You know, it's a shame the author did what she did: if you were to discount all that, this is a fresh, engaging, and quite enjoyable novel. I wasn't bored for a second.
The plot concerns an overachieving Indian girl whose dream of sailing into Harvard is derailed when the admissions officer tells her to stop studying so much and get a life, which she then tries clumsily to do. It's a great plot: you can tell why they were immediately interested in making a movie of this.
But sadly, one cannot discount the publishing history. The thing that baffles me, though, is that if you actually compare (using Wikipedia, say) the passages in question with their putative sources after actually reading the book, you'll see that what was (allegedly) lifted was not core plot or characterization elements, but disposable, off-hand remarks that could easily, easily have been deleted.
For this fluff Kaavya made a life mistake? Wow.
