I consider myself to be a morally upright young woman and was embarrassed by the novel's content during it's first go-around in 2011. Now that I'm in college, I am surrounded by this generation's sexual culture. I've seen enough posters advertising "sex fiestas" and enough lectures on the biology and psychology of sex to make me pretty hardy against the topic. I would like to say that I am not going to assess this book purely by literary, content, or plot value, but a combination. I'm going to do my best to be fair. Now, I know very, very little about BDSM except that a lot of people have a lot of problems with it. I will NOT be talking about the morals and ethics of BDSM. Needless to say, I expected a lot worse than what I got.
There ARE spoilers in this review!!!
Literary:
This novel is fluff reading. This is not a bad thing! I happen to love fluff. It's a nice break from the textbook, nonfiction, and more literary novels (ie. Austen, Bronte, Tolstoy, etc.) It's not meant to be literary. Fluff books are books that are "easy on the eyes;" they read quickly and for fun.
Even if you didn't know going in that this is Twilight fan fiction, if you've read it you'll be able to figure it out. Twilight was used a an example of poor writing quality at a creative writing seminar a friend of mine went to a few years ago. Yes, the writing is not the product of an English major from Harvard, but the story is cute if you can tolerate the unreal amount of sex. That being said, the novel was basically Twilight on pumped with loads and loads of testosterone (basically add unholy amounts of coitus).
Characters:
I liked the characters. Christian Grey was well developed, if copiously idealized. A review I read on Amazon by "meymoon" correctly identified the outlandishness of Grey being "a billionaire (not a millionaire but a billionaire) who speaks fluent French, is basically a concert level pianist, is a fully trained pilot, is athletic, drop dead gorgeous, tall, built perfectly with an enormous penis, and the best lover on the planet. In addition, he's not only self made but is using his money to combat world hunger. Oh yeah, and all of this at the ripe old age of 26!" But that's what books are for! Books aren't written to be realistic and some of literature's most beloved books are fantasy: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Eragon, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. Just because it's set in a realistic world doesn't mean it had to be completely devoid of fantastical elements.
Anastasia Steele was far less irritating than Isabella Swan and she was kind of a heroine in her own way. BDSM, according to Fifty Shades is kinky sex plus punishment. It's very clear in his contracts that he expects his submissives to be, well...submissive. The punishments were really the most disgusting part of the novel; canes, whips, belts, you name it. At one point, Christian hit Ana with a belt. Ana leaves him and when convinces her he's changed, she finds that the canes and belts are gone. She also unearths Christians sketchy past and helps him through the pain that he's been holding onto.
Content:
I would just like to underscore the fact that this novel is not promoting anything non-consensual or the punishment aspect of BDSM. Christian Grey had contracts and discussions with Ana about said contracts for most of the first book. The book also points out that these contracts would not stand up in a court of law if Ana was hurt and reported him. Hard limits and soft limits were discussed. Also, Ana rejected the punishing aspects of Christian Grey's...lifestyle. I'll be honest some of the sex is still really kinky and really really weird, but who are we to judge what people do consensually in their own quarters? Not to mention have you READ Cosmopolitan magazine? This book is not the first suggestion towards kinky sex in popular culture. Consent and safety are really big themes in this book though, to be fair.
While the plot is cheesy and far-fetched at times, it's a fun read with a pretty twisty plot. There are helicopter crashes, car chases, crazy exes, and break-ins. Yeah the plot is crazy and just about every bad thing that could possibly happen did, BUT it was a fun, light, amusing read. Even if you read it just to laugh at all of the content ripped out of Twilight (and oh, is it ample), that's fair. It blurs lines on what's realistic and what's moral, but if you can stomach it, the ending is pretty cute.
All in all, I give it 3 out of five stars. It wasn't great and it wasn't terrible. I expected far worse in the creepy department and while the writing itself is pretty sub-par, it's what I expected. The content is not for everyone. It pushes moral boundaries, and as a young lady with religious values I can't say I condone that on a personal level. But again, this is not for me to judge. I enjoyed the books. I took a particular interest in Christian's psychological background. I may even attempt an analysis on him if y'all are interested. Let me know in the comments section.
I hope I was fair and balanced. Any suggestions on books to review would be greatly appreciated in the comments section!
As always, thanks for reading and God bless!
Rachel
