50 Shades of Grey?

This has been a facinating thread and I've LOVED reading it!!!
All the points of view being bantered back and forth are wonderful! I've laughed, cursed, shaken my fist, rolled my eyes, and more. It's awesome!
I'd like to put my two cents in about the book.
I got the first one, not knowing entirely what it was about. It kept popping up on my Kindle in the top ten lists and my Dad said my stepmother read it (gotta say, after having read it, I'm a little grossed out that she read it too).
Since I was first told about the BDSM culture, I've been intrigued. I didn't understand it (at all) and wanted to know more and what made these people need this kind of...thing.
Through reading other books (Anne Rice, The Story of O) I began to understand a little (not everything, though, humiliation still boggles my mind)...and liked it.
So, I started reading 50 Shades of Grey. It consumed me. I devoured it. I'm actually rereading it to catch everything I missed the first time I read it so fast.
I have a love/hate relationship with it, much like how Ana feels about Christian I suppose.
First of all, I thought the writing was pretty bad. Bad enough that I noticed. I tend to be very forgiving and don't really pay attention to HOW something is written. This sounded like it was written by a high schooler.
I also thought it was written by a man because it was so cliche. A young, gorgeous, studly, billionaire (who's an expert at everything) finds a brilliant, gorgeous virgin? Really??? ARE there any college graduates who are virgins? Well, duh, I'm sure there are, but I'm equally sure that they wouldn't be in to something like this. I know this book is a fantasy, but it has to be believable, right?
Having said all that, I really appreciate the way they handled the BDSM aspect of it. They were very frank and didn't apologise for anything. I thought it was very sexy. From what I've read, and conversations I've had with my friends, I believe it to be fairly accurate, too...ish.
Bottom line, the writing was awful, the story line was pretty predictable and VERY much like any other trashy romance novel (that I love), but the sex scenes were hotter.
It's also a safe way to explore something "naughty" or even "deviant". It's very easy to paste your own head on Ana's body and be her. Having all the praise (and punishment) leveled on yourself.

bearilou said:

With the added avalanche of a previously built up fanbase through the smaller epublisher, the momentum just carried it along. It got a big advance, then it got news mention, women who don't seek out erotica (probably didn't know it existed in this form and thought all erotica was porn...which equated to porn being for men and therefore not of much interest to them) took notice, bought it and word of mouth carried it to new heights.

Here was something for women. Something men enjoy in the privacy of their basement, now they have something that is just for them. And it touches that chord in them because the MC is a woman, just like them. Perhaps they remember that time when they were young, naive, unjaded...and they want to recapture that. Add to it the dark and forbidding and unknown of BDSM that is only whispered about behind hands and with harsh hisses....

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Considering the consensus that the writing is generally bad, there's little in the way of external plot, the characters are two dimensional, with almost no development, and there is a serious lack of emotional depth (all of these things are cited as reasons to not call erotica porn in the many and various threads that discuss the differences) I'm not sure how this could be considered anything other than porn.

I think one of the selling point is that it *is* porn, but it's nicely labelled as "erotica," which sounds classy, and it's sold in Walmart so no one has to be seen coming out of stores with covered windows, or have their credit card statement show that they want to actually read about other people fucking.

RJLeahy said:

Don't know what squicked means. And no, again, I have no interest in what two people do in their private lives. Again, I'm interested in why women who do not participate in this lifestyle, find it erotic.

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I might be able to help you with that. I do participate in the lifestyle, and I have zero interest in reading this book. I am much more interested in reading this thread than the book itself! I suppose women who read the book find it erotic because the fantasy is stimulating to them, even if they haven't tried it before. And the funny thing about BDSM, you might like the idea of something, but not the actual thing, because it involves pain. You might like the idea of being flogged, but when you actually try it, it hurts too much. Some of the ladies that I know who are lifestyle have fantasies that involve things that they know are beyond their pain threshold. That's where books and movies come in.

Celia Cyanide said:

I might be able to help you with that. I do participate in the lifestyle, and I have zero interest in reading this book. I am much more interested in reading this thread than the book itself! I suppose women who read the book find it erotic because the fantasy is stimulating to them, even if they haven't tried it before. And the funny thing about BDSM, you might like the idea of something, but not the actual thing, because it involves pain. You might like the idea of being flogged, but when you actually try it, it hurts too much. Some of the ladies that I know who are lifestyle have fantasies that involve things that they know are beyond their pain threshold. That's where books and movies come in.

