Stephen King

Insomnia

Schlaflos. Insomnia.

Justin Staack

7,5 Punkte
Ich bin hier ziemlich kontrovers unterwegs, da ich die erste hälfte großartig finde, aber die zweite ein ziemlicher Klamauk ist. Das Ende, hat mir den Scharlachroten König komplett verdorben. Obwohl ich damals noch nicht wusste, was im letzten Band im dunklen Turm passiert.

Recently widowed septuagenarian Ralph Roberts, losing more and more sleep each night, comes to the realization that his hometown of Derry, Maine, has been targeted as a battleground for an epic fight between good and evil.

Patrick Book

Can a book be 900 pages and still be incredibly half-baked? This is way too long to be this dumb.

WAR IS OVER this book took me months to read. it wasnt that bad but it did put me in a reading slump so 😂

melanie 

Great atmospheric read taking place in King’s fictitious Derry with septuagenarian protagonists who find themselves foisted into a plot between two elemental forces that make the world go around. Many tie-ins with the Dark Tower. 

Joe Herrington

Michael Springer

Rosie Qua

Dee B. 

I need to process this one,,,but, I really enjoyed it. It might have been slow but that ending (view spoiler)[ had me tearing up. Bittersweet (hide spoiler)]

Ten million years later

If there is one thing I could say about this book, was that I was thoroughly confused about almost everything that happened. Ed Deepneau was a truly disturbed man (through no fault of his own), Ralph was on the verge of insanity himself due to the worst case of insomnia that has ever existed, there were Centurions and Crimson Kings and Little Bald Doctors and OMG Stephen King you are a genius!

What I loved more than the absolute confusion was the adorable relationship between Ralph and (view spoiler)[Lois. Their flirting and eventual marriage was just too cute. (hide spoiler)]. Other than that Dorrance may have been my favorite character.

(Warning: The men in this book say some things that will piss you off and make you want to shake them because MISOGONY IS REAL, so...)

RALPH ROBERTS CAN'T FALL ASLEEP - BUT HE'S STILL HAVING NIGHTMARES

Ralph Roberts used to be an ordinary guy--until insomnia robbed him of sleep. Now he's no longer ordinary--he can see horrible things happening to the people of Derry, Maine. He can see how, one by one, they are turning into monsters straight from hell.

He'd like to call them nightmares, but he's wide awake. He can't call himself crazy, because there is another person who sees these happenings, too. But even if seeing is believing, it still doesn't give him a clue of how to stop these deadly, demonic visions from coming true....
(back cover)

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This isn’t my favorite King novel I’ve ever read, but it was a fun, very interesting ride. If you’re planning on a journey to King’s Dark Tower, this one is absolutely essential. Not only are the concepts of ka and ka-tet integral to the plot of the novel, the Tower itself makes brief appearances. And while I didn’t look it up for fear of having important future plot points spoiled for myself, I’m almost positive that two important new characters in the main series were introduced in this book. 
“Him's name is Roland, Mama. I dream about him, sometimes. Him's a King, too.”
Insomnia is a weird one, y’all. Chronic insomnia gives senior citizens magic powers and unusual psychic abilities. And then said seniors have to save not just Derry (yes, that Derry), not just the world, but multiple worlds. And they do this by sliding into a higher plane of existence. There were some freaky parts, but this is mostly a preternatural psychological thriller. 
“It was life, often unsatisfying, frequently cruel, usually boring, sometimes beautiful, once in a while exhilarating.” 
It was fun to revisit Derry for the first time since having read IT years ago. While it’s not as central to King’s collective mythos as Castle Rock, it’s probably the next most important King location in what is arguably our world. Every mention of Mike Hamlin as Derry’s librarian made me smile, and every time a sewer came up in the story I felt a little shiver.
“Sooner or later everything you thought you'd left behind comes around again. For good or ill, it comes around again.”
I think the main thing that inhibited my enjoyment of this book was the format I chose to consume. The audio version was just…bad. Not that the narrator was awful. No, what I hated was the dissonant music that would play very loudly over the narrator at the end of a chapter. It was obnoxious and, quite honestly, painful. 
“It's a long way back to Eden, Sweetheart, so don't sweat the small stuff.”
If you’re taking your own journey to the Tower, please don’t skip this book. I think it’s going to be really important. But I highly recommend skipping the audio and reading it with your eyes, because your hearing is also important.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Andrea Stothard 

I apologize, but this book is a drag. My first Stephen King book I went into this with high expectations as he is obviously one of the most renowned authors one hears about. I must have picked one of his less popular books because this was complete lackluster. 600 pages in and I was still waiting for something exciting to happen. I nearly regret reading this book - especially considering it is over 700 pages. Maybe I'm missing something and under appreciating, but I would skip this one unless you have the patience for a very very slow burn.

Insomnia

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