first reviews of sometimes a great notion

Stechschulte’s deft switching of voices-at times done mid-sentence-unlocks Kesey’s vast, kaleidoscopic vision. The book doesn’t simply boast dozens of characters it takes us inside these personae, making us privy to their inner thoughts. The novel's narration passes fluidly from third person to first person. Were Sometimes a Great Notion not a masterpiece in its own right, Tom Stechschulte’s performance would still make this book essential listening. This accounts for why the book feels simultaneously so fresh and trapped in amber. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to imagine such a full-throated working-class ballad appearing amid the ranks of today’s literary fiction. I hasten to add that the male lumberjacks at the heart of the novel are not any the less complex and believable for all their rough-hewn virility. There are passages that make Hemingway’s machismo look faint-hearted. While I’m taking pains not to spoil the pleasures of navigating any the novel’s many narrative tributaries, it’s worth noting that, though there are a few well-developed female characters, this story is steeped in testosterone. To encounter Kesey writing at the top of his game is to realize that many authors, including John Irving and especially Robert Stone, are merely dutiful imitators. If that weren’t enough to sustain the reader’s interest, the central narrative is interlaced with dozens of compelling and entertaining side plots. Kesey employs all the most effective innovations of modernist fiction to tell the tale of a dynastic struggle worthy of Shakespeare or the ancient Greeks. Here we have everything we could want in a novel. I can’t remember what virtual rabbit hole led me to this book, but coming upon it now feels like going on an afternoon hike, only to stumble upon the Taj Mahal in a clearing. In any case, at the distance of more than half a century, Sometimes a Great Notion stands as a heroic accomplishment. While Kesey’s notoriety ensured that the novel would not slide entirely into obscurity, readers seeking the literary equivalent of a bong hit would come away frustrated and daunted by this big, dense book. The fact that author Ken Kesey went on to become the patron saint of psychedelia probably didn’t help the book’s reputation. Set amid the forests of the Pacific Northwest, tinged with country western music and populated with James Dean wannabes, Sometimes a Great Notion might have been perceived in its day as casting a backwards glance when many readers were only looking forward with apprehension or expectation. My two-bit theory posits that, given its arrival immediately following Kennedy’s assassination, it didn’t seem to address current conditions. It’s a mystery why this book never enjoyed the acclaim of, say, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Rabbit, Run, The Executioner’s Song or Bonfire of the Vanities. And you have to stand back in awe of the man's ability to create character.Sometimes a Great Novel Pops up out of Nowhere you cannot help but admire Kesey's vigor, his profligate command of the language. Set against the damp and brutal background of an Oregon logging community, the book by turns gasps, pants, whoops, and shrieks. Kesey in the fullness of his material discovers them for us.' Beyond the PTA and the beer commercials, beyond the huge effluvium of the times, exist people who live by the ancient passions, and Mr. ' Sometimes a Great Notion, a big book in every way, captures the tenor of the post-Korea America as nothing I can remember reading.

When Kesey describes the Canada honkers flying over the woods you can almost see them when he describes the smells of the grass and the tastes of the strawberries you feel and you smell and you taste.' and then there is that great gift for comedy, for purely sensational writing. Getting into this book is getting into a fascinating, crazy world of a fascinating, crazy family which has a throbbing reality and a desperate dedication to living. 'As in Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey brings to life people you will never forget.

First reviews of sometimes a great notion