Book review - One flew over the cuckoo's nest

The story written by Ken Kesey takes place in an asylum in Oregon. All the story is being narrated by a patient that has been there for a long time. This patient, called Chief due to his impressive and big stature, is half-indian and he pretends all along to be deaf and mute. The story really begins with the arrival of Randal Patrick McMurphy a strong headed character with a will of his own.

He has been transfered from prison to the institute because he fakes insanity wanting to finish his sentence in the asylum. The ward where all the action takes place is run by an head nurse wich is Nurse Ratched also known as the "Big Nurse". She is a very cold person and she enjoys having a lot of authority and power on her patients. She controls every aspects of the patient's life including their own personnal liberty. She likes to organize everything and she has already established a strict routine for the patients of the ward.

When McMurphy arrives, he realizes how tyrannical Nurse Ratched is and his goal is to change all the routines previously established by the "Big Nurse". He first starts by creating some kind of gambling between the patients with tables of card games and with some betting. But this is only a small part of McMurphy's rebellious act. He also decides one day to take the Acute on a fishing trip, wich are the more active people that still have a kind of logical thinking. He takes the bus of the asylum and drives them to an area filled with fishing boats. Of course all of those provocative acts really scares and frustrates Nurse Ratched. She then decides to send McMurphy for a little shock therapy, to"reset" his deranged mind. But the elctro shock therapy doesn't doesn't really alters McMurphy's fierce temper. He then continues to disturb the perfect harmony of the ward by getting into a fight with the black boys, wich are the guards, and with Chief who is fighting by his side. Nurse Ratched who is really exasperate by his behavior, sends both Mc Murphy and Chief for another shock treatment. They develop a mutual friendship and they elaborate a plan to escape from the asylum.

The nigth where McMurphy and Chief are supposed to escape, they throw a big party in the ward with alcohol and two prostitutes. Instead of escaping, the two of them falls asleep. The next morning, Nurse Ratched finds the ward in disastrous condition. She also finds one of the patients in a separate room alone with one of the prostitutes. She makes him feel ashamed of his act. Feeling guilty, he commits suicide. McMurphy who blames Nurse Ratched for the patient's suicide tries to kill Ratched by chocking her. He is stopped before Nurse Ratched totally suffocates and he is sent for intense electro shock therapy. After a long stay in the intensive care McMurphy returns to the original ward. But all the shock treatments have transformed him into an empty shell. Chief, who doesn't recognize him anymore decides to suffocate him with his pillow, wanting to preserve McMurphy's dignity. He then escapes alone and travels towards Canada.

That is what happens in the story One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.