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A review by alannabarras
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
3.0
I can't say I enjoyed this book, although I certainly don't regret reading it either. It's an old book and it feels old as you first start it, with remarkable sexism and racism jarring in its casual inclusion. I actually had to double check - this was written in the 60s, more recently then it felt like it should have been written, just because I want to believe that level of overt racism/sexism couldn't have been so recent.
Very little happens in the first half of the book, and due to the unreliable narrator it's very hard to identify with any of the character. I struggled through the first half because of this, although once the main character started coming out of the fog in the second half everything picked up both pace and intensity. I respected how Kesey wrapped it all up as well, I thought he did a very good job walking the line between too dark or tying everything up in a neat bow.
Instead of reading I listened to the John C Reilly audiobook, and he did an excellent job, differentiating characters with voices or accents. He also has a very pleasant narrator voice, so I hope he does more books in the future.
Very little happens in the first half of the book, and due to the unreliable narrator it's very hard to identify with any of the character. I struggled through the first half because of this, although once the main character started coming out of the fog in the second half everything picked up both pace and intensity. I respected how Kesey wrapped it all up as well, I thought he did a very good job walking the line between too dark or tying everything up in a neat bow.
Instead of reading I listened to the John C Reilly audiobook, and he did an excellent job, differentiating characters with voices or accents. He also has a very pleasant narrator voice, so I hope he does more books in the future.