CAMBRIDGE, Mass - Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan, whose maiden novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life" made waves a couple of months ago is now in the midst of a plagiarism storm after it was found that her book contained about 13 identical passages from Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, two coming of age books by Megan McCafferty.
Viswanathan tried to explain away this by saying that the 'borrowing' was "unintentional and unconscious". She also tendered an unconditional apology to Ms McCafferty, saying that she was unaware that she had "internalized" her work; such was her admiration for the latter. The novel was placed 32nd on the New York Times's "hardcover fiction" bestseller list and earned the author a six-figure income. There is talk about a movie deal with DreamWorks studio.
However, that seems to be jeopardized after the Harvard Crimson alleged that Viswanathan had lifted passages from Megan McCafferty's novels. The author has released a statement through her publishers Little, Brown and Co. She says that McCafferty's books were her favorite through high school. "While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words," the statement added. Viswanathan said that the corrections would be made in future print editions.
Crimson's Web site first broke the story on Sunday. It cited the passages as well. One passage, which was compared in both books, reads as follows - "McCafferty, page 23: "Though I used to see him sometimes at Hope's house, Marcus and I had never, ever acknowledged each other's existence before. So I froze, not knowing whether I should (a) laugh (b) say something (c) ignore him and keep on walking."
"Viswanathan, page 49: "Though I had been to school with him for the last three years, Sean Whalen and I had never acknowledged each other's existence before. I froze, unsure of (a) what he was talking about and (b) what I was supposed to do about it."
Little Brown publisher, Michael Pietsch said that he did not believe that the pressure to succeed had caused these errors. "Every word in that book was written by her, for better or for worse," he said. "The current edition will not be withdrawn from stores."
