Fifty Shades of Grey

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Grey.

Unfortunately I looked at Christian's wikia page (Yes, 50 shades has a wikia,) and got a spoiler and now I have to read the rest of the series out of morbid curiosity.

He and Ana were listed as having two kids. I don't know if that'll happen in an epilogue or in the series proper, but still. They're dysfunctional and have a whole truckload of mental issues. How would that work?!

...badly?

For some reason, this just increases my morbid curiosity.

edited 4th Jul '12 6:45:36 PM by SnowyFoxes

How about this?

I have finished Fifty Shades of Grey!

I just have to slog through the sequels now. Yippee.

I just went on a date with a girl who was reading this and liking it. Is it wrong that I found this a huge turn off and is the main reason why there won't be a second date?

I was like, "I read Shakespeare for fun." I would have walked out right there if it wouldn't have meant running out on the bill.

Too harsh, you say? I say not harsh enough. She's lucky I didn't club her to death with a Dostoyevsky.

edited 12th Jul '12 11:53:24 AM by Cthulboohoo

Wait. She liked it as in genuinely thought it was good? Or did she like it because she hasn't figured out there's better porn on the Internet for free?

If it's the former...god, I'm ashamed of my gender.

As I recall, Christian Gray is insanely rich, so they can hire a nanny to raise the children, and their own personal therapists once the kids are old enough.

How can there be sequels? I thought the main attraction of this sort of book was the whole Will They or Won't They?, does-he-really-love-me stuff, and the plot was concluded once they figure out, yes he does love her and they get married or whatever?

The only way I can see there being another plot is if they break up at the beginning of every single one, which sounds kind of stupid.

edited 12th Jul '12 4:43:09 PM by LoniJay

Uh, well,

The first book at least ends with Ana realizing that Christian is "fifty shades of fucked up" and leaving him. So the second book will have them trying the relationship again. I assume the third one is about their relationship becoming more serious with things like marriage and babies.

So to answer your question, pretty much!

edited 12th Jul '12 4:47:25 PM by Hermiethefrog

... Huh. For some reason, maybe because as it's main attraction appears to be the sex scenes and not deep plots, I assumed that it would end with them together.

I would have a bit more respect for it breaking that trend if the sequel didn't undo it, though.

There's also some random-ass drama about a former sub of Grey's who appears and is clearly psychologically broken from what he's done to her, a warning sign that Ana blissfully ignores. She actually wishes that she could have that kind of "connection" with him. Obviously a healthy relationship.

There's also some drama about Ana's boss being a psycho stalker or something. The climax of the second book is ALMOST AN EXACT COPY of the climax of Twilight. Seriously. It's nearly IDENTICAL. HOW did this stupid, shameless, shitty-written piece of fanfic get published?! There is no justice.

First, from what I understand it was a vanity publisher.

Second, seriously? This is the first I've heard of those things. Those just sound painful.

edited 12th Jul '12 7:47:41 PM by Hermiethefrog

We talked about this series at the panel on Transformative Works (fanfic, fanart, fanvids etc.) at Convergence. We agreed that the most likely effect is to make more misery for slush pile readers as more manuscripts of thinly veiled fanfic arrive.

It just amazes/horrifies me that this series, which isn't even well-written porn, has sold 20 million copies. Jesus.

I like to think that a good number of them were seeing if it was really that bad as was the case with myself.

The people I've talked to on tumblr have bought the book for similar reasons but that's tumblr so.

Actually I haven't really seen anyone who likes the book for legitimate reasons yet? But, again, internet.

Not only did she think it was legitimately good, but she also thought Christian was a genuinely good / nice guy.

I was appalled.

Eh. People of all types like things that other don't. There are people who thought Meet The Spartans was a genuinely funny movie. Don't hate people just because they have bad tastes.

I don't hate them. I just think that we probably shouldn't be dating. Because we'll be completely unable to relate to each other on several levels.

They're welcome to like it. I'm welcome to find someone whose tastes more align with my own.

Oh, yeah, you definitely shouldn't date.

She thought Christian was a genuinely nice guy.

WHAT. Just...WHAT.

Eh, makes sense. Society romanticizes a lot of certain archetypes. The flawed individual with powerful emotions has been around since the Romantic era. Not much you can do about it.

But...he's not just flawed. He's a sadist. He's manipulative. He has more issues than Time Magazine. He treats Ana like property. He disregards her wishes because he wants to get his rocks off HIS way instead of paying attention to her. She's a bloody virgin and he throws her headfirst into this not-really-BDSM-because-there-is-no-real-consent-and-it's-all-about-him situation.

If I met this guy in real life, I would run away screaming. Well, I'd probably kick him in the shin first.

Like I said, it's a common archetype that hasn't been fully explored in popular culture. Many characters are romanticized.

There's a difference between romanticizing a character and saying, "There's a great guy," about a coercive, manipulative, selfish, borderline rapist.