Kaavya Caves In

Kaavya ("I have no idea what you are talking about") Viswanathan has finally, after what must have been a difficult weekend for her, not to mention her publisher and publicist, made a public mea culpa about the similarities (which some judgmental people have called plagiarism) between her novel and the work of another author, Megan McCafferty:

"When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, 'Sloppy Firsts' and 'Second Helpings,' which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel, 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,' and passages in these books.

"While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words. I am a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious. My publisher and I plan to revise my novel for future printings to eliminate any inappropriate similarities.

"I sincerely apologize to Megan McCafferty and to any who feel they have been misled by these unintentional errors on my part."

I have to admit, reading the above I have to wonder if these really are Viswanathan's words, or if they're just an "unconscious" and "unintentional" borrowing from a highly-paid publicist who specializes in damage control.

Will this be the end of the story? Will "How Opal Mehta Yadda Yadda Yadda" survive the jettisoning of her somewhat unfortunate syntactical baggage and continue to sell? Will people believe Kaavya Viswanathan's story of "internalizing" the words of another author, however "unintentional" and "unconscious" it might have been, and forgive her for it?

I think an appearance on Oprah might help. Don't you? Especially if, as has been rumored in the press, her "unconscious" borrowings are in fact considerably more extensive than those that have been reported thus far...

Tom Moran