Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'
Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian by E.L. James
2 reviews
cady_sass's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Hm. I just. I’m not sure it’s necessary for this to exist. It’s not different enough from the first book and doesn’t add very much, the only reason this gets bumped from 2 stars to 3stars is for the last few chapters where Christian’s POV is actually insightful. In reality this is just written for the die hard fans who wanted more but EL James didn’t have any more in their brain to continue to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Self harm, Cursing, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
zanazy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I read the original trilogy and thought getting an insight into Christian’s thoughts would be interesting. I really should quit doing this to myself as this is the second male POV book that when read, makes the male character worse.
The one thing I was hoping to understand more was his childhood and time with Elena but it’s still just cryptic and non-existent as it was in the main trilogy. It seems that aside from his nightmares, Christian doesn’t confront his trauma and Dr. Flynn is absent until the very end… conveniently to tell him to try to do it Ana’s way and give her more.
The scene where Elena tells Christian to go to Georgia was horribly underwhelming and I wou,d have thought her more manipulative than she was.
Christian shows many stalker tendencies throughout the book, running and driving by her place many times before, during, and after their breakup.
The punishment scene scared me as in Christian was clearly enjoying it and didn’t see why it would inevitably lead to pushing Ana away. “She didn’t safe word” got old. For someone so brilliant in business, he doesn’t seem to have any brains about what an inexperienced young woman might need, want, and for all his I want to protect you and keep you safe moments, it all goes out the window when it’s pain he causes.
In many ways I found Christian to be immature, possessive to a degree that went on to stalker tendencies, and emotionally unstable because it’s clear he’s falling for her, yet the thought is something he pushes away constantly. This book also makes Ana too willing to please and dumb, which also contradicts Christian’s constant she is smart compliments. Both leads suffer and truthfully, I wish I’d stayed far away from this series.
The one thing I was hoping to understand more was his childhood and time with Elena but it’s still just cryptic and non-existent as it was in the main trilogy. It seems that aside from his nightmares, Christian doesn’t confront his trauma and Dr. Flynn is absent until the very end… conveniently to tell him to try to do it Ana’s way and give her more.
The scene where Elena tells Christian to go to Georgia was horribly underwhelming and I wou,d have thought her more manipulative than she was.
Christian shows many stalker tendencies throughout the book, running and driving by her place many times before, during, and after their breakup.
The punishment scene scared me as in Christian was clearly enjoying it and didn’t see why it would inevitably lead to pushing Ana away. “She didn’t safe word” got old. For someone so brilliant in business, he doesn’t seem to have any brains about what an inexperienced young woman might need, want, and for all his I want to protect you and keep you safe moments, it all goes out the window when it’s pain he causes.
In many ways I found Christian to be immature, possessive to a degree that went on to stalker tendencies, and emotionally unstable because it’s clear he’s falling for her, yet the thought is something he pushes away constantly. This book also makes Ana too willing to please and dumb, which also contradicts Christian’s constant she is smart compliments. Both leads suffer and truthfully, I wish I’d stayed far away from this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Child abuse
Moderate: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Vomit
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
More...