Finished: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Kesey) Ohhh, that evil Nurse Ratched, tormenting Billy Bibbit into killing himself. :-( This was a good book, but sad overall just reading about all the "crazies" in the mental hospital. Of course, I couldn't read the story at all without picturing Jack Nicholson's maniacal grin as Randle McMurphy...the inmate who faked insanity to get himself off of the road work detail and assigned to a "cushy" insane asylum. I never saw the movie, but saw enough clips from it to easily be able to insert Nicholson in the vivid imagery and shenanigans of the hospital ward. While McMurphy seems to be just out for himself, by the end it seems that he's grown to care about the other patients he hangs out with, Harding, Scanlon, the Chief, and Billy....so much so that rather than apologize to his determined nemesis, Nurse Ratched, and admit he's wrong, he knowingly lets himself be led to the Shock Shop where he receives electrode shock therapy. And, by the very end, his planned party to sneak in some booze and "girls", especially to help Billy loose his virginity and his stuttering, goes so awry that after Billy kills himself from the shame and verbal lashing by Nurse Ratched, McMurphy is carted off and isn't seen again until he's wheeled in on a gurney, having been lobotomized. :-( Sadly...the plan had worked, and Billy had gained some confidence being with the girl and introduced her without stuttering! Then, the evil Nurse Ratched, knowing exactly what Billy's mommy issues were, brought up his mother and how she would tell his mother the kind of girl he'd been with. This sent poor Billy off the deep end. The entire story is narrated by the Chief, a youngish Native American man from the Columbia River area in Oregon, where the story is set. He's got his own set of problems, but by the end of the story, McMurphy's outrageousness, outgoingness, and belief in the Chief have actually helped the Chief overcome his problems, for the most part, and he leaves the asylum for good.....after putting McMurphy out of his lobotomy misery by smothering him with a pillow. Yikes! Anyway, I'm not sure I'd put the book in my Top 100, but it was on Time's list of the Top 100, so I can check one more book off that list. :-) Also...I might just want to rent the movie!