Reviews Literature / Fifty Shades Of Grey

Nice review. Come to think of it, I've never read a review of Grey, I've only ever heard second hand jokes at its expense.

You say that in the beginning "the writing is so horrible it's cringe-worthy", but "Once the reader is able to adapt to Ana's narration, the story flows relatively smoothly." Do you mean that the writing improves later on in the book or that it remains bad but you get used to it?

Christian stalks her and does things that Ana tells him not to do and somehow this is true wuv. Yeaaaah.

I'll agree the books aren't what I'd call "readable", kay, but let's not start an argument now.

The prose and storytelling are atrocious, but it really can't be judged as literature, any more than, say, Debbie Does Dallas can be judged as film. I mean you can, but what's the point?

Congratulations, you're a sociopath.

Not sure if serious.

As much as I dislike the series and the potential damage they could do, I'm well aware I can't stop anyone from reading them. The guy's treating it like a novel, not some almighty how-to guide for BDSM, so I have no real problems with this review.

Not everyone who reads the books are sociopaths/psychopaths.

The concern people have with potential damage confuses me. It's like the old argument over violence in video games, though that has been a bit misremembered. If I recall it wasn't that shooting people in Doom would turn you into a serial killer but that spending all your free time committing pretend murder is bad in itself. I can't imagine it's possible reading Twilight or 50 Shades will lead to being domestically abused. Nevertheless it may be bad for your soul to read about how great it is to be abused.

That's not my concern, though. If I'm gonna read about BDSM erotica I want it to be well written or to the point (if you know what I mean), is all.

I agree @tublecane, as one who ascribes to the "potential damage" philosophy. The question with this series for me is one of cultural advancement; this series strikes me as rather crude "low" art, with the fascination and hype stemming more from its relative uniqueness in the mainstream rather than its inherent quality. I don't find it presents anything particularly insightful, but rather draws all of its attention based on the packaging that it's wrapped in. In short, it doesn't edify in any way, it's just exciting.

I respectfully disagree with this review, finding the writing to be atrocious, the characters exaggerated and uninteresting, and the plot to be plagiaristically similar to Twilight (at least in the first book—realizing that is IS after all originally a fan-fic). But I won't argue that at least the reviewer has stated legitimate reasons for his opinion. I worry about the things that are treated so highly in pop-culture, but this is hardly the first thing to cause such worries. And it's impossible to deny that it has had impact, for what it's worth.

"...any man will tell you that this book series is relatively tame."

Being male is not the same as being a pervert who thinks a book in which metal balls are put into a woman's ass is tame.

Without her consent, too. Basically glorifying rape.

You're a troll, aren't you?

The entire series and its fans glorify, excuse and condone rape.

And that's coming from someone who's actually been in BDSM relationships. They've taken something that's explicitly about empathy (you won't find someone more empathetic than a good Dom) and made it about breaking someone, violating them and using them until they're a disheveled wreck unable to function without you.

Yeah, Christian Grey is just plain horrible. He's not merely an antihero, but an outright basket case: he tells Ana later on that "the sub is in control", but did you read the contract he tried to write up? The dom (him) could cut it off at any time no matter what, but she had to follow specific clauses to actually leave the relationship. It's not legally binding, but she even points out that he didn't exactly tell her that when he brought it up. He repeatedly gets her drunk, especially when discussing their agreement, to lower her inhibitions. He literally stalks her (as in follows her across the country and suddenly shows up during her visit with her family when she specifically told him that she needed time away) and multiple times suddenly shows up at her apartment. Despite being a supposedly extremely busy businessman, he stays at his computer long enough to instantaneously fire off replies to her emails. He gives her a Black Berry purely so he can keep an eye on her (when she was supposed to be contracted for a little over 48 hours a week) and gets downright angry when she tries to act independently. He tries to hold her to the contract before she even signs anything.

Despite his claims that he won't do anything without her consent, the very first thing he does with her is grab her by the hair and kiss her in the elevator without her consent (something that would, at best, result in you getting kicked in the balls and slapped with a sexual assault charge) and he repeatedly forces himself onto her or threatens to do so. He once literally carries her to the boathouse to fuck her and only stops when she actually tells him to back off, rather than doing as quite a few abuse victims do: cowering in fear and just waiting for the torment to end.

And the author portrays it POSITIVELY more often than not! It doesn't make Grey out to be perfect, but Ana repeatedly brushes off her very valid concerns that she's dating a complete psychopath with "But he's really hot and the sex is so good!" If the series was actually done properly, it would have ended with the first book as a realistic depiction of an abusive relationship, rather than slogging on for hundreds of thousands of more words of the two trying to work together.

Christian Grey is no antihero. He's plain villainous, and in any other media would likely end up suffering a gruesome death at the hands of one of the women he abused and stalked.

