Insomnia and Dark Tower

[AtomicAgeEthan]

One of the most telling books other than the Dark Tower series about how closely knit our world and mid-world are linked. I loved this book. Again, I thought it was another book about King as an old man thinking about himself getting older and dying (but I could just be transferring), but then upon getting further into it I really found myself getting more and more into the characters and the three little white Doctors.
At the end of the book, it seems like they are in a great tower looking out into Mid-world.
Does anyone else get that feeling? Any thoughts?

[rainbow]

You are totally bang on! I have listened to this book a couple of times in the past and i finally read the book a couple of months ago. I'm reading the Stand right now and after this i will go back to the Gunslinger..Insomnia and IT are my all time favourites.

[Mobe1969]

Yeah, it is a great book. There is a lot on Wikipedia on links to Dark Tower. In fact in the Dark Tower they are discussing the book Insomnia in that Calvins book shop, and Roland is given a copy of the book as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia_%28novel%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Danville

The section on links to other novels is pretty huge.

[tyciol]

What I found really odd is I read Insomnia when I couldn't find any Dark Tower books (I could only find the first three in my library) and I didn't even make the connection, I suppose this is because the whole Crimson involvement thing only becomes more apparent later in the Tower series.

In a way, are people reading the Dark Tower supposed to notice aspects from all the previous books? It's the unifier sort of like how 'Tsubasa Chronicle' is for CLAMP?

[JRM]

What I found really odd is I read Insomnia when I couldn't find any Dark Tower books (I could only find the first three in my library) and I didn't even make the connection, I suppose this is because the whole Crimson involvement thing only becomes more apparent later in the Tower series.

In a way, are people reading the Dark Tower supposed to notice aspects from all the previous books? It's the unifier sort of like how 'Tsubasa Chronicle' is for CLAMP?

Yeah, I think the fact that I didn't even know what the Dark Tower books were about before I read Insomnia dampened my reading of this story. I so confused. After I read the DT series, I'm going to give this book another read.

[CarrieCarrieQuiteContrary]

I also read Insomnia before the Dark Tower series and it caused me some confusion. "The Dark Half" sheds some light, but I don't remember if that came out before or after Insomnia. However, I also feel that Insomnia was a nice short tour of these parallel universes before taking the long journey that leads us to the Dark Tower. I think I'll give Insomnia another go pretty soon as well.

[AtomicAgeEthan]

I highly recommend reading Insomnia when you get the chance especially after reading a few of the Dark Tower series. I feel there is so much linked.

[Mobe1969]

Here is another good link - not Dark Tower, but the links to IT

http://www.malakoff.com/skdc.htm

It is a pretty significant book in all accounts. I can't believe I'd missed it all these years.

[throne_92]

after finishing reading Salem's Lot, then the DT series and then IT...I read Insomnia.

I must say, there are some connections, but anything really great about them? I don't think so. I must say the best books out of all of these listed here are Salem's Lot, Wolves of Calla (Father Callahan back made for a great book) and IT.

That being said, the ONLY reason why I read any of these books (besides IT) was because of Jack Sawyer-The Talisman and Black House.

I must say I am disappointed a bit, but w/e. I didn't really like how Insomnia turned at times, and I feel it maybe was more tied to IT then the DT series.

Now I'm looking for the best book to read that links to the DT while I wait for King and Straub to produce this damn 3rd novel with Jack Sawyer, King's best character without a doubt.

I think the DT books 5-7 were fairly good, ESPECIALLY if you read Salem's Lot. But Insomnia was a little overhyped in the DT7 book as well as online as having a bunch of connections I thought. Story was kind of wack, but interesting nonetheless.

So what, what book out there is next that relates to DT that is worth the read? Not saying Insomnia wasn't..but damn did I expect just a little bit more.

[Moderator]

Dark Tower Connections (http://www.stephenking.com/darktower/connections.html)

[JohnDalglish]

So what, what book out there is next that relates to DT that is worth the read? Not saying Insomnia wasn't..but damn did I expect just a little bit more.

Hi,

Sorry you were disappointed wih Insomnia, I love it personally.

Have you read Little Sisters of Eluria and Everything's Eventual in Everything's Eventual yet?

Or Low Men in Yellow Coats in Hearts in Atlantis?

Or the graphic novels?

Or Robin Furth's invaluable Concordance and Bev Vincent's The Road To The Dark Tower?

And check out the connections in the link Ms Mod provided.

Long days and pleasant nights

[throne_92]

From what I've researched, the best thing to read out of what you listed would be Little Sisters of Eluria and Everything's Eventual in connection to the DT series.

BTW, I wanted to ask, have you read the Talisman and Black House? And if so, why or why not do you like/dislike it more than the DT series?

Jack Sawyer from Straub/King did so well there..it led me to read over 5000 pages of King's other works to keep the taste in my mouth!

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Oh yes, I've read The Talisman and Black House several times and I love them too.

I don't like it quite as much as DT purely because it remains unresolved; when Sais King and Straub write the long awaited third part I may well revise my opinion.

And DEFINITELY read Low Men IMO

Long days and pleasant nights

[Lily Sawyer]

I'm currently reading Insomnia for the first time. Helen Deepneau has just had her face rearranged by Ed, and Lois has asked Ralph on the sly to come over to her place, because she wants to talk...

It's a great read. I'm not considered a geriatric yet (although some of the twentysomethings I know may beg to differ); but I like Ralph very much and don't think of him as an Old Person. It's his attitude about life and how he thinks and expresses himself that render him relate-able.

[bluesology]

I'm listening to Insomnia for the first time - almost finished. Having just completed another re-read of the Dark Tower saga, I loved all of the connections this book had to DT - so much so that I plan on inserting it into the Dark Tower series the next time I go through it. Regarding the end, I will admit that I had the tiniest little nerd-gasm when young Patrick draws the picture of Roland confronting the Crimson King at the Dark Tower. It also shed a lot of light for me on the Dark Tower's ending. I have read a lot of criticism of the last three books of the series arguing that King was dialing it in, that he just wanted to finish and just wrote something for the sake of getting it done. But reading this enforces my belief that the scope of the Dark Tower story was more laid out early on than maybe it seemed. Insomnia was published in 1994, even before Wizard & Glass came out. If King already had this image in his head of Roland facing down the Crimson King even then, I think he deserves credit for his vision and creativity. It's not like he was just throwing plot devices against the wall and going with what stuck. Maybe he didn't know exactly how he was going to get there but it would seem that as he was writing Insomnia he had at least an idea of where the Dark Tower story was leading.