Looking for a smart, funny, verbal frenzy to delight school-age audiences? This one is a MUST DO! Reading it with carte blanche playfulness a la "Southrin' Stah-yle" you will have as much FUN reading this one aloud as any of your listeners. Don't forget to glance up now and then to see all the twinkling eyes. I read this two years ago and maybe stunned the 1st graders into silence with the roaring of the bear but the 3rd grade today quickly piped in the chorus of "...EAT...YOU... UP!!" (heavy emphasis on the "puh!") Dare I say more fun than sharing the stories of Brer' Rabbit? Same vein, but updated/smarter/slicker with Kesey's savvy vocabulary. (4.9 AR level - or, "fourth grade, ninth month" for independent readers). Anyone who loves language, acting, humorous moral tales will LOVE this one.

The illustrations are drop-dead gorgeous but the story really steals the show. My husband and I are always quoting from this one--"and then I'm gonna DRINK SOME BUTTERMILK!" I love the dialect and the wonderful similies ("like an elevator up a greasy groove"). Can't wait to have kids so I can read it to them.

I loved reading this book to kids in the library. It has tons of great adjectives. It's full of fun and keeps kids guessing as to 'what will happen next?' I want to own this book!

This is the only book I know that made me want to steal from the library. I lent my copy out 20 years ago and have only been able to reread the library copy. And I keep taking it out...

Only Kesey could make this premise (a self-indulging scrapbook collection of writings, pictures and tidbits) work so well. Gratuitous, yes, and sometimes annoyingly, well... hippie-ish, this GARAGE SALE still has some great litte items. I especially like the Krassner interview where ol' Kesey explains his Pro-Life, anti-abortion position with the clarity of a scientist and the zeal of a backwoods preacher! I wish every American would read it.

I don't know where you might dig up this gold mine nowadays, but it WILL be worth the search. (Most University libraries seem to have an old worn-out copy, actually.)

Check it out.

I loved this book. When I couldn't find a good copy of "On the Bus" I went looking for some Kesey I had not read. Garage Sale satisfied my craving. Great book regardless, but a must read for any Kesey fan.

Ksey is as stunning a children's writer as he is a novelist. His words coupled with Neil Waldman's stunning watercolors will take you and your child on an immaginative flight through this amazing folk tale.

this was just great. for those of us who couldn't be there for perry lane, the bus trip, or the acid tests, this is a great account of the time. you don't realize how important kesey was to the movement until you read this. on the bus is really a quick bio of kesey. it helps you to understand how kesey took over where kerouac left off. you really feel as if you know kesey and neal after finishing this book. if you are a bohemian, beat, hippie, or any combination, then this is the book to get.

I bought the book after reading Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test for the third time. I really wanted to know more about what Mountain Girl, Cassidy, Gretchin Fetchin, and Babbs looked like, and scenes from the Trip. What a great book. I would recommend it to anyone who is reading, has read, or will be reading the book, Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test. This would be a great companion as your were reading it, and were exposed to the characters in the book.

Anyone who is a Kesey fan MUST read this book. It is basically the photo album which correlates with Wolfe's Electric Kool-Ade Acid Test. It gives more insight into the minds of the pranksters and others. I highly recommend this book to any who is interested in the counterculture. The book as well as the trip are truly legendary.

this book has a strange perspective, it is narrorated by the chief in the book. it has some skizofrinic parts in it but it gives an eye opening idea on how things in society are. It will make you think "what is crazy". it has changed my view on insane asylems and the people who run them.

Ken Kesey's "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a modern classic and an excellent novel. Cuckoo's Nest follows the life of Chief Bromden as he silently observes the antics of the patients and staff of Big Nurse's ward in an insane asylum. Cuckoo's Nest is well written and after the first 50 or so pages I was hooked.

This is the type of book that raises a large number of questions about our society. On one level it treats the issue of man vs. machine as the inmates square off with the emotionless staff at the asylum. On another it will cause you to question who really is insane and are those people insane because they are truly mentally challenged or do they simply see the world differently than the majority? Kesey shows how even the insane remain human and desire freedom and emotion and thus follows the tale.

