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"I think Jean Hanff Korelitz's THE PLOT is one of the best novels I've ever read about writers and writing. It's also insanely readable and terrifying. The suspense quotient is through the roof...It's remarkable." â?? Stephen King Hailed as "breathtakingly suspenseful," Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Plot is a propulsive audiobook about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it. 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 writtenâ??let alone publishedâ??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 thatâ??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? A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books "Narrator Kirby Heyborne maintains the brisk pace and firm tension of what promises to be one of the summer's most talked about suspense novels." â?? AudioFile Ma… (more)
A fun enough bookish/literary mystery/thriller. Unfortunately I guessed all the twists well before they happened? Which is weird since I don't usually read mysteries? I also don't usually read books about writers in NYC. This was breezy and chewy though. You could choose a far worse thriller to read than this one. Is stealing a plot idea from someone who has died REALLY the worst crime? I don't think so... until it becomes something more than that... ( )
I enjoyed the hell out of this literary thriller. Many reviews of this novel call it flat, but while it was somewhat predictable, The Plot was such a fun reading experience full of twists and turns (even if you see them coming). ( )
This book asks the questions—what would an unsuccessful novelist professor do if his student revealed the plot of a book he’s working on that is so unique and sure to be a gigantic success and the student dies? The story deals with the consequences of the teacher stealing the plot and writing his own book that becomes a bestseller. Gripping writing with suspense up the wazoo and a shocking ending make this an almost perfect 2021 publication. ( )
Having found this a huge letdown, with the most dreary narrative for the first quarter, I abandoned the novel. The author's protagonist was a whiny, boring character. Unrated, since obviously I simply couldn't be bothered to finish the book.
Good writers borrow, great writers steal. —T. S. Eliot (but possibly stolen from Oscar Wilde)
Dedication
For Laurie Eustis
First words
Jacob Finch Bonner, the once promising author of the "New & Noteworthy" (The New York Times Book Review) novel The Invention of Wonder, let himself into the office he'd been assigned on the second floor of Richard Peng Hall, set his beat-up leather satchel on the barren desk, and looked around in something akin to despair.
Quotations
“You hear hoofbeats in the park, do you think horses or zebras?”
"I think Jean Hanff Korelitz's THE PLOT is one of the best novels I've ever read about writers and writing. It's also insanely readable and terrifying. The suspense quotient is through the roof...It's remarkable." â?? Stephen King Hailed as "breathtakingly suspenseful," Jean Hanff Korelitz's The Plot is a propulsive audiobook about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it. 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 writtenâ??let alone publishedâ??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 thatâ??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? A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books "Narrator Kirby Heyborne maintains the brisk pace and firm tension of what promises to be one of the summer's most talked about suspense novels." â?? AudioFile Ma
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Book description
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?
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