Many of you have already picked up on the story broken by the Harvard Crimson on Sunday. It appears VERY likely that young author Kaavya Viswanathan is a cheat. Her newly released novel, part of a lucrative two-book deal, has several passages that are almost identical to a 2001 novel that examined similar adolescent themes:
A recently-published novel by Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan ’08, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,” contains several passages that are strikingly similar to two books by Megan F. McCafferty–the 2001 novel “Sloppy Firsts” and the 2003 novel “Second Helpings.”
At one point, “Opal Mehta” contains a 14-word passage that appears verbatim in McCafferty’s book “Sloppy Firsts.”
Reached on her cell phone Saturday night, Viswanathan said, “No comment. I have no idea what you are talking about.”
McCafferty, the author of three novels and a former editor at the magazine Cosmopolitan, wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson Saturday night: “I’m already aware of this situation, and so is my publisher…” [Link]
Normally I would be skeptical until I heard more about this, but the Crimson has just broken it down to the point where you know how this is all going to end. Her literary career is over. If I were her I would think about falling back on medical school or something real quick. I was thrilled to see a teenage girl that could still write and didn’t use “u” instead of “you,” or “r” instead of “are.” My hopes for the next generation are now completely dashed. Here are just two of the numerous examples of apparent plagiarism cited by the Crimson:
From page 217 of McCafferty’s first novel: “But then he tapped me on the shoulder, and said something so random that I was afraid he was back on the junk.”
From page 142 of Viswanathan’s novel: “…he tapped me on the shoulder and said something so random I worried that he needed more expert counseling than I could provide…”From page 237 of McCafferty’s first novel: “Finally, four major department stores and 170 specialty shops later, we were done.”
From page 51 of Viswanathan’s novel: “Five department stores, and 170 specialty shops later, I was sick of listening to her hum along to Alicia Keys……” [Link]
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Reading the Crimson article inspired me to do some investigative blogging of my own and has led me to a fantastic discovery which I would like to reveal first to SM readers (an then later to the world press). Aided by SM staff I have found striking similarities between the novel “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,” and the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. For example, if you take the name of the main character, “Opal Mehta,” and you rearrange the letters, it gives you the following phrase:
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p>I think somewhere in Holy Blood, Holy Grail they mention that “a pale moth” is one of the symbols associated with the female divinity, a symbol that was suppressed in the 6th century by the papacy. On a previous post we all wondered why the title character would be named “Opal Mehta” of all things. It makes sense to me now.
Furthermore, I have reason to believe that Kaavya Viswanathan may not even be her real name. Rearranging the letters in her name gives you:
Roughly translated this seems to mean that Satan stays away from wherever the Ankh is displayed (the ankh being an ancient symbol that some believe is the precursor to the Christian cross). This again is a theme that Baigent and Leigh discuss in their non-fiction book. Before the Harvard Crimson article I would have just thought that “maybe this is all a coincidence,” and this really is just a book about a teenage girl that she created from her imagination. I am sure that you all agree in light of the evidence that I have just laid out that this is highly unlikely. This girl simply has no conscience.
See related posts: How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and…, The narcissist principle
That’s what makes me think that it’s accidental. When I was in high school, writing papers, I would sometimes observe that I preserved too much of the original structure of a paraphrase. I noticed this b/c I went to cite the paraphrase, and could compare it to the original. My point is, especially at that age, it was too easy to accidentally retain information that you had no intention of transmitting, such as exact wording of your source.
I’m hoping medical school IS a fallback for me. And my girlfriend’s an IBer and hates her hours! Does anyone want to write a book about us? Plagiarism is welcomed.
but why would you paraphrase if you’re writing a non-fiction, creative novel??? you don’t mine other novels for ideas. thats called plagerism.
Especially if they are talking about the same New Jersey mall and it really does have 170 stores. Field trip anyone?
I am thinking of marketing a t-shirt that looks similar to the Opal Mehta cover except she’d be wearing a prison outfit and it would bear the words “Viswanathan is Innocent.”
I do hope she gets invited to Oprah though. That would be the best ever.
Pooja’s link in #45 is interesting to read – I had not read mention of 17th St Productions’ involvement in any of the interviews with Kaavya. We may learn a lot more about how these companies work in general in the course of this story.
