I have to be honest and say I couldn’t be bothered to get through the first volume of Fifty Shades of Grey, which I downloaded on Friday. More than anything it bored me.
I’ve got to say I’m with Kate Mosse on Woman’s Hour and Pamela Stephenson in the Guardian on this one. FSOG is essentially a harmless bodice ripper. It’s soft core porn masquerading as serious bondage, domination, and sado-masochism, and it’s pretty badly written. The dialogue in particular is highly implausible and it’s a prime example of how not to ‘show don’t tell- ‘ that much quoted writer’s mantra. For me this meant I just couldn’t engage with the characters or the narrative.
But I don’t want to knock it for those reasons, it’s too easy to do that, and after all E L James has sold record numbers – millions of copies – so she’s got something right and my guess is that underneath the thin, often unconvincing, veil of S&M, is an old fashioned romance with sex thrown in. Women want to read about men who want them badly and are prepared to spend a lot of time in foreplay – both of the body and the mind. So if FSOG floats your boat then why not read all three volumes? Personally I think it has a long way to go to match Anais Nin, but that’s another story!
Bravo for giving it a try. So you have a real right to express your opinion. I have followed this series and agree with all your principles although I haven’t read the book. Too busy reading Molly Keane on Edith Somerville. Not much s&m there unless you count the horses. And the Foxes. Hilariously funny though
Maybe that’s what’s the matter with the Grey novel. No sense of humour, maybe??
Only you know.
Of course I love the A Nin quote = but then I would wouldn’t I ? Apart from giving me Lifetwicetasted she is a very good writer sensitive to the comic ironies of sex
The phenomenon of this grey book is its own story. Good luck to her l say. We should all be so lucky
Yes, I love the Anais Nin quote too. There certainly is a lack of humour in the E L James but like you I say ‘Good luck to her…we should all be so lucky.’