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. Sometimes a Great Novel Pops up out of Nowhere A man who lived his deep faith but was worldly in every respect.Īs happened when I read this book 45 years ago in print, I did not want this audiobook to end. He was the guy we'd all like to have as a friend. Who was the most memorable character of Sometimes a Great Notion and why? All of them have been well done but the narrator had more voices in this novel and did all of them extremely well. Have you listened to any of Tom Stechschulte?s other performances before? How does this one compare? He was capable of great love, for his father, Viv, and Joe Ben but had some trouble expressing this love. Kesey brought out his inner thoughts and downplayed the obvious, i.e. If you could sum up Sometimes a Great Notion in three words, what would they be?
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