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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
1) "[Chief Joseph] 'I have tried to save you from suffering and sorrow. We are few. They are many. You can see all we have at a glance. They have goods and ammunition in abundance. We must suffer great hardship and loss.
'I will go now to the place known to our ancestors, seldom visited, the place of smoke by the great falls and twin mountains, to seek the aid of the Great Spirit Chief in this time of need.'
[The Archivist] 'This sounds like a reference to one of their principal myths, common to many nations in the Northwest region, that refer to ancient relationships with mysterious beings they refer to as 'Sky People.''"
2) "PRESIDENT NIXON: We're going to get to the bottom of this thing. You'll answer to me, once the shit hits the fan on Blue Book, and no one else. We're going to pull something together, below the radar, a private task force, interagency, to keep this going.
ME [Douglas Milford]: What can I do?
PRESIDENT NIXON: Lay low. Draw up a roster, who you might use, cherry pick from any branch of service or agency, and a plan on how you'd most effectively proceed--though whatever you do, keep the CIA out of it. They play their own game by their own rules no matter who's at this desk. Be ready when I call on you. I need to flex some muscle first, carve out some operating room--this is a power game; I know how the system works but it takes time--and then we're going to find out exactly what these Skull and Bones 'Wise Men' have stashed up their sleeves."
3) "[Dr. Jacoby] Leland spoke of 'possession.' Laura wrote in her diary about an entity she called 'BOB,' all caps. A malevolent being she claimed to 'see'—in her father's stead—whenever he assaulted her. Leland had no memory of his dreadful acts till the very end. A masking memory, for both of them, our 'professional training' would instruct me to label it, a way for their minds to protect themselves from the unendurable truth. Or, in other words, whistling through the graveyard.
A medicine man in the Amazon would take them both at their word, believe the story at face value and treat it accordingly. Possession. An entity. Why is that any less plausible or relevant than the safe, sanitized, pre-packaged bullshit of an armchair diagnosis made solely from the neck up? What is that but a shield hoisted to protect us from the unholy terror of glimpsing ourselves as we truly are: creatures of unknown origin, trapped in time, pinned to a hostile rock whirling through indifferent and infinite space, clueless, inherently violent and condemned to death?"
4) "[Douglas Milford] These final truths you must never forget: we are utterly incapable of knowing their true intent, and their true intent may not be to wish us well. It may be that they're here to guide or even aid our evolution; it's equally possibly we may matter no more to them then those random protozoa in our tap water do to us. In other words, by our meager moral definitions, they may be both 'good' and 'evil,' and those precious distinctions of ours mean nothing to them. There may even be a 'good' and 'evil' side at play here, and we, our human race, is the game!
Let me hasten to add I hope I'm wrong, that this work--being 'chosen'--has deranged me, but Garland, I fear that I am right and in my right mind. The owls may indeed not be what they seem but still serve an imperative function: they remind us to look into the darkness. Whatever steps you take from here, do not act alone: wait for your next control to appear."
'I will go now to the place known to our ancestors, seldom visited, the place of smoke by the great falls and twin mountains, to seek the aid of the Great Spirit Chief in this time of need.'
[The Archivist] 'This sounds like a reference to one of their principal myths, common to many nations in the Northwest region, that refer to ancient relationships with mysterious beings they refer to as 'Sky People.''"
2) "PRESIDENT NIXON: We're going to get to the bottom of this thing. You'll answer to me, once the shit hits the fan on Blue Book, and no one else. We're going to pull something together, below the radar, a private task force, interagency, to keep this going.
ME [Douglas Milford]: What can I do?
PRESIDENT NIXON: Lay low. Draw up a roster, who you might use, cherry pick from any branch of service or agency, and a plan on how you'd most effectively proceed--though whatever you do, keep the CIA out of it. They play their own game by their own rules no matter who's at this desk. Be ready when I call on you. I need to flex some muscle first, carve out some operating room--this is a power game; I know how the system works but it takes time--and then we're going to find out exactly what these Skull and Bones 'Wise Men' have stashed up their sleeves."
