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blubirde


Chanel

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Book review: Special Topics in Calamity Physics
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Special Topics in Calamity Physics

I can't recommend this book enough. I finished it over the weekend (it's long - 512 pages) and it's going right up there in my top 5 ever. Bibliophiles will love it. I picked it up on a rec from a Top 10 of 2006 list in the NYTimes. It's technically a murder mystery but I didn't realize that until the very end of the book, although the author makes it quite clear in the first chapter that there's a dead character. It just took me in so much that I forgot all about that. Okay, I'm done. Read it!

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relrel


Marc Jacobs

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Wonderful...I love a good (long) book. How did you find her writing? I just read a couple of reviews on B&N which said it was a little over the top with prose.

Course...since we disagreed on HP who knows what will happen with this book? wink.gif

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halleybird


Hermes

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cool! I have this (autographed!) waiting for me when I finish my summer classes

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blubirde


Chanel

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relrel - I thought her writing was good. I did think in some of the more suspenseful places (where she kept the same pace as the non-susepenseful places) were a little tough to not skim over. I forgave her though because I have a tendency to want to hurry and get to the good part and I miss a lot that way. I like when a book forces me to slow down and enjoy the tempo. The book was never slow though. I never felt like I was wading through words to get to the heart of the matter - the extra bits were funny and dark - I liked them.

HB - how'd you get an autographed copy? Jealous!

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ejc423


Coach

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I loved it too! I thought her writing was really appropriate and honest as a voice for Blue (the narrator). Blubirde, I also forgot about the first chapter until I got to the parts where it started sounding familiar. I couldn't put it down until I finished and was sad when I did finish.
I only wish I were well-read enough to get even 1/3 of her references/allusions.

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halleybird


Hermes

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blubirde wrote:

HB - how'd you get an autographed copy? Jealous!
my dad's local bookstore has tons of book signings, so he got me a copy (I was supposed to get one from Khaled Hosseini too, but he cancelled furious). I have to be careful reading it, because I tend to take my books everywhere with me, so I wrinkle the pages and cover and get food/dog hair all over them. ashamed

ETA: you didn't find it pretentious, did you? I can't stand pretentious writers (see Wallace, David Foster).

-- Edited by halleybird at 18:50, 2007-07-31

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halleybird


Hermes

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OK, reviving this thread since I just finished this. What a great, nerdy book! I have to confess that I didn't like the end. It was either too contrived or too open-ended, depending on your perspective. And what did Prof. Van Meer say? That Americans hate ambiguity? True THAT.

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blubirde


Chanel

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I loved that her name was Blue. I'm not sure why but I might name my next car Blue, especially if it's green or something. I agree that the end was very tame and ambiguous compared to the rest of the novel, but I'm not sure else it could have ended considering she's so young, ya know?

Doesn't it make you want to read all the classics listed in the syllabus? It's like the time I read The Jane Austen Bookclub and wanted to re-read all of JA's books. I never got around to it but I love that feeling.

Did you have to go back and read the beginning again after you finished it? I was so taken aback with everything that happened that I had to make sure I understood the basic premise, all over again.

It's on my list of top, modern novels. (I'm not a modern lit kinda gal so it's not a long list.smile.gif)

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halleybird


Hermes

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yep, I re-read the first chapter too. Made SO much more sense.

re: the name Blue -- did you notice the references in every chapter (I think they were in each one, I only started noticing about halfway through) to something blue? Either the color, or a blue mood, etc., etc.

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ejc423


Coach

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halleybird wrote:

yep, I re-read the first chapter too. Made SO much more sense.

re: the name Blue -- did you notice the references in every chapter (I think they were in each one, I only started noticing about halfway through) to something blue? Either the color, or a blue mood, etc., etc.





Funny how quickly I forgot the first chapter and the book jacket. I re-read the book jacket at some point while I was reading the book and got mad cause I felt like it was giving the story away. Little did I know, I had already read that part in the first chapter.

I noticed references to blue things but did not notice the frequency. Good eye, HB--you must have been an English teacher in a past life! wink.gif

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blubirde


Chanel

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halleybird wrote:

yep, I re-read the first chapter too. Made SO much more sense.

re: the name Blue -- did you notice the references in every chapter (I think they were in each one, I only started noticing about halfway through) to something blue? Either the color, or a blue mood, etc., etc.


I didn't notice the use of the word blue but I did notice a lot of color references. The book was very vivid to me because of all the descriptive terms, although it wasn't overly wordy (imo) describing people, sets, things, etc., which can be a problem in adjective-friendly novels.

ejc - it's funny. I read the beginning and the jacket as well and was completely shocked by everything that happened in the book even though it was right there. I re-read the first chapter and it was like I was reading it for the first time. Weird but effective.



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jacL


Coach

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I finished this book a few months ago, and while I would never put it on my list of favorites, I did really enjoy it and highly recommend it.

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