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Tuesday 31 July 2012

Why I'm not reading: Fifty Shades of Grey.



  I've recently come back from a 12 day holiday. During this brief vacation I simply could not escape the current ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' hype. Seriously, every corner I turned it was there. Upon reading and watching loads of reviews (whether meaning to stumble upon them or not) I have come to the conclusion that it is complete and utter tripe. 
      As it turns out the inside of the book states that an earlier version of the story was published online for free under the pseudonym '' Snow Queen Ice Dragon''-It started off its life as Twilight fan-fiction. Which with all the problems surrounding the twilight story i.e the abusive relationship between Bella and Edward (if you don't know what I mean let me know and I will write a Post about that too.)



      The book is poorly written. Yes it flows form page to page meaning the reader reads it from start to finish easily hence why it has become a best seller. However, there are many grammatical errors such as a line taken from it being ''I'm not interesting in that'' a faux pas I can put up with and may even have done myself in the blogging world but I expect more out of a best selling novel which apparently had 3 proof readers who failed to notice the repetitiveness of words such as ''Oh'' and the fact that Grey tels Ana that she smells good so many times without describing what she actually smells like.Another issue with the writing of the book is that fact that it has many one dimensional characters as well as plot lines which don't get developed at all.
      The thing that annoys me the most about this book is the fact that friends of mine say they want to find their own Mr Grey. Just like many wanted to find their own ''Edward'' As you can tell from the title I have not read it but from small bits that I have heard Mr. Grey is not Mr. Wright in anyway shape or form. He gives the girl Anastasia Steele a 'Sex Contract', tells her what she can eat and cannot eat from a prescribed list foods to maintain her ''health and well being'' He also controls what clothes she wears and provides her with a personal trainer as well as outlining how she should maintain her ''personal hygiene'' and outlining Safety measures which involve her not being able to get drunk. The list goes on. 
      I get that people are into BDSM thing. That's fine. People can do what they want when they want and how they want it its none of my business. Its just...I dont feel this book talks about BDSM at all. Ana doesn't like being spanked and ends up in tears after doing it for him. There are many people who are into BDSM who would tell you that this is not what BDSM is about. This is part of  the Wikipedia definition of BDSM '

'Although it's increasingly common for couples – particularly younger couples – to have "power neutral" relationships and/or play styles, activities and relationships within a BDSM context are often characterized by the participants' taking on complementary, but unequal roles; thus, the idea of informed consent of both the partners becomes essential.''

The real issue stems from the fact that people are seeing the behavior by Mr Grey as acceptable and women fantasize over it. If this was set in a different context such as say in the Middle east then there would be a whole different perspective on it. Westerners would see it in a whole different light. Even condemning certain religious who practice certain behaviors just to have something to blame as a reason why this book was popular in that culture.

There are many other issues I could pick with this book but I'm just not going to bother. I would probably be sitting writing this way past the interest of my readers.



What did you personally think of the book and why?


@msbeaujoli

6 comments:

  1. You have a lot of good points there I couldn't agree any better. I've read about 75% of the book and I feel it's all pretty repeptitve. Main reason I'm reading is to see what the hype is about, I don't regret the read but there is nothing at the moment which makes me keen to read the sequel books.

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    1. Yeah, a lot of people are just reading it to see what the hype is about. Well I guess its better to read something than nothing and you know what everyone's going on about now.

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  2. You persuaded me. Im not gona read it either now. good points!!

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    1. Well you'll never get the time you spend reading it back! x

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  3. I completely agree! Why do women become so enraptured at a man who is controlling this woman's life, and then they proceed to say, "We are women! We are strong!" If Mr Grey is what women seek, then they clearly are not very strong at all! Quite frankly this book disgusts me. I have not actually read it myself, and I do not intend to either. It also goes to prove the point that "Sex sells!" which in turn reflects how society is aimlessly following what the media says. I enjoyed that little rant! :) Thank you for helping me believe there are still some people out there with their heads screwed on! I was so born in the wrong century! -.-

    I would love to talk more about it sometime! :)
    - Mecailla

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    1. Your point is very true. Anytime ! As would I :)x

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