How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life
| Industry | Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1837 |
| Headquarters | Boston , United States |
| Products | Books, publishing |
| Website | www |
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life is a young adult novel by Kaavya Viswanathan that sparked significant controversy. Written soon after her high school graduation, the 2006 release coincided with her time at Harvard University and quickly became embroiled in scandal when multiple sections were discovered to have been plagiarized from various authors such as Megan McCafferty, Salman Rushdie, and Meg Cabot. Viswanathan issued an apology, describing the resemblances as "completely unintentional and unconscious." Subsequently, all copies were recalled and destroyed, and her contract for a subsequent book was terminated.
Book deal
During her attendance at Bergen County Academies, Viswanathan shared her writing—including a finished novel focused on Irish history—with Katherine Cohen of IvyWise, a college admissions consulting firm employed by her parents. Through Cohen’s assistance, she secured representation with the William Morris Agency, where senior agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh took on her case. She was then introduced to 17th Street Productions (currently known as Alloy Entertainment), a book packaging company recognized for producing series like Gossip Girl and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. After submitting an outline and four chapters of what became Opal Mehta, she obtained a two-book contract with Little, Brown and Company featuring an advance initially reported at $500,000. Viswanathan began writing prior to starting college and completed the manuscript during her freshman year at Harvard College. The book was published on April 4, 2006, shortly before she was featured in The New York Times.
The narrative centers on an academically driven Indian-American teenager who, upon being told by a Harvard admissions officer that she lacks well-roundedness, endeavors to embody a stereotypical American teenager—engaging in social activities, following fashion trends, and focusing on romantic interests. Publishers Weekly likened it to "Legally Blonde in reverse." Viswanathan mentioned that her own experiences preparing for college inspired the story, highlighting the stereotype of Asian and Indian families under intense pressure to gain entry into Ivy League schools. Prior to allegations of plagiarism, she stated in interviews that no particular literary works had influenced the novel.
Michael Pietsch later clarified that the advance was less than $500,000 and was divided between Viswanathan and Alloy Entertainment. Alloy’s president Leslie Morgenstein explained that while the company contributed to "conceptualizing and plotting" the book, they did not participate in the actual writing process. After selling the rights to Little, Brown, Alloy ended its involvement but retained copyright ownership alongside Viswanathan. Her agent confirmed that both the storyline and prose were entirely Viswanathan’s creation. The editing was handled by Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown. Film rights were acquired by DreamWorks SKG in February 2006.
Critical reception of Opal Mehta was mixed, with reviewers frequently categorizing Viswanathan as an author within the "chick lit" genre.
Megan McCafferty
On April 23, 2006, The Harvard Crimson revealed that multiple excerpts from Opal Mehta appeared to have been plagiarized from Megan McCafferty's first two "Jessica Darling" novels: Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Second Helpings (2003), identifying over a dozen closely matching passages. At that moment, Viswanathan’s book ranked 32nd on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list, while McCafferty’s third Jessica Darling installment, Charmed Thirds, had been released just one week earlier and held the No. 19 spot.
McCafferty discovered the plagiarism after receiving an email from a fan on April 11, 2006—the same day Charmed Thirds launched and nearly two weeks before the allegations became public. She described reading Viswanathan’s novel as akin to "recognizing your own child's face" due to the striking resemblances. When contacted by the Crimson prior to their report, McCafferty acknowledged awareness of the situation and expressed hope for an equitable resolution.
On April 24, 2006, Little, Brown issued a statement from Viswanathan:
"During high school, I read and greatly admired two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty... Recently, I was surprised and upset to discover similarities between certain passages in my book and these works... Although our main stories differ significantly, I did not realize how much I may have absorbed Ms. McCafferty's language. Any likenesses in phrasing were unintentional and unconscious. My publisher and I intend to revise future editions of my novel to remove inappropriate similarities... I sincerely apologize to Megan McCafferty and anyone who may have been misled by these inadvertent mistakes."
Viswanathan’s agent Walsh defended her client by suggesting these similarities were accidental, noting that teenagers often borrow language from peers. The following day, Steve Ross of Crown Publishing Group, which publishes McCafferty’s books under Random House, issued a firm rebuttal:
"We find Little Brown’s and Ms. Viswanathan’s explanations deeply troubling. The assertion that these similarities were 'unconscious' strains credibility. We have documented over forty passages in How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life that are identical or closely mirror McCafferty's works. This extensive copying amounts to literary identity theft. Given the breadth and nature of these parallels, it is impossible this was accidental or unconscious."
