Earlier, funnier reviews of Fifty Shades HERE
Thank you to everyone who’s taken this ride with me. I’ve had so much fun writing the reviews. I wish I could say the same about reading the book. I’ve come to the decision that I really cannot read anymore, and I’m only about half way through. I’ve enjoyed writing these reviews, but I also have more important things to do in my life than try and finish a book that is irritating me so much. Even my husband said ‘don’t forget your own writing’.
I wanted to add some final thoughts. If you’ve come here looking for a laugh, things might get a bit serious in this bit. So if you don’t want to end this series on a downer, I’d suggest you go back and read the original reviews. I should probably add a disclaimer that these final thoughts are based on what I’ve read so far. I know how the story ends because I’ve been told, but I’ll only comment on my impressions of it so far.
At times it’s been hard to come up with funny things to say, because some of Christian’s behaviour disturbed me. I may not be an expert on BDSM, and I’m not some armchair psychologist, but I have been a witness (as a child) to abuse, so I sort of know what I’m talking about.
This book isn’t about a young woman finding her sexuality and learning how to be liberated through spankings followed by great sex. Christian is an abused child who’s grown into an abuser. Despite James’s best efforts to depict him as a Dom, taking part in a consensual BDSM lifestyle, that’s not how it came across. He tells Ana, the morning after she got drunk, that if she were ‘his’ she wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week. We’re supposed to see this as sexy, I think. The threat of a bit of playful spanking as a precursor to sex. Ana clearly sees it that way judging by her inner goddess or subconscious or whatever inner something she’s deferring to at that moment. But in reality it’s a threat of punishment because she’d done something of which he disapproved, and he wants to punish her so hard that her mobility will be impaired. That’s what abusers do.
By getting Ana to sign the non-disclosure agreement, he effectively cuts her off from her family and friends, and therefore an important support network. She can’t even talk properly to Kate about losing her virginity, nor about any non-sexual aspect of her relationship with Christian. If and when things get really dark, she most certainly won’t be able to discuss that. I’m guessing, though I don’t know, that most people into BDSM have like-minded people they can talk to about their experiences. Ana has no one she can turn to. In one scene she’s about to phone Kate, but doesn’t because she sees that Christian, who thinks she’s calling Jose, doesn’t want her to. It’s a slippery slope to never phoning her friends again. She’s on her own. It leaves her completely reliant on Christian and Christian alone. And as his judgement is coloured by what he wants, he’s still going to be leading her in the direction that gives him what he wants, regardless of her psychological and physical well-being. That’s what abusers do.
Christian switches from being angry to kind, angry to kind all the time. He’ll snarl at her one minute then do something nice for her the next. He’s conditioning her to be pathetically grateful for the times he’s good to her. Because she has no self-esteem to begin with, all her future self-esteem will be tied up in pleasing him, and taking the few crumbs of kindness he hands out. He secretly mocks her because she’s ignorant about his BDSM lifestyle. This in turn makes her feel as if he’s laughing at her (which he is). So it crumbles her self-esteem a little bit more, and makes her feel even more worthless. That’s what abusers do.
Let’s look at the contract he wants her to sign (and with a rare bit of common sense she doesn’t). His idea is that she spend three nights a week as his sub. She manages to negotiate that in return for this he spends one night a week as her proper boyfriend. And this is supposed to be a victory and proof of the sub having all the power. But let’s look at the contract closer. She may only spend three nights a week giving in to his sexual desires, but for the rest of the week she has to eat what he says, exercise when he says, and if she behaves in a way that he deems inappropriate (and given what a short fuse he has, that could be anything!), he gets to punish her. Again, this to me is about abuse and control and not sexual gratification.
I understand that if she signs this contract she’ll be consenting to all this, so that should mean there’s no abuse. But let’s look at the way Ana is portrayed in the book. Not only is she barely ready for a traditional sexual relationship, at times she’s barely functional as a human being. She doesn’t have the maturity or the intellectual and psychological capacity to get into such a contract.
Christian tells her that he only has women in the red room of pain. I think this is supposed to prove he isn’t gay (when personally I just don’t think he’s got the balls to hit a man). What it actually proves is that he has a deep seated desire to punish women for the wrongs done against him. So not only is he an abuser. He’s a misogynist abuser.
I’d like to think that E.L. James knew this is what she was writing, but somehow I don’t think she did. Or if she did, she must now be feeling upset that it’s been taken the wrong way. We’re clearly supposed to be as enamoured of Christian as Ana (and James) is, but for me it didn’t work. Maybe because his behaviour reminded me too much of what I witnessed as a child. I accept I’ve probably brought my own prejudices to this, and they may have coloured my judgement. But I still think my reasons for feeling disturbed by the book are valid.
As a few people have said to me, girls are going to read this book and think that this is how a romantic relationship should be. So she’ll keep forgiving her boyfriend for belittling her and hitting her, because it must mean he loves her, right? So before, where we worried that women would aspire to be hookers, in the hopes that Richard Gere would come and sweep them off their feet, now there’s the concern that young women will aspire to become some rich man’s sub, entering into what is really an abusive relationship because it’s depicted so glamorously in the book. What they’ll actually do is end up in some grotty bedsit with some lout who probably has several STDs.
People knock Mills and Boon books for selling an unrealistic view of romance. But in Mills and Boon books, female sexuality is celebrated. The onus is always on the man to make sure the woman has a good time, and his own pleasure is secondary.
The hero in M&B novels, even if he is flawed, always treats the heroine with respect and always protects her from harm. If he gets ever gets it wrong, he’s soon taught the error of his ways. He actually has to earn her love, and become the man she deserves, rather than it being the other way around. So even if it’s unrealistic that every woman is going to end up with a gorgeous Italian billionaire or Arab sheik, what is true is that by reading them she learns that her happiness is just as important as his. So even if she ends up marrying a bus driver (as some of us do…ahem), she knows she’s still got every right to expect to be treated with love and respect. It’s the emotional quality of the relationship that matters. Not the trappings surrounding it.
Fifty Shades teaches women to give in and do whatever the man wants, because God forbid at the age of 21 they should end up an old maid surrounded by cats. And that’s exactly how Ana thinks of it. She really believes that Christian is her only chance of being happy and that if she doesn’t go along with what he wants, she’ll be alone for the rest of her life. Now I know it can seem like that when you’re desperately in love with someone. But in real life we do get other chances at happiness. Especially at the age of 21! And as I’ve already said, how is being an old maid with cats worse than being some rich playboy’s whipping girl?
So no, I don’t personally think this book is about female liberation through sex. It’s about a girl with no self-esteem who’s willing to do practically anything to hold onto her boyfriend, because she truly believes that he’s her only chance to be happy.
Quality of writing
As far as the quality of writing in the book goes, I don’t have to tell you all about the clunky sentences, unrealistic dialogue and tedious repetition. The ‘oh mys’ and the ‘holy cows’ and the ‘biting lips’ . It’s been well documented elsewhere. I don’t know why the editors of the big publishing house, who took this on, didn’t insist on some proper editing. I can’t help thinking that they were so hung up on getting the sales, they didn’t care if the book was properly edited, and that’s an atrocious way to go on.
But as E.L. James is apparently saying she wants to keep some artistic control over the intended film (God help us!), I imagine she had the same rule with the books, and her previous sales gave her that power. The question is can she still keep churning out the same badly written novels and make money? For a while maybe, but the bubble will burst (but by then she’ll be rich enough not to care). Either that or every teenage girl who reads this is going to think that this is how you write and we’ll have years of badly written erotic books at the top of the charts whilst better writers barely manage to skim the outer edges of the book charts.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against trashy books and I’m not sitting up here on my high horse. I don’t pretend to write anything other than light romantic fiction which is meant to be (mainly) read in one sitting. At best my books are meant to get someone over a boring Sunday afternoon. I don’t mind reading trashy books either. Sometimes, when I’ve been working on my own writing all day, I just want to switch off and let the writer do all the work. But the majority of trashy books out there are much better written than Fifty Shades of Grey, because they’ve gone through an editorial process that ensures they’re at least publishable, even if they’re not everyone’s cup of English Breakfast Tea.
Fifty Shades of Grey is nowhere near to publishable standards. It’s at least two times longer than it needs to be for a start. Just because people on ff.net said things like ‘That’s awesome. It should be published’, they weren’t necessarily right. People have said the same about these reviews. I’m flattered and I think they’re lovely people for saying it. But I also know that these reviews are too self-indulgent and, as I write them on the hoof, not up to the standard of articles I’d send out to publishers. And as one brave soul pointed out in the comments, my reviews are too biased. Plus, if anyone were to analyse my reviews closely they’d see that I also repeat myself too often. Just count how many times I’ve said ‘I’m relieved’ or ‘I’m surprised’ or ‘As far as I can tell’. But don’t count the ‘thoughs’ and ‘buts’ as I fear their overuse will end my writing career altogether.
Then again, FSOG has been published and sold millions, so what the hell do I know? In which case, my book, Fifty Shades Deconstructed, comes out next week (not really).
Fanfiction and Plagiarism
We all know that plagiarism is a major problem, especially in these days when writers put so much of their work online. It seems that every week I read about someone on the Net having had their work plagiarised. Now I’m not suggesting that E.L. James is guilty of plagiarism. That would be for Stephanie Meyer’s lawyers to decide and they seem to be remarkably quiet about all this. In fact a lot of people don’t know this was originally a Twilight fanfic.
She’s just borrowed some of the characters. But if someone can take someone else’s characters, rename them and put them in different situations, as she has done with Twilight characters, it does blur the lines somewhat. How are people supposed to know what they can and can’t do when someone can come along and make millions by taking a fanfic and then presenting it as an original work of fiction?
When someone told me they felt I’d gone a bit far with these reviews, and made the valid point that I wouldn’t like this done to me, I explained that had James not taken a fanfic and sold it as original work, I probably wouldn’t have done this. No one should write fanfic with a view to making money from it. I don’t mean elevated fanboys/girls who go on to write official spin off stories for popular series such as Star Trek and Doctor Who. At least they’re not taking Doctor Who and renaming him Doctor What.
The most worrying element of this is that publishers who want in on this phenomenon are now going to be scouting fanfiction.net for other works that can have the characters renamed then sold as original fiction. Those of us who do write original fiction, at least until this bubble has burst, won’t stand a cat in hell’s chance of interesting a publisher.
The characters
Ana Steele: What can I say that I haven’t already said? She’s just too dumb to live. She doesn’t behave like a modern 21 year old woman would. My daughter is a few years older than Ana, so she’s been my reference for all things Ana. She wouldn’t put up with half the stuff that Ana does. Ana is not just a Mary Sue. She’s less than that, because most writers when they use author avatars do give Mary Sue some positive traits. Ana doesn’t have any. She leeches off her rich friends. She swoons at things that most of us would just shrug off. She has no direction in life, despite having spent four years at college. And she has the same attitude to sex as a Jane Austen heroine. In fact, I’m probably doing Jane Austen heroines a disservice there. I can just imagine what mincemeat Lizzie Bennett would have made of Christian Grey.
Christian Grey: I don’t get the appeal, honestly I don’t. I know that not all heroes are going to work for all women, but look at his life. He has, as I’ve said before, a very dangerous sexual history. He likes to cause pain to women. He’s humourless (unless the joke is at someone else’s expense) and he has no natural charm or charisma. The only time he does nice things for Ana, as I’ve said above, is when he benefits from it. He’s nowhere even approaching a hero. Now people who know me know that my sort of hero is the type who can take out all the terrorists in the Nakatomi building and still have energy to take his wife home for some torrid make up sex. What? You didn’t see that version of Die Hard? That’s because it’s not out yet. It’s called Die Hard – The Sally Quilford Cut and it’s coming to a cinema near you soon. If I fancy a bit of variety in my heroes, I’ll settle for one who’ll kill everyone in Paris to save his daughter from white slave traders. So it’s not as if I’m asking for much in a hero. Perhaps my own bestselling book – when I have one – could be called Fifty Shades of Die Hard, closely followed by the sequel Fifty Shades Taken.
Anyhow, getting back on point here, Christian Grey is no-one’s real idea of an alpha male. He’s pretty, he’s rich and he can play the piano. They’re his supposed good qualities. But he’s abusive (as set out above), selfish, domineering (well duh), mocking and supercilious to all around him. He also lacks the intelligence and work ethic he’d really need to become the rich and powerful man he’s supposed to be.
I can’t say too much about the other characters as they’re even less defined than Ana and Christian, though I did like Elliot simply because he acted like a normal person. Yet strangely, Ana thinks he’s odd because he calls her ‘Ana’ and is so easy going. She’s also disapproving that he slept with Kate within hours of meeting her. To me, he’s acting like a normal young male, and his and Kate’s relationship is much healthier than Ana’s with Christian.
The Sex
The sex (at least as far as I’ve read) is a major let down, given the reputation of this book. If the contracts were meant to add stimulation they failed abysmally. The sex fails mainly because of James’s treatment of sex scenes. There’s a distinct lack of sexual tension. Plus, Christian, as I’ve noted before, only has one repertoire. Rub lower lip. Check. Tweak nipple. Check. Touch her ‘down there’. Check. For a man with his own Red Room of Pain he’s remarkably unimaginative in bed.
Okay, occasionally I’ve read a sex scene and thought ‘now she’s getting it’ (excuse the pun). Then James ruins it all by throwing in an ‘argh’ or an ‘ugh’ or mentions of gag reflexes and chocolate fudge brownies (which I don’t think I’ll ever eat again). Odd times I’ve really wondered if the sex was written by someone who’d never actually had sex. Women, no matter how responsive they are, do not orgasm after having one nipple tweaked. And yes, I realise this is supposed to be a fantasy, but normally in sexual fantasies aimed at women, the men have to work much harder than that.
If women are going to take any mistaken message from this book it won’t be that if she bites her lip for long enough she can become a squillionaire’s plaything. It’ll be that she can achieve orgasm after only three seconds of nipple tweaking. I feel sorry for the man (i.e. every man in the whole wide world) who fails to live up to that standard. Even allowing for this being a sexual fantasy, the idea is ludicrous.
Final Word
I think all I can do now is congratulate E.L. James. Because as bad as this book is, I’m talking about it and it’s engaging me in discussion about the sexual politics, though I really don’t think that was her intention. We (I!) probably give this book far more attention than it deserves considering it was originally written just to please the Twilight fangirls on fanfiction.net and it’s very unlikely that James wrote it as a serious comment on modern relationships.
Other people are talking about it too. Even after reading my not so flattering reviews, people tell me they are buying it. So yes, well done E.L. James. Not for being a good writer, because I’m afraid you’re not, but for being damn good at marketing. And at least she’s succeeded in making Stephanie Meyer look like a good writer, which was no mean feat.
One thing I’ve always stressed here, and I’ll say it again, is that I’m not knocking the people who have read and enjoyed this book. Their reading experience is just as valid as mine, and I know they forgive the clunky bits because they engage with the story. That’s what reading is supposed to be. Losing yourself in a story.
Final final word
Thank you to everyone who’s commented, tweeted and Facebooked these reviews. I couldn’t have kept it going without your constant encouragement. At least that’s what I’m going to tell the judge when E.L. James sues me.
I appreciate that you made it this far through, and that you made such a considered review – I’m not sure I’d have had the patience. I’m still at a loss to see how it’s become such a success, especially after reading your take on it.
It certainly isn’t the tract on female liberation that some quarters of the media are claiming it is.
Sally, so disappointed that you can’t continue. My lower lip is all of a quiver, but am resisting the urge to bite it. I would have loved to know your opinion on how the Christian/Ana relationship panned out – with what amounts to his total capitulation, even offering himself to be her sub. Completely unrealistic imo, and more proof – if needed – that Ana was nothing more than a Mary Sue character, adored by the ‘hero’, and wielding a power that she certainly shows no sign of actually possessing. Also, I was disappointed by potentially dramatic/dangerous situations (not the Red Room) going nowhere. I was pre-empting scenarios that just didn’t happen, and it was like waiting for the biggest firework of the night only to see it go off like a damp squib. My biggest disappointment was the way Christian worshipped Ana, despite his earlier claims that he didn’t do the love thing etc. Was this needy, desperate man the same person who had created the Red Room and the accompanying contract?
Oh that’s interesting, Livbet. One of my criticisms (of what I’ve read so far) is that the book promises far more than it delivers. I imagine Christian’s capitulation was a bit of fanservice, to please those who wanted him to be redeemed. Having grown up in a house with an abuser, I know they can’t be redeemed (sadly).
A superb and thoughtful analysis, Sally.
This book is both disturbing and a sham as a social pattern. But as you say it’s selling in shedloads. Why? It promises a “safe” way to live a dangerous life and explores transgressive behaviour at one remove – both fascinating.
It seems that people, perhaps especially young women, have had the inner confidence to make their own decisions marketed and moulded to death and are seeking other bases for making those decisions.
Not this one, I hope.
I have such mixed feelings about the whole ‘phenomena’. I certainly don’t begrudge the writer her success – best of luck to her. She’s written something that millions are enjoying, and you can’t argue with that, although I can’t help wishing she’d found some other way of making Christian Grey irresistible. Is this what women really dream of – being dominated by a sadist? Is FSOG going to inspire that kind of behaviour between couples? Apart from that, it just conflicts so much with the actual love story in the book where Christian is besotted with Ana as much as she is with him.
It is frustrating that a shelf full of books telling me what publishers want, might have to be consigned to the scrapheap, because it’s patently obvious that what publishers want is a story people want to read, end of. Forget any technical quality, realism, consistency, repetition etc. Why bother with a 300 or so page book on the art of writing, when all you need is to write a good story with characters people are interested in.
Yes, I’m afraid most writing ‘self-help’ books are going to be rather redundant now, Livbet. Because in truth none of us really know what publishers want until they themselves find it. And who could have predicted this?
Thanks for the reviews -enjoyed them. That said I am glad James has mad shed loads of money -after all it’s what readers want the it can’t be all bad. I think Dan Brown writes drivel but his books are equally popular – so he’s giving readers what they want. Wish I could find a winning formula as James and Brown have.
We give readers what they want with the pocket novels, Fenella. Just not quite so many readers
And I actually enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, despite the technical problems. Which I think proves that if a book does have a good hook (and his seemed very daring at the time), problems can be forgiven.
Thanks, Sally – sorry you’re stopping the reviews, but you are a busy writer with work to do I know! It’s been brilliant – and as you said I don’t reckon you’ve done anything to hurt the sales of 50 Shades. Now, let’s get writing the next erotic best sellers!
I think I’ve had enough of sex for the moment, Linda. In fact my next book might well be about a woman who just seeks the perfect cup of tea. I mean a proper cup of tea and not a ‘bag in bag out’ cuppa
Sorry not to be reading any more of your reviews, Sally, but your own writing takes priority.
I suspect if you kept reading FSOG you might get to the point of head banging in despair.
But I do hope Ms James uses some of her money to go on an ‘How to Edit’ course…
I have to agree that the writing is clunky, however you really have got the wrong idea about BDSM equating to domestic abuse. I also saw a great deal of domestic abuse as a child and believe me there is no comparion with expertly practiced BDSM.
Earlier in the reviews you mention that you have no idea why there are two safewords, there is a very valid reason for that and if you really want to know I would be happy to explain.
No Sherri i didn’t equate BDSM with domestic abuse at all. what i said was that some of the things Christian said and threatened equated to domestic abuse and had little to do with BDSM … In my opinion. But I was only talking about this book and how James made it appear, not BDSM practices in real life.
Thanks for everything you’ve done on this, Sally. I’m sorry that you’ve decided to throw in the towel, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Life is too short…
Sorry to be late to the party, but yesterday I was signing some of my own books in Waterstones. So I had to sit by the FSOG shelf, whilst people virtually ripped the books off it, whilst ignoring me completely. In the end, some enterprising soul said ‘she’s (meaning me) won awards. This book (FSOG) hasn’t', and, suddenly, people were interested. They were also picking up FSOG, saying ‘loads of people are talking about this, what’s it about?’ and then buying the 3 book set. So, there’s your answer. People want what everyone else wants – they don’t want to be left out. They don’t even care what it’s about, or how it’s written, what they care about is being able to talk about it with friends, even if only to say ‘yeah, I read it’. Hence them only going for my books once they were told they were award winners (ie, lots of other people had read them. Oh, if only….)..
Sorry, you’re stopping, Sally. May you leave FSOG in the shade with your own sales!
Oh Jane, my heart goes out to you. How soul-destroying must that have been until the enterprising soul stepped in.
I admit I only downloaded it because everyone else did. That’ll teach me, won’t it?
Sally, thank you for this blog, I have found it thoroughly entertaining.
I feel exactly the same as when I finished the Twilight novels; it is so sad that impressionable young (and not so young) women are being encouraged to believe that the “ideal man” is obsessive, controlling, possessive, impossibly handsome and, well, everything else that Edward and Christian are. It also worries me that James and Meyer make it seem as though the world will end if you’ve not met the man of your dreams by, shock horror, your late teens/early twenties!
The “BDSM” references in FSOG concern me too. The way Christian behaves certainly seems borderline abusive to me. I think I admire what I think James is trying to do but I’m not sure she achieved her objective.
The ending doesn’t fill me with hope either, with Ana waiting until…the first chapter of the next book to go running back to Christian after he has upset her terribly. (I must admit that I’ve not read the second book – only the first chapter – but I can only imagine what happens next.)
Anyway, rant over! Sorry it’s not well written but I’m a mathematician at heart!
Thanks for the hours you wasted for our amusement and I’m envious that you had the willpower to stop half way through! I dread to think what I could’ve done for the hours I spent in Christian and Ana’s dull and irritating company.
Thanks Cuckoo88. You’ve hit upon the point I was trying to make with my article. That whatever James was trying to do regarding the BDSM lifestyle, she failed. At least for this reader.
Hi Sally – I haven’t read ‘Shades of Grey’ have no desire to even if the whole world has read it and I haven’t. Well done for being brave enough to come out and articulate what you feel about what appears to be a very nasty book.
Hello Sally – I also haven’t read it and have no intention to.
Having read your most recent blog article about it, I will be steering well clear of it.
Sounds like a truly horrible book.
I don’t know that I’d say it was truly horrible, Debbie. Different horses for different courses, I suppose. I just think it’s very poorly written, and that James’s attempt at creating an alpha male failed.
Thanks for your entertaining and enlightening reviews, Sally. I’m not surprised you stopped reading. At least, your Kindle didn’t end up smashed against the wall in despair.
It’s a sad sign that the publisher didn’t (appear to) do some vital editing. Guess they were just keen to get it out there fast (i.e. before people get bored with it) to make a killing while other writers lucky enough to get a contract have to wait months, even a year or two, to see their works on the shelves. Hmm…
Thank you for taking time from your own writing to do this. Your reviews have been amusing, insightful and above all honest. I haven’t read the book, in fact dug my heels in when Amazon and their alter ego Audible kept trying to ram it down my throat. Given the success FSOG, no doubt the market will now be awash with imitators, let’s hope someone can do it with the skill and originality FSOG so clearly lacks.
Thank you for giving up as much time as you did – you kept me going through a very intense week at work and I laughed like a drain. By the time I found your reviews, I’d read the sample chapter via Kindle and knew that I wouldn’t be buying/reading the book. I couldn’t stomach Ana or Christian from the get-go, and I wasn’t exactly the world’s biggest fan of Twilight – made it through book 1, stopped somewhere in book 2, laughed through various accounts of books 3 and 4 on the internet but did not read.
I think the thing to remember is that neither Dan Brown nor E James had any idea what they were doing when they did it. Huge success is all about the luck, some books just take off while most don’t. The people who are buying FSOG (and who bought DVC) are not the committed readers. They will buy the book of the moment, whether that is Katie Price’s memoirs or FSOG, and a tiny percentage will then go on to read other stuff and enjoy it, but most are not the true book market. I think as a writer, my job is to keep going at trying to write the best book I can for me and for the reader who is looking week in, week out, for a really good book.
The thing is, committed readers already know that DVC and FSOG are not that original. Story of O and Denis Wheatley occult thrillers were doing what these books were doing about 50-60 years before either of the books in question…there is nothing new or original about them.
I think though, the relatively sloppy writing is a big clue as to why they are so successful: they were quick to write and are quick to read. It’s all about consuming popcorn or cotton candy type books. I have to say that if I were a teen, I’d be mainlining them, but as I’ve aged, my tolerance for clunky writing has diminished and I couldn’t finish DVC and I couldn’t really start FSOG as a result. But if you aren’t a big reader, these things won’t bother you so much, and more complex writing is harder work to engage with. But as writers, we have to remember the real hard-core successes: Hilary Mantel finally taking off, Mary Wesley, Andrew Miller, Jude Morgan, experienced writers with a lot of words under their belts who have won prizes, seen their books hit the bestseller lists and enjoyed success and then subsequent sales.
You’ve fought the good fight. Now rest, brave reader.
Honestly, it was a lot of fun and I think anyone reading the reviews objectively would realize that it was your take on it, not necessarily meant to chastise the series or anyone liking the series. But your Final Thoughts were very well done.
One of the problems I had with the Twilight series (and since this is just a Twilight series redux), aside from what I considered to be mediocre writing, was the de-evolution of Bella who I found started out as a pretty strong character and slowly morphed into a girl whose only thoughts were how to keep Edward. The original novel was a quick read, kind of fun, nothing more, yet that and the follow ups were given a status that I didn’t think they deserved (even to the point of published on the metaphor and psychology of Twilight). There are some fantastic novels in the vampire genre and young adult genre out there but they didn’t get half the respect that this series did, and I believe that’s largely due to marketing.
