Gray by Pete Wentz, James Montgomery

Gray

by Pete Wentz and James Montgomery

A fascinating and stunning novel from Pete Wentz, the founder and bassist of punk sensation Fall Out Boy—that reveals the dark side of rock-and-roll.

Sometimes, late at night in the hotel room, after the lights have gone out and the mistakes have already been made, when it is heavy and silent and still, I lie awake and listen to my pulse on the pillow…

Imagine you are on a tour bus, the miles whistling away beneath you as you sleep. Tomorrow you will wake up in downtown Somewhere. It doesn’t matter. All the skylines look the same. Time is only marked by events. The world is on a first-name basis with you.

But you…you barely even know yourself. There are those who give in completely to the idea of what it means to be famous. And those who can’t ever seem to leave the past behind. Life is a deep and contemplative story stuck on repeat—love, loss, self-destruction, self-discovery.

If you could go back to the way things were before you made it…would everything still be gray?

Reviewed by bryannaleigh on

2 of 5 stars

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Gray... Is simply gray. Some may like it, se will hate it. I am in the latter. As a FOB fan, I was excited for this release, and was disappointed. The writing itself was great, when you got past overused plots, dull, stereotypical characters and, oh, the same thing happening throughout the book. I'm also not entirely sure that the whole thing is completely fictional, as his original story was supposed to be a biography. The line of truth and fiction is a bit thin, but the only things that focused on are "I" and "Her", with not much development across them.

There is a lot of potential for this story, but it didn't make it. For me, the ending almost felt like it was rushed just to get it published and over with. Also, it didn't feel like it was completed, which might be a part of the "getting it done" thing.

Honestly, I feel like Pete came across the document one day, decided to slap an ending onto it and call it a day.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 9 March, 2013: Finished reading
  • 9 March, 2013: Reviewed