The Plot: A Novel

4.5 stars Received an ARC from the publisher. After finishing a two-year MFA writing program, Jake publishes his first novel The Invention of Wonder. But after many years and 4 different book manuscripts, every publisher he approaches refused to publish his books. He worked at a writing program and while teaching a class he stumbles across a student who just happens to have a plot that no one can mess up, it is an instant bestseller even if the person who wrote it had no talent. It kills Jake that this person has come up with this book after he has spent so many years trying. Then as time passed and this MFA program is no longer around Jake still things about that student and his plot. This is when Jake realizes the student died shortly after he was his teacher, without ever publishing this book. What a perfect opportunity and Jake does not let it pass. Jake writes his own story using this plot and just like predicted it becomes an instant hit. He is going to book tours interviewing with many tv stations, is on Oprah’s book club, and has a movie in the works. Then he begins to receive incriminating messages that contain his worse fear. Someone knows his secret. The only thing I did not like was that it is sometimes hard to follow the wording, and I got lost because the story often interrupts sentences with side points before finishing the sentence. At some points I found myself forgetting how the sentence started and having to go back to figure out how the end of the sentence connected. So, the sentences are long-winded. In the beginning, it was a problem for me but as I got into the book, I no longer noticed it, so I think I got used to the writing style. There were many things that made me get completely lost in the story. One is how realistic it all played out and the way Jake thought. It was so realistic I almost kind of feels like a lot of the character concerns and worries about writing and publishing a book come from the author's own fears or at least the fears most authors have. Like how Jake mentions he sent out manuscripts and hadn’t got one single review. Little things like this throughout the book made it so realistic that I could relate to the thinking and worries that Jake has. People who read a lot will enjoy the little things only people who read a lot will get like how when you say to people, “I have counted and I have read (a certain number of books)” What you really mean is that Goodreads told you the number of books you have read In the book the plot that Jake stole is always being explained as being one that anyone could write because it is just so good, well this is half true with this book. The plot and the twist at the end were so epic I completely agree this will be a total hit, but I am not sure if anyone could write it because this author set the bar high. The way it played out had me strung along for the ride and man that ending had me gasp and think how clever. I read a lot of suspense and psychological thrillers so I don’t get surprised very much, but this has to be one of my favorite reveals and endings in all the books I have read. I also think this is going to be a compelling read because we are hearing the story from the bad guy’s perspective. We know he has done something bad by stealing the plot of this story. So we want to like him but also hate him for doing it, so yeah this is definitely going to make this story interesting. As the book continues, we spend the story watching as Jake travels and meets with anyone having anything to do with his former student, trying to find the person who is getting ready to ruin his life. At parts, it went a little slow, but it allowed for many different possible people to be the person who is emailing Jake. Then we not only get to hear from possible suspects but also get to learn about the sketchy history of Evan Parker's past and the deaths in the family. Let me just say there is more than just a plot to be revealed in this book.

Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a thriller disguised as a metafictional take on writers and the writing process. When I read the first few chapters of The Plot, I thought I understood what the book was trying to do. It makes fun of writers, MFA programs, bestselling authors in a dry, sarcastic way, in a way that can only be done by an author who has gone through the process enough times to be able to make fun of it. I was prepared for a funny send-up of the writing and publishing process, similar to Admission, another of the author's books. What I was not prepared for was that The Plot is actually a thriller! The plot of the Plot revolves around Jacob Finch Bonner, a one-hit-wonder author who is now teaching at a no-name, low-tier MFA program. He is dreading his days teaching writers who think they know it all already and wishing that he could write a best-selling book. Here is an excerpt from Chapter One that demonstrates the narrator's dry, humorous tone: "Worst of all were the ones who reminded Jake most of himself: “literary novelists,” utterly serious, burning with resentment toward anyone who’d gotten there first. The Clive Cusslers and mom bloggers might still be persuadable that Jake was a famous, or at least a “highly regarded” young (now “youngish”) novelist, but the would-be David Foster Wallaces and Donna Tartts who were certainly present in the pile of folders? Not so much. This group would be all too aware that Jacob Finch Bonner had fumbled his early shot, failed to produce a good enough second novel or any trace of a third novel, and been sent to the special purgatory for formerly promising writers, from which so few of them ever emerged." Here's another excerpt from Chapter Two that definitely made me chuckle: "Everything about the guy screamed FICTION WRITER, though the species itself broke down more or less evenly into the subcategories: 1. Great American Novelist 2. New York Times Bestselling Author Or that highly rare hybrid . . . 3. New York Times Bestselling Great American Novelist The triumphant savior of the abducted bottle opener might want to be Jonathan Franzen, in other words, or he might want to be James Patterson, but from a practical standpoint it made no difference." One day, a student named Evan Parker tells him the plot of an incredible story that Jacob knows will become a bestseller. Evan eventually dies, and Jacob decides to take the plot that Evan told him and use it to write a new book. This all sounds perfectly normal, right? That is, until Jacob starts getting notes and emails saying that he is a thief and that he plagiarized his book. But how could anyone know that he copied Evan's plot? Evan's dead, right? Who else would know about the plot? The plot just keeps increasing intensity from there until it turns into a full-blown thriller with plenty of twists and turns. What I thought was literary fiction is actually a thriller! Since I really enjoy reading thrillers, much more than literary fiction, The Plot turned out a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I highly recommend it for all fans of thrillers or anyone looking for a humorous look at writers and the writing process. The only reason I'm taking off one star is because I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending. I was definitely surprised, but it requires some suspension of disbelief. Overall, if you're intrigued by anything in the synopsis, you won't regret checking out The Plot when it comes out in May!

“Nobody else can live your life” “Good writers borrow, great writers steal” - T S Eliot “ Everyone had a unique voice and a story no one else can tell. And anybody can be a writer” I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into picking this book up. With few exceptions I read it straight through and have suggested it to a few authors already. I see it as a book that teaches as well as entertains. It’s not all lollipops and roses. It is an amazing book talking about plotlines and how they spin and change and even teach the reader! A teacher hears a sketchy idea from an arrogant student. It never lets him go. His version makes the whirlwind summit of recognition. Then he gets threatened by another person, and in a world of Oprah endorsements tries to brush it off. I’m sorry I can’t go deeper without spoilers. However, this is a tight well written mystery with potential to be a great holiday gift! Highly Recommended 5/5 [disclaimer: I received this book from an outside source