Laura's Ghost: Women Speak About Twin Peaks

by Courtenay Stallings

This incredibly powerful book by media professor Courtenay Stallings explores the dark side of Twin Peaks through interviews with fans of the show who've experienced trauma in their own lives and worked through it with assistance from the character of Laura Palmer.

 

In 1990, the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, cocreated by David Lynch and Mark Frost, opened with a murder mystery when a homecoming queen washed up on a rocky beach. Laura Palmer’s character began as a plot device that triggered a small town to face its fractured self. After three seasons and a film, Laura Palmer is no longer just a plot device. Twin Peaks allows the audience to get to know the victim—a complex woman finding her strength while enduring incredible trauma. Laura’s Women Speak about Twin Peaks explores Laura’s legacy through the perspectives of women in the fan community and women involved in the show. Actor Sheryl Lee examines the challenges of playing Laura Palmer. Filmmaker Jennifer Lynch discusses writing Laura’s backstory in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. Grace Zabriskie argues about the complicity of Sarah Palmer, Laura’s mother. Sabrina S. Sutherland, executive producer of Twin Peaks, talks about Laura’s legacy. Women in the Twin Peaks fan community share their powerful and heart-wrenching stories of survival and what Laura Palmer means to them. This book is a reckoning in which women speak about trauma, mischief, humor, sexuality, strength, weakness, wickedness, and survival.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Essays, Gender, Criticism, Pop Culture, Feminism

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2020

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I, like many women, have a difficult time processing the abuse that lies at the core of Twin Peaks.

It is not a lighthearted story, as much as the cherry pie and damn fine coffee would lead you to believe. It is a story of trauma, of incest and death and horror far scarier than anything Stephen king could ever come up with. Twin Peaks is, as its heart, the tragedy of a life lost because no one cared to look.

Personally, I have problems with the show (and its “sequel” film, Fire Walk With Me). A whole host of them, in fact, as much as I love Dale Cooper and Annie Blackburn and the quaint, soap opera-y feel of the show as a whole. I have problems with the way people praise David Lynch for doing the bare minimum, for flaunting poorly constructed, stereotypical women and then tossing them into the ambiguity of the void as an excuse to avoid explaining his methods. I have problems with any man who uses abuse as a plotline, because far too often, it is used without care.

So, when Courtenay Stallings’ Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak About Twin Peaks came along, the concept of the show as empowering was infinitely interesting from an academic feminist point of view.

Out October 20th from Fayetteville Mafia Press, Laura’s Ghost seeks to recontextualize the story of Laura Palmer within Twin Peaks as brave and unique, rather than exploitative. It poses the concept of Laura Palmer as a vehicle for women to process their own trauma, and for the world at large to understand the depth and seriousness of familial abuse. Entertainment as an emotional lens has certainly been researched time and again by literary theorists, and Stallings seeks to prove just how deeply women can connect with the story of the poor, murdered homecoming queen…

…But Laura’s Ghost barely even skims the surface.

A certain level of production quality is to be expected from small press releases, but a large portion of Laura’s Ghost feels sloppy. The chapters feel out of order, and what was promised as an analysis of the central topic – Laura Palmer as a lens for feminine trauma – is presented instead as a series of interviews with female Twin Peaks fans that have almost nothing to do with their beloved homecoming queen at all.

Stallings clearly valued quantity over quality in her writing – twenty-nine women were interviewed for the book, and aside from the testimonies of the four women directly involved with the production of Twin Peaks, all of their testimonials begin to run together after the twentieth page. Instead of discussing their individual interpretations of Laura, or presenting each woman’s quotes as features within a larger essay, Stallings reprints what seem to be entire interviews verbatim, where the questions go no deeper than “when was the first time you watched Twin Peaks?”

