Time mentioned “cruelty & enforced conformity” when summing up this novel with a “stormly silent narrator”

Time magazine summarized “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as addressing the themes of “cruelty & enforced conformity,” highlighting the novel’s intense critique of modern society’s pressures and rigid structures. Authored by Ken Kesey and released in 1962, the book draws from Kesey’s personal experiences as a participant in a mental hospital study. The story is propelled by the character Randle McMurphy, an inmate who challenges the authoritarian Nurse Ratched in an effort to empower the subdued patients under her control. All the while, the tale is observed through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the novel’s “stormily silent narrator.” Kesey weaves a narrative that not only serves as an allegory for the value of individualism but also delves deeply into psychological complexities, managing to inspire and uplift without succumbing to simplistic sentimentality.