special topics in calamity physics movie

van Meer sharing his extensive knowledge with his precocious daughter, expecting greatness of her, and knowing she’s an entirely different creature than the rest of the plodding world of students. Since her mother died in a car crash when Blue was 5, the two have gone from one college town to another, renting homes for short periods as her father was a “perennial visiting lecturer at political science departments across the country.” The pair are a cohesive unit, two against the world at large, Dr. The main character, Blue van Meer, is writing about the events of her senior year in high school, during which her professor father finally settles down in one place for more than a few months with her, allowing her to spend an entire year at one school. I’ll admit I’m of the latter variety, and I’m more than a little proud to say so. That’s not to mention a slew of parenthetical citations to novels, films, poetry, plays, and nuggets of pop-culture trivia, all of which will either go over the heads of those who have not had the thorough education of Pessl or which will regularly intensely satisfy the well-educated. Pessl has a distinct style and affect, with characters who tend to be brilliant and uber-educated in both books and film (indicating to me that Pessl herself is simply a genius who had strong formal and informal education), and with the entertaining touches of drawings, small photo illustrations and other “visual aids” interspersed throughout the pages.

But a) it’s more than that, just as much the story about a girl’s last year of high school and the relationships she has to navigate as it is a mystery about a death under strange circumstances, and b) it’s by Marisha Pessl, who went on to write Night Film, a very different type of story with an altogether different atmosphere (gothic, dark). Technically, Marisha Pessl’s debut, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, is in part a coming-of-age novel (with very little sex, incidentally). Honestly, too many of them tend to not merely touch on but focus on a teen’s sexual awakening, so I’ve become accustomed to saying, No, thanks. Generally I avoid books that are touted as being “coming-of-age” novels.

Special topics in calamity physics movie