One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is the story of the residents and staff of a mental ward, centered around the power struggle between McMurphy, the new, sane patient, and the dictatorial Big Nurse.
The novel is written in the present tense, which is often problematic, but here it works well enough. The use of Chief Bromden as the narrator is problematic at times, and the reader may find himself repeatedly skimming or skipping entire pages of mentally-unbalanced monologues. The end of the novel seems rushed, and as a result the impacts of many of the novel's climactic events are diminished.
All in all, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is an interesting read. But maybe, just maybe, the movie is better.
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