One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-April

[Craig]

Join us for face-to-face discussions the first Monday of every month at 7 pm and/or follow the continuing conversations here!

[Craig]

We seemed to quite like this book, giving it a 4.4 out of 5 stars. Many of us seemed quite moved by the depiction of conditions in a typical mental health facility in late-mid 20th century America and personally I was fascinated by the narrator's descriptions of the world he perceived, its rules, and his struggle against it.

[Mark]

One of my favorite books. The Jack Nicholson movie may be my favorite movie.

The herculean contest between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy with its certain failure, the wonderful supporting characters, the scary/sad setting combine to make for a compelling and powerful book.

[Craig]

I had only seen the end of the movie as a kid when i went into reading the book. I knew what was going to happen, which made it painful, but I was also so aware of all the foreshadowing ... = )

[Lena]

I enjoyed the book very much. I haven't ever watched the movie.

[Craig]

At our book club we wondered if the movie made the book famous or if the book had a lot of impact all on its own.

[Mark]

I read it for an English class back in the day. It definitely had an impact of its own.

[Vicki]

I loved the book and the movie and sorry I missed the discussion!! Being a nurse, I can tell you this was exactly the way mental health was treated then and not so sure it is better now!

[Mark]

Hi Vicki,

I hope you are wrong, but you probably are correct.

The book was turned into a play, then into a movie. I saw the play at the Civic Theater (they did a nice job), so I suppose I hit the trifecta: I read the book, and I saw the movie and the play.

[Craig]

Vicki wrote: "I loved the book and the movie and sorry I missed the discussion!! Being a nurse, I can tell you this was exactly the way mental health was treated then and not so sure it is better now!"

Another person at book club said she was in health care in the era in which the book is set and that the book depicted the situation pretty closely.