like a snake eating its tail

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Jake Bonner wrote a really good, very popular book.  But he was in danger of remaining a one-hit wonder when chance threw an opportunity in his way.  Many years ago, when Jake was a teaching at a low-rent writer's workshop, a student told him about the plot of the book he was writing.  Recognizing that the idea was sure to become a bestseller, Jake couldn't help but be jealous.  Several years later, he comes to learn that the student has died, his book never written.  So Jake takes the idea and runs with it.

Sure enough, the book is a hit, jumping onto the bestseller list, becoming an Oprah pick, everything Jake always thought he wanted.  But he can't enjoy his fame and fortune, because he's just waiting for someone to expose him.  And then one day, he gets a note: "You are a thief."  Someone knows his secret, but who?  And what do they want?  As the threats of exposure intensify, Jake falls down the rabbit hall of his former student's life, where he unearths more secrets than might be quite healthy for him.

Like other reviewers, I too found the plot twist to be kind of predictable, but there was still plenty of suspense as I read to find out how Korelitz was going to pull it all off.  On one level, this book is a disturbing, twisty story, with a somewhat pathetic main character you couldn't help but have some sympathy for.  On another level, this book is a meditation on the ownership of ideas and the responsibility wrtiers have to one another.  On either level, the book falls a little short, as characters and ideas aren't as fleshed out as one might like, but that doesn't prevent it from being an overall enjoyable read.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

guileless and lovely

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction, epistolary

Review: Epistolary novels can be such fun to read, and this one is certainly no exception. The technique of using the exchange of letters to tell the story allows the author to use each character's voice in an authentic way that traditional story-telling doesn't usually allow. In tone, I found this book similar to the delightful 84, Charing Cross Road. Juliet, the main character, or main letter-writer as the case may be, has a guileless voice that was a pleasure to read.

The one false note I found in this story was the ease with which the Guernsey Islanders allowed Juliet to adopt Kit (both literally and figuratively). That Kit herself should take to Juliet as well as she does I did not find surprising, as one can clearly tell from her letters that she is the kind of person children like (and, yes, that is high praise). But for a group as insular as the Islanders declare themselves to be, and as protective of and attached to Kit as the Literary Society was, to give Kit over to Juliet after only a few months acquaintance, did not ring as true as the rest of the story did.

Other than that, I loved this book. Each character has a distinct voice, and I wanted to be able to exchange letters with them all myself.