Oral histories are a tried and true subgenre of nonfiction, but one expects a certain amount of style and tact to come with them. The lack of organization and depth in Stallings’ interviews gives the impression that she has little experience in long-form writing, repeatedly committing the major sin of assuming her audience knows exactly what she’s referring to without any context. Her interviews, while sincere, veer off-topic like an eighteen-wheeler on black ice – a large portion of each interview is spent discussing interviewees’ experience as women in creative fields, without any connection back to the source topic. Any discussion of Twin Peaks is surface-level, and only a few subjects (Gabrielle Norte and Sezín Koehler, the only two women of color featured in the book) manage to bring up active analysis or criticism of the show.

Laura Palmer is lost to a sea of fangirling from the very offset of the book – a generic jingle of “I love Twin Peaks because I grew up with it” that washes her cries out like the tune of a particularly obnoxious ice cream truck. “Twin Peaks as Subversive Fairy Tale”, Stallings’ analysis chapter on the show as a narrative structure, is shoehorned into the book’s conclusion when it perhaps should have been the crux of it all, overlooked in favor of repetitive testimonial. It feels cheap after two hundred pages of the same thing, as if Stallings made a last ditch effort to tie the project together just before her draft was due. Additionally, the inclusion of an essay on Amie Harwick, a Twin Peaks fan murdered by an abusive partner, felt unconscionable and wrong, particularly when it comes to drawing parallels between her and Laura Palmer that cheapen her to nothing more than the equivalent of a fake character.

The only writing that seems to have any merit is a reprint of Willow Catelyn Maclay’s “Northern Star” essay, which provides the analysis of Laura’s position and lack of agency within Twin Peaks from the perspective of a trauma survivor. It is a diamond in the rough, providing the depth and thoughtful commentary that I’d expected from the rest of the book and failed to find. It posits the real reason why so many women see Laura Palmer as a guardian angel, as a symbol of tragedy as well as hope, and carves into the depth of emotion I’d been hoping to see.

This book feels disjointed — like a master’s thesis that someone crammed a handful of extra, unnecessary material into to turn it into a book. It feels disorganized, underedited, and like it can’t quite reach the point it’s attempting to make. It is not a consistent narrative, but rather shifts forms with each chapter, from an oral history to an essay collection to something that feels like Stallings’ publishers didn’t quite give a final copy edit on.

Conceptually, Laura’s Ghost is a brilliant concept – reclaiming a show with a heavily male fanbase as a source of feminine empowerment runs right up my alley. Seeing a feminine perspective on Twin Peaks feels incredibly gratifying, if only to know that it is possible to carve a space out for oneself when it feels impossible as a woman with trauma. The voices of female artists are important now more than ever, and despite its flaws, I appreciate Stallings’ desire to posit Twin Peaks as a space for women, when so many “classic” television shows are gatekept by men who think they know everything. I appreciate her fervor and love for Laura Palmer, and her support and compassion for those who identify with her story.

I just wish she’d executed it better.

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected. I thought this would be interpretive academic essays on the show, but it's mostly a collection of interviews with women who either were involved in Twin Peaks directly or are fans of the franchise. Once I adjusted my expectations I was able to enjoy it more, although the collection of fan interviews in the middle of the book gets pretty boring & repetitive in parts. But there are some real moments of beauty and truth here where women relay the importance of this story to them as survivors of abuse and violence -- this to me is the real core of Twin Peaks and David Lynch's overall career project. There were some moments in this book that were deeply emotionally resonant, and it was heartening to see people talk about one of my favorite pieces of media ever in such a powerful, personal way. The interviews with Sheryl Lee and Grace Zabriskie are enlightening as well.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so incredibly disappointed in this book --> it was sold as a book about women who fought back against their abusers and found their voice with the help of Twin Peaks. Instead, the book focused on women who are in the arts or who were involved in the show in some way and how it impacted their life. A good book if it would have been packaged correctly.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't what I was hoping it would be, and that's partly on me. I was expecting more of, I think, an academic look at the character of Laura Palmer, but this was more of an exploration of Twin Peaks fandom, with a slight focus on women's relationships to that character. I totally respect all of the women who spoke about their experiences, but I wanted more of a focus on Laura. Sheryl Lee's and Grace Zabriskie's interviews with the author are really lovely though - you can tell they've really put a lot of thought into their characters and what they mean.

