Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (2006)

Apparently, I let this book sit around for about a year (nothing new) and then took about a year to read it (unusual for me)--but through no fault of the book really.

This one is Pessl's debut novel--yep, that's annoying but even more annoying is the fact that she was about my age now when it was published and two years younger when she finished writing it. The book is narrated by (and is about) a high school girl, Blue van Meer, who is uber smart and likes to reference random books to back up any and everything possible (more so in writing but she's not afraid to throw out a quote in conversation). Blue's father is a fairly brilliant professor who moves Blue around the country quite a bit. She's the perpetual new girl at school and often pays for it. But when they move for her Senior year, she's courted by Hannah, a teacher at her school, to join a group called the Bluebloods (yeah, it's a little Heathers but with a few boys tossed in the mix and remarkably fewer deaths).

The majority of the book is about Blue's integration into this group, which is a little odd given the fact that you know Hannah dies mysteriously from the beginning of the book. The actual climax of the novel happens fairly late and what was a fairly evenly paced narrative becomes frantic up to the major twist (which is never verified). After that twist, the narrative goes a little lethargic. Yes, these pace alterations mimic what's happening in the story and work in the sense that most of the book was read over a year's time but once the murder occurred, I picked up the pace. But, the denouement of the book seems overly rushed to me and the end a little clipped.

An interesting aspect of the book is that each chapter is titled after another famous piece of literature ("Sweet Bird of Youth" is the one I can remember offhand). From the books referenced that I've read, the chapter then picks up a bit on the referenced text's themes but I'm not sure how much or how effectively. And, cute but a tad cloying, the novel ends with an "exam," which gives you a few tidbits about what happened after the standard narration ends.

Overall, this is a good book worth reading but, if you want an excellent book about academia and murder, read The Secret History. Actually, just read The Secret History anyway. I might read it again.