The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz, begins in the delightfully snarky 3rd person voice of Jacob Finch (yes, that Finch) Bonner, a floundering novelist, with one successful (published) novel and more than a few unpublished novels to his credit, as he prepares to lead a class of hopeful writers during a two -week Ripley Symposia in Creative Writing. Jacob is underwhelmed, a cynical, depressed sad sack who continues to tell himself what he once was and what he can be, all the while not doing a darn thing to get there. His father can't believe Jacob can actually make money writing, like Sidney Sheldon, and his mother reminds him he didn't score very high on the verbal portion of the PSAT. Jacob's anger and frustration are just below the surface, the unfairness (surely he's unsuccessful through no fault of his own) of it all, and he's on the edge. He just knows that the student who grabs HIS Heineken from the cooler at the Welcome BBQ will be HIS student. I loved the little sarcastic asides Hanff Korelitz slips in, I see some serious comeuppances headed Jacob's way!