Rating: 
Summary: "Insomnia" put me to sleep
Review: This book was an excruciatingly time-consuming, drawn out and mind-numbing waste of time (SK's and mine). For some reason I pushed myself to finish it. Although it did manage to become somewhat more interesting towards the end the book as a whole was not at all something I would expect from an award winning writer. Don't waste your time or patience.
Rating: 
Summary: Be Patient With This One
Review: In the end, "Insomnia" is a great read-- if you're already a fan of Stephen King, that is. This is not the place to start if you're not familiar with King's work; try "It" or "Salem's Lot" if you're new to King's world. However, if you enjoy Stephen King's dimension-hopping fantasy/sci-fi side, then be sure to add this book to your collection. Be forewarned, however, that the first 300 pages are slow going-- not unrewarding, as King puts his considerable talent for characterization to work, just very slow going. Yet, once the action kicks into high gear, you'll want to read the last 1/3 of the book in one giant gulp. As always, once Stephen King has reeled in the ol' Constant Reader, he refuses to let go.
And if you are a fan of the "Dark Tower" books, "Insomnia" is required reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Enough already!
Review: Why waste words? King's Insomnia wasted enough already. If you're an incurable King fan, and will read anything he dishes out, then go ahead and buy it. Just be aware that this book is an agenda with a weak plot wrapped around it. Not since "Tommyknockers" has King been so thoroughly absorbed in peddling his tired liberal slop.
Rating: 
Summary: won't put you to sleep
Review: a man is tormented by insomnia. some anti-abortion movement seem to be growing. the man starts seeing things. becoming aware of other things. something is about to happen. an enemy having no part in nature is making its move. something needs help. but what's the plan of this enemy? the plot here is great, SK's writing style professional, and the descriptions are among his very best. a lot of suspence. some very good details. interesting plot. carries out nicely.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Tower Background Required
Review: I just don't see how casual readers of King could enjoy this book to its fullest. This book is essentially a Dark Tower book on a tangent and even with that I give it 3 stars. My enjoyment of this book was primarily due to its overall fit in the Dark Tower universe rather than the story at hand. For those readers planning to read this as a stand-alone novel who have no prior knowledge of the Dark Tower series I rate this as 2 stars. I can promise that you will have no idea what he's talking about and why some things happen the way they do without any DT background. One other thing: if you are pro-life you may find yourself getting a little hot under the collar at times. While King discusses the fanatical personalities and extreme measures of people that can surround an abortion debate (on both sides) the pro-lifers are definitely held in lower regard in this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Insomnia
Review: This book starts off really slow - took me 3 months to get past the first 50 pages and like 3 days to get thru the other 600 + LOL. Great book. Kept me on the edge of my seat (bed, couch whatever)A definite must read.
Rating:
Summary: Not one of Mr. King's better stories, but still engaging...
Review: Even though when you read a lot of works by an author you start to anticipate where that author might go...this story was just a bit TOO predictable for my taste. I liked the main character, but his companions lacked depth. I found myself not caring what happened to any of them. It's worth a read, but definitely wait to borrow it from a friend or from the library.
Rating:
Summary: Great story
Review: This book introduced very interesting ideas about insomnia and the plot kept me interested. I came to know King as a horror guy but this book was a little creepy.
Rating: 
Summary: One of his greatest novels
Review: This novel had been lying on my shelf before I touched it. In a way I needed a break after reading most of King's novel. After the break I read his more recent books "Tom Gordon" and "Hearts in Atlantis" first. But reading "Insomnia" reminded me of his first novels and their incredibly suspenseful plots. King is a real master of suspense. The only minor flaw you can criticize in this novel is that the final climax is too long. As a reader you cannot keep your breath for such a long time, and this is exactly where suspense can turn into its opposite. But King is at his best when it comes to characters. Most of the people he develops are so real you think you have known them for years. They are characters you have seen and talked to all your life. In addition, the author is brilliant in the presentation of the dark sides of the human soul and mind. In this novel we have all of it and this makes it one of King's greatest.
Rating:
Summary: Best and Worst
Review: Of all the many modern authors that write today, few are more frequently typified than Stephen King. To his critics, he is a windbag with a tendency to bloat who's far too much in love with the sound of his own voice to keep his length under control. To his fans, he is a masterful storyteller with a talent for creating lively, organic characters. Both of those poles of King appear in this book, and both to almost as great an extreme as I can remember from any of his previous writing. Let's start with the good. The characters in this book are wonderful. While I certainly don't believe that he captures the essence of old age at all (these folks are almost as active as the ridiculous old people they have on television commercials these days), since I don't see the age of the protagonist and his cohorts as being critical to the plot, I'm inclined to disregard that gaping oversight in light of the masterful treatment that he gives all of the characters who people this book. King's typical narrative voice is also present here, lending the novel a familiar tone that most readers should be able to fall in with quickly and comfortably. The bad. This book is big. Very big. About two hundred pages too big, truth be told. The thing about the criticism of King's inability to control his bloat is that it's right, and in no other work outside of It is it more apparent than in this one. Not nearly enough happens in this book to mandate the amount of time you're going to spend reading it. By allowing the length to spiral out of control, he only makes it that much less accessible to the action-oriented horror base of his audience. King also drops a lot of brand names here--another frequent criticism. I personally don't care. You might. In one notable deviation from King's excellent treatment of his characters, his shallow, somewhat misogynistic understanding of the female psyche rears its ugly head. I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I'm pretty sure that there's no connection between battered women and lesbianism, as King implies. Most importantly, there's a deep element of this book that is utterly and completely unaccessible to anybody who is not at least passingly familiar with King's magnum opus--the Dark Tower. Indeed, I would wager that if you haven't read at least the first three books in the series, you're going to be completely lummoxed when it comes to understanding why some of the characters do what they do, or what's going on at all. Insomnia was penned during a period of Steve's career when he was unable to write a Dark Tower book, even though he wanted to, and that frustrated desire led him, in this case, to write a book that is so intensely mired in that world's mythology that it's nigh on incomprehensible to those not in the know. I am, so I didn't have a problem. In fact, I'd say that any Dark Tower fan probably needs to read the book precisely for that reason. Other, less familiar readers WILL have problems, however. On the whole, while I personally have some affection for this book, I can't give it my unconditional recommendation. Steven King has written many great pieces that anybody can read (Desperation, Hearts in Atlantis), but this is not one of them. While King fans will find a lot to like, anybody who's not already fimrly entrenched as a King enthusiast should probably stick to one of his more accessible books.
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