In most other media Bruce Willis would've broke through the door and shot him in the head at the end of the movie.

I don't understand how people find redeeming qualities in this book. It basically just runs on the concept that rape/stalking/abuse is fine if you enjoy it, or even experience the physiological responses like orgasm (which happens in real life, doesn't equate to enjoying the experience, and certainly doesn't make it excusable.)

I wouldn't mind so much if it was the occasional 'bad implications' scene or 'ok, but that would be terrible in real life' - that would still be problematic and not-ok, but I'd be willing to accept that the work had some redeeming features or was open to debate. But this seems to unfailingly portray an explicitly abusive relationship as not just ok, but desirable. It's terrifying, and it comes off like someone accidentally shelved a horror novel with a poorly-written spy thriller villain in the romance section.

As to the 'tame sex' thing (and I really question the notion that ALL men have the same preferences and level of expertise in hardcore porn, and all women are lacking), I feel like that misses the point a bit. I'd rather have something that depicted really hardcore BDSM in an ethical and consensual context, or at least if the material was clearly signposted as a non-consent fantasy.

Honestly, if it's dirty fanfiction you're after, you can get it for free on the internet. Some of it's good.

Also, I find it very worrying that anyone would identify with this guy, much less openly admit to it.

This book was really boring thing to read. Seriously, it's a bad fanfiction and that's all.

First of all I would like to say that I have little knowledge with this book series, however since first finding out about it, I've always thought that it has been blown out of proportion. I had many issues with Twilight and not your go to, der is a poorly written sappy love story for girls, but that it was a story aimed at teenage girls that portrayed abusive behavior as dreamy, chivalrous and desired actions. 50 Shades of Gray, as far as I am concern, doesn't really pretend to be more than what it is, BDSM erotica.

With that in mind, isn't this just a story to satisfy the fantasies of it's target audience? of course there are is a lot of safety and care in BDSM when done in real life, but wouldn't that side of the act take you way from the fictional media your reading/watching, etc. In BDSM, the parties pretend act out these scenarios, so wouldn't these quote on quote disclaimers take you out of the fantasy? If you're a furry, isn't a fiction about actual anthropomorphic animals more interesting and or desirable than one about people dress in animal costumes.

Pardon my ignorance, but this is how I thought most BDSM books, more or less, are.

It is not BDSM erotica. It's a rape fantasy.

I am bothered by the fact that you called your review "A Male Perspective on Fifty Shades of Grey" and even more bothered when you start talking about what "any man will tell you". It's like you're implying that this is what the average man would think of it. I'm a man and I think this series is a vile piece of appallingly-written, rape-glorifying trash with no redeeming features. You do not represent the "common male viewpoint".

Consequently, I'd like to request you retitle your review "A Misogynistic Sociopath's Perspective of Fifty Shades of Grey".

Actually, the fact you called it \"A Male Perspective\" makes the fact that you liked it full of unfortunate implications, since in the books (even ignoring the homophy and racism and the fact that it gives a terribly inaccurate picture on what BDSM is and how it works, and in the end considers it something that \"sane\" people don\'t do) Christian abuses Ana phisically and mentally, using his resources to stalk her and downright raping her, and that\'s considered as a proof he loves her, and also depicts finding a man who does everything for you so that you don\'t have to work, or study (or have any personal abiity to do things for yourself) as the best things that coud happen on her, so (as one who has been male for nineteen years) it particullary bugs me that you identify appreciating it as a \"male\" perspective.

We\'ve already got responses four years after the post, so why not six? Anyway, working for years with several perverts who can\'t keep their thoughts on sex to themselves even while the rest of us are trying to do our jobs, I can say the sex scenes described Fifty Shades Of Grey is pretty tame. Not the things Mr. Grey does, but rather the way they are narrated to the reader. I\'m not into \"steamy\" passages about bodily fluids spilling over people, but I\'ve read enough books to come across several that were nothing if not immersive, in books not being sold on their sex no less. Stuff that was in fact not that out of the ordinary by comparison when you get right down to what was done with sexual organs and erogenous zones compared to Fifty Shades Of Grey, scenes that only involve the unassisted bodies of consenting adults but felt a lot more hardcore because of the way the acts were described and how the characters reacted to them.

Assuming you did not come for romance, were not bothered by any world views expressed by the characters, did not care about BDSM being accurate or respectfully portrayed and weren\'t put off by how naive and submissive the narrator was, then it\'s not hard to imagine one just waiting to get to the sex and feeling let down by it. The sex scenes are remarkable only in their volume. It might just be because I\'m not into erotica but only once have I came across a story that had a larger text ratio of sex to everything else, and that was a troll fan fic(that quickly racked up F grades for being a poor quality troll fic-A grade trolls could bet archived you see), not a published novel.