Ross emphasized their commitment to protecting McCafferty against what they considered deliberate plagiarism. McCafferty’s agent identified 45 "strikingly similar" sections featuring identical phrasing alongside shared plot elements. The revelation reportedly left McCafferty "devastated," causing considerable emotional distress.
In an April 26 interview with The New York Times, Viswanathan attributed some of the resemblances to her repeated reading of McCafferty’s novels combined with possessing a photographic memory; she explained she "remembers by reading" without taking notes. She also highlighted that many plot points reflect her personal experiences as an Indian-American protagonist—an element she claimed was unique within contemporary literature.
Example excerpts
McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings Viswanathan's Opal Mehta From Sloppy Firsts, page 7: "Bridget, who is my age, lives just across the street. For the first twelve years of my life, that was all I required in a best friend. But that changed once Bridget’s braces were removed and her boyfriend Burke entered the picture, and before Hope and I connected in our seventh grade Honors class." Page 14: "Priscilla was my peer and lived two blocks away. For the first fifteen years, those were the sole criteria I needed for a best friend. We bonded over our shared interest in the abacus during a gifted children’s playgroup. But everything shifted in freshman year, when Priscilla ditched her glasses and started dating one boyfriend after another." From Sloppy Firsts, page 6: "Sabrina was the intellectual Angel. Another instance illustrating how girls were expected to be either pretty or smart. Guess which category I fell into. You’ll soon find out where that has led me." Page 39: "Moneypenny was portrayed as the smart female character. Yet again, it highlighted how girls had to fit into one of two roles: intelligent or attractive. I had long accepted being in the first group, content as long as it secured me admission to Harvard. But since it hadn’t, it was clearly time to try the second category." From Second Helpings, page 67: "... but in an almost self-punishing dieting move, they opted to purchase Diet Cokes at Cinnabon." Page 46: "In a genuinely masochistic act, they decided to buy Diet Cokes from Mrs. Fields ..." From Sloppy Firsts, page 23: "He had dusty reddish dreadlocks that no girl could run her fingers through. His eyes were perpetually half-closed. His lips often curled into a faint smile, as if he was in on a secret joke you hadn’t caught yet." Page 48: "His shaggy brown hair hung too long over his eyes, which remained half shut. His mouth was curved into a half smile, suggesting he knew about some big joke waiting to be played on you." From Sloppy Firsts, page 68: "Tanning was nearly Sara’s only hobby besides gossiping. Even the skin between her fingers resembled coffee without cream. Despite her Italian roots and naturally dark complexion, it looked unnatural and almost alien." Page 48: "Apart from casual flings, tanning seemed to be her favored pastime. Every visible part of her skin matched the color and texture of her Louis Vuitton backpack. Combined with her dark hair and Italian background, she appeared almost deep-fried." From Second Helpings, page 69: "Throughout this exchange, Manda behaved as though nothing could bore her more. She casually flipped through her new paperback copy of Reviving Ophelia—she must have worn out the previous one. She stood there chewing Doublemint gum, reapplying lip gloss, and tapping her ever-present Virginia Slims pack against her palm... Her usually wavy dishwater brown hair had been straightened and bleached to a sweet corn shade since last time I saw her... Just when I thought she had reached peak hooter hugeness, it seemed Sara’s summer weight loss had migrated into Manda’s bra." Page 48: "The other HBz acted like they couldn’t be more uninterested. Sitting at a table, they skimmed through heavy Italian Vogue magazines, popped Orbit gum, and reapplied lip gloss layers. Jennifer, who had been somewhat heavy before, had slimmed down dramatically... Her lost weight hadn’t vanished completely; whatever pounds she shed from hips appeared to have relocated to her bra. Jennifer’s hair... had been bleached Clairol 252: Never Seen in Nature Blonde and was so straight it looked washed, pressed, and starched." From Sloppy Firsts, page 23: "Although I occasionally saw him at Hope’s house, Marcus and I never acknowledged each other before. So I froze... 'Uh, yeah. Ha. Ha. Ha.' ... Then I noticed Marcus smiling at me." Page 49: "Though Sean Whalen and I attended the same school for three years, we never acknowledged each other until then. I froze... 'Ha, yeah. Uh, ha. Ha.' ... Then I looked up to see Sean grinning." From Sloppy Firsts, page 237: "After visiting four major department stores and 170 specialty shops, we finally finished." Page 51: "Following trips to five department stores and 170 specialty shops, I grew tired of listening to her hum along with Alicia Keys..." From Second Helpings, page 68: "'Omigod!' Sara exclaimed while pulling a pink tube top adorned with a glittery Playboy bunny from her shopping bag." Page 51: "...I grew weary of resisting her attempts to buy me a pink tube top decorated with a glittery Playboy bunny." From Sloppy Firsts, page 217: "But then he tapped my shoulder and said something so random that I feared he might be using again." Page 142: "...he tapped my shoulder and said something so random that I worried he needed professional help beyond what I could offer."
