The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Plot
by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Mystery | Thriller | Fiction
322 Pages
Released 2021
Rating: ★★★ 3/4
The premise of this book promised something big, but I’m not quite sure it delivered for me.
The story is about Jacob Finch Bonner, a somewhat washed up writer, desperate to become a great American novelist but instead resigned to teaching others the art of writing. In his class is a student that is convinced he has a story that would become an instant best-seller, something that Bonner doubts —until he hears the pitch and realizes his student is right.
Then, years later, Bonner discovers his student has died — never having published his brilliant novel idea. I’m sure by now you can see where this is going. Bonner, of course, decides to write the novel himself, and it does become an instant best-seller, skyrocketing Bonner into literary limelight. All seems well, until mysterious messages start showing up, implying that someone knows that Bonner stole the idea, and the book goes on from there.
Overall, this book did feel intriguing and engaging, although I fully admit feeling very impatient at times. The best-selling plot isn’t revealed at the beginning, but instead is slowly spread out throughout the novel as snippets from Bonner’s best-selling book. It definitely helped build the suspense throughout the novel which is why I think, overall, it was a compelling read.
That said, when you find out the plot, and everything clicks together, there was one major question I had that was never answered. I suppose it could be purely coincidental but it was still frustrating nonetheless, which is why I didn’t rate it higher.
If you have read the book, there are spoilers below with further details on my thoughts.
SPOILERS
We find out late in the book that the best selling plot idea was that a woman has a child young and gives up everything to raise her. The daughter is ungrateful to her mother and shortly before setting off for college, the mother (who apparently looks just like her daughter), kills her and takes her place so she can live the life she'd always wanted.The thing is, Bonner only learned of the general concept of the plot. He didn't have a manuscript, he did most of the writing himself. And yet, SOMEHOW, he managed to guess the history and the complexity of the relationship between the mother and daughter so accurately that the mother recognized herself in the story and sought Bonner out because he had, unknowingly, revealed her secret to the world.
Something about that just feels very unlikely to me and it bothered me a lot about the book. I would have rather that Bonner had a copy of the manuscript, made some minor changes and then pawned it off as his own after his student died since the student would have a better knowledge of the situation.