Salman Rushdie: 'Kaavya a victim of her own ambition'

Salman Rushdie does not accept Kaavya's plea of being innocent, saying the similarities are too extensive.

Describing Kaavya Viswanathan, facing plagiarism charges for her debut novel, as "a victim of her own ambition", well known writer Salman Rushdie has refused to take the India-born novelist's plea of being innocent saying the "similarities are too extensive".

HT Image

"I haven't seen the book, I have seen the passages that were compared between the two books, I must say I don't accept the idea that this could have been accidentally or innocently done. The passages are too many and the similarities are too extensive," Rushdie said.

He said he was sorry that "this young girl, pushed by the needs of a publishing machine and, no doubt, by her ambition should have fallen into this trap so early in her career. I hope she can recover from it."

Blaming both author and publisher for the mess, Rushdie said "both are responsible. But I know when I write a book it's my name on the book so I stand or fall by what I sign. And so must she."

Kaavya, facing plagiarism charges for her debut novel How Opal Mehta Got kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life for having similarities with Megan F McCafferty's novels Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Second Helpings (2003).

Expressing apologies to McCafferty and "anyone who felt they have been misled by these unintentional errors", Kaavya had said "while the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalised McCafferty's words."