Book Discussion: Grey by E.L. James (Spoilers)

Grey, by E.L. James took me off guard. It immediately sucked me into the story, mostly because I wanted to know more about Christian’s past. He was such a complex character and I couldn’t help but want to try to piece together why he acted the way he did. I will admit it did take me a while to get used to the pace of the book and the writing. I had so many emotions going through my mind while I was reading this book, from sympathy to anger, to sadness and happiness this book did it all for me.

This book was the retelling of “50 Shades of Grey,” from Christian’s perspective. He had a very interesting personality. He was a character who liked to be in control. Although, when I first read “50 Shades of Grey”, I didn’t have a clear understanding as to why he did things he did. I didn’t understand his need for control and at times from Ana’s point of view I found it a little shocking and sometimes felt uncomfortable with the amount of aggression that he showed toward her. But, getting to experience this story from Christian’s point of view gave me a clearer understanding to why he had the need for control and why he wanted women to submit to him. From a psychological view, Christian suffered from insecure attachment and passive parenting  as a child. This would explain why he would have a need for control. The insecure attachment made him want to chose who would be able to get close to him and who wouldn’t. This also allowed him to cut people out of his life as quickly as they came, which would explain why there several other submissive’s before Ana. The passive parenting, had an influence on him too. As a teen he seeked love from where he could find. He found affection from Elena, aka Mrs. Robinson. As a child of insecure attachment and submissive parenting it would make sense that he would accept any sign of affection towards him.  The fact that he was made into a submissive at an early age also, had an affect on his want for control because he didn’t want to feel vulnerable as he had as a submissive, therefore as a dominant he was able to be in control of the situation.

When Christian met Ana, he was taken out of his element. He and Ana’s had many firsts together- from Christian, taking Ana on a ride on the Charlie Tango to having a female sleep in his bed without any sexual interaction. Through out the book Christian fought the idea of being touched by Ana, which could be influenced by the abuse he endeared as a child from his mother’s acquaintances as well as the gain of control he possessed after he no longer was in the position of a submissive. There was a lot of trust building throughout the novel, which allowed Christian to unlock some barriers in himself in order to allow Ana to touch him.  He also came to terms with the idea of falling in love with Ana wasn’t as improbable as he imagined.

The book was a page turner. The story was told completely from Christian’s point of view with occasional flashbacks to his childhood. I really enjoyed seeing how Christian’s childhood effected his life as an adult. One thing that really stood out to me was that Christian worked really hard to improve the quality and quantity of food for those that were living in poverty because of the lack of that he had as child. Something else that also caught my attention his will of compromising with Ana, to create a relationship that wasn’t just based on sex as he was used too.  Ana, took him out of his element and turned his world upside down.

The ending was a cliff hanger, I would love to see the rest of the “50 shades of Grey Series” unfold in Christians point of view.