INSOMNIA

by Stephen King

Book Overview

A #1 national bestseller--"A yarn so packed with suspense, romance, literary reference, fascinating miscellaneous knowledge, and heart that only Stephen King could have written it. Marvelous--that is,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670855030
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Viking Press
• Length: 787 Pages
• Weight: 2.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.4" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Horrible “Good” Copy

My “good” paperback arrived with almost half the front cover missing. Frustrating to see Steph Insom and the feeling of it is awful. It’s not acceptable to just send “acceptable”

Stephen King does it again

Thought I'd have to drag myself through the 700+ pages. Turned out to be a real page turner!!

ok

I loved the custmore service

LET THE GOOSE BUMPS RISE, AND ENJOY EVERY LINE

A method actor who received much of his training at the famed Actor's Studio, Eli Wallach has been delivering stellar performances on both stage and screen for the past 50 years. He gives us one more outstanding performance as he narrates Stephen King's lauded Insomnia. While Wallach's name might not be familiar to some, his face certainly is as he has appeared in numerous major films, such as The Magnificent Seven, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and The Misfits. He has received four Emmy nominations, and received a Tony for his role in The Rose Tattoo. Wallach also penned his autobiography The Good, The Bad, and Me: In My Anecdotage, which I surely recommend. His narration of Insomnia leaves listeners both chilled and thrilled by his rendering of this iconic tale. Many of us probably have a sleepless night or two, but few are as troubled by insomnia as Ralph Roberts., a widower who lives in Derry, Maine. Ralph's problem is not a mere case of tossing, turning, then finally dropping off. No, Ralph's insomnia involves seeing things, hazes or auras if you will as well as colors around his friends. He becomes aware not only of another plane of existence but that his hometown is in grave danger from an evil force. To compound matters Ralph's lady friend, Lois Chasse, suffers from the same malady, and it seems they've been chosen to put things right - if possible. Listen, let the goose bumps rise, and enjoy every line. - Gail Cooke

Second time around was much better

This has to be one of King's most misunderstood and underappreciated works. When I first read this in 1994, I was in my early twenties and didn't really connect with the older characters of this book. Now in my thirties, and not being as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I recently dusted off my hardcover and re-read this.In my opinion this has to rank among the best King has done. Do not be fooled into thinking there is a lengthy diatribe about the abortion issue. King populates both sides of the argument with good and bad people. If anything, King's message is probably "leave it alone" which I guess can be interpreted that he supports women's choice, but he really doesn't browbeat his opinions through his book (unlike say Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code).I do think you have to be of a certain age to connect with the characters. Younger readers may not appreciate all the nuances regarding growing old that King conveys in this book.More importantly, though, my second reading has made me realize how connected this book is with The Dark Tower series King is finishing this year. This might well be considered an ancillary Dark Tower book, as The Talisman, Black House, The Stand and now 'Salem's Lot (for Father Callahan) are.Give this book a read. It isn't horror per se, as most of King's books aren't in the strictest definition of the horror genre. It is a well written book populated with characters you will care about for the duration of the book (and after!).

