Special Topics in Calamity Physics

by Marisha Pessl. Penguin Books, 2006.

... is presented as a very 'literary' fiction. Each chapter is the title of a book. The novel is a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer. Blue is constantly quoting from books and referring to texts and It reads a little like a university assignment! Most of the books and authors she refers to don't exist -- though quite a few do.

Blue, [named after the butterfly her dead mother collected] spends her childhood moving from one academic outpost to another with her father. In her final year of high school she finds herself in with a charismatic group of friends and their teacher, Hannah Schneider. But when the drowning of one of Hannah's friends and the shocking death of Hannah herself lead to the mysteries coming together, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her instincts and those references to guide—or misguide—her.

Arranged around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class and containing visual aids (drawn by the author) – you’ll love it or you’ll hate it!

See Marisha Pessl's website here: http://calamityphysics.com/main.htm

- Wendy