[Sydney Chatani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, I loved this so much. It wasn’t exactly what I expected — I went in thinking it’d be more of an academic exploration of women’s trauma through the lens of Laura Palmer, but it was more casual than anticipated — and that’s okay! I loved getting to hear the perspectives about Laura and the Twin Peaks universe from so many wildly talented, intelligent, creative women. The dedication to Amie Harwick at the end (who I think about quite frequently) made me cry. I felt less alone in my own experiences after reading this book, and that is a beautiful thing!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Palmer is THAT girl 🫡

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never think about Twin Peaks the same way again.
Every invisible wounded woman is seen through Laura Palmer.

[Sabre · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Laura's Ghost" is such an excellent name for a book that promises to explore Twin Peaks from the perspective of women. There's ample space in the franchise for rich feminist contextualization and analysis. I was so ready to dive into a feminist reckoning with Twin Peaks and it's portrayal of women, trauma, sexuality, race, family and communal systems, etc. There's just so much material to work with.

Unfortunately, this is not that book. Laura's Ghost reads like a college freshman's journalism project for the university newspaper. Interview questions are shallow and trite, leading to answers that lack any meaningful insight. The people interviewed seem random, like the author would have interviewed anyone who said yes to her request. If they were key figures in the world of Lynch or of the fandom community, that prominence is not communicated. The bios Stallings writes before each interview are full of superlatives and read as promo plugs for the interviewees' blogs, podcasts, art, whatever.

The author's writing style is awkward and seems to have gone through very little editing. Her use of adjectives either lack any real descriptiveness, or feel completely out of place. The few interesting points that are brought up throughout the book are never expounded on, leaving them to remain nothing more than a handful of non sequiturs.

This book is filled with timely, deep, and important feminist analysis such as:

- There are more male directors than female directors!
- One fan asked Sheryl Lee for a photograph and she said yes!
- Men on Twitter were sexist to a female fan!
- Some people in Snoqualmie, Washington don't like fans visiting their town, while others think it's okay!
- Some people say David Lynch is sexist, but this one fan disagrees!
- One fan thinks she wouldn't have been friends with Laura Palmer if they had gone to high school together!
- "Fire Walk With Me" is a sad movie that makes some women sad!
- Grace Zabriskie has a woodworking shop filled with "fancy wood!"
- There are more male podcasters than women podcasters!
- Several female fans first watched Twin Peaks when it first aired on TV!
- One fan says she really relates to Dale Cooper because she too loves coffee and cherry pie!
- Some women who worked with David Lynch say he is a nice guy!

The only thing I found insightful in this book is that I learned Jennifer Lynch is a blond lady with dreads who believes her success comes from the Law of Attraction rather than nepotism. And she is most likely a TERF. She wants everyone to know, she's not a *female* director (because, as she said, she doesn't direct movies with her *vagina*), she's a *director* who is very important because her films are the *female gaze.*

The most baffling part of this book.... did Stallings really just breeze over the part where Jennifer Lynch says her friends literally murdered a man who assaulted her???

[Annie Donette · Rating 4 out of 5]

TW: SA, VAWG


"Why didn't anyone do anything to help? There were signs everywhere. There were symptoms of how much pain this girl was in. And the other thing is, how many men were involved in her destruction?"
- Sheryl Lee


"Everybody knew she was in trouble, but we didn't do anything. You want to know who killed Laura? You did! We all did!"
- Bobby Briggs


"Laura didn't need saving. She needed justice. He [Dale Cooper] didn't listen."
- Willow Catelyn Maclay


"There are so many BOBs in the community."
- Sezin Koehler


 
This interesting book, aptly, has an identity crisis. I'll review it in its two halves (as divided by me, not the author Courtenay Stallings). 


