Special Topics in Calamity Physics
As I promised, here is a review of Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. This book is amazing. The comments by other writers in the front of the book mostly consider it a cross between Catcher in the Rye and Nabokov, but as I've never read Catcher in the Rye, I really cannot say anything about that. It's far more emotional than anything by Nabokov, though it does have the same linguistic fluency and a slight bit of the insanity (though not nearly as extreme).
The format is a course description. Each chapter is the name of a work of literature, and the epilogue is a Final Exam. There is also an introduction, that sets up the rest of the book and is necessary to read. Two things are mentioned in the introduction: first, that Blue (the narrator - first person) felt the need to write this as a life story of how her life unraveled; and second, that she found someone named Hannah Schneider dead, hung from a tree. The fact is that there are actually two novels hidden here, not just one.
The first read is breathless and amazing. While there is a lot going on in Blue's life, the main focus is centered around the mystery that seems to surround a teacher, Hannah Schneider, and a group of students she cultivates. It is a whodunnit in the classic sense, and it comes to a satisfying conclusion . . .
Which shows that the book was not really what it seemed to be in the first place. Suddenly, everything takes on new meaning, and the second novel comes to the forefront. This is a life story, not a whodunnit, at its very core, and her life really did completely unravel in the course of the story. It is emotionally visceral and extremely painful. I was not expecting things to turn out as they did. It hurt so much I had to ignore the book for a week, despite having a paper due on it, in order to regroup, and when I tried to start again, I hardly got into it before tears were streaming down my face all over again.
The book is an intellectual challenge, a literary game, and a delight for anyone who likes linguistic play and puzzle-solving. It is also a heart-breaker. It is exquisitely painful and brutal in its conclusion. The reader at the end is raw, bleeding, and wondering what just happened -- and left with a Final Exam full of questions of the deepest complexity.
Read it.
The format is a course description. Each chapter is the name of a work of literature, and the epilogue is a Final Exam. There is also an introduction, that sets up the rest of the book and is necessary to read. Two things are mentioned in the introduction: first, that Blue (the narrator - first person) felt the need to write this as a life story of how her life unraveled; and second, that she found someone named Hannah Schneider dead, hung from a tree. The fact is that there are actually two novels hidden here, not just one.
The first read is breathless and amazing. While there is a lot going on in Blue's life, the main focus is centered around the mystery that seems to surround a teacher, Hannah Schneider, and a group of students she cultivates. It is a whodunnit in the classic sense, and it comes to a satisfying conclusion . . .
Which shows that the book was not really what it seemed to be in the first place. Suddenly, everything takes on new meaning, and the second novel comes to the forefront. This is a life story, not a whodunnit, at its very core, and her life really did completely unravel in the course of the story. It is emotionally visceral and extremely painful. I was not expecting things to turn out as they did. It hurt so much I had to ignore the book for a week, despite having a paper due on it, in order to regroup, and when I tried to start again, I hardly got into it before tears were streaming down my face all over again.
The book is an intellectual challenge, a literary game, and a delight for anyone who likes linguistic play and puzzle-solving. It is also a heart-breaker. It is exquisitely painful and brutal in its conclusion. The reader at the end is raw, bleeding, and wondering what just happened -- and left with a Final Exam full of questions of the deepest complexity.
Read it.