3) "[Dr. Jacoby] Leland spoke of 'possession.' Laura wrote in her diary about an entity she called 'BOB,' all caps. A malevolent being she claimed to 'see'—in her father's stead—whenever he assaulted her. Leland had no memory of his dreadful acts till the very end. A masking memory, for both of them, our 'professional training' would instruct me to label it, a way for their minds to protect themselves from the unendurable truth. Or, in other words, whistling through the graveyard.
A medicine man in the Amazon would take them both at their word, believe the story at face value and treat it accordingly. Possession. An entity. Why is that any less plausible or relevant than the safe, sanitized, pre-packaged bullshit of an armchair diagnosis made solely from the neck up? What is that but a shield hoisted to protect us from the unholy terror of glimpsing ourselves as we truly are: creatures of unknown origin, trapped in time, pinned to a hostile rock whirling through indifferent and infinite space, clueless, inherently violent and condemned to death?"
4) "[Douglas Milford] These final truths you must never forget: we are utterly incapable of knowing their true intent, and their true intent may not be to wish us well. It may be that they're here to guide or even aid our evolution; it's equally possibly we may matter no more to them then those random protozoa in our tap water do to us. In other words, by our meager moral definitions, they may be both 'good' and 'evil,' and those precious distinctions of ours mean nothing to them. There may even be a 'good' and 'evil' side at play here, and we, our human race, is the game!
Let me hasten to add I hope I'm wrong, that this work--being 'chosen'--has deranged me, but Garland, I fear that I am right and in my right mind. The owls may indeed not be what they seem but still serve an imperative function: they remind us to look into the darkness. Whatever steps you take from here, do not act alone: wait for your next control to appear."
I read somewhere that when Lynch decided to make the prequel to Twin Peaks, Fire Walk with Me, he pursued a singular vision, one that he wasn't able to fully execute in the television show. He did this at the expense of axing his fellow collaborator and writing partner, Mark Frost, which apparently created a rift between them that lasted for many years. This book feels to me like the script to the movie Frost would have made. Whereas Lynch widened the mystery in FWW while not answering any major hanging threads from the then defunct series, Frost wanted to move the story forward while filling in the blanks. It's somewhat ironic then when Frost starts his book way way back, with the journals of Lewis and Clark in 1805.
The book is organized to imitate a case file, with excerpts from journals, newspapers, old photographs, and the like. There is a narrator, labeled The Archivist, who summarizes "chapters," and appears to inflect his or her own personal experiences throughout. The second narrator, conveniently labeled "TP," makes notes in the columns of the text. These are brief notes that remind the reader of prior details, verify information, and include the occasional non sequitur such as, "Hold on, I need to get more coffee." The case file builds from describing the mythology of the Nez Perce, to a brief history of the Illuminati, and then spends the bulk of its weight in and around the mysteries of space, aliens, UFOs, and cover ups.
When we do get around to Twin Peaks Frost provides the backstory on the Packards, Martells, Hornes, Jenningses, and Hurleys. This was probably the most enjoyable part of the book for me but at 20 pages sandwiched between UFOs, politics, and secret societies it couldn't save the story. The book ends with many of Twin Peaks' mysteries "explained," but I have to say I prefer Lynch's version where things remain unexplained and make sense "only with the heart." Oh! But the one detail left to solve at this point is who are those two pesky narrators? Well, hints about their identities are presented pretty heavy handedly throughout the text so by the time you get here it's a bit anticlimactic.
And that's that!
For the big Twin Peaks fans out there I have a question. Do you think this book is meant to be part of the canon? If so there are a lot of smaller details that were pretty careless. For example Frost provides a different narrative on how Nadine loses her eye, sets the Fat Trout Trailer Park in a different state, and includes an excerpt from one of Deputy Hawk's journals that is waaaaay out of character. Then there are several other sloppy mistakes. There are stupid jokes including one where a well-seasoned pilot has never heard of Sirius, the dog star. A whole plot line is introduced where a secret meeting is planned and then the person who set it up never shows. Frost allowed a detailed description of someone flying from Tacoma to Seattle and back again when those towns are 30 miles apart. Also, and I don't know if this was done on purpose for authenticity, but many of the newspaper articles, FBI reports, and other "documents" included in the book are horribly written. This is an excerpt from p. 89 "The distances mentioned by XXXX in his report are within a short distance of the actual distances ..." Also on this page "...voluminous volumes.." also appears.
