Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Penguin Books (2006), 514 pages
Description
A darkly funny coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer. After a childhood moving from one academic outpost to another with her father (a man prone to aphorisms and meteoric affairs), Blue is clever, deadpan, and possessed of a vast lexicon of literary, political, philosophical, and scientific knowledge--and is quite the cinéaste to boot. In her final year of high school at the élite (and unusual) St. Gallway School in Stockton, North Carolina, Blue falls in with a charismatic group of friends and their captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. But when the drowning of one of Hannah's friends and the shocking death of Hannah herself lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide--or misguide--her.--From publisher description.… (more)
Media reviews
Her exhilarating synthesis of the classic and the modern, frivolity and fate — “Pnin” meets “The O.C.” — is a poetic act of will. Never mind jealous detractors: virtuosity is its own reward. And this skylarking book will leave readers salivating for more.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
False advertising. There's scarcely an equation in it.
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
This severely overhyped first novel about a Veronica-Marsy daddy daughter combo suffers from a lack of editorship and a calamity in pink cover. Until the murder mystery kicks in around page 400, it's a slog through a mess of adjectives, false similes and Cliff Notes erudition. A little less hype
Reviewers compared Ms Pessl to Vladimir Nabokov. I have read Nabokov, I love Nabokov. Marisha Pessl is no Nabokov. Americans do subtleness badly (Similar to the American trouble of distinguishing nudity, erotica and pornography.). The highwire act of erudition hints but does not reveal. Borges and Nabokov layer their works with allusions and references few will and are expected to detect. Such a game of intellectual snobbery is not well liked in "everybody must have prizes" America. The sorry state of education in America deprives many of the knowledge and skill to notice and play the game. Thus, this erudtion imposter novel is declared Nabokovian by reviewers.
In the game of erudition, a tiny bit of ignorance guarantees a deep fall. Ms Pessl falls often. Had she (or her lazy editors) paid any attention in philosophy they must have known that Socrates talked but did not author a text. All we know about and of him was written by his students and admirers ... Zürich is a Protestant town, so no nuns educating little Gareth (a strange naming choice for a Swiss boy, btw) ... They are called Nielsen not Neilsen ratings ... Listing all her mistakes could fill a Cliff Notes booklet by itself. The book's professor daddy must be a miserable hack if he did not correct the daughter's mistaken idea that a machine gun citation style is to be encouraged. In our times of search engines, adding footnotes is monkey's work. A good citation discusses, reflects and builds on the cited thesis. If a cite does not add value or street cred, cut it out. At 300 to 400 pages, this could have been a great book.
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and a little more work could have produced a real winner.Reviewers compared Ms Pessl to Vladimir Nabokov. I have read Nabokov, I love Nabokov. Marisha Pessl is no Nabokov. Americans do subtleness badly (Similar to the American trouble of distinguishing nudity, erotica and pornography.). The highwire act of erudition hints but does not reveal. Borges and Nabokov layer their works with allusions and references few will and are expected to detect. Such a game of intellectual snobbery is not well liked in "everybody must have prizes" America. The sorry state of education in America deprives many of the knowledge and skill to notice and play the game. Thus, this erudtion imposter novel is declared Nabokovian by reviewers.
In the game of erudition, a tiny bit of ignorance guarantees a deep fall. Ms Pessl falls often. Had she (or her lazy editors) paid any attention in philosophy they must have known that Socrates talked but did not author a text. All we know about and of him was written by his students and admirers ... Zürich is a Protestant town, so no nuns educating little Gareth (a strange naming choice for a Swiss boy, btw) ... They are called Nielsen not Neilsen ratings ... Listing all her mistakes could fill a Cliff Notes booklet by itself. The book's professor daddy must be a miserable hack if he did not correct the daughter's mistaken idea that a machine gun citation style is to be encouraged. In our times of search engines, adding footnotes is monkey's work. A good citation discusses, reflects and builds on the cited thesis. If a cite does not add value or street cred, cut it out. At 300 to 400 pages, this could have been a great book.
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LibraryThing member princemuchao
Blue, our first-person protagonist, is a precocious teenage girl whose mother died when she was five. Living alone with her father, an intellectual professor who now prefers many short and meaningless relationships to another life partnership, she attends dozens of schools as they flit about the
Catching the eye of the Intro to Film teacher Hannah Schneider, she is invited to join an exclusive group of students who meet at Hannah’s house, in a situation remenicent of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History – except that these students are not the intellectual elites of the school but the social elites.
Then suddenly, three fourths of the way through the book, a weird twist occurs and the book suddenly becomes a mystery. It is very jarring, which was probably intentional, and I can see why this has gotten some negative reviews, though a one-word “AWFUL” is not a very valid criticism of a 500 page book.
Blue will often give references for a quote, situation, turn of phrase or concept. “In that instant, the dining room became nail-bitingly unbearable (see Midday Face-Off at Sioux Falls: A Mohave Dan Western, Lone Star Publishers, Bendley, 1992)”. Sometimes, the books referenced are facetiously related to the text, and in other cases the books appear to be completely made up.
This is the only unconventional device used (aside from the Final Exam, I guess), which disappointed me a bit. Between the title of the book and the style of the cover and blurb, I was expecting something a bit more postmodern.
If you enjoyed Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, you’ll probably like this book.
