Special Topics in Calamity Physics--what a great title for a novel. This is author Marisha Pessl's first and has gotten a lot of buzz for its quirky organization and style. Powells reviewed it recently:
Chutzpah, Marisha Pessl has - and in abundance. Her thoroughly impressive debut, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, is a murder mystery/coming-of-age story that is organized as a course on great books, complete with copious annotations (both real and made up), visual aids (deliberately, I hope, amateurish pencil drawings), and the aforementioned exam. (Sample question: "Blue Van Meer has read too many books. T/F")
Fans of Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and those who enjoyed the footnotes in Susannah Clarke's fabulous Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as much as the plot, head for the bookstore with all speed. If you prefer a more Shaker-like type of storytelling, devoid of verbal curlicues and ironic flourishes, you might want to drop out of this particular class.
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I'm heading (along with Special Topics in Calamity Physics in my carry-on) to our Nation's Capital for a long weekend with my favorite law student, AKA my daughter. Back next week.
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