Reviews with content warning for Sexism - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Most of the time when I connect with a book I feel like I leave a piece of my soul with it when I finish. This book I feel like I got a new piece, it is not a piece that I necessarily want but this book still gave it to me.

Content Warnings

jesthemess's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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amradio's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

So first off there's racism all up in the book let's just get that out of the way (well there's actually a hell of a lot of things that could count for a warning that I tried to tag)

The book overall while feeling slow in parts is a very good read and I think might be considered an important read on "mental hospitals" coming from someone who is antipsych partly because of how these institutions are still horribly ran

I think some of the important little notes

when you find out most of these guys are self admitted because of course society tells you there's something wrong with you if you don't fit their mold of a "normal healthy mind" and since so many people nowadays still play straight into psychiatrys hand by telling everyone "therapy is for everyone"

Also the fact that

two of them are seemingly in there because of seizures like these institutes are well known for forcing disabled people into them for simply being disabled

And while Mack's character is loveable in some ways

still disturbing that he's seemingly a pedophile but I can appreciate how far he went for these guys like he could've left multiple times near the end but didn't not to mention you can tell that the two characters who did die during the story both had an impact on him

I also love the aspect of the Chief and his backstory especially

the bits when he's getting electroshock therapy

Content Warnings

foxo_cube's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is, I think, my favourite book of all time.

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.

Content Warnings

sweeetzoejane's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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reads_with_lauren's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It was good I guess, good writing and a good plot, but I just didn’t really enjoy it. I think because it had such intense subjects all at the same time, and honestly didn’t handle them with any sort of delicacy. I compare it to other books I’ve read on mental health, and I think those had a stronger impact on me. This one did get across the point the author wanted: mental hospitals are messed up, but did it do so respectfully, intelectually and with clever ideas? I don’t really know. I can say I appreciated it.

Content Warnings

o_bella_cia0's review against another edition

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dark funny sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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