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country until her last year of high school, when they settle in North Carolina for the entire school year.Catching the eye of the Intro to Film teacher Hannah Schneider, she is invited to join an exclusive group of students who meet at Hannah’s house, in a situation remenicent of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History – except that these students are not the intellectual elites of the school but the social elites.
Then suddenly, three fourths of the way through the book, a weird twist occurs and the book suddenly becomes a mystery. It is very jarring, which was probably intentional, and I can see why this has gotten some negative reviews, though a one-word “AWFUL” is not a very valid criticism of a 500 page book.
Blue will often give references for a quote, situation, turn of phrase or concept. “In that instant, the dining room became nail-bitingly unbearable (see Midday Face-Off at Sioux Falls: A Mohave Dan Western, Lone Star Publishers, Bendley, 1992)”. Sometimes, the books referenced are facetiously related to the text, and in other cases the books appear to be completely made up.
This is the only unconventional device used (aside from the Final Exam, I guess), which disappointed me a bit. Between the title of the book and the style of the cover and blurb, I was expecting something a bit more postmodern.
If you enjoyed Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, you’ll probably like this book.
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LibraryThing member seasonsoflove
From what I had heard about this book before I started it, people either love it or hate it. It even divided my usually literary like-minded father and I, with him not enjoying it, while I quickly ranked it one of my favorite books of the new year.
It is hard for me to say exactly why I found myself
There is also the referential aspect of the work. The book constantly mentions and even cites other works of literature and art, something that thrilled this former English major.
And for once, even though this was a book where so many of the characters could be classified as "obnoxious", it worked in the book's favor. I didn't need to like all of the main characters-in fact, it didn't seem I was supposed to. In this, it reminded me of the Spellman series, where even though some of the characters may drive me crazy, that only adds to the book and makes me want to read more.
This is one of those rare novels where it could have kept going and going, and I would have kept reading every word.
It is hard for me to say exactly why I found myself
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loving it so much. The easy answer, of course, for someone who reads every mystery book she can get her hands in, is the mystery aspect. The twists and turns of this book are plentiful, always gripping, always fascinating, and always, always a surprise. I honestly never guessed what was coming next at any point in the book.There is also the referential aspect of the work. The book constantly mentions and even cites other works of literature and art, something that thrilled this former English major.
And for once, even though this was a book where so many of the characters could be classified as "obnoxious", it worked in the book's favor. I didn't need to like all of the main characters-in fact, it didn't seem I was supposed to. In this, it reminded me of the Spellman series, where even though some of the characters may drive me crazy, that only adds to the book and makes me want to read more.
This is one of those rare novels where it could have kept going and going, and I would have kept reading every word.
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LibraryThing member fiveforsilver
I really liked this book. I really liked this book. I liked the style, the writing, the characters - particularly the main character. I like the fact that two, maybe even three, times in this book, I was completely surprised or shocked by something that occurred. That doesn't often happen; most new
It's a (fake) autobiography that ends up mainly focusing on the main character's (her name is Blue! I love it! but then, my nickname on several forums is Blue, so I have an affinity for that name) senior year in high school, but is more interesting than that might imply. Nearly every paragraph includes a reference to some book, quotes from books (referenced, of course), etc., which was, as one Amazon reviewer said, "the author...having some exuberant fun with her big words, quotations and references". It did go a little overboard from time to time, but overall I found it an entertaining look into how someone who's read (and retained) that many books might think. I know that I sometimes compare the world around me to books I've read and movies I've seen, so perhaps that's part of why I related to Blue.
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books I've read recently, even the most convoluted, didn't surprise me all that much (or, in the unlikely event there was something I found surprising, I didn't care enough to feel anything).It's a (fake) autobiography that ends up mainly focusing on the main character's (her name is Blue! I love it! but then, my nickname on several forums is Blue, so I have an affinity for that name) senior year in high school, but is more interesting than that might imply. Nearly every paragraph includes a reference to some book, quotes from books (referenced, of course), etc., which was, as one Amazon reviewer said, "the author...having some exuberant fun with her big words, quotations and references". It did go a little overboard from time to time, but overall I found it an entertaining look into how someone who's read (and retained) that many books might think. I know that I sometimes compare the world around me to books I've read and movies I've seen, so perhaps that's part of why I related to Blue.
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LibraryThing member george.d.ross
This book makes me want to cry.
This -- this is what passes for writing? That such a book could be published -- fine. Bad books, inept books, flawed books get published all the time. But how can it be that metacritic.com lists not one single negative review? How can such a piece of dreck be so
The sad thing is, this book didn't have to be bad. All it needed was either A) an author with a smidgeon of humility and self-restraint, or B) a capable editor. Obviously, it had neither, and this is a tragedy.
Approximately 50% of Pessl's metaphors were original, insightful, and apt. Unfortunately, the other 50% were so completely ludicrous they made my skin crawl. They needed to be cut. There were also huge chunks of the story that contributed practically nothing to plot or characterization, and were wholly self-indulgent. These also should have been cut.
And finally, because I am horribly petty, here's an incomplete list of words and phrases Ms. Pessl and her editors (and, I might add, her breathless reviewers) should immediately look up in a dictionary:
replete
bamboozled
in lieu
absconded
impermeable
This -- this is what passes for writing? That such a book could be published -- fine. Bad books, inept books, flawed books get published all the time. But how can it be that metacritic.com lists not one single negative review? How can such a piece of dreck be so
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universally lauded? And if this is the state of literature today, how can I go on writing?The sad thing is, this book didn't have to be bad. All it needed was either A) an author with a smidgeon of humility and self-restraint, or B) a capable editor. Obviously, it had neither, and this is a tragedy.
