One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cuckoo's Nest is one of those books that I love rediscovering each time I teach it. My kids love it because of the rebellion, the sex, the craziness, and the fact that Kesey experimented with drugs which makes the Chief's hallucinations feel strangely real. I love this book for its commentary on what it is to be human and for the stark question about how we treat wounded people in our lives. Do we push them to the fringe of society because it's easier to not deal with people who struggle or do we ostracize them because they're not the "same" or "normal" (whatever normal is, right?!).

This time through the book I wanted to badly to tell Billy that he would be just fine. I hated the nurse so much I was actually seething when I finished reading one of the sections aloud to my classes. And I laughed over and over again despite being in front of thirty-plus teenagers at McMurphy's jokes. Sometimes I just can't help myself.