A NYT tipster has found more lifted passages in Opal Mehta from yet another chick lit tome, Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (author of Shopaholic), circa 2004.
At least three portions in the book, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, by Kaavya Viswanathan, bear striking similarities to writing in Can You Keep a Secret? … the phrasing and structure of some passages is nearly identical. [Link]
The structural similarities between both versions of this passage seem damning. (It is one contiguous passage):
| Can You Keep a Secret? | Opal Mehta |
|
“And we’ll tell everyone you got your Donna Karan coat from a discount warehouse shop.” Jemima gasps. “I didn’t!” she says, color suffusing her cheeks. “You did! I saw the carrier bag,” I chime in. “And we’ll make it public that your pearls are cultured, not real…” Jemima claps a hand over her mouth… “OK!” says Jemima, practically in tears. “OK! I promise I’ll forget all about it. I promise! Just please don’t mention the discount warehouse shop. Please.” |
“And I’ll tell everyone in that in eighth grade you used to wear a ‘My Little Pony’ sweatshirt to school every day,” I continued. Priscilla gasped. “I didn’t!” she said, her face purpling again. “You did! I even have pictures,” I said. “And I’ll make it public that you named your dog Pythagoras…” Priscilla opened her mouth and gave a few soundless gulps… “Okay, fine!” she said in complete consternation. “Fine! I promise I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll talk to the club manager. Just please don’t mention the sweatshirt. Please.” |
What boggles the mind is that there are people reading chick lit so closely as to be able to detect this. True, uh, dedication 
You know a story is overexposed when Paris Hilton’s relatives try to piggyback on the publicity 
But Viswanathan’s agent will have you know that when the Crown took down the Little, Brown, her client was the real victim. It’s her twinkie defense:
Viswanathan said she had read McCafferty but called herself the victim of a photographic memory. “Somewhere in her mind, she crossed an invisible line with this material and didn’t realize that the words so easy and available to her were not her own,” says her agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh… Walsh says, “I guarantee you she’ll graduate first in her class.” [Link]
<
p>Ruth Marcus at the WaPo criticizes Viswanathan for unoriginality by using the phrase ‘curry-scented.’ The irony escapes her:
The curry-scented slapstick that follows is more product placement (Moschino miniskirt, Jimmy Choo stilettos, Habitual jeans) than literature… [Link]
The Economic Times shows some sensitivity:
It might be pertinent to remember that some years ago, a young author was being promoted by many senior writers as the next big thing in the publishing industry. And then, exactly the same thing happened with her. That story ended with the lady committing suicide. [Link]
<
p>Class, true class. The plagiary and subsequent suicide of Indrani Aikath-Gyaltsen gave rise to an interesting twist of phrase (thanks, Thalassa):‘If something comes from exotic parts, it’s read very differently’
… “there’s a phrase `aesthetic affirmative action.’ If something comes from exotic parts, it’s read very differently than if it’s domestically grown…” Friends said she turned down one dashing military officer because he spoke English with a Punjabi accent, the Indian equivalent of a blue-collar nasal rasp. [Link]
<
p>Other Indian papers struggled with the chick niche, spelling it ‘chiclet,’ ‘chicklet’ or ‘chic-lit‘ at random. Viswanathan was not amused:
“You better come correct with syntax [expletive deleted] or I’ll pop a dangling participle in your punk ass, you hear?” [Link
Meanwhile, one Boston brahmin worried the hungama might stain his silver spoon:
That may be fine for the world at large, but we at Harvard, quite frankly, are supposed to be something different. Every student here knows what it feels like to drop the H-bomb and is familiar with that tinge of pride at the recognition and respect which our institution’s name inspires… Harvard’s most recent and feted cultural contribution is chick lit written by an aspiring investment banker. We have fallen a long way from T.S. Eliot, and we should be ashamed. [Link]
<
p>This is the way the marketing machine ends, not with a bang but a whimper. But in all things a silver lining. Since many Indians don’t believe in intellectual property, Viswanathan could have a tremendous career writing for Bollywood. Why, just the other night I saw a fantastic new Bollywood trailer about a hit man who hires a cabbie to drive him around town for a night. It’s called The Killer. I suggest investing and putting up some collateral.