Approximately 50% of Pessl's metaphors were original, insightful, and apt. Unfortunately, the other 50% were so completely ludicrous they made my skin crawl. They needed to be cut. There were also huge chunks of the story that contributed practically nothing to plot or characterization, and were wholly self-indulgent. These also should have been cut.
And finally, because I am horribly petty, here's an incomplete list of words and phrases Ms. Pessl and her editors (and, I might add, her breathless reviewers) should immediately look up in a dictionary:
replete
bamboozled
in lieu
absconded
impermeable
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LibraryThing member delphica
(#39 in the 2007 book challenge)
I tore through it this weekend, I suspect I'm going to need to go back and read it again because even at the time I knew I was going too quickly, but it was that kind of a page-turner. Blue, the daughter of an eccentric professor who won't stay at a college for more
Grade: A
Recommended: Very much to people who like intricate plots, high drama, and cautionary tales of Clever People Behaving Badly.
I tore through it this weekend, I suspect I'm going to need to go back and read it again because even at the time I knew I was going too quickly, but it was that kind of a page-turner. Blue, the daughter of an eccentric professor who won't stay at a college for more
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than a semester, gets involved with an exclusive-yet-a-little-nuts clique during her senior year at her new prep school. Poor motherless Blue is pulled in about a million different directions by the various strong personalities of the students in the group, not to mention the dramatic and glamorous teacher who is its ringleader. It's one of those books where Incidents happen, and then there is Intrigue and later, Investigation. It's a very, very, very good and satisfyingly complex story. Some plot elements are a bit on the absurdist side, and yet they don't take away from the accuracy of the painful cringiness of high school.Grade: A
Recommended: Very much to people who like intricate plots, high drama, and cautionary tales of Clever People Behaving Badly.
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LibraryThing member eras
There are quite a few critical reviews of this book, but I contend those that had such terrible problems with STICP were not viewing it through the right lens. I would describe this as a post-YA book. It follows all of the conventions - it takes place during a school year, it is preoccupied with
If this book, then, is the next, more advanced step for the kids weaned on Speak and Gossip Girl, this book seems a lot more appropriate, at least in terms of the flat characters, the ultra-hip language and overly ambitious metaphors, the know-it-all aspect of the main character and her quirky citation gimmick, and the reliance on cliques and their issues to carry the story.
The post YA-approach makes a lot of this book more palatable than it would be otherwise, but it does not address all of the issues I have with this work. It is too long and fails to justify its length. The first three hundred pages ring of Cruel Intentions, but that seductive naughtiness is abandoned for a mystery-revelation ending that seems incongruously innocent and tacked on.
Overall, the book was an enjoyable read that kept me up far past bedtime on several occasions. It featured several creative flourishes that were entertaining (even the quiz at the end, cheesy as it was, was a unique way to add a little denouement.) This is the type of book I'd recommend to the right person.
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social and acceptance issues, and most of the characters are simple high school stereotypes, not developed real people. If this book, then, is the next, more advanced step for the kids weaned on Speak and Gossip Girl, this book seems a lot more appropriate, at least in terms of the flat characters, the ultra-hip language and overly ambitious metaphors, the know-it-all aspect of the main character and her quirky citation gimmick, and the reliance on cliques and their issues to carry the story.
The post YA-approach makes a lot of this book more palatable than it would be otherwise, but it does not address all of the issues I have with this work. It is too long and fails to justify its length. The first three hundred pages ring of Cruel Intentions, but that seductive naughtiness is abandoned for a mystery-revelation ending that seems incongruously innocent and tacked on.
Overall, the book was an enjoyable read that kept me up far past bedtime on several occasions. It featured several creative flourishes that were entertaining (even the quiz at the end, cheesy as it was, was a unique way to add a little denouement.) This is the type of book I'd recommend to the right person.
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LibraryThing member Sarij
“As a Harvard freshman recounting the events of the previous year, when her childhood "unstitched like a snagged sweater," Blue remembers being thoroughly in thrall to her father, a political science professor who changes jobs at third-tier colleges so frequently that by age 16 she's attended 24
It's at St. Gallway that Blue's dedication to her pompous, theory-spouting father begins to waver. Her attention is diverted by the school's most glamorous figures, a clique of five flighty kids called the Bluebloods who meet every Sunday night for dinner at the home of their mentor, Hannah Schneider, a charismatic film teacher.”(Washington Post, 2007).
It is not often that a book gets to me the way this one did. A few days into the reading I had a dream about the characters; this is how much I identified with Pessl’s book (yes this how her last name is spelled). The main character Blue Van Meer (I love this name!) and her father Garth remind me of my best friend in high school and her father (though they did not travel, rather her dad attracted many people to his world). Garth Van Meer is a laid back political professor who thinks rather highly of himself but has little regard for other people’s feelings, especially the women who come and go. Blue calls these women June Bugs as they are attracted to her father like a bug to a flame, and like bugs and flame, nothing good comes to these women. My friend Heidi’s dad would date women for sex, but when they wanted more he pushed them away without a thought about the feelings of these women. Garth Van Meer does the same.
