Scan barcode
tatee's review against another edition
4.0
"Ma c'è una cosa più importante, tesoro: non cercare mai di interferire nella struttura narrativa della storia di qualcun altro, anche se sarai certamente tentata di farlo, osservando quelle povere anime a scuola, nella vita, incamminate senza saperlo su pericolose tangenti, digressioni fatali dalle quali è improbabile che riescano a districarsi. Resisti alla tentazione.
Riversa ogni energia nella tua storia. Rielaborala. Rendila migliore. Ampliane il respiro, la profondità dei contenuti, l'universalità dei temi. Non m'interessa quali siano questi temi - sta a te scoprirli e restare loro fedele - a patto che, quanto meno, comprendano il coraggio. Fegato. Mut, in tedesco. Coloro che ti circondano avranno anche le loro novelle, tesoro, i loro racconti fatti di cliché e coincidenze, ravvivati qua e là da una trovata a effetto, dal dolorosamente volgare, dal grottesco. Qualcuno riuscirà perfino a inventarsi una tragedia greca - i nati in disgrazia destinati a morire nella tregenda. Tu invece, mia sposa della quiete, con la tua vita forgerai niente meno che un' epica. Tra tutte, la tua storia sarà
l'unica a sopravvivere."
ejporter's review
2.0
I so very much wanted to love, at least like, this book. I think Marisha Pessl’s second book, Night Film, was brilliant and honestly could not and did not want to put it down — EVER! I did not want Night Film to end, but when it did it was so satisfying and complete that I almost wanted to pick it back up, turn to the beginning and start over. This only started to happen, although it never completely got there, with Special Topics in Calamity Physics in the last third of the book.
It took me almost a year to start this book after I finished Night Film because I had such high expectations, and, considering I didn’t want Night Film to be over, I had it in my mind that if I didn’t start Special Topics in Calamity Physics, then it would never be over. Finally I took the plunge and was very surprised at both the writing style (aka the gimmick of adding incessant quotes and a running bibliography throughout the book) and what appeared to be a much less exciting topic. The first half of the story runs all over the board to the extent that it is difficult to follow which lead to me not really caring to follow it.
Then, about 55% of the way into the book (yes, I read on a Kindle so I know this), the story really became interesting. For me, that is a bit far to finally grab my interest and for other readers I know, they would have given up long before they reached this point. Personally, once I start reading a book or watching a movie, I have to finish it, no matter how uninteresting or bad it may be. People have told me that this is a waste of my time that could be better spent reading something enjoyable, but in this case I may never have found the interesting part of this book.
Then, as we neared the end and things began to resolve in such a unique and page turning way, the author appeared to be nearing a word quota (probably used too many in the first half) and needed to wrap everything up quickly. I felt there was so many things I wanted to understand that I kept turning the pages looking for an epilogue or links to an upcoming sequel. I am usually 100% satisfied with endings that authors do not fully resolve, leaving the reader to decide what happens to the characters, but this ending left so many frayed ends I was truly disappointed.
I would highly recommend Night Film, so if you are interested in a real page turner by a rising contemporary author then go directly to Marisha Pessl’s second book and skip this one.
It took me almost a year to start this book after I finished Night Film because I had such high expectations, and, considering I didn’t want Night Film to be over, I had it in my mind that if I didn’t start Special Topics in Calamity Physics, then it would never be over. Finally I took the plunge and was very surprised at both the writing style (aka the gimmick of adding incessant quotes and a running bibliography throughout the book) and what appeared to be a much less exciting topic. The first half of the story runs all over the board to the extent that it is difficult to follow which lead to me not really caring to follow it.
Then, about 55% of the way into the book (yes, I read on a Kindle so I know this), the story really became interesting. For me, that is a bit far to finally grab my interest and for other readers I know, they would have given up long before they reached this point. Personally, once I start reading a book or watching a movie, I have to finish it, no matter how uninteresting or bad it may be. People have told me that this is a waste of my time that could be better spent reading something enjoyable, but in this case I may never have found the interesting part of this book.
Then, as we neared the end and things began to resolve in such a unique and page turning way, the author appeared to be nearing a word quota (probably used too many in the first half) and needed to wrap everything up quickly. I felt there was so many things I wanted to understand that I kept turning the pages looking for an epilogue or links to an upcoming sequel. I am usually 100% satisfied with endings that authors do not fully resolve, leaving the reader to decide what happens to the characters, but this ending left so many frayed ends I was truly disappointed.