First Half, or as I like to call it, "Peakie Women on Womanhood and the Cool Stuff They Do" (granted, not as catchy as Laura's Ghost, but more accurate), is a set of interviews with 4 practitioners from the show and 26 members of the fan community. Confusingly, hardly any of these interviews focus on, or so much as mention, Laura Palmer. They instead give space to each woman and her successes and feelings. This made me impatient... When was the Laura-y bit going to kick in? As cool as these women were, I came here for Laura and her ghost, as promised by the title and introduction. Slowly, I let go of that expectation. When I relaxed into what this half of the book was actually about – empowering women's voices – I listened carefully to what they had to say. My key takeaways from First Half were:


- Twin Peaks is extremely influential and life-changing.

- The TP community is not just a load of blokes. There is a diverse bunch of talented, creative women who have a lot to express (including Gabrielle Norte who made a film called People Watching about indigenous women; Rose Thorne who started a charity called Cabaret vs Cancer; and Milly Moo, who customises dolls to look like film characters). 

- Many of the female TP community grew up in small towns and felt like outsiders. Many were alone in their fandom of TP and saw it as their "secret obsession". 

- Being a woman is difficult. Being a woman in a creative industry like film, journalism or photography is FUCKING difficult. Women are disregarded, not taken seriously and have to work hundreds of times as hard as men in the same industries. Women of colour have it way, way harder than white women and are prone to online abuse and threats, particularly from white men in the community.


My highlights of First Half were, of course, Stallings' interviews with absolute queens Sheryl Lee and Jennifer Lynch. Also, less predictably, Sezin Koehler's observations on race (including Hawk and Diane's characters), and Laura Stewart's theory on Sarah Palmer's silent complicity, and "a woman's fate". I will definitely seek out further reading on these new perspectives. In the end, I rather enjoyed the company of these awesome women. Fandom is so great, and although I'm not on any of the forums, I do feel like these are my people. 


Conversely, the title Laura's Ghost fits Second Half perfectly. This half delivered what I was expecting when I picked the book up: Laura's connection and symbolism to women and survivors of abuse. Stallings collates various writings on this subject, along with her trademark interviews. Key takeaways from Second Half:


- Laura Palmer represents women, and women understand Laura Palmer.

- David Lynch and Mark Frost created Laura Palmer's corpse and physical image. But it was two women, Jennifer Lynch and Sheryl Lee, who transformed Laura Palmer into a living, breathing, flawed, damaged, strong teenage girl with heart, soul, sexuality and agency.

- Twin Peaks has been a lifeline for survivors of incest, abuse and trauma. For many, Laura Palmer is a vehicle for catharsis, grief and healing. 

- Twin Peaks was anachronistic as a 90s show in its exposé of male violence against women and children. #MeToo and #TimesUp would not have existed without Twin Peaks.

- In reality, women and children are abused in their homes, schools, workplaces, churches and other "safe spaces" en masse, every single day. We are getting to the point where we all know or know of a woman who has been murdered by her male partner. A high number of men commit sexual assault without admitting or even realising they have done so. This is an epidemic. 


At the absolute heart of Laura's Ghost is the essay "Northern Star" by Willow Catelyn Maclay. Maclay is a survivor of incest and gives a raw, insightful and poetic analysis of Laura Palmer's character. "This is blood that stains eternal, and a horror that doesn't leave once it's nested in the body of small-town America." She also expertly dissects the intersection of the patriarchy, Dale Cooper's characterisation, and the TP fan base's refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of Laura's story: "Dale [...] was never nuanced enough to look beyond his goody-two-shoes idealism. He never considered the girl and neither did the Twin Peaks audience. Fire Walk With Me was famously rejected by audiences and critics alike. Laura's dead body has been made into toys, Killer BOB was a cute Pop Funko figurine..." I am grateful for this candidness and perception.