The book takes place during Blue’s senior year at a preppy high school, and like many teens finds herself drawn to a group of her peers while pulling away from her dad. Reading the novel as Blue starts to see her dad in a new light just as she starts to rebel, got me thinking about the relationship between parent and child. It seems to me no matter how well we think we have raised our kids, they can be highly influenced by their peers. Years of careful parenting can be thrown out the window if our children fall under the spell of other kids. At some point in our relationship our children will stop seeing us as mom or dad and start seeing us as humans. This change can sometimes be painful, for Blue it is shattering.
The charismatic teacher Hannah Schneider seems at first to be the tragic figure in the novel, the reader is told in the beginning that she is found hanging from a tree. The story is about the events that led up to this suicide (or was it?). Again, it seems Hannah is the tragic figure, but as the book unfolds it becomes clear all the characters are tragic or damaged in some way.
Pessl manages to make five spoiled preppy teens sympathetic, though not always likable, not an easy task and not one that many first time writers can pull off. I never really cared about them, but I did understand them so what ends up happening makes their response believable. What is not believable is the final plot scenario. It is not that Pessl writes a twist; rather she brings the reader in a secret that is not only unbelievable, but leaves the reader asking questions. There are a couple of serious plot holes that make the ending feel forced and drags the book down. The other thing that drags the book down is Pessl incessant use of footnotes in the text (see redundant in any dictionary). At first the footnotes drive Pessl’s description but after awhile they start to wear on the reader and become a distraction.
This is Pessl’s first novel and though I had problems with the plot and her writing style I do hope she writes more books, minus the footnotes in quotations. I would not hesitate to read another by her. After all, it is not often I dream about fictional characters.
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different schools. To compensate for this rootlessness (her lepidopterist mom died in a car crash when Blue was 5), Dad has promised his daughter an undisturbed senior year in the North Carolina mountain town of Stockton, where Blue will attend the ultra-preppy St. Gallway School.It's at St. Gallway that Blue's dedication to her pompous, theory-spouting father begins to waver. Her attention is diverted by the school's most glamorous figures, a clique of five flighty kids called the Bluebloods who meet every Sunday night for dinner at the home of their mentor, Hannah Schneider, a charismatic film teacher.”(Washington Post, 2007).
It is not often that a book gets to me the way this one did. A few days into the reading I had a dream about the characters; this is how much I identified with Pessl’s book (yes this how her last name is spelled). The main character Blue Van Meer (I love this name!) and her father Garth remind me of my best friend in high school and her father (though they did not travel, rather her dad attracted many people to his world). Garth Van Meer is a laid back political professor who thinks rather highly of himself but has little regard for other people’s feelings, especially the women who come and go. Blue calls these women June Bugs as they are attracted to her father like a bug to a flame, and like bugs and flame, nothing good comes to these women. My friend Heidi’s dad would date women for sex, but when they wanted more he pushed them away without a thought about the feelings of these women. Garth Van Meer does the same.
The book takes place during Blue’s senior year at a preppy high school, and like many teens finds herself drawn to a group of her peers while pulling away from her dad. Reading the novel as Blue starts to see her dad in a new light just as she starts to rebel, got me thinking about the relationship between parent and child. It seems to me no matter how well we think we have raised our kids, they can be highly influenced by their peers. Years of careful parenting can be thrown out the window if our children fall under the spell of other kids. At some point in our relationship our children will stop seeing us as mom or dad and start seeing us as humans. This change can sometimes be painful, for Blue it is shattering.
The charismatic teacher Hannah Schneider seems at first to be the tragic figure in the novel, the reader is told in the beginning that she is found hanging from a tree. The story is about the events that led up to this suicide (or was it?). Again, it seems Hannah is the tragic figure, but as the book unfolds it becomes clear all the characters are tragic or damaged in some way.
Pessl manages to make five spoiled preppy teens sympathetic, though not always likable, not an easy task and not one that many first time writers can pull off. I never really cared about them, but I did understand them so what ends up happening makes their response believable. What is not believable is the final plot scenario. It is not that Pessl writes a twist; rather she brings the reader in a secret that is not only unbelievable, but leaves the reader asking questions. There are a couple of serious plot holes that make the ending feel forced and drags the book down. The other thing that drags the book down is Pessl incessant use of footnotes in the text (see redundant in any dictionary). At first the footnotes drive Pessl’s description but after awhile they start to wear on the reader and become a distraction.
This is Pessl’s first novel and though I had problems with the plot and her writing style I do hope she writes more books, minus the footnotes in quotations. I would not hesitate to read another by her. After all, it is not often I dream about fictional characters.
