Product Description
The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Following the astonishing success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey wrote what Charles Bowden calls "one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century." This wild-spirited tale tells of a bitter strike that rages through a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers. Out of the Stamper family’s rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (128)

A Step Back In Time
I've read this book at least a dozen times since my first reading at age 14. I get something new from it each time that I never saw before.I must be on my third or fourth copy of it, and I'll probably purchase the Kindle version for my Blackberry.I bought my first copy after seeing the movie at our local theater (I also own the VHS verson of the film).

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest during the sixties and seventies.I knew people and families like the characters that enhabit this novel--in fact I'm related to many folks who greatly resembled the characters.Tough, strong, independent people who took of themselves and their families and came through the hard times battered and bruised, but standing tall; that's who the Stampers are, and that's who the people of Wakonda are.Ken Kesey knew these people well, and each character is well defined and true to their time and place.This world no longer exists, and I appreciate the opportunity to relive that time through this book. I've often admired Mr. Kesey's ability to describe the land, the geography, the weather and the people of the land that I love so much.I could never describe it as powerfully as he has in this work.

The story is told through the eyes of several character, and sometimes it can be hard to follow; but, if you have the time and focus to give this book, the read is well worth it.

The Great American Novel has already been written
I find it interesting that the initial reviews for Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion, in '64, were almost overwhelmingly negative. Perhaps the book was so ahead of its time, it took people a while to come to terms with just how wonderful and enveloping this book really is.

This is one of the few novels that actually held me in such awe that I had to stop reading for a few moments periodically, or I'd become too overwhelmed with emotion, due to the pure beauty in Kesey's prose. When he describes a "honker" flying past the river in the Redwoods, you can smell, hear, see, and feel all the sights and sounds surrounding you. It took almost no effort on my part, compared to contemporaries such as Pynchon, who's great in his own way, but at times can be mentally draining when trying to visualize just what the heck is going on.

I urge everyone to stick it out through the first 80-100 pages or so, as the constant POV shifting, sometimes in mid-paragraph, can take a little getting used to. But trust me, once you let go and just go with the flow, I guarantee you'll be absolutely immersed in the world of the Stamper clan, and will most likely never forget these characters. I know I never will. And I know I'll never read another novel that's affected me as much as this one has.

One of the best books ever....
I loved every minute of this book.Ken Kesey paints such a grand & richly textured picture with this one.Just brilliant, one of the best books I've ever read, definitely a favorite...

Review posted on The Literate Man [...] on July 8, 2010
That this greatest work of iconic, if underappreciated, American author, Ken Kesey, is not more widely read is one of the great tragedies of modern American literary culture.Kesey is generally best known for his groundbreaking 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and his role as the leader of the cross country- and LSD-tripping Merry Pranksters, whose exploits were famously chronicled by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.Both are excellent works and well worth a read, especially if you have interest in either the Beat Generation (whose individualistic ideals and perspective Kesey largely inherited) or the drug-fueled love-fest of West Coast America in the 1960's and 70's.But any lover of great literature, particularly great American literature, and particularly particularly great male American literature, is doing himself a serious disservice by ignoring what is undoubtedly Kesey's greatest work, Sometimes a Great Notion.

The novel chronicles the Stamper family of Oregon, whose fiercely-independent and hard-scrabble life is played out among the teeming, danger-filled forests that they log and on the banks of the Wakonda River, whose waters have eroded the land about the Stamper family home to the point that the live on a virtual island.Like the setting, the characters are well-drawn and endlessly interesting, from the half-crazed patriarch, Henry Stamper, to the physically brutal but dependable eldest son, Hank Stamper, to the patient loyalty and creeping desire of Hank's wife, Vivian Stamper, to the softer intellectual person of Leland Stamper, the estranged half-brother of Hank who returns to the family logging business just as the Stampers stand off against powerful union interests, which demand that the family shut down operations to support an ongoing loggers strike.

But it is not just the compelling story of rugged individualism and fierce family loyalty that makes this perhaps the greatest novel ever written in American Literature (and we say perhaps only because we have not read them all).Kesey also innovates in style, using a technique of multiple first-person, stream of consciousness accounts of thought and action to bring the gritty characters to life.The points of view move from person to person furiously over the course of a single page and the reader can imagine the 72-hour amphetamine-fueled stints that Kesey admitted to in his writing of it.Whatever your criticisms of his technique, the effect is pure artistry--a symphony of action and emotion that builds to a crescendo that pits the Stamper family against all the arrayed forces of man and nature.

We have no problem placing this book at the top of our list of books for men and recommend it above all others for its incredible story and innovative style.

A Masterpiece
I believe this to be the greatest American novel of the second half of the 20th century. Not an easy read, but immeasurably rewarding. A towering literary accomplishment. Make the time, take the time, and you will be the richer for it. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

save your money
Reading "Acid Christ" I learned more about Mark Christensen than I ever cared to know.If you're looking for a good solid biography of Ken Kesey,as I was,this is not your book.The book is more of a self-memoir than it is a biography and Mr. Kesey is a backdrop for Christensen to tell his own story. It's also pretty badly written.Hopefully,someday,something better than this will come out as Ken Kesey is one of the few seminal figures of the 1960's who doesn't have a definative biography written about them.

IMPORTANT TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
I read ACID CHRIST early as I was lucky enough to be given a galley. And of course, the Palahniuk endorsement didn't hurt: I dove in eagerly.

To this reading, my familiarity with Ken Kesey was, well, as the author who had written the novel on which one movie was based. I found Christensen's remarkably fluid, "you are there" style mesmerizing.ACID CHRIST paints an absorbing, colorful, intelligently critical portrait of an artist who not only embraced counter-culture--indeed represented it to many--but whose entire trajectory was counterintuitive.As a testament to the effectiveness of ACID CHRIST in keeping the discussion going, I've since gone back to read ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, and read sections from THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST.There's tremendous value to me as a reader when a new book sparks a new path of investigation.Clearly, Ken Kesey remains controversial, insightful, inciting, and exciting.Bravo.What else to we read books for but to take a look through a new window and see a new path...?

A Lasting Contribution to the Kesey Legend
Acid Christ is destined to be a principal reference for the life and times of Ken Kesey. The book isn't a typical reference volume, however. Imagine Salvador Dali decorating a cake. He takes everything known or speculated about one of the 20th Century's cultural icons, stuffs it into a decorating bag, and squeezes it out into a new, enlightening, mind-blowing design.

Christensen uses a frenetic, telegraphic style, infused with pop culture references, to condense an 800-page story into 400. Acid Christ has more cool pop culture references than 400 episodes of The Simpsons. It starts on page 1 and doesn't let up. (...a book as thick as a Bible or a brick...). How about "a Houdini of pretzel logic"? Open the book to any random page and you'll find one. (Kesey's brother from another planet...Hidden persuaders under every rock...Paranoia had yet to strike deep...a four minute mile on the road not taken...) The references aren't just a gimmick. They are subliminal memory triggers, code for those of us who lived through the times. (Christensen, incidentally, acknowledges Simpsons creator Matt Groening as "maybe the most successfully subversive American of all.")

You may need a cultural gazetteer to help identify some obscure noteworthies, such as Carol Doda, Mad Man Muntz, DB Cooper, Lord Buckley, Bronco Nagurski, Eddie Haskell, or Charlie Atlas.

As I read the book I was thankful that Christensen included some of his own reminiscences. On the West Coast at least, you couldn't be under 30 without feeling some kind of Kesey influence. Christensen details early-life crises coming of age in distant Portland. His memoir chapters are an amusing adjunct to the main story, in particular his hilarious take on the Sexual Revolution as experienced by the tall & tan & young & loony child of suburbia and Kesey-inspired aspiring novelist.

