I was fascinated by this book, especially since I worked with Bowers in his quest to catch up with his plagiarist, a quest detailed by this book. Although the editor before me published the poem, I was the editor of a small poetry magazine which had printed a plagiarized version of one of Bowers' poems. Both in our brief correspondence and in this book, Bowers' impressed me as a brave soul. Plagiarists, on the other hand, are not the pranksters they imagine themselves to be; they are the cowards of the literary world. "Words for the Taking" is a tale of courage, both in the story it tells of the tracking of a criminal, and in the example it sets of one man believing in his writing. There are many lazy, slack-off writers out there. "Words for the Taking" shows us more than any writing course could that putting effort into and believing in your writing is one of the bravest acts possible.

I think this book was good and interersting and to me It was a good book.This author is my only uncle and I think he is a great poet/author!!!!!!

This is a fascinating and scary book.

WORDS FOR THE TAKING is by the poet Neal Bowers, who stumbled on one of his poems that appeared under another writer's name. After some detective work, he found out that the plagiarist, David Sumner/David Jones, had ripped off several other of his poems, and had also stolen from poets as well known as Mark Strand and Sharon Olds. Further investigation located the man, and it turned out he was also guilty of child molestation -- a second-grade teacher who was convicted of molesting 7-year-old girls left in his care.

I wonder if you have to be a writer yourself, to understand how violated the author felt. (And how terrifying it must have been to find out how completely bereft of morals the violator turned out to be).

The first instance Bowers found was "Tenth -Year Elegy," a very personal remembrance of his father. Most of the other poems stolen were about family relations, which in context is sinister.

(One must quote, for fun, the response that he got from the editor of _Poetry Forum_, with an unlikely name, Gunvor Skogsholm, the burden of which seems to have driven him to reinvent the history of poetry in his own eloquent terms: "It's my strongly felt opinion that a good poet by nature ought to possess humbleness and that he or she ought not to think to [sic] highly of him- or herself. Throughout history, those have always been the personal traits associated with a POET. If you have read any of the literary histories associated with the great names in the art of poetry, you will know this is so.")

It's a very well written book on a fascinating subject. Bowers understands that merely ordinary people might see his concern and the steps he was driven to as being excessive, and I think in that light, both he and the publisher, W.W. Norton, are to be commended for keeping a proper perspective.

Neal Bowers first novel length fiction effort is a smart, funny, and emotionally loaded book. Bowers does a wonderful job with his diabetic narrator and his desire to invent a more interesting life for himself. Bowers, like David Lodge, sneaks in a few in jokes for those exposed to English Acadame, but the novel itself is wonderfully accessible.

That being said, despite what may seem to be an outlandish premise by discovering another man's body in his father's grave, the rest of the book is predictable from that point onward. There are few, if any surprises beyond the first fifty pages, and as such it takes some of the emotional punch out of the character arc.

That being said, the prose is a joy to read, the wit compelling, and the time spent on the book was well worth it, but it is not MUST HAVE reading.

Neal Bowers whom I vaguely remember as the "wonder boy" of creative writing in college has written a most interesting, edgy novel set in his hometown. The book, readable in a couple of sittings, plays with language and our imaginations with his eccentric "hero". Somewhat Irvingesque in character, Davis Banks is the protagonist we don't want to be but can't help but become involved with. His detective acquaintance keeps us grounded and rationally involved with the plot. We must remember the author is an English prof and poet - we only get enticed with the plot. Characterization is the aspect of the book which really keeps us reading.

Neal Bowers words pack a lot of power. They tell about few days in Davis Banks' life; a lot happens. You won't want to put the book down. But as you read it, and after you have read it, you realize that Bowers has told you something to think about. What is truth: the story you make up or the clues the detective searches out? How do you deal with your own death every day and keep living? Who were your parents, really? Davis Banks' adventures are an adventure for the reader too.