Courtenay Stallings bookends the two halves with a well-written, if repetitive, introduction and conclusion. She also bravely tells her own story of abuse and trauma. I particularly love the way she links in Sinead O'Connor and the church; and Dylan Farrow and Woody Allen. What she doesn't do is offer any analysis or opinion on her research. For example, in First Half, one of the women tells of dressing as dead Laura, wrapped in plastic, for Halloween. Whereas in Second Half, a survivor explains how the trivialisation of Laura's death is insulting and triggering. Stallings is here to let us make up our own minds. Her role is of curator and collaborator, generous in championing her subjects: women, survivors of abuse, and Twin Peaks. 


Both halves of the book have value and interest, but I'm just not sure First Half belongs in Laura's Ghost. Nonetheless, Second Half was thought-provoking, emotive and affecting enough to be just what I was hoping for as a follow-up to Jennifer Lynch's The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.


Really, if you've watched Twin Peaks, you should look beneath the cherry stalks and damn fine cups of coffee. The show was ahead of its time in tackling taboo subjects of incest, child abuse, and violence and murder of women and girls. Reading Laura's Ghost will make you uncomfortable, force you to rethink many aspects of Twin Peaks and open your mind to the horrible realities faced by far, far too many women. Laura's ghost lingers long. Will you let her in?

[Caro]

I had this borrowed for a full month and a half and ended up returning it to the library without bothering to finish. I found the title so misleading - women do speak about Twin Peaks in the book but it was "Laura's Ghost" that had piqued my interest & gave me the wrong idea on what it would be about.
I read up through Grace Zabriskie's interview (incredible woman, even though the interview was more about her poetry and film work, it was a fascinating peek into her life) and decided to drop it, the interview format was not for me, and half of the questions were unrelated to Twin Peaks or Laura at all, coming off as David Lynch fangirling more than anything else. This isn't to say the questions were bad or uninteresting, but it wasn't what I had hoped to get out of this - Laura Palmer is such an incredibly fascinating character who had such a profound impact on popular culture and so many people, and exploring abuse topics through that lens and through the lived experience of women who identified with her would have made for a much different read. Sheryl Lee touches upon that on some of the Fire Walk With Me extra content and I would have loved to read about Twin Peaks under that angle.
Expectations on the content aside though, I found the introduction chapter's writing to be incredibly shallow and basic, so it was a pretty big disappointment overall. Either pausing this or DNFing it but either way, not too eager to get back to it at the moment

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

YOU HAVE TO EMBRACE THE JOYFUL SORROWS OF LIFE OR ELSE IT WILL CRUSH YOU

Despite sometimes finding Stallings' extractions and research on the show, the lore, and sexual abuse as a societal problem to be shallow (like u can only cite RAINN so many times), this was very awesome and I read it in one sitting. It's at times clunky, but I've never read anything about Twin Peaks or any of Lynch's art that left me feeling good after. Love him but let's be serious I always feel that sadness-dipped nausea after Redditing his works. But Ya Reddit u are nothing to me now. No piece of lit has allowed me to wrap my mind around Laura Palmer and, by extension, all of Twin Peaks in such a compassionate and accurate way as this. Stallings' writing itself doesn't do much for me, but most notably Willow Catelyn Maclay's Northern Star essay (Google-able) and the "Sheryl Lee is the One" chapter really ate.

The kitsch, the Americana, the homey-ness of it all is what is so lovely on the surface and what wraps us into a false sense of security before unveiling the horrific truths of incest and sexual trauma in through a scarily-accurate portrayal of a High School Girl from a man. But we know she wasn't created solely from Lynch's mind: she was Jennifer Lynch's diary novel, she was the spirit and humanity Lynch saw in Sheryl Lee, she was the truth Lynch perceived in the world around him — a truth we all bear witness to, but choose to ignore, that we never heard to begin with. Bobby's grief at the funeral, a catatonic Sarah in TR, Jacoby, Hayward, and COOPER in the closing scene of TPTR. The Return was damning (see 3rd Fav Quote), but a harsh mirror, emblematic of the public reception of FWWM.