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That's interesting and more or less what others have said. I guess I'll just have to accept that the idea of having a sex fantasy involving an action I know would be painful to me in real life, is something I will never understand.

I can't get away from this book. Significant other not the least bit interested, but my staff are raving about it. I over heard them and knew enough to piece it together.

Even see chicks reading it in the canteen.

Having said that, one reader did say that they skip the sex, having found it repetitive enough to not want to read anymore.

WriterDude said:

Having said that, one reader did say that they skip the sex, having found it repetitive enough to not want to read anymore.

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LOL. It's porn, but it's not even good porn.

If people are skipping the books because the sex gets repetitive.. then what else does it possibly offer?

Channy said:

If people are skipping the books because the sex gets repetitive.. then what else does it possibly offer?

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Their train wreck of a relationship. I couldn't finish the first book, but to be fair there's one thing that I thought helped the story: the e-mails. Those were well done.

Channy said:

If people are skipping the books because the sex gets repetitive.. then what else does it possibly offer?

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I've heard that a lot of people like the relationship that they had/have, and how much they're in love with one another.

I struggled through these books, looking for some sort of holy grail that made them work. I couldn't find it.
And the thing that annoyed me most was the screwy relationship she'd created between them.
I've known a couple of people in abusive relationships and to me, Christian seemed like the archetype of an abusive partner.
[I]I don't want you to work with other men so I'm going to buy the company and become your boss.
You can't go out and meet your friends because I love you too much.
I can give my ex sub a bath (just in a caring way), but I'll freak out if you have any contact with a male friend.[/I]
And EVERY time, he shags her and she gives in to him.
The relationship seemed like a precocious teenagers view of the perfect love affair. (maybe without the nipple orgasms and S&M)
But again, that's just me. Many people seem to love these too (and anyway, my sub-conscious is sneering at me over her half-moon specs, so I'd better shut up.)

I have read the first two books and I have to say that I did enjoy them.

I did get bored with the sex though, in the end i was just flicking through those parts.

I belong to a forum of non writers, and I did ask if they thought the books were well written, and quite a few replied that it wasn't, some couldn't even finish the books for that reason. So it isn't just writers writers who have picked up on the badly written parts.

I'm more fascinated by how this series started out. A twilight fan fic that somehow gets traction, picked up by the masses and goes gangbusters. And now there's a movie deal in the mix to add to her millions.

Whatever you think of the books, you can't say this isn't something we've all dreamed of.

I definitely agree, convoyrider. Half the reason I finally decided to cave and buy a copy was because the whole story of its existence is pretty meaningful when it comes to the stories of fandom's successes (and certainly less wank-filled than the tale of Cassandra Clare).

That and I was just plain curious. That said, I haven't picked it back up in a few weeks but that happens to books often enough since I usually have at least 2 on the go at any given time (right now I think I may have 6? Including The Count of Monte Cristo which I haven't looked at in months).

convoyrider said:

I'm more fascinated by how this series started out. A twilight fan fic that somehow gets traction, picked up by the masses and goes gangbusters. And now there's a movie deal in the mix to add to her millions.

Whatever you think of the books, you can't say this isn't something we've all dreamed of.

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I understand the gist of what you're saying. But...no, having our twi-fic published and turned into a movie is not something any of us have likely dreamed of.

Channy said:

If people are skipping the books because the sex gets repetitive.. then what else does it possibly offer?

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BDSM is not sex. People can practice it along with sex, but it is not sex. One thing people do not always understand when I tell them I worked in a dungeon as a submissive, is that I did not have sex with anybody. People really did come in just to tie me up, tickle me, or spank me. Not to have sex.

I try to explain to interested outsiders that it's not really about sex, but about power exchanges. Sometimes the exchange is heady enough to satisfy by itself, and could even be overwhelmed by an orgasm.

But anyone getting sex and BDSM tips from 'Fifty Shades' has more problems than a Kinsey Report could solve.

Celia Cyanide said:

BDSM is not sex. People can practice it along with sex, but it is not sex. One thing people do not always understand when I tell them I worked in a dungeon as a submissive, is that I did not have sex with anybody. People really did come in just to tie me up, tickle me, or spank me. Not to have sex.

