Insomnia
Ratings45
Average rating3.5
It was decent, dragged on a bit. Once it all came together I felt like I was still reading for hours and I had lost interest by that point. Overall, it was just kind of....ok
full disclosure: i skimmed the last 150 pages because i was sooooo bored since the same things were happening over and over again. but i liked the ending of Behind Her Eyes and wanted to see what she did with this ending. liked the ending
Absolutely hooked at the time of reading this, so i did enjoy the reading experience.
But i personally didn't like the twist and the direction it went, it changed into a ‘villian wrecking your life' plot that I'm not a fan of. So i didn't like the ending.
But high rating for the blast i had for the 3/4th of this book.
Ian Rankin is quoted(1) as describing this book as “A gaslighting masterclass”, and I couldn't agree more!
Some reviewers have stated that the book starts slowly, and it can feel that way, but if you've ever had to deal with a family like Emma's, and the onset of insomnia, Sarah plays it out absolutely superb.
There are aspects of the story telling that frustrate me, but I'm unsure if it's my frustration with the characters (bloody hell men are the worst) or the way the lack of communication is written. I did find myself irritated at times, and not just at the characters.
All in all, a fantastic read, and highly recommended.
Footnotes
1. First edition paperback, rear cover
I saw a lot of the twists coming, but they being said I still enjoyed the journey.
That epilogue was the best part for me though. I audibly gasped.
I really did not enjoy this at all. I could not get on board with the writing style, hated the characters, and the plot twist was not great. This book was so slow and the ending was not worth my time. The only reason I finished it and didn't DNF was I heard the ending was good, but I should have DNF'd.
I had SO MUCH FUN with the first 80% of this book. She ratchets up the tension, then keeps increasing it, and it works.
I did keep expecting her “metaphysical twist,” and she just waited too long to introduce it. It comes at the end, which is a disappointment, because it feels like a cheat. Unlike “Behind Her Eyes” which is populated with enough hints at the metaphysical “rule breaking” from the beginning of the novel, this feels like it takes place in our world right up until the end, when we get the surprise that time traveling is allowed in this world.
I'm generally a speculative fiction fan and love magical elements in stories, but there's a social contract being violated here. She gives us NO hint that metaphysical elements will be introduced until the end... and at that point, really ANY element could have been introduced to explain the events of the novel. We needed more foreshadowing, and we needed to meet the hippie earlier.
Still this was a fun read. I'm impressed by what the author is able to pull off with sustained tension. I think I'm looking forward to watching the inevitable miniseries made from this — perhaps they'll do a better job with the foreshadowing in the screen version.
3.5 stars
When I finished Sarah Pinborough's best seller Behind Her Eyes, I was mind blown by the huge plot twist. Seeing reviews about how Insomnia is also super twisty made me very eager to read it.
I was really close to giving this book 4 stars. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I was very eager to figure out what could possibly explain the strange things happening to Emma. I also liked how a big focus of the story was Emma's relationship with her sister. As I got further into t