Laura is a tulpa for the audience, for everyone who has experienced sexual assault. Sheryl Lee, in occupying a Lifelong role, is their tulpa, too. I see myself in Sheryl Lee who sees myself in Laura Palmer. Oftentimes there is no home to return to.

Fav Quotes:
-“'[FWWM perhaps was not well received because it] reminded people that at the center of Twin Peaks was a story of incest and filicide'" (Chris Rodley)
- “I do believe that if a person would have intervened with Laura she would have made it. She wanted to make it . . . she was a survivor" (Sheryl Lee)
- “in such, Lynch damns himself, Cooper, and the audience, who never weighed the cost of what Twin Peaks coming back meant. Laura spoke, and this time she was heard.” (Willow Catelyn Maclay)
- “The thing I remember most about you, though, Laura, is your loneliness. That loneliness haunted me. Walking back into my empty hotel room by myself each day, left to deal with the fragmented pieces of my own life, your loneliness would still fill my room. My prayer is that you are now someplace where you are truly loved and at peaceful rest.” (Sheryl Lee)
-"“Home/Twin Peaks is both a place Cooper wants to return to and a state of mind where the viewer wants to return to but cannot. The town of Twin Peaks is not the same home that Cooper or the viewers remember: it’s been twenty-five years, and something is off. ”

4.5/5

[Charlotte K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to rate this so low as I was really excited about reading this. The topic of Twin Peaks and trauma is something I'm particularly passionate about, so this really should have been perfect for me.

As other reviewers have already highlighted, the title and premise of this book does not align with around 80% of the actual written material. There are some profound mentions of trauma through the lens of Twin Peaks, sure, but much of the book is spent interviewing women who worked with Lynch or fans of Twin Peaks talking about how much they love the show. As a woman who loves Twin Peaks - I get it! But that isn't the book I wanted to read.

I'm quite happy being a bit more lax with self published books - one of my favourite books of this year was self published - but the level this book suffers without editorial oversight is really significant. The order of the different sections, the quality of the material included, the questions asked to those interviewed, all makes for an incredibly disjointed and disconnected book, both tonally and thematically. I was also really hoping to see some genuine criticism or nuance here - I don't agree with a lot of people that Lynch's portrayal of women is inherently misogynistic, but I do think there is a lot to criticise and unpack in how he portrays women that can be addressed through a feminist lens. We don't really get that here and instead we get lots of gushing about how great he was to work with (in between plugs for personal projects for a large chunk of the contributors that feel incredibly misplaced) rather than seeking to analyse the themes in Twin Peaks itself.

This book has a great concept that just isn't addressed with enough focus or planning here and the meaningful contributions are snowed under some fairly unremarkable anecdotes. I did manage to avoid giving up on this book altogether, but I can't pretend I didn't skim large portions of it. Really disappointing :(

[Allie Marini · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair an honest review."

I really wanted to give this book a higher rating, but it's not quite what I expected. I think from the description, I assumed it would be essays, or have a more academic approach to talking about Twin Peaks. It's an interview format, which felt a lot like reading a podcast. If it were a podcast instead of a book, it's one I would definitely tune in to listen to -- the interviews just started to drag after a while, and got shorter as the book progressed, which made me wonder why some of them were included at all. There were some interesting ones and some that I was less interested in, mostly depending on the degree of closeness the interview subject had to Twin Peaks. Obviously, the interviews with actors, producers, and showrunners from the series, as well as Jennifer Lynch, were the most in-depth and interesting. Once we moved to the fan base interviews, it got less interesting to read and felt more like the best Twin Peaks podcast I've never heard. Best one of those was Milly Moo, whose Twin Peaks dollies are awesome and I only know about because of the book.

