Although Kaavya Viswanathan has apologized profusely to me, I remain suspicious that her borrowings were more than "inadvertent." She claims to have read this blog in high school, and I'm flattered, but flattery turns rancid when it's spiked with plagiarism. Let's look at the striking similarities between a passage from CC&P and her novel:
Corn Chips And Pie, David Brooks' Personal Hygiene Diary, 9/20/05: "8:00 am: Forestalled any incipient choad infection by rhythmic, abrading application of nylon rope soaked in hydrogen peroxide."
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life, p. 79: "That morning, I watched Taylor forestall his incipient choad infection by rhythmically rubbing a nylon rope soaked in hydrogen peroxide over his crotch. Disgusting. What did Sabrina see in him that I didn't?"
You be the judge.
