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noeul's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Self harm and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness
mrsmishler's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
emiliejade_bigelow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Self harm, Blood, and Car accident
katosta8815's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Trigger warning for
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
cpachet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Self harm
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Vomit
soobooksalot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Emma - wife, mother, lawyer - is about to turn 40. The same age her mother was when she stopped sleeping and became debilitated and institutionalized due to mental illness. And declared her youngest daughter would be the same.
In the days preceding her birthday, Emma has also stopped sleeping.
I did enjoy Insomnia, full of unreliable events and characters and gaslighting, but I had hoped it would be creepier.
There's definitely tension and foreboding throughout. I think the pacing was off for me with this one - if the entire book was like the final quarter, it could have been more of a win.
I enjoyed Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes and will read more of her backlist someday.
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, and Death of parent
theliteraryhooker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Death of parent
mondovertigo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit and Car accident
travelseatsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I chose to listen to the audiobook and from the first few minutes the narrator, Sarah Durham, immediately set the scene with her pace, intensity and almost disquieting narration.
The storyline line builds with an eerie yet frantic intensity that throws you firmly into a state of unease and panic that matches the terror and torture of Emma's long sleepless nights.
Pinborough firmly entangles the reader in a snare-like maze of twists and dead ends which add to the encroaching sense of restlessness. At each point you begin to feel there are finally some answers and that normality is returning and then there's yet another unexpected slap in the face. Who exactly are we supposed to believe?
I absolutely loved how Sarah looked at intergenerational trauma and at whether certain aspects of mental illness can be passed down from parent to child in such an alternative way. The plotting also has glimmers of the nature/nurture debate and questions if some things are just self-fulfilling prophecies which we have no control over.
A very eerie, meaty and unsettling thriller which put me immediately in a state of unease, performed by a narrator who really enhanced the experience.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident