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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
"I'll see you again, in 25 years"
Now the cryptic promise from Laura Palmer/David Lynch & co. is about to be fulfilled, and this book is the perfect bridge back into the strange, twisted world of Twin Peaks. Written by Mark Frost, co-creator of the early 90's cult hit, the novel is structured as an in-universe dossier recovered from the scene of a crime in the summer of 2016, composed of letters, journal and diary entries, newspaper clippings, interviews, and classified documents detailing the history of the town and prominent inhabitants of Twin Peaks, Washington. The dossier has been handed off to a modern day FBI agent with initials "TP" whose assignment is to determine the identity of the dossier's composer, known only as The Archivist.
In true Peaks style, every "answer" provided here raises more questions, but yet it's still so satisfying to read. The TV show, as most people know, ended on an infuriating cliffhanger in 1991, with only a small sense of resolution provided by the follow-up film, Fire Walk With Me , leaving spans to speculate on the fates of major and minor characters, not to mention the deeper meanings and mysteries of the show's complex mythology, for over two decades. With the announcement that the show would return for the long-awaited third season also came the announcement that a novel would come first to prep the audience for a return to this world.
For people expecting a straight-forward "bridge" to connect the series finale to the new continuation, this could be a bit of a disappointment. Though there's a decent amount of time exploring previously unknown backstories for favorite characters from the show, there's also a healthy dose of stories centering around non-Twin Peaks residents, real-life historical figures, and minor supporting roles from the show. It can be confusing at times as to how these stories of the Lewis and Clark expedition, UFO sightings, and government conspiracies relate to the story lines from the show, but it's there. Plus there are concrete resolutions to certain cliffhangers from the finale; for instance, who survived (if anyone) the explosion at the bank. But mostly it's quick teases that still leave you in the dark about what will be going on in the new season.
This book definitely isn't meant or designed for casual viewers of the show, or even for newer fans who just now binge-watched both seasons on Netflix. Of course those types of fans could, and I think would, still enjoy it (there's tons of fun nods to the show and the fandom throughout), but in the end it's really for the obsessive superfan. The fan that theorized and agonized over unanswered questions and unexplained riddles without ever being sure they'd get their answers. Or, realizing they may have had their answers but unsure how to interpret them.
This book is, ultimately, a deepening of the mythology surrounding the mysterious, menacing presence in the woods around Twin Peaks. It is at times quirky, unpredictable, outrageous, creepy, and uplifting, a perfect reflection of the show itself. If you've always had a special place in your heart for Twin Peaks, this novel will feel like the comfort of a damn good cup of coffee and a slice of cherry pie.
Just remember, the owls are not what they seem.
Now the cryptic promise from Laura Palmer/David Lynch & co. is about to be fulfilled, and this book is the perfect bridge back into the strange, twisted world of Twin Peaks. Written by Mark Frost, co-creator of the early 90's cult hit, the novel is structured as an in-universe dossier recovered from the scene of a crime in the summer of 2016, composed of letters, journal and diary entries, newspaper clippings, interviews, and classified documents detailing the history of the town and prominent inhabitants of Twin Peaks, Washington. The dossier has been handed off to a modern day FBI agent with initials "TP" whose assignment is to determine the identity of the dossier's composer, known only as The Archivist.
In true Peaks style, every "answer" provided here raises more questions, but yet it's still so satisfying to read. The TV show, as most people know, ended on an infuriating cliffhanger in 1991, with only a small sense of resolution provided by the follow-up film, Fire Walk With Me , leaving spans to speculate on the fates of major and minor characters, not to mention the deeper meanings and mysteries of the show's complex mythology, for over two decades. With the announcement that the show would return for the long-awaited third season also came the announcement that a novel would come first to prep the audience for a return to this world.
For people expecting a straight-forward "bridge" to connect the series finale to the new continuation, this could be a bit of a disappointment. Though there's a decent amount of time exploring previously unknown backstories for favorite characters from the show, there's also a healthy dose of stories centering around non-Twin Peaks residents, real-life historical figures, and minor supporting roles from the show. It can be confusing at times as to how these stories of the Lewis and Clark expedition, UFO sightings, and government conspiracies relate to the story lines from the show, but it's there. Plus there are concrete resolutions to certain cliffhangers from the finale; for instance, who survived (if anyone) the explosion at the bank. But mostly it's quick teases that still leave you in the dark about what will be going on in the new season.
