Ken Kesey wrote an incredibly powerful book! I currently live in Oregon and this novel is set in our state, which was where Ken Kesey lived! WOW! I highly recommend this book!

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Ken Kesey was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. He is best known for his 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which was an immediate commercial and critical success and was made into the popular movie starring Jack Nicholson. During the period of writing Cuckoo, Kesey participated in CIA-financed studies involving hallucinogenic drugs (including mescaline and LSD) to supplement his income and later became known for hosting happenings with former colleagues which involved LSD consumption.

SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION was Kesey's second novel about an Oregon logging family that Kesey aspired to the modernist grandeur of William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha saga and regarded it as his magnum opus. He took the title from the song "Goodnight, Irene", popularized by Lead Belly.

Sometimes I lives in the country
Sometimes I lives in the town
Sometimes I haves a great notion
To jump into the river an' drown

The novel is set around an Oregon logging camp and it focuses on the Stamper family who are at odds with the town and their union, and also at odds with each other. The story revolves around Hank and Leland and their conflict dating back to when Leland was a small child. Leland left Oregon with his mother (Hank's step-mother) and had lived in New York going to college. But when he receives a post card from Hank and the other Stampers wanting him to help in the work in Oregon, he returns to get involved in the middle of a conflict with the trade union. But Leland is also returning to seek vengeance on Hank who he feels wronged him and his mother years before.

This was a very long (over 600 pages) and sweeping novel written with many vivid descriptions of the Oregon logging community and the risks and dangers of the logging profession. It was filled with a wide-range of emotions including both humor and tragedy. Kesey's style did take a little getting used to; he would randomly change first person narratives from one person to another making it sometimes hard to keep track of who was giving the account. But overall, I would consider this a great novel which did somewhat remind me of Faulkner. This was also made into a movie in 1970 with Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. I saw this when it first came out and remember enjoying it but I know it was definitely watered down from the novel. I may seek it out again for a rewatch.

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I read this book about a year ago and it was enough to inspire a series of art pieces, so that should tell you how good it is. Kesey is a great writer and this is a great book!

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Superb Ken Kesey. Captures life in the timbered hills of the Northwest. One of the best books you'll read.

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Simply breath-taking in words, wit, wisdom. A simple story that will ingrain itself into your head for many moons.

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An interesting study of a family's battle with nature, society and themselves set in the rugged Pacific northwest. After almost 600 pages Kesey's prose, though not hard to read, left me feeling mentally exhausted having felt some of of what his characters lived.

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