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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 50th Anniversary Edition | Ken Kesey

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#madworld... I feel like this book played a part in an introduction for a future world that will have unfathomable events, unexplained behaviors, unknowable thoughts, and quite frankly moments where I've asked "Has the world lost its ever loving mind" to a young ninth grade me. This was the first book that left me sick to my stomach at the end. I didn't know it was just the beginning of mad moments in life. To this day, this book still moves me.

Cinfhen

Jess_Read_This I was too full of reminiscence! Ran out of words! #LyricalApril #MovingBooks #CuckoosNest #Literature #HighSchoolEnglishClass #MadeMeSad 8y

Cinfhen My kids read this in 10th grade, I always thought it was a very heavy read & slightly disturbing! #teachersofLitsy what do you think? Why has this book been chosen for HS students for so many years?!? Great choice for #madworld 8y

TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Cinfhen Because high school = insane asylum. But seriously I think the core message of being who you are in the face of numbing conformity speaks to teens. It spoke to me. This wasn't assigned, I just tracked it down on my own. 8y

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Jess_Read_This @Cinfhen I would love to hear feedback from the #teachersofLitsy on this! I agree it is so heavy and slightly disturbing. I just reread the ending and it still sickens me but I respect the power of the writing. It definitely is a book that inspires discussion and elicits emotional responses to it. (edited) 8y

Jess_Read_This @TobeyTheScavengerMonk Very true! I was glad it was assigned bc it was something I wouldn't have picked up for myself in high school. When I was in 9th grade I tended to stick to the same genres that entertained me. I really hadn't done any deep or thought provoking reading until this book launched me into it. 8y

hermyknee I'm a high school teacher and it wasn't assigned to me, either. But it spoke to me so strongly and triggered a life-long obsession with Ken Kesey and the merry pranksters! I'd say it is one of the pivotal novels of my adolescence. I don't think I'd be who I am without it. ❤️ This book is all the feels for me. I think I was most drawn in by Kesey's life and the links between his generation and the Beat Generation. I could go on and on. 8y

Cinfhen @hermyknee & @TobeyTheScavengerMonk you both make compelling "arguments" for this book! My kids were ambivalent about the story when they read it, I'm curious about their thoughts now! 8y

hermyknee @Cinfhen There's this amazing book called Spit in the Ocean #7 and it was released after Kesey's death and it's all about him. In it is a speech he gave called "Earthshoes" about education. He never wanted his novel to be required reading in schools. It's pretty interesting! I used to have a copy but who knows now I've moved so many times. 8y

Jess_Read_This @hermyknee You said perfectly "it is one of the pivotal novels of my adolescence". I couldn't agree more. This is one of the first books that comes to mind for me that made me "feel" something. It pushed me out of my comfort zone. I haven't read any of Kesey's other works. I need to correct that after talking with you about him. 8y

Jess_Read_This @hermyknee Really?! Wow, that is so interesting. Now his work is a like a capstone read in high school education. I'm curious why he thought that? (edited) 8y

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