Fifty Shades of Grey this.. Fifty Shades of Grey that..

Scroll to see replies

Does it irritate anyone else that the main character constantly talks about what her is thinking/saying? If she's that aware of her 'subconscious' thoughts then it isn't chuffing subconscious is it? It's just very conscious mixed feelings.
It's the bits like that which make it painful to read for me. Agggh!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 221

Dennerers

Lets be honest it is going to be like any porn that tries to have a plot... ****.

Reply 222

minimarshmallow

Original post by Sazzle4

That is really really annoying.
Also, if she talks about there again (and that's not me censoring, for those of you who haven't read it, that's what she keeps saying in her narration) I think I'll throw the damn book out of the window.

Reply 223

JadeLupin

I've read the book and let me tell you, it basically screams fanfiction! Well, anyway, all the hype is because people are naturalyy excited, as in "Ooh, a porn book is popular! Now I don't have to hide my erotic needs!" Well, anyway, its pretty blatant now that everyone knows about it haha

Reply 224

SC-

I've read the series, and i have to admit, i enjoyed it :smile:

Its one of those books where you can just escape into, it doesnt require any intelligence to read it, nor is it an amazing porn book, but its a good book to read and let your imagination run wild.

There were parts which made me cringe 'My sex' 'My inner godess' and Greys constant twitchy palm :rolleyes:

Like i said, its a fun book to read to pass the time. What annoys me is when people say 'oh, it's nothing compared to Austen etc' Well ofcourse not! It's aimed at a completely different market, it's not suppose to be work of art. It's just a simple book which has a light easy to read plot and pretty tame bdsm scenes.

Reply 225

Grammar Kid

Original post by Miss Trololol

And why exactly do you? What do you like about them? (Apart from the crazy amount of sex)

dont know... the second and third one there was a story line and we met the characters alot more... the storyline itself was interesting and made interesting reading

the sex got boring tbh but im not saying they are a top 5 favorite of mine but there not as bad as people are making out

Reply 226

Miss Trololol

Original post by Grammar Kid

dont know... the second and third one there was a story line and we met the characters alot more... the storyline itself was interesting and made interesting reading

No offense man but that's a really poor response :/

Original post by Grammar Kid

but there not as bad as people are making out

Not sure if serious or just trollin.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 227

Miss Trololol

Original post by SC-

What annoys me is when people say 'oh, it's nothing compared to Austen etc' Well ofcourse not! It's aimed at a completely different market, it's not suppose to be work of art. It's just a simple book which has a light easy to read plot and pretty tame bdsm scenes.

See, my response to that is that all fiction is judged by the same standard, regardless of the motives or intentions of the writer. Is that an elitist attitude? Yes, and I make no apologies for it. There are not separate rules for writers who write because it is a fun social activity, as opposed to writers who publish novels. Nor should there be.

Reply 228

Grammar Kid

Original post by Miss Trololol

No offense man but that's a really poor response :/ Not sure if serious or just trollin.

What is your problem.... just because i like the book and you dont like mine or anyone elses responces....

I dont think its the best book in the world (see previous comment on the problems with it) but i dont think its the worst i have ever read.... no one who has read it thinks its going to be an all time classic

As for a poor responce im just telling the truth the story devolpes and we learn more about the characters... and I liked it and quite frankly it isnt for you to tell me outher wise

As for Trollin... i have never trolled because i have better things to do with my life...

Reply 229

User237126

All I know is that the Private Eye parody of it in the most recent copy of the magazine is HILARIOUS. Almost peed myself laughing.

Reply 230

lilabs

I haven't read aaaalll the comments on this, but I can certainly say, i loved the trilogy! Just finished the last book... im having withdrawal symptoms! Always feel this way after reading a good book. Fifty shades was very enticing. I'm not too fussed about the grammar or whatever else people are saying is wrong, i understand it's not for everyone. The erotic side did not bother me since I read a lot of it anyway, and yes, there really wasnt a story line. It was more about the characters and their development. I loved it. Mr Grey. mmm. yummy.

Reply 231

Miss Trololol

Original post by Grammar Kid

Of course you're entitled to your own opinion. I'm of course, entitled to challenge that opinion. I asked why you actually liked the book and all you were able to give me was that it was "interesting". It makes you look as if you don't even know why you even like it. At least when I say that I dislike the book, I can actually give a detailed reason as to why I dislike it so intently, backed up with facts and quotes from the actual books.

There are three "s" in "responses" btw.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 232

Miss Trololol

Original post by IlexBlue

There are so many things wrong with this series, ranging from the guy tracking her cell phone and basically being an abusive creep, yanking her tampon out to have period sex and having and describing kinky whip sex while heavily pregnant (and going "oh lol look the baby likes sex too lolol" WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL) that I don't even know where to begin. If you like this book for any reason - even "hur it's crap i know but it's just so gosh darn interesting!" because it's just not - you are a pleb. No excuses.

But I will say this: NO ONE GETS AN ORGASM SIMPLY FROM HAVING THEIR NIPPLES RUBBED ALL RIGHT

You are my hero :') For real. Take my + rep! Take it all!

I can look past the bad grammar and poor plot if I like the characters enough but Fifty Shades of Grey is messed up. My biggest beef is how people seem to rave about Christian Grey. Christian Grey is not romantic at all. In fact, Christian is a complete prick. There is nothing remotely sexy or attractive about him at all. The book is just a terrible example of a romantic relationship. It’s abusive, controlling and just plain toxic. For me, the book basically romanticizing an abusive relationship; making seem as if it's okay to stalk, control and abuse your partner. And as a victim of an abusive boyfriend, I find that so utterly wrong and messed up :frown:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 233

Top Banana

Really dont understand it to be honest. The press loves to blame online porn for the 'moral decline' of people in this country, yet it seemingly cant get enough of porn in the form of literature?

Reply 234

bhogs001

Fifty shades of cringe.

Reply 235

humpdebump17

I am saddened that my link got deleted for "adult content" :frown:

haha. Not pointing anyone towards anything or providing directions to it, I will merely make you all aware that there is a rather hilarious reading of the book by a certain Gilbert Gottfried - for those of you who don't know, he's the voice of Iago the parrot in Aladdin. And, you know, it may or may not be on YouTube.
Happy now moderators? :^_^:

(If this isn't allowed, then that just sucks).

Reply 236

lilabs

Original post by Miss Trololol

You are my hero :') For real. Take my + rep! Take it all!

I can look past the bad grammar and poor plot if I like the characters enough but Fifty Shades of Grey is messed up. My biggest beef is how people seem to rave about Christian Grey. Christian Grey is not romantic at all. In fact, Christian is a complete prick. There is nothing remotely sexy or attractive about him at all. The book is just a terrible example of a romantic relationship. It’s abusive, controlling and just plain toxic. For me, the book basically romanticizing an abusive relationship; making seem as if it's okay to stalk, control and abuse your partner. And as a victim of domestic abuse, I find that so utterly wrong and messed up :frown:

This book has nothing to do with domestic abuse.

Reply 237

lilabs

Original post by IlexBlue

Yeah, they can. Some people are uber sensitive and will have orgasms from anything. There's nothing wrong with the series, its not real, it's a fantasy in more ways than one. Also, whats wrong with having sex while a woman is on? and there's nothing wrong with kinky whip sex during pregnancy. The baby probably does like it too because of the feelings the mother gets from sex and her orgasm, its all connected inside. I enjoyed the book, it was great to read, and I'm not a pleb. It's just a book. They're meant to take you away from the world your in and imagine something else, which is what this book does for so many people.

I just realised people have thought what I said negative. I haven't said anything hurting anyone? I just said what I know to be true.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 238

Miss Trololol

Original post by lilabs

This book has nothing to do with domestic abuse.

Yes, domestic abuse is probably the wrong word because we weren't actually living together but it was a very abusive relationship. He would stalk me to and from work, check my phone to see how I've been in contact with, get very jealous of any male friends and essentially control my life and I just let him get away with it.

Anyway, that's not the point. Fifty shades of Grey is an example of a very abusive relationship. It's not the BDSM that is the problem. Consensual BDSM is fine. I'm no prude and I like reading a good bit of smut. Hell, I've got a heap load of Mills & Boons books in my kindle so the sex doesn't bother me. It's all the stuff outside of sex that is so worrying :/

Here's a summary of some of the abusive aspects of the Ana-Christian relationship in the first book. The font in bold what is considered a relationship red flag from the book "How to Spot a Dangerous Man Before You Get Involved" and the extracts are from a blog page "Sweaters For Days and Moves Like Jagger". I've just copied and pasted it since the author sums everything up better than I can and I wanted to share it.

"You feel uncomfortable about something he has said or done, and the feeling remains. I don't think we need to cite any one particular incident where Ana has been made uncomfortable by Christian Grey. This is prevalent throughout the entire book.

You wish he would go away, you want to cry, and you want to run away from him. Ana often thinks about how she can "escape" Christian, how she needs to find an exit, how she can't handle being around him because she can't trust herself to think clearly. On at least three encounters with Christian, Ana has ended up as a sobbing mess.