In 50 Shades of Grey, you have not only a repeat of that but they seem to have done an even better job of marketing this sucker since the writing and the characters are even worse than Twlight. You can still like the novels and accept that the writing is not that great. As Sally points out, you can love trashy novels but still accept that there are much better novels out there.
And I think what bothers in particular many writers about the success of this series (as did the success of Twilight) is firstly that the success is being had by basically a reheated, renamed fanfic of Twilight.
I used to write a lot of fanfic decades ago. Wrote a lot of Simon and Simon and Start Trek the Next Generation. And it was a lot of fun. I also looked at it as a way to hone my abilities for writing my own work. Some of the fanfic can be exceptional (and some of mine was pretty darn good) but some can be abysmal. But if I chose to take a plot that I thought of and rather than use the characters, insert my own characters, I would want to make sure that the piece was as good as possible before I submitted it for mass or professional publication. For me it’s not that she took something she wrote for the Twilight universe and recycled the plot (though really did little to come up with original characters or anything). It’s that what she offered and what was eventually published was so poorly written.
And that goes to the next point of why writers in particular are irritated about the success of FSOG. One can argue that it’s sour grapes, but as any writer can tell you, revision is a huge chore. Sometimes its great cause you might come up with changes that you’re perfectly happy with. But editing and revising a piece several times can be more work than writing it. But most have to do it because that’s what the agents or the publishers want. They want your absolute best work (and usually just a few chapters of your absolute best work to review). Here you have a writer who submitted something that would probably not have been accepted by most of the agents or publishers had they not instantly gotten the connection, not only to Twilight (built in audience), but also had they not realized how much they could titilate the minds of the average woman and turn this into a fad. And that’s great! But it can be very frustrating to people who know they have better work, that might be just as popular, but they can’t get a busy publisher or agent to even give them the time of day. So if there are sour grapes, they’re warranted.
And Sally hit the nail on the head when it comes to the characters. I love strong female characters. Ana is not that. Like Bella became, she is what so many other girls are: Desperate to feel loved and popular. That is a part of growing up. But we should be inspiring young girls and women to aspire to more. To realize that they don’t have to give themselves over to a selfish man to feel worthy. As Sally said, Ana’s 21 and unless she can snag Christian she envisions a life of loneliness save for the cats. No 21 year old woman should feel that desperate. No 51 year old woman should feel that desperate. Romance should be the cherry on the cake of life, not the whole cake. What this implies is that woman need to get that relationship at all costs, even if it means death to their own dignity.
And I understand that people will have different interpretations of these novels, but what concerns me is that because of the success of FSOG society as a whole might start pushing that message (as it did with Twilight because, despite Bella’s de-evolution…well at least they didn’t have sex right away. That was the mentality I heard often at the library when people checked the book out. People thought it was a wonderful series for teen girls and I’m thinking, yeah, if you want your teen girl to become a dishrag).
Anyway, Sally, I apologize for the length of this comment. I had a fun time reading these reviews and as I stated, your final thoughts were spot on. Success in everything you do and it’ll be nice to check in from time to time to see how things are going. You have a nice blog.
Your comments, no matter how long, are very welcome, Laura. Thanks for your very interesting thoughts.
Sally, very well done and how refreshing to see a writer actually taking this book apart..properly… instead of saying how good it is and how it qualifies as romance.
Thank you, Marilyn!
You are welcome. You should write a take off. Your comments are brilliant woman!
I haven’t read the book yet, nor do I plan to. I have read a few passages online and some sentences compiled into one document that all use the word ‘there’ as a replacement for vagina. Thank you so much for writing this review, I can see how it can be seen as biased, however you analyze the chapters to such a great detail and give many reasons why is it a poor choice of literature. Many of my friends have been reading it or intend to and tell me about how it will turn me on and whatnot, I think that if someone needs a book to be turned on, then they really need to do some exploring and get to know their own body.
You review really cleared up a lot of things I was unsure about and now that I have read this, I won’t be spending the $20 or so dollars on a book that I know I won’t enjoy. It took me ages to find a review that looked at the book in a way that was normal, where you see the portrayed BDSM, the red room of pain and the contracts as ridiculous and a unhealthy portrayal for those girls who see that as a proper relationship.
It was great that you did this and I would have loved to see you review the entire book, however after that much, I can see why you stopped.
All the best with your writing