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Cover of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ken Kesey

  • 311 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 1962
  • 103 editions
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1 About this book

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel by Ken Kesey published in 1962. Set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital, the narrative serves as a study of institutional processes and the human mind, including a critique of psychiatry and a tribute to individualistic principles. It was adapted into the Broadway (and later off-Broadway) play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Dale Wasserman in 1963. Bo Goldman adapted the novel into a 1975 film of the same name directed by Miloš Forman, which won five Academy Awards.

Time magazine included the novel in its "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005" list. In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's 200 "best-loved novels."

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Good for readers who want: a classic, satire, and friendship.

  • Classics
  • Psychological fiction
  • Satire
  • Friendship
  • Allegories
  • Medical novels
  • Psychiatric hospital patients
  • People with mental illness

2 About Ken Kesey

1935–2001

Kenneth Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist, and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado, and grew up in Springfield, Oregon, graduating from the University of Oregon in 1957.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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