THE PLOT

 

SYNOPSIS

Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written―let alone published―anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that―a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?

Title: The Plot

Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz

Publisher: Celadon Books

Publication date: May 11, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

- A writer as main character. ☑️

- A little peek into the publishing world and the writing process. ☑️

- A book within a book PLOT. ☑️

With those three ingredients I can only say “take my money and give me that book to read NOW!”, or listen to in this case, cause I went with the audiobook and that might have been a good choice. I’ve read some people complaining about the writing style, really long sentences or the overuse of parenthesis, but that wasn’t an issue to me with the audio version.

I found the dilemma the story presented really interesting. Is it plagiarism when you actually wrote every single word yourself? Do ideas have an owner? If the one who thought of a plot is dead, is it really dishonest to take it and write the book yourself? After all, everyones will want to read that story, so original and shocking it is (I lost count how many times this was said).

My allegiances and sympathies for Jacob came and went all throughout the story and I really don’t know what I would have done in his situation (in case I had the knack to write a book, which I don’t).

The first few chapters were a bit slow, but once Jacob publishes his novel and starts “investigating” everything became much more interesting.

I was not that surprised with the ending cause I called it (or some variation of it) almost from the 50% mark. I loved how the word “plot” took more than one meaning at the end.

A small issue I had with the story was that we’re told countless times that “the plot” was something spectacular, never been done, that every publisher would want to publish it and every person in the world would want to read it, so when it was finally revealed I could not help but think that we’ve all read “plots” like that hundreds of times, so I could not completely understand Jacob’s huge success.

Good writing and an original plot made of The Plot a fun listen, with every piece of the puzzle fitting together at the end in a clever way.

It was my first approach to the author’s work but I’ll be definitely checking out some of her previous books. I can see how this will be one of the books of 2021.