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LibraryThing member mmignano11
I think STICP has been and will be appreciated and enjoyed by many readers. I, however, found that the book dragged. I found the references and foot-notes, both real and imagined, only served the purpose intended by the author infrequently, if her purpose was to entertain and educate. I felt that
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the flow of the story was interrupted by the many side-bars taken by Blue, the narrator and main character. Blue and her father, Gareth, (one of Pessl's more interesting characters) settle down, after years of traveling due to Gareth's colorful and inconsistent methods of teaching. Blue is befriended by her teacher, Hannah Schneider and a group of students who consider themselves special. They call themselves the "Bluebloods." Pessl takes far too long to give the reader a glimmer of the events to come. Rather than sounding erudite, the book's character's sound stuffy and full of themselves. I tired of the dialogue which never seemed to go anywhere. I was surprised to read reviews that said that Pessl was not as smart as the book leads one to believe. The idea of the book , while not completely original, suffers more from execution than lack of originality. The characters are undeveloped, despite the scads of details about their lives. It's like looking at a photo album where one sees all the details but is left with nothing more than an image. I think some careful editing, and by careful I mean, cautious, so as not to deviate too much from the author's unique approach, might have made the story flow more smoothly. Not so much chatty detail may have made the novel less of a coming-of-age book by changing the tone, but would have made for a less chaotic read. I can see the merits of the novel and I believe it could be enjoyed by some readers,it just wasn't for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
Impressive. Marisha Pessl has composed a complex story interweaved with a smattering of cited cultural references. (I didn't check, are any of them made up?) Some readers may be turned off by a book this overtly clever, but for me it was as if I could feel my reading skill leveling up after each
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LibraryThing member invisiblelizard
I started this book really enjoying the writing, but I wasn't sure where it was going. The blurb on the back promised some sort of mystery, but right out of the gate it seemed more like a young girl's odyssey with her eccentric father, traveling around the country, never staying too long in one
There's more I want to say about this, but hold that thought, just for a moment.
I finished the book this morning, after reading it over the course of a month, a few pages at a time, perhaps a chapter here and there, enjoying the writing (seriously, she's a good writer) but being a little ho-hum about the subject matter and story line. Then, yesterday evening, I reached that "last third" where the mystery unfolds, and found that I couldn't put it down. I read until it was time to retire for the night (eyelids literally succumbing to the pull of gravity), but I got back up again before sunrise and finished the rest by the time I needed to get ready for work.
So, back to what I was saying: how does a novel like this, with three distinct sections, fare? My answer is: surprisingly well. The voice, narrated perfectly in first-person, is the key. The main character, Blue, though quiet and reserved for most of the novel, literally holds all pieces of this tale together with her voice, full of wit and intelligence. The only thing I didn't like about this novel were the (too) numerous parenthetical bibliographical references on every page. (Yes, we get it, Blue's a well-read girl. Frankly I would have been impressed with all of those if they were actually real references, but to the best of my knowledge, only a small percentage were.)
The characters were likewise appealing. Real. Flawed. Complicated. Their beauty was in all of those really complicated flaws. Of course, they didn't stretch beyond the borders of their respective sections. Blue's father, Gareth, was the main focus of the first section, but he was seldom seen in the second two sections. Her clique of too-elite friends (and the tragic figure of Hannah, the teacher who brought them all together) was the focus of the second section but made hardly any appearance at all in the third. And Blue herself was the focus of the third section, but she was practically an invisible bystander in the first two. Like I said, this all works out in the book, but looking back, it's interesting how the characters didn't cross those borders.
Good writing. Good voice. Good characters. Good story. (In retrospect I will own up to this last one, but there were points in the middle where I would have killed for anything of substance to happen.) This is one of those rare books that I read which makes me sad I'm not writing myself and inspires me to pick up that metaphorical pen and try again. It's been a while since a book has done that to me. Thank you, Marisha, for the boost.
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place as he bounced from university to university guest teaching and lecturing about his erudite area of expertise (complex theories in modern politics, if I may be so bold as to sum up his specialty as thus). Then, about a quarter (maybe less) into the 190,000 words that comprises this novel, our heroine ages to her senior year in high school and it changed to a coming-of-age melodrama, where acceptance in an eclectic peer-group is sought, won (barely), and grasped onto as if the only lifeline to a rescue boat carrying her to safety were a thin vein of brittle straw. (Did I mention this text is peppered with similes much better than that one?) Finally, in the last third, it changes course again, this time delivering the promised thriller which actually evoked literary shades of The Usual Suspects and made me go back and re-read certain sections again.There's more I want to say about this, but hold that thought, just for a moment.
I finished the book this morning, after reading it over the course of a month, a few pages at a time, perhaps a chapter here and there, enjoying the writing (seriously, she's a good writer) but being a little ho-hum about the subject matter and story line. Then, yesterday evening, I reached that "last third" where the mystery unfolds, and found that I couldn't put it down. I read until it was time to retire for the night (eyelids literally succumbing to the pull of gravity), but I got back up again before sunrise and finished the rest by the time I needed to get ready for work.
So, back to what I was saying: how does a novel like this, with three distinct sections, fare? My answer is: surprisingly well. The voice, narrated perfectly in first-person, is the key. The main character, Blue, though quiet and reserved for most of the novel, literally holds all pieces of this tale together with her voice, full of wit and intelligence. The only thing I didn't like about this novel were the (too) numerous parenthetical bibliographical references on every page. (Yes, we get it, Blue's a well-read girl. Frankly I would have been impressed with all of those if they were actually real references, but to the best of my knowledge, only a small percentage were.)
The characters were likewise appealing. Real. Flawed. Complicated. Their beauty was in all of those really complicated flaws. Of course, they didn't stretch beyond the borders of their respective sections. Blue's father, Gareth, was the main focus of the first section, but he was seldom seen in the second two sections. Her clique of too-elite friends (and the tragic figure of Hannah, the teacher who brought them all together) was the focus of the second section but made hardly any appearance at all in the third. And Blue herself was the focus of the third section, but she was practically an invisible bystander in the first two. Like I said, this all works out in the book, but looking back, it's interesting how the characters didn't cross those borders.
