Prefatory Matters: I lost a twenty-year-old book during this reread. Most of you have the seen the picture of my gutted hardcover copy of Insomnia. If you haven’t I’ll include it at the end of this post as well. Total loss of containment, folks. About thirty pages loosed themselves from the glue and became individual souls. I have a 284 page section, and another section of about 400 pages, and a little bit in the middle that just said “Fuck it” and struck out for the territories. All in all, a sad day. Luckily, I have another one. Same edition. Same year. All’s good. Oh, and a quick warning to owners of first edition Insomnias, the glue the printing press used back in 1994 is faulty. This separation is a common problem with this edition of the book. Keep your copy on a shelf. Do not touch. This has been a public service announcement brought to you in part by the letter E.Actual Review: Insomnia is a difficult book to review without spoilers. Hell, the publisher didn’t even know what to do with the cover of this one so they just put King’s name on the front along with the title in alternating red and white. It’s even a difficult novel to categorize. I guess it’s horror. Maybe it’s speculative fiction… or perhaps lit fic… or maybe bizarro… Fuck if I know, dude. I will say this much, it’s a fun ride. The only problem with this book is the requirement that you must have read the Dark Tower series to fully understand some of the plot. I mean, you can get through it without such knowledge, but it’s a bit confusing in places if you don’t have said knowledge. Roland Deschain is mentioned three times in this book. I tried to look at these sections as an outsider, as someone who has not read the DT books even though I have (numerous times), and I feel comfortable saying that the sections which mention Roland and the Tower would make zero sense to someone who is new to the King-verse. There is no context, nothing to draw off of. In fact, there is a paragraph toward the end of the book that says: “Worlds which had trembled in their orbits now steadied, and in one of those worlds, in a desert that was the apotheosis of all deserts, a man named Roland turned over in his bedroll and slept easily once again beneath the alien constellations.” Imagine, if you will, that you’ve never read a Dark Tower novel (or, shit, maybe you haven’t) and you just happened to pick up Insomnia because your buddy said, “Yo, kid, peep this thick-ass book. Looks legit good, right? I mean, who the fuck doesn’t love 800 pages cloaked in a sexy-as-fuck red and white jacket!?!?!?!?” If you’re that “kid”, that Roland fucker means absolutely nothing to you. It seems pointless. Sad panda. But for me? Son, I live for that shit. I love the DT references, all of them. I dig that shit in my heart of hearts. I’m the asshole in the coffee shop that won’t shut up with the “Yeah, but did you catch this bit?” comments. I know, I know, I hate me too, but it’s the truth. As far as I am aware there is no other author who has created a vaster universe, one that crosses every genre line in the business. King has written it all, and everything he writes puzzle-pieces back together in some way. Dig it, man. Or, you know, don’t dig it. But I’m still going to nerd out whenever I stumble across the Beam. Yes, this book is a little longwinded in spots, but what King book isn’t? (Dolores Claiborne) Yes, it references the Dark Tower, but what King novel doesn’t? (Mr. Mercedes … seriously, so far it’s the only novel of his that doesn’t reference Mid-World in some way.) But it’s also one of his most imaginative stories. I kinda feel that Insomnia is an 800-page wink-and-nod to the King-verse fans out there. Shit, dudettes, even the shoe Gage loses in Pet Semetery is in this book, not to mention entire ass-loads of It, Derry, and Pennywise references. Does all this bog down the story? No. Are there going to be parts you don’t understand if you haven’t read Roland’s quest or trip-trapped through the story of The Loser’s Club? Yes. Does any of this detract from the fun of this book? Nope. Not in the least. There is a well-plotted, expertly-honed story under all the referencing and fan service. This is King doing what King does best. Entertaining the people who bought tickets to see him in concert. I will be skipping my normal Hidden Gems and Obvious Tie-Ins sections because I’m saving them for my A Decade with King: 1985-1994 post, which will be out April 1, 2015. There’s a lot this time around, and I don’t wanna type it twice. But I will leave you with this food for thought:Spoilers for several King books. Click “view spoiler” at your own risk: (view spoiler)[Are the likes of Abra Stone and Dan Torrance and Johnny Smith on the same level of the tower that Ralph and Lois visit in Insomnia? Does Danny help people die in Doctor Sleep by allowing their aura to pass into him? (I just got goosebumps. You didn’t need to know that, but that’s how hard I fanboy.) (hide spoiler)]
Yikes, this thing was a brick! I think I missed this one when it was originally published due to a personal King boycott right around that time -- I'd just gotten so very very tired of getting sooooo excited there was a new King book out, only to wade through yet another bloated, overwritten doorstop.Having tried a few newer books by King lately, I decided to give some of those older books a try. Sadly, this one is pretty much what I feared it would be -- so many terrific ideas bogged down with the worst of out-of-control story telling.Just an aside here -- what's up with King and portable toilets? I swear he's used these several times as doorways, right? Doesn't that seem odd to anyone besides myself?Okay, so the gist of this one is pretty standard Stephen King -- a group or individual (here it's retiree, Ralph Roberts) stumbles upon hidden supernatural forces at work in (once again) Derry, Maine. The usual reluctant heroics and assorted nonsense ensues.So it sounds like I really hated this one -- but no, actually I didn't. In fact, I might have really