The plagiarism could well have resulted from the packaging company’s approach. But – she was perfectly willing to take the credit for the book before the scandal broke.
Creative works rarely spring fully blown from an author’s head. There are a number of legitimate reasons why she might have been reading other authors work at the same time that she wrote her own. I suspect she did so to get the genre tone down, that she looked at other chick lit so that she could write in a similar way. That’s kosher. Authors draw upon each other’s work in a far more direct way than that.
Christopher Paolini started writing Eragon in his mid teens. He was also criticized of being derivative in his style, but was never accused of directly plagiarizing passages from other books.
Perhaps they should start a book plagiarism checker service like Turnitin đ
Dayum…I guess I should wait awhile before sending my poignant adolescent tale to Random House, tentatively titled’ “Tales of a Third-Grade Nothing” about an awkward Indian-American child, overshadowed by his precocious little brother, growing up in a quirky family in NYC. While the smoke clears, IĂâll go back to working on ĂâAre you there Lord Ganesh, ItĂâs Me MadhuĂâ.
Some time ago, I too caught a plagiarist red-handed.
M. Nam
There was definitely some plagiarizing going on here; You can see ALL the lifted passages here in the Crimson previous piece:
List of the MANY passages that were lifted.
This is a very unfortunate situation, and I’m really sad she went down this route. I’m not trying to knock her down; from the above black and white evidence, it looks like she did it to herself and got caught trying to pull a fast one.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512965
SOME SIMILARITIES TO ĂâSECOND HELPINGSĂâ
ĂâTO BUY DIET COKES FROMĂâ
From page 67 of McCaffertyĂâs second novel: Ăâ…but in a truly sadomasochistic dieting gesture, they chose to buy their Diet Cokes at Cinnabon.Ăâ
From page 46 of ViswanathanĂâs novel: ĂâIn a truly masochistic gesture, they had decided to buy Diet Cokes from Mrs. Fields…Ăâ
ĂâPINK TUBE TOP EMBLAZONED WITH A GLITTERY PLAYBOY BUNNYĂâ
From page 68 of McCaffertyĂâs second novel: ĂâĂâOmigod!Ăâ shrieked Sara, taking a pink tube top emblazoned with a glittery Playboy bunny out of her shopping bag.Ăâ
From page 51 of ViswanathanĂâs novel: Ăâ…I was sick of listening to her hum along to Alicia Keys, and worn out from resisting her efforts to buy me a pink tube top emblazoned with a glittery Playboy bunny.Ăâ
SHIRT ALERT
From page 88 of McCaffertyĂâs second novel: ĂâBy the way, Marcus wore a T-shirt that said THURSDAY yesterday, and FRIDAY today.Ăâ
From page 170 of ViswanathanĂâs novel: ĂâHe was wearing an old, faded gray sweatshirt that said ĂâTuesdayĂâ on it. Except that today was Thursday.Ăâ
Technorati.com ranks the search “opal Mehta” fourth and “kaavya” sixth today
I loved this book. OK, I am 37 and totally out of touch with popular culture AND I did not attend an Ivy League school either. I thought the book was “feel-good” in a way that didn’t show a whole lot of depth, but to me, that’s OK. Not every novel has to be serious, or great literature. This book is well-written and funny and entertaining; that’s good enough for me. I certainly think this author has a lot of promise.
Not to be harsh…but she knocked herself down…
she took the money…
she lied…(that 170 lift is insulting)
she got caught…
The golden rule for writers whether high lit or chick lit is thou shalt not blatantly rip off..
..now i think I’ll read ‘A Fine Balance Again’…
yikes – the extra passage parallels are not helping whatever doubts I may have had. However, we still don’t know who actually did steal the passages…. that is still open to debate.
Haha! I was thinking of writing the Halwa series: Super Halwa, Halwa-a-mania, and Double Halwa.
NOT CONSCIOUSLY: QUESTIONS FOR MS VISWANATHAN
SheĂâs 18, a wannabe investment banker at Harvard. Her $500,000 book deal for How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life has set new standards for chic-lit novels.
Wasn’t the original title How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got in? Yes. But it gave the ending away, so we decided to change it to …Got a Life.
What is a potential investment banker like you doing writing a book? I love English and Economics (unlikely duo though they may be), so I’m just trying to explore as many of my passions as possible.