I would highly recommend Night Film, so if you are interested in a real page turner by a rising contemporary author then go directly to Marisha Pessl’s second book and skip this one.
andreashannon's review against another edition
4.0
Fool Me Twice: Story of My Reading Of "Special Topics in Calamity Phyiscs"
Once in awhile, if you are a writer, you come across a book that is so well written, it makes you feel like a talentless hack that doesn't even understand your own language; it's such a wonderful, perfect piece of work that it makes you wish you had never been born.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics is not one of those books.
The book is about a 17 year old named Blue Van Meer who, after a lifetime of traveling with her traveling professor father, settles down for what her father hopes is a fantastic senior year at some great private school. She meets a teacher named Hannah Schneider who immediately takes a liking to Blue, and invites her into her little gang of students that do some kind of Algonquin Rountable thing (but less creative) every Sunday night at Hannah's house.
The whole book leads up to the event we are told about right at the beginning: Blue finding Hannah dead.
The beginning of this book really sucks. Really. Bland characters (I couldn't even tell most of them apart), lots of promising story lines that go nowhere, 'look how clever I am' wording, and some weird citing of sources thing she does constantly in the middle of sentences combined with the fact that the author was only 27 when she wrote it, all forms a perfect storm that makes you feel like the whole literary universe is collapsing right before your very eyes. I could write something with all of these qualities. In fact, I have.
I stuck with it because a book this highly recommended to me couldn't suck this bad.
Then you get to the last 150 pages. All of the sudden the book seems to hit it's stride. You get used to the annoying citing thing, the story picks up a bit, all of the loose ends she gives you (you suddenly realize) were put there on purpose. All the pointless characters and dead ends weren't such dead ends. You've been tricked. And call me a masochist, but I love an author that can make a fool out of me.
So if you can read the first 350 pages quickly (and keep all the characters with the same one personality straight), then you can get to a plot that doesn't make you wish you weren't born but maybe makes you wish you were born smart enough to see what she was doing.
Once in awhile, if you are a writer, you come across a book that is so well written, it makes you feel like a talentless hack that doesn't even understand your own language; it's such a wonderful, perfect piece of work that it makes you wish you had never been born.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics is not one of those books.
The book is about a 17 year old named Blue Van Meer who, after a lifetime of traveling with her traveling professor father, settles down for what her father hopes is a fantastic senior year at some great private school. She meets a teacher named Hannah Schneider who immediately takes a liking to Blue, and invites her into her little gang of students that do some kind of Algonquin Rountable thing (but less creative) every Sunday night at Hannah's house.
The whole book leads up to the event we are told about right at the beginning: Blue finding Hannah dead.
The beginning of this book really sucks. Really. Bland characters (I couldn't even tell most of them apart), lots of promising story lines that go nowhere, 'look how clever I am' wording, and some weird citing of sources thing she does constantly in the middle of sentences combined with the fact that the author was only 27 when she wrote it, all forms a perfect storm that makes you feel like the whole literary universe is collapsing right before your very eyes. I could write something with all of these qualities. In fact, I have.
I stuck with it because a book this highly recommended to me couldn't suck this bad.
Then you get to the last 150 pages. All of the sudden the book seems to hit it's stride. You get used to the annoying citing thing, the story picks up a bit, all of the loose ends she gives you (you suddenly realize) were put there on purpose. All the pointless characters and dead ends weren't such dead ends. You've been tricked. And call me a masochist, but I love an author that can make a fool out of me.
So if you can read the first 350 pages quickly (and keep all the characters with the same one personality straight), then you can get to a plot that doesn't make you wish you weren't born but maybe makes you wish you were born smart enough to see what she was doing.
lit_with_linds's review against another edition
1.0
When the exciting incident happens 300 pages in, I’m out. Part 3 was interesting, but not interesting enough for me to want to recommend this book to anyone. Also the entire ending felt very random in connection with the rest of the book. Overall, I thought special topics was very disjointed and trying really hard to be secret history and no where near as good.
scottcurtis10's review
1.0
I remember there being a media splash about this book when it was released in 2006, so it was with that anticipation that I picked up this debut novel by Marisha Pessl. However, 500+ pages later, after being repeatedly disappointed and having my patience tested, I cannot recommend the book as anything but a sprawling mess.
Pessl's writing, through the character of Blue van Meer, initially sparkles. Blue is a hyper-intellectual high school senior, who playfully relates every observation and action to her extensive reading of literature and academic political science, including footnotes in the narrative. This precociousness is fueled (or perhaps mandated) by her domineering father, an itinerant college professor who can best be described as a serial philanderer and narcissistic snob. As the book wears on, my initial enjoyment of Blue's commentary on her life wore off, as it became evident that nearly every insight about others made by Blue (or spoken to her by her father) was simply a masterful put-down. By the time author Pessl got around to killing Hannah Schneider (no mystery here, it's given away in sentence number one of the first chapter of Part One), almost 340 pages had passed and I had lost interest in ALL the characters in the book.
