One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

I really enjoyed this book, the first part slightly dragged for me, but in light of the rest of the book, I would love to reread it, especially the parts about Bromden. The rest of the parts were superb and I really enjoyed Kesey’s writing and the flow of the story. Contrary to some comments I have read, I don’t think Bromden is an unreliable narrator nor that the things going on are a figment of his imagination, it would go against the whole point of the book. Were Bromden to just be some schizo, the whole unpacking of different layers and dynamics would lose meaning, as would his eventual escape.

I think this book had so many interesting themes to analyze, beyond the surface level of ”the sane vs. the insane” there are layers about oppression, about social coercion and freedom. I found it especially interesting when McMurphy found out that most of the guys could just walk out and that he cannot. What happened in his head after that? Was he committing himself into the role of being the disruptive force that pushed the others out? He is a conman as Ratched identifies, but he is also more than that, but is he that willingly?

The introduction in the Penguin edition discussed the way the others and their need created him as the character he was, and I also find this theme present in Bromden’s whole deaf-mute thing - how he wasn’t heard and thought deaf, but once he started speaking again, no one was shocked or surprised. The power of expectations can make people blind to the anything else.

Sorry that this is just a bit of a dump of my initial thoughts. I would really just love to hear different reviews, opinions and thoughts!