The Plot

I get a lot of my book recommendations from the New York Times Sunday Book Review. When you spend so much time with a book, it only makes sense to have them vetted by professional reviewers. A recent issue of the Times reviewed Jean Hanff Korelitz’s new novel The Sequel. The Sequel is the much-anticipated followup to her 2021 novel The Plot. After skimming the review of The Sequel, careful not to read any spoilers (I like going into things cold), I decided that The Sequel sounded so good that I should go ahead and read it’s precursor, The Plot.

Both books were described as metafiction with narratives within narratives, like Russian nesting dolls. And they were both said to not only be intriguing, but also hilarious. After having just read Yuval Noah Harari’s latest book about the imminent doom of humanity vis-à-vis artificial intelligence, I just needed something light and distracting to escape into.

The Plot somewhat resembles R.F. Kuang’s 2023 novel Yellowface, in which an author steals work from another author. However, the similarities end there. The Plot wrestles with authorship in a more philosophical way; it recognizes that there are only so many types of stories to tell and that new stories are essentially retelling of old stories. You know, like how Three’s Company is just Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors. But then, what if an author just takes the plot of another story and makes it their own, with great success? And that is the plot of The Plot.

The Plot is effortlessly enjoyable and as you read along, you may realize that people central to the story keep dying. And before you know it, The Plot becomes a whodunnit. As someone who has never solved any of Encyclopedia Brown’s cases, I am proud to say that I had a pretty good idea who the killer was midway through The Plot. The Plot was a page turner, leaving me wanting more after I finished it. Luckily for me, The Sequel was already available!