Whilst heading into the shops with Momma Kate at the weekend, our aim chocolate and alcohol, I came across a shelf full of E L James' new book; Grey.
Now I am not going to lie, I struggled to contain my excitement, and got 'that look' off Kate when it went straight into the trolley! I had vowed to myself that I was going to show some restraint, and purposefully hadn't bought it straight away on the eighteenth - I made it to the nineteenth obviously! Anyway, back to the point, once snuggled up in bed later that evening, I opened the book to the first page to start reading. James' dedication for the book reads; This book is dedicated to those readers who asked... and asked... and asked... and asked for this... It made me chuckle.
I can't say that I was personally one of the readers who asked for this book, but I am most definitely one of her devoted readers who, as any reader would be, is interested in the other side of the story. How many times when reading Fifty Shades of Grey had I wondered what he was thinking, wondered how he felt about her, wondered what mental struggles he was battling? I don't think there is any reader who can say that they didn't like Shades of Christian; the extras that James included at the end of Fifty Shades Freed, especially Meet Fifty Shades, where we got to relive Christian and Ana's first meeting through his eyes. When I heard about her plans to release Grey; knowing that it would fill in all the gaps and answer all those unanswered questions that I had been left with, I couldn't even begin to put into words my excitement. And before anyone says it - yes I know that I probably need a life! But there are worse addictions than books!!
In the past, I got just as excited about the prospect of Midnight Sun, Stephanie Meyer's rewrite of her first book Twilight, but from Edward's perspective. I was such a good girl, and refrained from reading the leaked material on the internet because I wanted to be able to read her intended copy, not the original drafts. As a wannabe writer I know how many changes go into a story before it is ready for people to read. It took me forever to get mine to a stage where I was comfortable for my Mom to read it as another person's opinion, never mind the changes that I made after that, some with her input, others because I still wasn't happy with it, before I was finally able to say that it was ready to start sending to prospect-able Agents. When Meyer announced that she wasn't going to write the rest of Midnight Sun because of the leak, I was absolutely guttered, and when she posted a link to the manuscript on her own website, I did read it. The way she recaptured the story from Edward's point of view, and the insight you got into his thoughts and emotions only proved to deepen my love for the story, and I still hope that one day, she decides to finish writing it.
Reading Grey has done exactly that for me. I have read some of the reviews that James has received for her newest addition to the Fifty Shades Saga and if I'm honest, I think some of them are grounded in ridiculous expectations. They have criticised her for retelling 'exactly the same story' and that it is 'virtually identical' to the original book. I had to laugh; what exactly were they expecting? Of course it is the same story, I think I would have been upset if she had changed it to make for better reading or whatever reason she might have come up with. We fell in love with the story the way she wrote it from Ana's perspective, by rewriting it from Christian's point of view, she wasn't trying to rewrite the story, she wanted us to see his version, to see Ana the way he saw her. Of course the events happened in the same order, and of course the spoken dialogue was the same. Those are the facts of the story. What we wanted from Grey was to see Christian's thought and emotions behind everything that we already knew had happened, and personally, I wasn't disappointed. I loved the internal monologue that he ran with himself, and the way he answered his own thoughts. For me, this only added to how far I had already fallen for Mr Grey. Critics have complained because the way she has written the book has 'made it impossible for a film adaptation' - were they really serious in thinking that they could make the same film twice? I worry about some of these people; I really do.
Anyway, as a happy reader, I have to say that I admire E L James for this. It must have been hard to rewrite something that has been such a massive success, and try to keep a reader's attention. I have to admit, before starting it, I did wonder how easy it would be to read, when you already knew the story - I worried it would be boring and predictable. In all honesty, it was completely the opposite, and I found myself trying to remember how Ana had described the same experiences; which was harder than I thought it would be to say I only re-read the series just before the film release back in February. But all in all, I loved being able to experience the same story, one which I love so much, from another perspective, and all the while, slowly getting to know more about Christian along the way. I do hope that she intends on writing the other two books in the same way, and that the bad reviews have not put her off. There are still many loyal fans out there that have loved this opportunity, and really hope that they get a chance to follow Christian through the rest of the well loved journey. (Along with the other two films of course - but there lies a whole other story.)
If I had to criticise in any way, I would have to say that there was one place I felt let down, and that was the flogging in the playroom at the end. Honestly, I did want to know more of what he was thinking and feeling as he hit her. I have always wondered that, right from reading the book, but for me, was emphasised when I saw the film. Jamie Dornan's representation of Christian was amazing, and the emotion that he portrayed with his facial expressions and body language in that scene were truly moving. Personally, I felt that there was more to know in that scene in the new book, but I was still happy with the insight I did receive.
I think I have rambled for long enough now, there must be something productive I should be doing, though writing seems more alluring :) As always!!
Till next time,
Louby x
P.S. All opinions and quotes taken from the review were found on the Mail Online Website - no copyright intended - though I am not going to include the link as I am not aiding their reading figures for such a ridiculous review of an amazing book!
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