Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Insomnia by Stephen King

9 reviews

maclunkeyy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It's a very long, very dense, and very conceptual story. I found myself wishing it would just be over at times, but it always managed to pull me back in and keep me invested. 

The emotional aspects of this book hit me pretty hard, and I found the story of Ralph and the other old-timers very unique and interesting. The ending was beautiful, and definitely touched my heart (especially that

handshake between Ralph and Clotho/Lachesis

. Ralph reflecting on

Carolyn's death in the hospital

ruined me; the line about his metaphors falling away and the inability to explain his deep grief was very raw and painful to read. 

The themes of this book felt unique and well explored. Abortion rights and the fighting between 'Pro-Choicers' and 'Pro-Lifers' is, sadly, still relevant today. Abortion was used as a metaphor a few times during the plot, and felt appropriate and well used. I felt King did well exploring both sides of the issue in a fair and even manner.

The imagery of the auras was beatiful and well done, and built a wonderful and unique backdrop for the story. Big fan of Derry as the setting as well, and the small references to IT and even Pet Semetary.

This book is great, but I feel it should really only be read by people also reading the Dark Tower series. It seemed a little complicated and maybe baseless without prior knowledge of the universe. I read this book years ago, before starting the Dark Tower series. The stakes felt low during that read through, and the climax wasn't really that satisfying. This time around, I felt differently.

Spoilers for the Dark Tower series:

I think the book does a great job explaining the purpose of the Dark Tower, and I'm excited to see how the ending of Insomnia impacts Roland and his ka-tet. There is some fantastic worldbuilding present in Insomnia, and I feel that I understand a lot of complex moving parts in the backdrop of King's universe now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Car accident, Grief, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Infertility

killerpancake's review against another edition

After listening to the Just King Things ep I’m glad I didn’t continue. The center of the story is about abortion and atm I don’t have the ability to separate my feelings from the time period this was written. I just want to scream “protect women and don’t apologize for it!” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence and Abortion

fdr69's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Ableism, Murder, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, and Animal death

kaitzo's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Abortion, and Death

Minor: Car accident

julienicole1106's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Dementia, Grief, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

f_amiliar_happine_ss's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What a fun read :)

While I can't compare this novel to Stephen King's other works, I enjoyed it just the same. My first King book and now it's one of my faves.
Set in the nineties, we follow Ralph Roberts after his late wife passes away and he begins to experience complications while falling asleep. His condition deteriorates greatly, causing hallucinations beyond comprehension. Eventually, his hallucinations begin to align with current political events. Others soon experience insomnia induced hallucinations as well, luckily that's to Ralph's advantage.
I don't think I can explain any more of the plot without giving spoilers, though the book ended swiftly and concisely.  
Character-wise, I appreciated our MC's with their quick thinking. Ralph and his love interest, Lois, made quite the pair. Side characters were just as unique, significant to the plot and MC's development.
Five stars.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Gore, and Abortion

Minor: Animal death and Car accident

saemiligr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I had someone point out that King sometimes meanders in his writing and GOOD God is it very apparent in this book. I enjoyed the visuals and explanations of different aura's but occasionally I wanted to shake the book and scream "YES BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!? STOP TRIPPING BALLS!"
I did tear up in the end, even though though it was still drawn out. Don't like that he toed the line between pro life and pro choice. That was incredibly frustrating, especially when Ralph was sad Helen was gay. Like she had been missing out on something. Overall however I still think this was a fantastic story. Especially since I was reading this along with the dark tower series. Just really frustrated how it seemed to ramble a lot. In fact I feel like a quarter of the story could have been chucked out of the window and nothing would be lost. Recommended read but don't be afraid to crank up the speed on the audiobook. 

For this particular audiobook the audio was HORRIBLE. I'm all for effects and music to enhance the story but in this one there was this loud wailing guitar that more often than not sounded like audio feedback and had me ripping out my ear buds until it was over.  Find a different version if you want the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Gun violence

elisweets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book took me on a damn roller coaster ride, that’s for sure, but I loved every minute of it. I loved the little details that connected this book to IT and added more depth to one of my favorite Stephen King stories. There’s a whole other world… many of them in fact… but they're especially active in Derry, Maine.
This is one of Mr. King’s stories that I think has a perfect ending and it had me bawling my eyes out at almost midnight. The one thing I will say is

Bill, my favorite character, deserved better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Death, Physical abuse, Abortion, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Animal death, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

smithreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Vomit