About a decade ago, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy (and James Montgomery of MTV) published a novel, Gray. It is my favorite book of all time. It is— for lack of a better term— “a freeze-dried wet dream.”
People are usually appalled when I tell them this; they think I must be the dumbest fangirl alive. It’s understandable. After all, Gray is the vanity project of a runner-up for 2007’s Sexiest Vegetarian, and has been referred to as “an insult to book readers everywhere.“
But truthfully, this is not my favorite book because I like Fall Out Boy— rather, I like Pete Wentz’s band because I fell in love with his book. From the moment I first picked Gray up, I felt—very strongly— that there was something inside of it, something that went beyond the veneer of "pseudo-artistic” misanthropy it put up. It was a carefully crafted puzzle. It was so advanced that no one understood it. I was sure of it— even if nobody ever believed me.
But over the last ten years, I grew from an emo teenager into a professional writer. So now, I can prove that I’ve been right along; Gray is an incredible work of literary showmanship. It’s just misunderstood. So, in honor of its big anniversary, this love-dissertation seeks to dissect and defend my favorite book of all time.
In this essay, I begin by fully contextualizing the creation of Pete Wentz and James Montgomery’s Gray. Then, I explain the novel’s identity as a “roman-a-clef,” and thus, its place on the spectrum between fiction and reality. Finally, I argue my thesis. Which is: Gray deliberately masquerades as exactly what people expect it to be: the rant of a narcissistic rock star “so shallow an ant would struggle to drown.“ But a reader with a little faith will understand that things are not always what they seem. Rather, Gray brilliantly executes its stated intention by blending paradoxes like irony / authenticity, reality / fantasy, truth / lies, and satire / sincerity, into a narrative so ambiguous it “defies understanding, let alone a solution.”
But only if you’re in on it.
Read the full piece here.
Incredible art by @gebtoons.
once i had this foster cat that was afraid of everything and would not come out from under the bed no matter what and i had to crawl under the bed and like pet her and talk softly and feed her individual bites of fancy feast. and then after several days of this i had this guy over and we were doing it on my bed. and halfway through the cat jumped up and started purring like a chainsaw. i was in shock and the guy (still inside me) was like “hey…. can i move the cat?” and i was like “no. you cant” and a few minutes later he was like “um… are you sure? the staring is distracting” and i was like “you dont understand. we absolutely CANNOT move the cat.”
this was gertrude my all time favorite foster cat if anyone was wondering
if you're not obsessed with anything weird and niche please try harder. stop going outside for a while. consider getting weirder about the things you already like
Anonymous asked
What's the most deranged thing uve ever done for someone u liked? Or are u normal about irls in which case if pete was just a guy from ur town in like ur graduating class what do u think u would do? would u be normal about it or insane? Hope this makes sense im high
when i was 11 i wrote love poems on pink paper in cursive and folded them into an envelope shape and sealed them with wax hearts i made out of babybels from my lunch and put them in the locker of this guy i liked. this was crazy and weird but i got brutally bullied and was 11 so i feel like it cancels out lol. if i went to school with pete wentz i wouldve done this to him 100%
Anonymous asked
What's the most deranged thing uve ever done for someone u liked? Or are u normal about irls in which case if pete was just a guy from ur town in like ur graduating class what do u think u would do? would u be normal about it or insane? Hope this makes sense im high
when i was 11 i wrote love poems on pink paper in cursive and folded them into an envelope shape and sealed them with wax hearts i made out of babybels from my lunch and put them in the locker of this guy i liked. this was crazy and weird but i got brutally bullied and was 11 so i feel like it cancels out lol. if i went to school with pete wentz i wouldve done this to him 100%
pete wentz in skirts comp
Anonymous asked
Damn, that guy sucks. I'm sorry that happened
its ok im just not built for physical activities in public because im absurdly clumsy and have anger management issues 😭