<
p>Viswanathan has already done what Bollyscribes do all day — lift, separate and brownify (PDF – thanks, Zai):
| Sloppy Firsts | Opal Mehta desifies it for you |
| These conversations [with Marcus] are like a shot of Schnapps with a Tabasco sauce chaser. Short, sweet, and strange… | Talking to Sean had been like eating sev mixture, the Indian equivalent to Chex Party Mix, sharp and sweet and spicy all at once… |
| [Marcus] smelled sweet and woodsy, like cedar shavings. | … [Seans’s] cologne (sweet and woodsy and spicy, like the sandalwood key chains sold as souvenirs in India.) |
| …I’ve become the subject of countless finger-pointing rumors. I heard he’s has taught her everything he knows, so she can do every position in the Kama Sutra at college. | …I was the subject of every senior’s finger-pointing, whispered rumors… “I heard the first item on your resume was being able to hit every pose in the Kama Sutra.” |
Lift kara de
Here are some of the similar passages (PDF) which most news stories haven’t yet quoted:
<
p>
| Sloppy Firsts | Opal Mehta |
| … in a truly sadomasochistic dieting gesture, they chose to buy their Diet Cokes at Cinnabon. | In a truly masochistic gesture, they had decided to buy Diet Cokes from Mrs. Fields… |
| “‘Omigod!’ shrieked Sara, taking a pink tube top emblazoned with a glittery Playboy bunny out of her shopping bag.” |
“…buy me a pink tube top emblazoned with a glittery Playboy bunny.” |
|
But then he tapped me on the shoulder, and said something so random that I was afraid he was back on the junk. “Did you know that the average American spends six months of his or her life waiting for red lights to turn green?” “What?” |
… he tapped me on the shoulder and said something so random I worried that he needed more expert counseling than I could provide.
“Did you know that the words amnesty and amnesia come from the same root?” “What?” |
| “Omigod! Let’s make sure junior year rocks,” she says. “Let’s make more time for each other. Friends are forever!”
… So I say even less at lunch than usual, totally aware of how alone I am. |
“Omigod!… We have to make more time for each other. Friends are forever!” I said even less than usual, aware of how totally alone I am. |
| Scotty has gotten into the habit of substituting curses with initials. | Every curse was either replaced by its initials or had a consonant cleverly inserted… |
| Upper Crust [as most popular group in school] | Upper-Cruster [as most popular group in school] |
| Dreg [as druggies] | Dreg [as druggies] |
Related posts: Innocent, Until Proven Otherwise, How Kaavya Viswanathan got rich, got caught, and got ruined, Buzzword bingo
Manish,
Just confess, you are green with envy about how posts by Abhi and Anna generated 400+ comments and you want to assuage your manly ego by cashing on it. But! readers are not going to fall for the same gig again. Oops I just did 🙂
Regards
i resent the sexist term ‘chick’ lit.
i am so sick of this.
Malcolm Gladwell thinks otherwise
Is Kaavya now the most famous 2nd gen South Asian American ?
oh god, leave the poor girl alone. Granted, plagiarism is an offense. But the girl is young and she her offense has been called anything but genocide. And when did Nicole Richie become a voice for intellectuals? People make mistakes, hopefully she learnt her lesson and can move own. Imagine what this has done to her future career prospects… all that wasted talent! I was disappointed too but now i sympathise with the poor girl.
That Economic Times reference is to Indrani Aikath Gyaltsen, the most famous case of plagiarism in India to date. There’s some dispute over what led her to commit suicide. Here’s an article that talks about the case and her suicide.
http://www.sawnet.org/news/aikath_gyaltsen.html
@dhalsim, #4
i meant i am sick of the topic in general. some girl goes and copies her book from somewhere else. granted, it was something to talk abt for a while. ppl saw the story through different angles.
but it is still going on and on and on and on. please, surely we have much better things to do than run down some kid to this extent, even if she is guilty of this to the hilt. what difference does it make if she copied from one author two books, or two authors three books? she is paying the price for it already, isn’t she?
I don’t know if it’s just my flu-inflicted, sleep-deprived state or the real me speaking, but I do feel for the girl despite….everything. Hang in there: this whole thing will be over soon enough. If there’s one thing that can be said for falling from great heights it’s this: you gain perspective on a whole lot real fast. Though most of us first truly feel this way around age 24, after a few (or many) dissapointments and failures, Kaavya gets a MEGA crash course at 19. Don’t you remember suddenly feeling very very very old and maybe even a wee bit sad?
“Old man look at my life, Twenty four and there’s so much more Live alone in a paradise That makes me think of two.
Love lost, such a cost, Give me things that don’t get lost. Like a coin that won’t get tossed Rolling home to you.
Lullabies, look in your eyes, Run around the same old town. Doesn’t mean that much to me To mean that much to you.
I’ve been first and last Look at how the time goes past. But I’m all alone at last. Rolling home to you.”
lyrics from Old Man by Neil Young.
I wasn’t replying to your earlier comment, bytewords.
Much of this controversy is about plagiarism itself, as in where does one draw the line. Most think it’s clear in this case. I brought up Malcolm Gladwell’s dissenting view in that context.
I am gloating… to be perfectly honest and frank.
