Fifty Shades of Grey...

sillysally

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#1
So with the movie coming out early next year I've been seeing a lot of articles posted on FB and such about this book. I'd been a bit curious about it, but romance (if you can call it that?) isn't really my thing. However, my SIL recently posted an article on FB that declaring 5 reasons why women should hate Fifty Shades, and I couldn't help myself-curiosity got the better of me and I went out and bought the book.

I'm up to chapter 6 right now, and honestly, I've been laughing through the whole thing. I know it started out as smutty fan fiction, so I went into the book with the expectation that I was going to be reading slightly-more-polished-than-average, spellchecked fan fiction. I'm really glad I did look at it from that perspective, because if I were going into this expecting a polished, professional novel I'd probably be really annoyed. Reading this book expecting it to be a deep, well writen, novel is like watching Nightmare on Elm Street expecting an Academy Award winning drama.

My opinion may change as I get further into the book of course. So far the only thing I've actually gotten annoyed by is her repeated mention of her "subconscious."


So, have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? If so, what did you thnk of it? If not, will you ever read it?
 

Paviche

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#2
I haven't read it. I might eventually, but just out of curiosity. Everything that I've read about it says that it's a horrible and inaccurate portrayal of BDSM, which bothers me a lot. Abusive relationship does not equal BDSM. It's just... abuse.
 

Keechak

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#3
I will probably not read it. I have a feeling it's about relationships and sex and neither are things that interest me in a book.
 

Fran101

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#4
I have read it, for curiositys sake and was toeing the line between outright OH GOD THIS WRITING IS HILARIOUSLY TERRIBLE and just plain disgust.

It is a dangerous bastardization of BDSM (the mantra is SAFE SANE AND CONSENSUAL... NOT SORT OF CONSENSUAL, DANGEROUS AND EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATIVE)

All the dangerous stuff aside... I found the writing to be poor, the plot to be thin, the characters flat, the sex lack luster and the whole pretense of this 21 year old beautiful non-masturbating virgin being swept off her feet by a dangerous dom billionaire tracking her cellphone and "saving her", ignoring safe words/aftercare, just ugh so beyond ick
The inner goddess, referring to her parts as "down there" (and every other infantile trait the author gave her)

I get the allure I guess, I mean, if I didn't know any better about safe bdsm practices, I might read it and not think much of it (as many of the older women who read things books do) the thing that puts a knot in my stomach is the idea of younger girls (ana's age) who pick up this book and think this is what it's about

and trust me I GET IT. I understand just taking it for face value, as an erotic novel and for that screw it I don't think it's necessarily harmful, people can read whatever floats their boats. but..
... the parts where he coerces her and the part where he continues after she has used her safeword and acts like a ****ing creep whenever they aren’t having sex, mood swings, limits who she sees, jealousy and basically all the markers for a BAD DOM WHO IS EMOTIONALLY ABUSIVE
(and the mother thing, really?? REALLY???)

it is the worst possible introduction to BDSM i could imagine.
I mean ****ing zip ties really.

as a novel apart from that I just thought it sucked.

READ THE BOSS SERIES BY ABIGAIL BURNADETT
 

sillysally

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#5
IDK, I feel like the worst thing you can do if you are trying to steer people away from a book is call it "dangorous." It just adds to the allure. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have bought the book if I hadn't read so many articles telling me why as a woman I should hate this book and never read it. It's really very different than what I typically read (which usually involves murder, monsters, and mayhem).

The whole cell phone tracking thing WAS creepy. I'd be creeped out of my husband did that, much less some dude I'd spoken to only a few times.
 

yv0nne

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#6
I have no desire.. it's not what I'd normally read by any stretch of the imagination. That said, I might go buy this afternoon just because of all the hype around it.
 
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#7
I read it out of curiosity.

My review: Pretty abysmally dumb. Typical "I'm going to be the one to change him!!" claptrap (which regardless of the backdrop is the part I find closest to being "dangerous"), and I found myself so bored by the sex scenes that I started skipping them. It was too bad to even have much of an amusement factor for me.

ETA: Having said that, I'm not a fan of telling adults what they should or shouldn't hate or like. I get that it's a misrepresentation of safe/consensual BDSM, but to me the problem is more that he's a controlling, abusive a-hole regardless of his sexual tastes than specifically that he's an abusive, controlling BDSM a-hole, kwim?
 

MicksMom

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#8
...
My opinion may change as I get further into the book of course. So far the only thing I've actually gotten annoyed by is her repeated mention of her "subconscious."..
You're opinion probably won't change. She pretty much uses the same phrases over and over through out the entire book. Something to keep in mind about the author- she had absolutely no writing experience before writing the Fifty Shades trilogy, no any experience with what she wrote. It really shows, too.

And, of course, me, being me, I went bought the other two books in the series just to see how it ended. Honestly, all three could have been written as one.

And it really shows. The Crossfire Series by Sylvia Day was much, much better. I'm keeping my eye out for the fourth in the series.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/syl...d-set-sylvia-day/1115072918?ean=9780425266069
 

Laurelin

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#10
I read it out of curiosity.

My review: Pretty abysmally dumb. Typical "I'm going to be the one to change him!!" claptrap (which regardless of the backdrop is the part I find closest to being "dangerous"), and I found myself so bored by the sex scenes that I started skipping them. It was too bad to even have much of an amusement factor for me.
Pretty much that. I thought it was dumb as a post and ridiculously badly written. I tried to read it to give myself a laugh and it was just bad.
 

*blackrose

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#14
Haven't read it. The writing....oh, God, the writing. I read an excerpt. An excerpt and my head about imploded on itself.

Kind of irritates me, actually, that such horrible writing is so popular. But, then I thought about it, and at least they can't really make the movie be more horrible than the book, unlike other movie adaptations of actual good novels.
 
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#15
I do want to read it and see the movie, honestly. Can't say I'll like it - but I'm interested. Kind of like how I have watched the Twilight movies (thought not read the books). There's a hype and I get interested to see them or read them.

But personally, Literotica all the way for this type of reading. :p
 

Beanie

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#16
I have a less than zero interest in actually reading it.
Or seeing the movie.
Or actually understanding why so many people are legit into the series.

Like blackrose I read an excerpt and was like "Uh... okay." and moved on with my life hahahaha.
 

Ozfozz

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#17
When it first came out I was interested in reading it. My mother bought the series to share with her friends, and I was in line to read it once she was done.

All I heard was complaints about the horrible writing style and the abusive relationship being played off as "sexy."
Having first hand experience with an abusive and controlling relationship, I had zero interest in reliving it by choice through a book.

That said, if there's a good male lead in the movie....I might watch it :rolleyes:
 

sparks19

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#18
I am reading the series right now and I am actually really enjoying it. THE writer really needs a thesaurus but other than that I find the stories intriguing and they really move along. I like em
 

Izzy's Valkyrie

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#19
Does everyone know that 50 Shades was an alternate universe Fanfiction of Twilight? Keeping that in mind, it's not all that surprising how poorly written it is.

I've never read it, don't plan to. There are better books for that sort of thing out there.
 

sparks19

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#20
Also... When did he ignore her safe word? I heard that before I read them and I am on the third book and haven't seen it yet.
 

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