monkeelino 's review for:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

4.0

---

Took me about 30 pages to get into this book and then I was hooked. I thought I was going to dislike McMurphy because he's such a strong personality, but Kesey does a really remarkable job of depicting an incredibly layered character. Clearly, this book is from the perspective and on the side of the patients. It felt like an argument not just against the psychiatric industry, but against society/capitalism of that day and age with its rigid social expectations and prescribed "normality." McMurphy is like a counter-cultural hero bucking the system for the little guy, attempting to re-invigorate the manhood and testosterone levels of his fellow mental patients.

But as I neared the end, I have to admit this novel felt almost Freudian in its target. All the hatred of society and its norms is laser-focussed on the character of Nurse Ratched. Even the power of the institution and medicine has her as its epicenter, sending emasculating shockwaves (as well as electrical ones in certain cases) through the hearts and minds of all the male characters (patients, doctors, the all-black cleaning/security staff). And McMurphy's final rebellion is a

Spoiler

violent act of re-feminizing Ratched by physically attacking her, ripping off her clothes, and undermining her power by turning her into a sexual object

. Given the history of psychiatry and medicine with regards to the treatment of women, as well as their general lack of political/workplace power (and perhaps because this was changing in the '60s when this book was written), to place such a uni-dimensional, evil female character at the pinnacle of it all and have every other character either sympathize with or mirror McMurphy's perspective on her... I mean, I'm no therapist, but Kesey clearly had some issues, no?