Television Appearance
On April 26, 2006, Viswanathan was featured on NBC's The Today Show alongside Katie Couric. She asserted her innocence, explaining that any resemblances were "entirely unconscious and unintended," suggesting she must have "absorbed [McCafferty's] expressions" without any deliberate effort to "borrow from them." Viswanathan stated, "while writing, I truly believed every word was original" and expressed shock and dismay upon discovering the similarities.
Addressing the narrative likenesses between Opal Mehta and McCafferty's works, she clarified that her story drew heavily from her own experiences as an Indian-American adolescent from New Jersey aspiring to attend an Ivy League school, using her cultural background and environment to shape the protagonist. She planned to include a formal acknowledgment of McCafferty in forthcoming editions of Opal Mehta and conveyed a desire for understanding.
When questioned about the plausibility of receiving forgiveness given controversies such as that involving James Frey, Viswanathan responded that she hoped her sincerity would be recognized and that the situation would be viewed as a "completely inadvertent error."
Salman Rushdie
In the aftermath of the controversy, Viswanathan's name surged in popularity on the blog search engine Technorati, fueling extensive conversations on platforms such as MetaFilter, Amazon.com, and Gawker.com. On May 1, 2006, The New York Times reported allegations originating from the Sepia Mutiny blog suggesting that Viswanathan may have lifted passages from Salman Rushdie's 1990 novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories.
| Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories | Viswanathan's Opal Mehta |
|---|---|
| page 35: The warning states, "If from speed you get your thrill / take precaution—make your will." | page 118: A poster reads, "If from drink you get your thrill, take precaution—write your will." |
| page 31: The cautionary line says, "All the dangerous overtakers / end up safe at undertaker's." | page 119: The poster warns, "All the dangerous drug abusers end up safe as total losers." |
Sophie Kinsella
On May 2, 2006, The New York Times highlighted notable resemblances between sections of Opal Mehta and Sophie Kinsella's 2003 book Can You Keep a Secret?. Neither Viswanathan nor her publisher Little, Brown provided comments on these claims.
| Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret? | Viswanathan's Opal Mehta |
|---|---|
| pages 304–5: Describes "a full-scale argument about animal rights ... The mink like being made into coats." | pages 264–5: Mentions "a full-fledged debate over animal rights .. The foxes want to be made into scarves." |
| page 350: "'And we'll tell everyone you got your Donna Karan coat from a discount warehouse shop.' Jemima gasps. 'I didn't!' she says, cheeks flushing. |
page 282: "'And I'll tell everyone that in eighth grade you used to wear a 'My Little Pony' sweatshirt to school every day,' I continued. Priscilla gasped. 'I didn't!' she said, face turning purple again. |
Meg Cabot
On May 2, 2006, The Harvard Crimson reported that several excerpts in Viswanathan's work were directly taken from Meg Cabot's 2000 book The Princess Diaries. The coverage highlighted that few—if any—works within the 'chick-lit' genre have undergone such rigorous examination, sparking debate over whether the parallels represented plagiarism or simply common thematic elements typical of the genre.