Good writing. Good voice. Good characters. Good story. (In retrospect I will own up to this last one, but there were points in the middle where I would have killed for anything of substance to happen.) This is one of those rare books that I read which makes me sad I'm not writing myself and inspires me to pick up that metaphorical pen and try again. It's been a while since a book has done that to me. Thank you, Marisha, for the boost.
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LibraryThing member bibliobeck
I found this book interesting and irritating in equal parts. The citations and references littering every page had driven me mad by page 500 and I found myself mostly skipping them. As the book wore on maybe the author felt the same as I had the impression she was (thankfully) skipping a few too.
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It's a shame because there were some darkly humerous citations in there, but the phrase 'less is more' springs to mind. Overall a very readable mystery story which I wanted to keep reading - but what disagreeable characters; especially Blue's snobbish, selfish father! Show Less
LibraryThing member grunin
I enjoyed this, and the author shows great promise. It's intelligent, witty, and the author creates powerful moods. About halfway through this hefty tome I gave up on everything else and read the rest in one sitting, foregoing sleep.
But I can't honestly recommend it.
It's not that it sprawls a bit
Within the first couple of chapters we're warned it's going to be a murder mystery -- I'm not sure why some people found the "sudden turn" jarring -- but there were several places where a detail in the narrative shouts "I'm random and obtrusive so I must be here to set up the denouement."
But I can't honestly recommend it.
It's not that it sprawls a bit
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(it does), or that it's badly editied & proofread (it is), that's not enough to throw me off a writer this entertaining: it's that there are structural problems with trying to tell this particular story via a 16-year-old narrator, and some of those problems are badly solved. One can tell the author was hampered by the narrator because the adult characters in the book are so distinctly drawn and articulate.Within the first couple of chapters we're warned it's going to be a murder mystery -- I'm not sure why some people found the "sudden turn" jarring -- but there were several places where a detail in the narrative shouts "I'm random and obtrusive so I must be here to set up the denouement."
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LibraryThing member Phantasma
This was a completely overhyped piece of junk. It wasn't so horrible that I wanted to toss it across the room, but it was close. The author is way too pleased with herself and not quite as intelligent as she thinks she is. The writing was stilted and awkward. I felt like I was driving a car with no
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shocks down a gravel road. The author seems to think "why use one sentence when I can use 20 pages to convey the same idea?" This was a waste of my time. But the idea was cool, sort of. Show Less
LibraryThing member readabook66
Everyone loved this book. Why didn't I? Too slow, too many obsucre literary references, characters I just didn't care about.
LibraryThing member claudiabowman
I was determined to finish this, despite it being mostly as overly pleased with itself and precious as the insufferable father character. It did turn interesting in about its last quarter. Unfortunate that the author thought we needed quite so much build up. Also unfortunate is the amount of time
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spent with Blue's straight from central casting 'frienemy' rich kid misfits. The author is *far* more interested in them than any reader could be. Show Less
LibraryThing member mugwump2
Special Topics in Calamity Physics: After reading the overflowing reviews and selected quotes I was sucker-punched into going out and buying this modern day wonder that the Young-and-Beautiful-Author-although-you-shouldn't-hold that-against-her (NYTimes Gushy Book Review) EVEN ILLUSTRATED herself !
This is a childish bunch of words giddily thrown together like a teen-aged girl's nonstop verbal romp. And a bumpy romp it is, what with her encyclopedia's worth of book references in there every several narrative paragraphs. But not to take the references all that seriously, even when the ones that purport to be real are included, including (ESPECIALLY including) that precious one about her devouring the words of Mein Kampf by "the severe German chancellor." That's ALL she has to say about Hitler, who was not chancellor when he wrote it but in prison for the abortive Munich Beer Hall Putsch? And the illustrations that "she did herself"? Juvenile; worthy, maybe, of an 8th-grade poster.
I finally asked myself what I was doing spending time on this and
put it down, a long way from the finish.
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Wow. Get it..... This is a childish bunch of words giddily thrown together like a teen-aged girl's nonstop verbal romp. And a bumpy romp it is, what with her encyclopedia's worth of book references in there every several narrative paragraphs. But not to take the references all that seriously, even when the ones that purport to be real are included, including (ESPECIALLY including) that precious one about her devouring the words of Mein Kampf by "the severe German chancellor." That's ALL she has to say about Hitler, who was not chancellor when he wrote it but in prison for the abortive Munich Beer Hall Putsch? And the illustrations that "she did herself"? Juvenile; worthy, maybe, of an 8th-grade poster.
I finally asked myself what I was doing spending time on this and
put it down, a long way from the finish.
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LibraryThing member gendeg
Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Sorry, I couldn't take it anymore, the narrator droning on and on in that preternaturally precocious tone of hers. Over-wrought writing. Pessl's narrator makes constant writing-clogging literary and cultural references. It's just the epitome of literary writing gone bad.
I agree with one reviewer who said: "The laborious process of reading this book felt like 514 pages of a precocious child shrieking, 'Aren't I clever?' into my face, only they were pronouncing clever incorrectly because they were not, in fact, very bright, and also projecting spittle into my face every single time." Except, kudos to that reviewer for finishing. I made it only half way. There are some riveting sections here and there, and the premise is great. So many other readers found this novel brilliant and were enamored with the writing style. BUT...I just couldn't move past the main character without entertaining homicidal thoughts. Yeah, it was that bad for me.
