If you were to drop my well-worn copy (which was, of course, new when I got it) onto the floor, it would automatically open up to my favorite scene/chapter. It's the one that begins "There's a Monopoly game going on in the day room. They've been at it for three days..." The reason I love that chapter so much is because it just shows the characters being themselves, and I always get a good laugh out of it-
"Not that one, you crazy bastard; that's not my piece, that's my house."
"It's the same color."
"What's this little house doing on the Electric Company?"
"That's a power station."
"Martini, those ain't the dice you're shaking--"
"Let him be; what's the difference?"
"Those are a couple of houses!"
"Faw. And Martini rolls a big, let me see, a big nineteen. Good goin', Mart; that puts you- Where's your piece, buddy?"
"He had it in his mouth, McMurphy. Excellent. That's two moves over the second and third bicuspid, four moves to the board...."
And so on. Part of the reason I hated the movie so much, despite the rave reviews about it along with Jack Nicholson, was because that little piece of awesomeness was left out.
Anyway.
I'll admit that I have a sick fascination with what goes on inside a mental institution. And when I saw a book in the (barf) library that boasted being about not only a mental institution, but one for the criminally insane, I was sold. So I checked out The Treatment & The Cure by Peter Kocan. The book was very similar to Cuckoo's Nest, except the character development wasn't quite as in-depth and there wasn't much of an actual story line/plot. It was basically a work of fiction, told in second person (how weird is that?) that chronicled an inmate's journey through different wards of an Australian mental hospital. He/You started in MAX, then gets transferred to Ward 6, Ward 24, and finally REHAB. You watch fellow patients undergo shock treatments, suffer at the hands of bullying "screws" (nurses) and see the effects of overmedication.
His/Your crime is never really described. During his/your stay at the hospital he/you take(s) up an interest in poetry and writing, and the story ends with a 15-page poem that he/you wrote winning the National Poetry Prize.
It was an interesting read, and I finished it in a day, which says something good about the book. BUT the best part? I finished it, then turned to the last page, which had the author's brief bio. Which was the most shocking part of the entire book. Which was this:
Peter Kocan was born in Australia in 1947. His failed attempt to assassinate federal opposition leader Arthur Calwell in 1966 saw him sentence to life imprisonment. Kocan was later transferred from Sydney's infamous Long Bay jail to Morisset hospital for the criminally insane. His first books of poetry were published while he was at Morriset. His novel Fresh Fields candidly describes experiences leading up to the act of violence that resulted in his incarceration. He has twice been awarded the Premier's Award for Fiction.
Wow. So now I'm guessing that a large part of this was based on his actual experiences and feelings. I wish I had known that from the start. Not the most riveting book I've ever read, but it gives you a great, albeit creepy, insight into what life must be like for the "criminally insane" although he/you appeared far from insane.
Before this, I finished another (barf) library book called The Yoga Teacher by Alexandra Gray. This book, although drab at times, told the story of a pharmaceutical company rep who gave up all the material things her posh salary afforded her to pursue life as a yoga teacher. I'm a huge fan of doing what you like, and the book was definitely a motivator to firmly and deeply believe in, and devote as much as you can to your career. So far, these library books have been ok. Maybe the library's not all bad. Barf.
No comments:
Post a Comment