The Plot

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

[lessthelonely]

3.25/5 stars.

OK, time to tackle this one.

I'm going to say it right off the bat: I enjoyed this. I feel like the author was going for a specific feeling of meta - talking about writing when you're, in fact, reading a piece of writing. Seeing all of these details and little tricks of the trade but never making this an essay on writing, merely an aesthetic you're going for.

I remember having a bit of a hard time with this book and, as always, turning to some reviews to either bring motivation back in or put the nail in the coffin, and the truth is, when I finished this book and basically knew what the fuss was all about, I just started thinking to myself: "Do these people not get the point?"

This book is advertised as featuring a story-within-a-story with a never-before-seen plot. The book itself tells us it's something out of the ordinary. Is this plot all that surprising? No. But it is well-written and weaved masterfully along with the actual plot of the synopsis - it's about the book's motif on writing and the authorship of plots. On the power of writing. I found it fascinating to read about, especially considering how we so easily dismiss something someone created with their minds as either shocking or mundane. Once again: the writing motif. After all, this is fiction.

My point is: anyone who discredits this book because of the plot-within-a-plot not being what it says on the tin is just mad they fell for a marketing scheme. It is a marketing scheme. And it was also one of the reasons I finished this book.

My gripes with the book are mainly that, for a thriller, the book seems to meander a whole lot before actually dealing with what should've been the thick of it. Even the main character and narrator seems to acknowledge how the plot of the synopsis is only addressed in the end. Up until then, it's a "I'll bark but won't bite" type of storytelling. Think of Gossip Girl threats but without any real follow up. Not one that's all that impactful, at least.

We end up with a book with quite a few very well written paragraphs and that leaves its own plot on hold while you're really just getting through the actual chapters so you get into the chapters from the novel that's at the center of the book, Crib. It's basically a lot of setup, which would be fine, if the ending had a little bit more bite to it. This is not a complain about the book being predictable, because if I guess the plot twists it just means I picked up what the author was putting down, but because I expected to care more for the MC, for the stakes that we spend such a long time "raising".

I say "raising" like that because... yeah, as I said, nothing felt that impactful. A bit more suspicion from his peers, more creative threats, something that made it feel a bit less like meandering until the plot twist hits. Y'all have to understand that a thriller, for me, is a genre I read in huge reading sessions at a time. I don't want to notice I'm not really that invested. The questions I have when I decide to pick up the book should only get broader and broader or even replaced by the ones I should've been asking from the beginning.

However: this is a well-written book. It's rare for me to enjoy a book that indulges in long sentences and paragraphs this much, and for that I commend the author.