As James Ellroy says, Acid Christ is "A cool read about a mysterious icon." For the most part, it's a meticulously researched exploration of all things Kesey. The opening chapters are are a beautifully written meditation on Kesey's place in American culture and the societal forces at play during the '50 and early '60s. "Not that many of us hadn't felt inspired and betrayed before. By our fathers--the Greatest Generation who'd sold their white collar souls to the executive chain gang, who felt like slaves to their own children and resented sons not thankful to be drowning in their largesse; by the church, whose Norman Rockwell Jesus did not speak to Zap Comics souls; and by the state, desperate for AK-47 fodder in Vietnam."

Kesey didn't know it yet, but he was primed to write a new story for a new America. In his first literature class, Kesey had no use for Hemingway's food symbolism (hardened bacon fat), let alone the pickled herring in The Sun Also Rises. Kesey was already ready to reinvent the novel on his own terms.

Writing a life of Kesey is an ambitious project. Where does a writer get the gaul to even try? I guess arm-wrestling Kesey to a draw (which Christensen did) was a start. How do you begin to tackle one of the 20th Century's most enigmatic characters? It's clear that Christensen didn't set out to glorify or denigrate the man. There are no scandalous revelations typical of so many celebrity biographies. Kesey was too complicated a personality for any kind of simplistic rendition (Kesey's mind was addled by drug abuse. Really? That simple?). If a balanced assessment can be achieved, Acid Christ comes close. More than anything, you take away Christensen's unbounded admiration and sympathy for the Great Man.

Acid Christ follows the Kesey story all the way to the bitter end. A great man broken and beaten down by booze and his own excesses. In the end it's a sad story not so much because the world was disappointed in Kesey but maybe because Kesey was so disappointed in the world.

Sleazy, Trash, Yes. The Truth,NO.
I read this book.I've known Ken since 1970 and for the last few years of his life I was his office manager.My part in the HooHaw's was to create the running poetry fence. A three by one hundred foot piece of cardboardthat everyone could write their poetry or whatever came to mind.
I don't remember meeting Mark Christensen but I can tell you he was no intimate or close friends of Ken's.
Most of what Mark writes about, was and could have been gleaned by a high schooler writing a mid-term paper.He wasn't around except for a day or two.
Did he talk toMountian girl, George Walker or Ken Babbs,No.So just who did he get all his information from.

Mark seems to be trying to elevate himself on the back of a true genius.BUT, he doesn't have the writing skills.
I tried to give this book away but after hearing my review not one of my friends would take it.
I agree with Lawrence Siskind when he says, "I could go on and on, but you get the point. Read Acid Christ if you must, but do not let it shape your view of Kesey and his historical era.

Personal Beauty
An EPIC history filtered through the POWERFUL mind of a True Fan. I LOVED Acid Christ!!! Gobbled the whole thing up. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A sterling collection of shorter works
This collection of writings chronicling Kesey's life in the decades following his dual notoriety as leader of the Merry Pranksters and one of the brightest literary lights of his generation is full of surprises.Kesey pulls no punches in outlining how the golden dream of the '60s turned to ashes over time, with many of its symbolic leaders falling away.He spares no one, least of all himself, in these pages.

And yet, this is not a grim or depressing read.Detailing with tremendous humor and gusto his journeys to China and Egypt, as well as offering poignant observations on the passing of personal heroes like John Lennon and Neal Casssdy, Kesey emerges as a fully realized person whose flaws only make him more fascinating.

While Demon Box can hardly compare to a towering masterwork like Sometime a Great Notion, it is a deeply rewarding book.One that can be revisited on numerous occasions with enhanced, not diminished, enjoyment.

kesey from the sixties to the eighties
ken kesey is one of my favorite authors. sometimes a great notion is one the best novels i have ever read. after reading the electric kool aid acid test, demon box is a logical followup.

this series of short stories has highs and lows. the very best is now we know how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall. written about the death of john lennon, kesey, through interactions with people immediately before, at the time of,and immediately after the murder, shows the transition of culture from the sixties to the eighties. the death of lennon is the end of the dream of the sixties. it alone is worth the purchase of the book.

another great story is the tranny man over the border. its most interesting part deals with kesey's father.

a story about his farm animals, abdul and ebenezer, is hilarious.

this book gives the kesey fans a better understanding of the man, his family, and his friends.

Kesey's semi-autobiography
Using Kerouac's technique of writing autobiographical fiction (the events may be true, but the names have been changed), Kesey presents DEMON BOX, a series of short shorties and vinettes depicting his life on his farm in Oregon.

Relating a variety of experiences, ranging from scary hangers on to adventures with farm animals, and fallout from the drug haze of the '60's, Kesey vividly captures specific times and places. His humor, characterization and descriptions of geographical space (my native Oregon)all remain intact and on a level with his finest work.

Some vinettes are obviously more memorable than others and often the writing seems unfocused and in need of editing.

This is really a small matter considering that this is the closest to a autobiography the world will ever get. DEMON BOX certainly makes for a strong and worthwhile read.

amazing in places
ken kesey is my favourite author, his books just beg to be read and this was no exception. it's a collection of short stories and so of course it's not all going to be great, though the parts you least expect to like are for the best part the highlight of the book. the story about killer, the stories written from the viewpoint of his grandmother and the return to the mental ward which was the inspiration for one flew over the cuckoos nest are all great stories and there are so many others. read and enjoy. prepare to be baffled, confused and dumbstruck but above all prepare to be taken to other places, better times and marvel in the genius that was ken kesey. may he rest in peace.

Kesey, gone but not forgotten
The passing of Kesey last month led me to the Demon Box. I immediately fell under his spell...again. His classic third person writings are on glorious display here. Most short story collections usually are interspersed with good and bad and that is the case here. However, the good ones are great and Kesey has turned me on once again with his psycho-traumas. Kesey proves he is the best at stream of conscience writing. From the bulls on his farm to John Lennon on the night he died to his reluctance to revisit the ward, Kesey very neatly puts it all in perspective. A truly enjoyable read. He will be missed. ... Read more

Product Description
Four years after the legendary 1964 bus trip immortalizedin Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Ken Kesey beganserving time in San Mateo County Jail for pot possession. Transferredto an experimental low-security "honor camp" in the redwood forest, hespent six months clearing brush and immersing himself in the life ofthe jail community, attempting to "bring light and color" to it."This is crazier here than the nuthouse ever was," Kesey noted, andproceeded to record the scene in numerous notebooks, illustrated withintense and brilliantly colored artwork.

Upon returning to Oregon, Kesey turned the raw notebook material intoan illustrated collage that stretched across dozens of 18" x 23"boards. Upon realizing that publication of the elaborate, handwrittenbook was more than his publisher was willing to attempt, he put itaside. Almost thirty years later he returned to the project andbrought it to completion during the final years of his life. Fans ofKen Kesey's singular American voice will rejoice to hear it again inthis unique and long-overdue volume. Those unfamiliar with Kesey'sartwork are in for a revelation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

If I was a cop ....
Ken Kesey was quoted after handing out free acid at a concert, "All I could think of, if I were a cop, is I wouldn't know where to begin." That is characteristic of his life in general - where to begin. A star wrestler in college, a writer who captured a generation's rebellious spirit, head of the merry pranksters and an artist at large. I have been keeping journals for over a decade now and if anyone is interested in what I aspire to, just look at this book. His art work is almost as great as his writing. If you are to buy it, buy it for the art work, because the writing is more Beat - stream or ... steam of consciousness. It has some rather good insights at times and then there are the ramblings that a jail sentence could only produce. The lettering particularly captures the 60's style, but the work is something to enjoy. Done with water colors and colored pencils he achieves some distinction as an artist. If you are an aging hippy and want to keep a journal, this should be your paragon.

Ken Kesey's time in jail
This tall tale from the late sixties concerns Ken Kesey's six month stint in jail, his 'straight time'.

In some respects this journal is a art deco paisley snapshot of an uncomfortable moment in Kesey's life. Like Leary, Ken had a good time tuning in, turning on, and dropping out, but the sub-text of this cheerily defiant counter-culture rave, like the poem at the beginning of Demon Box, is that he paid for it dearly.

