HelloKatieO’s #CBR4 Review #33: Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James
I felt compelled to read this after it became a pop culture phenomenon. In case you missed the story of this trilogy, E L James is an Australian writer who originally published the books as one, epic novel online. And the novel is a “re-imagining” of the Twilight love story…so Twilight fan fiction. The novels spread like wildfire – as the New York Times noted, they were impossible to find in print so women were discreetly downloading copies to their Kindles.
This is the love story (sex adventures?) of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. Christian, a twenty seven year old billionaire play boy with firmly established BDSM tendencies. Anastasia, a young, awkward, sexually inexperienced college student goes to interview Christian. Sparks fly, Christian introduces Ana to his lifestyle, and they embark on a dominant/submissive relationship.
It’s hard for me to review this because there is so little plot. Or character development. There’s pretty much nothing in this book except for sex. A lot of sex – that takes place in all kinds of places, including Christian’s Red Room.
I always feel like I SHOULD read books like this and Twilight, just to be in on pop culture. I did try to read Twilight along with my 12 year old daughter, but when she ditched it because it was too “lovey-dovey,” I was glad to ditch it too.