A few months ago, I picked up the first book, just as it reached the top of the bestseller list, and started reading it before all the contraversy was really known. You can imagine my surprise when I got to their first intimate encounter!
(On a side note, the contraversy, in my opinion, is unnecessary. Yes, it's an erotic novel, but it's no different or more shocking than any other. And it's definitely not the first time erotic literature has become available to women as has been suggested....)
I definitely have mixed reviews of 'Fifty Shade of Grey'. Having read it before the hype, I had no expectations of how racey it was going to be, and so wasn't expecting more than there was. Plus, it was a nice insight into a world that I've never been a part of. (Not suprisingly, I can't imagine myself as a submissive!) However, what I would say is that it could have gone a lot further. Christian has all of this equipment and aparatus in his Red Room of Pain, and even though it's all described, very little is used. If E L James was really trying to create a saucy S&M-esque novel, she could have pushed it a lot further. Plus, the will-they,-won't-they storyline got quite tedious by the end.
Secondly, the grammar and writing quality was in places horrendous, and felt like it hadn't been read through before publication. Most annoyingly, the main character, Ana, keeps referring to her vagina as her 'sex'. Why? Of all the nicknames there are for lady-parts, why call it sex? I don't get it, and it was almost as off-putting as if she referred to it as her 'sausage wallet'.
But despite all of this, I couldn't put the first book down, and even though I promised myself I wouldn't read the susequent novels, I suddenly have found myself halfway through the third book' 'Fifty Shades Freed'.
Book 2, 'Fifty Shades Darker' was infintely better. The storyline was much more interesting, involving a psycho-ex sub, a sleasy boss, and a bit more jeopardy! But while one thing improved, another worsened, and the sex scenes all got a lot less racey, and very repetitive. There's only so many times I want to read about 'vanilla' sex, as it's commonly referred to.
I'm now halfway through Book 3 'Fifty Shades Freed' and I'm bored. It's really quite a struggle to keep reading it, but I'm not one to give up. The jeopardy of Book 2 has gone, and the exciting insight into the life of a sadist has gone too.
The main characters, Christian Grey and Ana Steele are irritating.
Christian is brooding, and closed with his emotions, which makes having any belief or interest in their relationship near impossible.
Ana, although being a strong, educated woman with a career determination, is whiney and constantly self-doubting when it comes to Christian, and I find it so frustrating that she bends over backwards (sometimes literally) to meet his every whim. Furthermore, I do not need to read a description of his facial features, or the way his trouser hang from his hips every other page. He's an attractive man, we get it.
All in all, it seems like E L James has come up with a narrative that could easily have been condensed into one brilliant book. By stretching it out into three, it's become tedious, and there's been a bit of secondary character development to get you interested (people like Taylor - Christian's security manager, and Kate - Ana's best friend), but so far, this hasn't paid off.
I've got this far, so I'll finish all three, and be sure to let you know if my opinions change. I really hope it does! I've heard accounts of people crying as they've got to the end of the third book, and I cried at a VW advert last night, so I'm a likely candidate!
Have you finished the trilogy?
I'm keen to hear any thoughts you have on it, as I seem to be in the minority with this opinion!
Love and kisses,
Holly Salts
