one flew over the cuckoo’s nest

Super surprised that the Goodreads summary of this novel suggests McMurphy is the hero; he is a fantastic character, sure, but I am team Chief Bromden/Broom a million percent – what an incredible journey from self-defeat to self-awareness to self-actualization. He is the perfect first-person narrator, since not only do the other characters hardly ever acknowledge his presence, but also the reader learns to treat his perspective as basically omniscient while still seeming down-to-earth. I wonder how much time Kesey spent with American Indians, because he manages to capture the wonder and power of nature in so many ways, from the smallest glimpse of a dog poking his nose in squirrel holes under the moonlight to the larger, more obvious instance of the big fishing expedition. The other reviews highlighting racism and sexism in the novel have some merit, but ultimately I think a contemporary Ken Kesey would blame those societal ills as products of the Combine, too.. and naturally insist we rebel against anything that says “different” is inherently bad.