Insomnia

Rating:
Summary: Insomnia? No Way!
Review: This book kept me awake every night. I loved it. It was very odd, though. Unlike any book I have ever read. Atropos was awesome, if evil.

Rating:
Summary: A strong effort by a master
Review: Ralph Denton of Derry, Maine, is an old man with a common ailment for the elderly: insomnia. But despite all his efforts to get a good night's rest, he start waking up earlier and earlier. Eventually, he links this phenomenon with a strange ability to see a whole new world around us that none of us can see. The aura surrounding someone signifies how long they have to live. And then he starts to see things more substantial that auras, actual beings that exist on some plane that is critical to our world.

I love that this book strikes off in new directions for King. His first senior citizen hero is a novelty, and he makes even a whippersnapper like me put some serious thought into what it will be like to reach an advanced age (if I'm so lucky). Contemplating the inevitable troubles that accompany aging is actually perhaps the scariest thing in the book; at the least, it's refreshing.

I also enjoy seeing Derry from another pair of eyes. In It, King described how children operated in a world of their own that was basically hidden from the world of adults; this description was so true that it stuck with me. I was delighted to see another world and society operating, equally unseen, in the town of Derry. It is a take on the senior citizen community that was really engaging and enjoyable.

The chills are chilling (and I like that there's an homage paid to ancient Greek Mythology), the scares are scary, and the gore is gory. But no one reading a King book would expect any less.

The real test of a King novel is how the pacing and the plot and the character development work, and I'm pleased to say that in this book, they all work quite nicely. There are a couple of confrontations that come off as a little cheesy to me, but for the most part, the book is a great read.


Rating:
Summary: It will keep you awake by how bad it is
Review: I've never suffered from Insomnia, but I can imagine that it would not be a pleasant experience to go through, especially if you suffer from the things Stephen King's characters go through in this book.

How do you explain a plot that makes no sense? Get ready readers and make sure you got your thinking caps on, because some of this probably is not going to make a whole lot of sense (just like this novel).

The story is basically told from the point of view of Ralph, in third person. In the beginning of the story Ralph's long time wife dies of cancer. Shortly after, Ralph discovers that he is getting less and less sleep with every passing night, and the realization comes to him: he has insomnia. We then get the pleasure of reading though 200 pages or so of Ralph trying to find various ways to cure his insomnia. If you do suffer from insomnia, this just might be the cure for you in these first 200 pages. Despite how boring the first part of the novel is, it only goes downhill from here.

It goes from boring to ridiculous.

All of a sudden crazy things start happening to poor old Ralph. First, he watches his long time neighbor start to go crazy, becoming violent towards his wife, and demonstrating in violent anti-abortion protests. Worst yet, Ralph begins seeing things, like an eerie acid trip. The world changes in front of his eyes; people suddenly have colored auroras all around them now. Some people have orange ones, some purple ones, etc. These auroras represent people's emotions or vibes. Beside these auroras, they have balloon strings attached to these auroras that represent lifelines. Ralph's hallucinations begin to worsen, and he begins to see little bald doctors from another dimension of time causing havoc, and cutting these balloon strings from people's heads causing them to die. Are you getting it all yet? It gets worse. Ralph next finds out his lady friend, Louis, can see the same things as he can. Eventually, some of the bald doctors (there are good ones and bad ones) need his help to save a little boy that is going to die in the near future. The event this disaster is to take place is no other than a Pro-choice rally that is going to be held. Ralph's crazy neighbor is planning to suicide bomb the whole thing, and now it is up to Ralph and Louis to stop him, with the help of their "other dimension" friends. What will happen? Who cares?

Did I mention that Ralph is able to do a karate chop that sends a wave of colored energy which can do harm to the bad "other dimension" doctors? Or that Louis can do the same thing with her hand pointed like a gun, similar to what we did as a kid when we played cops and robbers. Did I mention that Ralph, despite all the chaos going on around him, gets the urge to have sex with Louis? I am sure I forgot to mention that the little doctors from the other dimension love to say dirty phrases that are so bad they couldn't even be appropriate in an R-rated movie, and that everyone in the whole down of Derry, both old and young, use the f-word like its going out of style. I gotta mention the dramatic climax where Ralph fights a giant catfish.

Ugh. I could go on and on. The book gets more stupid and ridiculous as it rolls on, and you are almost praying for the boredom you felt to come back in the beginning of the novel. The plot has more holes than a slice a swiss cheese. The dialogue is weak. The characters are weak. Ralph and Louis try to be funny but they are not. King tries to come off as creative, but I assure you there is a fine line between creative and ridiculous. King also could have left out the heavy handed issue of abortion from this novel, because it doesn't even need to be there, and it makes this book even worse. I have read some of the reviews here, and I am stunned people could actually enjoy this novel. If you gave me a quarter for every time I rolled my eyes and said "c'mon" I would be a rich man. The novel gets worse and worse as you progress, and the "touching" ending makes it even worse, as if somehow King is trying to put a powerful statement on all this trash.

This is the worst novel I have ever read by Stephen King, who I really do love as an author. I think that alone makes this novel even more inexcusable, considering the talent that he has. He should know better than this. I just was amazed how bad this material really was. I could go on and on about what else was bad and why, but I think the things I have said should suffice.

Grade: D-


Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: Insomnia is the definition of a good read, the literary equivalent of comfort food. It has everything you'd expect from Stephen King - grotesque monsters, a dramatic conception of good and evil, and a convincing sense of peril. It also has plenty of thigns you might or might not readily expect from King - a complete and authentic vision of an entire community, a compelling, human protagonist, pacing, and a brilliant sense of humor. It's sort of like Russo's Empire Falls with a couple of supernatural doctors thrown in. And at seven hundred pages, King doesn't bring you up short; he carries the story all the way through to its final conclusion, guiding it with the hand of an experienced, as well as talented, author. If you've liked anything else King has done, this book is certainly one of his best, if not _the_ best. And if you're ever looking for a book to read on the plane, be ye ne'er so well-read and cultured, I advise you to give Insomnia a try.

Rating:
Summary: As a long time King fan I was very let down.
Review: Having realling enjoyed Kings books such as The Gunslinger, The Stand, and his masterpiece, Misery, I have to say this is one of his weakest books. At 600+ pages I found this book to be a big let down with a hookey storey and boring unoriginal characters. It does have a Darktower reference, but it's really nothing important so don't feel you need to read this book for that reason. Besides the Tommyknockers, which is another major King Flop, this may be his worst, so my suggestion is to skip it.

Rating:
Summary: His Best!
Review: This book is my all time favorite of Stephen King's work. I don't understand why it was never made into a movie. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I stayed up all night to finish it. I'd like to know which of his other books are comparable to this. I don't like his out and out horror--but I love this kind of work!

Rating:
Summary: One of King's Best!!!
Review: This novel from Stephen King doesn't draw much attention, yet it is one of his best. "The Dark Half" was another of his books that was better than it's fan fair.
If you have some extra time on your hands, this book is well worth a read...