This really pisses the hell out of me.

God, where to go first? Because...okay, first, what the hell kind of light is shining out of Kaavya Viswanathon's ass that she got a half a million advance at the age of seventeen? It's not that I think a seventeen-year-old can't be that talented, but she had to have been displaying that talent somewhere, hardcore, to get that kind of notice, and...yeah. People that talented don't NEED to plagiarize. And for another thing, okay, I am the first one to pick up themes and turns of phrase from writers I admire, sometimes unconsciously, so her "internalizing" excuse I'm willing to buy for about fifty cents. Except that she has five hundred thousand bucks to write her own goddamn book, so she doesn't really need to sell it, if you see what I'm saying. There's a difference between "blah blah fishcakes" ending up somewhere on your blog and putting it in your opus.

And the most glaringly face-slappingly hideous part of it to me is...for christ sakes, just look at the supposedly lifted passages in the second link. They SUCK. I mean, on one side of the coin you've got "if you're going to plagiarize, don't plagiarize crap," and on the other side of the coin you've got me scratching my head trying to decide whether it even counts as plagiarism, because...okay, take these two phrases here:

From page 223 of McCafferty’s first novel: “Marcus finds me completely nonsexual. No tension to complicate our whatever relationship. I should be relieved.”

From pages 175 and 176 of Viswanathan’s novel: “Sean only wanted me as a friend. A nonsexual female friend. That was a good thing. There would be no tension to complicate our relationship and my soon-to-be relationship with Jeff Akel. I was relieved.”

Is...that an original thing? At all? I mean, you can scream similar wording all you want, but for God's sake, McCafferty is not the first writer to consider the idea of platonic relationships. She is not the million-billion-trillionth writer to consider it. Ye Gods, a "nonsexual friend"! How stunningly original! All others who consider it are simply ripping off the brilliance that is Megan McCafferty! Gag me.

So what you've got, basically, is a trite idea written in a bland way by two different writers. People, that's not really "copying" so much as "being a sucky and uninspired writer and being paid HALF A MILLION GODDAMN DOLLARS FOR IT."

GOD.