Fifty Shades of Grey: Book Review

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Series: Fifty Shades #1
Date Published: May 25, 2011
Publisher: Vintage
Language: English
Genre: Romance, Erotica, BDSM
ISBN: 1612130291
Edition: eBook
Size: 285


When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

Review:

I read this book because of the attention it gathered all over the world. My curiosity got me so, here! I have to admit I love erotica. It started with watching clips of BDSM at 12 and full hentai at age 16. And since there's a great variety of hentai, most of the time, I'd end up having copies that involve tentacles, ropes, whip, and all those uncouth characters wearing shiny leather or latex clothing (or the lack thereof) doing stuff I never thought possible. Perhaps, I'm aware of all those things all along, I just never thought that there really are groups practicing the deed and they're very much consented. And so I progress to watching BDSM porn.

So what does my history of watching these wanton videos got to do with Fifty Shades of Grey? When I started reading the book, it hinted on BDSM. First, I have to discuss the basics in this type of sex genre. BDSM is an acronym of 3 things: BD - Bondage and Discipline, DS - Dominance and Submission, & SM - Sado-Masochism.

In the story, Christian Grey is very much a Dominant, someone who assumes power over his Submissive. A Submissive meanwhile is the partner who lacks control and submit to the authority of his/her Dominant or Master. BDSM is what I expected from this book. By that, I expected total control of the male character over the heroine and mostly, brutal sex. Apparently, it turned out to be romantic and midway, I lost my appetite. But since this is the first book of three, I thought this is promising (for a BDSM story).

But then of course, Romance is what girls really like mostly about a book. And since I know you crave for romance, I'll start by introducing to you Christian Grey.

Christian Grey is a perfect example of an alpha male—powerful, ambitious, rich, intelligent and most of all, drop dead gorgeous. But he's a complex man, a bad boy enveloped by a dark past. And so he takes on this darkness of him through sex, rough and hard sex. He was used to being in control until came a girl who got better of him— Anastasia.

How do I see Christian and Anastasia?

I always love bad boys in a story. And maybe I have this complex in me—good girl meets this bad boy and will do anything in her power to ease his pains and change him for good. A girl would always want to see the good side in a gorgeous bad boy. No matter how fucked up he is, she would be willing to know him better and be there for him, even if she gets hurt in the process.

I love Christian. But I just couldn't stomach one thing about him—Mrs. Robinson. Back when I was still watching hentai, me and my best friend agreed to things we hate the most:
1 The Cougar Complex - An older female who prefers fucking with younger male
2 The Gigolo Complex - A younger male who's very consensual with having sex with an older female.

And yes, Christian Grey has a gigolo complex. He let this rotten woman (that Anastasia prefers to call Mrs. Robinson) get into his life. You see, when he was still young, he was struggling with his inner demons. He was antisocial even until college. He loved to inflict pain to others and thus, he got himself to lots of trouble. When brawling used to be his distraction, the coming of Mrs. Robinson diverted that to rough and hard sex. The problem is, she is twice his age and a friend of his mom (not his real mom, he's adopted).

Mrs. Robinson had been his teacher in fucking. And apparently, she's his only friend. Ever. It's entirely different in other books I read, especially series because there's always the male buddies. I love it when they have their usual male deeds and bantering. But as for Christian, he has none. And that's just so bitter for him.

Okay, I almost want to puke just by thinking of the relationship they had. And honestly, the thought is both hideous and painful. I wouldn't mind really when watching BDSM porn but it just gets me when it's in a book. And I would like to cry for Christian.

Meanwhile, I find Anastasia really boring. I have to admit I finished the entire series and I had to mix this review with the other books. When Anastasia met with Christian's shrink, Dr. Flynn, she opened something about her own personal problem—insecurity. I really was curious about this but the author failed to expound further. Just to be honest, I couldn't find anything great about Anastasia. I couldn't like her entirely. She's just ridiculous. Like the other four heroines I knew who were supposedly intelligent, such aforementioned intellect never shows on them.

About the book

Yeah, the entire series is poorly written but the author succeeded in inflicting pain to me. It's not about the pain reading the books but the pain I felt every time I think about Christian... and Mrs. Robinson. It's just so heart-wrenching. If only I could erase that wretched history of them, erase everything about Mrs. Robinson in his mind. But of course, that's Anastasia's job.

Oh, I almost forgot! The thing that I hate most about this book, the downpour of sex scenes. Seriously, too much sex in a book will make it painful in the eyes to read. When I read romantic books, I would always long for that sex scene to come. The brutal anticipation would kill but satisfy me in the end. That's the gratification, finding release after a fair time of waiting. But this book killed sex. They just have sex the entire time! It's as if the characters have nothing else to do. And sex is the only plot. Usually, when I go by a sex scene in a book, I'd take it slow, savor everything even the horrid details but in this book, I'd like so much as to pass by it fast.

If there's anything good I find in this book, it's this very erotic dialogue:

Does this mean you're going to make love to me tonight, Christian?

No, Anastasia it doesn't. Firstly, I don't make love. I fuck... hard.


That. Just. Blew. Me. Away. But still, the book is, as how Christian describes himself,

Fifty shades of fucked up.

1 Comment

  1. christian grey
    Awesome book Fifty shades of grey Thanks for book E L James waiting for movie....

    ReplyDelete

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