Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006) is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer Marisha Pessl

Marisha Pessl

Marisha Pessl is an American writer best known for her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics.Pessl was born in Clarkston, Michigan, to Klaus, an Austrian engineer for General Motors, and Anne, an American homemaker. Pessl's parents divorced when she was three, and she moved to Asheville,...

. It is the author's debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

. The book was first published in August 2006 by Viking Press

Viking Press

Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...

, a division of Penguin Group

Penguin Group

The Penguin Group is a trade book publisher, the largest in the world , having overtaken Random House in 2009. The Penguin Group is the name of the incorporated division of parent Pearson PLC that oversees these publishing operations...

. The book received many positive reviews and was named one of "The 10 Best Books of 2006" by the New York Times. Some negative reviews, including one in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, accused the text of being overly stylized and Pessl of having "a tin ear for prose." A movie version is in the works and is rumored to be produced by Scott Rudin

Scott Rudin

Scott Rudin is an American film producer and a theatrical producer.-Early life and work:Scott Rudin was born in New York City, NY, on July 14, 1958, and raised in the town of Baldwin on Long Island. At the age of sixteen, he started working as an assistant to theatre producer Kermit Bloomgarden...

. The film will be directed by Anna Boden

Anna Boden

Anna Boden is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known as the co-writer of the 2006 film Half Nelson. She is known for her collaborations with fellow filmmaker Ryan Fleck.- Life and career :...

 and Ryan Fleck

Ryan Fleck

Ryan K. Fleck is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known for directing and writing the 2006 film Half Nelson and the 2008 film Sugar. He is known for his collaborations with fellow filmmaker Anna Boden.-Life and career:Fleck was born in Berkeley, California...

, the writing-directing team behind Half Nelson

Half Nelson (film)

Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Anna Boden and Fleck; it stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. The film was scored by Juno Award winning Canadian band - Broken Social Scene. Gosling received an Academy Award nomination for lead actor...

.

The book is written in the style of the syllabus for an English Literature course and includes references as footnotes. The chapters are named after novels like Othello

Othello

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

, A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...

, Women in Love

Women in Love

Women in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an...

. While the book is replete with literary and cinematic references, some of these references, like "The Way of the Moth" and "One Night Stand" lead to non-existing sources.

Plot introduction

Blue van Meer is the film-obsessed, erudite teenager whose head is filled with a witty pop culture lexicon, in contrast to most-90210-watching teenagers. She is the daughter of itinerant and arrogant academic Gareth van Meer, who, after the death of his amateur lepidopteran-catching wife (and Blue's mother), never manages to stay at a college for more than a semester. During Blue's senior year, however, they settle in the sleepy town of Stockton, North Carolina. She starts to attend the St. Gallway School and befriends a group of popular, rich, and ultra-mysterious teenagers called the Bluebloods: murky and rebellious Milton; flamboyant and flaming Nigel; ice-queen and pterodactyl Jade, free-loving, flower-child Leulah, and the dreamy Charles. The Bluebloods are also close friends with the film studies teacher at St. Gallway, Hannah Schneider, a perplexing woman who intrigues Blue more than she should. A drowning, a series of unfortunate events, and Hannah's own eventual death on a camping trip lead Blue to question everything she believes in.

External links

• Book Website*
• Viking Press's web page about Special Topics in Calamity Physics
• Salon.com's review of Special Topics in Calamity Physics
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, reviewed by Ted Gioia (The New Canon)
• The 10 Best Books of 2006
• Precocious Realism an extremely detailed review in Slate
  Slate (magazine)
  Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...