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Sometimes a Great Notion
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Sometimes a Great Notion Paperback - 1977

by Ken Kesey


Summary

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sailor Song is a wild-spirited and hugely powerful tale of an Oregon logging clan.
A bitter strike is raging in a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers: Henry, the fiercely vital and overpowering patriarch; Hank, the son who has spent his life trying to live up to his father; and Viv, who fell in love with Hank's exuberant machismo but now finds it wearing thin. And then there is Leland, Henry's bookish younger son, who returns to his family on a mission of vengeance - and finds himself fulfilling it in ways he never imagined. Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

From the publisher

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sailor Song is a wild-spirited and hugely powerful tale of an Oregon logging clan. A bitter strike is raging in a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers: Henry, the fiercely vital and overpowering patriarch; Hank, the son who has spent his life trying to live up to his father; and Viv, who fell in love with Hank's exuberant machismo but now finds it wearing thin. And then there is Leland, Henry's bookish younger son, who returns to his family on a mission of vengeance - and finds himself fulfilling it in ways he never imagined. Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals, Ken Kesey crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

Details

  • Title Sometimes a Great Notion
  • Author Ken Kesey
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 640
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Books, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 1977-07-28
  • ISBN 9780140045291 / 0140045295
  • Weight 0.93 lbs (0.42 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.74 x 5.05 x 1.12 in (19.66 x 12.83 x 2.84 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 1020
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Pacific Northwest
    • Geographic Orientation: Oregon
    • Topical: Family
  • Library of Congress subjects Domestic fiction, Oregon
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 77004998
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booksense '76 Mar/Apr 2002, 03/01/2002, Page 1

About the author

Ken Kesey was born in 1935 and grew up in Oregon. He graduated from the University of Oregon and later studied at Stanford with Wallace Stegner, Malcolm Cowley, Richard Scowcroft, and Frank O' Connor. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, his first novel, was published in 1962. His second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion, followed in 1964. His other books include Kesey's Garage Sale, Demon Box, Caverns (with O. U. Levon), The Further Inquiry, Sailor Song, and Last Go Round (with Ken Babbs). His two children's books are Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear and The Sea Lion. Ken Kesey died on November 10, 2001.
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Sometimes a Great Notion
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Sometimes a Great Notion

by Ken Kesey

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Sometimes a Great Notion

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