The Third Policeman

By: Flann O'Brien

Narrated by: Jim Norton

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Flann O'Brien's most popular and surrealistic novel concerns an imaginary, hellish village police force and a local murder.

Weird, satirical, and very funny, its popularity has suddenly increased with the mention of the novel in the TV series Lost.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1967 Flann O'Brien (P)2012 Naxos AudioBooks

Critic reviews

"His writing is invariably compared to those other Irish greats, Joyce and Beckett, but for me he is infinitely more accessible and much funnier." (Sue Arnold, The Guardian, UK)
"If ever a book was brought to life by a reading, it is this presentation of O'Brien's posthumously published classic. Norton individually crafts voices and personalities for each character in such a way that a listener might imagine an entire cast of voice talent working overtime....[He] ties the ribbon on a perfect presentation of this absurd and chilling masterpiece." ( Publishers Weekly)

Worth the Effort

It is hard to figure out where this book is going at times, however it has many comical parts and the narrator does a great job. It is written in the same style as Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and I would think that if you liked that book you would also like this one. The book might not make total sense until you finish it though.

First class narration

Jim Norton is a born story teller. His deadpan delivery and witty character vocalizations perfectly capture the Irish setting and enhance the story no end. Easily the best I’ve heard.
The story itself is surreal yet captivating and witty. I think probably the best book I’ve heard on Audible.

Do yourself a favor

Listen to Jim Norton reading Flann O'Brien. Or Joyce. Or any other Irish genius you can think of. He's magnificent.

Weird. Falls flat at the end.

The performer of this book is talented, and makes the work come alive.

The book itself is set in something of a parallel universe, where the laws of time, space, and physics are somewhat different to our own. If you love bicycles and pancakes, then this might be for you. It's much more a work of creative writing than a story. The author is very playful in his use of words. However, his descriptive idiom does show limitations, in that he repeats his obscure descriptive methods a lot. This led me to get a bit of "style fatigue" which set in about half way through the book. There is some clever humour though, very much in the Irish tradition, but not enough story or plot in there to focus my interest for any length of time. Having read about the author, I can well appreciate that he had a lot to deal with in his life apart from writing, and this might explain why he didn't expand a great deal on the microcosm he invented. The ending I though very flat and poor.

Constant references to "de Selby", and associated footnotes, are often very childish and further break up writing which is fairly disjointed to begin with.

It's a fair sized book. Entertaining in parts. Not really a story, and I can't see any message in it, or much to dwell upon after reading it. I'm not surprised he had problems getting this published.

I rate this audiobook as a very well read curiosity, nothing more. You might be surprised to learn that I did enjoy it, despite all the above!

Sort of about Bicycles and Policemen...and Death.

I chose this after a recommendation from list of bicycle themed novels. I was expecting an Irish Poirot, investigating murder in the countryside while pedaling about. Ha! The bicycle ended up being such a MacGuffin, the joke was on me. Instead, it is an entrancing and original story about fate and death. Events unfurl in a causative but illogical manner, as one would expect from a novel described in the synopsis as "surrealist" (though how did I miss that?!). I found the ending highly satisfying, like a fuzzy image coming into focus over a long, long take. I admit that I never would have picked this up if I weren't confused about it - but I am really glad I did. Kafka meets Joyce. Delightful.

A leap of imagination! Actually pleasurable.

Unusual humour which kept me listening on and off but could never discount it's originality which kept me listening even though I wasn't laughing! I genuinely liked this book . The narration was brilliantly done.

Mellifluously surreal

I know nothing about Ireland and its culture and this was suggested to me. Not sure I learned about Irish culture but I was greatly entertained by a wonderful performance of a book reminding me of Douglas Adams.

Delightful

A brilliant fever-dream well voiced. Likely multilayered but I’m on layer one. Prose is outstanding. Fun and funny the whole way through, take the ride, on your bicycle.

Hell is other people's bicycles.

"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."

- O'Brien (omitted from the published novel)

After finishing Flann O'Brien's dark masterpiece of absurdity, I wanted to jam a well-chewed copy of Joyce in one pocket, a copy of Sterne in the other, push a DFW in my back left pocket, put some dark strawberry jam in my back right pocket, turn left twice, exit into my tight little garage and immediately make sweet sweet love to the nearest bicycle available. No. Not yet. She's not ready, nor is my review. I'll pick up this peach tomorrow.

So, it isn't tomorrow, but time and peaches are relative in purgatory. This is one of those books that is nearly impossible to review, but there is a space beyond impossible where letting go of this book exists. So, let's press forward shall we? The prose is amazing, funky; it floats and bursts from the page. Like Joyce and other Irish writers, O'Brien OWNs the English language (it is merely mortgaged to us mortals). Reading O'Brien is like watching one of those strange kids who can keep a soccer ball from ever hitting the ground. Gravity just doesn't matter. But let's bounce back to bikes and literature >

So, Flann O'Brien's novel seems to exist in a strange purgatory between Sterne's 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman' and DFW's 'The Broom of the System'. It is full of digressions, wooden legs, bicycles, murder, policemen (obviously), footnotes*, and much much more. This is one of those novels where rules are murdered and post-modernism is both born and twisted. There are books that are written to be sold and novels written to be worshiped. Get on your knees fellow travelers and start praying.

Norton's narration is brilliant. Seriously, BRILLIANT.

*O'Brien was out DFWing DFW before DFW was born.

Narrator extradinaire

This is a very funny story but the narrator makes it great. It is surreal so one must suspend logic to enjoy it.
The skill and talent of Jim Norton is unbelievable. I would like to know if he is Irish or not. He has the accent down pat. His ability to interpret the various characters, and there are many weird and wonderful, is fantastic.