#24 Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

During spring break, a neighbor of mine asked if I had read, or had heard about, Fifty Shades of Grey, claiming that it was the newest book that people were raving about.  I had not heard about it, and told her so, but looked it up on my Nook, read the summary, and bookmarked it.  After my neighborly discussion, I knew I was about to read an adult book (and after a quick chat in the orthodontist’s office where the lady next to me was reading the third book in the series and called it “Mommy porn” I was sure of it) but I figured that if I can live through reading Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales for an entire semester in college, I can read anything.  TCT is about the most sexual piece of literature I have ever read (who would’ve thought, right?).  Well…until now. 

 On Tuesday of this past week, EL James (a woman, BTW) was interviewed on The Today Show.  I can’t tell you enough how valuable watching this segment was to my overall experience of reading this book.  The gist of the interview is this: the book details every fantasy she has ever conjured in her head, Christian is a guy that looks good on paper but doesn’t look good in real life, and James herself is shaking her heads at the women everywhere who are reading this book and going crazy over it.  She was laughing at the success of the books and was literally laughing at the interviewer who was asking deep, meaningful questions about Christian—what made him this way, can he really love, etc…  I get the feeling that this trilogy is supposed to be about sex, plain and simple.  And yet, we can’t help but make a huge mountain out of a molehill.  Myself included. 

I guess once you have spent 5 + years reading literature and analyzing it and pulling it apart for themes and characterization, you can’t help but do it with everything else you read, too.  I found myself jotting down notes about Christian and Ana, even Kate, while I was reading.  Rob laughed at me when he caught me doing this, asking if I could ever just read a book for enjoyment, knowing that if ever there was such a book Fifty Shades of Grey was it.  But I couldn’t.  I found myself wanting to know what made Christian tick and what made Ana ever think that she could change him.  Now that I have finished reading the book, I have been feeling an intense sense of loss for Ana.  So much that it makes me wonder if I am getting too connected to this characters that I am reading about.  They are not real, and yet they are so real to me as I am reading about them and living life through them.  Seriously, once an English nerd, always an English nerd. 

Anyway, since I am not into spoiling books for people, I will keep my blog about the big picture of this book for me and not about plot.  So, here goes…

1. I think it’s funny that Christian’s last name is Grey, as that’s exactly what he is.  There are so many layers to him, he’s like an onion.  He’d like for us to think that he’s black and white, that seems to be how he conducts his business, but he’s grey—fifty shades of it in fact. Now, Kate—she’s a black and white kind of girl.  I like her.  She started this entire story, after all.
2. I now want to read Tess of the D’Urbervilles.  Once I finish this trilogy, it will be the next book I read. 
3. Women are emotional creatures full of love and we need to accept that’s who we are and embrace it.  We love with our entire hearts and can’t seem to separate sex from love.  It’s probably the reason men love us so much, but it’s something Ana seems to not have a very good grasp of.  Perhaps it is due to her overall inexperience with men, but it’s something I’ve thought about a lot as I read this book.  As much as we (ie-women) would like to think that we could just have a sexual relationship with a man, I think it would be very hard to execute.  I see this book as being so wildly popular because it allows women to read about something that is completely foreign to them—a relationship that is completely physical and not emotional.  Just as EL James herself said, Christian looks good on paper but is not good in real life.  I’d go a step further—not only is he not good in real life, he’s just not realistic in real life.  Most women want it all—husband, kids, a career—where do you find time to squeeze in all of those things when you are busy in the Play Room?  It’s just not realistic. Fun to think about?  Yes.  Realistic?  No way.
4.  This leads to my next question which is, can sex substitute for love? On page 472 of the text, Ava admits that the sex is a “distraction from the real issue.”  Sadly, we are just never quite sure what that real issue is or why Christian behaves as he does, but it’s quite clear that he behaves as he does for a reason (and I sure hope that the second books clears this all up).  Can this crazy physical relationship that he has with Ana be a substitute for love?  Is it good enough for him?  Will it satiate Ana?  Will it every really be enough? 
5. Christian agrees to try “more” for Ana, but will he ever be capable of “more?”  Can women really change men? Hmm…things to think about.

So, I’d like to finish up with a story (that could very well spoil the ending so read with caution).  When I finished reading Fifty Shades of Grey during lunch today, I walked away from the book with a knot in my stomach.  I ached for Ana because I know her pain.  I know how it feels to walk away from someone you love, someone you care so deeply for, because you know deep down that that person will never be what you really need them to be (not want them to be, but NEED them to be--there is a difference).  That pain never really goes away.  You second-guess your decision every day, even years, decades later.  Your first love is unforgettable, that’s for certain.  I doubt Ana will ever forget hers.  I have never forgotten mine.

On to book two…Fifty Shades Darker.  Oh my...

Happy Reading!
J Dodie