BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: Perspectives on Twin Peaks

by H. Perry Horton

Collected from the virtual pages of beloved film site One Perfect Shot, writer H. Perry Horton dives inside the mysterious and intriguing world of TWIN PEAKS via these 17 essays that cover the themes, elements, links and secrets hidden inside David Lynch and Mark Frost's acclaimed cult TV series. Topics include the influence of Film Noir on the series, the influence of Marilyn Monroe on the character of Laura Palmer, a look at the three loves of Dale Cooper, in-depth journeys into The White and Black Lodges, duality in the series, the role of water, of food, and many more. Also included is one of the most thorough TWIN PEAKS' episode guides in existence, a section devoted to prequel film FIRE WALK WITH ME, and a series of essays dedicated to the latter's relation to the overall mythology of the series, including the popular analysis of the much-discussed "Phillip Jeffries Scene." Designed for both the novice and the fanatic alike, BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is a critical and affectionate look at a series that has shaped a generation of television watchers and makers, and that, as Horton argues in the introduction, blazed the first, difficult miles of the path to the present era, which is considered the medium's "Golden Age." Nothing is what it seems when it comes to the murky world of TWIN PEAKS, but with BETWEEN TWO WORLDS Horton provides a map that cuts through the darkness and illuminates the brilliant method behind all the series' beautiful madness.

Genres: Nonfiction

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2016

Reviews

[Lindsay Robbins]

I was looking for something more critical- this ain’t it.

[gaminette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It's a good companion piece to the revival and makes me want to delve further into other analyses.

The first 2/3 (or so) consisted of entertaining episode recaps, which is fine with me because I was one of those fanatics who watched them when they first aired and I don't necessarily care to revisit some of the more, uh, less popular subplots. I liked that these were written only last year: it's been 25 years. Attitudes and perspectives change.

The final 1/3 is comprised of various essays about themes, symbolism and aspects of the show. The water symbolism essay had good points but was a bit of a stretch overall, I though, but the essay about the green ring was incredibly enlightening. There's a great essay about how TP does and does not fit into the category of film noir, and a long one in the appendices comparing TP and Mulholland Drive.

Four jelly donuts and a thumbs up.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm working my way through a lot of critical approaches to Twin Peaks books, scholarly, fannish, and mixes of the two.
This one is very worthy reading among the bunch. Pretty concise, crisp, and insightful.
A lot of the book is comprised of analytical synopses of individual episodes in the first 2 seasons and FWWM, so know that going in; the short essays on themes and origins of elements of Twin Peaks are engaging!

Why not 5 stars? It's published in something like 3 pt font, ultra tiny, microscopic.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

A perfect review and dive into the lore and timeline of Twin Peaks. Whether it's a deeper look or just a review of the series, this hits all the marks.

[Sezin Koehler · Rating 2 out of 5]

More than half of this book is episode descriptions, and the other portion is essays about Twin Peaks exploring a variety of topics. I really wanted to like this book more, but I don't have any use for episode recaps when I can just watch the show myself. Also, the essays were pretty generic and repetitive. There was nothing new or groundbreaking or even that interesting in the analyses. If you've been a fan of the show then the essays rehash topics that are well covered in many different media. This book might be useful for a novice to the world of Twin Peaks, but for someone looking to dig deeper it's rather disappointing.

Also, the formatting of the book made it physically difficult to read. The font is tiny and the text wasn't properly formatted as a book. It's like the author copied and pasted blog posts and didn't bother or didn't know that the particular Web style is good for screens but not so readable on paper. And the font is so tiny! I don't know why his beta readers didn't comment on that. (Or maybe he didn't have beta readers?)

If the author does a new edition I highly recommend that he hire someone to redesign the text formatting. It would at least make the book physically easier to read even if it won't add anything to the recaps and essays.