Saturday, March 7, 2020

Hmmmm...





I talked a while back about The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek, a novel about a plucky young woman and her trials as one of the 'pack librarians' of the Depression era Kentucky mountains.

Now I've read The Giver of Stars, published a few months after Bookwoman. It's a novel about a plucky young woman and her trials as one of the 'pack librarians' of the Depression era Kentucky mountains.

Fair enough-- the pack librarians were real and their history is out there for any enterprising author to use as a springboard into fiction. 

Of course there will be some similarities. And the protagonists, aside from pluckiness, could hardly be more different. Cussy Mary of The Bookwoman is a native Kentuckian, with a genetic condition that turn her skin blue. Alice, of The Giver, is a young Englishwoman, transplanted to Kentucky by marriage.

But still. As I read The  Giver, I kept having a feeling of deja vu. So many similarities of plot.

I'm not the only one. An excellent article HERE  documents the similarities and explains  the difficulty of proving plagiarism.

Both novels have done well. But it's Moyes, who already had an huge following, who's landed a film contract. 

What a nightmare--to feel that your work has been plagiarized or, equally, to be accused of plagiarism if you're innocent.

Both books were good reads. I felt that Bookwoman was far more authentic in its language (Giver seemed to slip into present day slang sometimes) and, on the whole, better written.  Giver kept me turning the pages, eager to find the resolution, but toward the end, I confess I was skimming--not especially deeply engaged.

Would I have felt differently if I'd read Giver first? I don't think so.




3 comments:

Barbara Rogers said...

I usually enjoy Appalachian stories...and there sure are a plethora of them these days, but I'm having trouble engaging with "Giver..." And since I haven't read the other, perhaps after I finish this one, I can read the other (which I gather came out first) and see what I think from doing the reverse of what you have.

Tara said...

I read "Bookwoman" on your recommendation and absolutely loved it. I think its narrative would have made a wonderful movie.

NCmountainwoman said...

I had passed on BOOKWOMAN because I had read GIVER OF STARS. Now I will go back and read it. Thanks.