Review: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey
By:  E.L. James

File Size: 2330 KB
Print Length: 529 pages
Publisher: Vintage (May 25, 2011)

About: When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

My Review:  Multidimensional and thought-provoking, Fifty Shades of Grey is a story that will twist you, bend you and cry for you to submit to its intrigue.

Okay, normally I am not one to grab a book that is being "hyped up" in the media.  However, when Fifty Shades of Grey began to pop up everywhere, the nerd in me came bursting forth and Googled the title.  Yes, I Googled it.  What I found was a very varying and diverse thought spectrum - which is actually a good thing, in my opinion.  It seems that people either loved it or hated it.  Now, what really grabbed me was an article that I read where some psychologist or Dr. of some sort was saying how this book was considered "Mommy Porn" and that it was a very unhealthy thing for woman.  Um, excuse me?!  It is socially acceptable for men to look at and ogle women/porn online, in bars, in magazines, etc, but if a woman reads something that is even slightly touted as "erotic" it is unhealthy?!  Let's see - a woman reads and thereby uses her intelligence to  take in the words and has to use her creativity and imagination to bring these images, portrayed within the story, to life for herself and that is unhealthy?  How is this any worse than a person reading murder mysteries, horror stories and anything of violence?  Needless to say, this ticked me off.  I knew right then and there that I had to get the book and read it myself.  Now, to take a step back, people may say "How can it be acceptable to allow a man to tie you up, make you eat when he wants, etc?"  Well, it is not.  However, if there are two consenting adults and they get their kicks that way - well, let them go forth and dom/sub.  I do want to say, however, that these issues were blown waaaay out of proportion with this book.  There is no where near the type of dominance that some say is so horrible and demeaning to women (and for the record, there are books out there were the men are the submissive - it is fictional entertainment after all) within Fifty Shades of Grey.  Okay, on with the review of the actual book.

For me, Fifty Shades of Grey was a great look into the psyche of a man who grew up with a tortured start to life.  He learns to cope in life with strong walls and a hard shell built around himself.  He does not allow himself to become close to any one person and relationships with woman are something to enjoy physically and devoid of emotions.  So far within his life, he has been able to keep things going at this level.  That all changes, however, when he meets Anastasia (Ana).  For Christian, Ana is unlike any other woman he has ever met before.  She is not only beautiful and intelligence, she is innocence and strength.  Ana does not bend over backwards for Christian and she knows her own mind and morals.  I want to mention that this is something that pleasantly surprised me.  When I first read about this book, I had pictured Ana as a very submissive person who would be, more or less, a puppet on a string.  I was not thrilled with this idea, however I pushed it aside as I began to read.  Ana is not at all like my preconceived notions.  Nor, for that matter, was Christian the jerk, dominant "I am man, do as I say" type of character that I had thought he would be.

I fully believe that the reader will get out of Fifty Shades of Grey what they put into it.  I have heard, repeatedly, about the hot sex, the bondage, etc of this book.  Yes, there is sex.  Yes it is steamier than Harlequin, however it is not nearly as sexually explicit as some erotica books out on the market.  There is one scene of slight violence, however it was handled in a way that truly lent to the book.  I am not going to go into this any further because I do not want to give anything away.  As far as bondage?  Slight.  Being controlling?  Slight.  An actual story of love?  Yes.  A story that goes deeper than sex?  Absolutely yes.

Going in, I really had no expectation for Fifty Shades of Grey.  I was neutral and curious.  This is what I took from it:

Christian is an amazing character.  He has some major issues that began at a very early age, which have damaged him deeply.  He has a need for control on a psychological level that goes beyond machismo.  He doesn't feel the need for control for a shallow reason, but one to survive.  He is a lost soul who needs to find salvation.

Ana is a young innocent college grad.  She has the world in front of her.  Ana has also never felt the need or desire for a physical relationship with a man.  That all changes, however, when she inadvertently meets Christian.  Her world spins in a way she worries she will lose control of, but manages not to drown in.

Together, Christian and Ana battle emotional demons as the sparks of heady chemistry roars between them.  For Christian, Ana presents many "firsts", which both surprise and scare him.  For reasons beyond him, Ana is different and reaches into him unlike anyone he has ever met before.  Ana battles her sub-conscience and "inner goddess" to figure out what is right for her and how far she is willing to let herself stretch for Christian.

I truly adored both of these characters.  They came to life in an amazing way for me and truly made me care for both of them - particularly Christian.  A bit of food for thought:  Christian asks that Ana's hands (or whomever he is having a relationship with) to be bound during sex.  His biggest fear?  To have his chest touched.  Connection?  See, for me, the bondage issue went way beyond kinky sex.

In any case, I really enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey.  I can't wait to continue with the trilogy to delve deeper into Christian's past and discover the demons that have tortuously branded him.  I anxiously look forward to seeing how the lives of both Ana and Christian unfold.  For me, this was a story of two lives who deeply connect and love one another.  One of those people unable to form a healthy and "normal" relationship, nor ever had the desire to, until now.  This was a story of strength, demons, trust and faith.  It was not a story of sex.

I do want to mention that the story was not perfect for me.  The writing was very good, however many times the author would pop in words that seemed out of place within the story.  The words would be the type of words not normally used in every day conversation (at least for me) and would break up the flow of the story for me a bit.  Some examples?  Infinitesimally, envisages, medulla oblongata (ex: And from a very tiny, underused part of my brain - probably located at the base of my medulla oblongata where my subconscious dwells - comes the thought:), and there are others throughout, these are just a few that stood out.  E.L. James does use amazing word visualization and easily drew me into the story and the scenes.  When the scenes were sizzling, they were hot, when the scenes were emotionally tortured, they were very heart-tugging and when the scenes were sweet, they were heart-melting.  All-in-all, Fifty Shades of Grey is a wonderful book and one that I highly recommend - not because it is so media "hyped" but because it is a wonderful story - just please do not read it simply for the sex, but delve into the complex emotional and psychological aspects of the story.  And for the record - I have heard this being dubbed the "dirty Twilight" books.  Honestly?  Other than a tortured male character and an innocent female character - there is absolutely no similarities - at least none that I could find.

*Did you know that Fifty Shades of Grey has a soundtrack?!  Well, it does and please be sure to check it out!  (click here)

About E.L. James:


E L James is a TV executive, wife and mother-of-two based in West London. Since early childhood she dreamed of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.

E L James is currently working on a new love story...