That aside, Ken's writing in the jail journal as in Demon Box, was pretty damn good. Reading his clean, wry, and self-reflective prose, I wish he had continued to turn out this kind of writing (Perhaps he did?). One can only imagine the blog he would have put out.

In short, popular culture depicts the later Kesey as a kind of burnt out counter-culture warrior but these two bits of writing suggest otherwise.

An Immediate Work of Art, An Important Piece of History
The main question examined in this boisterous, original work of art is when you should "hold your mud."Ken Kesey - Hippie Number One - spent the summer of love incarcerated for a drug conviction. He was America's most promising young novelist when he announced that he was taking an indefinite break from writing novels. His first creative work after this was an unfinished marathon film of a bus ride to Furthur. What he produced next was an amalgam: a personal collage that grabs the reader's eyes and heart on every page.

If Kesey's Jail Journal had been published in its entirety when it was finished, (instead of decades later with some pages lost to prison guards) it probably would have been a sensation. At least it would have gotten a wide audience to see how a blend of images and words could be more immediately affecting and powerful than straight prose. Most pages of printed text are accompanied by that text incorporated into a collage drawing he made in jail. These pages appear like displays of Japanese Calligraphy at the Met. The words are given extra meaning by how they are presented visually.

His illustrations are disarming and masterful. The accompanying text tells easily understood stories in simple, poetic prose. These are seemingly small snippets of life, but Kesey uses them to demonstrate the power structures, personal motivations, and racial tensions underlying every interaction. Kesey wants to create, be free and play - but he must hold his mud enough to keep from losing all of his privileges; along with the book that he is making - which begins to have an importance of its own.

Every page of this book is an ode to the artistic spirit. In prison and at a work camp, Kesey has to contend with the whims of guards and their rules in order to keep his book alive as he creates it. On some pages, he has more varied materials to draw with than on others. The dance between Kesey's creative impulse and the repression of the state institution plays out within and above the book.The effect is a touching display of creativity rising above the obstacles it encounters.

Anyone who wants to have a discussion or book group on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" should read this genre-busting book. From the institutional setting; from the imprisoned individuals who have transgressed society's mores; from the blunt way rules are imposed on the deficient; from the wily, red-haired, Oregonian protagonist; from the detailed look at the daily mechanisms of an on-going power structure; all the way down to the farcical (and mandatory) group meetings: there are numerous parallels to Kesey's first novel.

But this was Kesey's real life, not McMurphy's fictional morality play. Kesey has a wife and kids on the outside. He does not reach a point (like McMurphy does in "Cuckoo") where he sees a moral imperative to throw himself into a bitter and mortal struggle on behalf of his fellow inmates. In his Jail Journal, the real Kesey is careful to hold his mud: keeping a lid on his emotions, allowing guards to paint over his decorated shed, at times hiding and smuggling his book.

While he looks out for himself, he looks out at others and provides touching portraits of interesting characters he meets.

Kesey is a master at understanding power and how it is used and abused. His Jail Journal (which the publisher, holding his mud, calls "Kesey's Jail Journal" instead of its real title, "Cut the M************ Loose") is a universal description of the struggle of the individual against the institution. (played out externally against the power structure's guardians and within the individual who pits his courage and principles against his pragmatic self-preservation)

It is also an important document of its time. Kesey sees and unflinchingly displays the divisiveness of race - the veneer of calm on the surface with root conflicts simmering below. Kesey also demonstrates the distrust of the establishment towards drugs, and how conservatives viciously defended the status quo on day-to-day behavior in the sixties. His fate and his evolving ideals serve an important counter-point to the standard tales of reckless freedom and blindness to consequence that are often set in the summer of 1967.

Highly recommended.

a little piece of furthur..
i love the artwork in this book - and keyz's letter to a friend named jerry at 710 ashbury street certainly doesn't hurt at luring your attention.. i bet even if you couldn't read you could find something stimulating about this book - check it out

Very interesting narrative from a great writer
I recently saw the original Jail Journal on display in Eugene, Oregon at an art museum.It was filled with excellent illustrations (very 60s, of course) and some wonderful diary entries by Kesey (who really has a way with words).I had a great time reading the pages, which were arranged on the walls in order, and am going to be pruchasing this book so I can have a version at home to look at in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
In Alaska to film a famous children's book, the crew of a big-bucks Hollywood production company encounters a tribe of people who have had little contact with whites. By the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Interesting, but not his best
While I found this book interesting, it doesn't rise to the level of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" or "Sometimes a Great Notion."The book was interesting, but then tails off at the end.The ending was rather ant-climatic and leaves several story lines hanging.It presents a rather bleak view of the future from an environmental stand point for sure.It would also seem he has a rather low opinion of most of humanity based on his characters in this and the previously mentioned two books.Unfortunately I would tend to agree with him on that.

Terrible dissappointment
Firstly, this is a science fiction book by Ken Kesey. That's a bit odd. There are quite a few characters in the book, some of whom are not very well sketched out. There are several odd plot lines that develop, a handful of which get some closure. What really happens is that several possibilities are outlined, and then I guess Ken just got tired and decided to just end the book. Bam! It's done. Some new story line pops up and within a handful of pages the whole book is dropped suddenly to a close. It did have a decent start and, although it was a bit bombastic, had some appealing moments. But I would *not* recommend this book. Especially if you've read other Kesey books.

Sailor Song: Where Art & Life Meet in the End
Up front: I'm a long-time fan of Ken's -- including the videos, the CDs, and his classic periodical SPIT IN THE OCEAN. I liked SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION a lot better as a book than a film. So that's where I'm coming from...

SAILOR SONG is superb, remarkable and unmatched in contemporary literature. Ken's grasp of the human condition is extraordinary: man/woman, inter-family, small town, international, global, you name it and Ken's got it in SAILOR SONG. It's an easier read than NOTION, but not as clearcut as NEST.

So many posts here question the ending; not me. I trust Ken ended this the way he saw fit, like the master he was. Life doesn't end cleanly, even though it begins with promise and evolves with careful plot. I don't think any other writer has addressed the scenario of the poles shifting, so while this isn't quite an "end of the world" tale, surely it's clear why Ken dubbed this his science fiction novel.

The characters are unforgettable, and yes the novel reads like a screenplay because it is so extraordinarily vividly written. There are plot twists and curlicues galore -- that's the skill and scope of Kesey coming across. SAILOR SONG, like his other novels, is brimming with quotable phrases and passages that ache for outboarding and inclusion in BARTLETT'S BOOK OF QUOTATIONS. He's that good.

The scenario overall is unforgettable, and the pace is so beguiling that despite the novel's length; when it was over my ONLY regret was that there wasn't more superb literature to keep me riveted. If you are anxious to be engaged, challenged and rewarded by a book time and again, savor SAILOR SONG to the last drop. There ain't no dregs here, just sweet wonderful language coming from a mind without equal. Ken's passing last November was a loss without measure, but we readers are blessed with these words. Enjoy!

