Considered as the fourth book in the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY trilogy, Grey is the same story but from the male protagonists’ perspective. It is written as seen by Christian Grey. It is the first book from his perspective, and I assume two more will follow to talk about the corresponding two books. I bought this book as soon as it was released, but read it only very recently due to TBR constraints. It was also on my TBR for 2016 (read all about my TBR for 2016 here).
Cover
A part of the face of a man over laid over a grey filter would be the simplest way to describe this cover. There is nothing creative or interesting about the cover, which has the title in a bold, different shade of grey, and the Author’s name below. No brownie points for the cover. Seems like the fame of the trilogy makes this book an easy buy hence not much thought has gone into the cover to pique the interest of the reader.
Characters
The book revolves around Christian Grey- a rich, handsome businessman who practices a certain lifestyle due to his troubled past. He is drawn to Anastasia Steele, a shy young lady who he first meets when she comes to interview him. Though the book is predominantly about them, there are other characters like Ana’s family, her room mate, her male friend. There is also Christian’s adoptive family, his ex-lovers, his employees etc who play small but significant roles in the story.
Content
The book is a romance but with a heavy influence of BDSM. The male protagonist is drawn to this secretive lifestyle due to his troubled childhood, and he is drawn to Ana, who is inexperienced with regards to this lifestyle. Having different opinions and expectations from a relationship, the book takes us on their journey of understanding each other, making amends to accommodate each other simply because they cannot stay apart. It is sensuous, intriguing, and is unintentionally (or intentionally) romantic.
It is an interesting world to be in, where almost everything is near perfection. Where the man is the most ideal one (yes he has a troubled past, but doesn’t everyone love a bad, troubled boy?), and the girl is demure on the onset only to blossom into a smart, independent, sexy and a kind spirit. It is an interesting chase, an interesting evolution of a relationship with a lot of intensely sensual moments.
Language
The writing is simple, written in first perspective. The male perspective is written by a woman! and is it interesting??! YES. This was another reason why I wanted to read this book, just to get a peek of what the man thinks, and I must say I like how he thinks, or rather I like how the Author thinks he thinks! (get it?!).
Good Point
It is romantic, sensuous and has all the right elements to make for a perfect fairy-tale romance. It has the perfect man that every girl dreams of, it has an enticing woman that every man desires, and of course the luxury, the gifts and everything else makes it dreamily perfect (unreal, but that!). The email conversations are fun, adorable and these have you hooked, making you hope for a man like that or reminiscing this silly banter that you shared with your partner. The perspective is intriguing. The little information you do manage to extricate from the heavy over-imposition of romance is interesting, and the flow of events has you turning pages real quick. Oh, and did I mention the man worth drooling about!? Yes, I suppose that’s covered.
Bad points
The primary intent of reading this book was to understand the underlying facts and behavior as per the BDSM lifestyle. I was really keen on understanding how this lifestyle helps, and why and the likes which wasn’t exactly covered in the book. Though initially I thought this was an unadulterated perspective of a man, somewhere I felt, its a woman’s perspective of a man’s mind, which again though rosy is quite a bummer.
Also I was really hoping from some deep and thoughtful insights, but found none. There was barely any deep thinking, analysis etc which I really hoped to see in a genre like this. Also, I was thinking its one book corresponding to all three books of the trilogy but its not (my bad, I never check properly), and hence its too big and somewhere I feel I wouldn’t read the other two. Last of all, I wanted to know about BDSM, but all I got was a lot of romance (not so much a bad thing, but it doesn’t stick to what it says).
Overall
If you love books that are romantic and sensuous, you are sure to devour this real quick. Or else, the ordinariness of the story might just bore you no end.
Who do I recommend this to
Romance lovers, lovers of subtle erotica -this one’s for you.
Quotable Quotes
“…I like the connection-me touching her. She’s oil on my troubled, deep, dark waters”.
“She’s my dream catcher. She keeps my nightmares at bay.”