Does this change your career plans? Not at all. I still hope to get a job as an investment banker on Wall Street.
Are you Opal Mehta? Absolutely not! Superficially, Opal and I have a lot in common. We both go to Harvard, we’re both Indian girls from NJ, our families drive the same cars. But the similarities end there.
How do you plan to get wild with that grand book advance you bagged? I did seriously entertain the idea of spending all my money on a bright red Maserati.
Are you going to be a one-book wonder? I hope not. I plan to continue writing throughout my life so you’ll definitely be seeing at least one more book from me.
Isn’t it a little precocious for an 18-year-old to be penning a chick-lit novel? Probably not as much as a 30-year-old, but I think I’ve experienced enough to capture the angst and drama of high school.
Is this inspired by Bridget Jones’ Diary? Not consciously. The books aren’t similar, except for their categorisation as chick-lit.
Opal Mehta got a life at the end of your book. Do you have one? I like to think I have a life!
Do you have a boyfriend? Not at the moment. I did in the fall.
By Payal Kapadia
I still like this girl. I take irrational likes or dislikes to people and they’re hard to alter. I like Kaavya and I’m with Anna on being uncomfortable at people falling over themselves to celebrate her downfall. Shit when I was 17 or 18 everything I wrote was copied. In fact, it still is.
But a Maserati? The girl has lousy taste in cars.
On a related tip, despite being a bit out of it as of late, I’ve noticed quite a bit of action in the desi book world on both sides of the Atlantic. Whether any of these books turn out to be worth reading is another matter.
http://plagiarismpwn3d.ytmnd.com/
How hard can life be? Ask a silly question…
she wanted to work as an investment banker so that would be a +.
Well done- this was worth broaching. All the haters now suddenly turned Kaavya Lovers- you sort of suck. Girls standing up for each other and all that, it’s all a bs act.
Simmie (#41), I have nothing to say to you. Your arguement is specious at best, and thanks Dolores Haze, for blasting it away.
Many thanks for the link Pooja! You’re so on top of this case đ
I don’t feel sorry for her at all, the similarities between the two books is too much to ignore. I’m not a hater or am jumping on the band wagon to bring her down, but as an artist, these violations of orginality are what make it so hard for us. You cannot borrow phrases or ideas from other works and pass them off as your own.
To be honest with you, I read some interviews with her and was a tab bit suspicious at her response to the bridget jones comparison. She just seemed a bit to defensive.
cicatrix, at your service. and thank you for this comment. you said it so perfectly.
you know, i just went through a mini-drama over on my Kaavya-post where some ass said something unforgivable which proved that they didn’t know me. now i’m not saying that KV’s situation is identical (i don’t have damning, damaging evidence that i’m a potential liar hanging over my head), but, as someone who knows what it feels like to be judged unfairly (and told that i have to eat my tears b/c i “put myself out there”), i don’t think it’s wrong to cringe at the idea of deriving pleasure from another person’s pain.
yes, there are thousands of struggling writers out there, but i’m a struggling writer, too, and i don’t feel like throwing a “Kaavya got what she deserved!”-party. i’m not that insecure. the existence and tribulations of unrecognized talent doesn’t make throwing stones at glass houses okay. i can’t help but wonder– how many people here have cheated on a test? a paper? lied on a resume? we’re all a little guilty of something, to different degrees. i’m just waiting to see where KV falls on the continuum before i pronounce any judgments. if the stategery was good enough for oprah…
Is her literary career over?
A good publicist could spin this by saying that the work “was an unconscious homage to McCafferty and her interpretation of being a teenage girl in the United States,” and then mention that Viswanathan had so “internalized the voice of ‘Sloppy Firsts’–similar to how many young Americans internalize voices of popular culture, such as those presented in Laguna Beach, Gilmore Girls, etc.–that it became part of the American lens & literary vernacular by which she interpreted her Indian character, Opal Mehta”… After that, Viswanathan need only follow with praise for and an apology to McCafferty and then say “in hindsight I realize the book and experience is a far greater, ableit inadvertent, exploration of identity than ever imagined and obviously Ms. McCafferty deserves some credit for influencing that process.”