I would only recommend this to hardcore Twin Peaks fans, because for a casual fan, this won't be a satisfying read.

Don't sleep on that podcast idea though....?

[Bryant Loney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is—excuse me—a damn fine book.

“Ghosts can have light and dark influences,” writes author Courtenay Stallings, and like a ghost, Laura Palmer from “Twin Peaks” continues to haunt the hearts of fans of the show thirty years later. For many women in particular, Laura’s story of survivorship is a testament to the strength of her engrossing, powerful, disarming, ultimately hopeful character.

“Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks” features not only essays and interviews from the women most fundamental in bringing Laura to life—Sheryl Lee (Laura’s actor), Grace Zabriskie (who plays Laura’s mother), Jennifer Lynch (writer of Laura’s notorious diary), and Sabrina S. Sutherland (production coordinator and executive producer of the series)—but also stories from female artists, writers, critics, and filmmakers inspired to this day by Laura’s journey both wonderful and strange.

Stallings brings the trauma and persona of Laura to the forefront of this book with compassion and unflinching honesty, revealing how Laura, a teenager just trying to live, affected women like her on the deepest, most personal level imaginable.

This book sticks with you. Five stars.

[Sam Oxford · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was gonna read this slowly to finish but it's so not the book it claims to be and I am abandoning it. Maybe there's more about Laura and Rape/Incest victims actually speaking about how they relate to Twin Peaks but the interviewer seems uninterested in guiding conversations and you're left with strange fan testimony that more or less to amounts to "I watched Twin Peaks (insert time here) and became obsessed. Now I do (insert fandom activity)." The intro is clumsily written, and the interviews with the women who worked on Twin Peaks are interesting but I've also would've loved for them to go on longer and to actually dive deep into the creation of Laura and Sarah Palmer's characters, but each of the (incredibly short!) interviews spends so little time on them. The parts of this book that were what the back said it had to offer were lovely but the writer/editor/interviewer needed so much more focus to her vision.

As a side note, where the fuck are Audrey, Donna, Josie, Catharine, Diane? If you're gonna abandon the concept of this book being about Laura you could at least include some of the other interesting women characters and the very talented actresses who played them.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. Being a Twin Peaks fanatic, I try to read all that is out there. This book is different and beautiful. It’s the reactions, stories, and emotions tied to Laura Palmer’s impact. The stories essays and interviews told within this book are all from women. I thought it was an interesting topic before I read it, and now I know why it was important to be an all female viewpoint. After reading this, I have more insight into what Laura means beyond the fandom of Twin Peaks, especially to those that are survivors of abuse.
The author gathered a great assortment of people for this book, some involved with the show, to people who are big fans. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys Twin Peaks to help dive into the character of Laura Palmer (and the actress Sheryl Lee who played her), the importance of her character, and understanding of how people see her as an inspiration dealing with their own abuse. The book opened my eyes as a fan and a human. A great, Important read.

[Lindsay Pugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this but the interviews could have used at least two more rounds of edits as I found some of them repetitive and lacking substance. I hate being critical about this type of book because I know how much work goes into it and how few resources are typically allocated, but that's my honest take. The content wasn't what I was expecting when I bought it, but I did find value in reading about why different women connected so deeply with "Twin Peaks."

The highlights for me were the essays by Willow Catelyn Maclay and Samantha Weisberg, along with the section of interview snippets grouped by category ("Women in the Fan Community Speak about Laura Palmer"). I actually wish all of the interviews had been organized in this way instead of initially separated out by interviewee, although I understand the editor's rationale. Overall, I'm happy to own a copy and will certainly revisit parts of it during my David Lynch rewatches.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t particularly appreciate the random burlesque performer’s opinion piece but there is never a perfect anthology, also i really didn’t need information on random people’s careers for 75 pages. However, You can truly see in her essays how much Sheryl Lee cares about her portrayal of Laura i could read a whole book of her thoughts. the essays of other women talking about Laura did have me sobbing The second half was perfect, i carry Laura Palmer with me always. “Northern Star” is something i need people to read before talking about Laura.

