Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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We care too much, or not enough

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

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It feels weird putting these two in the same review, but there you have it. I’ve been struck by the dreaded reading slump.  The Plot (Jean Hanff Korelitz) ** The plot of The Plot: author Jacob is struggling. His first novel made a modest impact, but didn’t sell well despite positive reviews. His second novel went ignored entirely. To make ends meet, Jacob teaches writing to a group of wannabes and one of them tells him the plot of a novel he is planning to […]

A Plot Within A Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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Imagine being a writing professor at a small community college. Your own novel had meager success but it certainly feels like your chance of fame and fortune are rapidly dwindling.  Enter a young man named Evan.  He doesn’t want or need your help with his writing. He has the best plot, one completely new, one that doesn’t follow a single trope.  You read a few pages and he’s right, it is totally different than anything you’ve ever read, depressingly you wished you had though of the […]

Can You Steal Somebody Else’s Story?

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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I love books about authors, bookstores, libraries, and publishing. I am drawn to stories about stories.  So of course I had to read The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. The plot of The Plot (say that ten times fast) is about a struggling writer who steals a sure thing plot from a student in his creative writing class. Jake is a writer who had decent success with his first novel (got a New York Times Review) and after two unsuccessful follow ups is not sure […]

The Plot of The Plot is a Very Good Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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Who owns a story? A plot? That is the core issue of this novel. Jacob Finch Bonnen is a struggling writer who has fallen into teaching creative writings in MFA programs after publishing two novels. The first was well received and landed him on a list of new and noteworthy authors, and his second basically confirmed his place in the obscurity that can only be experienced by the once-great.  During a low-residency MFA program, he meets a student who changes his life. Evan Parker is […]



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