May 04, 2012 21:20
Or, I could just realize who is reading this, give it 0 stars and call it a day.
1.5 stars
By E. L. James
This book.... concerns me. It really does. I am downright worried about the message it sends. But, first, to the basics. In case anyone has been living under a rock, this is the story of the (kinky) love affair of Christian Grey, an emotionally damaged multi-billionaire, and newly graduated publishing assistant Anastasia Steele. Ana (as she prefers), is quiet, fairly self-sufficient, and, until she meets Gray, apparently asexual.
But, meet him she does. And marries him two weeks later, too! The books tell the story of their meeting, getting to know each other, and etc., up to the epilogue of the happily ever after with kids. There are occasional glimpses of plot--a crazy ex with a gun, a crazy ex-coworker with a grudge, stuff like that. These glimpses never last long. What is important here, it seems, is only the emotional pyrotechnics of the characters. The romance is passionate, continuous and frankly, repetitive. Ana is instantly turned on by a glimpse of Christian's Edward-Cullen-esque beauty, and he is (self-described as) priapic. In other words, they fuck. a lot. It gets old very quickly, I think.
The only good thing is that Ana is not quite as weak as Bella Swan. She actually leaves him at one point. I applaud her for that. Too bad it only lasted 5 days.
What really concerns me, though, is not the massive amounts of boring sex or the ridiculously rich-and-handsome Christian Grey. What bugs me is the personality transplant Ana received somewhere between books one and two. And another one sometime before book 3. In book one, Ana has 0 interest in any of Grey's kinky ideas. She likes him, and may go ahead with something for his sake, but no interest. In book 2, she becomes willing to play (but without actually going into roles or anything). And at the end of book 3, she is willing to play sub to his Dom. What?!!! Look, I get it-- I know this stuff is practically addictive. Really. But a complete personality change with NO hints in the book? No. That just doesn't play.
And the worst part is, again, the impressionable readers. Who may think this is ok. Some of whom are young and may want to find someone just like Christian Grey. Who is a domineering (not, domineering is NOT the same as Dominant) control freak who needs to be taught that he is NOT Master of the Universe (title of the original fanfic).::sigh:: This is just.... going to lead to abuse. And that's really just sad.
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