The Deuce steps in... just like real life
Ken Kesey's recent passing made me look back at my favorite books of his and fellow trafficker in the anti-Divine Jack Kerouac and somehow I revisited SAILOR SONG first.The New York TIMES didn't like it when it was published in '93 but I recall thinking "They're just not on the bus... DUHHHH" and bought it anyway.The ride was stellar, and it still is.Kesey's tale of the last bunch of individualist crazies at the end of America (and the world too) has its flaws, and I agree with the other online reviews you will read here: the end has a deus ex machina look to it (not that one character, the bookish Billy the Squid, doesn't red-flag the reader with a warning mid-on; a spectacularly nervy aside), the romance subplot is a bit shaky, the air of the novel smacks of the NORTHERN EXPOSURE television show from a few years back, the end of Bad Guy Nick Levertov is not as well-described as it might be... but the central theme of a moneyed juggernaut sailing into an untamed, delightfully-chaotic-because-it's-meant-to-be backwater of America (whatever, as Jack K. said in his dedication in VISIONS OF CODY, that is) strikes a chord on my piano.In SAILOR SONG two halves of America (Babbitt versus Walt Whitman) collide, and thanks to the success of the Babbitt half over many years (the befouling of the natural world) the payback interrupts the flow of the novel.Another nervy trick from the old Prankster, but for me it works.Because as we can see from the disrupted weather patterns of the last 20 years, we are going to be in a similar situation very shortly.And Kesey's description of Mother Nature's payback to the human race is the best thing in the book. Well, not quite, but close.Ike Sallas is the tired hero, letting things swirl around him, stepping in at exactly the wrong moment to little effect, and his very ineffectuality is what makes him as real as he is here (most especially when he finds he has fans who take up his cudgel for him in the immediate vicinity).And the asides, some of them borrowed from Walt Kelly ("From here on down it's uphill all the way"), the Grateful Dead, Tom Pynchon, Rudyard Kipling, and Jack
Kerouac himself, all widen the scope into an 'American saga'
(yes, one of those) which may not be ON THE ROAD, but it isn't about finding oneslf by leaving.It's about finding oneself by living. A divine read. Thanks, Ken.

I need closure!
Even though Kesey still displays his personal talent for characterization and interest, this book wholly failed.

Why?The ending.

Yes, one can argue that it is the ride that makes the book, but a failed ending, nomatter what, can ruin even the most intruiging story.

It's not that Iconsider the ending of A Sailor Song to be horrible- it's the fact thatthere seems to be no ending in the first place.Like Seinfeld, I needclosure!

Even for the ultimate failing, this book still deserves atwo-star rating, if only for the story of the Backatcha Bandit.Thecharacters are wonderful, and certainly unique to Kesey.From thereluctant hero to the mutt/Jamaican ladies' man, the characters arecertianly colorful enough to keep one's attention.

If it's Keseycharacters you want, I recommend this book- but don't expect an ending ofthe caliber of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest- or an ending at all, forthat matter. ... Read more

Product Description
A visually arresting deluxe edition of Ken Kesey's counterculture classic

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's 1962 novel has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Now in a new deluxe edition with a foreword by Chuck Palahniuk and cover by Joe Sacco, here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Excellent Read
Ken Kesey's novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a whirlwind of eccentricity and brilliance. In a plot that is completely character-driven, Kesey skillfully manipulates stock characters to reflect on larger ideas regarding the individual and his place in society (both on the ward, and at large). The evolution of character and self - highlighted by the "reality" of life on their ward - is fascinating; Kesey attempts to prove that insanity is a product of contemporary culture, and that reality is not as fixed as those in power would have the masses believe. I am currently teaching this novel in an introductory-level English class, and it has proved to be through-provoking and inspiring - even to students who otherwise have no interest in reading novels. This is a novel everyone should read at least once.

Ken Kesey refused to see the film of his book
On can understand how Ken Kesey would say, "I will not go to see what they did to my book." "They" was a crew led by Milos Forman and the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest", won all of the major Oscars that year: Best Picture, best director, best actress, best actor. Only one other time has a film done that-1992, "Silence of the Lambs" And it is interesting that both of these films differ who tells us the story from his own perspective-on of a very small and unimportant manner from the book in the same way.

"One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" is a book that sustains itself by allowing the reader to be inside the head of one of the characters and it is he, a very large Indian who everyone believes to be mute and deaf, that we learn about life in a mental health institution in the 1950's. The book is a masterpiece, an American Classic. So is the movie. both are remarkable works of art but if you have seen the film you have not read the book. And if you've only read the book, you've not seen the film. The two stories teach different things-or rather approaches different parts of our soul to teach the sam thing. I am not sure which. ... Read more

Product Description
These deluxe editions are packaged with French flaps, acid-free paper, and rough front.

"A glittering parable of good and evil . . . a work of genuine literary merit."--The New York Times

Other Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century:

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
My Antonia by Willa Cather
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
White Noise by Don DeLillo ... Read more

Customer Reviews (370)

Thrilling
This book was a great read. It kept me wondering what could possibly happen next. I would recommend everyone read this book.

Wonderful Modern Literature
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a wonderful read.It tells the story of a sane man committed to an insane asylum and its consequences.If nothing else, it certainly serves to question what is actually meant by insanity.Indeed, at times, the borderline between sanity and insanity is very grey.

Cuckoo's Nest tells the story of Randle McMurphy, a small time criminal who has determined that an institution for the insane is a better place than a prison and hard labour.However, his appearance at the asylum serves as the beginning of a series of events whereby the system is stressed but, in the end, grinds down the likes of McMurphy.No matter how hard he tries, McMurphy cannot beat the system.Ultimately, it is the system that wins.

Ken Kesey has written a roller coaster of a story.A ride of ups and downs that is really quite compelling.It is told by Chief Bromden, a half caste American Indian who feigns being deaf and dumb but is, nonetheless, a keen observer of events.But Bromden is not deaf and dumb.It is simply that people believe this to be the case.McMurphy is the only person who realizes his secret.

Rather than outline the plot here in greater detail, I recommend this book to all readers of modern literature.Yes, the system wins but, along the way, it is vigorously challenged.It is people like McMurphy who are the essence of a free society.They are prepared to sing out if the emperor has no clothes.

Chuck Palahniuk DID NOT WRITE THIS
This is a great book, one of my all time favorites. However, it is a little bothersome that when I look for it my Kindle its filed under Chuck Palahniuk, who is a fine author, but who also had NOTHING to do with this writing of this book.

Seriously, what the heck, you should fix that Amazon.

Love It
I love this book. I have really wanted to read this book for a while and I was not disappointed. The narrations of chief bromden are great and so real. Lots of nice symbolism well. I would recommend this book

Cuckoo... for cocoa puffs!
Okay, there's no Cocoa Puffs in here. But there's plenty of cuckoos. This was a really great book, lent to me by a friend. I'd heard of it (and seen the parody of it on the Simpsons) and enjoyed it from page one.

This is a interesting look in psychiatric/mental hospital care in the sixties. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened to Chief if he had been put in a mental hospital today - nearly fifty years' difference. It's amazing that at one point in time, electroshock therapy and lobotomies were considered acceptable therapy, but it's good that we don't have that anymore, especially lobotomies - look at what happened to poor Rose Kennedy.

Anyone who has spent time in a mental hospital in the last decade would be interested to read this book - they might even consider themselves lucky. The characters in here are well-crafted, and it's hard to not like McMurphy, and it was also cool to see the Chief slowly come out of his shell. The ending is sad in one way and satisfying in another, and this is a definite classic book. Heck, both the book AND the movie that came from it need to be read/viewed. Two thumbs up! ... Read more

Product Description
Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle 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 awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.

With a Preface and Illustrations by the author
Introduction by Robert Faggan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (76)

Poor condition
Be wary of general comments the sellers put in the description of their books!The comments indicated "slightly worn, minimal notes". The book I received was in very bad shape, there were so many comments written throughout the book that it was difficult to read the text!Very disappointed!

Insanity is Power
Kesey creates a world that should be surprisingly dissimilar to our own, but is not. The setting is located almost completely in a mental hospital. The world that is described might as well be the mirror image of our own society. His style and his relationship with the characters that he picks apart for us is astonishing.

Kesey is an amazing writer who digs deep into the character of "Chief" Bromden. He hints lightly at the experiments of the past and of the future that were performed and would be performed on patients in mental facilities around the world. One of the most common hints is to frontal lobotomies which becomes significant much later in the story. The horrid concept of a lobotomy is also accompanied by general authorial gestures to disorders. Some are obvious like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder while others can only be guessed at. The world outside the mental hospital, which tends not to be much different form the inside, is populated by nature but also a definitive presence of repetition, stagnation, annexation of creativity, and replicas. This theme is represented in the system that the mental hospital is run as.

