Insomnia

[captainslog]

Don't usually bother with King coz I find his attention to detail a tad boring.I mean I don't care what colour a characters toothbrush is!Anyway i picked up Insomnia the other da y as I took a notion to give him a go again.Is there any point in ploughing through 750 pages or will it just send me off to the land of nod?

[Caller]

Personally I really enjoyed it but I have heard a number of people complaining about how slow it is to start; if you want something that you can stick with for a while then this is for you.

It's a slow burn but worth it I think.

Cheers,

Caller

[captainslog]

Thanks Caller! Started it last night and so far so good.I really do enjoy his dialogue coz it seems so real so that should keep me going.Not a fast reader but I'll let you know what I think in a month!

[Wiggum]

It's decent book, but fairly heavly tied into the Dark Tower Series.

I've read it twice, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn't really describe it as riveting.

[HoopyFrood]

Yeah, I quite enjoy Insomnia...I'm strangely drawn to his...um, less well known...well no, his less mainstream books. I mean, I love the Shining and Pet Semetary and all that (hell, I love every book by the man!) but I seem to be drawn towards the more obscure ones like Rose Madder, The Dark Half, Through the Eyes of the Dragon, the ones that people outside the SK fan base wouldn't particularly know as well (probably because of the lack of being turned into a film!)
Anyway, yeah keep on with Insomnia, it's not quite the conventional horror of evil clowns or aliens, but it is still a damn good story.
And if you happen to enjoy it and are intrigued about small thrown in details like (I don't think it's too much of a spoiler, and you'll know it when ou come to it) the kid's picture of a man by a tower, or the crimson King, I heartly recommend you read the Dark Tower Series.

[steve12553]

I read it several years ago and for some reason the only thing I remember about it is that I enjoyed it. I seemed to remember it going pretty quick once I got into it. Sounds like I'll have to put that inin my reread list.

[Spade]

Did you finish the book? I really liked it. It's one of the weirdest novels I've ever read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Steffi]

I thought it was a brilliant book.....It's my husbands favourite SK novel

[sci-fi girl]

It's one of the weirdest novels I've ever read

Completely agree with you Spade. And the way SK makes all this seems real and coherent!!! I'm completely thrilled!

[Urien]

'Ware, there be SPOILERS ahead.





I've just reread Insomnia. And it came to me almost as a new never visited book; so I've either developed goldfish memory syndrome or the central story was weaker than others.

Ageing widower Ralph Roberts in the oft visited Derry is one of King's best drawn and developed characters. His insomnia allied to intervention from powers higher up, opens a world of sensations and auras to him, and eventually to his help meet, come love interest Lois. Their struggle to undo actions by a man of neither the Random nor the Purpose, becomes the pivot on which the universe turns. Now that sounds grand and epic, it's not, it's small scale... along the lines of what would have happened had Hitler fallen under a bus driven by Mr Demented of Dementedville, Maine.

It's this slow time, small scale, achingly glacial build up and up close focus that can become a little tiresome. King exercises his power to make the banal act of say, getting a pair of binoculars, both lengthy and yet still frightening to its full extent... but sometimes that extent seems over extended.

Ralph, you believe in, you like, you want him to win, Lois was less convincing. For afficionados there are many other book references to spot; mostly Dark Tower, also It and several others. The story is relatively slight... and even for King stretched credulity and was at times, I thought, a little silly... I never could believe in balloon strings and Little Bald Doctors...

If you want to read a marvelous character study a triumph in sustained tight focus writing or you're a King completist and you want to see all the parts of the big watch, then this is for you.

...and it sparked a half glimmered tear of outrage and sadness from me at the end.

[biodroid]

It picks up at around page 150 from what I can recall and becomes faster paced and he starts explaining things early on as well. Different but I really liked it. Just keep at it, it gets better.