Fifty Shades of Grey - E. L. James

by Unknown 12:30 AM 3 comments

Fifty Shades of Grey - E. L. James

"When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time. 

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - 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 adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?"

I bought this book just before all the hype started about it, so I actually had no idea what it was about. When I discovered the main theme was in fact BDSM, it took me a great deal of time before I actually convinced myself to start reading it. I enjoy a decent love story as much as the next reader, but I thought this would really be pushing my limits. But boy, am I glad that I built up the courage to get myself stuck into it, because I absolutely ADORED it.

Boy meets girl when student Anastasia Steele goes in place of her sick best friend to interview the ridiculously good looking and unbelievably rich businessman Christian Grey for their college newspaper. After leaving the interview extremely intimidated, Ana tries to get over the embarrassing questions she was forced to ask by believing she will never have to see Grey again. However, he unexpectedly and (seemingly) coincidentally rocks up at the hardware store where she works, and leaves her wanting more and more of him. The two characters then become quickly involved, although Christian warns Ana that she will not get what she wants out of a relationship with him. This point is where the plot starts to get both interesting and confronting, depending on what you’re willing to make of it.

Both of the main characters can be perceived in multiple ways, which is what separates the lovers of this book from the haters. The character of Christian Grey is completely and utterly damaged beyond repair. This made me sympathise with his character more, however I can understand how this aspect can also be seen as repulsive. Ana Steele’s character was supposedly based on Twilight’s Bella Swan, and at times the connection was very obvious. Ana did come across as being very innocent and naïve, which did put me off liking her character in the beginning. However the more the story progressed and the more Ana became involved with Christian’s dark side, the more confident her character became and to me this made her much more likable. What kept me going with this book was that whenever I found one of these characters was annoying me, the other was acting in a way that was more than enough to keep me entertained.

Once you get past the initial shock factor of the first (and subsequently frequent) sex scenes, you start to appreciate the actual plotline. I’ll admit, I was concerned and hesitant the entire time I was reading this book, but when I finished it and realised I actually enjoyed it, there was nothing stopping me from grabbing the second book off my shelf and getting stuck into it!

4 bookstacks