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Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Dementia
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, Death of parent
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Medical trauma
Minor: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment
This book counts for Popsugar 2022 for a book with an onomatopeia in its title.
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism
I will say that it isn't perfect. It's, shall we say, a product of its time: most common-or-garden varieties of discrimination are thrown in casually here and there, and it does make me cringe a little bit at points. Personally, I try not to hold older books to the same standard I'd hold new publications in that regard, but it's worth mentioning as it is a little off-putting.
The main storyline is that of a criminal, McMurphy, entering a psychiatric ward expecting an easier life than what he was experiencing on a work farm, and discovering that he has made a terrible mistake. Being a rebel by nature, he quickly makes it his job to break down the strict and cruel Head Nurse.
The clashes between the staff and McMurphy are great - sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, sometimes devastating, often some mix of all those things - but what I love so much about the book is how the patients of the ward have real humanity to them, and the slow but sure change in atmosphere throughout the war between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched is written beautifully. McMurphy is a rough, problematic, but undeniably charming character with a gentleness to him we only see through Bromden's eyes, especially when they form a friendship.
This aspect, the platonic love story, is one of my favourite things about the book overall. The way Bromden discusses him, and their conversations, even when they're focused on boosting Bromden's confidence (usually in pretty bawdy fashion), is written with a lovely tenderness. McMurphy is a grey-area character who most definitely manipulates the hell out of a lot of the patience for money and cigarettes, but his growing care towards the people on the ward and rage at the mistreatment they face is, nonetheless, very real.
Bromden is a proudly unreliable narrator who phases in and out of the "fog", as he describes it - seemingly dissociative periods where he exists on autopilot, or flashbacks to his past, or hallucinates. He has spent his time on the ward pretending that he can neither hear nor speak, meaning he gets to be a fly on the wall during private meetings and such due to the staff often using him as a cleaner. He hates the system he's in, the state of the world, and the treatment he faces on the ward, but feels powerless to stop it, meaning that McMurphy is both a godsend and a terrifying presence to him. His character growth is fairly subtle at first, but the end scenes - which are devastating - are a powerful culmination of the book's events: when McMurphy is lobotomised, Bromden performs the most sincere expression of love and respect that he possibly could have.
I've read this book a good few times now, and it's always a total rollercoaster ride of emotions.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting
Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use
Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Blood
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol
(if you can't tell, that was sarcasm.)
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief