Review Roundup: E.L. James' GREY Spin-Off Novel

E.L. James released her fourth novel from the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY series yesterday, June 18 -- Christian Grey's birthday in the novels, which have since spawned a blockbuster film (with more to come).

Written from Christian's point of view, the book is called GREY.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Leanne Italie, Associated Press: Starting with a nightmare flashing back to Grey's rough childhood, James soon gets down to BDSM business as she plows through the familiar story laid out in her first book, "Fifty Shades of Grey," only this time she tells it from the hunky billionaire's perspective rather than that of the young and innocent Ana...The new book is bereft of any true surprises, like so many other add-ons, but that won't matter much too hard-core fans of this hard-core romance franchise...Grey's self-loathing comes alive in predictable expletives - and predictable cliches as realizes his pull to Ana is "like a moth to a flame"...Grey doesn't have an inner god to match Ana's ever-present inner goddess, but he does have some unspoken thoughts to match the voluminous email the two pass between them as they do in the original book.

Sarah MacLean, The Washington Post: With "Grey," James sets out to explore those shades and explain Christian's controlling tendencies...It is not every day that an author has a chance to recast a polarizing character, and James works hard to do that. The book is framed with emotional flashbacks to Christian's youth, from his early years with a "crack whore" of a mother, abused by "her pimp," to his later childhood, learning to be a part of the loving family that adopted him...But even with all this explanation, with the clear and well-trod defense of Christian, it's difficult to understand him. Or rather, it's difficult to understand why any woman in her right mind would take a chance on him...This new novel simply isn't entertaining in the way the trilogy is from Ana's perspective..."Grey" is dark and unrelenting and far too serious, like Mr. Grey. No one can ever say that James does not understand her characters.

The Economist: It will surprise no one that Christian Grey doesn't improve upon greater acquaintance. He is still a mean, moneyed misogynist with recherché sexual tastes and an insatiable appetite for control...it is disappointing that the author and her publishers are so bereft of ambition. The events covered in "Grey" are an exact facsimile of those in the first novel...Here the flesh strung between the narrative bones reveals Mr Grey to be an even more deeply unpleasant, insecure asshole than your correspondent had previously imagined...Ms James continues her love affair with the inner monologue...Most chapters begin with dream-vignettes of his abusive childhood...But if these were meant to help give him depth and excuse his less savoury behaviour then they resoundingly fail. We learn that Mr Grey can add bitchiness...to his roster of character flaws, but far more unsettling are the depth and extent of the ones we already knew he had. His tendency to control and stalk read like passages from a psychological thriller...But will any of this matter a jot to the aforementioned fans? Probably not.

Jenny Colgan, The Guardian: Instead of lighthearted and repetitive mild S&M, the "love affair" is now the twisted work of an utter psychopath...Oh, and all Christian thinks about is sex and food. It's a bit like peering into the inside of your dog's head - if your dog spent 80% of his day pouring out glasses of chilled Sancerre...The first trilogy was a fantasy. This book is far more realistic - and creepy beyond belief...There is no happy ending to this story - unless there is a tremendous twist coming further down the line, and these are Grey's prison diaries. Which would, as Anastasia might put it, just about appease my inner goddess.

Rebecca Reid, The Telegraph: I've defended the Fifty Shades franchise before...But a chapter or so in - I realised that something was horribly wrong. Given how toe-scrunching irritating I can find protagonist Anastasia Steele you'd think that hearing the story told from the more myterious Grey would be a turn up for the books...Not so. Because it turns out that Christian Grey isn't just fifty shades of f***** up...but he's also about a million different shades of sexist...His stream of consciousness is as cocky and arrogant as hers is neurotic...could someone please let EL James know, that it's time to ditch the sexism? There should be no room for it in the real world, let alone in our fantasies.

Bryony Gordon, The Telegraph: Grey, the fourth book from EL James, is about as sexy as a misery memoir and as arousing as the diary of a sex offender...Throughout, James seeks to enlighten us as to why Grey has turned out to have a room full of whips, chains and suspension units...The message here is clear: we are supposed to pity him. And yet the only person I pitied was poor old Anastasia, who, having had her opportunity to tell her side of the story in the Fifty Shades trilogy, has been written, in this book, with all the personality of a blow-up doll. It's almost revolting, actually...in this the joke is taken too far, and the title might as well be: How to Groom a Girl the Grey Way...Not surprisingly, the writing is bad throughout...But the writing is not the offensive thing about this book. It's the sense that, like Ana with Christian, the reader is being duped in to a manipulative relationship with it.

Check back for updates!

To post a comment, you must register and login.