I was going to give TSHOTP at 2 but then I looked and the definition of a 2 is "it was ok," Nope!
The book is organized to imitate a case file, with excerpts from journals, newspapers, old photographs, and the like. There is a narrator, labeled The Archivist, who summarizes "chapters," and appears to inflect his or her own personal experiences throughout. The second narrator, conveniently labeled "TP," makes notes in the columns of the text. These are brief notes that remind the reader of prior details, verify information, and include the occasional non sequitur such as, "Hold on, I need to get more coffee." The case file builds from describing the mythology of the Nez Perce, to a brief history of the Illuminati, and then spends the bulk of its weight in and around the mysteries of space, aliens, UFOs, and cover ups.
When we do get around to Twin Peaks Frost provides the backstory on the Packards, Martells, Hornes, Jenningses, and Hurleys. This was probably the most enjoyable part of the book for me but at 20 pages sandwiched between UFOs, politics, and secret societies it couldn't save the story. The book ends with many of Twin Peaks' mysteries "explained," but I have to say I prefer Lynch's version where things remain unexplained and make sense "only with the heart." Oh! But the one detail left to solve at this point is who are those two pesky narrators? Well, hints about their identities are presented pretty heavy handedly throughout the text so by the time you get here it's a bit anticlimactic.
And that's that!
For the big Twin Peaks fans out there I have a question. Do you think this book is meant to be part of the canon? If so there are a lot of smaller details that were pretty careless. For example Frost provides a different narrative on how Nadine loses her eye, sets the Fat Trout Trailer Park in a different state, and includes an excerpt from one of Deputy Hawk's journals that is waaaaay out of character. Then there are several other sloppy mistakes. There are stupid jokes including one where a well-seasoned pilot has never heard of Sirius, the dog star. A whole plot line is introduced where a secret meeting is planned and then the person who set it up never shows. Frost allowed a detailed description of someone flying from Tacoma to Seattle and back again when those towns are 30 miles apart. Also, and I don't know if this was done on purpose for authenticity, but many of the newspaper articles, FBI reports, and other "documents" included in the book are horribly written. This is an excerpt from p. 89 "The distances mentioned by XXXX in his report are within a short distance of the actual distances ..." Also on this page "...voluminous volumes.." also appears.
I was going to give TSHOTP at 2 but then I looked and the definition of a 2 is "it was ok," Nope!
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a must have for any TWIN PEAKS fan. It's brilliant work. Frost weaves together a ton of "real" UFO lore and ties it all back to our favorite strange little town in the northwest.
La maquetación es excelente. Sin embargo, a mi personalmente lo que me atraía de Twin Peaks no era su historia, sino sus personajes y las locuras de Lynch, pese a que el tema paranormal me atrae. Con todo, el hecho de que profundice tanto en las vidas de esos personajes de los que me enamoré me ha gustado mucho.
The Secret History of Twin Peaks is a tour-de-force in conspiracy theories of the 20th century. Starting with the Lewis and Clarke expedition into the Louisiana Purchase, the book summarizes theories about the Freemasons, the Illuminati, Native American curses, UFO sightings, the government’s subsequent coverup of UFO knowledge, and even, briefly, the JFK assassination.
So what does this have to do with an early 1990s TV show about the murder of a prom queen in a remote logging town in Washington State? Lots.
In mid-1990, a TV show by David Lynch and Mark Frost began airing on ABC that would influence television for years to come. Yes, it was about the murder of a prom queen in the town of Twin Peaks, Washington and the strange surrounding events uncovered by FBI agent Dale Cooper’s investigation into that murder, but even more so, it was about the humanity that continues to exist in places that seem to be stuck in time. The mysteries, and the dark secrets, and the ancient enigmas, those draw the viewer in, but it’s the characters and relationships that make people continue to visit this small TV town over twenty-seven years later.
The book has only a slight tie-in to the new season of Twin Peaks being produced twenty-five years later (something unheard of in television). In fact, you don’t need to be a Twin Peaks fan to read this, though the references to a wide assortment of characters are probably ineffective without that knowledge. In fact, the subtle references peppered throughout the novel to the show are my favorite bit, such as the continual reference to a small jade ring (in the show, the ring is associated with the spirit world), or to the bits and pieces of MIKE’s chant that ends “fire walk with me”.
