Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' Turns 50

Carolyn Kellog at the Los Angeles Times takes a look back at Ken Kesey's great novel.

Kesey uses a risky narrative device. The story's told by Chief Bromden, a longtime mental patient who has been electroshocked and overmedicated, leaving his perception wavery and confused. At times lost between a dream state and reality, Chief is hampered by fear and his vision that the real world is controlled by a massive, metallic superstructure he calls the Combine. Everyone believes, incorrectly, that Chief is deaf and dumb; his perceived disability allows him to move essentially unseen throughout the ward, witnessing private conversations. This means he can tell us everything that's happening, although sometimes he tells it slant.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-cuckoos-nest-20120205,0,7458531.story