The Plot : One of the Best Novels About Writers & Writing

The Plot is more than just the new thriller from Jean Hanff Korelitz. As Stephen King says, it is “one of the best novels I’ve ever read about writers and writing.”

I totally agree with him.

Enjoyable Snarkiness

Like Korelitz’s last novel, You Should Have Known, this one starts slowly. But also like her last novel (which became HBO TV series The Undoing) the beginning is notable for its laser-beam insights   —  read: enjoyable snarkiness — into and about the worlds of its characters. You Should Have Known dug into the lives of Manhattan’s one per cent-er families and their private schools. The Plot delves into the mores and psyches of writers and writing.

The protagonist of the novel is Jacob Finch Bonner aka Jake. The author of one literary bestseller, he cannot produce another masterpiece. He is in a major slump known to most of us as writer’s block (see below.)  Hence, he finds himself teaching creative writing at Ripley, a third-rate college-type facility where he meets a supremely self-assured student.

Evan Parker, the student, is convinced he has a sure-fire plot that will get him on the bestseller lists, on Oprah, and with offers from A-list movie directors. Eventually, when he shares the plot in a one-on-one evaluation meeting, Jake has to agree that Evan is right.

As his career goes steadily downhill, Jake wonders what has become of Evan and his sure-fire bestseller. He subsequently discovers that Evan has died of an overdose. What’s more, apparently no-one is his family is still alive, nor is the family home in the possession of any family member, near or distant.

So, you guessed it:

Jake uses Evan’s plot (about a toxic mother-daughter relationship which ends in a jaw-dropping revelation) to write his new book. Titled Crib, it does indeed catapult Jake to the top of the bestseller lists. And, then the fun starts because it becomes clear that someone is on to Jake. He/She begins sending him anonymous emails calling him a thief.

Best Novel About Writers And Writing

The New York Times described The Plot as “a Russian nesting doll of a novel.” And indeed, the novel is a multi-layered treasure. It might also be the exception that proves the rule.

Which is to say: Yes, The Plot is a slow-burn for a thriller — but you don’t always have to grab a reader in the first ten pages. On the other hand, if you are an author/writer I think you will definitely be grabbed from Page 1.

Gems in The Plot

For one, The Plot  abounds with gems which purportedly express Jake’s slightly jaded views of writers and writing. It is not a stretch, however, to imagine that Jake’s views may reflect those of Ms. Korelitz, herself.

“[F]irst, he had to deliver on that Ripley fantasy that they were all, “students” and “teachers” alike, colleagues-in-art, each with a unique voice and a singular story to tell with it, and each equally deserving of being called that magical thing: a writer.”

Or take this very accurate observation about the publishing world today. As Jake tells his class on their first day:

“Today, editors want a book that can go straight into production, or as close to that as possible, so if you think Maxwell Perkins is waiting for your manuscript-in-progress to arrive on his desk, so he can roll up his sleeves and transform it into The Great Gatsby, that hasn’t been true for a long time.” He saw, to his sadness but not his surprise, that the name “Maxwell Perkins” was not familiar to them.

Plagiarism Or Theft?

In the novel, Jake is careful not to lift a single line from the only chapter he has read of Evan’s work- in -progress. And, eventually he assures himself that Evan never produced a manuscript.  So, he is definitely not a plagiarist.

But, the serious question underlying The Plot dances around the concept of intellectual property: can an author steal another author’s plot or story? And, what if another author’s idea is going unused? Or the corollary to that question: Is there even any such a thing as an original plot or story? This is the way Jake thinks his agent and editor and his readers might view his use of Evan’s idea:

Even if they’d known Crib’s comprehensive origin story, they’d probably still be in his corner! After all, people who worked with writers were fully aware of the myriad and frequently bizarre ways in which a work of fiction can take root in an author’s imagination: fragments of overheard conversations, repurposed bits of mythology, Craigslist confessions, rumors at the high school reunion.

Whose Plot Is It, Anyway?

And, it happens more often than most of us realize. Novels with similar-sounding plots or storylines are published within the same timeframes  — and rarely does anyone get accused of story theft.

For example, this summer two thrillers, Falling, and The Hostage are due to be published within a couple of weeks of each other.

Falling is by debut author, T.J.Newman. It tells the story of a pilot who is given choice: Crash the plane — or your wife and children will be killed by terrorists who have already taken them hostage on the ground.

The Hostage is by veteran British thriller writer Clare Mackintosh. It tells the story of a flight attendant who is ordered to help terrorists on board her flight — otherwise her daughter Sophia will die.

And, just in case you’re thinking, ‘Wow, that’s some coincidence,’ both of those plots are distinctly similar to a 1994 Keanu Reeves movie, Speed. The antagonist in that movie says he has rigged a bomb on a bus full of passengers. The bomb will detonate if the bus speed falls below 50mph before the antagonist gets his multi-million dollar ransom.

Superb Plot

So, is there such a thing as an original plot? You could mull that thought while reading Korelitz’s novel. Ultimately, however, The Plot, is simply a helluva good read. It’s a superb thriller which interweaves excerpts from Jake’s sure-fire “bestseller” (as a book within a book) with Jake’s quest to find the antagonist who is threatening to reveal to the world that Jake is a literary thief.

The final revelations leave you agog, and the ending will leave you open-mouthed. I read this one in less than 24-hours.