While very different in approach, this novel shares some central themes with the modern "Life of Pi". This connection is revealed in perhaps one of the most thought provoking statements of the novel "It's the truth even if it didn't happen"

I would recommend this book to all who can stand a serious, thoughtprovoking read.

Kesey's anti-establishment novel has proven itself through numerous printings and cover art changes. The truth is that this is a work that should be recommended reading at every college campus. Using a classic formula of good vs. evil, overlord vs. underdog, and man vs. society, Kesey takes readers through life in a now outdated, but largely stereotypical model of a mental institution. His humor is wicked and the characters are unforgettable. You will find yourself wondering if you are merely a cog in the wheel or if you, too, have been persecuted for being an individual. Find out where many modern cultural references originated and read this book. Questioning authority is necessary today--possibly more than ever.

This is probably the most amazing book I have ever read in my life. It tells the story of a man trying to save his family lumber business. As an Oregonian through and through who has grown up in near the area where the book takes place, I recognize the truth in Kesey's description. His writing has amazingly synthesized the feelings and thoughts of all the different characters into a coherent whole, distilling it down with plenty of passion and truth. Never in my life have I had such an emotional response to reading a book as I had to this masterpiece. Read it when you have time to let it consume you.

Note: don't be put off by the beginning, it takes a little while for the book to pick up, but once it does, the first 60 pages or so enhance the intensity of the rest of the book.

The Great American Novel was written over 30 years ago, and it's name is "Sometimes a Great Notion."

One of those books that changes lives. I first read it at age 17, re-read it countless times during my 20s, and recently read it again at age 47.

It's frightening, and often disheartening, to go back to favorites as you grow older. Books that seemed dazzling to the teenage perspective seldom retain their charm to the older reader. Happily, I found Sometimes ... just as remarkable, just as thought-provoking, just as entertaining as I did 30 years ago.

The descriptions of the Oregon woods, the conflict of brother vs. brother and individualist vs. group are laser bright and beautiful. I envy you if this is the first time you'll read this book. It is Hank's bell.

I first read this book about 30 years ago, I've read it three or four more times since, and I'm sure I'll continue to read it every few years into the future. It's my nominee for Best Book Ever.

The first sentence grabs you, and the characters in the book won't let loose of you. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and Kesey makes you taste and feel the land, the mist and the people.

Be forewarned, in the first half of a sentence you'll be inside one character's head, and in the last half of the sentence you'll be inside a different character's head, and the transition is invisible. It drives some readers crazy until they get used to it.

Pay careful attention, at the very end of the book, to the description of the woman and the little boy in the photograph. Kesey has planted innumerable subtle treasures in this book, but the woman and boy in the photo are my favorite.

Since reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest recently, it has rapidly become my favourite book. Kesey has managed to tell a story whilst making a complex political allegory, and that is incredibly refreshing. The characters are so vivid, both loveable and sometimes vile, and Kesey finds the balance between making their exploits humorous, and not patronising the patients of the asylum. McMurphy is a classic hero, but far more complex than most so-called Christ-like figures in literature. The Chief however steals the show for me. The writing during the time he tells how alcoholism is destroying his Father is incredibly moving. Using the Chief as the omnipresent narrator is a superb device employed by Kesey, as it allows a unique, personal and sometimes confusing insight into all the proceedings. Like all great literature, it makes you think, but does it with a unique sense of humour and character, and handles its heavy subject matter with ease: this is a simple read but devastatingly effective. The end of the book is both sad and yet also happy. That adjective sums up the book perfectly- happysad.

