Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

I found the novel, its plot, its characters, its 'celebrated' twists and turns pretentious, tedious, annoying AND predictable. If I had purchased this book in printed form, I would have skipped over them after the first 50 pages. Merriam-Webster)complete with a final exam. Pessl's conceit of constructing this novel as a thesis(a dissertation embodying results of original research and especially substantiating a specific view. Just check out Annie Proulx, 'Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories.' I found hers to be masterful and illuminating. I love a good simile or metaphor, figures of speech that stimulate the imagination and create the picture that is 'worth a thousand words.' They don't have to be beautiful, soothing, comfortable. If one wants to drown in a sea, no, vast ocean of analogies, this is the book for you. I formed my opinions before I searched for reviews and photos. Pessl's advance or of her pleasing physical attributes so I was spared starting off with any prejudice. I was unaware of the controvery regarding the size of Ms. But I listened to the whole book because I am basically an optimist and I paid for it. This is either a 'loved it/hated it' novel. It combines the suspense of Hitchcock, the self-parody of Dave Eggers, and the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt with a dazzling intelligence and wit entirely Pessl's own.

Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class, Pessl's debut novel is complex yet compelling, erudite yet accessible. But when the drowning of one of Hannah's friends and the shocking death of Hannah herself lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide - or misguide - her. Gallway School in Stockton, North Carolina, Blue falls in with a charismatic group of friends and their captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. In her final year of high school at the elite (and unusual) St. Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer.Īfter a childhood spent moving from one academic outpost to another with her father (a man prone to aphorisms and meteoric affairs), Blue is clever, deadpan, and possessed of a vast lexicon of literary, political, philosophical, and scientific knowledge.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl