Special Topics in Calamity Physics

By: Marisha Pessl

Narrated by: Emily Janice Card

The mesmerizing New York Times bestseller by the author of Night Film

Marisha Pessl’s dazzling debut sparked raves from critics and heralded the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of Special Topics in Calamity Physics is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.
©2006 Marisha Pessl; (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.

outstanding

Wow what a story. It takes about the strangest of turns about half way through. Completely captivating and original.

surprisingly complex for a coming of age story

i am surprised at some of the low ratings on this book. i found it really complex, well written and thoroughly enjoyable. i was, from page 1, enthralled by the characters and the story. however precocious (what is the teenage equivalent of precocious? erudite??) Blue is, she's a likable narrator with quite a unique and extremely amusing voice. and as likable as she was, the rest of the cast of characters (from Hannah to Gareth to Jade) are as unlikeable...and that lent even more interest and, i found, humor to the story. Pessl really got into the heads of teenagers and showed how horrible and embarrassing and hard to navigate that time period can be. then she added a thrilling mystery to it and, well, duh, of course i loved it.

I am also a sucker for a book setup stylistically. i enjoyed the way Pessl broke each chapter into a mandatory read on a syllabus. i thrived on all the old film and film star references, the book quotes, the comparisons to things that only someone in the know (i happened to be in the know most of the time) would enjoy.

i loved the ending of this book. it took me to a place i really didn't expect it to go. i don't mind being tricked by a book, in fact, i welcome it. and this book really did it.

Enjoyed This Book, but

It was a fun book, a little too pretentious with the endless references, but glad I listened.
I almost gave up early when our protagonist cliche-ed that someone was as flat as East Texas plains.
Everyone knows East Texas has hills and piney woods, the plains are in West Texas. Kinda made me wonder if there were other errors, but it’s a novel! Not a text book.

Slow to start fascinating story

Well crafted novel, prose is almost brilliant but fall short and even trips in itself in some patches. Characters well described, but it is plot driven and it took too.long to get moving. . Great fodder for book clubs.

hard to get into, but improved toward the end

story maybe could have been shaved by at least 10%. It took forever to get to the heart of the matter, although character development was crucial, and that sometimes takes time. when stuff does begin to happen, it's all very enjoyable and Blue, the main character, becomes more and more likable.

Not excellent writing but strangely gripping story

Pessl is a bit of a sloppy writer, as some here have pointed out. Her writing at times falls flat, is unsuccessful and even downright silly, but she did succeed in creating an odd story with an unreal atmosphere, in an odd place and time with characters slightly askew, and for this, I liked the book and found myself unable to stop listening. I was very interested to find out how this strange tale unfolded (and indeed haven't, since I have four hours left).

Exceptional story brought to life by a gifted narrator! Highly recommended

Long book but very worthwhile! I’ve never read, or listed to, anything written in this most unique style. Held your interest from beginning to end. Narrator was wonderful and a performer in her own right. ENJOY!!!

Some beautiful writing in an overall annoying book

Would you try another book from Marisha Pessl and/or Emily Janice Card?

I started with Night Film and then made my way to Special Topics. I think I am done with Pessl's work.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No. I suspect that even with the book boiled down to the interesting parts the only value to the book was the beautiful descriptive language which would likely be lost in the screenplay. And they would have to rewrite the ending to be something instead of make your own adventure.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the creativity of the writing when it came to phrases like "a mashed potato way of looking at you" and "Her eyes were bumper stickered to my head." This book is full of delightful turns of phrase that I haven't seen or heard elsewhere. I am happy to have listened to this book for those descriptive and creative phrases. Otherwise I could not recommend this book to anyone. I would normally be rooting for the smart kid in a story, but Blue was just so milquetoast that there was effectively no one to root for. The majority of the story is just a boring high-school drama. The deeply annoying gimmick of the footnotes nearly convinced me to stopped listening. I kept thinking that there would be a payoff for all of this annoyance, but that didn't happen. The book lacks an ending. I regret my purchase and especially the time spent listening to this mediocre story.

trying my best to trudge through

I'll be honest, I'm only halfway through, but it will take all my power to finish this book. The narrator's ridiculously overdramatic style is TOO MUCH. Her accents are just plain wrong, and she makes it sound like she's acting in a school play. She's trying, but she's trying too hard. I've begun to hate the father because his pompous voice is so annoying. If the plot of this book intrigues you, I'd recommend instead of trudging through the audiobook, get a paper copy so you can skim through the boring parts and skip all the footnotes. The meandering of the plot that seems to go nowhere is wearing me down. I really hope the second half makes up for the first.

Pretentiousness is tiresome.

Though the story was intricate, the constant constant quotations with internal citations became irritating. I also truly hate writers that utilize the trope that southerners are stupid, ignorant and uncivilized. Others have mentioned the tendency to overwrite, it is true. The story itself is excellent with twists galore. I disliked each character.