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My mistake, I was vague. I was using it as a generalization as 'the sex' as in, the BDSM. I mean, that's what-I thought- women were picking up the book for... was for the raw, tantric, sexual exploits of BDSM. (I also realize that tantric sex isn't the same as BDSM, but I'm just trying to use as many synonyms as possible to describe it. ^^; )

But my point was that.. if that was what bringing in people, surely not for the writing quality, and people are STILL skipping over those parts.. then what are they reading it for?

Channy said:

My mistake, I was vague. I was using it as a generalization as 'the sex' as in, the BDSM. I mean, that's what-I thought- women were picking up the book for... was for the raw, tantric, sexual exploits of BDSM. (I also realize that tantric sex isn't the same as BDSM, but I'm just trying to use as many synonyms as possible to describe it. ^^; )

But my point was that.. if that was what bringing in people, surely not for the writing quality, and people are STILL skipping over those parts.. then what are they reading it for?

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I think I wasn't specific enough in my reply either...I think that the people who are "skipping over the sex" are skipping over the actual sex. Just not the BDSM play. That is just a guess, though. If they are really skipping over the whole scenes, I can't imagine what parts they are reading that is keeping them interested. Seriously. It's erotica, so the sex, along with the BDSM play, is the story.

IMO, foreplay, and everything else that leads up to sex, is often more interesting to read about than the sex itself. So that would be my guess.

I agree. I tend to want to pick up edgier YA that's got quite a bit of sexual tension and takes a little while to get to the actual sex (if there is any). Some erotica that I've seen, tends to jump the gun on it.. and especially in this case, where it's almost immediate, and then goes to span 2 more books of the same shpiel, only upping the ante by adding in children.. then yeah, I agree and share your confusion on "What are they reading?".

But the people here have also been vague, so we're just assuming. The few people who brought it up just briefly mentioned "skipping over the sex", so we don't know if they're skipping over the actual sex sex, or the BDSM part sex, or what.

I DO see what you mean about the foreplay being a crucial part though. I recently read a few chapters on ff.net with pretty much the same premise... Ed and Bella in an alt, human universe, he's a rich tycoon, she's a his assistant.. but it was written FAR better than 50. It didn't jump RIGHT into the sex, and the BDSM had equal parts foreplay and tension without getting too aggressive or offensive to the trade. (Although I'm not familiar with the trade, but it did seem to be more appealing that 50 where she's only subbing because she's afraid she'll lose him).

my wife rang me the other day from the supermarket to tell me they had set up a trestle table in the fruit and veg aisle and stacked it high with discount copies of Fifty Shades. We can only assume they were trying to connect directly with the yummy mummies who are its target demographic, or maybe they were just trying to increase sales of bananas and cucumbers.

'..and surprisingly tasty!'

skink said:

my wife rang me the other day from the supermarket to tell me they had set up a trestle table in the fruit and veg aisle and stacked it high with discount copies of Fifty Shades. We can only assume they were trying to connect directly with the yummy mummies who are its target demographic, or maybe they were just trying to increase sales of bananas and cucumbers.

'..and surprisingly tasty!'

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lol!

I live in a tourist area. The local Stop and Shop fills up the bookshelf on 50 shades once a week when they get their shipment and all three titles are usually gone within a day or two. It's pretty shocking to watch.

I call these books 50 Shades of Crack. Because they're horrible, bad for you, and incredibly addictive. The whole time I was rolling my eyes at the writing, I couldn't put the damned things down.

I think part of what draws me in to the whole dysfunctional relationship is that I kept getting mad at the guy and thinking, "If he did that to me, I'd...!" and "Don't let him get away with that shit!" It engaged me. I was totally attracted to Christian, but I kept thinking I'd call him on his bullshit. Heh.

If I may address some of the posts about the pain aspect of BDSM...

I'm a masochist. Some of us enjoy pain, in the right context. I'll be glad to explain why if someone wants to ask. Pain isn't necessarily abuse, and IMO shouldn't automatically be considered A Bad Thing. Violating boundaries is an altogether different matter.

Paige

Gilbert Gottfried reads from "Fifty Shades of Grey"

Warning, it's hilarious, but has language not suitable for anyone who's too young to vote (I thought that warning was probably unnecessary, but better safe than sorry).
http://youtu.be/5K1RcKJVbHA