A fantasy novel about real life

This is one of King's long books, which unfolds slowly. It begins in the realm of ordinary life, among "the Harris Avenue Old Crocks," as hero Ralph Roberts calls the retired folks of Derry, Maine. Through the medium of Ralph's insomnia, it moves step by slow step into another dimension of reality.That dimension is described by the metaphor of the Dark Tower - so this book serves as a side trip on the quest of reading the Dark Tower series. Existence is vertical, with us ordinary humans ("short timers") on the ground floor, and "long time" beings we can't usually see existing a few flights up. The tower extends immeasurably upward, and the higher you go, the faster time moves, and the wider the view you get of existence. In this book we (briefly) meet one of the higher up "bad guys," described variously as the Crimson King, Red King, or Kingfish. It took many pages and many hours of reading to find out what this book had to do with the Dark Tower. But did I mind? No - I loved reading about Ralph, Lois, Bill McGovern and his Panama hat, Lafayette "Faye" Chapin and his chess tournaments, Dorrance "Old Dor" Marstellar and his books of poetry, Ralph's grief over the loss of his wife, his increasing insomnia, the incipient romance between him and Lois, Rosalie the stray dog.Ralph and Lois are gradually drawn into a fantastic world, in which they can walk through solid objects, living things are surrounded by colorful auras, and the life-energy represented by the auras can be used as a weapon against foes only perceptible on this higher level of existence. Higher powers have set in motion terrible events, and other higher powers invest Ralph and Lois with a mission to stop them. Like the fantasy sequences in Rose Madder, it sometimes takes on the aspect of a quest game (as in Ralph's attempts to retrieve objects taken from future victims by Atropos, the pranksterish agent of random death.)There are several (at least) kinds of Stephen King novel. They vary in type, length, and pace. Types include supernatural horror, what I think of as real life horror with supernatural sprinkles (Dolores Claiborne,) real life horror mixed with fantasy (Rose Madder) and fantasy (The Dark Tower.) This book is a traditional novel, about life, love, growing older, death, grief - mixed with fantasy. Not everyone knows King is a fantasy as well as a horror writer. I just found out myself, to my delight. No one expects King to write a traditional novel. I think that's why a lot of people have been disappointed by this book. They don't open a Stephen King novel expecting to read about a bunch of old people playing chess at a picnic table and watching planes take off at the nearby airport, or about a romance between a 70 year-old widow and widower.Personally I love the combination of real life and fantasy.In pace, some King books are tight and fast. You can't put them down, or stop reading for a moment to try to guess what's going to happen. I love those, but they go by too fa

Don't read the Amazon review!

There are many people for whom the book "Insomnia" will serve as a cure for the titular condition. It's an 800 page book that takes about 150 pages to start making sense -- the first quarter of the book is all strange goings-on with no exposition.Our hero, an old man with a dying wife, begins loosing sleep and (he thinks) hallucinating. He can see auras around people, fields of light that change according to their mood and health and terminate in a long "balloon-string," their soul. And if that's not strange enough, he starts seeing three little bald men dressed as surgeons, who go around snipping people's strings.It's all very psychedelic and intriguing, but I can see someone giving up on the book before it really gets rolling. Which would be a shame, because the plot kicks in around page 150 and it's a heck of a ride, all the more enjoyable if you don't know what's coming.Suffice to say that this is the multiverse-hopping, cosmic guru King of The Stand and It, not the bare-bones King of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and Running Man (I like 'em both, if you were wondering). Insomnia is actually a better read than both The Stand and It, because it is more closely tied into the world as we know it. Most importantly, the characters are complex and believable, truly people worth knowing.So if you've got the attention span and the physical strength to lift this book, definitely pick it up. It's a stone trip.

Having trouble sleeping? Don't read this book!!!

INSOMNIA-by Stephen King Are you looking for a quick read? Don't pick up this book. Insomnia, is a long and detailed book that needs to be read when you have a lot of extra time on your hands. Not only because it's long, but because it is one of Stephen King's best, once you start it, you have to finish it. In this tale of horror and mystery, Ralph Roberts and his wife Carolyn are happily married for many years. Ralph is around seventy-five years old, but he is active and enjoys exercising. In the past couple years he has found a love for walking a path with hills. Carolyn, is around seventy-two years old, and enjoys cooking and taking care of her husband. She always took care of everything that Ralph needed, until she couldn't do it anymore. In her early seventies, Carolyn is diagnosed with an incurable disease and is given a short amount of time to live. After Carolyn dies, Ralph has a hard time coping with the death of his wife. Eventually, he realizes that he is waking up earlier and earlier. What is happening to him? Why can't he sleep? Stephen King is absolutely brilliant in this book! He captures an element of fear that no other author has dared to write. Due to the fact that this book is long, this may cause a problem for people who have trouble with understanding long, drawn out paragraphs. This book is suspenseful, causing you to keep reading, making it one of his better works. I can't compare this unique plot to any other of his books, but I really felt what it's like to feel like you're going to die, through his vivid descriptions and haunting words. Because this is a book based on older men and women, it's probably easier for people of that age group to understand the situation that the protagonist is involved in. Additionally, a lot of this story is about the strength of love through marriage, and it's probably something that is difficult for teenagers to understand. Aside from the age difference between the characters and the reader, and the length of the book, this book is definitely something you should think about reading sometime in the future. Though it is a horror, there is an element of fear and mystery that intertwines with the horror that makes this read irresistible!