Рецензия на книгу

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  Аноним8 марта 2023 г.

  No one tells you that one should go in prepared. No whisper, "Maybe you'd rather not, there is darkness, it's a pain, and you're with no map nor flashlight." I treaded with bits of the story learned over the years scattered in my mind, not much of those to spare. Equipment? What's the use. I would have lost it at sea anyway.

  Not sure I will stomach the film now — now that I've had my heart taken fiercely by the gentle, earnest, devastating prose.

  I'm the Chief Bromden of readers. Is there any other kind? I saw Randle through his eyes, but those were focused same as mine: on hospital happenings, of course, but above else, on the man that always took up all the room.

  McMurphy is to die for. I admired the hell out of that character. He's hilarious and caring, his keen perception of what's around him stuns. Tolerates no bullshit, got resourcefulness that begs for a roaring applause. A fire of a man, a force of a human being; you would do wise to respect that force and stand back in awe — or be by his side with all your might.

  Starting off, I wasn't impressed. He seemed the tribe of folks I don't like, don't find interesting, don't want near: ever the center of attention, buzzing with endless thought, doing something, saying something, conjuring up ways to engage himself and others. A dread. I stopped reading for a while, that's how uninvolved I’d been.

  Fast forward several months when I picked up from where I left things, and I'm shocked.

  At myself for how easily it is to fall in love with a character I so resented; full-power, unconditional love. At the way the novel speaks — emotionally charged, precise words, no-nonsense, breathes with honesty and care for its inhabitants. I couldn't get enough. I laughed. Then cried. Which I scarcely do with books. But that scene... came in an instant and was already turning the corner the next one, but it's sharp, and it's vicious, and felt like a blow. I snapped the book shut and had to will myself to calm — or the least shaky and hurting version of it.

  Something to be angry about: I was puzzled to see the countless "the girl", "the little girl", "this black boy", "that black boy". And this is well after their names become known! What, whores don't deserve to be addressed properly? Hospital personnel is written off as pure evil and shouldn't be called by the given names? So unnerving. Cut one star clean off, and to think it'd been a 10-out-of-10 for me almost all the way through.

  I guess I have to decide whether it is a hopeful story or a tragic one all in all. (Somehow, I get the feeling this question is posed — by how the ending is rolled out, welcoming, daring to choose). And it's neither. Or both, I don't care which way you flip it. I'm not putting labels on it. The ending is the way it is; I like it for honoring the characters and am glad to be wrong about what everything would come to.

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