The Plot
by Jean Hanff Korelitz

As a writer and a former teacher, I could relate to Jake's dilemma and loved the beginning of the novel, along with its humor, cleverness and literary references.

When Jake starts getting his poison pen emails and goes searching for the culprit, the novel becomes a detective story which I enjoyed though not as much as those opening pages.

As the book neared its conclusion, I felt a sense of dread and actually put off reading the final chapters.

Even though I liked and admired most of the novel, the ending, which I found to be cruel and grim, ruined my reading experience. I felt that Korelitz had crossed a line, but one that I cannot reveal without giving away the ending.

In my mind I went over what the reader knew, what Jake knew and what his antagonist knew, and I tried to come up with an alternate ending but could not. So, while the situation was resolved, my feelings, unfortunately, remained the same. Too bad...