One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

When I woke up yesterday morning, my e-reader app told me that I had 66% of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey to get read by this evening's book club. I read during most of my normal TV time last night. I read longer at bedtime than I normally do. And I read all morning. It took me nearly 4 weeks to read the first third of the book and less than 24 hours to read the remainder.

That's not because I was totally absorbed in the book. I didn't hate it, or I would have dropped it once I saw I was having trouble getting thru it. But I certainly didn't love it. It's a classic and I was curious. That's my sole reason for sticking with it. If I didn't have people to discuss the book with, I would have had no incentive to finish it, though. So I'm glad I'll get to discuss it with my book club.

I'm writing this before heading out to Books & Beer Club so perhaps my opinion of the book might change or my thoughts might be more favorable. I'm sure I'll walk away with a better appreciation about why this book is such an important one. On one level, I know this already. But on the more self-centered level, do I really care? I kind of wish I was able to get the Sparknotes out of the library, but they're waitlisted at the moment. I didn't want to look at them when they were available prior to my reading the book.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was set in either the late 50s or the early 60s. I needed to frequently remind myself of such. The asylum where it was set is like a miniature version of society. The issues being dealt with are timeless.

I was fascinated by the Native American issues brought up in the novel. I think those wouldn't even be discussion points in a normal book club situation. But since we recently read Killers of the Flower Moon, I plan to bring up some connections if no one else does.

I'd love to hear from you if you either loved or hated this novel.