M@ reviewed Special topics in calamity physics by Marisha Pessl
Review of 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I loved this book.
I can totally understand why others might not. The style is like a novelty cocktail served at an open bar at a theme holiday party. Some people will have a sip, make a face, and surreptitiously pour theirs out into a potted plant. Some will drink their full drink, dislike the taste, and then order something more familiar that goes down smoother. And some people will like it so much that they'll have six or seven of them and wake up still drunk the next day.
(I had that last experience with a drink called a "Molly Hooper" at a Sherlock Holmes-themed party in 2014. Although I may be exaggerating a bit.)
Anyway, I was decidedly in the third camp on this book. The style is really strange, is what I'm saying. Long digressions, literary quotations or allusions from books both real and fictional. Analogies like …
I loved this book.
I can totally understand why others might not. The style is like a novelty cocktail served at an open bar at a theme holiday party. Some people will have a sip, make a face, and surreptitiously pour theirs out into a potted plant. Some will drink their full drink, dislike the taste, and then order something more familiar that goes down smoother. And some people will like it so much that they'll have six or seven of them and wake up still drunk the next day.
(I had that last experience with a drink called a "Molly Hooper" at a Sherlock Holmes-themed party in 2014. Although I may be exaggerating a bit.)
Anyway, I was decidedly in the third camp on this book. The style is really strange, is what I'm saying. Long digressions, literary quotations or allusions from books both real and fictional. Analogies like that cocktail one that you rolled your eyes at. And the author is extremely skilled at the David Foster Wallace Stylistic Capitalization (e.g., constantly referring to her father's drinking and waxing philosophic as "a Bourbon Mood"). I really dug that style.
Outside of the style is an incredibly tight mystery novel. Clues aplenty! Red herrings, both stylistic and otherwise. An immensely satisfying and thorough resolution, in my eyes. An excellent entry in the genre, probably four or five stars all on its own independent of the magical mixology in the style.
So, yes. In conclusion. I loved this book. And I totally understand why someone wouldn't, and I'd be very reticent to recommend it to anybody in whose tastes I wasn't confident.
