Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Jul 01, 2015 Tiffani rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, read-in-2015

I resisted the pull of E L James's Fifty Shades trilogy for several years. The fact that it began as Twilight fan faction was a big reason for my aversion. To be clear, I read Twilight, all four books, and enjoyed reading them while at same time recognizing the many, many flaws contained within those four hefty volumes. The thing is, despite the repetitive writing, the sparkling vampires, and the at times disturbing nature of Bella and Edward's relationship, I wanted to know what happened next. I resisted the pull of E L James's Fifty Shades trilogy for several years. The fact that it began as Twilight fan faction was a big reason for my aversion. To be clear, I read Twilight, all four books, and enjoyed reading them while at same time recognizing the many, many flaws contained within those four hefty volumes. The thing is, despite the repetitive writing, the sparkling vampires, and the at times disturbing nature of Bella and Edward's relationship, I wanted to know what happened next. So when Fifty Shades of Grey came out I said no because I didn't want to get pulled into another questionable, quasi-romantic trilogy about a young woman with a tendency to find herself in need of rescue and a controlling man.

Although I had not read Fifty, I did enjoy reading the reviews and criticisms of the trilogy. This series has inspired some truly great reviews. I half wanted to be able to participate more fully in the discussion surrounding the series, but kept finding a dozen other things to read instead. Then came the movie, which was unexpectedly funny. Favorite scene - Ana's phone call to Christian outside the bar. But I wasn't sure if it the comedy was intentional. I decided it was time to read the source material and find out what the fuss was all about.

As luck would have it, my mom had bought the audio version of the book a few months earlier, but she couldn't get through it. So she gave it to me. I couldn't get through the audio book either. This was partly due, no doubt, to my general apathy towards audio books. (Yes I know millions of people love audio books. I am not one of them. Not that I am unwilling to try again, perhaps something non-fiction.) The woman reading the audio was fine, but I kept wanting to speed through the slow parts but there is no way to do that with an audio book that I know of. I made it through one CD before giving up and checking out the paperback from the library.

Now I was prepared for repetitive writing about how cute Christian Grey was (inspired by Twilight remember). I was prepared for inner goddesses, the red room of pain, and sex that was always orgasmic and fantastic (even Ana's first time). What I wasn't prepared for was boredom. I'm all for trashy romance and erotica, so long as its hot. I'm all for books that offer little more than mindless fun, laughter, and pleasure. Fifty Shades of Grey gave me none of that. There are a few passages in the book that are funny, even warm but not enough to justify 500 plus pages. I was so bored with Fifty that I began and finished four other books before I finished this one. I remember after finishing a book in the Twilight series and thinking something along the lines of, "badly written, needed a better editor but can't wait to read the next one." There is no worry about that happening with this series. I will probably watch the next movie, but won't read the next book. ...more

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May 31, 2018 Meg rated it did not like it

You too can write a book in crayon. Just put some sex in it, and you will do great.

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Jul 03, 2014 Ashley rated it did not like it

Can I give this ZERO stars?

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Nov 16, 2015 Piajensen13 rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2015-popsugar-challenge

Read it in the Popsugar challenge - it is a horrible book. Where was the editor? Did she not work that year? 99% of the book should have been edited out, changed and re-written. Poor writing and terrible editing. Does not deserve 1 star.

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May 23, 2012 Betty rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction

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May 31, 2012 Jen rated it did not like it

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Jun 19, 2012 Melanie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, new-adult

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Jun 19, 2012 Coleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012, nook

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Jun 27, 2012 Nicole rated it did not like it · review of another edition

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Aug 10, 2012 Jennifer marked it as to-read

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Aug 25, 2012 Jennifer added it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-series

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Nov 26, 2012 Melissa Peters rated it it was ok

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Feb 16, 2013 Adela Charvatova rated it liked it · review of another edition

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Feb 23, 2013 Natasha Curulli marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Nov 24, 2018 Natasha Curulli rated it liked it

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May 25, 2013 Hyzie rated it did not like it

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May 25, 2013 Aimee rated it it was ok

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Aug 29, 2017 Miki Dimitrova rated it liked it

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Aug 26, 2014 Danielle rated it really liked it

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Jul 17, 2019 Marie is currently reading it · review of another edition

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Jan 18, 2020 Ash rated it did not like it

Shelves: smut, audiobooks, erotica, so-dumb

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Jan 23, 2020 Liz added it

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Feb 18, 2020 Courtney rated it it was ok

Yikes.

Fifty Shades was at the top of my “2020 Books I Should Have Read By Now” list and I wish I hadn’t put it on there.

SPOILER-FREE ZONE

Summary (feel free to skip if you haven't lived under a rock and already know the "plot"):

The book opens up to our resident Bella Swan, the bookish, virgin, soft spoken college student named Anastasia Steele. Her roommate and best friend, Kate, is a journalism major and had plans to interview the notorious Christian Grey, billionaire and CEO of Grey

Yikes.

Fifty Shades was at the top of my “2020 Books I Should Have Read By Now” list and I wish I hadn’t put it on there.

