The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

ARC from Celadon and Netgalley for an honest review

Book Blurb:

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?

My Review: 3.5 stars

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The Plot is not just a book, but instead, a book within a book. The title itself gives the reader an inkling that this book contains a plot within a plot, which is a huge undertaking for an author. But Korelitz does it very well with this cat and mouse plot (no pun intended).

The story is told from our main protagonist’s point of view, while interspersed with bits of the book he wrote (albeit with a “stolen” plot), and I found his voice captivating. He was an average guy pulled into a “game” that was way more intense than anything he was prepared for. I liked how relatable he was because his actions didn’t seem outlandish or crazy, but how I may have reacted in a similar situation.

This is definitely a slow-burn type of read, with the middle being pretty stagnant, but so worth it to get to the end. Honestly, it’s not often that an ending could make my jaw drop, but it did. The Plot was a different type read and I loved how it made me think about what goes into the writing of a book. Can you own a plot? Stories get retold and rewritten all the time, so where does taking someone’s plot and writing it as your own fall into plagiarism? I’m sure writers will find this plot even more engaging than I did.

Quotes I liked:

But there was one thing he actually did believe in that bordered on the magical, or at least the beyond-pedestrian, and that was the duty a writer owed to a story.”

“You’re only as successful as the last book you published, and you’re only as good as the next book you’re writing. So shut up and write.”