This book definitely isn't meant or designed for casual viewers of the show, or even for newer fans who just now binge-watched both seasons on Netflix. Of course those types of fans could, and I think would, still enjoy it (there's tons of fun nods to the show and the fandom throughout), but in the end it's really for the obsessive superfan. The fan that theorized and agonized over unanswered questions and unexplained riddles without ever being sure they'd get their answers. Or, realizing they may have had their answers but unsure how to interpret them.
This book is, ultimately, a deepening of the mythology surrounding the mysterious, menacing presence in the woods around Twin Peaks. It is at times quirky, unpredictable, outrageous, creepy, and uplifting, a perfect reflection of the show itself. If you've always had a special place in your heart for Twin Peaks, this novel will feel like the comfort of a damn good cup of coffee and a slice of cherry pie.
Just remember, the owls are not what they seem.
Probably more like 3.5 but the beauty of the backstory of Margaret Lanterman, Twin Peaks's greatest hero, is worth it all.
If I had read this before the new season, more of this season would've made sense.
About 23% of The Secret History of Twin Peaks is very interesting. The rest reads like X-files fan-fiction (it's even annotated by a very Scully-like FBI agent, whose intials--it hurts to say this-- are "TP"), and doesn't feel at all like the Twin Peaks I know and love. Most of that 23% is contained between pages 155 and 237, a section in which Mark Frost sets aside the UFO sightings, Project Paperclip, and men in black to give the reader the backstories of a number of Twin Peaks regulars. We get the history of Big Ed and Nadine, and Norma and Hank; the politics between the Packards and the Martells; the full story of Josie Packard; and even the origins of the Double R Diner (and why it has the "Mar-T" on the sign). These pages are fantastic. Writing backstory is really hard to do well, but Mark Frost clearly has these characters back to front. What he writes about them rings so true, and it's a delight to read.
But that's not a big percentage of the book. And unfortunately, this wonderful section about Twin Peaks is bookended by some very disappointing stuff. Most of the book is an attempt to connect the Twin Peaks mythology to UFO sightings and alien abductions. The theory is that it's all perhaps less extra-terrestrial and in fact more extra-dimensional. So the giant, the little man, and the other Lodge residents--they're all now joined by the grays and other "alien" beings, for purposes that we don't know and probably can't ever know.
I love Twin Peaks, but I would be happier to have its supernatural elements not connect directly into everything else in the history of the world. I always thought of it more as a type of mythological conflict that may be happening in many small towns, but not that it necessarily is the same conflict that's happening all over. Using Twin Peaks as a vehicle to explain UFO and alien abduction stories, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, and even L. Ron Hubbard's scientology just feels completely wrong. I don't need Lewis and Clark, Richard Nixon, and a host of other historical cameos to all have some kind of connection to the sycamore circle just outside of Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks was never Forrest Gump, nor should it be.
Writing a new story into history is a harder task to pull off than writing the fictional histories of beloved characters--and Mark Frost is okay at it, but not good enough to draw me into his narrative. It never feels genuine to me, and the skipping around through history seems haphazard.
One of the oddest choices Frost made was to place Twin Peaks in the central role connecting everything through the 20th century. I just can't figure this out. It's like Frost deliberately chose the one resident I didn't really care about, and who is furthest removed from the main story, and arbitrarily makes him the key protagonist. I really disliked this choice, but I thought if there was an interesting twist in the end, it could work out. There is no interesting twist in the end. It was a bad choice.
Another element of the book that bothered me was the gimmick of having all of the documents collected by "The Archivist." It's meant to be a mystery throughout the book, but obviously it could only have been, and after a certain point, it's clear it can't be the first of those choices.
This is not, as the cover proclaims (as if to convince us), "a novel." It's "a novelty." I remember at the time of the original series, Frost said that he wanted to write an epic novel about Twin Peaks, which would begin--James Michener-style--with the formation of the mountains themselves in prehistory, and tell the whole story of that geographical location through many eras. I always wanted that book, but now we have it and we see that Frost is not able to write a novel. He writes screenplay treatments and plot summaries, but he doesn't give us any sustained novelistic writing anywhere in the book. Even in the sections of Twin Peaks residents' backstories, I just so wanted Frost to actually write a story, rather than cheating us with faux newspaper articles and police reports and so forth. It's a lost opportunity.
