Miste answers “According to today's Buzzfeed...”

Mike A. asked this question about The Giver of Stars:

According to today's Buzzfeed https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tomiobaro/jojo-moyes-the-giver-of-stars-kim-richardson-bookwoman-of it sounds very much like this book represents a significant plagiarism. Who has read both Book Woman, by Kim Michele Richardson which came out first and Mrs. Moyes' book, and what is your take on this controversy?

Miste Normally I am not one to wade into controversy, but having just finished reading both books I find myself compelled to take a deep dive.
The first thi…moreNormally I am not one to wade into controversy, but having just finished reading both books I find myself compelled to take a deep dive.
The first thing I would point out in this "controversy" is to consider the source. buzzfeed.com? Seriously? That's like the National Enquirer of social media. What are they all about but controversy. If you really look into it there is not one credible news source that has picked up on this story. That right there should give you pause to consider before you fully dive into assuming plagiarism. I'm not saying it's a false news story, just someone trying to make controversy where there may not be any and that is what buzzfeed does to drive readership.
While the stories have some similar vibes, they are two completely different stories. It would be easy to jump onto the similarities rather than examining the differences. If you examine the similarities that are pointed out in buzzfeed they are easily dismissible as someone in another post pointed out more eloquently than I probably could. It is where the stories diverge that either give each story a more compelling strength for some and less so for others.
I found the most compelling aspect of Troublesome Creek to be the story of the Blues. That is something I had never heard of and was very intrigued by. If that had not been part of the narrative the story would have been much weaker. The fact that Richardson's book didn't receive the same acceptance is simply that she is an unknown author and honestly her writing was not as strong. The narrative jumps were clunky. If I were her and had just written a book that got overshadowed by a more widely known author I would not be too happy either.
However, Moyes IS much more widely known and lets face it, if you are a fan you are going to read anything she writes and she has lots of fans. She would use a British transplant because you have to work with what you know to some extent. She may not have captured the authenticity of the hill people or language but the story of what it might have been like to be a Book Woman was just as real and authentic as Richardson.
It is not the first time that two authors have stumbled upon an idea and published books with similar themes and it probably won't be the last. But to leap right into saying someone plagiarized should be done lightly and with more basis than a buzzfeed (or similar yellow journalism) article.
I gave both of them 3 stars.(less)

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Vickie Thank you for pointing out Buzzfeed as the source of the controversy. As a teacher/librarian, I would not consider Buzzfeed a reliable source.
Nov 20, 2020 07:26AM

Joan No, but would you dispute the accuracy of the citations they compare? I can't link to the article, but the similarities are quite striking. ...more
Aug 28, 2023 05:18PM

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The Giver of Stars

by Jojo Moyes (Goodreads Author)

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