The Cuckoo People

      People are crazy and these people say things that are even crazier than they are. This craziness often times come out in the form of public rants; ranting on anything and everything from the government and military involvements, to books and their authors. Ranting about books sometimes occur in the form of public comments on book store websites, from these occasional crazy book analyses I receive great enjoyment out of reading them and seeing what went wrong with their relationship with the book.  Rhetorically analyzing the public comments on a book store website I have never done; however, to do so I first needed to decide which book I would look for reviews of. The book that was a natural fit (or maybe I’m just lazy) was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey for the simple reason that it is the book freshest in my mind and I also greatly enjoyed it. I got my two book analyses on the Barnes and Noble website and I got one review that was very fond of the book and one that shed a negative light on the book. These analyses in this order go as the following,

“For starters, I have this strange curiosity about psychology; coincidentally we were assigned outside ready in my English class and to my delight a Ken Kesey novel was on that list, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I went into the book without many expectations other than the fact that I was excited to read it, I fell in love. Not only does Kesey refrain from shying away from saying something vulgar and true, he shines a light on what many don’t want to see. Based on semi-non-fictional experiences, Kesey offers a glimpse into a psychiatric ward in the late 1950s. Many things are learned throughout the novel such as brutal ways patients were treated with, the head nurse exercising a totalitarian rule over the ward and that not all the patients are crazy rather they have tendencies that are different from the norm. I really loved the novel and I highly recommend it as a “must read” because it touched topics that most people would not think of on a normal basis and really made you question the definition of insanity.”

“Maybe its because I might be to young to actually get it or understand the book but I was bored out of my mind! Forced to read it as part of my summer reading I read it. And the narrarator was really confusing and random like he would just in the middle of the story retell stories of his life before he went to the hospital. I wouldnt recommend this book to anyone who is or younger than the 9th grade unless youre really bored and looking for something to do. The only plus to this book was that it was the shortest on my list of summer reading.”

    The first review seems to be from someone of a higher education because they read and enjoyed the book. Not saying your dumb if you don’t like it but it does take a fair amount of close reading skills to truly enjoy it and he/she says it was assigned to her in a class. I truly enjoy this review for many reasons, first she sheds light on what the book contains in an intriguing way for the male mind by saying it contains things vulgar and true. Secondly, she gives great background information on the subject that I did not know until reading the review. Finally she gives her true opinion on the book and since I have come to the point that I can trust her now because we seem to have some things in common, well at least in terms of literature, I would be very interested in reading the book if I had not previously have done so.

     The second review is from a kid that states he is much too young to read the book. In my opinion anytime you are going to talk negatively about an American classic and not be shunned, you must be either very very well educated (I’m talking at least a Ph.D.) or uneducated (you simply don’t know better yet). This kid fits into the later of the two but does however reveal some valuable information for readers depending on their level of education. He/she states the book is confusing because the way the narrator switches from the future to the present or maybe even past. This is true, quite frankly I am still a little confused on whether the story was told in the present or past tense. However, this did not keep me from seeing the absolute glory in this particular read, as I feel like it will limit no one else of a capable intelligence level. This kid also calls the book boring, which I put about as much merit in as I do in his ability to write with proper grammar.

     I enjoy book reviews because they give me raw responses to a piece of literature before I read it. I read the book reviews, find which of the reviewers I feel my cognitive abilities match the closest to, and judge that my reaction to the book may be similar to theirs. Most of the time this allows me to choose to not read books I will have no interest in and only pick books that I’ll end up enjoying.