Our narrator, "Chief" Bromden pretends to be deaf and dumb so that he can secretly acquire information during his stay, which is inexplicably long, on the ward. Unfortunately, what he does with that information is nothing. Even when McMurphy arrives and he begins to drag Bromden out of his shell he continues to stay quiet about the intel he gathers. He is quiet, sensitive to his surroundings when he's not hallucinating, yet unreliable because he cannot, at first, tell what is reality and what isn't. Frankly, I believe that this is never actually resolved since reality is a perspective, like an opinion, that not everybody shares the same truths to. At first he hallucinates repeatedly to escape from the problems of this world, the ward, and says at one point "You were safe from the enemy, but you were awfully alone." McMurphy, however, would change that.

Before getting into that, however, the system should be reviewed. The system should be run by the doctor but is instead run by the Big Nurse. Three "black boy's" are like her henchmen in the process. The boy's work like a tripod and can rarely function without the help of the other two. They are sinister but it's made clear that they should not be. The system outside of the mental hospital and the system inside run by Nurse Ratched created them.

Nurse Ratched is and should be hated by the reader. There is this love/fear/hate of Nurse Ratched when it comes to the perspective of the incarcerated psychotics on the ward. However, she is, in total, to be hated. She has a false smile slapped on her face constantly, embodies machinery and ice imagery, and encourages betrayal and absolute order on her ward. She digs into the minds of the weak like a needle and wiggles around in there until the world complies to her. However, Bromden and many of the other men on the ward soon realize that she should be pitied. It's a fleeting thought, but she should. She, like the black boys and the actual "psychotics", is a product of society. A product of the system. One of her main problems is that she tries to hide and subvert her feminism to get by in a masculine world and to hold all the power. She knows no other way of existing and that, in of itself, is sad. In a more obscure fashion, McMurphy attempts to not only help the men on the ward but also Nurse Ratched. She just fails to listen.

All this talk about a McMurphy character! He is our cure. He is what we secretly wish to be but can never have the courage or the strength to become. He looks at a system and laughs at it. He can show you who you are and never be wrong about it. He sees past the fogs of life to the point of the matter and drags it to the surface kicking and screaming because true reality is the ability to look at yourself and accept. He, unlike the system, is constantly moving and sociable. He does not stay stagnant and has this zest and rambunctious attitude that makes us wish we were kids again. His smile counteracts and ridicules Nurse Ratched's while reaffirming his stance on life.

Kesey does not speak of nature much in this novel. Nature is only painted during a few scenes and it is normally beautiful. McMurphy is the representation of nature throughout all other scenes. He is, literally, a force of nature. He is chaotic, unpredictable, often calm, sometimes storming, and he makes SENSE. In an insane world he is the pivotal point in which truth can be found. Because of this he turns into the father figure on the ward. It would not be a stretch to say he is Jesus-like. The boat scene is where he has 12 members following him, like 12 disciples, and he smiles and laughs watching them come into their own skin and realize their own potential. The men begin to depend on him and only at the last is their self-dependence being seen in the other characters. In truth, he helps them to stand on their own so that his bigness, as Bromden would put it, could be transferred to the others. Then they can make it their own and become who they need to be.

The novel is replete with descriptions worth rereading ten times over and a sense of awe and degradation and hope that is rarely combined in such an eloquent fashion. It follows a trend like Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and moves at about the same pace. Dystopia moves to Utopia but not without its losses and pain.

A little cuckoo

This novel was unlike anything I have ever read in the past. The narrator gives a different prospective from inside a 1960's mental institution.Chief Boredman is a veteran at the Oregon clinic. He is the silent eyes and ears of the place. Everyone else believes that he is dumb, blind and deaf,yet he watches everything.The ward is run by a very strict Nurse Ratched. Nobody defies her because of fear of electroshock therapy, which is looked down upon society yet still practiced in the ward. The whole dynamic of the ward changes when a gambling man named Randle McMurphy is admitted.The first rebellion takes place when McMurphy rebels against the television schedule. After this, McMurphy encourages others to follow his lead and rebel against Nurse Ratched. The changes McMurphy makes to some paitents allow them freedom and impendence. In another case, McMurphy damages and drives one patient to a more insane state than before.
For the most part I really enjoyed this novel.If I were to write this book I probably would have had a happier ending.Positively thinking, it would have been a better ending if McMurphy and the patients rebelled against Nurse Ratched and won.Also, if McMurphy didn't get drunk and fall asleep the whole plan to escape would have worked out a lot better. This is upsetting and I wish this would have worked out better in the end. I would recommend this book to people interested in psychology. A certain maturity age must also be required to enjoy this novel. This being, kids in high school will definitely appreciate One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. - s.rozycki

It's The Truth Even If It Didn't Happen
This novel is a poignant and striking reminder of just how blurry the lines between sanity and insanity can become. Few books are able to allow the readers full access into a man's mind in a way that makes them lose themselves, but this one does so in an achingly simple way. It will leave you with little sense of satisfaction, but with that sensation of wonder and regret that you feel after reading a book that you know may well be one of the best you will ever read. I dare you to read this book without letting it gnaw at your understanding of freedom, or sanity, or yourself. But One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel that you must experience, one you must sit with and absorb, before trying, if you must, to make any concrete sense of it. And we, as readers, must allow ourselves, and our sanity, to be lost as we read. You may just find, as I did, that in doing so you begin to see the sanity in a group of men who are, undoubtedly, insane.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest takes place in a ward of an Oregon mental institution. The book is narrated by Chief Bromden, a half-Native-American who is so used to being ignored that he allows himself to be mistaken for deaf and dumb for years. The novel tells the story of what happens when the ward, run by the brutal and tyrannical Nurse Ratched, is turned upside-down by the arrival of R.P. McMurphy. McMurphy feigns insanity in order to be transferred from a work farm to the mental institution. Though Bromden is the narrator, the protagonist is clearly McMurphy, whose larger-than-life attitude and refusal to accept society's terms make him something of a celebrity on the ward. His battle against Nurse Ratched and her sadistic staff, puppets of society's machine that Chief Bromden calls the "Combine," begins to change the other patients, and, if you let it, just may change you, too.

This novel takes you on a journey with a group of men who, though labeled insane by the outside world, are insightful, enlightening, and engaging. In reading it, you will discover a world of sadism, cruelty, and an odd sort of beauty, all through a somewhat jarring juxtaposition of poetic language with the cold, concrete atmosphere of the ward. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel in which the lines between reality and the surreal aren't just blurred - they're not there to begin with. "But," Bromden says in the beginning of the novel,"it's the truth even if it didn't happen."

Great book
This was one of those books u read every 5 years or so . Being a reader , I read a lot and most of it is the same commercial books that may be fun but don't say a lot in terms of anything new . Highly recommended , observant , and more to the point : smart and original . ... Read more

Product Description
The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and an American Book Award-winning artist relate Tricker's battle to outsmart Big Double, who descends from the mountains one morning to terrorize the creatures of Topple's Bottom. Reprint. AB. SLJ. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Little Tricker The Greatest Book Ever
I Love Little Tricker Meets Big Double the Bear.I am Borderline obsessed with it.After Reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest I wanted to find more Ken Kesey books and I read that Little Tricker was the book he was most proud of.I had to have it and when I got it I was not disappointed.The prose is perfect, the pictures stand alone and the story is epitome of an american tall tale.Big Double would give Paul Bunyan a run for his money and Little Tricker is as clever as a fox with a shady past.I want to read it to my daughters every night.They are a little tired of it and say "Dadddy this is a kid's book and your a grown man."But I point out right there on the inside of the cover it says "For All Ages"....and it is.

A Children's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo;'s Nest"
This is a wonderful children's story in itself. I had it read to me (suprisingly) my Senior year in high school and I have fallen in love with it ever since. What is amazing about the this book is it takes very adult themes and puts them in terms children can understand without exposing the true horrors of man. And even more amazing is the paralells to Kesey's more famous novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." For example is Tricker the Squirrel not earily similar to McMurphy? And isn't Big Double the Bear a little too much like Nurse Ratched? But that is why this is such a beautiful book.A great book to read aloud to children and an even better one to read to yourself as an adult.

