The Plot

You’re overselling your novel just a little too much when you name it The Plot. It’s like calling a racehorse The Winner. Or a burger joint The Burger. Sure, it sells it and tells you exactly what it’s about, but you have to expect that the plot in The Plot is like thee plot. Spoiler: it’s not. But I suppose in the truest sense, The Plot is about a plot. A plot that, in the world of this book, makes everyone want to read the book within the book. Because there is nothing writers like to write about more than writers. Thing is, this plot that is supposed to drive the plot of this book is ultimately kind of obscured, or rather kind of given a soft sell in its rollout. It’s like a movie about an SNL-like skit so funny that people die laughing. And then never showing us the skit. Which I guess, in that case, would be good because we’d be dead. But you get the idea.

So, yes, this novel is about a book plot so good, so original that putting it out there in the world is guaranteed to spawn a bestseller, movie adaptations and critical acclaim from the NYT to Oprah. The thing is the plot, such as it is, doesn’t belong to the author who ultimately puts it out there. Yes, Jacob Finch Bonner is an author. One whose first book he wrote as a younger man — and this is one of the biggest tropes in writers writing about writers — drew critical mentions, but middling sales. And whose second and third novels flopped and/or just never really made it into the public eye. I have seen this plot and this character so many times I can’t count. To make it even more trope-y, Jake has taken a gig as a professor at a low-residency program at a no-name college in Vermont. Because those who can’t do, teach says every novel and movie about washed-up writers ever. The difference here is that one of Jake’s students — a cocky, seemingly disinterested jerk — comes through and reveals a plot so juicy, so amazing that Jake eventually steals it for his own after learning of that student’s passing. Which he then spends the rest of the novel justifying.

Flash forward and exactly what Jake’s student said would happen has happened when “the plot” made its way to the public. They ate it up. Jake’s novel, based solely on this plot told to him by his student, is number one and a film is in the hopper with Steven Spielberg. In The Plot we get snippets of Finch Bonner’s book, Crib, which honestly doesn’t seem that great. But, hey, apparently the popularity is generated almost entirely by the twist in the story that nobody sees coming. The thing as a reader of the actual novel that I don’t understand is if the twist that we’re let in on is the actual twist or just a hint at the twist. Because there’s kind of a weak twist (or two) in the real world of the novel, but we’re never really exposed to the twist in Finch’s written novel, Crib. Yes, it’s meta in a sense, but I’m not sure that was the intention. The point is, the twist in our novel is relatively underwhelming. Something you might see in a Law & Order or a Lifetime movie that went “bad woman” and not “bad man.” I don’t want to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that things get a little confusing when lining up real-world events we’re supposed to understand in the world of our novel, events in the written novel and events in the world of the written novel that were based on the world of the novel that were unspoken. See?

Also, the twist in the world of our novel — or at least the kind of primary twist, as there are a couple — is obvious from jump. And I’m not sure as readers if that wasn’t a big deal and the twist being a surprise to Jake is meant to show how distracted he is by the guilt and stress of basing his success on what amounts to plagiarism. Which he and I think maybe he and our actual author of this novel, Jean Hanff Korelitz, try to say is okay? That part seems to be in debate the entire time. Is taking a plot plagiarism if the book based on that plot is wholly written by its author? I mean you always hear there are only like 10 plots that every story can fit into. So what is a plot, really? Jake didn’t literally take his student’s words; only an idea. Which, considering so many movies and novels are sold on a short elevator pitch — which amounts to an idea of a plot — seems like stealing to me. I’m honestly not sure, after reading her novel, where Korelitz comes down on this. Or if Jake, who is constantly trying to convince himself he didn’t do anything wrong, is justified in his feelings, or if the guilt in and of itself tells the story.

I know I’m being a little cagey here. I don’t want to give anything away — and it’s not as though this is an M. Night movie or anything — but I do think it’s a worthwhile read. Because despite my skepticism that the author completely pulled off her magic trick or sold the plot in The Plot, I found it a breezy, entertaining read. It never bogs down and mixes enough of the literary with the paranoid thriller to keep me excited to pick it back up at night to see where it was going. I was a little disappointed at one of the twists and how telegraphed it was — I hoped upon hope she wasn’t going to expose my assumption as a thing — but it didn’t overwhelm my otherwise positive feelings about my experience reading it. I do think this makes a perfect beach or train read, as it is propulsive, features a main character who is smart but does dumb shit who you can feel superior to and wraps up nicely. There is a sequel to this novel called The Sequel. Because of course there is. I’m sure I’ll read it because that’s just who I am.