Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo by Ken Kesey

15 reviews

goemonxiii's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I know this book is controversial, but it's amazing nonetheless. Please read the content warnings before picking up this book as it does contain lots of racism, statutory, involuntary hospitalization, and internalized racism, among other difficult topics. Also the protagonist is really unlikable, though I believe the narrator makes up for this with how the book makes you want to root for him. Nonetheless, this book still manages to be great. It's a great look into mental asylums and the hidden abuse within them, and the plot is shocking with its twists and turns. It felt a bit longer to read, and it had its slower parts, but this is a book I would recommend to most people.

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lucius_gooseman's review against another edition

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5.0

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betag1013's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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cb1984's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Read for book club. Pretty sure I'd read it before, but with the film confusing things it's a bit hard to remember!

It's clearly a great book. There's a reason it's a classic. I guess I felt like the impact was a bit lessened with the plot being so familiar. It'll probably be a good one for book club discussion though.

I was going to say that there were elements that haven't aged well (the constant casual racism), but in some ways that actually helps develop some of the characters really well, in that it reveals some of their inner horribleness.

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hleary's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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savage_book_review's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was inspired to add this book to my TBR pile pretty much exactly a year ago, after watching the Netflix drama 'Ratched'. I enjoyed the series, but felt like I was missing something as I hadn't read the source material. Unfortunately, I'm still none the wiser.

I don't know what it is with me and books that are labelled 'classics', but I don't think I've found one yet that I've truly enjoyed. This was no exception - I just couldn't immerse myself in the story or even pick out moments of clarity that stuck with me. While I understand that this is written from the point of view of a mentally ill person confined to a hospital ward, and by choosing this narrator the author has allowed the reader to experience the 'fog' of confusion and twisted logic experienced daily by the patients, it's rambling relaying of events left me more lost than confused. I followed the general plot, but had no inclination to take more care with my reading to study the text and events in depth.

From a modern perspective, the methods outlined in the story are clearly not the right way to treat mental illness. But then I queried whether several of the characters illnesses were all that acute anyway. Yes, some people (the narrator included) clearly did have delusions or other issues that may require in-patient care, but there seemed so little character building on much of the supporting cast that it felt like they were there purely to pad out the cast list.

I guess the author's main aim was to try and make the reader consider whether McMurphy's illness was feigned or genuine. He reminds me a little of Campbell Bain in 'Takin' Over The Asylum' (although I'm sure in reality the latter was in some way influenced by the former); a manic depressive who, after a moment of inspiration, starts to subvert the normal order of things within his environment. But this right here sums up how hard I found the book to relate to; if I'm drawing parallels with the works of David Tennant (rather than just picturing him as my leading man), then you know my mind has wandered to a better place!

I also can't understand where this reputation for Nurse Ratched being one of literature's great villains has come from. To me, she seems like a no-nonsense, firm but fair person who is doing her best to do what must be an incredibly difficult job without letting it affect her, and doing what she thinks is best for her patients based in the knowledge of the time. Yes, it's clear that McMurphy gets under her skin and she does start to become a little vindictive about punishing him for his transgressions, but I just can't equate that with the totally twisted person I had been expecting going into this. I can only suspect that it's because the story is written through the male gaze at a time when women in positions of authority were rare and dangerous creatures...

Not what I was expecting or hoping for, and quite underwhelmed. Never mind. I tried.

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