For a good, brainy mystery steeped in academia and the antics of blue bloods-behaving-badly, stick with Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
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It strains, it over-preens.I agree with one reviewer who said: "The laborious process of reading this book felt like 514 pages of a precocious child shrieking, 'Aren't I clever?' into my face, only they were pronouncing clever incorrectly because they were not, in fact, very bright, and also projecting spittle into my face every single time." Except, kudos to that reviewer for finishing. I made it only half way. There are some riveting sections here and there, and the premise is great. So many other readers found this novel brilliant and were enamored with the writing style. BUT...I just couldn't move past the main character without entertaining homicidal thoughts. Yeah, it was that bad for me.
For a good, brainy mystery steeped in academia and the antics of blue bloods-behaving-badly, stick with Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
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LibraryThing member lxydis
annoying precious.
LibraryThing member kinsey_m
I will start this review by saying that Marisha Pessl is a very talented writer who can create beautiful images and I'm sure she'll have a long and fruitful career full of many interesting novels. Moreover, I think she has taken risks with this book and tried to make reading it a unique experience,
Having said that, this is clearly a flawed novel. This is the story of Blue Van Meer, the teennager daughter of a narcissist, who is on a fast track to becoming one, and who arrives at a new school and manages to make the first friends in her life who are, surprise, suprise... a bunch of narcissists themselves! While Blue oscillates between being endearing and irritating (we can sense there is still hope for her, if only she could get away from her dad and her friends and meet some normal people), this is not the case with the other characters. I am very interested in narcissism myself, having suffered some narcissistic people in my life, and it did feel like Pessl knew what she was talking about, although it seemd a bit of an overkill that so many characters were narcissistic, or that Blue's father has such obvious grandiosity delusions.
The story is narrated by Blue, including references to books, movies, about 132.758 comparisions, which are beautiful in themselves but overwhelming when you find one every couple of lines. This could be a stroke of genius on Pessl's part, as this is exactly the kind of book that overachieving Blue Van Meer would write, but I'm left with the feeling that the case is that Blue and Pessl are not so different. After two thirds of the book I just started skimming (and I do love dense books, books with footnotes, experimental literature, etc.). Please, as talented as you may be: less is more.
Another problem is that the book goes from being a coming of age tale to a murder mister 3/4 into the story. You can do coming of age, you can do mistery, you could even do both if it was clear from the beginning, but you cannot switcha near the end of the book without seriously annoying the reader. Having said that, you can trace breadcrumbs that Pessl left along the book that fit into the mistery, and yet, the switch didn't work for me and I was left wondering why on Earth had Hanna Schneider spent her weekends cooking for the Bluebloods. I know one answer is "for the attention" but really? couldn't she find nicer people?
The book ends with an exam, which suggests possible explanations and tries to wrap up the loose ends. I found this extremely irritating. I do undestrand that the book is written as an essay, is about a star student, everything revolves around academia and education, etc.etc.etc. but:
1.- I can understand the ending or make my own explanation without the author having to spell everything out.
2.- If a writer thinks that the novel is not self-explanatory, he or she should rework the novel, not add an explanation at the end
3.- An exam? Really??
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and that should be acknowledged.Having said that, this is clearly a flawed novel. This is the story of Blue Van Meer, the teennager daughter of a narcissist, who is on a fast track to becoming one, and who arrives at a new school and manages to make the first friends in her life who are, surprise, suprise... a bunch of narcissists themselves! While Blue oscillates between being endearing and irritating (we can sense there is still hope for her, if only she could get away from her dad and her friends and meet some normal people), this is not the case with the other characters. I am very interested in narcissism myself, having suffered some narcissistic people in my life, and it did feel like Pessl knew what she was talking about, although it seemd a bit of an overkill that so many characters were narcissistic, or that Blue's father has such obvious grandiosity delusions.
The story is narrated by Blue, including references to books, movies, about 132.758 comparisions, which are beautiful in themselves but overwhelming when you find one every couple of lines. This could be a stroke of genius on Pessl's part, as this is exactly the kind of book that overachieving Blue Van Meer would write, but I'm left with the feeling that the case is that Blue and Pessl are not so different. After two thirds of the book I just started skimming (and I do love dense books, books with footnotes, experimental literature, etc.). Please, as talented as you may be: less is more.
Another problem is that the book goes from being a coming of age tale to a murder mister 3/4 into the story. You can do coming of age, you can do mistery, you could even do both if it was clear from the beginning, but you cannot switcha near the end of the book without seriously annoying the reader. Having said that, you can trace breadcrumbs that Pessl left along the book that fit into the mistery, and yet, the switch didn't work for me and I was left wondering why on Earth had Hanna Schneider spent her weekends cooking for the Bluebloods. I know one answer is "for the attention" but really? couldn't she find nicer people?
The book ends with an exam, which suggests possible explanations and tries to wrap up the loose ends. I found this extremely irritating. I do undestrand that the book is written as an essay, is about a star student, everything revolves around academia and education, etc.etc.etc. but:
1.- I can understand the ending or make my own explanation without the author having to spell everything out.
2.- If a writer thinks that the novel is not self-explanatory, he or she should rework the novel, not add an explanation at the end
3.- An exam? Really??
