The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien - 4 stars (Subdue)

[Joy D]

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien - 4* - My Review

The unnamed protagonist commits a murder to gain enough funds to publish his book about the theories of the (fictional) philosopher de Selby. The aftermath of the murder sends the protagonist on a journey, which forms the basis of the storyline. I will not call it a plot as this is more of a mindboggling surrealistic examination of the nature of life and death.

A commonly recurring theme is infinity (or eternity), which is expressed in a series of mirrors where the viewer appears younger and younger, a treasure chest within another chest and onward to infinitely smaller chests, and the point of a spear that becomes infinitely sharp such that it is invisible. We have lots of information about bicycles, a substance called omnium, and three policemen.

This is a difficult book to describe. I consider it dark absurdist humor or surrealism. There is little plot nor much in the way of character development. It is a world of the illogical. It pokes fun at long philosophical treatises through the elaborate “footnotes.” I found it weirdly wonderful, but others may find it nonsensical. It is probably one of those “love it or hate it” books. If you enjoy unusually creative experimental fiction, give this one a try.

ETA - I should mention also that this book was way ahead of its time. O'Brien wrote it in the 40's, but it was not published until 1967, a year after his death.