Customer Reviews
a twentieth century gem - By: James Davies, 16 Nov 2008 
There is not much to add here but having read Ulysses & Finnegans Wake this is firmlyin that tradition (and funnier)...Read it , enjoy it & read it again!
My favourite book - By: John G. Millar, 15 Oct 2008 
I've had a copy of this for years & every now & then I pick it up & dip into a favourite passage. Imagine a cross between James Joyce & Monty Python - eloquent, quirky & murderously funny. If this book doesn't make you laugh out loud you better check your pulse - you may have died & not noticed.
Too Twee for Me - By: Mr. P. Rigby, 29 Jan 2008 
OK, so this is one of those 'classics' that everyone should read. I saw that 'LOST' had plenty of references to this & read an interview with Alan Moore where he waxed lyrical about O'Brien so like any other rational & sentient human thought that I would give it a go.
So first the positives...O'Brien is obviously a very clever writer, inventive & with a quirky sense of humour. The sheer number of ideas at playin the book is enough to make any writer sit up & take note. He doesn't just play with a variation constantly either there are some genuinely creative/odd things going on here. So why only 2 stars?
I just didn't laugh. It's just not suited to my sense of humour as it is way too light weight. To give you a point of reference I read the first four Pratchet novels whilst I was 15 & (I can remember the point vividly) at the last three pages of 'MORT' I consciously thought, I don't want to read this type of stuff anymore. I don't like Douglas Adams upper middle class intellectualised silliness either. Yes, I know that this is probably heresy for a lot of people reading but that's the way it is.
So with regards to this particular novel, I gave it the respect of finishing it but I can't see myself returning to anymore of O'Brien's work. But if you read the above lines & started foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog, give it a go, you may like it.
Review of audiobook - By: movielover, 14 Aug 2007 Naxos should be praised for releasing The Third Policeman as an audiobook & getting one of Ireland's finest actors, Jim Norton, to read it.
Fans of the book will find the reading opens up the story, & if you love the book this CD is essential. The atmosphere of the strange countryside the narrator travels in, the comic conversations, the obsession with bicycles - all these & more come alive.
Norton's reading is, at first shade brisk, but the listener quickly adapts to it. He adopts a confidential tone that matches O'Brien's prose style, which itself counterpoints the absurdist story.
All the voices are beautifully delineated, except the voice of Joe, which is a little too much like the narrator's. I feel embarrassed to level any criticism at this recording, but I might as well be honest about it.
That aside, it's a triumph.
Towards the end of his life O'Brien enjoyed a stage adaptation of The Dalkey Archive - & I'm sure he would have loved Norton's reading of The Third Policeman just as much.
One of the best - By: Gerry Murphy, 19 May 2007 I've recently re-read this book after many years & on finishing it my thoughts now are exactly the same as they were the first time.
"Flann O'Brien is a twisted genius."
The language, the turn of phrase & the surreal aspects to the story (including the often hilarious footnotes) are unparalleled. This is a brilliant book & your life is much less complete without reading it.