Read-aloud Pizzazz well received by 3rd Grade class
Looking for a smart, funny, verbal frenzy to delight school-age audiences?This one is a MUST DO!Reading it with carte blanche playfulness a la "Southrin' Stah-yle" you will have as much FUN reading this one aloud as any of your listeners.Don't forget to glance up now and then to see all the twinkling eyes.I read this two years ago and maybe stunned the 1st graders into silence with the roaring of the bear but the 3rd grade today quickly piped in the chorus of "...EAT...YOU... UP!!" (heavy emphasis on the "puh!") Dare I say more fun than sharing the stories of Brer' Rabbit?Same vein, but updated/smarter/slicker with Kesey's savvy vocabulary. (4.9 AR level - or, "fourth grade, ninth month" for independent readers).Anyone who loves language, acting, humorous moral tales will LOVE this one.

Absolutely perfect
The illustrations are drop-dead gorgeous but the story really steals the show.My husband and I are always quoting from this one--"and then I'm gonna DRINK SOME BUTTERMILK!"I love the dialect and thewonderful similies ("like an elevator up a greasy groove"). Can't wait to have kids so I can read it to them.

A great read-aloud!
I loved reading this book to kids in the library. It has tons of great adjectives. It's full of fun and keeps kids guessing as to 'what will happen next?' I want to own this book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Superb Conceptions of Real Living Beings
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest depicts a certain Native American's (Indian's) last months as a patient in a west coast mental hospital, sometime during the late 1950's to early 1960's.Kesey's first person narration and life-size characters highly intensify both the absurdity and the validity of human existence, making this novel a classic.

Chief ("Broom") Bromden's narration permits the reader to view through his eyes the horrors of the ward that the Big Nurse (Ratched) and her black boys control with such precise efficiency.The Chief introduces the reader to the other Acutes and Chronics - and to a new Admission by the name of McMurphy.The reader knows, just when Chief Broom does, that McMurphy is quite different from the other patients on the ward; McMurphy's presumptuous style makes it impossible for him to be classified as either Acute or Chronic - or insane, for that matter.Because Chief Broom has remained silent for so long, everyone considers him deaf and dumb; but it is through him that the conversations of staff personnel are heard and interpreted.The reader quickly acquires an understanding of the patients' fear of the Big Nurse and of those around them.The Chief's perception of McMurphy and his knowledge of this ward are far greater than that of any other, effectively giving the novel a limited and, therefore, ultimately powerful perspective.

Kesey's characters are superb conceptions of real living beings.Most of the patients develop from timid "rabbits of the rabbit world" to stronger, self-assured humans who realize that they can take charge of their own destiny.The most notable of these are the giant Chief "Broom" Bromden (a Chronic) and the Acutes Harding and Bibbit.Having been huddled within himself for years, Bromden evolves from a fearful, silent broom-pusher into a man who feels as big inside as he is physically.Harding, ashamed of his own feminine mannerisms and sexual preferences, develops into a clear-headed, intelligent individual and eventually leaves the hospital with his wife.Bibbit matures from a stuttering, thirty-something year old child into a happy, giggling adult - or, at least, almost.The exceptions are Big Nurse and McMurphy.Both display an iron-core strength; both manipulate the other characters to their own advantage; both pit themselves against each other; and both are inevitably broken.It is this conflict between the two strong characters that allows the weaker characters to find strength in themselves.

Both Chief Broom's interpretations and the characters in the ward magnify the novel's powerful emotional charge.The Chief sees the struggle between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched as something bigger - something a man can't ever win, something a man's got to keep fighting - but he doesn't ever state exactly what that something is.However, he realizes that control of one's life lies within the self and that as long as a person keeps laughing, keeps smiling, then just maybe that something can't win either.Bromden realizes that for all its absurdities, life is essentially good.While he finally states he has "been away a long time" in the context of his childhood home, the reader gains the impression that it is really life he is returning to.

Kesey's novel, although dealing by an extreme with the insane, gives all human life a resounding stamp of worth and value.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest keeps the reader on an emotional pendulum: laughing at McMurphy's pranks, recoiling from Nurse Ratched, strengthened by McMurphy's courage, defeated by the patients' helplessness, and cheering for their victories.It appears that for Kesey, a person without a spirit is just a blank, empty shelll.His regard for meaningful life stands strong and clear.

my faavorite book
This is my favorite book. So much better than the movie. You must read this, you will not be sorry. ... Read more

Product Description
The setting is the 1960s with the Psychedelic Revolution as the backdrop. Twenty youths crossed America in a psychedelically painted school bus for an entire month. This legendary trip's 25th anniversary is a rare document of a nation in transition. 16 color, 75 black-and-white photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

this is just great
this was just great. for those of us who couldn't be there for perry lane, the bus trip, or the acid tests, this is a great account of the time. you don't realize how important kesey was to the movement until you read this. on the bus is really a quick bio of kesey. it helps you to understand how kesey took over where kerouac left off. you really feel as if you know kesey and neal after finishing this book. if you are a bohemian, beat, hippie, or any combination, then this is the book to get.

Great Book, Lots of Pictures of the Pranksters
I bought the book after reading Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test for the third time.I really wanted to know more about what Mountain Girl, Cassidy, Gretchin Fetchin, and Babbs looked like, and scenes from the Trip.What a great book.I would recommend it to anyone who is reading, has read, or will be reading the book, Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test.This would be a great companion as your were reading it, and were exposed to the characters in the book.

A must for any who wishes to travel further...
Anyone who is a Kesey fan MUST read this book.It is basically the photo album which correlates with Wolfe's Electric Kool-Ade Acid Test.It gives more insight into the minds of the pranksters and others.I highlyrecommend this book to any who is interested in the counterculture.Thebook as well as the trip are truly legendary.

a great one night's reading....i inhaled it!!
i bought this book after reading The Electic Kool Aid Acid Tests,primarily because i wanted to compare the photography to wolfe's narrative.I'm afraid that it hasn't satiated my craving for more..now i am seekingGarage Sale & Furthur Inquiry.Anyone who loves what the 60's were allabout and feels slighted for not yet being around then....'either you're onthe bus,or you're off the bus'!

The book you want to read about the counterculture
This is an excellent book, one that not only tells you what it was like in those days between "beats" and "hippies," but it shows you in pictures.This is a brilliant idea for a book and one that makes mewish I had been there. ... Read more

Product Description
Chief Bromden, half American-Indian, whom the authorities believe is deaf and dumb, tells the story of a mental institution ruled by Big Nurse on behalf of the all-powerful Combine. Into this terrifying grey world comes McMurphy, a brawling gambling man, who wages total war on behalf of his cowed fellow-inmates. What follows is at once hilarious and heroic, tragic and ultimately liberating. Since its first publication in 1962, Ken Kesey's astonishing first novel has achieved the status of a contemporary classic. "Kesey can be funny, he can be lyrical, he can do dialogue, and he can write a muscular narrative. In fact there's not much better come out of America in the sixties...If you haven't already read this book, do so. If youhave, read it again" - Douglas Eadie, "Scotsman". ... Read more

Product Description
A tale of the Old West, complete with authentic photographs, tells the story of the Pendleton, Oregon, round-up of 1911 when three broncbusting cowboys competed for the crown and many colorful characters--including Buffalo Bill Cody--came to town. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Another Kesey Gem
If you are a fan of Ken Kesey this western-flavored tale that Kesey wrote with the help of another former Merry Prankster Ken Babbs will not disappoint you.

Entertaining
This book tells the story of the first Pendleton Round-Up.The Round-Up was organized to settle once and for all who was the greatest cowboy in the world.Contestants arrived from across the continent to vie for the prize, a magnificent saddle.Three of the men who came to try their luck were Jackson Sundown, a Nez Perce Indian, George Fletcher, an African American from Pendleton, and Jonathan E. Lee Spain, a youngster from Tennessee.When the final scores were tallied, these three came out in a draw, so special events had to be added to the contest to determine the winner.

