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.