Hi all
Just finally got round to reading 50 Shades. What's all the fuss about? It's not all THAT rude and the writing isn't as bad as all the hype said. Would love to know what anyone else thinks !
I didn't make it to halfway. I found it dull. It was an effort to stir up enough interest to turn the page.
(Fifty Shames Of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin [aka Andrew Shaffer] was more up my street, but I didn't get much beyond halfway with that either).
I found the male character unbelievable and the rest of the book somewhat tedious. While I did finish it, there's no way I'd read the next two.
I read them all to see what the hype was about, I was hoping I'd finally get to the good part. For me it was akin to a soap opera, but with lots of sex and bdsm. I found the story predictable with unbelievable characters and situations; it left me with a "meh" kind of attitude. It was much ado about nothing as far as I'm concerned.
When you look at the number of people that join these sites, it would be fair to say that as world-wide sites, they are not that heavily attended. Most of our parents do not access these sites so something like 50 Shades was something erotic that maybe sparked the sexual taste buds into life.
I believe the few comments on here so far were made by young adults who are already enjoying extremely erotic story telling, so in turn 50 Shades would probably seem tame. If 50 Shades had been written as erotically as the stories on here, then it probably would not have sold as well or been as popular. The fact that it was erotic without going too far allowed the books to receive more open coverage.
I personally loved all the books, and re read them a lot... all the action, they way they connect, I love it... brings some excitement into your life even for 5 minutes in a busy day.... like every book tho its not for everyone.. but you always get that....
Yes im the small bitchy chick in the corner, set me off and man do you know about it !!!
My wife read all 3, mainly because they got her all hot and bothered and she wanted to see what the fuss was about. I read just the first book. It was mildly arousing to me, nothing to get too horned up over. Unlike you, I did think the writing was horrible! She recycled way too many phrases over and over. There are a lot better things to read on Lush and Literotica if you just want to be stimulated sexually. I didn't bother with book 2 or 3. No need.
I too thought it rather tame but also poorly written. I have also seen much better stories on the internet. However, she was in the right place at the time with her publication and it has made her and her husband very rich.
The other positive side to this is that it has helped make this genre of erotica more popular and, I am sure, encouraged more authors and readers alike to join sites like Lush.
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
Oh God. I couldn't make it past the first two chapters. So dreadful!
But! No matter how bad the writing was, I think people liked the tragic romance aspect to it...and that once it became popular enough it just sort...went viral and there was pleasure in knowing that SO MANY women were reading the same thing. Kinda made it a legitimate sorta smut.
But it was so crappy, ugh.
I have read all the three, and owing to the fact that I am a die hard romantic, I wont criticize it, infact I still read some parts of it when I want to.
But yes, I will admit, it is written poorly, repeating expressions way too much. Also, in my view, many authors here write much better.
I read all three and was not impressed at all. I found Christian to be completely unbelievable. When you're into something like that, you're not going to give it all up for someone you've only known for a few weeks.
I really don't like writing bad reviews. I admire people who have the courage to put pen to paper and expose themselves to the whole world, especially those writing erotica. Having just finished this book, however, I feel compelled to say my piece.
About half way through the book, I looked up the author to see if she was a teenager. I really did because the characters are out of a 16 year old's fantasy. The main male character is athletic, drop dead gorgeous, tall, built perfectly with an enormous penis, and the best lover on the planet. It seriously feels like 2 teenage girls got together and decided to create their "dream man" and came up with Christian Grey.
Now the sex scenes; the first one is tolerable, but as the book goes on, they're so unbelievable and become more laughable than erotic. Ana orgasms at the drop of a hat and it seems that she's climaxing on every page.
The writing is just not up to par, the characters are unbelievable, and the sex verges on the comical.
I read all three and enjoyed them
I read the books hoping my wife would pick them up and read them. I thought there was some pretty good sex in the book, but I didn't really care for the rest of the plot and had a hard time with things like the valedictorian of her college class not having email. My wife read the first book and then stopped. She didn't really care for them.
My best friend read the books and loved them, so I tried and I just got bored. Sex parts were good, but that's about it.
They should call it Fifty Shades of Throw-That-Shit-Away-and-Go-Buy-Some-Anais-Ninn.
I never made it past the first 100 or so pages of the first book, and the only reason that I own the trilogy is that I collect first-edition, first-run, signed books, and E.L. James happened to be present, on tour when I was at a local bookstore, so I bought the first one, and then the second and third when she came back.
Two reasons I don't like the book(s): One, it's set in Seattle, a place that E.L. James knew only from Google Earth and Wikipedia and whatever other secondhand information she could glean from whatever sources she gleaned them. She never actually set foot in Seattle before publishing the first book, and that really grates on me; there are so many little subtle things missing from her description of the city (or present in her description, that don't exist) that it made my head hurt. Two, as previously mentioned by other posters, the writing is...well, it's not bad, but I found it difficult to get into the female protagonist's head, maybe because I was bothered by the aforementioned descriptions of Seattle, I don't know, I just couldn't do it.
I tried, I really tried to like the books, skimming all three, but I just couldn't. Kind of like the "Twilight" series, I just get hung up on the details, or lack thereof, in the description of the locations involved, because I've lived somewhere in either the Lower Mainland or Seattle my entire life.
Want to spend some time wallowing in a Recommended Read? Pick one! Or two! Or seven!
Ticket in hand!!
I'm about to find out.
I haven't read any of the books and probably won't. But I will say that watching some of the previews and all the talk about them has made me think about sex a lot more often than usual and got me to seek out and join this site. I bet I'm not alone either.
My imagination is apparently way dirtier, but the books weren't awful they just didn't live up to the hype in my opinion.
LOL both the books AND the movie were jokes. The movie was R18 and all I have to say is - HBO.
Agreed. I read the first book and didn't think much of it at all. Not going to bother with the movie.
I have read it it was ok my fave is the this man serises over 50 shades but I love my trash novals curvy temptation was a lot more descriptive and hotter than 50 shades with lots more bondage