The most frustrating thing about the book--even though it was also predictable, even inevitable--is that Frost says almost nothing about what happened after the final episode. There are only about three references to actions just after Cooper smashes the mirror, and none of them answer any questions. Other things from the past appear but remain mysteries--especially the jade ring, which keeps appearing in the book, but without explanation of how it passes from one person to the next, nor what it actually means.
I still hold out hope that the new series next year may be awesome, but seeing one of the co-creators waste his time on a tangent like this worries me.
But that's not a big percentage of the book. And unfortunately, this wonderful section about Twin Peaks is bookended by some very disappointing stuff. Most of the book is an attempt to connect the Twin Peaks mythology to UFO sightings and alien abductions. The theory is that it's all perhaps less extra-terrestrial and in fact more extra-dimensional. So the giant, the little man, and the other Lodge residents--they're all now joined by the grays and other "alien" beings, for purposes that we don't know and probably can't ever know.
I love Twin Peaks, but I would be happier to have its supernatural elements not connect directly into everything else in the history of the world. I always thought of it more as a type of mythological conflict that may be happening in many small towns, but not that it necessarily is the same conflict that's happening all over. Using Twin Peaks as a vehicle to explain UFO and alien abduction stories, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, and even L. Ron Hubbard's scientology just feels completely wrong. I don't need Lewis and Clark, Richard Nixon, and a host of other historical cameos to all have some kind of connection to the sycamore circle just outside of Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks was never Forrest Gump, nor should it be.
Writing a new story into history is a harder task to pull off than writing the fictional histories of beloved characters--and Mark Frost is okay at it, but not good enough to draw me into his narrative. It never feels genuine to me, and the skipping around through history seems haphazard.
One of the oddest choices Frost made was to place Twin Peaks
Spoiler
mayor Doug Milford (you remember, the first of the old brothers to marry Lana)Another element of the book that bothered me was the gimmick of having all of the documents collected by "The Archivist." It's meant to be a mystery throughout the book, but obviously it could only have been
Spoiler
Windom Earle or Major BriggsThis is not, as the cover proclaims (as if to convince us), "a novel." It's "a novelty." I remember at the time of the original series, Frost said that he wanted to write an epic novel about Twin Peaks, which would begin--James Michener-style--with the formation of the mountains themselves in prehistory, and tell the whole story of that geographical location through many eras. I always wanted that book, but now we have it and we see that Frost is not able to write a novel. He writes screenplay treatments and plot summaries, but he doesn't give us any sustained novelistic writing anywhere in the book. Even in the sections of Twin Peaks residents' backstories, I just so wanted Frost to actually write a story, rather than cheating us with faux newspaper articles and police reports and so forth. It's a lost opportunity.
The most frustrating thing about the book--even though it was also predictable, even inevitable--is that Frost says almost nothing about what happened after the final episode. There are only about three references to actions just after Cooper smashes the mirror, and none of them answer any questions. Other things from the past appear but remain mysteries--especially the jade ring, which keeps appearing in the book, but without explanation of how it passes from one person to the next, nor what it actually means.
I still hold out hope that the new series next year may be awesome, but seeing one of the co-creators waste his time on a tangent like this worries me.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Well, this turned out to be a slog to get through. I will give it an extra star for the last section, however, since I was stoked to learn the archivist was one of my favourite characters in the series.
Like any good Twin Peaks fan I purchased this book the week it came out, but have just now gotten around to reading it in a single dizzying sitting. I was worried the "government dossier" format would wind up being dry or tedious, but it actually turned out to be loads of fun; by the end of the manuscript I felt like I was in Agent Preston's shoes of going "...the fuck?" I'm pretty sure we've all collectively accepted by this point that Twin Peaks is not intended to be "solved" like a traditional mystery, but damn if it isn't fun to try. I'm absolutely positive there are layers to this book that I've missed in my initial reading, and I definitely plan on revisiting it after doing another rewatch of the series.
The one fact I can state for certain: the owls are *definitely* not what they seem
The one fact I can state for certain: the owls are *definitely* not what they seem
No good on kindle -- lots of text in image form, which is inconvenient and difficult to read. enjoyable enough content, and adds a little bit of context for the new season, but doesn't really add much to the show.