Gladwell’s argument fails for the same reason why you can do an iPod competitor but not one that looks exactly like an iPod. The key variable is the likelihood of market confusion. The law’s duty is to enforce fair play, not good manners. You can ape a writer too closely (bad manners), but the law will mainly prevent you from copying his/her words and paragraph structure (stealing intellectual property).
Curry Scented?
What a f*$%ing idiot!
i’m so sick and tired about seeing crap about this gal (especially on SM.. aren’t 2 other posts dedicated to her ENOUGH? with over 500 responses nonetheless)… she messed up..and copied from a few books i’m sure..people have gone after her, from the university, the press, brown people, etc… people let’s move on with it.. this saga will be continuing on otherwise like another case: anna nicole smith’s battle to get her 90 year old hubbys money… i mean at this point, does anyone care about her gold digging? and malcom gladwell defending her was ridiculous… gladwell needs to blink some more think about his point of tipping 😉
i second chickpea.
enough already peoples!!! this is like with the whole clinton-lewinsky or even anna nicole thing, they got bandied about so much that by the end of it those who supported and detracted joined together in solidarity to say, like an unforgivably bitchy Paris breaking up with Paris:
it’s so over!
let’s just get over KV and take another hint from a non-fiction chick classic – she’s just not that into us. so why are people so into her?
metric, your empathetic and sweet post was v appreciated. way better than a million pretentious wannabe-witty barbs levelled at her.
let’s just take a deep breath and walk away…which is exactly what i’m doing by commenting on this post…:-P
Can I interest you in some M.I.A.? 😉
Maybe it’s my caffeine deprivation, but I really don’t see the connection between the Donna Karan line and the My Little Pony one. Missing the context am I?? In fact, the Opal Mehta sentences at the beginning of the post seem mostly innocuous (though the last one does seem a bit plagiarized). Ah well, this has gone on too long and I feel as though they are now just looking to blame her for anything they can.
Both buying from a discount store and My Little Pony are considered declasse in the Fifth Avenue crowd.
Manish (18#)
I think it (the specific passage you quote) is not as much as case of plagiarism as one indifferent prose resembling the other.
Regards
SM Intern:
yep, i’d love some more MIA
and while we’re at it, how about more Ayn Rand, Gurinder Chadha movies and Jhumpa Lahiri thrown in?…
Really? An exact copy of the paragraph structure, lightly reworded? In that case, ‘Nabokov Ninnington‘ is my own original work, and there’s a bridge I’d like to sell you 🙂
Manish (21#)
I only meant that most probably 99.999% of the chick lit contains the same thing, with paragraph structures and all that goes with it . Isn’t that the reason it is called chick lit !
Regards
Gaurav [#22]
Have extensive experience of chick-lit, do you?
For all:
Just something I have been curious about, just what is chick-lit? I know that the ToI classified river of Gods as that, but I don’t think they got it quite right. A highly political, dystopian SFF novel doesn’t seem to fit the bill…
RCK (23#)
Hardly any, just the term “chick lit” did not seem right for serious literature (you know something like mush and all)
Regards
Wow .. there must be tons of people out there studying all of their chick-lit books just to come up with these similarities. Hmm, I wonder if I could get paid for doing that.
BLAHHH!!!
RCK:
poss. definition (totally amateur and rant-like but that’s me)
chick lit
not to be confused, as in the Times of India, with chicklets, a popular mint confectionery item sold in india and used by children (and some adults) to make bunny rabbit teeth by placing small square mints over their two front teeth to amuse themselves on long summer days…oh, memories…but wait…
a total and utter shite-fest that turns literature into movie scripts, characters into caricatures and, in its incorporation of non-western subjects, complex socio-cultural issues into My Big Fat Greek Wedding with loud overbearing ethnic family, arrranged marriage fears and hot white guy waiting in the wings to whisk poor ethnic maiden away from it all.
Hey, have you been reading Nisha Minhas? Who could resist the pleasures of novels like Chappati or Chips?, Sari & Sins, Passion & Poppadoms, Bindis & Brides
I’m amazed that Gurinder Chadha has not turned them into curry scented movie blockbusters yet.
Several handy examples of chick lit are at the second link in this post. More here.
Bindis & Brides has the best tag line for a novel ever written:
I’m on the edge of my seat!
Mango (28#)
Please someone stop this massacre of alliteration.
Mango Man:
Nisha Minhas? Nope never heard of her but those painfully alliterative titles have enough ‘Mistress of Spices’ vibes for me to know to run and hide and find a safe place in a library with books, away from it all.
the really sad thing about chick lit is that i know people like me who haven’t grown up in India pounce on desi writing to give us an image of our country, and now instead of Rushdie or Mistry people are gonna read craptacular curry-scented treats and find that their culture and heritage has been commodified, plasticked and repackaged without them even knowing it.
i know its harmless fun, but so is reading tabloid magazines and watching two-star movies, and all you’re left with at the end is that sickly feeling in your stomach…must come from all those exotic, spicy tales of life, love and lonesome singletons…gag
Are we over-Kaavyaed?
