Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl

     Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl, parental abandonment is a main theme and issue.

     The main character, Blue van Meer, has a scholarly father who has them in a constant state of movement and often meets with colleages during free time. He does spend an abundance of time with Blue, but during this time he'll quiz her on Nobokov, or have her recite Shakespeare. He does not have a typical relationship with his daughter; however, she loves him very much, and towards the beginning of the book, even idolizes him.  Her mother dies before when she is young, and is mentioned surreptitously (and bluntly, too) throughout the book. Though she is dead, Blue is very aware of her mother, and  her haunting memory gives Blue's life lonliness and leaves a space missing.

     The other characters have sketchy parental backrounds as well; many of the kids in the little clique that Blue is kind-of in, the Bluebloods, do not have clear and reliable parents.

     Jade, for one (the snotty ice queen that every story needs) father is a nearly nonexistant figure in her life, and her mother is a slutty has-been who's still stuck in the 70s, and Jade calls her not Mom, but Jefferson. When Blue says Jefferson looks "very nice,"  Jade's reply is "About as nice as Hitler." "Boyfriends" frequent Jade and Jeffersons' mansion, and Jade is spiteful and unhappy as a result of her home life.

     Blue never even meets the parents of the other Bluebloods, and for most of the story is deluded to think that they had all had extravagantly melodramatic pasts. She believes this as an result of a tale that Hannah, their friend and teacher, who dies later on in the book, tells her. In reality, Hannah has had a bad relationship with her parents.

     This story is, essentially, a coming of age piece (as Blue is turning 18) in which you learn about growing up and becoming independent from your parents. Blue has been pretty much independent her whole life, except for her Dad, and during the course of the book, she becomes independent of him, too. But it isn't the struggle it may be for other kids-- normal children depend more when they haven't got failure on their parents' part in their past.

     Reading this book makes me wonder what inspired Marisha Pessl to write it. Does it come from her lifeit more about the mystery or the relationships? Did she have a bad family situation?