Am I the Only Mom Who Isn’t Obsessed With Fifty Shades of Grey?
I’m fashionably late to the Fifty Shades party. My mom friends have buzzed about it for weeks, calling it the best love story they’ve ever read. Husbands everywhere are celebrating the sizzling effects they’ve seen in the bedroom as a result of their wives reading it. Personally, I gravitate toward haunting non-fiction memoirs by triumphant women like Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. But I do love to mix it up with some good pop lit (especially ones that include mysterious, brooding men.) So I took the leap and dove into Fifty Shades with open arms.
I’ve tried to love it. I have. But here’s why I’m not a Fifty Shades-ophile (so far):
The writing is clunky and repetitive: I totally get this isn’t supposed to be Pulitzer prize material (and hey, I loved Twilight so I’m no literary snob), but if I have to read about Miss Steele’s “cheerleading inner goddess” or “scolding subconscious” one more time I think I might gag and tie myself up to the bed.
It’s not believable: Okay, so a werewolf imprinting on a vampire baby isn’t exactly realistic either, but for a story set in the modern day real world (I can tell from the musical references), I’m having a hard time believing the young, sheltered, innocent Ana would be so open to Mr. Grey’s…interests. Plus, she’s a college student and doesn’t have email or a computer?
It’s not hot, it’s scalding. While I’m all for steamy love scenes, I’m not finding most of Ana and Mr. Grey’s trysts sensual at all. I’m thinking more about logistics and safety than anything else. I know that Ana is a willing participant, but I can’t help but think she’s so young of mind she’s not thinking clearly and some of the scenes sound like abuse to me. Maybe I’m oversensitive to this because I have a young daughter?
Should I press through and finish the series? Anyone else not hooked? Who should be cast in the movie?
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I enjoyed 50 Shades of Grey and have done my blog posts about it, but I am in complete agreement that as a college student in today’s society, she would own her own computer. I wish the book was not a trilogy.
Honestly I think that women who need erotica to spice up their bedroom are sad. Do you want your husband getting worked up with porn then using you as the ‘fantasy’? It’s disrespectful to men I think just like porn is disrespectful to women, and the idea that a woman can’t get worked up by her man without someone writing erotic fiction is just… wow. Having said that, is there ANY good erotic literature? The story isn’t the focus. Getting the reader turned on is. It’s like complaining the writing wasn’t great in a porno.
So no, I’m not all abuzz with it, I’m not interested in it, and I’m rather disgusted that women who would be against a man saying “Wow, this playbunny this month is great, here look” is any different than “This book is so great, here read!” I’ll go back to reading REAL works of literature and leave the mind numbing porn to the gals who need it.
@mormonfurrymom I wish there was a like button! Well said.
Maybe the women who like this series would be okay with their man looking at playbunnies too. But bully for you that you don’t need even an iota of extra spice in the bedroom.
I haven’t read it and won’t read it. Doesn’t appeal to me.
I am a young woman in my mid 20′s and while I have enjoyed the book to an extent, I have had to skip A LOT. I think it is unrealistic that they have sex that often when she was a virgin going into a situation like that. I am pretty open sexually but I find most things too much and as you said, borderline abusive. I just started the third book and hoping the series redeems itself but I am having a hard time finishing it.
I am feeling like you…pretty unimpressed. Agree about the writing. While I have enjoyed some of the spice, it does get very repetitive. I don’t think I’ll be reading the rest of the series.
As for needing erotica to spice things up, my husband and I certainly don’t see the harm in it. I think most long-term, monogamous relationships (especially those with small children) could use it. I have chosen to read the novel while on vacation with my husband and it has been a good decision.
ditto mormonfurrymom!
I don’t know. I’ve read romance novels before which I enjoyed because they were, well, romantic I guess. I just started reading Fifty Shades of Grey this week and don’t understand what the hype is about. I’m honestly not that far into the book, barely on the morning after loosing her virginity part, but so far it doesn’t exactly seem all that great. It was okay at first, but I guess the whole sadomasochist thing was a turn off for me, and now reading from you that she’s going to be giving in to that, I’m not sure I want to finish reading it. I just don’t understand what they whole fuss about it is. I might as well watch one of those horrible sadomasochism fetish porns if I’m going to love reading this book. Sorry, not my thing.
50 Shades, for me, was a light vacation read. The first book was really, eh, but I enjoyed the 2nd and 3rd books more because she seemed (emphasis on seemed) to have more of a back bone and stand up to him more. He also became less of a psycho in my mind. I find it hard to believe that some womens’ missions is to completely disrespect their husbands and fulfill this deep desire that they aren’t getting in the bedroom.
Personally, I mostly just found the book entertaining. And to be honest, my husband is one of those husbands that gets freaked out having sex while I’m pregnant, so at first, the book provided some small outlet in that manner, just because things have been a little off, but the amount of rigorous sex just got so over the top that I found myself rolling my eyes thinking, “Dear Lord, they are at it again?” It kind of makes sense though because if you look back on the first big chunk of time after you and your partner start having sex, it DOES happen quite frequently. I also think that personalities similar to Ana and Christian exist in the “real word”. Not quite as psycho, but I’ve seen and dealt with some pretty obsessive individuals.
I agree with mormonfurrymom 100%!! And it doesn’t appeal to me either. My marine is all I need