Has anyone else red 50 Shades of Grey?

JessyJ03

I've read the books... twice to be honest. While I like them, when I take a moment to think about it I don't like them. I don't like the way the books make people in the "lifestyle" appear. Not all ppl involved in BDSM relationships are pedos or have severe mental issues. I think it gives us a bad name. On the positive side I think it gives vanilla people a bit of a wake up call in the sex department. Sex doesn't have to be boring, and it's not the dirty, sinful thing our parents made it out to be back in the day.

Of course this book is nowhere near what a normal BDSM relationship is... so it might give the wrong impression to SOOO many people.

Bleh... that's how I feel about it. Just bleh.

Juliejustsaying

Grey is an amateur.

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!!!

Seriously he is.

so how YOU doing?

Hummm . . . I smell trouble.

<sniff, sniff> bwaahahahahhahahahahaha come here little boy!

Juliejustsaying

oh and there is just nothing sexy about a man who will yank out your tampon for you...nope, nothing.

:noway:

Ele made me edit :sad:

can I say cop out????

rml_16

OK, serious question here (and for the record, if there is a typo it's because for some reason on my work computer, the keyboard is way ahead of the screen and I end up skipping letters and don't always notice, thus the happy but accidental typo in the thread title):

I see a lot of people criticize 50 Shades for things like abusive/controlling behavior and then they recommend Anne Rice. Well, on those recommendations, I bought The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty and I have to say, while the writing is certainly better, the theme of the book is pretty awful. I mean, it opens with a RAPE of a 15-year-old, unconscious girl. And she doesn't exactly give her consent to anything that happens.

I got about 100 pages in and had to stop reading. It's a pretty horrifying story and if that is what "real" BDSM is about, I have to wonder why anyone would be involved in it if you have any self-respect???

The Sleeping Beauty trilogy is a fantasy, not a representation of a real D/s relationship. I pointed it out earlier as a better written form of erotica, but fantasy by its definition is going to dissolve some barriers/limitations that for the most part aren't going to happen in real life. The culture it envisions isn't exactly one you could create with your partner - I mean, in book 3, the pony-boys stay in their getup the entire. That's not even physically feasible, haha.

I think the reason the trilogy gets pointed to so often is that it's a fairly mainstream author writing about it, and yet, it's not totally softened either.

But I will also point that while you say it begins with the rape of a minor - and that in a sense that is true, as by our definitions Beauty is 15 and thus a minor - keep in mind this is set in a different time period, and that after her few months in the Queen's employ is up, she is expected to marry a king/prince/whatever. It isn't a modern day fantasy. As for the aspect of consent - I think that's a little more questionable throughout the novel, particularly as she sobs and begs not to leave, but I think that's also part of the fantasy element of the novel rather than a guidebook of "here's how to have a BDSM relationship, yo."

I can't get past the part where he has sex with her while she's unconscious and then her parents hand her over without her even having a say. I don't care what time period it was set in. If we're going to criticize Christian Grey for his controlling, abusive behavior and the standard it sets for women in relationships, we can't then say, "But having sex with a woman who is asleep is OK because the writing is better."

Add to that the beating the subs until they bleed and the Prince analy raping the male sub ... I just couldn't anymore. It was not a pleasant experience for me. I won't be finishing that book or reading the rest of them. 50 Shades, to me, was entertaining. It was so bad that it was actually comical (I listened to the audio book, which I think made it even funnier), but Sleeping Beauty was very disturbing.

SpecialSundae

Almost as funny as the Gilbert Gottfried reading...

http://spinstersgetupforbreakfast.tumblr.com/post/39386711818/charles-dance-dramatically-reads-50-shades-of

Blackadd3r

I call it 50 Shades of Sh#te. Did nothing for me at all, in any way.

WelshMaid

I call it 50 Shades of Sh#te. Did nothing for me at all, in any way.

same here

sweetcurlz67

He's also a little too gentle.

WOW!!! Your place or mine... :laugh:

BamsieEkhaya

Read the first book in a 10hour flight, then finished the rest when I was back home. (I don't like leaving things half finished)

I can UNDERSTAND the fuss about Christian Grey, the whole BDSM thing, not my thing but each to their own.
Not really sure I'd recommend it to anyone, or my mother unless she wanted some laughs.

I do agree with the review that said it's like an extended mills && Boon, however having been an avid Mills&&Boon reader in my early teens (think 13) I've read better!
Not to mention Ana, honestly you couldn't even use the word naive to describe that one and are there seriously people like that in the real word ? (fair enough it's a book, but even so)

Glad I read it or else I'd still be fussing and wondering how "amazing" it is, though I do understand I wasted over 20Hours of my life, but that's a lesson well learnt.