A book
review seems not to be plagiarized… Or is it?
Professor Wang: It’s well written. Are you sure
it’s his own work?
Professor Tsu: I tried a plagiarism search.
Nothing showed up.
Professor Wang: What they’re doing now is
changing all the key words.
Professor Tsu: Sounds just as much effort as
writing an essay from scratch.
______________
Voice-over
An example of rewriting by changing the form but
not the content. It may fool computer plagiarizing software but not a human
reader… But we do learn from models…
Original Book Review
Suspense in "The Charm School" (1988)
keeps being ratcheted as on a rack. Had to keep putting it down to draw breath.
Its "charm" lies in waiting for the axe to fall. Which it does,
repeatedly.
I also read Nelson DeMille's "The Gold
Coast" (1990) which was less wrought up, and funny, and I still kept
stopping but for a different reason. That was to highlight lines of clever
writing where he shines a light on human capers and frailty.
So it's as if Nelson DeMille decided to do
"The Charm School" as dollops of derring-do with dashes of diplomatic
back-stabbing, then to pen personality profiles tongue in cheek in "The
Gold Coast". Great span of talent.
______________________
Rewritten Book Review
Anxiety in "The Charm School" (1988)
keeps being increased. I had to keep stopping to take a break. Its so-called
charm is in waiting for crises to happen, which do, very often.
I also read Nelson DeMille's "The Gold
Coast" (1990) which was less tense, and humorous, and I still often
stopped reading but for another cause. That was to mark lines of skillful
writing where he illuminated human strengths and weaknesses.
So it's as if Nelson DeMille decided to do "The Charm School" as a mainly an action novel, then to write about characters ironically in "The Gold Coast". He has a great range of skill.
...
