Over Christmas break, I was given the book, “Special Topics in Calamity Physics,” by Marisha Pessl. 
My first thought was that the title of the book sounded daunting and overwelming. However, the book has nothing to do with physics. It is a fictional story about a young and precocious girl, Blue, who has to move every few months with her father, an eccentric political science professor who has guest lectures at universities around the country. The book resembles a diary, in that it takes the perspective of Blue and her experiences at different schools. The focus is on her senior year at The St. Gallway School; it follows her through a tumultuous and eventual school year with a group of friends and a teacher they befriend: Hannah Schneider. I found the book to be extraordinarily entertaining and creative. The author’s writing style was very unique; although she took the perspective of an 17 year old, she did so in a very believable manner. The character created by Pessl was extremely insightful and revolutionary. One of my favorite things about the book was that throughout the story, Blue made references to many different books and novels that either applied to the situation she was in, or somehow helped her to describe something that she saw. She quoted the books directly or had citations for them, so the reader could actually look up the book she was referring to. I have never seen any other fictional book attempt to do this, and I believe it effectively added another element and dimension to the book. Another thing that was included in the story were drawings that Blue drew when she wanted the reader to visualize a situation more clearly; it was a fun and unique aspect that was added to the book. “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” has received rave reviews by book critics around the country. It has had an impressive debut and is on best seller’s list. I also found 10 books that Marisha has recommended. I plan on reading all of them.
Here are my 2 favorite quotes from the book.
“Revolution is slow burning, occuring only after decades of oppression and poverty, but the exact hour of its unleashing is often a moment of fateful mishap” (Pessl, 76).
“A surprise is rarely a stranger, but a faceless patient who’s been reading across from you in the waiting room the entire time, his head hidden by a magazine but his orange socks in plain view, as well as his gold pocket watch and frayed trousers” (Pessl, 486).
There is also a website based on the novel. Just looking at the website shows you how creative and innovative this young, talented author is.
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