Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl is a book that I
was really looking forward to reading. I loved the character of
Blue and her pedantic professor father. I loved Pessl's writing style,
her imagery, her language. The love affair lasted until roughly
the end of the first third. Then I considered writing to the
publishers to suggest that they retitle it Marisha Pessl's Big Book of
Similes. By page 200 I was counting the number of similes per
page, then by paragraph. This was not a good sign. By page
250 I was ready to throw the book across the room and I was only about
half way through it. I get annoyed when authors write very long
books when it isn't necessary. I get annoyed when editors don't
say "You know this book would be much better minus about 150-200
pages". I start mumbling under my breath about Tolstoy. The
centre section of this novel had me thinking that Pessl is a clever
writer but more flash than substance with a certain amount of self
conscious "look at what I can do" to her. But I thought about how
much my son said he loved the book so I plowed onwards. And I'm
glad I did. Around the beginning of the final third of the novel
Pessl throws in a plot twist (whatever you do, don't read the back of
the dust jacket) and the book takes off. Suddenly I was totally
engrossed in the story and back in love with our narrator, Blue.
The writing became tight and focussed with somewhere to go and
something to say. That part of the novel met my
expectations.. This is a first novel for Pessl and I'm hoping she
will realize that she can write and that she doesn't need to put in
every beautiful phrase that has ever come to her. She can save
some for her next novel. Buy at Amazon
Comments