Cabot's The Princess Diaries Viswanathan's Opal Mehta page 127: "Meanwhile, Paulo was picking up chunks of my hair and making this face and going, all sadly, "It must go. It must all go." And it went. All of it. Well, almost all of it. I still have some like bangs and a little fringe in back." page 57: "The whole time, Frederic (I wondered if anyone dared call him Freddie) kept picking up long strands of my hair and making sad faces. "It must go," he said. "It must all go." And it went. Not all of it, because after four inches vanished, I started making panicked, whimpering sounds that touched even Frederic's heart ..." page 126: "And it is sort of hard when all these beautiful, fashionable people are telling you how good you'd look in this and how much that would bring out your cheekbones ... And I kept telling myself, She's only doing this because she loves you ..." page 58: "In my defense, it was hard to be uptight and prickly while surrounded by beautiful, fashionable people all telling me how good I'd look in that shade and what this color would do to enhance my cheekbones." page 12: "There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, or moisturized. [...] Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis never had fingernails. Mia Thermopolis never had blond highlights. Mia Thermopolis never wore makeup or Gucci shoes or Chanel skirts or Christian Dior bras, which by the way don't even come in 32A, which is my size. I don't even know who I am anymore. It certainly isn't Mia Thermopolis. She's turning me into someone else." page 59: "Every inch of me had been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. I didn't look a thing like Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn't own five pairs of shoes so expensive they could have been traded in for a small sailboat. She didn't wear makeup or Manolo Blahniks or Chanel sunglasses or Habitual jeans or La Perla bras. She never owned enough cashmere to make her concerned for the future of the Kazakhstani mountain goat population. I was turning into someone else."
Tanuja Desai Hidier
On April 26, 2006, Viswanathan told The New York Times that she had not encountered any novels featuring an Indian-American main character before and that Opal Mehta was drawn from her personal experience as an Indian-American. Yet on May 3, 2006, The Harvard Independent identified three passages in Opal Mehta bearing striking similarity to Tanuja Desai Hidier's 2002 young adult novel Born Confused, which follows an Indian-American teenager living in New Jersey. The publication observed an "uncanny resemblance in imagery, sentence structure, and paragraph organization." Hidier revealed she learned about these claims the same day Viswanathan was quoted and expressed astonishment at the extensive likenesses—particularly in depictions of South Asian culture within America.
An excerpt from Born Confused had been featured in Seventeen magazine in 2002. Subsequently, Hidier was approached by Viswanathan’s prospective book packager 17th Street/Alloy with a proposal to co-create an "Indian-American teen story," which she declined. She pointed out that numerous elements from the excerpt—including its beginning and ending—were closely mirrored in Opal Mehta. Many aspects of Born Confused were autobiographical and appeared reused in Viswanathan's narrative:
"Seeing these parallels side by side was surreal—it felt as if someone had invaded my personal space—considering much of Born Confused draws heavily on my life: the alcohol cabinet in my otherwise teetotaler household in small-town Massachusetts, my family's two dinner times due to my father's late work shifts, my mother's recipes transplanted onto Opal’s dining table, even my discovery of Jackson Heights, Queens reimagined as Edison, New Jersey. Did [Viswanathan and/or Alloy] assume one could simply replace one Indian identity with another? Attentive bloggers also identified glaring cultural inaccuracies such as a Gujarati/Marathi meal served on a South Indian table and recollections of an older India inconsistent with Viswanathan’s younger age—details likely unnoticed without cultural insight."
| Hidier's Born Confused | Viswanathan's Opal Mehta |
|---|---|
| page 85: "Finally, I tore open the package they made me save for last. Inside, padded carefully between layers of tissue, was an unbelievably resounding salvar khamees... The deep crimson fabric screamed sanguinely open... embroidered with gold and silver and garnet beads and little bells that made a racket even as I lifted it out... Heavy, too — funny how all those little driblets could add up." | pages 125-126: "I looked at the multicolored swirl-patterned box hesitantly... I found an elaborate salwar kameez — loose pants, a long tunic-style top, and a trailing scarf, or dupatta. The salwar was a startling peacock-green, embroidered ornately with gold and silver threads and glittering beads that made my eyes hurt... The room resounded to the tinkle of thousands of tiny golden bells. It was surprisingly heavy... and the last thing I ever wanted to wear." |