The book tells the story from Spain's point-of-view.As one of the youngest contestants, his experience with rodeo competitions was limited.The authors take us behind the scenes to see how the rodeo favorites took him under their wing, teaching him more than just how to compete in the ring.The story is quite entertaining, with a full cast of characters, from Buffalo Bill to a young girl named Meyerhoff, who could ride like the wind.The only odd part of the story is the beginning, which is set in modern times, with Spain as an old man- -it's a bit hard to understand where the plot is going at first, but once it finally gets going, there's no stopping it.

Not Kesey's best but still worth a read
I agree that this isn't Kesey's best work, but I have a personal reason for loving this book -- my great-Grandfather Parsons Motanic is a character (and he was a character) in this novel.Kesey never claimed that this was a true and factual account of the Pendleton round up, and he apologized to the people of Pendleton for taking liberties with the story.He got most of the details regarding my great-Grandfather wrong but I still enjoy the book and absolutely love that Kesey and Babbs included a picture of Parsons Motanic in the book.The narrative is jerky (much like motion pictures of the time) but some of the language is lyrical and almost lives up to Kesey's early works.

Not a Dime Novel or a History,
this novel recycles fact into fiction to create a tale about the original Pendleton Roundup.There's a heap of synthesis here, from oral and written histories, old photographs, interviews, newspaper articles and conversations.Kesey connects them and supplies imaginary material to create a farce with a gonzo tilt, as if he were on acid and explaining to Hunter Thompson.Kesey uses local color well and has an ear for period phrases,even when slapping them on with a palate knife, but that's the fun of it--watching Kesey stretch his brain around facts.The book is really about the author and how he chooses to indulge himself, not about what happened in Pendleton or what the reader should think about what went on there.In fact, the way Kesey jumps from one time frame to another shows how little he's concerned with keeping things straight for the reader.This book is bent.You can enjoy its distortions or look away, but you can't deny the brilliance or uniqueness of its colors.One burr under my saddle is that his cowboys aren't as "strong, silent and truthful" as I'd expect.Pendleton must have been far more polite and stuffy than Kesey lets on.But bizarre distortion reflects his intention of zonking out on history until it assumes a form more pleasing to him.In taking this trail, he proves that the humblest writer scribblng a dime novel from dubious fact is more of an author than all the librarians at the Library of Congress.The point, after all, is the mind in the act of making the mind.If connections seem bizarre, well, that's just Kesey taking on reality, whether the time is now or a century ago.

Not Kesey's best, but worthwhile all the same
During an interview on Bravo TV's excellent series INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO, Dennis Hopper (an artistic, historical and spiritual brother of Ken Kesey) shared a brilliant anecdote illustrating the nature of art. While teaching a lesson on painting, Thomas Hart Benton told Dennis Hopper to "Think loose and paint tight".

The late Ken Kesey's unique literary gifts and contributions lay in his incredible ability to "think loose and write tightly."

In both of his great works, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, as well as some of his journalistic writing, Kesey brilliantly channeled magnificent, electric, free-floating, randomly abstract and stream of conscious ideas into tight, elegant sentences. Kesey forged the missing link between the spontaneous prose of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs and the Beats with the laser-like precision of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

While LAST GO ROUND certainly makes for a fast and fun read, it does not represent his finest work. Attempting to write a combination camp fire story/dime store novel Kesey allows himself to invert his precious balance.

Thinking tightly in the surprisingly demanding genre bounds of oral history and pulp, Kesey simply tries too hard. LAST GO ROUND lacks the spontaneous element of creation that courses throughout all his greatest work. Creatively he appears to be straining and reaching for ideas that should come easily.

While the creativity seems pushed, the writing itself appears unpolished and unfocused, relatively devoid of the razor sharp perceptions that one expects from a great author.

Ultimately though, this is really a small matter. Based on a historical event- The first Pendleton Round-Up (based in my hometown), Kesey does infuse his narrative with rich local color and texture. Having met the real George Fletcher when he was aged and in a nursing home, the story also has strong personal connections for me. That, and my personally autographed copy of the book from the late Kesey makes LAST GO ROUND a valued sentimental possession.

Not a classic by any stretch, but certainly worth reading. Especially for fans of Kesey. ... Read more

Product Description
McMurphy's a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the ward of a mental hospital and takes over. He's a lusty, profane, life-loving fight who rallies other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Big Nurse. He promotes gambling in the ward, smuggles in wine and women. At every turn, he openly defies her rule. The contest starts as sport but soon it develops into a grim struggle for the minds and hearts of the men, into an all-out war between two relentless opponents: Big Nurse, backed by the full power of authority ... McMurphy, who has only his indomitable will. ... Read more

Product Description
Between 1974 and 1981 Ken Kesey self-published six issues of a literary magazine called Spit in the Ocean. After the revolutionary novelist's death in the fall of 2001, one of his closest friends, acclaimed writer Ed McClanahan, decided to carry out Kesey's vision and put together a final issue of Spit as a tribute to Kesey's genius and imperturbable spirit. Featuring contributions from cultural luminaries-including Robert Stone, Paul Krassner, Wendell Berry, Bill Walton, and Grateful Dead lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow-as well as "regular folk," and several pieces by Kesey himself, Spit in the Ocean #7 is a loving and fitting homage to the gigantic and unique spirit of the merriest of the Merry Pranksters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Kesey fan must read
I don't know how it all got started. Going back at least 25 years, a friend and myself were in his garage listening to the Dead and building stained glass windows on a hot summer day in preparation for a Dead show that he was going to be selling at. The Dead were almost always playing out of the Ghetto Blaster in his garage while we worked, and on this one particular day, Bob began talking about this guy Kesey, and how he was such a huge influence on the Grateful Dead, as well as dozens of other people during the 60s counter culture, of which Bob himself was completely immersed at that time. While cutting and bending lead and placing pieces of beautiful colored glass together to form what soon would become the face of Jerry Garcia, I stood listening to his fascinating, if not obscure details, of this guy Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. I don't remember him mentioning the fact that this was the guy that wrote One flew over the Cuckoo's nest; a fact which until quite recently was revealed to me in a book called: On the Bus: The Complete Guide to the Legendary Trip of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the Birth of the Counterculture by Paul Perry. Regardless, I learned a few things about Kesey from listening to Bob, but just could not envision his personal experience and knowledge of the now late Prankster. Ahaa! That's how it all got started! I got to thinking about Bob again, all these years later, and his portrayal ofKen Kesey. LSD was part of that conversation, so naturally, I read Huxley's Doors of Perception a few months ago, then one thing led to another; the next thing being: On the Bus! I then read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which led me straight to this heartwarming wonderful book, Spit #7, which describes the many life situations from close friends of Ken Kesey, and the sometimes hilarious things that went on in those days of discovery and creation. Dear reader, I say heartwarming because by the end of the last part of Spit in the Ocean #7, I was literally wiping tears from my eyes in great happiness, as well as sadness at knowing that here was a man I knew very little about that had influenced me in ways that I could not have imagined, until reading all of these books about him, and that nearly everyone that walks the streets today has most likely been indirectly effected by his him as well. Those things he set into motion, so many years ago. Knowing what I know now about Kesey; those things that Bob was trying to convey to me, all those years ago was the fact that this wonderful soul was so important an influence in the past, present, and hopefully the future, should not be the unsung hero that he has become. He was a multitalented artist; lover of life and people that did so much for personal freedom and expression, yet has unfortunately; like the counterculture of the 60s, gone the way of the tie die t-shirt. He should rather be taught in schools as a great American figure that was dedicated to the proposition that all humankind should be able to create equally. Perhaps in some small ways, the things that Ken Kesey started in the 60s is still with us, but the more we know, the better, so read this book. If you should read those aforementioned books in the order that I did, this book will be the topper. Sparks fly upward, Ken!

