One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest cover art

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

50th Anniversary Edition

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About this listen

 A fiftieth-anniversary edition of Ken Kesey's searing American classic.

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Turning conventional notions of sanity and insanity on their heads, the novel tells the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the story through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them all imprisoned.

Hailed upon its publication as "a glittering parable of good and evil" (The New York Times Book Review) and "a roar of protest against middlebrow society's Rules and the invisible Rulers who enforce them" (Time), Kesey's powerful book went on to sell millions of copies and remains as bracing and insightful today as when it was first released. This new deluxe hardcover edition commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the original publication of the novel on February 1, 1962, and will be a must have for any literature lover.

 Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Fiction

Critic reviews

"A work of genuine literary merit . . . What Mr. Kesey has done in his unusual novel is to transform the plight of a ward of inmates in a mental hospital into a glittering parable of good and evil."
--The New York Times Book Review

"[A] brilliant first novel . . . a strong, warm story about the nature of human good and evil . . . Keysey has made his book a roar of protest against middlebrow society's Rules and the invisible Rulers who enforce them."
--Time

"The final triumph of these men at the cost of a terrifying sacrifice should send chills down any reader's back. . . . This novel's scenes have the liveliness of a motion picture."
--The Washington Post

"An outstanding book . . . [Kesey's] characters are original and real. . . . This is a tirade against the increasing controls over man and his mind, yet the author never gets on a soap box. Nor does he forget that there is a thin line between tragedy and comedy."
--Houston Chronicle
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Most relevant
Brilliant story and excellent narrator , marked down because of the god awful random Indian music. Stop putting music in audio books keep it to plays and performances or tell me it has music in and save my time

why the god awful music?

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I've read the book a number of times and watched the movie several times but listening to John C. Reilly read it was the best way to experience this wonderful story. His range of characterisations was a treat to hear. Definitely one of the best audio books I have experienced.

Beyond excellent

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I really loved this audiobook. John c Reilly really brought the characters to life in a whole new way. Which I felt was brilliant and it was very very well narrated.

excellent

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Great narration. The story seen through the chief's eyes. Haunting, funny, hopeless yet also hopeful. I found the occasional music enhanced it

Brilliant

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Loved the book, loved the film and I love the audio book. Fantastic narration - really brought the story to life

Classic story and great narration

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