Double Star by Robert A Heinlein (3 stars)

Winner of the 1956 Hugo. It feels like an extended short story inspired by Heinlein's time hanging out with actors via his wife's work. It's partly homage to the skill of actors, and partly a thought experiment about what makes a person. 

If you can become a character, replicating their mannerisms, opinions and outlook on life so completely as to fool others at what point do you become that character? What if you did that daily for months or years? Where does the character stop and how do you keep yourself separate?

The story and concept isn't bad, but the plot twists and outcome are obvious.

3 stars.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (4 stars)

A very interesting novel first published in 1962. There's definitely some significant racism and sexism in here that wouldn't be tolerated today. The central theme of the novel is institutional power, in this case in the form of a nurse's power over her patients inside a mental hospital, but it's meant as a reflection on the wider concept. 

We see McMurphy's fierce individualism, independence, and belief in himself under attack and eroded over time in an effort to make him fit in to continue the "efficient" operation of the hospital. It's a thought provoking example of how power wielded without compassion can lead to catastrophic outcomes.

Imagine applying McMurphy's feelings of being trapped under a weight of meaningless rules, deprivations and indignities to other power relationships: government/citizen, white/black, employer/employee.

4 stars.