This book wasn't my usual choice for reading material but given the furor it's generated in some US towns/libraries I felt that I couldn't really comment on its appropriateness, or not, should the question be asked if I hadn't read the book. So I did.
Fifty Shades of Grey is the first installment of an erotic fiction trilogy. Book two is titled Fifty Shades Darker and book three is Fifty Shades Freed.
Yes, it's erotic fiction... it is quite descriptive about various, numerous sex acts. There's quite a bit of Sado-Masochism and a serious look at questions of dominance and submissiveness within a relationship. But the book isn't just about eroticism (or S&M).
The Fifty Shades series explores the relationship between two diverse characters who feel compulsively drawn to each other - yes, there's a sexual attraction but there's more to that going on in the undercurrents.
I can envision future phd students writing doctoral papers exploring the themes of this series - sexuality, depravity, control, stalking, dominance, submission, naivety, experience, power, pain, the list grows endless... it will be interesting to see how this one novel, this single series raises the profile of erotic fiction (and by association romantic fiction) across the globe.
Personally, Fifty Shades of Grey doesn't tick the boxes for me. I see little intrinsic difference between this series and the erotic fiction which Mills & Boon puts out. So there's nothing really new there. I don't like the characters. I don't like how they're drawn. I find them weakly presented and annoying... I will however admit that the ability to describe, and describe well, is of merit. E. L. James can nail the task of describing the setting, the view, the decor, people's appearance. This honed skill serves her well to distract the reader from the weakness of her characters.
Will I withdraw this title from my library's collection? No. As mentioned, I've read some Mills & Boon titles which are far raunchier (I'm still recovering from the last Western I read which actually made me blush) and I see nothing offensive in the content. Anyone reading this book knows what they are reading as the words 'erotic fiction' are on the back cover. I also consider that the number of reserves sitting on my library's copies as fair indication of public demand. I've checked out reviews on GoodReads and Amazon - both the book and the audio are hugely popular and admittedly to a varied audience and with mixed success.
Fifty Shades of grey is having an impact on the adult reading public which "Harry Potter" had for kids a decade ago - people are reading and it's what they want to read. Then again, maybe it's more like Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" in the light of the supposed public outrage regarding its content...
Will I read the rest of the series? Maybe. I would like to see if Ana and Christian mature as characters, but I'm not fussed either way. This title will get an 'it was okay' rating from me on my GoodReads shelf but that's more because I simply don't like the first-person narrative and whilst the quality of description is really good, the characters don't excite me and the setting is passe. But then my 'reading doorway' is language which quite possibly explains everything...
