 |
Perfectly mediocre writing style for a 19 year old author's first "fiction novel". What I find most disturbing about this story is not the protagonist's "poor little rich girl" story (both boring and trite); one that has been told better by more competent authors for at least as long as storytellers have been recording the written word; but rather the author's apparent "literary mimicking" or what anyone being truthful would call plagiarism; using another's writings or ideas as one's own, by definition. What continues to disturb me deeply about the unfolding story of Kaavya Viswanathan, is that she has been rewarded with this behavior by the continued sales of the publisher pulled, plagiarized story on the secondary market (PLEASE stop FEEDING THE DEMAND and REFUSE to buy it!). Her publishers, who by rights have finally dropped her like a hot samosa, are no longer allowing her to rewrite the story for future amended publication. However, as of today's date, Dreamworks pictures has not yet officially pulled out of a licensing agreement for the story, which I CALL UPON THEM TO DO. What sort of message does this fiasco send to our young people? Lying, cheating and stealing are in some way rewarded in today's climate. So kids, if you're going to do it, make sure you do it BIG: make sure it is public and the uglier the better! Don't worry- the American public has a short attention span and they LOVE rubbernecking. You'll make it on Oprah or some other talk show, and even if you're embarrassed beyond belief and bring shame to your family, a nice big fat paycheck from Hollywood can easily mend bent egos. Too bad for the writer victim(s) of the original plagiarized works! Wait- what were THEIR names??? One final word: Youth and inexperience are no excuses for breaking the law, and it falls upon every parent to teach thier children what this means as they grow up. This is not to say that blame should fall upon a parent when thier child of legal age makes the wrong choices; part of being a parent means hurting for your children when they really screw up. At some point, human beings must learn to be RESPONSIBLE for their actions and to own their choices- good or bad. It is unfortunate that Ms. Viswanathan CHOSE such a public forum to learn this lesson.Read full review
Here are the things that puzzle me: where is Viswanathan's editor in all this hullabaloo? How many people at the publishing house must have read this little book before it was published? Was the book picked up for publication because the author is very young and a freshman at Harvard? It cannot be because of the superior literary talents of this young woman, can it? Whether or not her plagiarism was deliberate or subconscious, was no effort made to vet the work of this very inexperienced first time author? If internet searching can find plagiarized student papers, can't plagarized passages in books also be located? And still to be answered is this mystery about the creative process. I cannot count the number of successful writers I've heard say that they have no idea where their words come from. They may struggle for days and suddenly something comes to them and they begin to write. They have no idea who the characters will be and where the plot line will take them. And somewhere down the line a complete work of fiction emerges. None of this, however, makes the book worth taking the time to read. Selling on eBay for more than the publication price is exactly what should happen to this book. It is a odd freakish object, not an enriching rewarding reading experience.Read full review
Heres a book that makes for light reading. It's chick literature that seems to come so effortlessly to the teenage author thats he could put to shame older, more experienced writers. The story line revolves around a second generation indian teenager, Opal Mehta, settled in new jersey, whose sole aim in life is to enter Harvard. Even before Opal's birth, her parents came up with plans complete with flowcharts and graphs and plotted on a daily basis to get thier only daughter into Harvard. The result - a nerd was created who had little or no social life. The real twist to teh story comes when teh deam of admissions at Harward asks Opal abt her friends and what she like sto do for "fun". This leaves Opal dumbfounded. The dean pretty much asks Opal to "get a life" and apply later. With five months to her next shot at Harvard, OPal and her parents are determined to convert Opal into a normal teenager. They approach teh subject teh smae way they approach everything in life - systematically with more research and more flowcharts. Teenage magazines, teen music videos, a complete make-over...and suddenly OPAL finds herself as one of teh most popular girls in school. But, popularity comes at a price....... Kavvya Vishwanathan's first book is funny and a real page turner. Alas, had it not been for teh plagiarism teh author may as well have bagged a lot more book deals. All teh same she shot to fame (even if for all the worng reasons).Read full review
As a librarian I regretfully admit that this book was a huge disappointment. I did read the first 30 pages or so, but the characters were so shallow, sappy and unbelievable, the story line was so juvenile and trite, that I put the book down. Certainly this book was not written for adults. The reson we purchased the book was that it received good reviews....which leads me to my next thought. Supposedly the author is a well educated young woman... She is writing a book about a young woman being accepted at Harvard, keeping this in mind, one would surmise that the author has some knowledge about Ivy League Universities, their academic standards and most certainly their view of plagerism. So I must ask how is it that she unknowingly plagerized a good portion of the story? What was her agent thinking? How could both the editor and the publisher not be aware of what they were publishing? Doesn't anybody in the business read any thing before they offer an author a book deal? Hello! As to why anyone would throw away money on this title is beyond me, it is not as if this book will ever become a collectible item. Hopefully it will be relegated to the recycle bin where it belongs.Read full review
I think the one thing to remember is that she apparently wrote this when she was 17. While I’m not condoning her actions and I believe that she should loose her big money deals, her movie deal and should have to pay the money she recieved back. I also believe that she was a child. We all do stupid crap as kids and I think the fact that she stole so blatantly from other authors is a testament to that stupidity. I think she's getting her just deserts right now as we speak. I hope in time she actually comes out and writes her own book using her own ideas and that she remembers to say thank you for the lesson from those who are giving her that lesson right now.
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