SPOILER-FREE ZONE

Summary (feel free to skip if you haven't lived under a rock and already know the "plot"):

The book opens up to our resident Bella Swan, the bookish, virgin, soft spoken college student named Anastasia Steele. Her roommate and best friend, Kate, is a journalism major and had plans to interview the notorious Christian Grey, billionaire and CEO of Grey Holdings Enterprises, Inc for their school paper's graduation edition. Well, in true romance novel fashion, Kate has unexpectedly contracted the flu leaving Ana to go to the interview in her stead. Ana drives the two and a half hours to "Grey House" (GHE, Inc. headquarters) and is admitted to interview Mr. Grey. She completely fumbles the interview, doesn't ask all of the questions, trips into his office, and he decides that she is perfect for him. After their meeting, he begins stalking her and eventually expresses his feelings leaving Ana in a difficult place; pursue this enticing relationship that she isn't completely comfortable with or walk away. Obviously she chooses to give it a shot leaving us with a novel of poorly written BDSM scenes, the heartbreaking experience of watching a one dimensional protagonist choose wrong over and over again, and a very attractive yet totally bonkers "hero" try to force her into this lifestyle.

This particular book is the only one of the trilogy that doesn't try to pretend it has any plot other than the romance, which I can appreciate. Nothing else happens in this book, it is all about the relationship between Christian and Ana.

Honestly the thing that made this so bad to me was the blatant plagiarism of Twilight. I understand that this was originally an alternate universe fan fiction which already grants a degree of separation between the two works but James didn't rework the fan fiction at all for publishing which just feels dirty to me. ((https://jamigold.com/2012/03/when-doe...))

“Does this mean you’re going to make love to me tonight, Christian?” Holy shit. Did I just say that? His mouth drops open slightly, but he recovers quickly.
“No, Anastasia it doesn’t. Firstly, I don’t make love. I fuck… hard. Secondly, there’s a lot more paperwork to do, and thirdly, you don’t yet know what you’re in for. You could still run for the hills. Come, I want to show you my playroom.”

Reflection

I think there is potential in a student v. billionaire, intro to BDSM, battling inner demons romance but FSOG reads exactly how it was written — as mediocre Twilight fan fiction. The similarities are laughable, like the author didn’t do anything but use search and find to make “Bella” into “Ana.”

The writing is atrocious, dialogue is awful. There are a few large words in there but only in the worst places. There was also an annoying amount of repeated phrases.

Once I started viewing it as a comedy I enjoyed it more.

If you're a human being in the world, you probably don't need me to tell you that this book is SO problematic but here it is anyway! This book is so problematic.

A few of my favorite RIDICULOUS lines from this book:

"You need to learn to manage my expectations. I am not a patient man." - Christian Grey

"'Please don’t hit me,' I whisper, pleading." - Ana Steele

"He pulls up outside my duplex. I belatedly realize he’s not asked me where I live – yet he knows. But then he sent the books, of course he knows where I live. What able, cell-phone-tracking, helicopter owning, stalker wouldn’t." - Ana Steele

  SPOILER ZONE

Ending Reflection

So I have mixed feelings about the ending of this book. If you've read this far, you hopefully know that Ana, in deciding whether to stay or go, asked Christian to show her "the worst" that "it" can be (meaning how hard will you BEAT me during sex.) Christian is happy to take her into his Red Room of Pain and show her that. She doesn't use the safe word, has a meltdown, and a few hours later leaves and asks him to let her go. On one hand, I absolutely support this and this was the moment I had been waiting for during the entire novel. Yes, Girl! LEAVE. HIM. But on the other hand, she didn't use her safe word. I think the author actually did a great job of showing how both of these characters are partly to blame for why this relationship is so toxic and that it has always been all or nothing for them.

Honestly, if you can make it to the end I think that it's a pretty decent ending.

Character Review

Anastasia (Ana) Steele: This character has no personality what-so ever. Her only personality traits have to do with reading. The author is trying really hard to portray this idea that she is a great friend but at the end of the day she really isn't. She puts her "relationship" with Christian first every time, is never honest with her friends, agrees to help Kate and then doesn't even ask all of the questions, etc. etc. etc. I will also argue that she drags Christian along a bit. No, he shouldn't have been asking the things he was asking but she continually acts like she is willing to try for him and doesn't give it a fair shot (yes, I'm talking about the scene where she doesn't use her safe word.)

Christian Grey: Where to start... This guy is... not the hero that we wanted or Ana deserves. He brings out the worst in her and is unapologetic for his flaws. Throughout the novel he consistently says that the biggest reason he likes Ana is that she tells him, "no." He completely oversteps his boundaries time and time again by doing huge things like stalking her, small things like refusing to let her order her own food, and horrifying things (namely, anything involving her discomfort during sex.) For Christian, Ana is simply a puzzle to be solved.

He is arrogant, narcissistic, and manipulative. These are marketed as ideal traits for a man, trying to aggressively prove to the audience that he is rich, protective, and loves Ana. He SELLS HER CAR and buys her a new one. He buys her a telephone and computer to make sure they can talk as much as he wants (and to make it easier to track her I'm sure.) To me, it just comes across as creepy and obsessive, coupled with his clearly sadistic version of "BDSM" this could have turned from a mediocre romance novel to a pretty harrowing thriller. He also consistently falls back on his troubled past, essentially using his birth mother's addiction and his childhood abuse to excuse his behavior as an adult. Also there's a super weird story line where he was molested by one of his mother's friends but he "consented" and I can't tell if it is supposed to make you feel bad for him or allude to the fact that the only way normal people get into BDSM is to be raped?

There is no point in reviewing the rest of the characters because they pretty much don't exist.

I want this book to be better. ...more

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Feb 23, 2020 Edward Chamberlin marked it as to-read

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