This book came highly recommended by both friends, coworkers and reviews. It is a mystery set in a rich private school starring a select group of friends called the Bluebloods and include the the introduction of a new member, protagonist Blue Van Meer. This book has been described as a postmodern version of A Secret History by Donna Tart. I enjoyed that the book takes an inventive turn and does look and feel different. It is indeed literary, complete with quotations and citations from a diverse range of Western thought and literature. However, while these citations sometimes seemed on the verge of genius, they ended up feeling gimmicky and got in the way of fleshed out, believable characters.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics did make the NY Times 10 best books of 2006 list. "Each of the 36 chapters is titled for a classic (by authors ranging from Shakespeare to Carlo Emilio Gadda), and the plot snakes ingeniously toward a revelation capped by a clever ''final exam.'' All this is beguiling, but the most solid pleasures of this book originate in the freshness of Pessl's voice and in the purity of her storytelling gift."
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