I'm terribly distracted these days doing everything but what I should be doing. Like now. Legal Anthropology is cast aside for an entirely enthralling novel. There are few books that create epiphanic moments for their readers and unfortunately (for my legal anthro grade), this is one of them.
When reading a novel halfway, I like to flip to the beginning and read the reviews. Of course they only publish good reviews but some resonate more than the others.
“Extravagant, witty and dark, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a sprawling campus novel, an intricate murder mystery, a coming-of-age tale and a sly satire of intellectualism and academia. Her prose is…vivid, erupting in a free-fall of wordplay, wise cracks, encyclopedia tidbits and a barrage of cultural references… Her enthusiasm for language is a delight.” – The
“A frisky, smarty-pants debut… an escapist extravaganza packed with literary and pop culture allusions, mischievous characterizations, erotic intrigue, murders and unstoppable narrative energy.”- Entertainment Weekly
“Pessl not only re-creates Holden [Caulfield], she goes one step further by meshing him with Hardy Boys… enlightening entertainment.” –
“If Valdimir Nabokov had created a female Holden Caulfield, he might have written this delightful fiction debut.” – The
“There is a voice here to like, part Huck Finn, part Holden Caulfield, part Fran Leibowitz, and part Nora Ephron.” – Harper’s Magazine
Observation: I am amazed that the author, at the age of 28, could have read so many books to quote them liberally throughout the novel. Also, Holden Caulfield has been mentioned umpteen times. Whenever a story has a young adult persona, reviewers will invariably make references to him. WHY? Catcher in the Rye is good and I can see why it has become a classic. But I didn’t particularly like Holden Caulfield even though I can empathize with him.
1 comment:
Blue van Meer's val. speech seems to have borrowed from D.F.W. without acknowledgement of the source www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/20/fiction. Perhaps all these speeches are unavoidably strands from the same grenadine.
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