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File under: Copycat

Kaimi is apparently miffed that Kaavya Viswanathan’s is getting all kinds of attention for plagiarising and wants in on the action. So, he cribs Rusty's prior post on Gaut, which post he lovingly adored, and turns it into a post on NYC, whom his wife Mardell also loves (making her the coolest wife in the world since she loves anything he loves and does whatever he does...take note there wives aspiring to unseat Mardell for 2007 Coolest Wife in the World). Or, maybe, being on sabbatical means you don't have to be original.

7 comments

Stephen said... @ May 4, 2006 at 8:42 PM

It could have been a love post about Amarillo ... or Wichita Falls.

annegb said... @ May 4, 2006 at 9:48 PM

You know, all the flap about James frey just bothered me, I thought it was much ado about nothing. He wrote a wonderful book.

In Augusten Burrough's latest book (don't read it you guys you'll wonder about me that I like him), he made a disclaimer that some things had been exagerated or something like that. He writes memoirs as well.

I bet all the memoir writers do that now. Dang, where is the poetic license?

Just ranting.

Response to Jodi Stoddard said... @ May 5, 2006 at 8:47 PM

Anne,

James Frey wildy lied his head off, and made a lot of money in the process. But, worse than that, he argued against the principles of 12 Step Programs for recovery from alcoholism and substance abuse, and people believe him. People with real alcohol and substance abuse problems rejected programs that offered real and substantive ways of dealing with their problems constructively, all because of this jerk's lies. That is not a good thing.

Stephen said... @ May 7, 2006 at 6:05 AM

Good point Snarkette. Frey got attention and anger for his lies not because the story was not entertaining, but because of the metamessages he used the story to attempt to validate.

annegb said... @ May 7, 2006 at 6:15 PM

Snarkette, I don't think it was all that wild. If he'd published it as fiction, it would have been a terrific book.

AA isn't for everyone, and I have benefited from AA.

Frey quotes a lot from the Tai Ching (hope I got that right) and there is a lot of wisdom in his book. I've got it all underlined and dog eared. As is my Big Book.

And my Book of Mormon, which a lot of people claim is a crock. How many versions of the First Vision are there?

Do you honestly think Angela's Ashes if factual?

Stephen said... @ May 7, 2006 at 8:21 PM

Angela's Ashes? Reminded me of people I know.

You make some good points, I think people are confounding the writer's public comments with the message of the book.

Nicely clarified annegb.

annegb said... @ May 9, 2006 at 7:13 PM

Oh, I meant all parts of Angela's Ashes, I believe it's his story. But memory is false, and it's easy when writing memoirs to extrapolate. I think it's hard to separate fact from fiction.

For instance, I remember clearly my neighbor telling me a story about how a doctor sewed her up too tight after her episiotomy. Vividly.

She denies it. Says it never happened, she never told me.

One of us is confused.

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