***Disclaimer if you like Fifty Shades of Grey you probably shouldn’t read this***
As I said in my Keep It Fresh Award: “I love Neil Gaiman; I hate Fifty Shades of Grey”. Not that the fact that I love Neil Gaiman is relevant (but it does kind of soften the blow a little). It’s just a bit of a heads up cos I’m gonna go into full-blown rant mode. Because this book seriously sucks.
There was no plot, the characters were garbage and the sex scenes were nothing like what was promised! Ok, I take some of that back- there was something of a plot, and it revolved round Christian Gray being a creepy stalker. And fairly abusive. So I guess that also proves he has a character- even though that character is a total freak. And on some level Ana does have a personality. She has the personality of a weirdo that needs a rich billionaire to make her realise that she is actually a woman with a sexuality. Oh, and she’s also someone who seems to be doing ok with her life, has her sh*t together, but somehow has never got round to buying a laptop for Uni- err what?!? How did she manage that? (incidentally, if my flatmate had constantly been asking to borrow my laptop every time they needed to do an essay, I’d have told them where to go aka THE LIBRARY).Luckily Ana has all that lip biting to make her character well-rounded. *Bangs head against the wall*. You know- because sexy-lip-biting is totally a thing *heavy sarcasm*. Give me a break. It honestly just makes me wonder about how much lip balm she probably needs (seriously my mind wandered to this while I was reading- that’s how bored I was).
We get to watch Ana’s journey of self-discovery, with all the exciting scenes we enjoyed from twilight- like doing household chores… and reading contracts. I thought the parts in Twilight when Bella did her laundry were dull- but E.L. James takes dull to a whole other level. She includes grocery shopping and working in a hardware store as part of a book about sex. What, are we supposed to be turned on by that weird scene where Christian stalks Ana at her place of work, and asks her about ropes? Oh, c’mon! Is that supposed to be sexy??? It’s just a mixture of weird and mundane.
And no, I didn’t put a spoiler warning on, because there’s no way you can be spoiled for this book. Because nothing happens. It’s just two strangers making awkward small talk and having “kinky sex”- and not very often considering this is supposed to be a raunchy book. And when they do eventually get round to it, it’s actually quite off-putting. Because to be honest, it was either extremely awkward or bordering on rapey. Which I suppose is fine if that floats your boat.
Not that I think it was really written as a rape fantasy- which just put a huge question mark over *the whole thing*. In a way, (oh my goodness I can’t believe I’m getting into an in-depth analysis of this) rape fantasies work because they’ve got the whole “I shouldn’t want this, but I do” thing going on. But this was just uncomfortable. Because there was nothing sexy about when she was being pressured into doing things she didn’t want to do. Or when she actively was not enjoying it. It just made me wonder if it was actually consensual and if it counted as sexual coercion- which is not what I want to be thinking about when I’m reading a book like this. Seriously, if you want to read better erotica, you really don’t have to look far- the internet is free and google is easy to use :p
Besides, “oh my” and “holy cow” doesn’t really do it for me- and it shouldn’t do it for anyone! Also what is with the weird 90s “baby” and the fact that she hasn’t figured out how to do anything other than email on her laptop. Oh wait, I forgot- she didn’t have a laptop till her “saviour” Christian Grey came in and bought her one. But seriously- the writing is truly dismal. “My inner goddess is doing the samba”??!!? Who writes like that?
So yeah, this book left me completely cold. Not that any of this is new- people (and me in real life) have been ranting about this book for years. But at least now I’ve made my feelings clear.
As for the rating- what rating could I possibly give this- nope, no bananas for this book! It doesn’t deserve any! Maybe a banana peel thrown at E. L. Jame’s head though!
I could not agree more. Everyone told me to read this – I made it through a couple of chapters and realized I would hate myself forever if I read one more word. I always swear I will treat every book/author with respect, but I just can’t in this case.
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Yeah I know- I really struggle to find *anything* of merit in this- I mean there is literally nothing good about it 😦 I read it out of curiosity one afternoon- and now I can never get that afternoon back!
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Reblogged this on BibbityBobbityBlogger.
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Haha, I was wondering if you’d reach the horrid inner goddess garbage. I read the trilogy, thinking *maybe* it would evolve into something not abuse or actually resemble something of what a healthy BDSM relationship would be. But no. I’m with you on every point of this one.
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Yeah, unfortunately I did, though I only read this one. There was *no way* I was going on to read the rest of the series. I don’t know if beneath the vitriol for this book, it was clear that I’m not anti BDSM, or erotica, or BDSM erotica for that matter. But this book is just not a healthy relationship. I can’t believe that James actually idealised the kind of relationship in this book- it just makes me so angry (aside from it being so poorly written that it’s an affront to literature in general)
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I agree. I’m not either for or against either genre or a mixture of them, but it was horribly misrepresented and I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about couples ‘trying’ it out and ending up ashamed or worse.
