One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Chief Bromden, a large Native American patient who has been feigning deafness and muteness for years on a locked ward, narrates the arrival of Randle Patrick McMurphy, a loud Irish-American con man who pled insanity to dodge a prison work farm. McMurphy immediately sets himself against the coolly tyrannical Nurse Ratched, organizing card games, fishing trips, and a women-smuggling night, and the cost of his revolt escalates steadily toward lobotomy. Ken Kesey, who worked the night shift on a real ward, used the hospital as a parable for postwar conformity and for the machinery he called the Combine.
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What you might want to know about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A loud, charming convict named McMurphy fakes mental illness to dodge a work farm and lands on a ward run by the cold Nurse Ratched, where his rebellion changes the men who live under her.
Yes. Milos Forman directed a 1975 film adaptation starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. The film won all five major Academy Awards (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Adapted Screenplay), only the second film to do so.
Yes. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has been frequently challenged in American schools, primarily for language, sexual content, and depictions of mental illness. It remains widely taught in literature courses.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was written by Ken Kesey, published in 1962 by EMI.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is 311 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a standalone novel by Ken Kesey, not part of a series.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