What is perhaps most interesting is the way that the personality of Frost and Lynch are revealed into the characters of Milford and Briggs, respectively. Milford says mysteries create within us a desire to seek both intimate and ultimate truths, while Briggs disagrees, saying mysteries are their own truth, ultimately unknowable, and faith must bridge that gap. A conversation, I’m sure, that happened often both in the writer’s room twenty-seven years ago and over the last few years of development for the new season.
I love this book. The design is outstanding. Mark Frost’s ability to warp history around his own narrative is amazing, for it’s hard to tell where reality ends and his narrative begins. I’d highly recommend this for any Twin Peaks fan. For anyone else, maybe start with episode one? You won’t be disappointed.
Lines I loved -
- Moving forward in time, it is important that we learn to distinguish between mysteries and secrets. Mysteries precede humankind, develop us and draw us forward into exploration and wonder. Secrets are the work of humankind, a covert and often insidious way to gather, withhold or impose power. Do not confuse the pursuit of one with the manipulation of the other.
- And good thing he knew how mechanical stuff worked, ‘cause when it came to the human heart, the poor bastard didn’t have a clue.
- It’s better to know than not know, that’s what you always said, right? Someday I’ll probably agree with you…
- To my eyes, he now seems about as stable as a soufflé.
- Storytellers don’t run out of stories, they just run out of time.
- This is ‘now’, and now will never be again.
So what does this have to do with an early 1990s TV show about the murder of a prom queen in a remote logging town in Washington State? Lots.
In mid-1990, a TV show by David Lynch and Mark Frost began airing on ABC that would influence television for years to come. Yes, it was about the murder of a prom queen in the town of Twin Peaks, Washington and the strange surrounding events uncovered by FBI agent Dale Cooper’s investigation into that murder, but even more so, it was about the humanity that continues to exist in places that seem to be stuck in time. The mysteries, and the dark secrets, and the ancient enigmas, those draw the viewer in, but it’s the characters and relationships that make people continue to visit this small TV town over twenty-seven years later.
The book has only a slight tie-in to the new season of Twin Peaks being produced twenty-five years later (something unheard of in television). In fact, you don’t need to be a Twin Peaks fan to read this, though the references to a wide assortment of characters are probably ineffective without that knowledge. In fact, the subtle references peppered throughout the novel to the show are my favorite bit, such as the continual reference to a small jade ring (in the show, the ring is associated with the spirit world), or to the bits and pieces of MIKE’s chant that ends “fire walk with me”.
What is perhaps most interesting is the way that the personality of Frost and Lynch are revealed into the characters of Milford and Briggs, respectively. Milford says mysteries create within us a desire to seek both intimate and ultimate truths, while Briggs disagrees, saying mysteries are their own truth, ultimately unknowable, and faith must bridge that gap. A conversation, I’m sure, that happened often both in the writer’s room twenty-seven years ago and over the last few years of development for the new season.
I love this book. The design is outstanding. Mark Frost’s ability to warp history around his own narrative is amazing, for it’s hard to tell where reality ends and his narrative begins. I’d highly recommend this for any Twin Peaks fan. For anyone else, maybe start with episode one? You won’t be disappointed.
Lines I loved -
- Moving forward in time, it is important that we learn to distinguish between mysteries and secrets. Mysteries precede humankind, develop us and draw us forward into exploration and wonder. Secrets are the work of humankind, a covert and often insidious way to gather, withhold or impose power. Do not confuse the pursuit of one with the manipulation of the other.
- And good thing he knew how mechanical stuff worked, ‘cause when it came to the human heart, the poor bastard didn’t have a clue.
- It’s better to know than not know, that’s what you always said, right? Someday I’ll probably agree with you…
- To my eyes, he now seems about as stable as a soufflé.
- Storytellers don’t run out of stories, they just run out of time.
- This is ‘now’, and now will never be again.
This book made me go a little bit mad.
it was only recently that I watched the masterpiece that is Twin Peaks and discovered the reasons why the show obtained cult status and inspired so many of the pieces of fiction that I enjoy today. Once I had finished the show and its prequel film Fire Walk With Me I was still wanting more, books or extras, just anything that I could get my hands on to expand on the unique mythology that had been created by Mark Frost and David Lynch.
