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Fifty Shades of Grey, E.L. James


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Hello, readers!

 

So I was searching for a good forum to post this, and I think I've finally found it. Whatever, I'm here to talk about the novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" written by E.L. James, as said on the title of my topic.

So, I started it last week and I found the beginning really distracting, and I began to be addicted...until that moment when she finally discovers that Christian is a Dominant. So, this is me, trying to be open-minded. I continued my reading, but it was going weird. What I was looking for was a romantic and sensual novel. I don't mind sex scenes, but the ones in the book are quite shocking because this is the opposite of what I expected. Even thought I enjoyed the book a lot, it made me feel a little incomfortable. I haven't finished it yet, but as a very curious girl, I'd like to know, what did you think about this book? Is it really too much, or is it easy to handle?

 

xx, Julie.

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I think opinion here is largely split between those who have read it and liked it and those who are disappointed that a book that is effectively poorly written slash fiction has done so well (when there are possibly more worthy books that haven't done nearly as well).

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I would agree with Raven, but I would also add that the people who haven't read the book can also be pretty much divided into to different camps: those who are looking forward to reading the book and seeing what the fuss is about, and those who swear never to read it.

 

And of course, that is the extremes and there are surely those people too who just don't care about the subject in whole :) I haven't read the book myself but I'm very curious about it and would like to read it someday, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find a copy, and I certainly don't want to spend any money on it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am a guy. And married. And, I read the book, after wondering what all of the fuss was about. Very poorly written...no imagination, I was shocked that the book was even published, let alone there are 2 more out....hell, I could have written it in highschool.

 

That being said...kudos for the author to get his book published. Wonder if there is an underlying issue...as the scenes are very graphic.

 

Paul

Edited by Michelle
Michelle
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Hi spud, I think the author is a woman but I could be wrong....this book already caused a big bust up on here so I lost any interest in reading it I might have had. I just heard too much about it. I will read the JK Rowling book instead

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  • 2 weeks later...

My daughter bought them, and passed them to me, but I have so many interesting books to read first, I gave them a miss. She has passed them on to her boyfriend, so they'll be back in the house at some stage.

If there ever comes a time when I have nothing to read, I might pick one up, but I'd have to be desperate :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've not read them, but i have read snippets. What i did read, I thought was boring and very poorly written, I didn't care or feel engaged be either of the main characters, in fact I wondered how the first people to read this actually managed to get to the sex scenes to find out it was an erotic fiction novel. I then skipped to

the first sex scene and about wet myself with laughter. So no i will not be reading them and I don't see what all the fuss is about, there are much better written books out there that actually have a plot, but yes, fair game to the author for making a mint out of the "frustrated housewife"

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Anybody noticed, on the shelves of these cheap Booksale shops, a spate of these erotic books, all claiming that if you like the fifty shades you will love this! Doesn`t appeal to me in truth.

Oh goodness yes, they've all climbed on the bandwagon, which has made me more anti .. though I haven't read it so I'm probably unfairly pre-judging it (though not by it's cover .. I've seen worse .. but by some paragraphs I've read).

 

It's phenomenal sales (and the sales of erotica in general) apparently saved last year from being one of the most dismal on record .. as far as physical book sales are concerned. I don't know whether to cheer or knit my own noose (not for any sexual reasons you understand ;))

 

It's disappointing when there are so many outstanding books out there that, in comparison, only reach a small audience but that's the way it goes and fair play to her, she wrote something that got people talking (and reading).

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I don't know whether to cheer or knit my own noose (not for any sexual reasons you understand ;))

 

Oh! The mental picture! lol

 

It's disappointing when there are so many outstanding books out there that, in comparison, only reach a small audience but that's the way it goes and fair play to her, she wrote something that got people talking (and reading).

 

 

That is it, exactly.

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It's disappointing when there are so many outstanding books out there that, in comparison, only reach a small audience but that's the way it goes and fair play to her, she wrote something that got people talking (and reading).

 

Think of it this way - children's books were doing OK, but not great back in the mid 90s, the came along Harry Potter. Now, I know most people love them, but not all the of the books are examples of the best books ever written, but they boosted book sales, and got children reading, and some adults too.

