Books - love em, hate em, something in between em
I just finished reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. The blurb on the cover featured a opositive quote from Jonothan Franzen (whose books I have not read) comparing it to Donna Tartt's A Secret History (which I did read and did not like thankyouverymuch) but used words like 'under the froth' so I said to myself, I will give this a try.
So I started reading and was totally enthralled by the intro and the first 2/3 of the book. I was willing to overlook the fact that Ms. Pessl was born the same year as me and that she looked totally hot in her photo. I really enjoyed the maze of the book, the way she annotated everything and the pace she set, I was reading hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages but they were zooming by despite the density of the prose. But then the last third, the climax, the ehh of it all. Here was this book I'd really been enjoying and it just exploded into this weird sort of lunacy that seemed so incongruous to me. Just ugh.
I do think that Pessl is an awesome writer, and I can see the merits of this book, even the end, but I just don't buy it. I don't buy it at all. And I don't even mind her choice to make the last chapter a final exam. I think that was sort of awesome, honestly. But the explosion of the plot at the end left me feeling betrayed in a way. I don't always feel betrayed by plot twists. Usually I think they're pretty great. But this one just left me feeling (as stated before) ehh, maybe even meh.
I was so close to loving this book and then it was all ripped away from me. No fair.
To be discussed later: Carolyn's strong dislike of Donna Tartt's books (subtitled - Over rated and boring!), Excitement over Michael Chabon's newest book (subtitled - yay it's FINALLY out in paperback), Hemingway - love? hate? both?
So I started reading and was totally enthralled by the intro and the first 2/3 of the book. I was willing to overlook the fact that Ms. Pessl was born the same year as me and that she looked totally hot in her photo. I really enjoyed the maze of the book, the way she annotated everything and the pace she set, I was reading hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages but they were zooming by despite the density of the prose. But then the last third, the climax, the ehh of it all. Here was this book I'd really been enjoying and it just exploded into this weird sort of lunacy that seemed so incongruous to me. Just ugh.
I do think that Pessl is an awesome writer, and I can see the merits of this book, even the end, but I just don't buy it. I don't buy it at all. And I don't even mind her choice to make the last chapter a final exam. I think that was sort of awesome, honestly. But the explosion of the plot at the end left me feeling betrayed in a way. I don't always feel betrayed by plot twists. Usually I think they're pretty great. But this one just left me feeling (as stated before) ehh, maybe even meh.
I was so close to loving this book and then it was all ripped away from me. No fair.
To be discussed later: Carolyn's strong dislike of Donna Tartt's books (subtitled - Over rated and boring!), Excitement over Michael Chabon's newest book (subtitled - yay it's FINALLY out in paperback), Hemingway - love? hate? both?
posted by carolyn says @ 10:21 am
3 Comments:
At 22 April 2008 at 15:36,
The [Cherry] Ride said…
Whoa. I loved "The Secret History." Loved it.
And I agree about the Pessl book. I felt "meh" after reading it too. I disliked the comparisons to Secret History.
At 22 April 2008 at 22:31,
carolyn says said…
in all fairness i liked secret history more than the little friend (i don't even know why i finished that book) but where special topics . . . gave me a meh feeling secret history just left me cold. it's like i'm missing a receptor for that book. in a dispassionate way i can appreciate that it is well written and well told but after reading it i had no reaction to it at all and that to me makes it a waste of my time. i was just barely engaged enough to finish it but never engaged enough to care, although i did keep hoping for something more, some greater sense of connection to the characters.
in the last few years i've realised that it's important to me to find sympathy for the characters i read about, or empathy at the very least, and i'm never able to get that with tartt's characters.
do you mind my asking why you loved it so much? not to be argumentative but just because i like to hear what it is that draws other people to books
At 23 April 2008 at 04:27,
Alannah said…
I love The Secret History too...I read it like 12 years ago and barely remember it...but I know I loved it.
I lived in Bennington, Vermont (setting for the novel, even though I think she gave the town a different name) for a year in high school so I had a strong frame of reference for the setting.
I read it when I was in college and liked the plot of how kids can get soooo caught up in "elite" or "secret" groups when they desperately want to belong and be more special than anyone else.
you should read some Franzen! I'm not afraid to say I like his writing very much.
And I love Chabon too. I'm dying to read the Policeman's Union book.
I'm currently reading The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders. He is a riot.
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