Fifty Shades of Grey – Obsessive Reading or The End of Feminism?
WARNING – This review is for a book meant for an adult audience. This is NOT YA fiction, despite the Twilight boilerplate plot.
I had so much fun reading the reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and Shelfari for ‘Fifty Shades’. There are some real jewels out there, and you guys cracked me up. I could agree with all the One/Two Star(s) reviews, I could… Most of what these readers say is true (and very funny, and well-written etc). I totally see where they are coming from, but… I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE ‘FIFTY SHADES’ TRILOGY
Before I share with you WHY I loved the novels, I thought I would start by listing all the reasons you might find ‘Fifty Shades’ a smelly pile of poo-poo meant for sexually-frustrated soccer moms. I hope it is fine for me to refer directly to some truly great reviews on Amazon.
1/ The Suspension of (Dis)Belief
So, yes Christian Grey is a BILLIONAIRE mogul at the tender age of 28… He has even made his money all by himself after dropping from Harvard when he was 20 (I think Bill Gates did it, so why the hell not?). But what’s really amazing is that the dude has a 9-to-5 job… I need the name of his headhunter-slash-career adviser pronto!
Check that Amazon review – Hilarious!
2/ The Repetitive Writing
What most reviewers seem to find annoying is E.L. James’ repetitive writing style.
Check that review for an awesome list.
I would tend to agree with all those points: the facial expressions, the lip biting, the 50 shades of everything, Ana’s Inner Goddess (although the Goddess references often made me laugh) and her subconscious… They kind of are on almost every page.
3/ The Non-PG-Rated Twilight Parody
Yes, sure, you can go on and on for that one: the location (Pacific NW), the hero and heroine sound-alike names (Edward Cullen/Christian Grey and Isabelle Swan/Anastasia Steele), the theme (falling in love with the evil), SPOILER the marrying and baby making, the characterization (the awkward, introvert, virginal girl being the most obvious), the mother of the heroine living in the South… Yes, yes, they are all there.
4/ The Explicit Sexual Content
Actually, I haven’t read reviewers objecting to that specifically. If you decide to read ‘50 Shades’, there are enough warning signs out there to dissuade you to do so if you normally like inspirational romance.
No, what is more relevant is how unrealistic the sexual content is. Check that review by a semi-retired gynecologist.
Seriously, I’d like to know what Anastasia Steele is made up of: How does she do it? Same question to Christian: Don’t you ever get tired of…. you know? Every five minutes? Really?
Okay, now I agree with everything you guys say… ‘50 Shades’ is a love story where the two characters fall blindly and obsessively in love at first sight. Duh? There are no real subplots or secondary characters of any consequence. You basically read the book for the two key protagonists—Christian and Ana—and what’s happening to them (they fight, they make up, they cry, they make up and so on). I can hear you in the background… Yes, you there, in the back row. Repeat what you just mumbled, yes, out loud this time: “Boooooooring”.