Review by carlosinfante - The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer

carlosinfante 's review for:

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch

4.25

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer is an incredible horror novel from start to finish. Its partner show, Twin Peaks, is often heralded as one of if not the best American television program of all time. Still, I must admit that its supposed brilliance never quite clicked with me, not completely. I found myself much more interested in the prequel Fire Walk With Me because it's simply more captivating to discover how a character got from A to B first-hand than to hear about it after her death. FWWM gave us a glimpse into the last week of Laura's life, which, if pieced together with the amount of information we acquired in the show itself, gives us a pretty complete vision of who she is as a character, or at least that's what I thought. I was proven wrong yet again once I read this book. I can safely say that Laura is undoubtedly David Lynch's best character, and that honor is largely thanks to her characterization here. We don't have to settle for small glimpses into her life anymore, there is no need to speculate about anything or anyone because every single thought of hers is here for us to see. She can now be seen completely.

THEMES: 8.5
I love how this book ties into the horrible reality of reactive abuse though the harm that Laura ends up inflicting on others. My one criticism is that there are too many melodramatic moments and there is too little mundane content. The high-concept entries of the book are very much welcome, do not get me wrong, but I would've added more slice-of-life content to even out the pace, especially around the end. By the time we get to the book's last entries, we get revelation after revelation after revelation.

PACING: 7
Eh. Works well enough but the ending feels rushed, to be honest.

CHARACTERS: 10
My god, does Laura shine here. The things she goes through make it hard to enjoy the show because you want everyone who ever had a hand in hurting her to suffer forever and, unfortunately, we're rarely (if ever) allowed to indulge in such pleasure.

PROSE: 9
It should be stated that this does not read like an actual diary, and that's a good thing. Laura is somehow able to recall very precise quotes from memory, and some entries would take hours to write by hand, as we're told they are. But, think about it: had this book been written in a more grounded way, it wouldn't be nearly as compelling. Overall, Jennifer's Lynch plea to get you to suspend your disbelief is more than reasonable. She gets away with it all.

Content Warnings