A lovely and informative memoir
An excellent overview of Ken Kesey's unique life and contributions, along with interesting tidbits from Kesey himself. I found it very helpful in composing a research paper on Kesey with information relevant to his two primary novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion.

Great read!!
Well, I enjoy any read by Ken Kesey but I can't really be objective here because my nephew contributed..STILL.. it's a great, fun book..

Only Two?
Only two reviews for this (well, now three)?How unfortunate.A lovely, insightfully odd, and sometimes twisted tome.Good reading for this distant admirer of the thoughts and processes of the time, the place, and the man.

A WONDERFUL MAN
This book is loving remembrances of people who knew Kesey.Halfwaythrough the book I forced myself to slow down, because I did not want to finish the book so fast.I wanted to savor the innate wisdom and humor of Ken Kesey for as long as possible.The world is a richer place because of his passing through it, and this book shares some of his life with us.He truly fought the good fight.His spirit is carried on by the many friends he had, and I thank them for sharing with us. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

You're On The Bus,Or Off The Bus
In a recent DVD review of the late Dennis Hopper's role as a fugitive radical in the 1990 comedy on the subject of the 1960s counter-culture, "Flashback", I noted, no I exclaimed, no I shouted out that I was not to blame for this reach back but that the reader should blame it on Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters (including "beatnik" holdover/ bus driver Neal Cassady). Or blame it on a recently re-read of Tom Wolfe's classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test that pays "homage" to Kesey, his Pranksters, their psychedelically-painted bus "Further", and their various adventures and misadventures. Or, better, blame it on Jack Kerouac and that self-same central character Cassady (as Dean Moriarty) for his "On The Road". The same sentiment can serve here in reviewing Ken Kesey's concept book on the occasion of the 25th anniversary (1989) of the famous coast to coast (West to East, if you can believe that) bus ride/drug trip/self-awareness adventure/madcap escape that Tom Wolfe chronicled in the above-mentioned novel.

I used the word concept book here in exactly the right sense. Kesey, although having apparently exhausted himself in the literary field after his early successes with "One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest" and "Sometimes A Great Notion" still had enough savvy in him to come up with an appropriate way to celebrate his most well-known adventure. The book is set up in the form of a trial transcript. Wait a minute who is on trial at this late date? Ken Kesey, for cooking up the perhaps ill-advised adventure, or some belatedly-revealed drug charge? No. Is it the WASP West Coast college students out on a romp who formed the core of the Merry Pranksters finally get their comeuppance from the neo-con counter-revolutionaries ? No. Here is the funny part. It's the bus driver, stupid-Neal Cassady-the refugee from the "beat generation, and one of the fathers of the 1960s cultural uprising. And what is the charge (or charges)? Well, the modern day version of "corrupting the youth." That makes sense, right? He should have pleaded guilty, very guilty, and be done with it.

Along the way we get plenty of contrite testimony about the evil genie out of the bottle Cassady, heart-rending tales about the spell he put on those "innocent" young people, about his non-stop spiel, and about his fantastic, if unorthodox, driving habits. We also get plenty of testimony in his defense, as well. And all of this is accompanied by over one hundred photographs from the old "family" album, including many, many photos of the arch-villain Cassady himself. Just a point here though. You should read Wolfe's book before you try to read this one-this is strictly for aficionados of the "beat" and "hippie" cultural movements.

* * T r I p P y * *
"Are you on the bus or off the bus?" That was the crucial question posed by proto-hippies Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady and their band of Merry Pranksters who toured the country in the original Magic Bus on the first Magical Mystery Tour, most famously recounted by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In The Further Inquiry, Kesey examines the trip 25 years after the fact through a surreal courtroom drama. While the text itself is not as engrossing as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Kesey's first book which catapulted him to early fame at 23), devotees of Beat will find the bus tramscript snippets of interest and the layout and full-color pages throughout make this big bad hardback a treasure worth hunting.

The exceptionally good design anticipates hypertext in a way which few printed books have done (the collaborations of McCluhan and Fiore being other notable examples). With color photographs, film stills, and other enhanced imagery, the book is a visual feast with many whimsical touches, including a black-and-white flipbook movie of a dancing Cassady in the right margin. It is less an inquiry than a celebration. As one character proclaims of Cassady: "He was joyous. He could take social and emotional and cosmic changes just like he could take ninety-degree corners...on four wheels or two. My god, didn't you ever read On the Road? He was a living legend!"

Further Lives On!
This book is about the ghost of Neal Cassady being put on trial for his part in the Merry Prankster bus trip. Kesey wrote a pretty funny book which touches on the highlights of the famous bus trip told through a courtroomdrama with various Pranksters testifying. The book has a lot of interestingphotographs taken from the trip. Do not read this book looking for a lot ofdetail about the trip and the Pranksters(Tom Wolfe's "Electric KoolAid Test" covers that). This book is a fun, quick read.

a work of genius!!!
what the hell?? i can't beleive the book's out of print, this bokk is amazing!! a work of pure genius!!!!!! ken kesey retells the entire story of the pranksters and the further bus in script form, with over 100 colorpics!!!!!!!!!! get this book!!!!!! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

THE Great American Novel?
This is a deep, intense, fantastically written novel. I don't know if I've ever read a book that has gotten me so involved in what is happening. A technique that Kesey uses that greatly contributes to the depth of the work is his constant, unpredictable change of tense and character perspective. At first, this can be hard to follow, but one gets used to it quickly and it adds tremendous levels of meaning and perspective to every plot turn. It touches on so many themes so well it is hard to say succinctly what the book is "about." Family ties of every sort, Community, Nature, Identity, Pride, Love, Legacy, Labor...are just some of the issues swirling around in this book. The setting: a coastal Oregon logging town along the great Wakonda River, mostly on strike against the logging company but for one family, the Stampers, who have always taken their own course but are not without their own divisions and drama. This is quite possibly, THE Great American Novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great collection of all kinds of stuff...
"Garage Sale" is the perfect title for this!

Jeez! Only TWO reviews of this great book! I guess us old folks are the only ones who read this or have it, and the average young person has no clue about it, apparently not even many of the next-generation hippie types that follow the Dead and so on...

Anyway, this is mostly about Kesey's philosophies, his points of view, his ideas and things he likes. In case you don't know who Kesey is, he was a counter-culture hero who ran around with the other Merry Pranksters on the bus named "Further", holding electric kool-aid acid tests at Grateful Dead concerts, and generally being a free spirit and hippie anti-revolutionary who was originally given lsd by the government (CIA) as they were looking for a mind-control agent. But things went awry ... and lsd became a way for hippies to expand their minds and see the insanity of war and the CIA and other b.s....

If you want to read a great book written by author Kesey, there are TWO:
1) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yes, a great movie with Jack Nicholson, but a MUCH BETTER book!
2) Sometimes A Great Notion - perhaps one of the best novels ever written in the English language - no, in any language. It has nothing to do with hippies or drugs, it's about a family of Oregon loggers. But he goes so deeply into the minds of his characters and, what can I say other than "It's BRILLIANT!"

"Garage Sale" is not a novel, just a collection of "items". But it's very interesting especially if you are interested in the Sixties.

Reprint this PLEASE!Zany and Wacko but PRO-LIFE!
Only Kesey could make this premise (a self-indulging scrapbook collection of writings, pictures and tidbits)work so well.Gratuitous, yes, and sometimes annoyingly, well... hippie-ish, this GARAGE SALE still has somegreat litte items. I especially like the Krassner interview where ol' Keseyexplains his Pro-Life, anti-abortion position with the clarity of ascientist and the zeal of a backwoods preacher! I wish every Americanwould read it.

I don't know where you might dig up this gold minenowadays, but it WILL be worth the search. (Most University libraries seemto have an old worn-out copy, actually.)

Check it out.

A Must for any Kesey Fan!
I loved this book.When I couldn't find a good copy of "On the Bus" I went looking for some Kesey I had not read.Garage Sale satisfied my craving.Great book regardless, but a must read for any Keseyfan. ... Read more