Questions for Marisha Pessl

[zeldafitzgerald]

Hi all -

When I went to Marisha Pessl's book signing for Special Topics in Calamity Physics, I told her about our book club here and how many of us have read and loved her book. She told me that if we wanted to collect questions about the book and her writing, she would be happy to answer them for us. (We can email them to her.)

So I figured I could collect them on this thread, and then I'll send them to her and post her answers when she responds.

I'll leave it open for a good amount of time before I send them, so if you've been wanting to read the book and haven't yet you'll have a chance.

I'll start with this question:

What was the process of writing the introduction? Did you know all along that you wanted to give the reader the information you did in the introduction (Hannah's death, that Blue no longer speaks to her old friends, etc.). Or did you decide later what you wanted to tell the reader right away in the introduction?

[Charlotte]

Why did you decide to title all the chapters with a classic novel? (i thought it was cool by the way)

[Kristie]

I thought the chapter thing was interesting too.

Have you read all of the books you mentioned in the book, whether they were books Blue or her father read? (I know some of the books weren't real...)

[Lu]

Good questions!

I think I have to read the book before asking anything..

[Dominique]

I would really like some more info on the ambiguity of the ending, but based Marisha's interviews I'd say she won't tell us

But I'd definately like to ask her for an example of at least one of the true clues for the ending (not the red herrings).

Also why did she choose to use some books that aren't real? Is it to make us question Blue's reliability?

I think I will have some more questions but I'll have to have a quick look over the book to refresh my memory.

[Lu]

Hope it's not too late.

I'd like to ask her how she did choose books to title the chapters and if she was sure about them or not, in the last case if she had some sort of "second choices" (I'm not sure how to explain...hope it makes any sense ). That chapter thing really interested me and since Charlotte has already asked why, I'm trying to ask how... ;D

I was also thinking about all the reference (books, movie, websites and publications), real or invented, and I was wondering if they have the only purpose of giving an impression of realism or there's something else (Pessl said Blue "filters every life experience she has through books", didn't she??) .