For a book written by a paid volunteer to use hallucinogenic drugs, a book written by a man who at some points while writing was under the influence of LSD and peyote, and a book that funded the writer's San Francisco to New York road trip on psychedelically painted bus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest turned out perfectly normal, in fact even clever and stimulating. Considered a masterpiece by many, this novel is an extremely insightful satire of the society of the 1950's. Just as the drugs and psychedelic bus may suggest, Kesey could in fact be considered a founding-father of hippie-ism. His "hippie" attitudes shine through with this book, which in many ways challenges numerable aspects of authority and society. The setting is inspired by Kesey's work at the Menlo Park, Virginia hospital, where he was introduced to LSD by a government-sponsored program researching the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. This experience led him to continue his drug use, and further developed his opinions of society, which we can read about in this excellent book. The story starts when R.P. McMurphy is admitted into the mental ward, transferred from a work farm. He's a self-proclaimed gambling champion and womanizing sex machine, a rough-around-the-edges cowboy of a jokester. McMurphy is the one person who stands up to Nurse Ratched, the symbol of the cold oppression and conformity in society. The book is the story of the patients' struggle against the strict policy and rules of the ward. Under the leadership of McMurphy, who sings, laughs, walks around wearing only a towel, and does anything that he can think of which will disrupt the cold order that Nurse Ratched has on the ward, their adventures include everything from rowdy poker games, to a fishing trip, to a completely against policy late night party in the ward, complete with alcohol, marijuana, and prostitutes. The books end is sad, but realistic and a reminder of the control society ultimately has The narrator of the book is the paranoid Chief Bromden, a 7 foot something giant of an Indian who fakes deaf and dumb in order to hear everything and yet remain safe. It is his narration that keeps the book interesting. Bromden, always standing in the corner with a broom, is able to see and hear everything that goes on in the ward. He is extremely insightful and the style that Kesey uses to portray Bromden as a character is very entertaining to read. Bromden, a paranoid schizophrenic, at some points in the story, hallucinates. The imagery that he provides is usually mechanical and he often talks about seeing fog from a machine that the nurse controls. His hallucinations are metaphors, he describes the ward as having hidden mechanical components, and frequently he sees fog that represents confusion and fear. He depicts society as a combine, a giant machine, and all of the patients at the hospital are broken parts needing repair. They are parts that didn't fit into their place in the machine, didn't fit into the conformity of society. Not only is it an entertaining read, but also a compelling cautionary story. Kesey is giving a warning about a society centered around conformity. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is Kesey's investigation of the control of the 1950's society over the individual, bringing into play themes ranging from the importance of laughter and sexuality to the definition of insanity. The book's ending gets mixed reactions, but it is realistic, and a reminder of the control society ultimately has. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a fantastic book, a highly recommended read, both entertaining and intellectually stimulating, truly a masterpiece.

...the book is better.

I had to read _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ for my Literature and Film class, and I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book "for school" as much as I enjoyed this one. I'd never seen the film before I read it, and not knowing the plot presented in the movie was definitely worth it.

If you've seen the movie (and even if you haven't), read the book for Dale Harding. Those who've seen the film will remember him as.. a rather dislikable character at odds with McMurphy throughout. He was done a -great- disservice in the film, and was by far my favorite character - I read it mostly to experience scenes with him.

Ken Kesey's prose is quirky and elegant - with such descriptions of physical idiosyncracies that I've never seen so accurately written - such as the way he describes Harding as trapping his pretty hands between his knees and folding his thin shoulders about his chest like green wings. It's difficult to understand at times, since the narrator, Chief Bromden, is also a mental patient on the ward and sees things differently than a sane person would - but anything he says that's hard to grasp at the beginning slowly becomes clear as the narrative goes on.

_One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ is made brilliant by a number of things: the beauty and eccentricity of the prose, the development of character, the layers of plot and subtext, and the subtle messages, meanings, and morals scattered throughout the pages in such a way that you learn them but don't realize they're there. I highly recommend this book - it's one that will stay with you again and again, and is warranted a second and third time reading.

Happened upon this nifty book in the counterculture section of my local bookstore and bought two copies.

The author takes us on a spirited, insightful sojourn through the backalleys of America's true icons and offers up zillions of interesting sidetracks along the way.