 

Young adult was a pretty good market, but then along came the Twilight saga, and these are definitely not the best writing you can find, but they were a phenomenon and gave the YA market an added boost, got teenage girls reading, and the YA market became noticed when it hadn't had been before, and now the excellent writers in that arena are getting the attention they deserve.

 

There have also been other bestsellers such as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Whatever you think of either of these publishing phenomena, you can't deny they got people reading and buying books. If you can get people in a bookshop, in a library or on a book selling website, there's always a chance they will come across a book outside of the style they normally read, and suddenly a whole new world of books opens up to them. I know people this has happened to, and any new readers who only start reading because of books like this, have the potential to become serious readers of diverse literature. But even if they don't, so what? There will always be readers who stick to one genre, whether it's Mills and Boon, blockbuster thrillers, science fiction, classics, etc. I don't really care what people read, as long as they read and support the publishing industry, as while there are readers out there, there will be publishers to cater for them, and us.

 

(Phew, it's a bit early on a Sunday morning for this, isn't it? I haven't even had a cup of tea yet!)

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For me it just got to be too much and I just don't mean the sex scenes. How many times can you say holy crap in a chapter. These aren't very well written but they did have an impact on the reading world

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One thing I'll say annoyed me about the whole brouhaha of Fifty Shades is the fact that so many people feel they should/must apologize for being offended, or not being offended by the sexual content. We are all different. Have different tastes in everything, and if someone likes, or doesn't like whatever.....so what!

 

But the major item that annoyed me was when people (some rather self-righteously, some not) said, Oh, I'd never read that trash. Well, trash is in the eye of the beholder IMHO. The old (garage/boot) sale motto comes to mind. One man's trash is anothers treasure.

 

The writing was repetitive, and schoolgirl(ish), but the character was not much more than a High Schooler after all. In a way (I know I'm reaching) the dialogue was true to the character. Well, one from the 1950's anyhow. :D

 

Oh well, mini-rant over. LOL

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Funnily enough, I was listening to a radio programme with a sort of review of the book year for 2012, and they were talking about this book, and one of the contributors made a comment about the abusive theme in the book, pointing out that it's hardly a new theme in fiction and said at least the hero doesn't have his mad wife locked in the attic like Rochester in Jane Eyre!

Edited by chesilbeach
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  • 3 weeks later...

That made me laugh too Raven. I work with a girl who said that anyone who disliked 50 shades of gray must be a prude in need of a good........

Well I am neither (sorry TMI), and I just found the book (the small part I read) incredibly boring and the writing made me cringe. However, i do think hats off to her, she has made a fortune out of this. I was also disturbed to hear this started out as twilight fan fiction, I suspect some teenage girls have had an interesting sex ed lesson now :o

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I did stick with all 3 books but I wasn't blown away by them. I doubt I will re-read them at any point in my life.

I found I kept getting quite bored and very fustrated with the writing and repetitive use of sentences.

 

How many times did I need to read 'my inner goodess' 'he put his hand through his hair' 'stop biting your lip' 'We aim to please Miss Steele' GRRRRRRRRR lol

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I haven't picked these up and to be honest, I doubt I will. It's cringy reading sex scenes in normal novels let alone a novel all about it. Fair play to those who love it but no thanks. I wouldn't waste money on books like that when I can get gripped by fantasy or sci-fi or a decent young adult novel that is traditional (girl likes boy, conflict, resolve, fall in love).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ive desperately tried to read these books mainly because of all the hype but gave up after just a few chapters........................mainly because I thought the storyline poor in my eyes and its generally not the sort of book I would usually read. Having said that my 20 year old daughter who rarely picks up a book read all 3 in the space of 3 weeks so I guess it appeals to that sort of audience I dont know.

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  • 1 month later...

I think it is interesting that it brought more of the inner world of bdsm to 'mainstream' america, but erotica has been around for a long time, and way more well written...

The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy written by Anne Rice, published under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure is what comes straight to my mind. 

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