Well i have recently published my first mystery novel ‘THE GOPHER’ in U.S.A and i am presently doing my Master’s in Pune.Well after reading about the whole episode,i am sure Kaavya inside also knows she copied the excerpts and was pretty sure no one will even care to think about matching excerpts from some ohter novel.Such kind of mindset is there when you are pretty young writing a novel and really want to be famous.What she said in defence everyone knows is false and doesn’t make any sense.
Anyways best of luck Kaavya and hope you learn from this blunder.Hope to read your original creation in future.
Salil Dhawan
M.S ( Advanced Networking Technologies and Telecom)
International Institute Of Information Technology
Pune Infotech Park,Pune

I wrote the post on March 23, 2006—much before the plagiarism scandal broke. After I read the book, I felt that the book was a good read—something that could be finished in a few hours. I still have the same opinion about the book.

But borrowing material is something totally unrelated to this and I am totally against plagiarism. I have published most of the comments on the scandal. I have only deleted the comments that contained abusive language or those attacked me using profanity.

I think there has been enough discussion on the subject and therefore I am disabling the comments. I hope you will understand. I am just a reader of the book who wrote what I thought after reading the book. If somebody have some grudge against the author or the publisher the please direct it to their mailboxes. Thank you.

“Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard sophomore currently involved in a plagiarism scandal, apologized Monday for accidentally borrowing material from an earlier novel.

Viswanathan signed a reported $500,000 deal for two books while in her first year of college, but her first novel, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life”, published in March, recently came under media and publishing industry scrutiny. Last week, a reader pointed out that several passages were very similar in style and content to “Sloppy Firsts”, a book by Megan McCafferty, published in 2001.

In a statement released on Monday by her publisher, Little, Brown and Co., Viswanathan said that the similarities were not intentional.

“When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, ‘Sloppy Firsts’ and ‘Second Helpings,’” the 19-year old student said. “Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel … and passages in these books.”

She explained the similarities saying she had internalized “Sloppy Firsts” more than she realized.

“I wasn’t aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty’s words. I can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious.”

She added that she will change the passages in question for the following edition of her book and apologized to Megan McCafferty.”

Excerpts of similar passages in Kaavya’s ‘How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, published in March, and Megan McCafferty’s Sloppy Firsts, published in 2001.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/kiss–tell-opal-mehtajessica-links/8675-8.html

I want Oprah to give this girl a talking to.