Erin from Rarely Likeable weighs in for Round Four: (see also Round One, Round Two & Round Three)
I'm in no position to have a problem with mysterious journeys filled with ambiguity -- I've been watching Lost for the last three years. But Special Topics in Calamity Physics, as fun as it was at times (like Zack, I liked the valediction), just didn't click for me.
I know some of the reasons why. Five, actually.
1. It was about 200 pages too long.
In fiction, I'm very biased toward conciseness. Partly because I have
the attention span of a gnat, but also because when a concise writer
shifts gears for a scene or a character or a bit of dialogue, I will
slow down, too. By page 100, I was already reading paragraphs halfway
and then moving on. Countless times, I found myself wondering what it
would be like if Gareth was the only character who spoke floridly, or
if there were only two or three Bluebloods, or if anything could be
described in 25 words or less. Upon hearing that Pessl wants readers
to hunt through the book for clues, all I think of is, well, a small
sewing implement and a large pile of barnyard grain, plus another 50
word paragraph.
2. The point of view is off, somehow.
Don't get me wrong...I have no problem with Blue as a character, or as
a narrator. It's just that there should have been slightly more
acknowledgment of storytelling. Sure, STICP is intended to be a life
story written down by an introverted, brilliant Harvard student. But
at the end of the day, it's also intended to be a novel. A balancing
act, to be sure...and the balance is off. Maybe not much, but if it's
enough to notice? It's too much.
3. The outside world is off, too.
There ARE two worlds in this book, after all. There's the one with
Hannah's house, Jade's house and car, most of St. Gallway's, Paris,
the bar, and the no-tell motel. And then there's the one with the
convenience store, anything within a fifty foot radius of Zack, and
morning news television programs. (I think there's a thesis in it for
someone about which side the national park falls on, a shorter paper
about where the Internet belongs, and an exam question about Gone With
the Fucking Wind.) The outside world in Special Topics in Calamity
Physics begins as just about overdone parody, and it doesn't really
change. It only serves to prod Blue along when no one else is
available. If the Massive Twist has the mission that I think it does,
shouldn't the proletariat have more to do than offer slurpies and
mysteriously (really, I AM totally stumped on Zack) unwavering
loyalty?
4. Blue is never in peril herself, or even particularly afraid.
Disillusioned, sure. Embarrassed? Oh yes. Frustrated? Most definitely.
But if you're going to write a mystery and tinker with form, is
straight up first person danger a key ingredient that you can omit?
Especially when you don't have to? Which leads to the biggest issue
for me...
5. Would an 18 year old genius, particularly without much outside
distraction, really be oblivious about the things in which she is
purported to be oblivious?
Blue is a character who cites sources for descriptions, but turns a
blind eye to strange things in her environment? I don't buy it. Even
if you argue that she is subconsciously protecting herself from the
Massive Twist, we've been told, repeatedly, that she's a bibliophile
and an academic. Wouldn't the itch to research have become too much to
bear, long before it actually did? Wouldn't there be question marks,
long before there were? All those dinners...nothing? Really? The
trajectory of factfinding would have made more sense to me if Blue
were a little more ordinary -- and even then, I think I'd still lift
an eyebrow.
All of that said, I'm looking forward to the movie adaptation that was announced recently. If nothing else, it will force some paring down -- both plot-wise and voice-wise -- and it won't surprise me much if improvements result from that alone.
