So, has anyone else here read this? Aside from its link to the show, I thought it was an outstanding book. The story is constantly engaging, and the language used and the way it's written is unlike anything else I've read. I definitely need to pick up some more Flann O'Brien stuff.
Anyway, on to the Lost paralells...
1. Old man Mathers, after his murder, when the protagonist revisits the house to search for the box seemed to bear similarities to the idea of Jacob. I wonder if, when (or if) we finally get a scene with Jacob in, the conversation will bear any similarities to the one in the book.
2. The place where the protagonist is taken by MacCruiskeen reminded me of the Swan bunker a little - aside from the fact that time stops inside "eternity" in the book, as opposed to time only being somehow different on the Island. Also, there is all the talk of readings and keeping them monitored to ensure they stay at a safe level.
3. The map on the ceiling in the barracks made me think of the one on the blast door inside the Swan.
4. The box containing the Omium which can be manipulated into anything bears obvious paralells to the box Ben mentions in "The Man from Tallahasse".
I'm wondering if the Dharma people (and maybe the Others, too) are looking for, or trying to obtain, a similar substance seeing as the Omium from the book seemed to have the ability to reshape anything - including reality - at the whim of the person who owned and knew how to manipulate it.
What does anyone else think - about either just the book itself, or about its connection with Lost? Cuse and Lindeloff have said that anyone who has read the book "will have a lot more ammunition when dissecting plotlines" of the show. Now, similarities aside, the central idea behind the book is that...
It could, as I said before, be something to do with the Omium material spoken of in the book - a property that allows reality or objects or personalities to be manipulated and changed at a whim. It goes without saying that such a thing would be greatly sought after, which would explain the many factions of people who want to control the island. On top of that, maybe the existence of the "omium" is what causes so many wierd happenings on the island. It could be a naturally occuring "omium", or maybe someone, or a group of people, have found a way to manipulate the "omium" to bend reality or something, causing all the unexplained phenomenon on the island, and all the stations, and scientists and such, were experimenting with the "omium" and studying it.
I did have one thought - maybe the Swan was used to regulate or contain this omium-like energy, and when Desmond failed to press the button, a large amount of the energy was released. If the energy does have properties similar to the omium of the book, I think it found a way to be manipulated by a strong willed mind. I think that mind was John Locke's. All he wanted to do was go on his walkabout, and I think that somehow, subconsciously maybe, he manipulated the energy into taking him (and, by proxy, flight 815) to a place where he could do that - a place of wonder where he was no longer bound to his chair and could live the sort of life he'd longed for. A place where, if he worked hard enough to achieve it, then anything is possible. This would also explain Locke's deep connection with the island.
It's possible, of course, that this omium-like energy can be manipulated by the mind of anyone it comes into contact with - which is why Jack saw his father, and Hurley saw Dave...etc (with Locke having a stronger/more disciplined mind than everyone else, which is why the omium latched onto his "preferred reality" above everyone elses). Obviously this is all done on a subconscious level, but the real thing Ben and Widmore are after is to try and find a way to consciously manipulate the energy, which would make it a far more powerful substance. Subconsciously, the energy does most of the work - bringing to life something that is currently on your mind (or maybe in the back of it), wheras if you could consciously manipulate it, you could literally do anything.
Maybe Jacob found a way to manipulate the energy to a certain degree, which is why he can seemingly do what he can do (in the book, the protagonist lists some of the preposterous things he'd do if he could bend reality with omium, and one of them is to turn himself invisible - which is what Jacob may have been doing when he was sat in the chair). That would lead me to theorise that Ben or someone found a way to contain him - hence the circle.
Just a theory. A rambling one, to be sure, but a theory none-the-less.
Anyway, on to the Lost paralells...
1. Old man Mathers, after his murder, when the protagonist revisits the house to search for the box seemed to bear similarities to the idea of Jacob. I wonder if, when (or if) we finally get a scene with Jacob in, the conversation will bear any similarities to the one in the book.
2. The place where the protagonist is taken by MacCruiskeen reminded me of the Swan bunker a little - aside from the fact that time stops inside "eternity" in the book, as opposed to time only being somehow different on the Island. Also, there is all the talk of readings and keeping them monitored to ensure they stay at a safe level.
3. The map on the ceiling in the barracks made me think of the one on the blast door inside the Swan.
4. The box containing the Omium which can be manipulated into anything bears obvious paralells to the box Ben mentions in "The Man from Tallahasse".
I'm wondering if the Dharma people (and maybe the Others, too) are looking for, or trying to obtain, a similar substance seeing as the Omium from the book seemed to have the ability to reshape anything - including reality - at the whim of the person who owned and knew how to manipulate it.
What does anyone else think - about either just the book itself, or about its connection with Lost? Cuse and Lindeloff have said that anyone who has read the book "will have a lot more ammunition when dissecting plotlines" of the show. Now, similarities aside, the central idea behind the book is that...
...the protagonist has been dead throughout the book, and is in some form of afterlife, doomed to repeat the same surreal adventure for all time as punishment for murdering Mathers. Obviously though, Cuse and Lindeloff have debunked the afterlife theory on many an occasion in regards to explaining where the Lostee's are, so I'm interested to see exactly what parts of the book are said to have any bearing on the central mystery of Lost.
It could, as I said before, be something to do with the Omium material spoken of in the book - a property that allows reality or objects or personalities to be manipulated and changed at a whim. It goes without saying that such a thing would be greatly sought after, which would explain the many factions of people who want to control the island. On top of that, maybe the existence of the "omium" is what causes so many wierd happenings on the island. It could be a naturally occuring "omium", or maybe someone, or a group of people, have found a way to manipulate the "omium" to bend reality or something, causing all the unexplained phenomenon on the island, and all the stations, and scientists and such, were experimenting with the "omium" and studying it.
I did have one thought - maybe the Swan was used to regulate or contain this omium-like energy, and when Desmond failed to press the button, a large amount of the energy was released. If the energy does have properties similar to the omium of the book, I think it found a way to be manipulated by a strong willed mind. I think that mind was John Locke's. All he wanted to do was go on his walkabout, and I think that somehow, subconsciously maybe, he manipulated the energy into taking him (and, by proxy, flight 815) to a place where he could do that - a place of wonder where he was no longer bound to his chair and could live the sort of life he'd longed for. A place where, if he worked hard enough to achieve it, then anything is possible. This would also explain Locke's deep connection with the island.
It's possible, of course, that this omium-like energy can be manipulated by the mind of anyone it comes into contact with - which is why Jack saw his father, and Hurley saw Dave...etc (with Locke having a stronger/more disciplined mind than everyone else, which is why the omium latched onto his "preferred reality" above everyone elses). Obviously this is all done on a subconscious level, but the real thing Ben and Widmore are after is to try and find a way to consciously manipulate the energy, which would make it a far more powerful substance. Subconsciously, the energy does most of the work - bringing to life something that is currently on your mind (or maybe in the back of it), wheras if you could consciously manipulate it, you could literally do anything.
Maybe Jacob found a way to manipulate the energy to a certain degree, which is why he can seemingly do what he can do (in the book, the protagonist lists some of the preposterous things he'd do if he could bend reality with omium, and one of them is to turn himself invisible - which is what Jacob may have been doing when he was sat in the chair). That would lead me to theorise that Ben or someone found a way to contain him - hence the circle.
Just a theory. A rambling one, to be sure, but a theory none-the-less.
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