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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strange, flawed, but compelling, 8 Sep 2007
My initial interest in this book was mainly down to the fact that I had read numerous reviews comparing it to Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History', one of my favourite novels of all time. Having finished it, I can now say with confidence that these comparisons are inaccurate and lazy. The only real similarity between the books is that both concern an elite group of young people in an academic setting (in this case, a much-admired clique known as the 'Bluebloods' in an American high school) whose friendships are torn apart by an unexpected death. Otherwise, they are entirely different; 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics' is a very odd book - in fact, it's one of the strangest I have ever read.
At first, I felt sure I was going to dislike the novel. For a start, there's the narrative voice; Blue van Meer is an extremely precocious sixteen-year-old girl who narrates the story using constant references, comparing everything to something else (the book would probably be about a third of its actual length if Blue's incessant metaphors and similies were removed). The style is exhausting, and the continual attempt to cram as many references as possible into each sentence quickly becomes irritating. Blue's narration is smug and self-satisfied, and it's hard to reconcile this with the fact that the character is apparently a 'wallflower' with little confidence and no real friends other than her fiercely academic father. The characterisation is also, if not exactly bad, then strange - it's difficult to believe that the Bluebloods would actually be friends with each other (or that they would command the respect and awe they mysteriously seem to enjoy from their peers), let alone accept Blue into their clique, however reluctantly. They aren't remotely believable; they come across as a crudely drawn gallery of grotesques, none of whom you can envisage as real people. In fact, none of the characters are at all likeable - including Hannah, the supposedly charismatic teacher at the centre of the Bluebloods' friendship - although this is perhaps intentional.
However, despite its imperfections, the book did draw me in. For all that it irritated me, I never once thought about not finishing it, and around halfway through (once all the largely unnecessary exposition was out of the way) I found myself hooked. I was genuinely intrigued by the mystery surrounding Hannah's identity, which deepens in the final third, and I found the eventual denouement thrilling, with the way the tale unravelled coming as a genuine surprise. Incredibly (given the length of the novel), when I reached the final page, I actually found myself wishing there was more.
There are touches of brilliance in this book, but it's deeply flawed. On one hand, it's impressive that Pessl completed such a lengthy, complex debut at a relatively young age (27); on the other, her immaturity as a writer is evident in its faults. Her skill, wit and intelligence shine through sporadically, only to be obscured by unnecessary detail or missed opportunities - we really don't need to know the exact minutiae of every tiny thing that happens to Blue, and yet the chapters explaining her conclusions about Hannah's death and the conspiracy surrounding it could have benefited from more detail. 'Special Topics' left me feeling that Pessl is a hugely talented writer, but one still finding her feet, and yet to produce her magnum opus. It's certainly worth reading (if you're a persistent reader), but expect an impressive yet imperfect piece of work, not an absolute masterpiece.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pynchon for the OC generation, 18 May 2008
I stalled on this book three times in the first hundred pages. So overwritten is Pessl's prose that you begin to wish that it was a crime punishable by incarceration - or at least permanent deprivation of the word processor. But, motivated by the glittering reviews adorning the book's back cover and inside pages, I struggled on.
Somewhere in this contrived mess is a fairly interesting story struggling to be told, but the plot (what there is of it) crashes and burns about two thirds of the way through after a middle section where the author just gets on with telling us a story, briefly making it an enjoyable reading experience. It's not helped by paper thin characterisations which are so insipid that I didn't care a jot what happened to who and why.
Yes, I know the narrative voice is supposed to be pretentious and the constant literary references part of Blue's character, but really, so what?
Or rather, whatever.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Gag's gaga over you...like so GONE, like FIXated.", 11 Jan 2007
When Blue van Meer's father, a peripatetic college professor, agrees to let her spend her entire senior year at the same school, instead of moving each semester while he accepts visiting professorships all over the country, she quickly settles in at Stockton, NC. Enrolling at St. Gallway School, where she is expected to become the valedictorian, Blue finds herself inexplicably becoming part of "the Bluebloods," a group of five other students, all of whom have various family problems. This group moves in the orbit of Hannah Schneider, a charismatic teacher of film, who invites the group to her home each Sunday and serves as a sounding board for whatever problems they want to discuss.
Not really part of the group, Blue tries to fit in, often doing what Jade Vine wants to do, and eventually experimenting with alcohol, drugs, and sneaking into places where none of them have been invited. When a death occurs at a party at Hannah Schneider's house, Blue and the group decide to investigate. Since the story is a flashback from the opening chapter, the reader knows from the outset that Blue will eventually discover Hannah Schneider hanging, an electrical cord around her neck.
Using the name of a famous piece of world literature as the title of each chapter, author Marisha Pessl shows absurd parallels between the action of the novel and that of the famous literature. She packs her long novel with sensational plot elements--murder, lies, secret identities, betrayals, and dramatic parent/child issues--keeping the reader involved, even as her bright and breezy style sometimes alienates. With a penchant for over-writing, Pessl incorporates more unique imagery into one chapter than most writers do in an entire book, often turning nouns into verbs, and vice versa--"hair ivying over the armrest," "lettuce fireworked into the air"--and creating unique similes and metaphors--"the root canal hallway," "sleep as likely as phoenix eggs," and a woman who is "a walking wedge of Camembert."
Pessl is immensely talented, with the ability to handle complex plots, multiple characters, and important themes (who we are, how we become who we are, and how much we can control who we are), but she is like an explosion, her energy going off in all directions, her power not under control. As she satirizes people, their activities, and their self-consciousness, she also involves the reader in their actions, thereby creating confusion about whether the novel is serious or not. This debut novel is astonishing, however, chock full fascinating plot and style elements, and Pessl leaves the reader hoping for her future success--and more effective editing and control. Mary Whipple
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