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

Goodreads Summary:

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.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

REVIEW:

The sole reason why I read Fifty Shades of Grey was for all the hype surrounding it. A few people loved this book, while most of them hated it, but no one really stopped talking about it. When it comes to me, I tend to like what almost everyone dislikes and dislike what everyone likes. As for Fifty Shades of Grey, let me just go ahead and admit the fact that I actually ended up liking it. It's a book that's as good as it is disgusting and for me, it was an... experience- an amusing one at that. 

Usually when a story occupies my mind it means that I've either loved the book or hated it. In this case, I can't say that it's been on my mind all the time, but at the same time, I've thought of it a lot. It's not an I-can't-get-it-out-of-my-head mind fucking story, because come to think of it, it's not even original. 

Even though Fifty Shades of Grey is a Twilight fan-fiction story, I have no intentions of saying anything about the latter simply because even though the two are similar, the sole difference between the two sets them far apart. And that difference is what made Fifty Shades such a disgusting, kinky and sick, but at the end of the day, a really good read. I’m not saying that Fifty Shades is better than Twilight- because it isn't, but I love reading numerous takes on the same thing. 

There were more things I disliked about Anastasia Steel and Christian Grey than there are chapters in the book. Ana seemed like a silly girl and a desperate woman at once while Christian seemed like a chauvinist pig and a highly disturbed person who just wants-no sorry, needs- to do to others what has been done to him for reasons I’m dying to know. Both the characters, however, are extremely stupid and thoroughly complex. A lot can be said about them, but this a review, not a report. 

I have studied Psychology for three years in total in college and during graduation. And Fifty Shades was like reading a live example of everything I studied all those years ago. Had I chosen Psychology as my majors, I would have loved to do a thesis on Ana and Christian perhaps because there is that much that can be said about them. 

I hated the characters but I liked the story and that leaves me hanging somewhere in the middle. There are many ways of looking at Fifty Shades of Grey and I choose to look at it as something that was heavy, profound and good in it's own odd and absolutely yucky manner. But when the characters, who are the story, are essentially unlikable, the point is set off. This was, as is said in the book itself, fifty shades of fucked up. 

RATING: