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nelsannie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence
Minor: Abortion and Murder
willgalltall's review against another edition
5.0
Before reading The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, I thought it would just be a fun short read that would be a nice addition to the Twin Peaks universe. But it was so much more than that.
Jennifer Lynch has done a phenomenal job of capturing Laura Palmer's life and condensing that into this book. We know from the series and the film, Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me, that Laura Palmer had 2 very different lives. But we only see the end of it on screen. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer takes it back to where it all started, and take us through year by year the good and bad experiences that she occurred.
I actually listened to some of this through the audiobook, which was narrated by Sheryl Lee, and that just made me enjoy the story even more. Sheryl did a fantastic job and you can really hear and feel the emotion. I highly recommend finding the audiobook version if possible.
I have to say though, that this is a very dark and graphic book, I personally didn't think it took anything away from the story, but gives us the real picture of Laura's life.
It is also a sad story, in that we start off with a 12 year old Laura Palmer who was given a diary for her birthday, slowly lose control of her life and all the while, knowing what the end product will be. Fire Walk with Me makes you feel sorry for Laura, but this takes it to another level.
I seriously recommend this to fans of Twin Peaks, and suggest that you only read this after watching series 1 and 2, and the film.
Jennifer Lynch has done a phenomenal job of capturing Laura Palmer's life and condensing that into this book. We know from the series and the film, Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me, that Laura Palmer had 2 very different lives. But we only see the end of it on screen. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer takes it back to where it all started, and take us through year by year the good and bad experiences that she occurred.
I actually listened to some of this through the audiobook, which was narrated by Sheryl Lee, and that just made me enjoy the story even more. Sheryl did a fantastic job and you can really hear and feel the emotion. I highly recommend finding the audiobook version if possible.
I have to say though, that this is a very dark and graphic book, I personally didn't think it took anything away from the story, but gives us the real picture of Laura's life.
It is also a sad story, in that we start off with a 12 year old Laura Palmer who was given a diary for her birthday, slowly lose control of her life and all the while, knowing what the end product will be. Fire Walk with Me makes you feel sorry for Laura, but this takes it to another level.
I seriously recommend this to fans of Twin Peaks, and suggest that you only read this after watching series 1 and 2, and the film.
meg1597's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
elisala's review against another edition
3.0
En complément de la série Twin Peaks, le journal de Laura Palmer présente qui est vraiment le personnage "central" (en quelque sorte) de la série.
J'avais peur que ce livre ait un côté un peu artificiel, puisqu'il a été écrit après la série (en tout cas la saison 1 si j'en crois wikipedia), mais en fait non, ça passe pas mal. C'est un peu redondant dans la tristesse et la détresse de l'héroïne, mais on sent bien malgré tout l'évolution du personnage, de la presque innocence de ses 12 ans à la détresse de ses 16 ans... Vers la fin en particulier, le rythme s'accélère, les pages arrachées par une main inconnue participent au mystère, on fait bien le rapport avec la série, on retrouve ce côté captivant, très "lynch".
J'avais peur que ce livre ait un côté un peu artificiel, puisqu'il a été écrit après la série (en tout cas la saison 1 si j'en crois wikipedia), mais en fait non, ça passe pas mal. C'est un peu redondant dans la tristesse et la détresse de l'héroïne, mais on sent bien malgré tout l'évolution du personnage, de la presque innocence de ses 12 ans à la détresse de ses 16 ans... Vers la fin en particulier, le rythme s'accélère, les pages arrachées par une main inconnue participent au mystère, on fait bien le rapport avec la série, on retrouve ce côté captivant, très "lynch".
baileewalsh's review against another edition
4.0
I really like this book and am so glad it was even written! The things I didn't like about it were that there was a little too much sex, the dates are wrong towards the end (she dies February 24th, 1989, not in 1990), and Teresa Banks is never mentioned. Those were my main concerns. I think for the most part the voice is accurate to how Laura Palmer would write in her own personal secret diary, although I did expect there to be some random silly lines in entries every so often because of the way she is in Fire Walk With Me, specifically when she's high and irritating Bobby, laughing and giggling at things. Oh yeah, there's also not an entry about her dream, the dream she shares with Special Agent Dale Cooper that takes place in The Black Lodge, but maybe that's in her other diary and I'm not remembering correctly. I think this is a necessary read for any true Twin Peaks fan. I feel like I got more insight into the forever intriguing and mysterious character of Laura Palmer, and felt more of her sadness and pain than when I watch the show or movie.
alexampersand's review against another edition
3.0
I can't help but feel disappointed with this book. It could have been so much better. I was hoping it would either function as a semi-standalone novel about Laura's plight with Bob, or that it would be an interesting and worthwhile companion to the series. Either way, I was hoping to see some interesting development, kind of like an expanded Fire Walk With Me, where we get to see how Laura's character went from the innocent little girl to the girl at the end of her tether that eventually meets her end. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.
The book opens with a 12 year old Laura, except she has already met Bob. He's already a presence in her life, even though at first she doesn't detail explicitly what happens during their visits.
There are a lot of time gaps in the book, which also doesn't help with feeling like there's no real development. Instead, we just see how she is at one moment in time, and then how she is six months later.
The lack of development continues when she becomes addicted to cocaine. Except this time, the book pretty much becomes a combination of "I want to have dirty sex" and "I love coke!!"
(Also: I don't know if this was ever covered in the show, but Laura having an orgy at 14 is... not necessarily something I wholly buy?)
One big plot-based irritation was the fact that Laura and Bob write to each other in the diary. The way the entries are laid out implies that he is possessing her mid-writing, and then writing her a message, before leaving her so that she can read what he wrote to her. And they have pages of back-and-forth messages exchanged this way. But I'm not sure whether we ever saw Bob possess Laura in this way? We know the read the diary, but that was him coming in, stealing the diary, and then replacing it. Not the kind of action that lends itself to back-and-forth messaging in the middle of a diary entry.
And one final minor irritation was the fact that in the last 30 pages or so, it feels like suddenly they wanted to just wrap up how Laura got into place for FWWM; we see her relationship with Jacoby, and the Meals on Wheels organisation, all pretty swiftly set up with no real motivation or reasoning, other than that they were a thing in the show.
The tone and writing style of the book was also not entirely pleasing. But then, I can't tell if that is down to a poor writer or whether a good writer was just accurately representing the irritating writing style of a 12 to 17 year old girl.
So all in all, this book was... fine. I guess. It wasn't overly offensive, but it added pretty much nothing to the show, it didn't explore the concept of Bob well enough to stand up on its own, and some bits felt a little too forced and fan fiction-esque.
The book opens with a 12 year old Laura, except she has already met Bob. He's already a presence in her life, even though at first she doesn't detail explicitly what happens during their visits.
There are a lot of time gaps in the book, which also doesn't help with feeling like there's no real development. Instead, we just see how she is at one moment in time, and then how she is six months later.
The lack of development continues when she becomes addicted to cocaine. Except this time, the book pretty much becomes a combination of "I want to have dirty sex" and "I love coke!!"
(Also: I don't know if this was ever covered in the show, but Laura having an orgy at 14 is... not necessarily something I wholly buy?)
One big plot-based irritation was the fact that Laura and Bob write to each other in the diary. The way the entries are laid out implies that he is possessing her mid-writing, and then writing her a message, before leaving her so that she can read what he wrote to her. And they have pages of back-and-forth messages exchanged this way. But I'm not sure whether we ever saw Bob possess Laura in this way? We know the read the diary, but that was him coming in, stealing the diary, and then replacing it. Not the kind of action that lends itself to back-and-forth messaging in the middle of a diary entry.
And one final minor irritation was the fact that in the last 30 pages or so, it feels like suddenly they wanted to just wrap up how Laura got into place for FWWM; we see her relationship with Jacoby, and the Meals on Wheels organisation, all pretty swiftly set up with no real motivation or reasoning, other than that they were a thing in the show.
The tone and writing style of the book was also not entirely pleasing. But then, I can't tell if that is down to a poor writer or whether a good writer was just accurately representing the irritating writing style of a 12 to 17 year old girl.
So all in all, this book was... fine. I guess. It wasn't overly offensive, but it added pretty much nothing to the show, it didn't explore the concept of Bob well enough to stand up on its own, and some bits felt a little too forced and fan fiction-esque.
myweereads's review against another edition
4.0
“My life is whatever the other person in the room wants it to be.”
The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch is an intimate look into the troubled life lead by Laura before her death. It takes place during the years of 12 to 17 years old, full of secrets, drugs, supernatural, sex, occult, confessions and clues to who the murderer could have been.
There is a short introduction at the beginning by Mark Frost and David Lynch which is a great addition before beginning the diary. We are all introduced to Laura because she is the dead girl wrapped in plastic and found in Twin Peaks. What this diary provides are snippets of interesting facts which help piece together the mystery behind her death. In relation to the show it gives a deeper sense of the story behind some of the characters mentioned. Some favourites include Bob, Log Lady, Donna, Leland etc.
Being a huge fan of the show I knew I was going to enjoy this book. Let’s not forget it’s written by Jennifer Lynch and she takes a leaf from her father’s book and writes it in the most surreal way. There are a lot of sensitive references to drug abuse as she becomes addicted from a very early age to both drugs and sex. Things take several strange turns however a deeper understanding is formed of who Laura actually was.
I would recommend this book to fans of the show. If you’ve watched Fire Walk With Me, Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks The Return then this will be a treat to revisit the phenomenon of the movie and show. It brings everything back about what happened and what was left unanswered. Should you read this before watching anything? not necessarily, if anything I’m glad I’ve read it after watching all three.
Remember the owls are not what they seem
The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch is an intimate look into the troubled life lead by Laura before her death. It takes place during the years of 12 to 17 years old, full of secrets, drugs, supernatural, sex, occult, confessions and clues to who the murderer could have been.
There is a short introduction at the beginning by Mark Frost and David Lynch which is a great addition before beginning the diary. We are all introduced to Laura because she is the dead girl wrapped in plastic and found in Twin Peaks. What this diary provides are snippets of interesting facts which help piece together the mystery behind her death. In relation to the show it gives a deeper sense of the story behind some of the characters mentioned. Some favourites include Bob, Log Lady, Donna, Leland etc.
Being a huge fan of the show I knew I was going to enjoy this book. Let’s not forget it’s written by Jennifer Lynch and she takes a leaf from her father’s book and writes it in the most surreal way. There are a lot of sensitive references to drug abuse as she becomes addicted from a very early age to both drugs and sex. Things take several strange turns however a deeper understanding is formed of who Laura actually was.
I would recommend this book to fans of the show. If you’ve watched Fire Walk With Me, Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks The Return then this will be a treat to revisit the phenomenon of the movie and show. It brings everything back about what happened and what was left unanswered. Should you read this before watching anything? not necessarily, if anything I’m glad I’ve read it after watching all three.
Remember the owls are not what they seem
marinitim's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
_zoe_'s review against another edition
3.0
Heerlijk om weer in de wereld van twin peaks te verdwijnen. Wel jammer dat het een stuk minder uitdagend is. Het heeft iets feitelijks dat de serie juist niet heeft. Wel mooie toevoeging als je de serie hebt gezien.
jainabee's review against another edition
3.0
I was so hungry for Twin Peaks ANYTHING back then. I wished there were a weekly digest, like for soap operas. This book assuaged my needs for a brief while.