Book Review: Fifty Shades of Goddamn!

For the month of May, our book club decided to take our first foray into the world of tawdry romance. Our pick was E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey," the novel that has been taking the world by storm in a swirl of controversy.

 

My oh my that tie!

 Because I had seen this book pop up on the news and my Facebook news feed, I added it to my list of suggestions along with 4 other family friendly, totally SFW novels. Honestly, had I known, just WHY this book was stirring up so much controversy, I would have left it off of my list. I thought it had something to do with strong female roles (which, at heart, it does does), though the real controversy lies in the explicitly detailed sex scenes. Now while all of my dear sweet girlfriends are nose deep in "The Lucky One" or "Dear John," the love scenes in my book de jour do not hearken to Nickolas Sparks but more to the likes of Caligula. It's all very sexy and stimulating until out of nowhere I'm totally grossed out. There's a very fine line between hot and ewww. I find myself often thinking to myself, "wait, he put what where? groooosss!"

I stole this from my friend M's facebook so I have no idea where it originates from.

When I first started the book, my initial reaction was disappointment. I found the writing poorly edited and the story familiar and contrite. I felt like I had read this same story a thousand times during my teenage years when the Love Stories series was the shiz. When I mentioned to my fellow book loving friend Marty, he told me that the story was originally written as Twilight fan-fiction. Naturally, my intrigue was kicked up a notch as a devoted twi-hard.

Me, S, and M (hehehe) at Eclipse midnight premier 

You could probably tell me that onions are based on Twilight and I would change my opinion instantaneously. It's a sickness, I know.

Once I devoted myself to the plot a little bit more, I became quite intrigued. In between all of the sex is really a fantastic story. The romantic element to Anastasia and Christian alone is breath taking, but there really is something to be said for the discussion of roles within a relationship. At face value, the two main characters learn how to make their relation function through BDSM experiences. Underneath all of the "kinky fuckery" (the author's term, not mine) though is a discussion we all should have with ourselves in how our relationships function. Do you really trust your partner with your life? Who really holds the power and should that be given to one person? As a woman are you naturally inclined to be taken care of? Do we "misbehave" in an effort to be disciplined? Do you seek to be put in your place? Is a submissive role a natural inclanation or taught to us by society? Or rather, do we fight a submissive role because society has taught this generation of women to wear the pants in our family?

I've now almost finished the third and final installment of the series and am enraptured by the characters. The writing has greatly improved over the course of the series. It seems like, as it is with most authors, the meat of the story was easy to write but the introduction was a struggle.

 Of course I find it exciting when I make the connection between the "Grey" character and their Twilight counterpart. Sometimes it's painstakingly obvious (Jacob = Jose) and sometimes not so much (Voltouri = Elana...maybe...I think). I've also enjoyed taking a peak at my own relationship with a regard as to how we function as a team. How we share control, how we share dependence on one another, and how we express intimacy. Just because Ana and Christian take their bedroom experiences to taboo levels, they really aren't that much different from all of us in the real world. We all seek to control the world around us, including our significant others, in a way that makes sense to us.

If you are on the fence about reading this book, I have to say go for it. The sexual motifs of this book are shockingly overt, but I say get over it. Sex is everywhere these days people. It's part of life. There really is something to be said for the story that is written in between the lines. Also, book 3 is exciting as hell. Oh Fifty....

*All Photos are crappy and personal unless otherwise noted. All videos from YouTube.

 

**Update: I've now finished all 3 books and the bonus chapters in "Freed." I have to say the 3 bonus chapters are my favorite piece of the story. "Fifty's First Christmas" had me in tears...which is not what one would expect from an erotic novel. Well played, Ms. James. Well played indeed.

 

Also stolen from M...no clue where she found it. But I big-puffy-heart LOVE this!