Whatever happens, the book itself is dead but she still has a chance of establishing a career in writing, however, not in this genre or not without Little, Brown & Company shelling out some cash to get McCafferty’s endorsement and commitment to not file suit (I doubt McCafferty even cares, her third book in this series is in hardcover and on the front table at Barnes&Nobles)… In the end, she’s a kid, she made a mistake and deserves all the punishment and havoc, but she still took the time to write a [pseudo] novel which is more than most of her critics, myself included, have done. So, if she consciously plagiarized, she shouldn’t be a writer but if she didn’t, she shouldn’t be discouraged from trying to write again.
From the March 22 Crimson article, this puntastic groaner:
ItĂâs hard to avoid tracing the similarities, though, and despite what Viswanathan has said, one must wonder, is Opal actually self-referentialĂâa sort of ĂâMehtaĂâ-fiction? Where does its plot end and ViswanathanĂâs real life begin?
A N N A, just like Cicatrix I am not calling her a plagiarist. I am totally with you that Kaavya probably wrote something ‘darker’ which was considered not as commercial/marketable by her agent/editor/etc. Thus, her book was ‘reshaped.’
There are some interesting publishing/marketing forces in the mix here, and I am very interested in seeing how this all plays out.
Her future is secure, this is proof-positive that she has what it takes to be an investment banker; a pathological liar with a history of white collar crime.
Hey Pooja, let us know if you here anything about this shadowy 17th Street Productions outfit before us. If they are the ones complicit it would be KV’s Ace in Hole insofar as it would partially (but not fully) absolve her.
ANNA, with all respect, I think it’s extremely generous of you to compare what you went through to the Kaavya situation. Your experience was not of your own choosing, you wrote about something that left you exposed and vulnerable, to help other women. This is a chick-lit novel written for fame and money.
And even then, I hope I’m not participating in a “Kaavya got what she deserved – party” as much as sticking to the notion that somethings cannot and should not be ignored or forgiven. We may have all committed errors in judgement, but writers put themselves out there when they are paid for their work. A close scrutiny of said work is part of the deal. Which is possibly (and please don’t stone me for this, mutineers!) why blogging (unpaid) is held to a lesser standard that official journalism (paid.) It’s all the more reason why journalistic lapses should be thoroughly criticized.
But i digress. I guess my point is not that it’s right to crow over Kaavya’s downfall, (which I may have done in jest before) but that, in all seriousness, it is right to expose the fallacy of overnight success.
Viswanathan might have plagiarism issues with more than McCafferty’s books. In a review in the Harvard Crimson, there are two quotes from Viswanathan’s book: “If from drink you get your thrill, take precautionĂâwrite your will,” and “All the dangerous drug abusers end up safe as total losers.”
These phrases bear a striking resemblance to those found in a novel of Salman Rushdie’s, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. In chapter 2, The Mail Coach, various road signs’ texts are given. Two of the four rhyming ones are, “If from speed you get your thrill, take precaution–make your will,” and “All the dangerous overtakers end up safe at undertaker’s.”
I don’t know how original these phrases are — it’s possible that Rushdie found them in India, although no Indian I’ve spoken to remembers them. A google search does find some references to them, although mostly from Rushdie.
I haven’t read Viswanathan’s book, so I haven’t verified her quotes.
given the description of the crab syndrome described in the link provided by JR, one can only imagine the glee with which those who fumed at her sudden success are celebrating her just-as-sudden downfall. what a horrible atmosphere to have at a college. the similarities though between the excerpts and the originals are troubling. never mind plagiarism, the “If from drink you get your thrill, take precautionĂâwrite your will,” and “All the dangerous drug abusers end up safe as total losers.” don’t even sound like they would come out of the mouth of an american republican conservative jock type. they sound very subcontinental english, like the road signs and examples one would find of indian english in bill bryson’s “the story of english.”
what a life learning experience to undergo at such a tender age. better it be now than later, if she has indeed plagiarised. and i’m really glad i never had to submit a resume for my undergrad applications. i don’t think i even knew what a resume really was at that age.
WOW, from the front page of the NYTimes website right now: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/books/24cnd-book.html
dogday said :
And then the NYT article says :
I’m very impressed by dogday’s accurate prediction.
More coverage at the Crimson: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512999 and http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512997. The second story contains excerpts from the letter they obtained that was sent from Random House to Little, Brown.
