The title of The Plot: A Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz lives up to its title, offering not only a gripping narrative but also well-developed characters. Jacob Finch Bonner takes a wrong turn in his undistinguished writing career and pays the price after writing a best-selling novel based on a plot he acquired (stole) from another writer who is now deceased. The book delves into the acquired plot, gradually unveiling it alongside the intricacies of Bonner’s life throughout the chapters. Stephen King says the book is “insanely readable,” a sentiment I share, although I found tracking the dual plotlines more challenging in the Audible format. The fictional characters in the “Crib” are the product of Bonner’s acquired plot, while the real characters in The Plot have different names but similar roles. If I had the print version, I probably would have started circling character names to follow the story better. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
I feel fortunate that Rocket Men by Robert Kurson was assigned reading by my book club. It is a well-written account of the successful 1968 Apollo 8 NASA mission to orbit the moon, which included the three astronauts returning home during Christmas. As you may read in other sections of the Portfolio, I was in a bunker on the Korean DMZ in the winter of 1968 and knew nothing, or almost nothing, of this historic event taking place around the moon above me. Apollo 8 is on a long list of events I missed in 1968, including the assassinations of MLK, Jr. and RFK, riots at the National Democratic Convention in Chicago, the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and the release of some excellent (now classic) rock music albums. Rocket Men filled in the gaps for me, not only about the Apollo 8 mission but of many other events in the last half of 1968. The book is also an intimate description of the crew, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, how they grew up, joined the military, became astronauts, their families, their Christian faith, and their sacrifices for the NASA mission. The book ends with four words taken from one of thousands of telegrams sent to the returning astronauts, which read: “THANKS. YOU SAVED 1968.” Reading Rocket Man saved and supplemented my 1968 Army experience, for which I am grateful.
