A review by lugosi147
Insomnia by Stephen King

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

For a Stephen King book that is a Dark Tower book in all but name, it’s shockingly diverse, and the amount of inappropriate boners and sexual moments is under 10 (popping a boner at the nice neighbour giving you a hug is about as bad as it gets) which for a King book? That’s a miracle in itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

-Does the dog die? Yes. -No sexual assault or sex scenes, erections are described -Abortion is the centre of the story, from the view point of a 70 year old man. He never expresses an opinion but wishes everyone wouldn’t “be so shrill” about it. Narrative leans towards pro-choice, but is very nuanced with the different discussions characters have about the subject. This was published the same year (1993) that Maine (King’s state) passed a law that legalised abortions.