So am I. Kudos Dogday. As I feared she has not come clean. In my opinion she is now digging a larger hole for herself by allowing her “spin doctors” to defuse the situation by this “internalize” nonsense. Let the mob have her now.
are we sure that this is philosophical abhi?
đ
come ON, abhi…so she should be the ONE person who doesn’t follow PR protocol? everyone spins. i spin. you spin. we all spin for ice cream.
Hey Abhi,
Alloy/17th Street isn’t a “shadowy” outfit. It’s the packager of pretty well-known, best-selling titles in the teen chick-lit market, including the Gossip Girl series, the A-List series, and the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. From my limited knowledge–a friend of mine works there–they often, but not always, develop a premise (think high-concept) in-house and farm out the work to writers with a particular “voice” which fits their MTVish style of books. I’ve known people who’ve ghostwritten books this way–it’s a pretty sweet (read: $$) gig.
Ever since I read this book and read that Kaavya’s agent sent chapters to a packaging company, I’ve been curious as to how the book was “written.” I am sure tons will come out about Alloy’s involvement over the next day or so and if I hear anything before you (highly unlikely. You guys are quick!), I’ll be sure to post here.
P.
One is left with only two logical conclusions at the end of this:
1) She and/or her publishers are lying.
2) She and/or her publisher are incompetant.
1 has been discussed to death here.
I’ve known some people who are incredible at memorizing. However, they weren’t professional writers with blockbuster deals. If you’re putting something out in the market, fair or not, it will get judged against material out there. Her editors, knowing how young she was, should have been editing, cleaning up mistakes. KV, publshing her first book, should have been far more diligent in not ‘internalizing’ anothers work. In either case, it doesn’t bode well. ONLY way to get this off her back is come up with something groundbreaking and original. Her options are limited and depends on how her publisher will continue to spin this. Youth is no excuse, maybe a reason, but not an excuse when you’re marketed as a young prodigy, equal to older/seasoned writers.
thanks, Dolores Haze. now, where’s that Simmie?
I’m sorry for this Kaavya. Even is there was plagiarism, and not just inspiration. Seriously, how many of us can say we wrote every word of our term papers? People just do that kind of thing at her age.
You are right. That was probably Evil Abhi (I forgot to change the handle on the auto-form). This is what I’m talking about though. “Spinning” has become the rule rather than the exception. I am all for making an example out of her and every person who lies, cheats, or steals until we are shocked by it once again. If she had just admitted the truth that the pressure got to her I’d be writing something totally different right now. In America nobody accepts blame for anything anymore.
I did and I don’t think I’m alone either. When I catch my students cheating I nail their ass to the wall so that all will learn and fear.
This really is a shame. I was beginning to admire this woman since there are few young desi writers. Does it really matter if the passages are similar? It’s not copying but I haven’t read her book (Although coincidentally I’m reading Sloppy Firsts at this moment). It would be a shame if she copied on purpose because it would show that she’s not the real gifted writer that I thought her to be.
This is really really sad and disappointing regardless of the reason. I don’t like to see a brown sista go down especially for writing.
But this just corroborates my reason to not read any South Asian influenced pop literature. I skimmed thru this particular book out of curiousity but I make it a point not to read anything written by south asian writers for one big reason. I don’t want my writing to be influenced by it especially because I’ve been working on it for years and I’d hate to retain something in the back of my head from reading something I strongly relate to and then spitting it into my writing.
I have never read any of Helen Fielding’s books or Candace Bushnell’s writings or any other chick lit for that matter and I’ve had people tell me I write like her which makes me shudder and freak.
Oh yeah I read in the article how Dreamworks had purchased movie rights to her book. I can imagine her book as a movie (Even though I have yet to read it)but it would probably end up as a crappy movie that would only look interesting in trailers.
I don’t think the examples of “plagiarism” are all that bad. It strikes me that she was more “inspired” by the original work than “copied” it. All the examples given are signifacantly different from the original, though one can see a simularity.
Bob Dylan and Doris Kearns Goodwin were much worse.
I have an idea i will pursue this as soon as i take next vacation I am going to plagarize stuff from penthouse forum and deboanir and going to write “How Gopal Mehta F’ed a girl and got a bike”
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