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Monday, March 24, 2008
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Simply put, I did not enjoy this book – not at all. It is pretentious, wordy and boring and is filled with enough cardboard characters to fill a book of paper dolls. But, I am certainly grateful to its author, Marisha Pessl, for reminding me that I will not live forever and that I should never again waste my time on a 514 page novel as irritating and boring as this one, two emotions that I’ve seldom experienced at the same time.
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Nooo, say it isn't so! I actually bought this book last year but haven't had the chance to read it yet. Now I wish I hadn't bought it. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteHey Sam
ReplyDeleteSo far you saved me from reading three books. Looking forward to many more. You can bill me quarterly for all that time that I'm not wasting thanks to you.
What Stefanie said.
ReplyDeleteOh no!! I loathe open ended books. If I wanted to use my imagination that much, I'd write (or make up) my own darn stories. A little twee sounding on all the references too.
ReplyDeleteHey! You forgot to mention how attractive Ms. Pessl is. From what I remember, all discussion of her "novel" is supposed to revolve around the fact of her beauty--every other review I've ever read has mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteHas the statute of limitations ended?
(no, but seriously, that's about what I'd figured of the book. Thanks for confirming, and sorry you had to read it to do so)
Stefanie, this one could (there's a tiny little remote possibility) strike you differently than it did me. :-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously...if you look at the Amazon reviews, something close to 300 of them, I think, you'll see votes of "five" and votes of "one." In fact, some of the folks who have been critical about the book have been attacked by passionate fans of it...weird to me when honest reviews are trashed by those who don't agree with the rating.
Martha, Bybee...I hope I haven't kept either of you from reading something you may have enjoyed. I don't give really bad "reviews" unless a book really, really bothers me. This one did.
ReplyDeleteCarrie, I tend to agree with you, especially in the case of a 514-page book in which I've invested several hours of my limited time...and the facts, as presented here, did not make me want to spend any more time pondering them on my own. They just were not all that interesting in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWill, she's kinda cute but the book made me forget about that...no bonus points allotted for her good looks.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder why the Times went crazy over this one and why she has been so heavily praised for it...it's not even mediocre, as written. I wonder if her editor was afraid of her.
I got a third of the way through this book and left it for dead. I'd vaguely planned to return to it one day, but yours and the other bad reviews I've read on this one have convinced me that I shouldn't even bother with such a weak lie to myself. I think this one is probably going to go in my Bookmooch pile.
ReplyDeleteJ.S., this is one of those books I feel cheated for having wasted so much of my life on. Your opinion at one-third of the way through is probably not going to change if you go back to the book, would be my guess.
ReplyDelete