You know how people always say the book is better than the movie? This is another example of that.
To be fair, I vaguely remember the movie, having seen it a long time ago. What I do remember was the movie focused more on McMurphy and not on Chief. The book was the other way around, which gave it a wholly different perspective. Chief’s visions were paramount to the story, as well as his escapism. It felt different, again speaking as someone who hasn’t seen the movie in many years. Perhaps I was too young to appreciate the story. The book afforded me a chance to see McMurphy in a different light than the one I vaguely remember, while staying with the story of McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. In fact, it gave McMurphy more character, as he was seen from Chief’s perspective.
Chief’s perspective was full of visions. He would disappear into fog and paintings and even sleep. This fog he saw as being created by the nurses, but it was what he saw, or mentally manufactured. McMurphy began pulling him out of that fog from the moment he arrived. In fact McMurphy, braggart, Lothario, grifter, and many other things, pulled all who were in that ward out of their heads and back into the world. Yet he got into that ward under scrupulous circumstances. Yet he became a beloved character, with Chief leading the chorus of how good he was. Yet he wasn’t to be completely trusted. Yet he was the most loyal of them all. Yet he was a swindler. Yet he was their best friend. Yet and yet and yet again is the enigma of Randle Patrick McMurphy.
This book was, to put it simply, amazing. Ken Kesey, the author, created not just a story of how two men met their respective fates, but created a world that had more imagery than any picture, and he did it with words printed in black on white paper. The imagery was so good I had to read several passages again. No, not had to, wanted to. I plan on reading that book again, just for the imagery.
Take the boat trip. He described it in such a way that I felt I was there, smelling the sea salt, feeling the wind on my face, watching a fishing pole bruise a woman’s breast, and laughing along with those that went. And he did it without being wordy. He described the changing color of wavelets so well I thought I could actually see them for myself. Granted, I’ve done my share of deep-sea fishing so I know what he’s talking about. But still, this does not take away from the imagery. All of it, from the ward to the gas station to the abandoned ex-home of Randall. Detailed yet not, he paints a picture that no movie can equal.
The interplay between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched was gut-wrenching at times, especially at the end. A true battle of wills between a man who wants more than the control being offered and a woman who demands the kind of order that only she desires. A classic battle of chaos versus order. And even though order won, chaos was the true winner. I don’t want to give away too much for those who haven’t read it, just know that while it has a sad ending, it also has a happy ending.
This is an excellent book , a must read, for new writers. It’s also an excellent book for those who like to read, but I’m focusing on new and aspiring writers for this review. There are lessons to forage for in the book. Brevity of language is one of them. Showing and not telling is another. There’s also emotional connections, drama, angst, joy, fear, anger, happiness. Ken Kesey draws upon them all. And at the end, while he leaves you heart broken, he also gives you hope. If I could write like him, I’d be one happy writer. I’d also be rich, but that’s another subject.
Arid Testimony 