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The Plot
Jean Hanff Korelitz
Macmillan Audio
10 hours 44 minutes
published May 11, 2021
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While I enjoyed the audiobook, this one is a really slow burn. The premise is that Jacob wrote one good novel, then has stumbled with his next attempts to have a follow up worthy of his first. While advising at a writers’ retreat, a student tells him a story that no one else has ever written. When he later learns the student died before completing his book, Jacob borrows the idea and his book is a chart topper earning a motion picture deal and Oprah’s notice.
Since the book moves so slow, it gave me time to think about where is the ethical line for an author. I know the word plagiarism pops up over and over in the book, but is using someone else’s idea really plagiarism if you write the words yourself? And if that’s the case why are retellings so popular? Other than my blog posts and work reports, I am not a writer, but how would you ever come up with a unique idea today?
One of the coolest things about the book is there is a book in a book. While the story is about Jacob’s book, The Crib, there are many excerpts from The Crib interspersed in The Plot. And it builds what you actually know about the story in The Crib. It is masterfully planned out.
I’ve never listened to Kirby Heyborne as a narrator before now, and he does a terrific job with the pace and setting a tone for Jacob. His voice and inflection really helped me fully imagine Jacob.
I would have loved this book if the pace had been a little quicker and I hadn’t figured out where the author was going long before the end, but the cleverness of the plot won me over. If you are a writer, I think you will really feel this plot, and even if you aren’t a writer but like a slow burn, you’ll enjoy the book.
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