Robert M. (shotokanchef) reviewed Sometimes a Great Notion (Penguin Classics) on + 813 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is supposed to be his great "union" novel; his opus; his "Moby Dick." Well, it's Kesey sans much of the wry humor of Cuckoo's Nest, albeit there is some. At any rate it is life as he finds it in the great Northwest logging country: in this case western Oregon. Page 1 the union is on strike on the left bank, while the "scab" family of non-union loggers continues to cut as usual. 250 pages later, we don't know much of the union's progress but we are getting to know the "scab" family intimately. So where's the great "union" novel? Lots of rhetoric, some wit, plenty of ennui; not much story for 700+ pagesa real tome.