He doesn't mince too many words when disclosing the nitty gritty opinions that each of the protagonists has of one another - this makes for a more interesting read than many works which simply glorify all their subjects.

Additionally, somehow the author has an uncanny finger on the pulse of what we really want to hear about on the way, such as the piece on James Dean - his significance and his death. The section on Hunter S. Thompson is a riot!!!

This is a nice addition to your psychedelic editions.

Next to Jay Stevens' classic "Storming Heaven" and Don Snyder's wonderful photographic essay "Aquarian Odyssey," make room on your bookshelf for Peter O. Whitmer's seven-dimensional biography "Aquarius Revisited." Combining well-written history and targeted recent interviews, we meet seven of the elemental forces who shaped the counter-culture of the Sixties as the outrageous, facinating, and above all intelligent souls that laid the groundwork for the last great movement our century will see. William S. Burroughs; Allen Ginsberg; Key Kesey; Timothy Leary; Norman Mailer; Tom Robbins; Hunter S. Thompson: some are gone, some are still with us, but all come together here to make a biography not only of seven people, but of a way of life, thought and hope.

"Are you on the bus or off the bus?" That was the crucial question posed by proto-hippies Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady and their band of Merry Pranksters who toured the country in the original Magic Bus on the first Magical Mystery Tour, most famously recounted by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In The Further Inquiry, Kesey examines the trip 25 years after the fact through a surreal courtroom drama. While the text itself is not as engrossing as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Kesey's first book which catapulted him to early fame at 23), devotees of Beat will find the bus tramscript snippets of interest and the layout and full-color pages throughout make this big bad hardback a treasure worth hunting.

The exceptionally good design anticipates hypertext in a way which few printed books have done (the collaborations of McCluhan and Fiore being other notable examples). With color photographs, film stills, and other enhanced imagery, the book is a visual feast with many whimsical touches, including a black-and-white flipbook movie of a dancing Cassady in the right margin. It is less an inquiry than a celebration. As one character proclaims of Cassady: "He was joyous. He could take social and emotional and cosmic changes just like he could take ninety-degree corners...on four wheels or two. My god, didn't you ever read On the Road? He was a living legend!"

This book is about the ghost of Neal Cassady being put on trial for his part in the Merry Prankster bus trip. Kesey wrote a pretty funny book which touches on the highlights of the famous bus trip told through a courtroom drama with various Pranksters testifying. The book has a lot of interesting photographs taken from the trip. Do not read this book looking for a lot of detail about the trip and the Pranksters(Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool Aid Test" covers that). This book is a fun, quick read.

what the hell?? i can't beleive the book's out of print, this bokk is amazing!! a work of pure genius!!!!!! ken kesey retells the entire story of the pranksters and the further bus in script form, with over 100 color pics!!!!!!!!!! get this book!!!!!!

ken kesey is my favourite author, his books just beg to be read and this was no exception. it's a collection of short stories and so of course it's not all going to be great, though the parts you least expect to like are for the best part the highlight of the book. the story about killer, the stories written from the viewpoint of his grandmother and the return to the mental ward which was the inspiration for one flew over the cuckoos nest are all great stories and there are so many others. read and enjoy. prepare to be baffled, confused and dumbstruck but above all prepare to be taken to other places, better times and marvel in the genius that was ken kesey. may he rest in peace.

The passing of Kesey last month led me to the Demon Box. I immediately fell under his spell...again. His classic third person writings are on glorious display here. Most short story collections usually are interspersed with good and bad and that is the case here. However, the good ones are great and Kesey has turned me on once again with his psycho-traumas. Kesey proves he is the best at stream of conscience writing. From the bulls on his farm to John Lennon on the night he died to his reluctance to revisit the ward, Kesey very neatly puts it all in perspective. A truly enjoyable read. He will be missed.

Demon Box is great for those who have read The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest, and Sometimes A Great Notion and still want to hear more about Kesey. In the book, Kesey, as Devlin Debree, decribes his life after the Prankster days and gives insight into the failure of the 60's counter-culture.