loved it if it had been edited down to about half the length, and some of the typical King-isms removed.I get it, I really do -- King has an entire UNIVERSE that he seems compelled not only to explore, but to tie together. So in this fairly simple story about senior citizens battling the forces of evil, we have references to the Dark Tower and King's beloved ka-tet.And it just makes me soooooooo tiiiiiiiired.But the characters -- they're wonderful. Roberts is just a really lovely guy, and the interior voice of his late wife, Carolyn, is so believable. Lois, the lovely widow Roberts shares his adventure with -- while not as believable a character as some of the others -- is perfectly charming. Why oh why couldn't you have left it at that, Mr. King? One aspect of this book that I have to comment on is the central conflict of the story -- the people of Derry are divided over the local Women's Center and the abortion debate. I checked the publication date on this, and it was released in 1994, TWENTY YEARS ago. I found it depressing that we are STILL fighting over this subject, so many years later. I did find it a difficult read at times due to this.Despite all of this, there was a lot to like about this book -- when King wants to, he can really push your buttons and make you feel for his characters, and this book was no exception. (view spoiler)[When Roberts sacrifices his own life at the end of the book in order to save his dear friend's daughter, I bawled my eyes out. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Insomnia (2005)?
This is a long one folks. And it starts a little slow. So if you need to be entranced from page 1, don't pick up this book. You might need more like 130 pages to become committed. But the one thing I did like about this novel is the fact that all the main characters are older than 60. It's a great change of pace from the standard character set. And once King gets going with the story, it gets pretty interesting. I'll also say that if any of you are Dark Tower fanatics, then you should read this one.
—Aaron
If anyone ever tells you they read this in less then a fortnight, they're most likely bullshitting you. This is almost impossibly long, and I can *easily* see why some people hate and/or have given up less then half way through. It reads like a TV drama show, that seems to go on forever, yet having nothing of much importance happen until the final few, jaw dropping, cliff-hanging, edge-of-your seat episodes.That said, it is enjoyable for the duration of the book. Even the crazy, weird, no-idea-whats happening parts (like the first viewing of Inception. You have no idea whats going on, but its still amazing :D)But hey, Insomnia was a daring idea- a 750+ page novel, about domestic abuse, mental illness, abortion, mythology, suspence and romance all mixed in together, with a 70 year old main character.Only the King could have pulled it of so well. And I mean Stephan King, not the Crimson King :P (Pardon the corny joke. You only get it if you have read the book.)
—★ Jess
You can say a lot of things about Stephen King, but not that he cannot tell one hell of a story. After reading It (over 1000 pages) I had to take a break from his work, but when I saw this title, I was interested enough to pick up another of his large tomes.It is hard to describe what Insomnia is about without giving away major plot points. Basically, this is the story of seventy-something Ralph Roberts, who through his insomnia enters a world that is hidden from the human eye most of the time.When his wife Carolyn dies after a long struggle with illness Ralph is devastated. He starts to sleep badly. Every day he wakes up a few minutes earlier than the day before that. This goes on until the point where Ralph only sleeps a few hours every night. The lack of sleep that accumulates has a great impact on his day to day life. He can't remember the most simple things, he doesn't experience any happiness any more, he just wants to lie down and have a good night of sleep.Then he starts to get these strange hallucinations. At first, he doesn't give them that much thought. But when they become more frequent and severe he can't escape them any more, and he enters the other plains of this world.I was instantly interested in this book because I enjoy King's writing style, and insomnia is a topic that holds my interest. At both points I wasn't disappointed; there was enough scientific references for me to feel like I actually learned something about insomnia, but it is interwoven in the story that you don't feel like you're being lectured at all. It's hard to decide whether this book should be classified as horror or not. Especially the first half of the book is quite scary. There is a lot going on and you have no idea where all these signs point to, giving it a spooky feel. When Ralph finally welcomes the "other world", as you could call it, this tension is gone, and the story isn't frightful at all. It was great to have an elderly main character for a change. I actually don't think I have read from the point of view of an older man before. Even though our worlds are so far apart as can be, I did feel for Ralph. He is an ordinary guy bestowed with extraordinary gifts making him special and important for the future of human kind. He acts like a real human being, and I appreciated that. He isn't better than other people in any way, the situation makes him powerful.Another small thing I really liked about this book were the subtle references to other books from Stephen. The setting for this book is once again the city of Derry (like in It) and it was nice to see how characters we haven't met in a while are doing now. Even though King's books are standalone novels, they do have a connection, and I felt pretty awesome discovering these little clues leading to his other work.Overall this is a solid read. It is long, but even if you're not that into long books you can give this a try. Stephen King has a way of keeping your interest, making you want to keep reading.
—Celine