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LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
Beware, dear reader, of things that may detract you from reading this story. There are tangents, citations, similes, and nouns posing as verbs within the book. Beneath the clever and erudite construction of this novel, however, is a sinister plot. Once you feel the pull of it, you’ll be hooked
Blue’s senior year of high school has her being drawn awkwardly into the clique composed of Jade, Leulah, Charles, Nigel and (the oh-so-desirable) Miles as well as well as their enigmatic mentor, the college teacher Hannah Schneider. Never entirely comfortable, either with this group of teenagers or with Ms. Schneider, Blue tries to figure out what the glue is that holds these individuals together. As Blue begins to figure things out, she is never quite sure if she and her dad are working and thinking in tandem or as polar opposites. Ultimately, this turns story out to be a challenging but gratifying read.
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into the world of Blue Van Meer. Hers is not an easy world. She is the daughter of widower and college professor Garth Van Meer whose intent is to have his daughter be class valedictorian and accepted into Harvard. Blue’s senior year of high school has her being drawn awkwardly into the clique composed of Jade, Leulah, Charles, Nigel and (the oh-so-desirable) Miles as well as well as their enigmatic mentor, the college teacher Hannah Schneider. Never entirely comfortable, either with this group of teenagers or with Ms. Schneider, Blue tries to figure out what the glue is that holds these individuals together. As Blue begins to figure things out, she is never quite sure if she and her dad are working and thinking in tandem or as polar opposites. Ultimately, this turns story out to be a challenging but gratifying read.
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LibraryThing member slkullberg
While the plot is inane, the characters are arresting and sometimes scary. The writing is amazing - every other sentence has a metaphor and many of them are wonderful.
LibraryThing member JulieCarter
I really enjoyed this book. I can certainly see why people would not, though. The conceits, the precociousness (precocity?) of Blue, the many, many literary and other references....sure, I can see why some would get tired of it. I really didn't, though. I enjoyed it the whole way through. I would
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probably have to disagree with the critics who raved over Pessl's prose, because some of it was confusing, some of it was ridiculously heavy-handed, and some of it was just silly. I had the feeling that the editor got tired towards the end, because I noticed several sentences with a missing "is" or something similar, and because the similes seemed to multiply in the last 30 pages. But, if you look past some of the silliness and frippery, it was a novel I couldn't put down. And maybe I fell prey to Pessl's flattery that I could catch most of her literary allusions. What a fun read! Show Less
LibraryThing member tangential1
So, starting off I wasn't sure about this book. I found it oddly intriguing. The writing style just kind of grabbed my attention straight off. Quite a lot of introspection punctuated by pop culture and literary references and witty barbs thrown in for fun. Something like automatic empathy for the
Most interestingly the story is both a coming of age type story and a mystery. It kind of starts like a coming of age story (secluded brainy teen girl makes friends for the first time, finds out stuff about her families past, etc.) but the mystery takes over about halfway through and the coming of age takes a turn for the worse. Dark secrets and a few traumatic events invade the story and reshape the character in a way that you fully don't see coming until they hit you upside the head toward the end. Brilliantly done.
The main character, Blue, is the daughter of a pretentious poli-sci professor father who changes universities every three months. He's like a permanent visiting professor. For this reason, Blue has a very limited experience of life; no friends, just her dad and her books. It's like she's living through the words of her father and the words of the many authors that she is so familiar with it's scary. She relates everything she experiences to something she's read. The majority of the book takes place in her senior year of high school; her dad decides that senior year is important enough to stay in spot for the entire year (he wants her to be valedictorian, which you can't be if you've only been at a school for three months). I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that she has several experiences that completely change her world in an unexpected way.
I don't think I've really done justice to the book with this review. It's just so hard to explain why I liked it. It's one of those character books, I think. I just really liked Blue. Anyway, highly recommend it (especially if you are a character reader).
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protagonist, and the author. And that empathy just tends to grow and grow as the book goes on. The author successfully puts you into the head of the main character. You feel what she feels. When she is embarrassed, you feel it. When she is creeped out, your skin crawls. When she is seriously afraid, your breathing gets shaky and you get the gut clench. She has this amazing way of describing what's going on. Everything has a metaphor to back it up; a reference to help you get it.Most interestingly the story is both a coming of age type story and a mystery. It kind of starts like a coming of age story (secluded brainy teen girl makes friends for the first time, finds out stuff about her families past, etc.) but the mystery takes over about halfway through and the coming of age takes a turn for the worse. Dark secrets and a few traumatic events invade the story and reshape the character in a way that you fully don't see coming until they hit you upside the head toward the end. Brilliantly done.
The main character, Blue, is the daughter of a pretentious poli-sci professor father who changes universities every three months. He's like a permanent visiting professor. For this reason, Blue has a very limited experience of life; no friends, just her dad and her books. It's like she's living through the words of her father and the words of the many authors that she is so familiar with it's scary. She relates everything she experiences to something she's read. The majority of the book takes place in her senior year of high school; her dad decides that senior year is important enough to stay in spot for the entire year (he wants her to be valedictorian, which you can't be if you've only been at a school for three months). I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that she has several experiences that completely change her world in an unexpected way.
I don't think I've really done justice to the book with this review. It's just so hard to explain why I liked it. It's one of those character books, I think. I just really liked Blue. Anyway, highly recommend it (especially if you are a character reader).
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Awards
Salon Book Award (2006)
PEN/Hemingway Award (Nominee — Honorable Mention - 2007)
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (Winner — 2006)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry — 2006)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (General Fiction — 2006)
Language
Original publication date
2006-08-03
ISBN
0739477137 / 9780739477137