The author apparently couldn't decide between writing a coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, or a tale of political espionage - so she dumped all her fragmentary plot lines together and stirred vigorously. This is not to say that Pessl writes poorly; individual sentences and brief passages shined with insights for me. However, Pessl's suspense writing bored me, the lack of character empathy disturbed me, the whodunnit explanations were farcical at best. A book that might have worked if edited and re-wrote to a 200 page story was hopelessly bloated and self-important as published.
Pessl's writing, through the character of Blue van Meer, initially sparkles. Blue is a hyper-intellectual high school senior, who playfully relates every observation and action to her extensive reading of literature and academic political science, including footnotes in the narrative. This precociousness is fueled (or perhaps mandated) by her domineering father, an itinerant college professor who can best be described as a serial philanderer and narcissistic snob. As the book wears on, my initial enjoyment of Blue's commentary on her life wore off, as it became evident that nearly every insight about others made by Blue (or spoken to her by her father) was simply a masterful put-down. By the time author Pessl got around to killing Hannah Schneider (no mystery here, it's given away in sentence number one of the first chapter of Part One), almost 340 pages had passed and I had lost interest in ALL the characters in the book.
The author apparently couldn't decide between writing a coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, or a tale of political espionage - so she dumped all her fragmentary plot lines together and stirred vigorously. This is not to say that Pessl writes poorly; individual sentences and brief passages shined with insights for me. However, Pessl's suspense writing bored me, the lack of character empathy disturbed me, the whodunnit explanations were farcical at best. A book that might have worked if edited and re-wrote to a 200 page story was hopelessly bloated and self-important as published.
kara_mom's review
2.0
The run-on sentences and endless similes made this a tough read. The first two times I started the book I abandoned it. The book finally develops a somewhat interesting plot with just 15% left to go, with an ending no one could have speculated or guessed. Frustrating and not worth the long read; could have been half as long and really packed a punch.
tex2flo's review against another edition
4.0
This author had A LOT to say and used the brainy narrator and her equally brainy father Gareth to do it. There must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of quotes that the two used between them to argue points and define moments.
It is a very long book that I thought about dropping a couple of times when the plot seemed to stick in place without really making a forward move. The twists came at just that point before I said “no more”. My breakpoint was the volume of references that I didn’t know. Probably you should be a more thoroughly read reader or student to either get the reference or to understand the nuance of meaning.
Regardless, it is packed with teenagers doing what they do—finding obscure and gossip-worthy meaning in a hug or a new haircut.
Be prepared; it is filled with similes.
It is a very long book that I thought about dropping a couple of times when the plot seemed to stick in place without really making a forward move. The twists came at just that point before I said “no more”. My breakpoint was the volume of references that I didn’t know. Probably you should be a more thoroughly read reader or student to either get the reference or to understand the nuance of meaning.
Regardless, it is packed with teenagers doing what they do—finding obscure and gossip-worthy meaning in a hug or a new haircut.
Be prepared; it is filled with similes.
ebats's review
5.0
wonderful.
read this after night film and in retrospect, night film pales in comparison. so refreshing to have a smart teenage lead - a girl who actually does the things most sane people would do, and doesn't leave the reader screaming "no don't go in there!" was not prepared for the end. some of the moments between she and her dad were crushing.
it should be noted that there are lots of gimmicks here - the endless quotes, the syllabus as structure, final exam at the end, Great Use of Capitalization - and should be noted that i love those things.
read this after night film and in retrospect, night film pales in comparison. so refreshing to have a smart teenage lead - a girl who actually does the things most sane people would do, and doesn't leave the reader screaming "no don't go in there!" was not prepared for the end. some of the moments between she and her dad were crushing.
it should be noted that there are lots of gimmicks here - the endless quotes, the syllabus as structure, final exam at the end, Great Use of Capitalization - and should be noted that i love those things.
underdog30's review
2.0
Where shall I begin with this one? It's over-written, it's over-cute. I spent half of the book hating every character in it and the rest of the book annoyed that I could hate characters so lacking in dimension. After feeling the first hundred pages or so were just too precious for words (oh, what an adorably precocious main character!), I settled into the heart of the novel accepting the fact that it was more or less a piece of Young Adult literature for the AP set (hey, professor, look what I can do!). However, any mild good will I may have had came crashing down over the last fifty ridiculous pages. I have heard some say that this book could be a hundred pages shorter. I think it can be twice that shorter and still be just as good...bad...whatever.