Fifty Shades of Grey

      Fifty Shades of Grey, the first book of a trilogy by E L James, is a New York Times Bestseller and is intended for mature audiences. There. Having said that, if you are under the age of maturity, this book (and this post) is not for you. Hehe!  But how old does one have to be in order to qualify and to be labelled as mature?  You tell me! hehehe!  The book is heavy on the errotic/sexual side of things and if that is not your cup of tea, then i have again presented a good reason for you to discontinue reading this. Ha!  Anyway, before i totally drive you away, here is my brief account of the novel:

Anastacia Steele, the female lead character, was asked  to take the place of her indisposed housemate  and friend, Kate, who arranged for an interview with Mr. Christian Grey, one of their University's major benefactors.   The interview was to serve as Kate's article for their graduation paper.   

image from Amazon.com

Mr. Grey is 27 years old, CEO of his own Company, rich and famous, handsome, worldy-wise and enigmatic.  Anastacia Steele, on the other hand is 21, a working student, insecure, naive and inexperienced. An apparent attraction ensues on their first meeting, with Anastacia getting clumsy all over and Mr. Grey acting calm and collected on the surface. The fist meeting led to another, and one more, until it became clear to both of them that they cannot stay away from each other. It certainly looks perfect from the outside; a successful, oppulent and powerful businessman smitten by an ordinary, simple and virginal school girl -- the stuff fairy tales with happy endings  are made of. 

But there is a catch,  a very huge one. Mr. Grey is not your typical lover.  He is into BDSM (Bondage and discipline / Dominance and Submission /Masochism).  His sexual style and orientation is complicated, brought about by  circumstances from his dark past. How could the inexperienced Annastacia possibly cope and relent? Turning her back on Mr. Grey is probably a wise decision.  Wise but impossible, for Anastacia has fallen in love, deeply and madly, with Christian Grey.

   
   
      When I was reading the book, all I could think of was "how on earth did this become a New York Times Bestseller?".  Anastacia's and Christian Grey's characters were obviously patterned from that of the Twilight series'  Bella and Edward, respectively.  One can clearly see and identify some similarities between the two aforementioned books,   except that Fifty Shades of Grey was written for mature readers (and rightly so!) because aside from the heavy and graphical  sexual content, the book is laden with expletives.  Sh*t and f*ck are almost never missing in every page (ok, I may be exaggerating. In every 2 pages probably! haha!) that these have now easily resided in my subconscious (sh*t! ...oooops!).

      The plot is sooo simple and predictable; situations and events are all too common that perhaps you will experience some sort of  a déjà vu  when you read another romance paperback, and I am talking about the Mills and Boon type here.  But has there ever  been a Mills and Boon novel to hit it as big as  Fifty Shades of Grey?  I don't think so.   Perhaps,  fuck  luck played a big part in making this book a  shit  hit  :-)

      Sadly,  Fifty Shades of Grey didn't do anything good for my gray matter. And if this is the kind of writing that makes it to the New York Times Bestseller nowadays, I could start writing my first novel too! Who knows just when fuck  luck strikes, the next bestseller may have me as the writer hehe! Let's shit  hit it! :D

      By the way, my take on Book Two,  Fifty Shades Darker,  is at  Pictures, Places and Paperbacks.  Please go and see. :D