| pages 92-93: "All day the house had smelled of spices... The feast my mother had conjured up was extravagant... Brown sugar roti and cloud-puff puris just itching to be popped... Coconut rice fluffed over the silver pot like a sweet-smelling pillow... Samosas transparent, peas bundling just below the surface... Spinach with nymph-finger cloves of garlic that sank like butter on the tongue... A vat of cucumber raita thickened with sour cream... The centerpiece: a deep serving dish of lamb curry, pieces melting tenderly off the bone." | page 130: "This year there wasn't an egg in sight. The house smelled of spices all day; at the dining table I nearly combusted at the extravagant feast my mom had conjured up. Usually not a fan of Indian food, today I was starving. The table creaked with crisp brown rotis and feather-light puris. A basket of kheema naan sat beside coconut rice studded with cashews and sultanas. Plump okra fried till it melted like butter on the tongue; aloo curry studded with peppercorns and chilis; a crock of raita bursting with onions and cucumbers. The centerpiece was mutton curry falling off the bone." |
| page 13: "India. Few memories but dream clear: Bathing in a bucket as a girl; buffalo milk drunk from a pewter cup; Dadaji pouring tea into a saucer; kitchen gods; Meera Maasi sifting stones from rice; cows huddled at vegetable market; hibiscus like fire; children with red hair living in tires; orange soda fizz down a parched throat." | pages 230-231: "Few memories of India; last visit six years ago... Cold creamy buffalo milk; Babaji pouring Ovaltine until froth bubbled thickly; shooting coconut leaf rockets off rooftops; green-and-yellow lizards after rain; cold bucket baths; sweet badam halva from Chola hotel; reading old Enid Blyton books only available in former British empire countries; smells of sun, dust, chilis, grandmother's rose talcum powder, blossoming hibiscus." |
Aftermath and response
On April 24, 2006, Viswanathan and her publisher revealed intentions to amend the novel by eliminating the problematic resemblances. Michael Pietsch of Little, Brown defended her as a dedicated author and assured that future editions would include a credit to McCafferty. Viswanathan reiterated this commitment during an appearance on The Today Show. Nevertheless, by April 27, Little, Brown withdrew all copies of Opal Mehta from circulation. Early prints quickly fetched prices around $80 on eBay. Following additional accusations of plagiarism by May 2, Little, Brown declared it would neither release a revised version nor proceed with Viswanathan’s second contracted manuscript. Subsequently, DreamWorks ceased work on the film adaptation in late April. Harvard University confirmed that the controversy would not impact her academic status; she graduated with honors in 2008 and later obtained a law degree from Georgetown University in 2011, the same year her parents tragically died in a plane accident.
On May 18, 2006, McCafferty publicly conveyed her astonishment and dismay regarding the plagiarism scandal tied to her writings. She criticized the publishing industry for permitting someone to benefit from her creative work and questioned Alloy Entertainment’s involvement, noting that book packagers sometimes hire ghostwriters. McCafferty raised concerns about whether the responsibility lay with the packagers or with Viswanathan herself.
Reflecting on the enduring effects on Viswanathan’s reputation, McCafferty expressed hope that she could overcome this episode. She also pointed out how teen literature faced negative media stereotypes following the incident and defended the literary merit of her own works against dismissive critiques.
Shaleena Koruth examined the novel’s reception and subsequent consequences in the 2014 publication Postliberalization Indian Novels in English: Politics of Global Reception and Awards.
External links
- "Publisher Bets Big on Harvard Freshman", The New York Sun, April 22, 2005.
- Geoffrey K. Pullum, "Probability Theory and Viswanathan's Plagiarism", Language Log, April 25, 2006.
- Bill Poser, "In Defense of Kaavya Viswanathan", Language Log, April 25, 2006.
- "Viswanathan-gate", New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell's blog, April 30, 2006
- "Inside 17th Street", The Harvard Independent, April 26, 2006.
- "A Tarnished Opal", The Harvard Crimson, April 27, 2006
- "Sophomore Novelist Admits To Borrowing Language From Earlier Books", The Harvard Crimson, April 28, 2006.
- In Defence of Kaavya Viswanathan at Rediff.com, May 8, 2006.
- Kurt Andersen, "Generation Xerox. Youth may not be an excuse for plagiarism. But it is an explanation", New York Magazine, May 6, 2006
- End of Kaavya, The Times of India, May 10, 2006
- Mark Patinkin, "How Kaavya Viswanathan got herself packaged", The Providence Journal, May 9, 2006.
- , LA City Beat, May 11, 2006.
- Bonnie Pfister, "Teen Author Earned Good Reputation Early", Associated Press, May 11, 2006.
- "Fingers in the word-till", Mail & Guardian, May 12, 2006.
- YRK Reddy, "Unduly battered Kaavya can still get a better life", The Financial Express, May 13, 2006.
- Jordan Bartel, "It could just be the nature of the world in which they live.", Carroll County Times, May 13, 2006.
- "Nowadays publishers are basically business people, whose primary motive is to make money.", The Tribune, May 13, 2006.
- "Kira Cochrane pities the young plagiarist", The New Statesman, May 15, 2006.
- "The Formula Book Factory", The Telegraph, May 19, 2006.
- "From young literary star to accused plagiarist", USA Today, May 7, 2006.