Books: An F for Originality

While packagers are known to heavily revise writers' work, Viswanathan said last week that she was responsible for the borrowings. An Alloy spokeswoman told TIME that although it helped outline and plot Opal, "Kaavya wrote the book." Whoever bears the blame, it's the publishing industry that will bear the burden of having again compromised its credibility with a big-money writer. As with Frey (junkie!) and LeRoy (hustler!), here was an author with a persona (wunderkind!) that was too good not to sell. They all point to the vulnerability of a publishing business (and, let's be honest, a reading public) that's often more concerned with the bio and mediagenic traits of an author than with the quality of the book.

In the end, though, the buck stops with the name on the cover. It's unclear whether Viswanathan will produce the second book of her contract; DreamWorks is likely to drop plans for an Opal movie. As for finishing Harvard, which has not decided on disciplinary action, Walsh says, "I guarantee you she'll graduate first in her class." But not before learning a very public lesson.