false 3483 21 This mesmerizing debut, uncannily uniting the trials of a postmodern upbringing with a murder mystery, heralds the arrival of a vibrant new voice in literary fiction <P> <I>Special Topics in Calamity Physics</I> 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. After a childhood 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&#151;and is quite the cineaste to boot. In her final year of high school at the elite (and unusual) St. Gallway School in Stockton, North Carolina, Blue falls in with a charismatic group of friends and their captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. 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&#151;or misguide&#151;her. <P> Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class and containing ironic visual aids (drawn by the author), Pessl's debut novel is complex yet compelling, erudite yet accessible. 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. 910619 3 8 2006 Special Topics in Calamity Physics total:9552|5:2227|4:3593|3:2414|2:947|1:371| 9552 35014 13273 2348 2 122 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Aug 28 12:03:27 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 29 08:32:08 -0700 2007 Reviews of “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” and the Bottle of Açaí Juice I Bought for Lunch Cleverly Masked as SAT Test Questions

Choices:
(a) Special Topics in Calamity Physics
(b) The bottle of açaí juice I bought for lunch
(c) Both a and b
(d) Neither a ...more...]]> 3 70 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 04 10:14:40 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 18 08:12:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 22 false false Tue Apr 03 09:26:21 -0700 2007 Mon Jan 21 10:30:40 -0800 2008 The Secret History which both celebrated and skewered hyper-intellectualism as well as explored the process of interacting with a text and the pleasures of narrative devices. This book follows roughly the same storyline (and, incidentally, the storyline of Da...more...]]> 5 16 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 15 21:26:58 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 15:34:05 -0700 2007 This is a story to...more...]]> 4 14 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 27 11:51:08 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 27 11:52:24 -0700 2007
Okay, I'll admit it -- that whenever I hear of another young, good-looking first-time author in New York getting an obscenely high advance on their first book and suddenly becoming The Talk...more...]]> 4 11 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun May 06 11:46:20 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 01 14:47:17 -0700 2007 Special Topics... has certainly stirred the passions of readers and critics...especially those who love-to-hate first novels by young, successful authors. At the sight of Marisha Pessl's author photo -- lovely, unsmiling introspective waif -- I had to hold down my hate reflex with both arms, both le...more...]]> 2 9 false false Mon Sep 03 14:24:45 -0700 2007 Fri Dec 07 21:15:01 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 11 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 05 14:48:17 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 05 15:00:34 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 9 false false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 21:45:18 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 13:01:10 -0700 2008
But it’s a train wreck. The literary carnage is so grotesque and horrifying, you can’t help but look, read. (And I promise you, just take my word for it, that metaphor is better than most that Pessl uses in this debut novel of hers.)

Despi...more...]]> 2 8 false false Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 13:34:45 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 27 07:32:17 -0700 2008
The best way to introduce this one is to use the blurb off the b...more...]]> 4 8 false false Mon Nov 26 11:13:18 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 18 15:27:27 -0800 2008 This first bit is my initial reaction to the book. I'm keeping it up because I still think it's valid. However, see bellow for my post-reading thoughts.

Oh, how I hate this book. The parenthetic statements are making me homicidal. The dad is a jackass of unparalleled proportion, and ...more...]]> 5 6 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 26 10:03:54 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 10:04:29 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 6 false false Thu Aug 30 11:25:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 11:25:00 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 5 false false Tue Jul 10 20:26:16 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 09:41:12 -0700 2007
I was able to read the galley of STICP befo...more...]]> 4 4 false false Wed Aug 22 05:55:09 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 26 09:49:17 -0700 2007 did like this book. I did. Marisha Pessl is probably too smart for her own good, but that's never stopped me before (see David Foster Wallace et al.)

That said, as with most over-intelectualized writings, I had trouble getting close to her, to her work. Th...more...]]> 2 4 false false Thu May 17 16:29:56 -0700 2007 Thu May 17 16:51:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 4 false false Fri Jul 11 17:39:36 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 06:52:17 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 17:39:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Jul 01 16:33:49 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 16:37:13 -0700 2007
I read it last fall and I'm still thinking about it. A fantastically beautiful, brilliant and clever book that doesn't seem like a mystery until suddenly, the whole thing unravels in your hand.

Unravels in the best possible way, that is.

...more...]]> 2 5 false false Tue Jul 03 06:02:22 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 03 06:03:34 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 3 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 06:44:22 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 01 20:39:43 -0700 2008 more...]]>