You have the urge to "love him into emotional wellness," if that were possible. We know that Ana does seem to believe that she can change him, or that he has psychological wounds that need to be healed.

You feel bad about yourself when you are around him. One of the clearest indicators, to me, anyway, that there is a power imbalance in their relationship is the fact that Ana constantly compares herself - how she looks, how she acts, how she's dressed - to Christian and his very wealthy lifestyle, and she always finds herself lacking. She often wonders why he's interested in her.

You only feel good about yourself when you are with him. Conversely, Ana doesn't have a nice word to say about herself unless it is confirmed by Christian. When her roommate tells her that she's pretty, Ana interprets it as a patronizing compliment Kate can't possibly mean, but when Christian Grey calls Ana beautiful, she suddenly believes that she is. In fact, the only time she believes anything good about herself is when it's Christian pointing it out.

You feel that he wants too much from you. I think this one requires very little explanation. Not only does he want more than she wishes to give, he constantly pressures her to give him what he wants.

You are emotionally tired from him; you feel he "sucks the life out of you." Now, Ana never says, "he sucks the life out of me." But again, even in the first half of Fifty Shades of Grey, she's doing a lot of crying herself to sleep, needing to get away from him because he's too intense, etc.

Your value system and his are very different, and it's problematic. I have this phrase I trot out from time to time with my friends who are dating: If you have to "work on" the relationship within the first month, it's not going to work out. Sometimes, people are simply incompatible. Ana and Christian have spent most of their relationship with Ana trying to find ways around giving Christian what he wants, and Christian refusing to bend on his expectations. This is not going to clear up in a few more dates.

Your past and his are very different, and the two of you have conflicts over it. Spoiler alert, Christian is obsessive and controlling about food because he went hungry as a child. And that's just one of the ways their pasts differ in problematic ways. While Ana sees his earlier relationship with a much older woman as statutory rape, Christian believes that it was appropriate and has a continuing friendship with the woman, which makes Ana uncomfortable. Ana doesn't even want the type of relationship Christian is after, they both are aware of this fact, and he continues to pursue her - which is disrespectful and puts even more pressure on Ana.

You feel isolated from other relationships with friends and family. Ana doesn't just feel isolated, she is isolated, by the nondisclosure agreement Christian asked her to sign. She finds herself living a double life in order to please Christian and still maintain her relationships with her loved ones.

You feel in the wrong because he is always right and goes to great lengths to show you he is right. This was most obviously displayed in chapter fourteen, where Christian responds to all of Ana's concerns and questions with long explanations that dance around actual answers. This shows that he is extremely condescending and doesn't actually care about her concerns.

You sense he is pushing too quickly for an emotional connection with you. Okay, this one, Ana wouldn't check off, but I would. From an outside observer standpoint, Christian is running a very good game of "pull her in, push her away," which is forcing an emotional connection with Ana. After having coffee with the guy once, she's on the floor of a parking garage sobbing. This isn't just Ana being emotionally immature, it's Ana being emotionally manipulated by Christian.

You find yourself accepting him "for now" even though you have plenty of red flags that would help you to terminate the relationship if you paid attention to them. Ana is already aware that what she wants from the relationship and what Christian wants are two vastly different, completely incompatible things, but she commits to the relationship despite knowing it has no hope of a future."

Still think there's no abuse in this relationship? These are just some examples. I didn't even mention the phone hacking or being stalked by Christians employees on his behalf or the tampon scene that is just so messed up that I can't even begin to fathom why E.L James thought that was romantic. But like I say, the novel romanticizes an abusive relationship. An abusive relationship doesn't have to have physical for it to be wrong. It can be abusive without physical marks. If it was a fictional novel about domestic abuse, showing how easy it is to fall into that trap but Ana eventually manages to pick herself up and move on then I'd say fine, fair enough. It does what it says on tin really. But it isn't. Nothing irks me more than constantly hearing/reading that Fifty Shades is such a romantic story. And it's all very well to claim that "oh, it's just fiction and fantasy" but it really isn't. Not anymore. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard/read "Christian Grey is soooo hot. I wish I had my own." How many women are going to start thinking that it's okay to be stalked, manipulated and controlled your partner because Christian Grey does and "he's liek so hot!1!" He's not hot. Period. He's a step backwards for feminism.

Full article can be found here:

http://jenniferarmintrout.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/50-shades-and-abusive-relationships.html?zx=c11b1ac05e3f28b0

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 239