Discuss "The Third Policeman" (Main Thread)

[nickb123]

Hey all, here is the official main thread for discussing December's read.

[Easy]

I struggled to find any comparisons between the book and lost other than life and death business

so i am interested to see other peoples thoughts on it

[markno]

I found this book quite hard to read, but the ending made it all worthwhile - wow.
Lots of parallels to Lost, the room underground is like the Swan station, the ending sounds like desmonds' life (and like the game ending, but I haven't played the game, just read about it on LP).
Great choice for December
BTW, I'm in Australia and I have two copies of the book, so if anyone wants a copy I'm happy to give it away if you'll pay for PH.

[jonboy861]

Hi everyone, hope you are all doing well. It has been awhile since I last read this book, and I really enjoyed it. I remember purchasing it right after I saw my favorite character (Desmond) reading it and putting it in his backpack before leaving the hatch, right after we met him.

It may be my memory playing tricks on me but wasn't there mention of a mystery or magic box of sorts where one can "wish" for what they want? I just looked on lostpedia and the one in [i]The Third Policeman[i] is actually called the black box. Kind of like Ben's magic box speech to Locke in season 3, the one which Locke's father (Anthony Cooper) may or may not have been brought to the island with, or was he brought there via the sub? I always figured Ben's mystery box had something to do with that. It's important to point out that Ben said the box on the island was a metaphor and not like the black box which seems to be a nactual "thing" in the novel. The "thing" or box referenced in Lost is actually the whole island, most likely due to its many fascinating properties. I also remember the underground labyrinth which reminded me of the Swan Station as well as the reference to time standing still underground there, and we all know the time shifting references that have been occurring in Lost.

I wanted to close with something I thought was pretty cool and interesting. The following is a line that was ommited from the novel and was subsequently released: "Joe had been explaining things in the meantime. He said it was again the beginning of the unfinished, the re-discovery of the familiar, the re-experience of the already suffered, the fresh-forgetting of the unremembered. Hell goes round and round. In shape it is circular and by nature it is interminable, repetitive and very nearly unbearable." I really like this quote and I can't help but think of the magnificient things yet to come in Season 5. It makes me think of our band of losties and there inability to escape their redemption island, and the "re-experience" of suffering which may await them yet again, upon their return. Perhaps the upcoming season will bring the re-discovery of the familiar, and I for one cannot wait.

Thanks everyone for listening to my two cents. I hope it makes a little bit of sense. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

[MikeyTay]

Originally Posted by markno

Lots of parallels to Lost, the room underground is like the Swan station, the ending sounds like desmonds' life

I would agree with the reference to the Swan station, particuarly the way the two policemen seemed to take shifts in maintaining the 'readings' from the underground apparatus, should they get too high and some terrible unknown happen.

I can't however see the connection to Desmond's life. Please explan.

I've just finished reading the book. I can't say I enjoyed it much. The beginning and end seemed bearable but most of it seemed nonsensical and at times reminded me of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I didn't really understand the humour and I hated the writing on de Selby!

What do other people think? I can imagine it being a book you either love or hate.

[markno]

RE:
I can't however see the connection to Desmond's life. Please explan.


I reckon it's like desmond's life in the fact that it's a cycle that keeps going over and over. Desmond went back to the past & re-lived major events with Penny. The main guy in this book is re-living the same stuff over and over.

[MikeyTay]

There's not a lot going on here. Is that because people aren't reading the book or because you can't find any connections to Lost?

[blueeagleislander]

Well, I loved it. I thought the Swan parallels were obvious, and interesting.

[3RingCircus]

I just finished finals, so I'm behind on the reading.

[MikeyTay]

Originally Posted by MikeyTay

I would agree with the reference to the Swan station, particuarly the way the two policemen seemed to take shifts in maintaining the 'readings' from the underground apparatus, should they get too high and some terrible unknown happen.

****************Spoiler*******************

Further to what I was saying above about maintaining the readings at a safe level, it was interesting to find towards the end of the book that the readings were actually controlled by Policeman Fox and had no purpose other than to amuse him and to keep the other policemen busy. This is exactly the same notion that was suggested to Locke and Eko at the Pearl station; that entering the numbers had no purpose other than to effectively 'amuse' the Dharma Initiative in their psychology experiment.

Of course we later found out that this was not the case and that entering the numbers was after all of 'utmost importance'.