“When Carrie Page emits that iconic scream at the end of Season 3, Sheryl Lee said, she traveled back in her mind to Laura’s experience and the possibility of the nightmare happening again. She said she imagined what women go through: “There are still women who need to scream who are not allowed to scream. The statistics [regarding violence against women] are going up, not down. That is the scream.”

[Elena L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was gifted to me and I’m glad that it was. When I first watched the show and movie years ago, I had no one to talk about it with. That is when I turned to the Internet to see what other people were saying about it and reading their thoughts and theories. This book is exactly that. Considering the title, this book is exactly what I thought it would be and more. I loved reading the interviews with the cast. I loved that the author asked everyone where they were and how old they were when they first watched the show. It’s amazing how many lives I was able to read about in this book and how we all come from different places and something we all have in common is this show and Laura.

[Mallory Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley! i’m a big fan of twin peaks so this book held a lot of promise for me. it’s obviously well researched and created with a lot of tenderness and care, but the repetitive structure of each interview collected within made the book drag for me. personally i felt that it was a slow read without much payoff but i really appreciate the intention put into the interviews by the author.

[Joel Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't quite what I was expecting, as there wasn't actually that much discussion of Laura Palmer or "Twin Peaks". This was a very interesting read about women in and adjacent to the entertainment industry, but a lot of times the focus had to kind of circle back to the show or the characters. There are a lot of moving, resonant stories and experiences shared here, but the connection to the show that this book is framed as is tangential more than direct.

[Allye · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really need someone to write the book that I thought this was going to be. The concept is great, of exploring Laura Palmer through the trauma she endures, and how many women and girls have seen themselves on screen through her. There were a few good essays and moments of interesting analysis, but as other reviewers have said, the interview portions in particular dragged on as so many people had similar answers. There is so much to dig into with the premise of the book, and I was disappointed that, overall, it just doesn't go deep enough. I really, really wanted to love this, and am bummed I couldn't get there.

[Jill Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and curated, these stories of survival serve the greater purposes of validating the experiences of anyone who has survived trauma, and assuring them that they are not alone. The women on this book along with Laura Palmer’s ghost will haunt the reader in the most intimate corners of their mind, in the best, most loving way imaginable.

[D-Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even a die hard Lynch fan like myself won't take a lot away from this. Although, the audience is really intended for a subset of the David Lynch and Twin Peaks Fandom - females and survivors of trauma. I think women who are deeply involved with the Laura Palmer lore will get the most out of this. Interesting in parts and it's a nice piece to acknowledge the fans of this great series.

[Gelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is by fans for the fans. I think the description online, and inside the book of "essays" is false and being far too generous. What's published are conversations between the author/editor and people involved in the fan community.

I think the most relevant idea that's brought up is whether or not Laura has agency after the original show's run.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will break your heart and then fill it with hope. Sheryl Lee shares so much about what it was like to play Laura and Courtenay creates a safe space for all these women to share their stories.

[Kerry Murtagh Ramsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok.

I’m a sucker for anything Twin Peaks, and this looked really promising. Unfortunately I was not particularly interested in endless “when did you first watch TP?” stories. Laura deserves better.

[kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this 4 stars, but I guess I was expecting more long form essays and analyses on the show/film. The interviews were fine but did get repetitive. I would’ve liked more chapters like the “Northern Star” essay reprint and interview.

[Phoebe L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like other reviews have said, I don't understand the point of including the interviews, or wish they had been presented in a different format. The best part of the book is the second half, with the essay Northern Star and womens' takes on Carrie Page in season 3.

[Atsuya Ito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very interesting for me!