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Yeah I’m just pro-good writing. But I agree, it was badly represented- particularly as it was presented as a sexual preference that was in some way “perverted” and you’ve got to “cure it”.
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I agree. Sexuality is individual. As long as there’s no kids involved and the adults are consenting, they can do whatever they want to. Coercion is bad. Not speaking up when you’re not comfortable is bad. Ugh. So many bad parts.
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Yup- my feelings exactly!
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Omg I can’t believe there are sequels. And yes if you’re going to write in that genre then don’t write like garbage gah horrid!
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Yeah I know- I feel the exact same way!! There was no way I was wasting any more time with these books though!!
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I couldn’t agree more with every point made in this. You nailed it all.
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Thanks!!
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Read: Oh, did I forget to eat again? *giggle* me: *face palm* I rolled my eyes every time that inner goddess crap came out and thought, idly, that it would make a good drinking game. Anytime it’s written in the book, take a shot. But then I thought the person would die if alcohol poisoning. *end rant* 😆😆😆
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Oh god!! It’s so bad- also him dictating that she eats, but stays in shape?!?! WTF?!?!?! I was so not ok with that- it was wayyyyyy too controlling. Haha I know people did that when they went to the movie- they got really drunk. hahaa
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Yeah, exactly. 😂😂😆
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I’ve never read ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ or its sequels. Never will. Especially not when time is precious and there are so many truly great books out there that DO need reading! You know I still haven’t read the ‘Grapes of Wrath’? It’s been in my ‘to read’ pile for ages!
Actually, I haven’t read ‘Twilight’ or seen any of the movies or TV shows or whatever they made out of it, either.
Of course, I wouldn’t mind having E. L. James’ royalty cheques! 🙂
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Well I can *definitely* recommend Grapes of Wrath- so luckily while I may have read both twilight and fifty shades of grey (not the sequels though, thankfully) I’ve not wasted all my time reading trash!
Haha that’d be nice :p
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Lol I love how this turned from a small convoy into a full blog post
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Haha yeah- that’s how I roll :p
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The other day when we were having this conversation I immediately thought of Twilight too. Lol. I’m glad I never read or viewed either ones of these. Also thanks fir the run down . Usually I hate bad reviews but this made me laugh
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Yup- it is Twilight fan fic. And thanks!
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Reblogged this on Life, love, and writing and commented:
My friends, christian and non, here is an in depth look at why this book is HORRIBLE in so many ways. This book disgusts me on multiple levels. If not for a facebook friend who clued me in one what it was about, I’d have never known. My blogger friend does a great job as well, of cluing people in, as to why this book is a complete and utter waste of time.
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Thanks so much!
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Love this post, I couldn’t agree more!! Fifty Shades is the least sexy ‘sexy book’ I have ever read! The writing is so cringey. I mean, you could invent a drinking game where you do a shot every time Ana’s ‘inner goddess’ experiments with a different variety of dance and get very drunk indeed. And who the hell says ‘holy cow’?! And why oh why doesn’t she have a laptop or email address?! I just do not understand! Your comment about lip balm made me laugh – legitimate concern!!
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Haha oh just scrolled through your comments and noticed somebody else said the same thing about the drinking game idea… clearly this is a thought that crossed a lot of minds whilst reading it!!
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That’s cos it’s a great idea- great minds think alike and all that :p
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Exactly!! Oh god- what made James even use the term “inner goddess” for crying out loud! That is an excellent idea. I know- it’s like she’s read the “Sh*t nobody says” dialogue manual. YES!!!! That was honestly one of my biggest problems with the book. I mean it’s not like she’s destitute and she needs it for uni- so why doesn’t she go out and buy one???! Exactly- these are the things James clearly didn’t think through when she was writing!! (if you can call that “writing” It’s more just word-vomit)
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Haha ‘shit nobody says’ manual, I love that! So, so true. To be honest, part of me thinks the entire thing is all an elaborate joke/satire. I don’t remember it from the book, but apparently there’s a line where she’s talking about blushing and she says ‘ I must be the colour of the communist manifesto’!! I mean really, the writing is so bad, surely EL James is trolling…
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Oh gosh I wish it was! It’s actually harder to believe E L James wrote this in all seriousness. Hahahaha oh goodness- I remember seeing that somewhere too- it’s so appallingly bad it’s actually funny. I’d like it if it all turned out to be a social experiment- you know, E L James was doing a doctorate on social conditioning or something and the title for her dissertation was “people will read anything if it’s got sex in the title”. She’d get a first for sure.
