Fifty Shades of Grey - Book One: Review

Just finished the popular new novel by EL James entitled Fifty Shades of Grey. Last week, out of curiousity, I decided to try a free sample of this novel on my Kindle. The nifty thing about Kindles and e-readers is you can sample the first 50-100 pages of any book for free.

What I knew about Fifty Shades was that it was a risque S&M erotica novel based on a Twilight fanfic.

( fanfic brohahaha )

I wanted to hate this book. Because I despise Twilight. Tried reading it, and couldn't make it past the first 50 pages. Twilight reminded me too much of how I wrote when I was 15, except I had better characters. Flowery language. And a wimpy heroine who moped. Also, the whole teen romantic angst thing just doesn't work when you are 45. You roll your eyes. 28...yes, 45, not so much.
And...let's face it vampires have hit their saturation point. I burned out on them finally.
So, I'd never have read this book in its original incarnation. Plus Robert Pattinson does nothing for me.

And...there was the whole media marketing explosion over it. The hype got on my nerves. It still does. Actually I'm wary of the Avengers for the same reasons. But...word of mouth hype makes me curious...which is why I saw Cabin in the Woods (well that and Whedon wrote it), against my better judgement - because I hate that particular type of horror film. I want to know why people love something. I read Harry Potter for the same reasons - and was surprised by Harry Potter, it wasn't what I thought it would be either when I picked it up on a whim. Twilight I tried and hated.

And..it was based on a fanfic on the internet for free! Ugh.

So, I admittedly went into Fifty Shades with low expectations, planning on ripping it to pieces and making fun of it. Preparing to be offended by it like I was by Twilight. And unlike a lot of reviewers, I'd, as you know from reading past book reviews in 2011, read my fair share of this stuff. Most of the stuff that I'd read in 2011, with the exception of the historical novels, was incredibly chauvinistic and disturbing. One book in particular horrified me. This was His Indecent Proposal by Lyndia Chase. It wasn't really a book, so much as a novella. But the heroine literally allows herself to be raped, beaten and controlled by her former boss. Who tricks her into a marriage contract by using her fears of financial ruin. He takes control of her entire life, and she's weakling, unable to stop him. It's written as a romance, but it felt like a horror tale.

I thought, from everything I'd read about Fifty Shades, that it would be like "His Indecent Proposal" or at the very least like the other two books that I read, "Dom of My Dreams" - about a book editor who enters into a submissive sex game with her author, or "The Initiation" about a college student who gets initiated to an exclusive power club by becoming a submissive in a sex game for several months. Both of the latter books are basically wall to wall sex, and violent, graphic sex at that, with multiple partners. (Not for the squeamish and I found them distasteful).

In the past six months, I've read roughly 20-30 novels in the romance/erotica/chicklit genre. I can remember only a handful. They tend to blend together after a bit. The trope is the same - girl meets guy, he's a beast, she falls for him anyway, and gives herself over to him, body and soul.
After a bit, I got annoyed. I kept arguing with the writers - why isn't she running for the hills?
I'd be running for the hills. There are a few exceptions, but generally, she gives up her life, what she knows to join him. Loretta Chase's novels provided a hefty does of compromise but those were historicals. The contemporary romance novels, with the exception of Nora Roberts poorly written and edited, Sweet Revenge, it's about sex and capitulation. He fucks her into submission.

I'm writing this preamble, so that you can see my perspective on this book which is a bit different than the medias. And why it has captivated many women around the world.

Now to Fifty Shades of Grey Review.

( vague spoilers for Fifty Shades of Grey )

Losing oneself in Books and Writing

1. If anyone is reading this? Please wish me luck. I just sent the first 105 pages of my novel Doing Time on Planet Earth to a former work colleague who is the Director of Contracts at a Publishing Company in MA. I know this is a longshot.

Brief summary of Doing Time? Told in the point of view of three people - an unemployed and depressed former editor of a library reference publishing company, a struggling private eye who wants to help the editor because he has a savior complex, and an embezzler/identity thief that they are both tracking (who just happens to be the editors best bud). During the course of the novel and against all odds they come together to help each other.

What I didn't tell her is the novel references pop culture, and the editor and identity thief met online in fandom. It's a weird book. Doesn't quite fit in any genre. And takes place in a post 9/11 NYC during the Bush era.

I finished it five years ago. And sporadically been sending it out. It's the best thing I've written. I keep hoping it may get published someday and someone besides the five people who have read outside of me will read it. I'm too cowardly to publish it to my blog.
It's hard enough when you don't get responses to blog posts but to works of fiction, ugh, the pain!

2. My weekend was more or less swallowed by a trashy novel. It's quite sad. But I think I needed it. To just lose myself inside a book. Have you ever lost yourself inside a book, just fallen into that world. Laughed, cried. And even if its not great...it doesn't matter, you love it? And then afterwards feel a bit guilty because it's not great and probably forgettable? I hope it's not just me. At any rate, I need to lose myself a bit.
Last week was fretful. And the next two will be two. I'm overwhelmed at work. And personal life feels almost non-existent outside of church. And my relationship with kid-bro is tenuous at best. .So am a bit lonely. And frustrated. And wired. Sleeping badly. So losing self in book was a welcome release, particularly one that I did not envy or want to be the characters or felt the need to think. In honor of this, a list of books I've lost myself in that I remember:

( Ten Books I've Lost Myself in That I Remember )

Two things I lose myself in - books and writing. I'm considering purchasing Tess of Durberville's next on my Kindle and maybe renting the Roman Polanski film, along with Far from the Maddening Crowd. I've never really read Thomas Hardy, sorry to say. Also need to read some Henry James...although I tend to agree with Mark Twain's assessment. James lacked a sense of humor. I need a bit of wit.