Sometimes a Great Notion
by Ken Kesey · first published 1964
63% recommend26% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
Rich, human family saga with a river as relentless foe, told through rapidly shifting italicized first-person voices. Admirers rank it above Kesey's Cuckoo's Nest and say it sticks with you after one read.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Sometimes a Great notion is a book about about the Stamper family. A tough crew who keeps getting pushed west by the youngest Stamper's whim after looking out the window. Finally they can not go any further west than a raging river on Oregon coast. Hank and the Father run a Logging operation against all odds to unionize Great characters Biggie Newton and Finally the youngest son Leland returns after his drug lab exploded. Hank and Leland fight over a Woman and Leland grows up
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Everything in moderation. Ken Kesey wrote two of my favorite books "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1962) and "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1964), but basically produced nothing of much merit after that. I'm convinced that his subsequent over-indulgence in psychedelics destroyed his ability to produce great literature.
on “Communication between brain networks in people given psilocybin” ↗…*The Art of Not Being Governed* by James C. Scott - *The Unwinding* by George Packer - *People's History of the United States* by Howard Zinn Fiction - *East of Eden* by John Steinbeck - *Sometimes a Great Notion* by Ken Kesey - *The Brothers Karamazov* by Fyodor Dostoyevsky edit: formatting
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗Articles about Apple censoring the illustrated Ulysses have made it to HN lately. It took Joyce 7 years to write Ulysses. Ken Kesey wrote Sometimes a Great Notion, a favorite of mine, in about 3 months. It struck me that Kesey touches on some of the same themes as Joyce. I consider it an overlooked masterpiece.
on “Ask HN: Good literature for a technical guy” ↗…best sci-fi/fantasy ever written, as much as I love Lois McMaster Bujold (three worlds to choose from, each offering many more or less independent novels and novellas), who is also great. A few more: Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey. My Antonia, Willa Cather. Bluebeard, Kurt Vonnegut.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗It took Joyce seven years to write Ulysses at a page per day. It's not an easy read. It is a great book. On the other hand Ken Kesey wrote Sometimes a Great Notion in three months, and to my mind it compares favorably to Ulysses in many ways. It is also a great, though overlooked, novel.
on “James Joyce's "Ulysses": Why you should read this book” ↗Ah nice, I need to do the same with House of Leaves, I'm a big fan of stories with unconventional structuring. Sometimes a Great Notion by Kesey is my favorite; it's told from multiple first-person perspectives that shift pretty rapidly, where the shifts are indicated by having a particular speakers' text italicized, in parenthesis, with…
on “Do 20 pages of a book gives you 90% of its words?” ↗As we are kind of in Ken Kesey country here, I would add "Sometimes A Great Notion", which I think is his best novel - better than "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".
on “Larry McMurtry has died” ↗If you haven’t read Sometimes a Great Notion, run don’t walk to your nearest bookstore. Yes, even if you didn’t like the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest movie.
on “The Time I Snuck into Ken Kesey’s Fiction Class” ↗The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse The Road, Cormac McCarthy Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗Ken Kesey - "Sometimes a Great Notion" A very rich, very human story generally about what drives people, with a river as an unrelenting foe. I think.
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗More books than I can easily recall or put down here. Currently in the middle of a re-read of one of my favorites, Ken Kesey's Sometimes A Great Notion. Also the first Otherside Picnic light novel, after watching and loving the anime adaptation.
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗I don't have a full list, but some that I thought of when I was trying out this website were Foucault's Pendulum; East of Eden; Sometimes a Great Notion; A Man in Full; I, Claudius; and Anathem.
on “Show HN: Kooba, an interactive graph for finding new books” ↗…now and the entire book is seared in my brain as well, from the saloon to the range, and I’ve only read it that one time. The only other book, I think, that has stuck with me like that after one read is Sometimes a Great Notion.
on “Lawrence Wright on Larry McMurtry” ↗A lot of people liked "Sometimes A Great Notion". I personally prefer it to "Cuckoo". It doesn't read like something written by someone whacked out on acid.
on “Edgar Allan Poe's life was a mess. But his work was in his command” ↗