Special Topics in Calamity Physics

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It's a hit!

As a murder mystery, this book could really use a Hercule Poirot to to gather together some coherent clues. By the end, we're still not completely ... (show more)

As a murder mystery, this book could really use a Hercule Poirot to to gather together some coherent clues. By the end, we're still not completely enlightened as to what happened. Also, because the motive had little to do with the book's themes, Pessl may as well have left it as a cold case.

However, this book is delightful as one of that much-mocked genre : "Coming of Age Novel." Blue, the main character, learns to stop feeling so intimidated by the beauty, brilliance, and hipster bohemianism, of her friends, her teachers, and dad. Blue presents us with a metaphor or some magic trick with words at virtually every sentence, which perhaps makes this work somewhat Hemingway-eque with its simultaneously exciting language and boring plot.

The author's characters are both irritating and fascinating, with their French movie posters, costume balls, obscure family histories, and Linklater-like conversations that people do not actually have in real life. Like Blue, we're a bit bedazzled by the glamour of her student tormenters, but we also feel great relief when she decides to run off, if only for the summer, with the clean-cut athlete with aw-shucks sincerity and a bouquet of carnations. (show less)

 

 

by Adina Cappell

No, it's a flop!

I was prepared to love this book because it was recommended by a colleague who shared my opinion of Never Let Me Go. By the time I finished, all I... (show more)

I was prepared to love this book because it was recommended by a colleague who shared my opinion of Never Let Me Go. By the time I finished, all I could say was "let me go, please!" The beginning is quite clever and made me want to know Blue Van Meer and understand her. By the middle, I really didn't care. The references and analogies simply overwhelm any plot that is coming. Yes, there are twists, but all I kept hoping for was the end, which was terribly contrived and disappointing. If she had stopped before the "quiz," I might have forgiven her. There is no true resolution to the story, which I would have accepted - leave me to my own imagination to fill in the gaps, no problem. The quiz added nothing to the experience other than an annoying, "cute" gimmick. She should have let it be. Grade it a "C". (show less)

 

 

by Mary Harrison

More Reviews

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  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 nor b

  Questions
  (1) __ I had heard good things about it
  (2) __ I bought it on a whim
  (3) __ If feeling extremely charitable, I might call it “frothy”
  (4) __ It seemed sort of good in the beginning, but by the end I was like, “Blaahahh... (show more)

  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 nor b

  Questions
  (1) __ I had heard good things about it
  (2) __ I bought it on a whim
  (3) __ If feeling extremely charitable, I might call it “frothy”
  (4) __ It seemed sort of good in the beginning, but by the end I was like, “Blaahahhgajh. End, end, end.”
  (5) __ Contains metaphors that go down like a junebug having lion sex in a bourbon mood
  (6) __ Blue things totally dissed
  (7) __ Nabokov rolling in his grave
  (8) __ Authoritative blurb raises questions about agenda of blurber
  (9) __ Handy pronunciation key for difficult-to-pronounce words like “açaí” or “pessl”
  (10) __ “I’m confused about what editors, like, do?”
  (11) __ “Maybe I don’t need this many antioxidants and/or self-indulgence.”
  (12) __ “Post-BBC Office is anyone allowed to be named Gareth? Really? Really?”

  [Pencils down.]

  Answers:
  (1) c
  (2) c
  (3) c
  (4) c
  (5) c (“A Cadillac-sized smile drove away with his face as if I’d just agreed to pay him ‘in cayash,’ as Dad would say, for a Sedona Beige Metallic Pontiac Grand Prix, fully loaded, two grand over sticker price, driving it off the lot right then and there.”; “Stop the radicals! Join the antioxidant revolution!”)
  (6) c (~bloods plotline disappear halfway through; ~berries have 61 fewer ORAC units than açaí)
  (7) d (This is against policy at Cimitière de Clarens.)
  (8) c (Jonathan Franzen: “A masterpiece of sorts.”; Brunswick Laboratories, MA: ORAC Unit analysis, presented as bar chart)
  (9) b (“say ‘ah-sci-ee’”)
  (10) a
  (11) c
  (12) a (No, unless a boy is born that can swim faster than a shark.) (show less)

   

  by Facebook User on Feb 04, 2009 at 03:45AM

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  When I started this book, I thought I had found my favorite novel of all time. Sadly, not the case. And perhaps I'm a little bit harsher in my criticism due to this disappointment. The writing is witty, clever and fast-paced at first. As a film buff, I loved her constant film references. But eventually it relies too heavily on these analogies for content. The twist in story line and genre that comes 3/4 through the book is bizarre, however it came just when I'd had enough of what was becomi... (show more)

  When I started this book, I thought I had found my favorite novel of all time. Sadly, not the case. And perhaps I'm a little bit harsher in my criticism due to this disappointment. The writing is witty, clever and fast-paced at first. As a film buff, I loved her constant film references. But eventually it relies too heavily on these analogies for content. The twist in story line and genre that comes 3/4 through the book is bizarre, however it came just when I'd had enough of what was becoming a non-storyline. I didn't want to put the book down at the end, but the randomness and unfinished quality of that twist still took away from my enjoyment of the novel as well. But perhaps that was the point after all. (show less)

   

   

  by Sarah Moore on Apr 23, 2008 at 05:01PM

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  Is this review helpful? yes no
   
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