Special Topics in Calamity Physics (edit title)

• Rated 3 stars

“Has anyone else read this or even heard of it ?”

• Rated 4 stars

“I loved this book as I was reading it. Couldn't put it down. The writing still is extremely engaging and the story was a great mystery that kept me hooked....until the end, when I felt pretty let down by the way things ended up. I also felt like there were a TON of loose ends that didn't get tied up. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“Clever, cleverly written and bit of a tour de force...but ultimately unsatisfying. Perhaps for the old-fashioned reason that characters you want to admire turn out to be heels. Many up-tripping twists and turns. And a girl named 'Blue' - not a misnomer.”

• Rated 2 stars

“There were some bright spots in this book, but I found it to be pretentious & overrated.”

• Rated 3 stars

“A uniquely written story about a girl, Blue Vandermeer and her father. As the story develops, a murder/mystery unfolds with a surprising and unexpected twist. I liked this book but I didn't love it. Many of the characters: Hannah, Jake, Milton, Leulah, Nigel, Blue's dad were utterly unlikeable. It makes connecting with the story rather difficult. Blue was a fairly interesting character who is the victim of poor parenting and a lack of social know-how. The best part of reading this book was our book club discussion!”

• Rated 2 stars

“Overbearingly clever and disappointingly clinical. While the last third of the novel is intriguing, the three hundred and fifty page buildup renders it anticlimactic.

”

• Rated 4 stars

“Wow-for true bibliophiles! Great references to literature throughout-fun & funny, great voice in main character.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Too many literary tricks to keep the reader pre-occupied, not enough storyline to leave you with the feeling of satisfcation at the end. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“Excellent, but very dense. Not a quick read.”

• Rated 4 stars

“How is it so many amazing debut novels are coming out these days? "Special Topics..." is a master study in prose--Pessl is the Queen of the Metaphor (off the top of my head, "his face was an Off T.V."), a linguistic back-flipper, a fan of the phrase rather than the vocabulary. Refreshing to find a new writer crafting language instead of upping the find-and-replace vocab ante. Pessl is the real deal.

That's not to say I was in love with the story. Narratively, this debut pissed me off as soon as the "surprising" or "twist" revealed itself. The house of cards the novelist creates isn't convincing enough to make it plausible. Plus, and more importantly, there are so many routes her first 2/3 of the novel could have led to, I found the path chosen to be a bit confabulated.

Ok, that said, this is a BIG debut. I look forward to a more terse follow-up from Pessl, minus the narrative she-bang I feel she felt obligated to deliver here.

”