Scan barcode
sarahbethhh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Racism
Minor: Racial slurs
greenan26's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Torture
Moderate: Suicide and Homophobia
asolis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gaslighting, Self harm, Confinement, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Death
Moderate: Racism, Sexual violence, Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Suicide, Cursing, Homophobia, Colonisation, Physical abuse, and Drug abuse
swimfast724's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt
lidia7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, and Racism
Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Mental illness, Self harm, and Gaslighting
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Dementia, Body shaming, and Alcohol
traingossip's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Mental illness, and Ableism
Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Confinement, and Eating disorder
jujumo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Rape, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Sexual content, Infidelity, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse
aimee_shmee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Physical abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Emotional abuse
skeptic_hecate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I believe that this book is especially about sexual repression. Women and men who are demonized by their use of sexuality. It is because of this sexism that no one can be free.
Also, nurse Ratched is properly evil, definitely one of the highlights of the book and one of my favourite villains. I highly recommend this book.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Violence and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
foxo_cube's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
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: Mental illness, Blood, Suicide, Ableism, Misogyny, Bullying, Violence, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Confinement, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Racism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: War, Sexual assault, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Grief, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail