fifty shades of grey

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Replies

  • bperkins88
    bperkins88 Posts: 357 Member
    More women than you think are into BDSM. But it takes a lot of trust in order to truely enjoy the lifestyle.
  • Cameron_1969
    Cameron_1969 Posts: 2,855 Member
    I was not a fan. I did read all three, and while the writing was quite poor, that's not my biggest problem. As someone who writes erotica and has participated in the BSDM lifestyle, I didn't think it was very accurate. The bedroom scenes were similar (or maybe that was actually the writing) and the relationship was unrealistic. It actually seemed more like an abusive relationship than that of a true Dom/sub.

    As someone who has participated in that lifestyle, it annoys me that everyone who has read the book is now an expert kinkster. :noway:

    Many of my friends do not know about that side of me. But having to listen to them go on and on about the book and how they love kink now just pissed me off, especially because they are all vanilla as they come.

    So people who enjoy dabbling in it but don't want to wear a collar full-time aren't allowed to express their enjoyment of a little kink?

    You sound like my ex. . Everyone who isn't fully committed to the "lifestyle" is scoffed at and just 'vanilla'. .

    all or nothing I suppose.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    I was not a fan. I did read all three, and while the writing was quite poor, that's not my biggest problem. As someone who writes erotica and has participated in the BSDM lifestyle, I didn't think it was very accurate. The bedroom scenes were similar (or maybe that was actually the writing) and the relationship was unrealistic. It actually seemed more like an abusive relationship than that of a true Dom/sub.

    As someone who has participated in that lifestyle, it annoys me that everyone who has read the book is now an expert kinkster. :noway:

    Many of my friends do not know about that side of me. But having to listen to them go on and on about the book and how they love kink now just pissed me off, especially because they are all vanilla as they come.

    So people who enjoy dabbling in it but don't want to wear a collar full-time aren't allowed to express their enjoyment of a little kink?

    You sound like my ex. . Everyone who isn't fully committed to the "lifestyle" is scoffed at and just 'vanilla'. .

    all or nothing I suppose.

    Ah yes. The "community." LMDAO

    Let's over-define and over analyze everything in a game of one-upmanship, while completely forgetting that it is ultimately a dynamic between two (or more) individuals and their personal preferences.
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
    I was not a fan. I did read all three, and while the writing was quite poor, that's not my biggest problem. As someone who writes erotica and has participated in the BSDM lifestyle, I didn't think it was very accurate. The bedroom scenes were similar (or maybe that was actually the writing) and the relationship was unrealistic. It actually seemed more like an abusive relationship than that of a true Dom/sub.

    As someone who has participated in that lifestyle, it annoys me that everyone who has read the book is now an expert kinkster. :noway:

    Many of my friends do not know about that side of me. But having to listen to them go on and on about the book and how they love kink now just pissed me off, especially because they are all vanilla as they come.

    You do realize that vanilla is one of the most surprising and complex flavors there is in the world, don't you?

    So to call someone vanilla is to call them amazingly and fascinatingly complex. What a compliment! Now, carry on with your expert kinksterism.
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    I was not a fan. I did read all three, and while the writing was quite poor, that's not my biggest problem. As someone who writes erotica and has participated in the BSDM lifestyle, I didn't think it was very accurate. The bedroom scenes were similar (or maybe that was actually the writing) and the relationship was unrealistic. It actually seemed more like an abusive relationship than that of a true Dom/sub.

    As someone who has participated in that lifestyle, it annoys me that everyone who has read the book is now an expert kinkster. :noway:

    Many of my friends do not know about that side of me. But having to listen to them go on and on about the book and how they love kink now just pissed me off, especially because they are all vanilla as they come.

    So people who enjoy dabbling in it but don't want to wear a collar full-time aren't allowed to express their enjoyment of a little kink?

    You sound like my ex. . Everyone who isn't fully committed to the "lifestyle" is scoffed at and just 'vanilla'. .

    all or nothing I suppose.

    Not at all. I'm not even fully committed to the lifestyle. I just don't like it when total vanilla people make comments like "omg why do you have freaking weird toys, that wrong" and then read 50 Shade and all of a sudden forget about your freaky toys, "omg I love s&m it's hot."
  • Cameron_1969
    Cameron_1969 Posts: 2,855 Member
    I was not a fan. I did read all three, and while the writing was quite poor, that's not my biggest problem. As someone who writes erotica and has participated in the BSDM lifestyle, I didn't think it was very accurate. The bedroom scenes were similar (or maybe that was actually the writing) and the relationship was unrealistic. It actually seemed more like an abusive relationship than that of a true Dom/sub.

    As someone who has participated in that lifestyle, it annoys me that everyone who has read the book is now an expert kinkster. :noway:

    Many of my friends do not know about that side of me. But having to listen to them go on and on about the book and how they love kink now just pissed me off, especially because they are all vanilla as they come.

    So people who enjoy dabbling in it but don't want to wear a collar full-time aren't allowed to express their enjoyment of a little kink?

    You sound like my ex. . Everyone who isn't fully committed to the "lifestyle" is scoffed at and just 'vanilla'. .

    all or nothing I suppose.

    Not at all. I'm not even fully committed to the lifestyle. I just don't like it when total vanilla people make comments like "omg why do you have freaking weird toys, that wrong" and then read 50 Shade and all of a sudden forget about your freaky toys, "omg I love s&m it's hot."

    You would prefer that they continue to think your interest in S&M is wrong then?
  • sue_stef
    sue_stef Posts: 194 Member
    fifty shades was crappy when it was Twilight fic
    if you want good erotica on this subject read any of Tiffany Reisz books

    Kinky people are not broken and do not need to be fixed by love
  • PennyM140
    PennyM140 Posts: 423 Member
    So let me get this right, everyone who read this series hated it? The author sure made a lot of money off of people who hate her work.

    I read the books. They were a quick, easy, entertaining read. So they don't depict a healthy BDSM relationship. So she didn't research the topic enough. Author made a but-load of money. I was entertained for a few hours along with thousands of other people. win/win

    If you hated it so much why did you keep reading? That's like someone who sends a meal back at a restaurant after they've eaten 90% of it, lol.
  • branflakes1980
    branflakes1980 Posts: 2,516 Member
    I'm just over here wonderin what is wrong with vanilla? It happens to be my favorite flavor of Ice cream and cake.

    Delish!!

    vanillacake.jpg
  • Cameron_1969
    Cameron_1969 Posts: 2,855 Member
    I'm just over here wonderin what is wrong with vanilla? It happens to be my favorite flavor of Ice cream and cake.

    Delish!!

    vanillacake.jpg

    ^^ this
  • mister_universe
    mister_universe Posts: 6,664 Member
    As a disclaimer, I've only read the first of the trilogy.

    Like a few others here, I can honestly say that I write better. I've done so, even in the same genre.

    Fifty shades starts with a borderline believable premise, but then does nothing to make it more believable as the book goes along. Good writing sucks the reader in, and Fifty Shades didn't do that for me. At any point, I could have laid it aside, and my impression of the story at the last was exactly as it was on page three... not quite believable.

    The sex scenes were disappointing only because the ground work was there to have them be very good... phenomenal even. Instead it was fairly boring, the sex consistently rendered from a ten thousand foot view.

    Basically... lots of unrealised erotic potential in her writing. Basic research would have helped in many spots, and the criticisms given by others here are generally accurate. It's just not all that good. It's not horrible (bad erotica is much worse) but not good, and not worth anything more than checking out from a library. If you paid good money for it, I'm sorry. There's much better reads for free on literotica.com, for example.

    ETA: I didn't lay it aside because I was reading it in part to evaluate my own writing. I'll eventually make myself read the other two as well.
  • ThinLizzie0802
    ThinLizzie0802 Posts: 863 Member
    As a disclaimer, I've only read the first of the trilogy.

    Like a few others here, I can honestly say that I write better. I've done so, even in the same genre.

    Fifty shades starts with a borderline believable premise, but then does nothing to make it more believable as the book goes along. Good writing sucks the reader in, and Fifty Shades didn't do that for me. At any point, I could have laid it aside, and my impression of the story at the last was exactly as it was on page three... not quite believable.

    The sex scenes were disappointing only because the ground work was there to have them be very good... phenomenal even. Instead it was fairly boring, the sex consistently rendered from a ten thousand foot view.

    Basically... lots of unrealised erotic potential in her writing. Basic research would have helped in many spots, and the criticisms given by others here are generally accurate. It's just not all that good. It's not horrible (bad erotica is much worse) but not good, and not worth anything more than checking out from a library. If you paid good money for it, I'm sorry. There's much better reads for free on literotica.com, for example.

    I agree with the above gentleman. The writing is poor. No matter how much you love these books, her writing is not good. It's ok - you can have guilty pleasures. I don't buy for a millisecond this hardcore sadomasochist having any interest in a mild virgin. The sex scenes are just not good enough to make up for any of it either.
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
    . who, in fact, did the author sleep with to guarantee such success?

    Why do people only ask something like that when the author is a woman? I get that the book sucks, but sexist much? Geez

    In any other case I would tend to agree with this, but in regards to fifty shades, I'd say the exact same thing, even if the author had been male. No sexism, here.

    That book was soooooooooooooooo unbelievably horribly written, with no real plot, underdeveloped shallow characters and trite, embarrassingly PAINFUL dialogue, that there's NO WAY that book (let alone two more, plus movie deals!) got published without her greasing a publisher or two's wheels. :laugh:
  • sarahkatara
    sarahkatara Posts: 826 Member
    I actually just finished reading it. I opened the book fully understanding that it was supposedly poorly written and not expecting much but some good smut. I knew I was in for trouble when in the first chapter of the book, there was a full two-page description of an interaction of a secretary fetching the main character an ice cold glass of water. Yes. TWO PAGES. On WATER.
    What i really got was an undeniably HORRIFICALLY written teaser with a halfheartedly developed "plotline" (read: hot guy reveling in his masculinity and sexual prowess and an insipid, pseudo-intelligent protagonist who needs to get better at making up her mind), BORING characters, story line inconsistencies, and a feeling similar to what I imagine blue balls feeling like for men. The really good smut never came! All they ever do is allude to the crazy hardcore stuff they're going to do but the whole book is essentially this naive chick losing her virginity to a lifelong Dominant looking for a Submissive who will also be his love doll too. He's so worried about scaring Anastasia away (and can we just talk about why he insists on using her full name? It's quite the mouthful- pun intended- and just annoying) that there's never any really good sexy time. And the good sex is the same every time. She describes it the same EVERY TIME. I'm sure it felt nice but can we change a few things about the scenario to keep it interesting?? And for christ's sake, i finished the book mainly to see if it would FINALLY explain the issues Mr. Grey (I write that so sarcastically) has stemming from early childhood but nooooooo. I couldn't even get that.

    I'm only slightly pissed at this book.

    OH! And did anyone notice that every time they had sex it was done twice in a row in quick succession? Listen, if a man can have multiple orgasms MORE POWER TO YOU but realistically, it's quite difficult. Seriously.

    Another thing! She was a virgin when this all started so of course he's a sex god in her eyes! He's all she knows! WTF!

    Yeah, *kitten* this book.
  • kaylajane11
    kaylajane11 Posts: 313 Member
    Hated them from start to finish. I kept reading ONLY because all of my girlfriends insisted they were soooo good and got better in the second and third book. They did not. Terrible writing, repetitive sex, and a glorified abusive relationship. Christian is a douche and Ana is a moron.

    I re-read all seven Harry Potter books after this, because I needed to absorb some guaranteed good literature to get the thought of 50 Shades of Crap out of my head.
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  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    I am not the type of person who can start a book and not finish it. I am on the third, and have been there for a while. I will finish it eventually, but I am so bored with it. I was late reading it. I only read it becuase all of my friends were drooling over it. I was let down by it. I was disappointed in Ana and Christian seemed manipulative. As for the BDSM stuff, I honeslty know nothing about it. I just know that it was the same scene written over and over again.
  • mister_universe
    mister_universe Posts: 6,664 Member
    I actually just finished reading it. I opened the book fully understanding that it was supposedly poorly written and not expecting much but some good smut. I knew I was in for trouble when in the first chapter of the book, there was a full two-page description of an interaction of a secretary fetching the main character an ice cold glass of water. Yes. TWO PAGES. On WATER.
    What i really got was an undeniably HORRIFICALLY written teaser with a halfheartedly developed "plotline" (read: hot guy reveling in his masculinity and sexual prowess and an insipid, pseudo-intelligent protagonist who needs to get better at making up her mind), BORING characters, story line inconsistencies, and a feeling similar to what I imagine blue balls feeling like for men. The really good smut never came! All they ever do is allude to the crazy hardcore stuff they're going to do but the whole book is essentially this naive chick losing her virginity to a lifelong Dominant looking for a Submissive who will also be his love doll too. He's so worried about scaring Anastasia away (and can we just talk about why he insists on using her full name? It's quite the mouthful- pun intended- and just annoying) that there's never any really good sexy time. And the good sex is the same every time. She describes it the same EVERY TIME. I'm sure it felt nice but can we change a few things about the scenario to keep it interesting?? And for christ's sake, i finished the book mainly to see if it would FINALLY explain the issues Mr. Grey (I write that so sarcastically) has stemming from early childhood but nooooooo. I couldn't even get that.

    I'm only slightly pissed at this book.

    ... and ^there's what I would have written in a non PC review. Hated the ending of book one.
  • sarahkatara
    sarahkatara Posts: 826 Member


    The sex scenes were disappointing only because the ground work was there to have them be very good... phenomenal even. Instead it was fairly boring, the sex consistently rendered from a ten thousand foot view.

    Basically... lots of unrealised erotic potential in her writing. Basic research would have helped in many spots, and the criticisms given by others here are generally accurate. It's just not all that good. It's not horrible (bad erotica is much worse) but not good, and not worth anything more than checking out from a library. If you paid good money for it, I'm sorry. There's much better reads for free on literotica.com, for example.

    YES. She walks into his playroom and you're all like, "oh shiz, this is gonna get HOT," and then the whole time he does the same thing because she's too afraid for anything else. The premise was there but instead of fleshing out some scenes more she concentrated on making sure we FULLY understood the implications of the sexiness of Christian Grey's hips in those jeans he always wears and that we, too, agonize over whether he likes Ana or not! What if he doesn't text me back right away?!

    Dude, he has GPS tracking on your phone. I'm pretty sure he saw your text.

    All good stories need a direction. This was a drunken drag race all the way to the end.
  • jjennyb4
    jjennyb4 Posts: 1,581 Member
    Love it.... tie me up & blind fold me... ummmm, yes please!!!!
  • licktat
    licktat Posts: 11 Member
    I read it to try and gain insight into what turns women on. Strangely, I AM interested in that! I was hoping to find out some helpful nuggets to use, but I came away with the concept that women's fantasies don't even come close to anything real.
    You have a model handsome man in his 20's that is a billionaire that flies his own jet, helicopter etc.... He built his wealth on his own, and still has time to chase our heroine around the globe. Oh he has a very large penis AND he is philintropic, and very green in his business....Forgot that.... So far he sounds just like me, but I was in my 30's when I got there.
    Ladies....if your fantasy is of a guy that beats his girlfriend while wearing a t shirt and ripped jeans, then you should hang out in trailer parks.... Hehehehe
    Funny thing, I bought a new head board with slates and told my wife I was gonna tie her up....she said..."you better not!"
  • bearkisses
    bearkisses Posts: 1,252 Member
    loved the first one, i thought they should have just ended it with anna remaining heart broken. It was real! and it doesn't get done normally.

    Then they hook up again, and all sorts of other crap, just no. He is craycray. She came off as wounded but a survivor in the first one. Then she puts on some ****ed up blinders. No.
  • bearkisses
    bearkisses Posts: 1,252 Member
    I read it to try and gain insight into what turns women on. Strangely, I AM interested in that! I was hoping to find out some helpful nuggets to use, but I came away with the concept that women's fantasies don't even come close to anything real.
    You have a model handsome man in his 20's that is a billionaire that flies his own jet, helicopter etc.... He built his wealth on his own, and still has time to chase our heroine around the globe. Oh he has a very large penis AND he is philintropic, and very green in his business....Forgot that.... So far he sounds just like me, but I was in my 30's when I got there.
    Ladies....if your fantasy is of a guy that beats his girlfriend while wearing a t shirt and ripped jeans, then you should hang out in trailer parks.... Hehehehe
    Funny thing, I bought a new head board with slates and told my wife I was gonna tie her up....she said..."you better not!"

    the last part only. But yeah, he totally didn't deserve her!
  • Crap. Ive been shown bit from girls i know but i could write way better stuff myself. Plus there are no pictures :)
  • LauraMacNCheese
    LauraMacNCheese Posts: 7,173 Member
    The writing is atrocious…I’ve read horribly written books before & some are entertaining despite that. Plus, I could definitely get past the poor writing if it was good smut. But it wasn’t even that. The sex scenes weren’t that hot & it was the same thing over & over.

    Also, about half way through book one I was ready to throat punch her inner goddess and bury her in the desert somewhere just so I wouldn’t have to hear the term anymore. I told my friend I couldn’t stand reading the 2nd book if there was more of that…she said there wasn’t as much. She underestimated. I couldn’t even read the last book. I had her tell me what happened because I couldn’t stomach trying to read anymore.

    I was hoping the movie plans would fall through...alas...they press on. :grumble:
  • mank32
    mank32 Posts: 1,323 Member
    Shlt. I can write better erotica than that.

    Seconded!

    +1. i am officially getting itchy for an MFP contest now...

    #1 offense: offensively terrible writing
    #2 offense: offensively lousy character development
    #3 offense: offensively inaccurate/incorrect representation of healthy D/s, BDSM relationship
    #4 offense: offensively lucrative

    mostly i am mad that i can't do my market research because i can't bear to finish reading that drivel. :angry:
  • Naina_Bug
    Naina_Bug Posts: 74 Member
    I looove the books, but think they are doing a HORRIBLE job with the movie.
  • sue_stef
    sue_stef Posts: 194 Member
    I would also love to see the writing of the various MFP posters here
    I wonder how many people have messaged to read some
  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    . who, in fact, did the author sleep with to guarantee such success?

    Why do people only ask something like that when the author is a woman? I get that the book sucks, but sexist much? Geez
    excuse me? do you know me even one iota? not only do i not know whether the author of the 50 shades books is male or female, i don't give a damn. i'd make the same comment regardless. watch the conclusions you jump to. i predict you're mostly wrong, and living in ignorance.
  • DjinnMarie
    DjinnMarie Posts: 1,297 Member
    My husband bought me the first book as a "going away to afghanistan" gag gift.

    I haven't read it yet.
This discussion has been closed.