Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

30 reviews

moonylovesstars's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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katosta8815's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very creepy. Repetitive at times, a lot of filler sub-plots, but overall interesting and mysterious enough to want to continue.
There are some plot holes regarding the “family curse/gift” — there is mention of family members before Patricia having similar issues, however when the story concludes, we only get an explanation for Patricia, Emma, and Will.

Trigger warning for
child abuse and statutory rape (I have a big issue with the way this topic is handled in this book….)
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ashleyalyse's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While I did really enjoy this book, I still found myself with unanswered a questions at the end that I felt should have been resolved better. 
It was an enthralling read, I listened while I did chores around the house which allowed me to forget about how much cleaning I was doing. 
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katyannreads's review against another edition

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

2.75

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cpachet's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Lots of build up,  very quick (but tidy) wrap up. Second Pinborough book I’ve read with a surreal/supernatural element.
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soobooksalot's review against another edition

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

3.0

Maybe 40 isn't the new 30 in Insomnia.
 Emma - wife, mother, lawyer - is about to turn 40. The same age her mother was when she stopped sleeping and became debilitated and institutionalized due to mental illness. And declared her youngest daughter would be the same.
 In the days preceding her birthday, Emma has also stopped sleeping.
 I did enjoy Insomnia, full of unreliable events and characters and gaslighting, but I had hoped it would be creepier.
 There's definitely tension and foreboding throughout. I think the pacing was off for me with this one - if the entire book was like the final quarter, it could have been more of a win.
 I enjoyed Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes and will read more of her backlist someday.

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maddireads13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tspice24's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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marieeh's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

2.5

I guess I just don't really like Sarah Pinborough's writing.  I can't quite place what exactly it is, it felt really middle of the road for me and I had a hard time staying motivated to finish it.  Since reading Behind Her Eyes I knew to at least suspect that there could be a
supernatural element
and there was, but this one was not quite as shocking for me.  Maybe because I did expect it.  

The story itself was fine, if a little forgettable.  There was one side plot in particular that felt really unnecessary to me, and in my opinion was not handled appropriately: 
Chloe being groomed/abused by her parents' friend.  It wasn't handled in the way you'd expect a parent to react to something like that.  Even after it came out what was going on, her parents didn't do anything?  It just kind of was brushed under the rug.
 

As for the meat of the story, some things just felt a little too convenient.  And I guess I just didn't like the main device that caused everything to happen in the way that it did. 
How time is cyclical and the reason Emma's mother lost her mind at her 40th was simply because she was having premonitions/visions and had to do these things to warn Emma of the danger that was coming for her in the future at her own 40th... but if she hadn't done those things, none of it would have happened to Emma, Caroline, etc.  I just didn't like it. 


My final little complaint was the epilogue.  It's fine to write a stand alone book, you don't have to create a whole universe for each of your books to exist in together, and even if you do put them in the same universe, characters don't have to interact.  Maybe I've just read too many books lately where that happens but I'm tired of it (maybe I'm just no fun!).
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