Insomnia - Stephen King

Insomnia (King, 1994)

Elderly widower Ralph Roberts starts waking up earlier each morning. As the months pass and his day now starts at 2 AM instead of 5, he struggles to find a solution. Still mourning his wife, the lack of sleep starts to steal what little joy is left in life, and then he starts seeing things. And as his visions start to happen more frequently, he can no longer pretend they are hallucinations....

This richly imaginative novel covers a lot of ground, but I think its primary subject is the significance of a human life, regardless of the mark it can make. Even though the events of the book focus on forces fighting over a single boy whose life will be important to the world in the future, the actions and choices of Ralph, Lois, Bill, and the other characters highlight the importance of ordinary human lives.

There are many poignant scenes to that effect: Ralph defending his neighbor from her abusive husband, or a tearful Lois telling Ralph how her son tried to put her in a retirement home. My favorite might be the last (no spoilers), but one of the best is probably the scene in the cave where Ralph and Lois find the mementos of people who died unexpected deaths. While this is a great horror/fantasy scene with a tense showdown, it still takes the time to call out heart-wrenching details: a child's trumpet, a woman's shoe, an old bicycle. Each object imparts a bit of the person's final moments and reminds us of tragedy and evil in our world.

My only complaint (besides the occasional vulgarity that seems to come with the territory) is that King makes use of a few recurring images and ideas a tad too much for my taste.  What is intended as a subtle note of continuity comes across as a clanging bell after awhile, particularly the whole "Ralph is so tired he can't find his Cup-of-Soup" spiel. However, this is a fairly minor annoyance given the high quality of the story as a whole.

Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 ordinary human lives