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A review by wellworn_soles
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
3.0
My ambivalence here is marked. On one hand, Ken Kesey’s mastery of language is impressive, the story is solidly told, and the undercurrent themes are powerful.
On the other, this book has awful portrayals of women. Not a one of them, besides Nurse Ratchet, rises above the level of a caricature. Women are either whores or repressed whores, and pinching, sniping, grabbing, catcalling, and abusing them is all lauded. In fact, using women - or thinking about using women - is the primary way the characters hold or wrest power in this book. It’s the way the characters go about regaining their agency through jokes and jeers at the expense of female nurses, regaling graphic exploits to their fellows, etc. Ratchet, our villain, is acceptable to be scorned. She plays a solid antagonist, and the book lays clear that she is nothing more than a symptom of a larger disease. But to have her final defeat be by ripping her clothes, hitting her, and exposing her breasts to be lewdly joked about by the inmates? That’s not heroic, and it’s gross that the story makes it out to be her just comeuppance.
This is a 4 star book when it comes to themes of madness, colonialism, and diction, but i have to revoke a whole star for the rampant misogyny. It really got in the way of my enjoyment.
On the other, this book has awful portrayals of women. Not a one of them, besides Nurse Ratchet, rises above the level of a caricature. Women are either whores or repressed whores, and pinching, sniping, grabbing, catcalling, and abusing them is all lauded. In fact, using women - or thinking about using women - is the primary way the characters hold or wrest power in this book. It’s the way the characters go about regaining their agency through jokes and jeers at the expense of female nurses, regaling graphic exploits to their fellows, etc. Ratchet, our villain, is acceptable to be scorned. She plays a solid antagonist, and the book lays clear that she is nothing more than a symptom of a larger disease. But to have her final defeat be by ripping her clothes, hitting her, and exposing her breasts to be lewdly joked about by the inmates? That’s not heroic, and it’s gross that the story makes it out to be her just comeuppance.
This is a 4 star book when it comes to themes of madness, colonialism, and diction, but i have to revoke a whole star for the rampant misogyny. It really got in the way of my enjoyment.