. But, it also makes him compliant and robs him of his self-will. How to balance things. I lived in D.C. just after the mental hospitals there had de-institutionalized many patients, no longer allowing for involuntary commitment. A large number ended up on the streets, victims of crime and of their own psychosis. Involuntary institutionalization seemed inhuman, but so did the alternative. I am anxious to see wat sort of impact McMurphy is going to have. Is he a manipulater who is going to exploit the patients and the situation for his own amusement? Or is he going to empower them for good.
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As an aside, I find the group dynamics depicted in this novel fascinating. Can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks of the book.