Well, if it’s good enough for six articles on New York Times, it’s definitely good enough for three on the Mutiny.
Am I the only one who thinks that one of these comparisons is stretching it beyond belief? I mean:
and
Are nothing alike except for the theme of faking it. Which, I’ll bet is present in over half of the novels in this genre. It’s a consistent plot point. The sentences are similar only in that they both start with “and that”.
What’s your point, Ennis?
That’s she’s not so bad after all?
Did you miss that the entire passage is one single comparison? Some of the texture was reworded just like ‘Nabokov Ninnington‘ was, but the paragraph structure is a near-exact copy.
Are you still clinging to the belief that this occurred by chance or supernatural manifestation?
An odd burden of proof, that (‘one different word means it’s not plagiarism’?)
Oh god I’m so over this topic. She was 17 leave her alone already. I’m so tired of everyone flogging a dead horse. Yes she screwed up for petes sake can we move onto another topic already….
I did not make the connection either.
And two different stories about the snobby spoilt girls can’t have references to the snobbery in two different contexts? I think someone is now just looking for anything to pin as being similar.
The originals in the chick lit genre, the ones that started it all were in a sense empowering to women. It pointed at the neurosy of women and the frustrations and situations women face. Women felt empowered in knowing someone else did as well and they weren’t abnormal. Why did Sex & the City take off so much? However a lot of crap is now being sold off as “chick lit” and it’s mildly irritating though I don’t read any of it but it’s diluted the whole chick lit genre.
BTW, most damning to me is this:
“The passages are clustered in the final third of Ms. Viswanathan’s book.”
That’s when she was writing in a hurry. These similarities seem like more intentional rip offs than the others, it seems that she’s clearly trying to avoid getting caught.
Wait. You don’t see the passage leading this post off is an exact copy, slightly reworded?
compare the 2 passages as whole.. not sentence by sentence
“Oh god I’m so over this controversy. She was 17 leave her be already. I’m so bored of everyone repeating a dead subject. Yes she messed up for petes sake can we move onto another post already….”
Not plagiarism?
so diss the packaging, not the product spokeswoman. i don’t think she’s guilty of plagiarism, i think she’s guilty of selling her soul.
and i’m with ennis and jane…sometimes, i DON’T see the blatant-to-everyone-else similarities. but then, i’m not naively, misguidedly thinking that a work in this most unoriginal of genres has to be original.
No, I see it now. I’m still not fully awake, and I think you changed the formatting (I can’t find the bit I quoted). Yes, the whole passage is a complete rip. As I mentioned in another comment, I find the Kinsella quotes a bit more like other instances of intentional plagiarism I’ve seen.
The Donna Karen thing and the my Pony thing…no I really don’t see it. It’s high school snobbery. It’s not an experience exclusive to just one author. Such trivial snobbery is usually about clothes and ridiculously common so I would never in my wildest dreams think that one was lifted off the other.
Oops yup it is…you caught me. lol
JoaT – look at the whole paragraphs side by side. Even if you don’t see that part of it, when you step back, the two track very nicely.
That was my whole point. If you go looking all of chick lit looks the same. I’m not saying plagiarism didn’t take place in the greater context but this is nitpicking on a genre of books that has nothing original in it to begin with. If you look at all the teenage angst movies out there, they could all pretty much be written by the same person. Nothing original about them.
Forgive me if the phrases, “I’ll tell everyone!” “She gasped” and “I promised” don’t automatically ring my cheater, cheater-mathangya-eater bell, since they are uttered by, oh, EVERY female from age seven to 17. fine, the structures are similar, but so are the plots, the sub-plots, the SATC-approved-and-inspired brand name-checking and the requisite cutesy covers which evoke thoughts of shopping, pink and shoes.
i just wish everyone would look at the bigger picture– most of these books are probably concocted by committee, which is why they’re all bad copies of each other. i am almost certain that “opal mehta” isn’t the ONLY book which could fail these tests set up by the media. so please, unless we’re going to out THOSE writer-figureheads and apply justice evenly, let’s leave kaavya alone.
JoAT! Jinx! Buy me a
coke pair of Manolo Blahniks!this is abs ridiculous…..arent these passages common place even in daily life…where such usage is so cliched that terming it plagiarism…is abs ridiculous
Ennis (45#)
I think it is literary equivalent of convergent evolution,
either that or great minds things alike 😉
Regards