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It is actually pretty funny, have you seen any of the ‘dramatic readings’ of it on Youtube? They are rather amusing! Hahah wouldn’t it be amazing if she came out and announced that? I would actually almost respect that, because it would be ridiculously clever to pull something like that off! I think either way, regardless of the abysmal writing, she is a very smart business-woman who knows how to get lots of money out of her audience!!
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Oh no, I haven’t- I’d better check that out, it sounds great! Oh I would respect her so much too. I’d say I’d respect her more- but at this stage I can’t say I respect her at all I’m afraid- I love art too much to see it degraded by business 😥 I think if I had all the money in the world, I’d pay to have that dumb book obliterated from existence- which isn’t the best business plan ever- and is probably why I’ll never be rich! :p
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I had to sit through the movie with my wife. It made me want to cry. No, it was not moving. It was just awful. I think she ended up kind of regretting it too. 😛
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Oh god- I am so sorry that you had to go through that- that must have been terrible! But at least your wife has seen the error of her ways :p
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I have to comment on that Banana peel first because it’s hilarious! Finally a review of this book that doesn’t make me question the sanity of the reviewer. I haven’t read this book but I’ve read some of the quotes and it was just downright creepy and rape isn’t sexy or cute, so yeah, I’ll pass. Another great review.
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haha thanks! Yeah I just don’t understand how some people actually *like this book*- the only thing I can say to that is: WHAT??!? Exactly! Thanks very much!
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Reblogged this on messymess.
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Great Review!! SO accurate! Love the end with the bananas!!!
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Another great review. My very conservative office read the series at the time. So I read the first two. Ugh. They were amazed by the whole thing and kinda scandalized. I told them it was horrible and stalkery. Very big difference of opinion. I read the synopsis of book 3 and actually laughed out loud at the absurdity. Skipped that one.
x The Captain
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haha thanks so much! So glad you liked it! I’m impressed that you made it through book 2 after the first one- I totally gave up after book 1- especially after reading the synopses- it’s so standard “well this guy is terrible, but I can change him”- no just no! And yes it is so freakishly stalkery! Uhh! x
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Ha! This is an awesome rant!. I LOL’d my way through this one! I rated this book one star on Goodreads and that’s only because I thought I should choose something. LOL I love the idea to throw a banana peel at E.L. James’ head. YES! I still wonder how this book was published by a big publishing company and how she made it from fan fiction on the internet to a millionaire. The whole idea just astounds me. I honestly read the series, thinking that it had to be some kind of sex parody. I couldn’t take a single thing serious. Who laughs through sex scenes? 🙂 I agree with the rapey part. Christian would’ve creeped me out. I don’t care how hot or rich he is there’s no way I’d be following him into his Dexter red room of pain. Nope! Great rant! I really enjoyed reading this. I’m not announcing the winners of my Rant Contest until Wednesday or Thursday, but I wanted to let you know that you’re definitely one of the winners. 🙂
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Brilliant rant. If anyone asks me about my opinion ever again about this book I’m going to refer them to this review!
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Thank you so much!!
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I have never read any of your reviews, but today I decided to start. Ok, this 50 shades of Grey book has been sort of a fantasy in my literary head because I found the title suspiciously alluring. I say suspiciously because I wasn’t so sure I’ll not be disappointed if I got the book, and so I kept pushing it for later. Thanks for your candid review and several comments in here, I’ll save my hard earned cfa francs. Period
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Ahh I’m glad I could help! 🙂 I was also intrigued by the title and how popular it was… I could’ve done with not reading it to be honest!
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Talk of , is popularity really a goof yardstick? Maybe, maybe not… Thanks to you I spared my precious money and reading time hahaha
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haha you’re right!! Thank you for reading! 🙂
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I’ve only heard of the book and the big fuss it caused. But I’ve got friends who read it and said it was nowhere near erotic in the slightest. I enjoyed reading your rant on it. Surely there is better erotica out there.
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I just cannot with this haha. I am rolling around spilling my tea! Best review quoet ever that will not (but should) make it into the book: Luckily Ana has all that lip biting to make her character well-rounded. ❤
PS I love Gaiman too!
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hahaha I know right 😉 Otherwise I might have mistaken her for a Mary Sue 😉 Thanks so much!!
PS I’m glad!!! ❤
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I didn’t finish the fifty shades of grey. It got boring in book 2. If you ask me, Anastasia isn’t a good role model
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Totally totally get what you mean!!
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