Book Review: The Plot I Jean Hanff Korelitz

Who is the true owner of a story? How much of a story can be used before it becomes someone else’s?

Without question The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s the perfect sort of character-driven mystery where one decision leads to a snowball effect that soon twists and turns towards a stunningly composed ending. I can’t say enough wonderful things about this book!

About the Book

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?

Reflection

As anyone who is deeply invested in the literary world knows, even the mention of scandal surrounding the plot of a book or what inspired it can cause an uproar that can make it hard for a book to recover from. I don’t want to rehash something that got way too much attention in the media as is, but I can remember just such a scenario happening last year. Two books came out close in time that were on a somewhat obscure historical period and profession, rendering a discussion in the book world that spiraled quickly out of hand over whether one author had essentially taken the other author’s idea and run with it.

Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel The Plot is based around a premise that, while different, reminded me of this exact discussion. Because truly, even if someone did hear about something from someone else, who is the owner of an idea?

Jacob Finch Bonner is such an interesting character—neither fully rootable nor fully despisable. This is the hardest sort of character balance to strike, I think, and shows the skill of the author in crafting him. I often wanted things to work out for him, but at the same time I found him to often work against his own best interests and at many points in the book I didn’t agree with his decisions. And yet…I liked him. I understood him. I even could see myself making some of the same bad decisions in another life and time.

Jacob had achieved some acclaim with his first book, though it was more in the niche literary worlds than in the bestseller’s sense. But his second book and subsequent attempts at a third failed to live up to the momentum his career had with his first. By the time our story begins, Jacob is teaching writing at a third-rate MFA program, at a school that (unlike his own) has neither the reputation nor quality to matter much to most of the staff and students.

In the slog of yet another cohort beginning, Jacob meets a rather obnoxious student who declines to share his writing with his class, claiming he has a plot for a book in his head that is so outstanding, it doesn’t matter if he is a good writer. The book will be a bestseller regardless. Jacob dismisses this bravado until he meets with the student to review his chapter, and the student tells him the plot. And suddenly Jacob realizes he is right. This is the sort of plot that will make this one of the most popular books of its time. The sort of plot that will have movies made off of it, that will have people talking, that will be the pick of every famous book club out there.

And how demoralizing to know that this idea belongs to someone so distasteful!

Several years go by, the program shuts down and Jacob is laid off. He’s taken a job at a retreat to make ends meet while he tries yet another attempt at his third book. He has almost forgotten about his former student, until by chance he learns that his student passed away not long after the program, without ever having written his book.

And suddenly Jacob finds himself in an interesting position. He is now in possession of a brilliant plot, and no one has to know where he got it from. And so he begins writing and sure enough, it is every bit the bestseller he thought it would be…

Jacob finds himself living the life he always dreamed of. He is doing interviews, book tours, readings, and getting the acclaim every author aspires for. He meets a woman who he soon falls in love with. He begins working on the international releases of his book. He’s happy.

Until one day an email comes through his author’s site: You are a thief.

And then eventually another comes. And another. Someone knows Jacob stole the plot of his book and is threatening to expose him. If only Jacob can find out who it is first…

I loved that chapters from the book were interspersed with Jacob’s life and the mystery of who is stalking him. I found the way this book was crafted to be so incredibly delicate and elegant, each moment playing into the next. Brilliant!

Thank you to Celadon Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.