Gossip Rocks Forum - View Single Post - Another lying, plagarizing 'author' bites the dust

tulip · May 3rd, 2006, 07:33 AM

I saw another article today on this subject and apparently, she lifted from other authors as well, including Meg Cabot. There is a passage in "Opal" that is almost verbatim from one in "The Princess Diaries."

Here is the last part of the article. The first part is the same as the first post in this thread. This is from AP:

The Harvard Crimson student newspaper, alerted by reader e-mails, reported Tuesday on its Web site that "Opal Mehta" contained passages similar to Meg Cabot's 2000 novel, "The Princess Diaries." The New York Times also reported comparable material in Viswanathan's novel and Sophie Kinsella's "Can You Keep a Secret?"
In Cabot's "The Princess Diaries," published by HarperCollins, the following passage appears: "There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, or moisturized. ... Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis never had fingernails. Mia Thermopolis never had blond highlights."
In Viswanathan's book, page 59 reads: "Every inch of me had been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. I didn't look a thing like Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn't own five pairs of shoes so expensive they could have been traded in for a small sailboat."
A spokeswoman for Alloy Entertainment, a book packager that helped Viswanathan shape her narrative and shared the book's copyright, said the company would have no comment. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, a literary agent who represented both Viswanathan and Alloy, also said she would not comment.

What bothers me more than the authors -- who I think in both the cases of Frey and this girl knew they were doing something wrong -- are the editors, publishing companies and literary agents who are letting this happen in order to make a buck.

May 3rd, 2006, 07:33 AM	#3 (permalink)
tulip Gold Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 853	Re: Another lying, plagarizing 'author' bites the dust I saw another article today on this subject and apparently, she lifted from other authors as well, including Meg Cabot. There is a passage in "Opal" that is almost verbatim from one in "The Princess Diaries." Here is the last part of the article. The first part is the same as the first post in this thread. This is from AP: The Harvard Crimson student newspaper, alerted by reader e-mails, reported Tuesday on its Web site that "Opal Mehta" contained passages similar to Meg Cabot's 2000 novel, "The Princess Diaries." The New York Times also reported comparable material in Viswanathan's novel and Sophie Kinsella's "Can You Keep a Secret?" In Cabot's "The Princess Diaries," published by HarperCollins, the following passage appears: "There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, or moisturized. ... Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis never had fingernails. Mia Thermopolis never had blond highlights." In Viswanathan's book, page 59 reads: "Every inch of me had been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. I didn't look a thing like Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn't own five pairs of shoes so expensive they could have been traded in for a small sailboat." A spokeswoman for Alloy Entertainment, a book packager that helped Viswanathan shape her narrative and shared the book's copyright, said the company would have no comment. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, a literary agent who represented both Viswanathan and Alloy, also said she would not comment. What bothers me more than the authors -- who I think in both the cases of Frey and this girl knew they were doing something wrong -- are the editors, publishing companies and literary agents who are letting this happen in order to make a buck.