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Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)
by E.L. James (Goodreads Author)
by E.L. James (Goodreads Author)
I know there's 14000 reviews of this book, but hey, I'm going to add my $0.02.
I was an undergrad English major in Portland, and there's a LOT wrong, editorially, which made me laugh out loud while reading. Sure, the novel moves along quickly and it's soft porn, but this stuff just made me amazed at how bad it was:
1. In America, it's not "my final exams" it's "finals." "Are finals tomorrow? No, finals are next week." I don't think we ever say "exam" except, "I'm getting a rectal exam tomorrow, wanna come?"
2. I'm not sure this is the right or appropriate college choice- there is Lewis and Clark, PSU (Portland State), and Reed in that area. For someone with good grades, like her and her roommate, they'd probably go to Lewis and Clark. If they couldn't afford it, and they were Washington State residents, then definitely not Vancouver, but University of WAshington in Seattle. Weird choice.
3. It is *incredibly* unlikely that someone under 40 doesn't have an email address, or doesn't check email.
4. "MacBook Pro" doesn't require someone to set it up for you, nor does Apple release something early or special for some millionaire.
5. It takes 3 hours to drive to Seattle from Portland, you wouldn't do it in a morning and go home again. Really unlikely.
6. You don't drive south to Portland to get on the I-5 from Vancouver. You drive west through Vancouver to get to the I-5, which is in Vancouver.
7. College girls wouldn't both have 2 cars, we had one, that we all borrowed. We didn't have any money and owning a car takes money. We bike.
8. The Heathman has ridiculously expensive valet parking - I was waiting for this to happen in the book, just because I"m a nerd about it- and Portland has tough downtown parking. Never mentioned.
9. There's quite a good restaurant right in the building "for coffee" though they walk 3 blocks. And there are amazing coffee places all around, including Peets right across the street.
10. Heathman interior design wouldn't be described as "elegant" more as high thread count, understated modern. Fancy, yes, but elegant, not so much. More macho and modern. Oh, and there's Peets coffee en suite.
11. Many issues in re: to the Heathman. She's not at all titillated by the beauty and luxury, being a poor girl form the sticks, etc.?
The clothing, now that's another issue.
12. You repeatedly have her wearing Converse (so sick of reading that brand every time she takes off her shoes, or Christian does), but then her roommate is shocked to see her in tennis shoes.
13. Pigtails/ponytails worn un-ironically?
14. Despite being well-read in English literature, has she ever read Clarissa? Because this is a dead-ringer.
This novel was written with so little knowledge of the flavor, culture, and tastes of Portland. I think she visited online and then visited perhaps for a few days, if at all. The British-isms are also tired.
His character has so many flaws, but I'll go through them here:
1. He is way out of time/space. His behavior reminds me of my peers- 40 year old men- but his physique of course is younger. Yay for fantasy novels.
2. He's not even a smidgeon of a bit busy, as a CEO would be.
3. I am largely unconvinced that he's "crazy about her" as all of her friends, observers say
I was an undergrad English major in Portland, and there's a LOT wrong, editorially, which made me laugh out loud while reading. Sure, the novel moves along quickly and it's soft porn, but this stuff just made me amazed at how bad it was:
1. In America, it's not "my final exams" it's "finals." "Are finals tomorrow? No, finals are next week." I don't think we ever say "exam" except, "I'm getting a rectal exam tomorrow, wanna come?"
2. I'm not sure this is the right or appropriate college choice- there is Lewis and Clark, PSU (Portland State), and Reed in that area. For someone with good grades, like her and her roommate, they'd probably go to Lewis and Clark. If they couldn't afford it, and they were Washington State residents, then definitely not Vancouver, but University of WAshington in Seattle. Weird choice.
3. It is *incredibly* unlikely that someone under 40 doesn't have an email address, or doesn't check email.
4. "MacBook Pro" doesn't require someone to set it up for you, nor does Apple release something early or special for some millionaire.
5. It takes 3 hours to drive to Seattle from Portland, you wouldn't do it in a morning and go home again. Really unlikely.
6. You don't drive south to Portland to get on the I-5 from Vancouver. You drive west through Vancouver to get to the I-5, which is in Vancouver.
7. College girls wouldn't both have 2 cars, we had one, that we all borrowed. We didn't have any money and owning a car takes money. We bike.
8. The Heathman has ridiculously expensive valet parking - I was waiting for this to happen in the book, just because I"m a nerd about it- and Portland has tough downtown parking. Never mentioned.
9. There's quite a good restaurant right in the building "for coffee" though they walk 3 blocks. And there are amazing coffee places all around, including Peets right across the street.
10. Heathman interior design wouldn't be described as "elegant" more as high thread count, understated modern. Fancy, yes, but elegant, not so much. More macho and modern. Oh, and there's Peets coffee en suite.
11. Many issues in re: to the Heathman. She's not at all titillated by the beauty and luxury, being a poor girl form the sticks, etc.?
The clothing, now that's another issue.
12. You repeatedly have her wearing Converse (so sick of reading that brand every time she takes off her shoes, or Christian does), but then her roommate is shocked to see her in tennis shoes.
13. Pigtails/ponytails worn un-ironically?
14. Despite being well-read in English literature, has she ever read Clarissa? Because this is a dead-ringer.
This novel was written with so little knowledge of the flavor, culture, and tastes of Portland. I think she visited online and then visited perhaps for a few days, if at all. The British-isms are also tired.
His character has so many flaws, but I'll go through them here:
1. He is way out of time/space. His behavior reminds me of my peers- 40 year old men- but his physique of course is younger. Yay for fantasy novels.
2. He's not even a smidgeon of a bit busy, as a CEO would be.
3. I am largely unconvinced that he's "crazy about her" as all of her friends, observers say
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Jacqui
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rated it 1 star
May 03, 2012 09:48pm
Thanks for that. I had wondered how accurate she was in her description of geography etc. I was also annoyed when at one point she is talking about someone going overseas a lot and she says that she has "Only been to Canada- once." Last time I checked Vancouver is in Canada (or have they moved it?) and Portland & Seattle are in the US- surely each time she travels across the border, she is visiting a the country again. BTW- how likely is it for someone living/studying in Vancouver to have a part time job in Portland?
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Hi Jacqui, was following this thread out of curiosity...I've heard the story behind this book too and saw that you were reading it. There IS a Vancouver Washington, oddly enough, which is not too far north of Portland. I suppose that is what she's talking about?
Yeah it's set in Vancouver, Washington, which is across the Columbia from Portland. Not to be confused with Vancouver, Canada. It is common for people to work in Portland and live in Vancouver, WA, especially since Washington doesn't have income tax. Not that a college student would care, ha.
Thanks for writing this! I am struggling to finish this train wreck...Since I'm so very dumbfounded by the success of this book, I am hosting a 50 Shades book discussion night. I've invited everyone I know who have read, or just heard about this book ... & so far, I'm going to need an addition built to accommodate everyone. Looking forward to exploring this social phenomenon with women who love, and (more) women who loathe this book. What you've written will add to our discussion. We're also going to explore BETTER written erotica because we all love sex...AND good writing. We meet the end of Aug. Any suggestions of possible alternatives to the 50 shades of CRAP would be welcomed!
To be fair, in some places in the US, people do say "final exams." We do here in Michigan. The most common thing to say would be "exams." "Finals" is actually the least common way of saying that here. Doesn't negate your point at all, but yeah. "Finals" isn't an American thing, it's a regional thing.
