By Guest Writer, K
So I’ve been caught up in the firestorm of 50 shades of grey. I just finished the first book yesterday and I have to say I’m mildly impressed. Granted most of the people reading this seem to feel this book is geared towards a hetero-centric lifestyle. However I disagree. (Sasha if you haven’t read it, go. Run. Buy it. )
I had a friend who asked me why I even wanted to read it. I told her that everyone enjoys a little porn, thinking that was it. I was wrong. Very wrong. Porn or no porn the book has characters that can be identified with. Both male and female. For myself I identify with the male character. Definitely a Christian Grey. Except I’m not a richer-than-God bastard.
As for the female character, if this was a lesbian book she’d be a femme. Although I’m not entirely sure what kind. I’m in love with the first book and eager to see where the second one goes.
Please don’t be put off by the fact that it’s a male and female main character. Or that its hetero-centric. Or anything else. The fad is actually worth getting caught up in.
I have not read this yet. I was interested in it when I heard about it, but read some reviews that said the writing was horrible.
So I put it off.
However K’s perspective of reading it as if the male character were a butch lesbian and the female lead, was a femme …. well …. that sorta makes me want to read it now!!!
I haven’t read this yet, but I hear the writing was on par with the Twilight Series, and I go exactly one and half pages into the first book before putting it down because the writing was, well, horrible! I may check this out now. If I find myself sitting on the beach reading this, while mindlessly shoveling bag after bag of potatoe chips into my mouth and not noticing the tide is going to swallow me on the next surge, I’m blaming you, K. : )
Yay! Someone else who doesn’t hate the books!
I went through all three in a week because I just couldn’t put them down. I agree that the writing is not the best, but she has a story and I think she tells it well.
Also, it’s only like Twilight insofar as that’s where she got her inspiration. The lead girl (Ana) has way more balls and thinking capacity than Bella (Twilight Girl) could ever dream of.
And K, have you seen the Christian Grey sketch that was made? Check yahoo! news or Inquisitr.
I was one of the ones who thought the writing was unbearable.
No I haven’t seen any sketches. I read a lot. Like…a lot a lot. And I like to keep my character images mine as long as possible. When im done with the third I will
Interesting! I didn’t get the book because I assumed it was just a tale of ‘scandalous-only-to-housewives’ sex and romanticism for unfulfilled hetero suburban women.
The other reason I didn’t get it, is because the notion of ‘hero’ really doesn’t impress me – whether in comic books, romantic tales or otherwise. I don’t want to be ‘rescued’ from my existence – I have a rather bangin’ one.
Just my two cents, having admittedly not read the book.
Maybe I should reconsider.
I totally understand the whole character thing, I do the same.
In that case, don’t check it out at all, it is so very disappointing!
I read just one section from Crush’s book. It was ok but I have beyond no interest in straight hetero erotica. Now if it was butch/femme erotica OMG I would LOVE that. Actually when I read that section I was pretending in my head that it was lesbian not hetero.
ok, I read the first two books. Story line wise it was ok. I was slightly annoyed by how submissive, hah, personality wise Ana was towards Christian. Honestly it was slightly hard to stomach how much she swooned and ‘fluttered’ around him. Plus- ok, Im a bit of a book snob. I started reading Stephen King in 7th grade and went through his whole series in a few months. I read Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child a lot too. Not that they’re hard to read, just very detailed and intricate. So I forced myself to read the entire first book, but it was hard for me to get into the story b/c I thought the writing was so terrible. Not a bad story line, but it could have been wayyy better if the writing was more polished, in my humble opinion
The second book was better written.
I started reading it, made it 2 chapters in, and then stopped. About a month later, my girlfriend’s mom made her buy the book, and I figured I should read it so I know what she would be reading, lol. Once I started again, I read until 1am, nearly finishing the book…not because I was so turned on, but because I kept wondering if there would come a point where I found it more hot than horrifying. I do kind of enjoy the characters (though Ana’s inner goddess and subconscious make me want to hurt someone). While I don’t want to spend money on the 2nd and 3rd books, I am kind of interested to see what happens between the two.
Though if I have to read about the way Christian Grey’s pants hang off his hips one more time, I might throw the book.
Here’s the thing. Maybe its easier for butches to read than femmes. I can put myself in the place of christian grey looking at a femme the way he does ana. I guess maybe as a femme it would be hard to put yourself in the position of being pawed at by a male character. But you can decide the look of the people. So maybe your christian grey looks like kd lang. Or raye. Or me. Or a long haired butch. Or a stone butch. Or an old school mullet duke.
K –
…or, another femme. Not all femmes are into butches.
Very true Jul. Duly noted.
My issue with the entire thing is that it is wriiten in an unflattering and naiive portrayal of the M/s, D/s, bdsm world I live in. I wouldn’t mind if it was just boring, heteronormative porn. The problem will come when youngsters or newbies get involved in my lifestyle thinking they’ll get the life of Ana in the book, and instead get taken advantage of by a predator. Predator’s exist in all worlds, but the few in my world can chew a person up and spit them out without a second glance.
Some might then ask why I would be proud of my place, i want people (those truly interested only) to see the beauty in M/s, the devotion and the beauty of service. It isn’t all about the kinky sex.
I’ve almost finished the third now. The first was ok and it started going downhill in the second but I like to finish what I start so I’m putting up with it. It gets very repetitive and the few attempts to stir up further excitement in the other books fall a bit short imo. I am reading it from the perspective of a femme with a butch as Christian, didn’t mean to – it just seems to happen. After all the hype I was quite disappointed, it touches only briefly on BDSM and then steers away from it to what I consider quite common sex instead, downplaying the whole BDSM lifestyle and giving him a darker reason for having once wanted to live that way. It really is just fluff, Mills & Boon style-esque