bookperson
Written on Feb 17, 2020
Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics is an unforgettable debut novel that combines the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt and the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock: a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit.
'I wrote this account one year after I'd found Hannah Dead.
I thought I'd managed to erase all traces of that night within myself.
But I was wrong.
Every night when I tried to sleep, I'd close my eyes and see her again, exactly as I found her, hanging from a pine tree by an orange electrical cord, her neck twisted like a tulip stem, her eyes seeing nothing.
Or else that was the problem. They'd seen everything.'
Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a mesmerizing debut. As teenager Blue van Meer tells her story we are hurled into a dizzying world of murder and butterflies, womanizing and wandering, American McCulture, The Western Canon, political radicalism and juvenile crushisms. Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class (with hand-drawn Visual Aids), Blue's wickedly funny yet poignant tale reveals how the imagination finds meaning in the most bewildering times, the ways people of all ages strive for connection, and how the darkest of secrets can set us free.
'Beneath the foam of this exuberant debut is a dark, strong drink' Jonathan Franzen, author of, The Corrections
'Any [Donna] Tartt fan disappointed that her second novel had little in common with her debut should rush out and buy this book immediately... It's a brilliant debut, guaranteed to join the ranks of The Secret History and The Virgin Suicides as one of those rare books to become a cult hit and instant classic' Sunday Telegraph
'One of the most impressive debut novels I have ever read ... It stops you doing anything apart from reading it ' Independent on Sunday
'Special Topics in Calamity Physics made me stay up all night reading; in the morning it seemed like one of those parties where everyone is too cool for you but you desperately want to know them anyway . . . I loved this book' Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife
Marisha Pessl was born in 1977 and lives in New York. This is her first novel.
- ISBN10 0141024321
- ISBN13 9780141024325
- Publish Date 3 May 2007 (first published 30 June 2006)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 528
- Language English
Reviews
empressbrooke
Written on Mar 13, 2014
I should have been alarmed by the "One of the 10 Best Books of the Year according to the New York Times Book Review" tag. When was the last time I perused the NYT book review section and found anything that piqued my interest? Never, that's when, because I read things that seem interesting, not things that are meant to make me seem interesting to other people.
I only made it through 70 of the 500 pages of this book, and the idea of slogging through the rest made me want to cry. Dear LAWRD is it pretentious. It's crammed full of the most esoteric references (all cited as if it were an academic paper) arranged in paragraph-long sentences of phrases strung together by more commas than any one page should contain. I felt like I was running out of breath as I was reading. To make matters worse, the main character and her father are INSUFFERABLE blowhards who think that memorizing boatloads of obscure facts make them so much better than all the lowly peons who can't breezily spout off references to books written in 1641 about mollusks.
I think this is the first time I've ever given a 1-star rating and a 5-star rating to the same author. Maybe all the critical acclaim she got for her first book made her relax and realize she didn't have to try so painfully hard anymore to make people think highly of her. I sure hope so, because I want to keep reading books that are like Night Film.
ktshpd
Written on May 7, 2013
Amber (The Literary Phoenix)
Written on Feb 28, 2011
In some ways, it was difficult to read this book just because it was set up like an incredibly long MLA essay. I found myself skimming over things when they got incredibly scientific. Only once did I feel like I had missed something when I skipped sections, and the time that I did feel as though I missed something, going back and re-reading it twice, thoroughly didn't give me any more closure. I think those who read this book very closely will have it figured out long before I did.
I found the writing to be very careful and very deliberate. I think this book is an excellent example to aspiring writers about the importance of relevant information and careful editing - every word in this book was there for a reason. Regardless of whether or not it was an enjoyable book, it was an excellent piece of writing.
As for the characters, they were remarkably real-to-life. If you're looking for a happy ending or beautiful, romantic characters, there isn't a single one to be found. All the characters are either depressingly shallow people (note: I said people, not characters. The characters are very round.) or else they are a lying caricature of themselves. It's difficult to find a single character to sympathise with, to care about. Mostly, as the reader, I found that I wanted answers. That was why I kept reading. But I didn't read the last chapter, which was in the format of a "final exam". I had read enough, and I think that even without that supposedly knowing the deepest, darkest secret that chapter may reveal, I know enough.
jamiereadthis
Written on Mar 7, 2010
I think I physically tossed this book away (end of couch, end of bed) at least four times, but then went reluctantly (eagerly) after it because it was just too much fun to hate. Pessl is also from North Carolina, which piqued my interest until I realized, about ten pages in, what “from North Carolina” meant. For example, page 140 and one of the kinder references to local color in the form of “this awful roadie watering hole”: “a place Dad and I would go to great distances to avoid; it wasn’t unheard of for us to take a twenty-mile detour simply to avoid breaking bread with ‘men and women who, if one squinted, resembled piles of tires.’”
An actual pile of tires being, in my opinion, of better company than “pick a character, any character” from this book. See, I wasn’t joking. I really loved (hating) this book so much.
For further enjoyment, see this review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5235919
My thoughts exactly.
Eve1972
Written on Feb 20, 2010