Cuckoos and Wives

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey has never been a book I've been drawn to. But a reading challenge threw it in my path - and it turns out, it's amazing!
The writing is exquisite - beautiful, haunting, massively impactful.
The book is also funny, which I wasn't expecting, as well as very sad and powerful, which I was.
The characterisation is masterful, the narrative voice (and the voices of a lot of the characters) is very effective and distinct.
I was completely immersed and especially mesmerised by the last 30 or so pages, which will stay with me a long time.
So glad I read this!


The Pastor's Wife by Elizabeth von Arnim, on the other hand, didn't really grab me at all.
We follow Ingeborg, who escapes her oppressive family and goes on an impromptu trip to Lucerne, and ends up marrying one of her fellow travelers and disappearing off to America.
I found the font very off-putting and the style very old-fashioned. There were lots of exclamation points and unnecessary italics. Ingeborg seemed very childish - and the man she gets involved with kept calling her 'Little One', which made me squirm.
So, I unfortunately gave up around the 50-page mark.