Many long sentences, often with phrases interspersed throughout, some of which don't exactly pertain to the original sentence
Phew.
I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book with as many never-ending sentences as Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
Granted, it’s a 500+ page book, so there are some simple sentences mixed around in there, but overall, Pessl definitively proves she doesn’t believe for a moment that brevity is the soul of wit.
The reviewers adore this book. They’re tripping over themselves to smother it in praise: The New York Times, Salon (although at least they find some chinks in Pessl’s literary armor: “If only Pessl wouldn’t try so hard to convince us that she is a novelist of grand, American-style ambition; she seems to think that if you fling enough metaphors at your readers’ heads, their ducking can be interpreted as bows of reverence.”), The Christian Science Monitor … all echo Jonathan Franzen’s glowing recommendation on the back cover.
I’m not sure if I adore this book. I’m not sure exactly what I think of this book. Is it too smart for its own good, or is it simply too smart for me? Are the chapter titles (each one is the name of a book) a clever literary device, or a pretentious, overly-precious gimmick? Is the ending ultimately unsatisfying, as many of the Chickliterati attest?
At the beginning, I was intrigued. In the middle, I was a little bored. At the end, I couldn’t put it down, even though I had a strong suspicion about what was going to happen. And even though I was right, I was still surprised to read it because I was so sure Pessl wouldn’t go there, that my imagination was running amok as usual. Possibly I read through it too quickly. (Sometimes when I HAVE to know what happens, I’ll start to skim and then go back and do a thorough re-read later.)
I think the Bluebloods are what trip up most readers who don’t review books for a living… but to explain why, I’d have to get into the guts of the book, which I don’t want to do because I’m hoping somebody out there will want to read it soon and discuss it with me.
And if that doesn’t happen, I’ll simply bide my time because they’re SO going to make a movie out of this book.