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

Fifty Shades of Grey (goodreads.com)

By: E.L. James (author webpage)

Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Published May 25th 2011 by The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House

ASIN: B0052U59F4

ISBN 13: 9781612130286

Source: Purchased for self

Genre: Erotica

Series: Fifty Shades #1

Stars: 3

Flames: 5

I loved the contract and the emails. That is absolutely reason enough to read Fifty Shades of Grey. I’m sure the contract was not supposed to be hilarious, but at the moment I read it it was. I still hated Grey at that time. I had tears running down my face as I read the playroom and contract chapter. At that point I felt that the Mr. Grey was all ego. I stress at that point. The title for the book is very appropriate. As I continued to read I discovered some of my initial feelings towards Grey were wrong.

I liked the unraveling of Christian Grey. He is an intense character to read. There are so many different layers to him. My curiosity of finding out more about him is the main reason I made it through his book. I would love to read Fifty Shades of Grey told from his point of view. That would be a fascinating read.

Anastasia irritated me more than anything. She’s very young and naïve. I also hate that she wants Christian, but not his baggage. She also expects him to share his very dark childhood experiences with her when they have barely started a relationship. The relationship is a very new concept for the both of them. She seemed to have some very high expectations from the very beginning. Ana has much growing up to do. By the end of the book she has done some, but she still has a long way to go.

A quote from Anastasia to Christian: “Have you been playing with the thesaurus again?” I would love to ask the author that! I have a list of nearly two dozen words that I have never seen or heard in my life. I’m glad that I read this book on my Kindle and had immediate access to the dictionary function. I found this annoying. I was left with a feeling at times that I was not intelligent enough to read this book. That is a feeling that a books should never give me.

Clamber.  Definition of clamber, verb: to climb awkwardly (as by scrambling) to climb, using both feet and hands; climb with effort or difficulty, noun, an act or instance of clambering. This word is overly used. Where was that thesaurus then? Ana clambers in, out, up and into EVERYTHING.

Another annoyance that brought the rating down was the phrases and word choices of the characters and the setting. Had Seattle, Portland, Washington never been mentioned I would have thought Fifty Shades of Grey was set in perhaps England, Britain, or somewhere across the big pond. I guess that complaint goes along with the complaint about some of the words used.  

I have not decided if I will read further into this series. I struggled with this one. I’m glad I pushed myself though. Once I got to Chapter 7 I could not put this book down. Perhaps after a lengthy conversation with the person who recommended Fifty Shades of Grey she can give me a few reasons why I want to move on. I didn’t get a strong enough grasp of Christian and Anastasia as a couple to want to jump into the next book. There were many aspects I loved, many I liked, a few annoyed, and there were bits that I absolutely hated. Fifty Shades of Grey is emotional not only for the characters stumbling into a new relationship, but for the readers as well.

I want to point out that when I purchased this book I had no idea that the author wrote Twilight fan fict. I would not have have purchased the book. I have a serious aversion to all things Twilight.

And now we will move on to the very disturbing Edward, Bella, Jacob and Christian, Anastasia, Jose comparison. It is scary! (I hated Edward and Bella, Ana and Christian are so much more tolerable.)

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•    Edward tells Bella to stay away from him that he is not any good for her. Christian does the same with Ana.
•          Bella’s mother is a bit flaky and gets stability from the men in her life. Ana’s mother suffers from this also.
•         Bella has a male best friend that Edward hates, Jacob. Ana’s friend Jose wants to be more than friends and Christian has jealous tendencies because of this.
•          Bella’s junker truck came from Jacob. Ana’s junker bug came from Jose.        
•    Edward replaces the junker with an extremely expensive car. Christian buys Ana an Audi.
•          Bella is obsessed with Edward’s extraordinary hair, good looks and riches. Christians renders women speechless with his Adonis good looks, impeccable hair, and bazillionaire status.
•          They all reside in the Pacific North West.
•          Edward and Christian enjoy playing sorrowful songs on the piano.
•          Edward and Christian are both way too attentive when it comes to Bella and Ana’s eating habits.