Agreed. Even when Ralph was kneeling on him & cutting the shit outa him with his own scalpel I was perfectly cool with it!Originally Posted by KaLikeAWheel
Agreed. Even when Ralph was kneeling on him & cutting the shit outa him with his own scalpel I was perfectly cool with it!
King being able to make you sympathize with the nastiest bad guy is one of the reasons he's my favorite author. Harold Lauder, John Rainbird, Annie Wilkes...Hell, he even made me a bit sympathetic toward Flagg at the end of DT:VII. But you're right. Atropos didn't need sympathy, he had a place in the universe that he had to fill and he filled it to the best of his abilities. Bless his evil little heart.He represents the Random as much as Clotho and Lachesis represent the Purpose. Sure, Atropos is particularly nasty in that he takes souvenirs and he seems to like his "job" but if the Random is necessary, his job is necessary and therefore I couldn't just write him off as a homicidal maniac. If you have a job to do, you might as well do it well.
Donna
"What can I tell you, baby? I've always been bad."--Spike
I love Insomnia! It showed the Crimson King in his true light. It also better explained the whole "moving up levels of the Tower" thing. I wish it would have said exactly what Dorrance was.
Does anyone notice how SK's characters seem to forget afterwards when supernatural events occur? For the longest time Ralph & Lois forgot the whole experience with the bald doctors, just like in The Dark Tower whenSpoiler:Is this a device to protect their sanity?
or like howRoland
I think maybe because their deeds were fulfilled involving the tower, they were allowed to go back to their lives. Their purpose to the tower was completed? And in Roland's case...it is necessary for the Tower?
either way it is interesting.
"The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them."
-Orson Scott Card
It's a device to excuse the fact that King really wants things unresolved and unexplained...at least to some degree I think.
just finished insomnia again really enjoyed it. now i just need to think what to read next
Finished Insomnia for the first time maybe 15 minutes ago, first Stephen King book I've read outside of the Dark Tower. I was utterly blown away, it was a fantastic read and I revelled in it every time I got to take a break from my day to see what mischief was going to find Ralph Roberts.
Glad to hear you liked it Ka-Shume. It seems to be one people either love or hate. I am definitely the former.
I don't know how someone could possibly hate such a marvelous book, I suppose you COULD say its a bit slow in the beginning and/ or at certain parts but anyone on this forum who got through the Dark Tower I don't understand could have much of an issue getting through a single 800 page book.Glad to hear you liked it Ka-Shume. It seems to be one people either love or hate. I am definitely the former.
Though quite irrelevant I just wanted to say in my previous post I had firstly typed 'what mischief would Ralph Roberts find' but realized almost before my fingers had tapped the keys that it was quite literally the other way around. xD
Ok, I'm the newbie and I guess I'm going to be the first person in this thread to post *not* liking Insomnia. Not much at all. I've read every single one of King's novels (up to Duma Key) so I do have a good basis of comparison. It was a while ago and I only read it once, but I do recall thinking things like "this is utterly ridiculous" and comparing the story to something Clive Barker may have written.
My problem with Barker (and with Insomnia, the best I can remember) is that there are so many places in the story where the author just seems to pull something out of his ass. Otherwise known as "making it up as you go." I know King lets his stories write themselves, and there is something to be said for that approach (it can be fresh). But this book, more than any other just seemed so, well, random. The eye-rolling factor was high.
Having said all that, I do plan on reading it again. Now that I've read the entire Dark Tower series I suppose I might have a chance for a better appreciation.
Much as I love Insomnia, I liked the Barker comparison above. My problem with Barker is that he can never stop after he has finished - the intrigue is exhausted, all development stops, but the fuss goes on until the story loses all marginal interest it ever used to have. Both Talisman and Insomnia are very much like that for me - the last quarter (or fifth) is gratuituously long and fussy to the point of losing the point.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love Insomnia and it's weird style. Seeing auras, travels between the levels of tower, the little bold doctors ( and of course Atropos).
The scene in the Atropos' cavern...
Such a great book. This is one I have to be careful with... I can open it to any page and get sucked right in. Find myself standing at the bookshelf two hours later aching from standing in one spot for so long.
i really liked this book. and i can see the clive barker comparison too> i'm also a fan of his which is why i likd this book. the auras, the different planes etc. but mostly the fact that two old farts save the day!
there hope for old farts everywhere
I agree with you. Ralph was quite the fiesty old man!! I loved him!
YAY!!! Go us!.....there hope for old farts everywhere
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I too am happy that someone other than the big strong hero type is depicted on these pages. As an old fart, I am able to say that we can and do save the day very often.
The answer is within
all matter is energy, all energy is GOD
I loved the book, though to a lesser degree than The Dark Tower and IT in that I didn't feel a sense of depression/withdrawal after reading it, as I did after reading the latter two stories.
I see Stephen King's talent in these stories as being the ability to take an ages-old story (and not even hiding this fact from anyone) and yet keeping it fresh and new and relevant so that even though you "know" what's going to happen, you become one with the story as you read about HOW it happens. Insomnia, for example, self-identifies as the "Herod" motif (although it doesn't point out that this was originally a "father vs. son" motif, not a "good vs. evil" motif), but as I say, even though I knew this from the word "go", I still loved it. I think that's a large measure of what King meant when he said "endings are heartless"--I've never understood the idea of not reading a book (or seeing a play or film or whatever) because you know how it turns out.
For me, I HAVE to know what's going on to better appreciate it. If this isn't the case, and knowing beforehand would ruin it for me, then it won't hold up as well upon multiple readings/viewings, in which case (in my opinion) it's not good quality. I knew the ending to The Dark Tower before I even started reading any of it, but that didn't change how I felt when I finally came to it after reading everything before it.
I absolutely adore Insomnia. It's one of my all-time favourite books full-stop, not only within Stephen King's. Saying that... I think my top ten favourite books would consist of only 2 authors anyway haha (King and Terry Pratchett)
I love the connections with DT now that I've started to read the series, and I've always liked Ralph and Lois.
I don't think it was too slow-paced at all! The pace is fine for me.
I really like King's description of Ed when he's doing that chickeney thing with his head, too. It's somehow eerie instead of funny.
P.s. how the hell do you make the spoiler tag work without it deciding to embolden the spoiler whilst also tagging a duplicate of it?
Highlight what you want in the spoiler box and the click the radioactive button.
Spoiler:
The next button over, the one that actually says Spoiler, gives you the option of labeling your spoiler, and you use it the same way.
Silly...
Thankyou, Unfound one! I was clicking on the one which labels them haha.
Cheers
No problemo - call me SJ.
Oki dokes ^+^
Spoiler:
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