This past week, I was browsing the bookracks at a popular
store, looking for John Irving’s In One
Person so as to add to the ever-growing list of books I want to read (at
the rate I am going, I will be done with the current titles by 2030!).
Suddenly, as I reached the bestsellers section, I was surprised to notice that
a large area of the top shelf was completely empty. Guessing the reason, I
looked closer to decipher the contents of the little yellow tag under the
desolate metal structure: yep, my hypothesis was confirmed – the area was
reserved for books one, two, and three of the Grey trilogy.
Let me digress here. Writers usually take one of two
approaches to looking at a book phenomenon. Some completely embrace the trend,
read avidly, worship the writer, and dream of the day it will be them achieving
that kind of success and publicity. Others scoff at the craze and grump their
way in and out of the misery they feel over the state of things: and why do
people want to read this, and what could they possibly see in this book, and
this is what literature has become, etc. etc.
Me, I take a different approach (I know writers who are
right there with me): I go to work. First, I read the material in question
(most likely with a highlighter, or two, or three in hand). Then, I try to assess
what other people are thinking and saying. Finally, I try to put myself in the
shoes of the average reader. Only then do I decide what lesson I can draw from
that particular work and its approach to writing (I did the same with Harry Potter, which I love, and Twilight, err, not so much). And sure
enough there is always a lesson to be learned.
The first thing to notice about Fifty Shades of Grey is that it is currently number one on Amazon’s
best seller list and a bunch of other lists. Book two and three are second and
third respectively. It seems silly to me not to try to understand what is
behind such success, so I read the work cover to cover. As a consequence, the
second thing I learned (I have only read book one) is that Fifty Shades is (how shall I put this?) an uninhibited book, and this
feature is undoubtedly at the center of its success. Let’s hand it to E.L.
James: she was able to figure out what kind of sensual fantasy would appeal to
a large number of women (and some men) of different ages, socio-economic
profiles, educational levels, and life interests in the year 2012, and this is
no small feat. The social scientist in me kept reflecting on contemporary women
and their lives, and the kinds of dynamics that have caused them to crave this
book and its content. Call it luck, call it a calculated move; James’s strategy
must have worked because women are buying these books by the bushel.
Then comes the difficult part. The more I write my own
fiction, the harder it becomes to critique other works because I know how much
labor goes into crafting a novel and how much courage it must have taken this
writer to write what she did. But as I read through the pages, I noticed I was
much more offended by the multiplying dangling participles than by the content,
more taken aback by the relentless repetition of the same facial expressions,
exclamations, and phrases than by the lack of verisimilitude in the plot, by
the multitude of British vocabulary items coming out of American mouths without
any possible explanation other than the fact that the author is British (the
most distracting ones being ‘”laters,” “ringing” instead of “calling” and
university “tutors”).
I stopped to think about this and wondered if I was noticing
language so much because I am a writer and a teacher (and a grammar nerd). So I
went on to read what the reviews of readers who did not like the book were
about, and sure enough they were complaining about the same things. The hard question is despite these problems,
many of them editorial in nature, the books are selling like hotcakes, and
really, where do you go from being number one? The answer eludes me, and yet as
a writer, one who often engages in a sort of adoration of language, I cannot
ignore these flaws. Have I become the grump in my second paragraph, the one
that lifts the hands to the sky asking why right after he/she throws the book
against the wall? Not at all. I wish James continued success. There is a place
for everyone under the sun. And perhaps one of those discontented readers will
one day pick up one of my books, and if I got it right, they will smile,
knowing that someone understands.
(Caution: Fifty Shades of Grey contains adult content that might not be suitable for some readers)
