If it hadn't been for my friend's insistence on reading this with me, this book might have languished on my shelf for countless years. I had seen the movie ages ago, but all I could recall was that it was set in a mental ward and Jack Nicholson was in it, being loud and causing chaos. As a bit of a prude, I'm not fond of reading about drug culture, recklessness, or general chaos. Every time I thought of this book, those negative aspects would come to mind, and I'd be in no mood to read it. Instead, I'd choose something else, usually something less mainstream.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. There were things I loved about the book, like the narrative, and things I disliked (as mentioned in the first paragraph). But overall, it won me over. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but I definitely liked it more than I expected.

Now, let me ramble a bit. If you haven't read the book yet, it's best to do so before reading the rest of this review. Or not, it's your choice.

The story follows Randle P. McMurphy, who, during his 6-month jail term for gambling and fighting, decides to get himself committed to a mental institution for a break. He didn't think things through very well and didn't fully understand what being committed meant. But for a compulsive gambler like him, it was a new adventure.

Mack is a man who lives life to the fullest. He laughs in the face of adversity and couldn't care less about rules and regulations. He's here to cause trouble, and that's exactly what he does. The chaos he creates is like a cyclone, rampaging through the ward.

The counterpoint to Mack's chaos is Nurse Ratched. She's seen as the antagonist, but I don't see it that way. Maybe I identify with her a bit. I don't think she's evil. She believes in the work she does and the methods she uses. Routine can be beneficial for people who are uncomfortable with the unknown or can't cope with the stress of life.

The women in this book are not portrayed in a very positive light. They are either sexually repressed bitches, mousy doormats, clingy mother-types, or whores with hearts of gold. But I see this as a product of its time and fitting to the characters.

This book mainly focuses on the conflict between Mack and Ratched. One is a violent storm, the other a steadfast seawall. But behind all that is Mack's influence on his fellow inmates. He shows them that there's more to life than being medicated into a stupor.

Chief, the paranoid schizophrenic narrator, provides a unique perspective. Through him, we see how Mack affects the ward's inhabitants. His chaos brings life back to the ward, and even Chief's narrative becomes clearer.

In the end, it's a sad and pointless story. If Mack had just stuck out his jail term, he'd still be alive. But his recklessness and impetuousness led to his downfall.

Overall, this is a good book. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Thanks, Kirstie, for choosing this one!

It's not as if MKUltra was the worst thing.

After all, at least it ended. But we can't begin to imagine all the still secret, ongoing, and future brainwashing programs. Science fiction has many amazing and crazy ideas about mind penetration. However, what has been and still is done to mentally sick patients is a prime example of when the cure is far worse than the illness.

Electroshocks, deprivation, and far too hard drugs (not the ones necessary to reduce hallucinations and the dangers to the patients themselves and others) to keep patients calm and submissive are not medicine. It's a combination of very bad psychiatry that has nothing to do with a modern, interdisciplinary approach that combines neuroscience, brain surgery, and advanced imaging modalities, AI, and big data-driven psychiatry, along with sheer greed.

Surprisingly, some people are making a lot of money from mentally sick people. Just like the prison industrial complex that loves mass incarceration and draconian laws to get enough customers, everyone who sells and produces drugs, builds mental asylums, imagines new mental illnesses to sell, and presents themselves as the only ones able to teach and cure, sees very sick people as cash cows.

Besides that, Kesey is also showing society the consequence of intolerance. Discrimination, hate, and ignorance, fueled by the incompetence and greed of the mentioned entities, created the argument and belief that any mentally sick people, as well as nonconformists and weirdos, have bad working brains that need to be repaired. So, give them a "cure" like a lobotomy. By doing this, they're not only less dangerous in the hellholes we threw them into, but they also cost less. There's not as much damage and work for the medical personnel, so they can fully focus on expanding their dark empath emperor kingdom.

How many of these people there might be is as open as the question of how many sociopaths, psychopaths, narcissists, anti-social disorderists/paths, etc. are out there, but they're a new and terrifying way to manipulate. So, 1 in 50, 100, or 500 people working in medical and social jobs might be the best-hidden, undetectable, and totally credible monsters. Because they can create real emotions for MRI detectors, learn how to act and create their corresponding mimicry, read a lot about medicine, psychology, and psychiatry, and have an education in one of these fields, they're the ultimate and perfect wolves in sheep's clothing. Nobody will see them coming because nobody suspects them of doing so. Nurse Ratched's obvious and clumsy sadistic torture methods are kindergarten in comparison.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique.

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books.