That was when I discovered that this book had come out extremely recently and I quickly drove down to my local Barnes and Noble and picked it up. This heavy volume does cover some of the same ground that the show did, particularly some of the more difficult to dissect relationships that were all over the map, but the rest of the book fills in backstory for the characters, the town, and the strange links this sleepy town has to the US government and the country's history.
Now you may be asking yourself, how did this make you go a little mad? Well most of the book, particularly the middle portion specifically deals with the strange relationship our country has had with UFOs and the reported sightings that people have experienced since the 1960s. While one of the show's characters does work for a government project designed to track sightings and look for UFOs I wouldn't be the person to say that the show, or its mythology has anything to with aliens or the craft that they fly in.
This initially perturbed me, because if the creators were trying to tell me that The Black Lodge, The Red Room, Bob, the jade ring, and the man from another place were all aliens then I would be more than a little upset. This thought pattern drove me into a deep dive through the book, going through the documents, the interviews, and re-reading large portions of the dossier. It wasn't until my third look at one of the forms that I discovered something, a little piece of evidence that tears the UFO theory to shreds, I wont tell you, because my search made the book much more enjoyable.
What is most astounding about this book is not how wonderfully put together it is, or how the stories and evidence make you feel, or even how Mr. Frost uses real US history to tie into the Twin Peaks lore. What makes it so special is that it is genuinely a part of the lore, the book isn't just a sales gimmick to get people ready for season 3, it is actually a living piece that allows fan engagement, because unless you do what I did, or play extremely close attention on your first read through then you'll never have the full experience.
The Secret History of Twin Peaks is a book that does more than expands on the lore of it's namesake. It demands interaction from it's readers in order to understand why it was written and the true secrets underneath the top level, that not only do we not understand everything, but our characters don't either. I hope that there are more books to come, and as long as there are, you can be sure I'll be throwing the pages back and forth looking for clues.
it was only recently that I watched the masterpiece that is Twin Peaks and discovered the reasons why the show obtained cult status and inspired so many of the pieces of fiction that I enjoy today. Once I had finished the show and its prequel film Fire Walk With Me I was still wanting more, books or extras, just anything that I could get my hands on to expand on the unique mythology that had been created by Mark Frost and David Lynch.
That was when I discovered that this book had come out extremely recently and I quickly drove down to my local Barnes and Noble and picked it up. This heavy volume does cover some of the same ground that the show did, particularly some of the more difficult to dissect relationships that were all over the map, but the rest of the book fills in backstory for the characters, the town, and the strange links this sleepy town has to the US government and the country's history.
Now you may be asking yourself, how did this make you go a little mad? Well most of the book, particularly the middle portion specifically deals with the strange relationship our country has had with UFOs and the reported sightings that people have experienced since the 1960s. While one of the show's characters does work for a government project designed to track sightings and look for UFOs I wouldn't be the person to say that the show, or its mythology has anything to with aliens or the craft that they fly in.
This initially perturbed me, because if the creators were trying to tell me that The Black Lodge, The Red Room, Bob, the jade ring, and the man from another place were all aliens then I would be more than a little upset. This thought pattern drove me into a deep dive through the book, going through the documents, the interviews, and re-reading large portions of the dossier. It wasn't until my third look at one of the forms that I discovered something, a little piece of evidence that tears the UFO theory to shreds, I wont tell you, because my search made the book much more enjoyable.
What is most astounding about this book is not how wonderfully put together it is, or how the stories and evidence make you feel, or even how Mr. Frost uses real US history to tie into the Twin Peaks lore. What makes it so special is that it is genuinely a part of the lore, the book isn't just a sales gimmick to get people ready for season 3, it is actually a living piece that allows fan engagement, because unless you do what I did, or play extremely close attention on your first read through then you'll never have the full experience.
The Secret History of Twin Peaks is a book that does more than expands on the lore of it's namesake. It demands interaction from it's readers in order to understand why it was written and the true secrets underneath the top level, that not only do we not understand everything, but our characters don't either. I hope that there are more books to come, and as long as there are, you can be sure I'll be throwing the pages back and forth looking for clues.