My review of "Fifty Shades of Grey"

I'm not even sure why I decided to read this book and thus far I have only read the first one in the trilogy, but I will say I prefer to read something myself and develop my own opinion on it rather than simply accepting the judgements of others who may or may not have read it.

When I first heard of the book I didn't have any information about it except for the name and an opinion of someone I do not know that she loved the book. It had been so long since I had found any book interesting enough to finish that I thought I might try this one if I got the chance.

I wrote that I wanted to read this book on my facebook and immediately a friend contacted me and said I shouldn't do anything until she and I talked. I figured it didn't really matter because I probably wasn't going to have the chance or money to buy this book anyway.

Then, over the weekend, my husband and I decided to get ourselves out of the house for once and we went to a bookstore for the first time in ages. I wasn't even thinking about Fifty Shades of Grey, more about getting a couple magazines and maybe stumbling upon a book that I might enjoy but no clear idea of what.

I did in fact buy a couple of magazines I enjoy, Psychology Today and Scientific American Mind. I know I'm odd, but I enjoy this type of reading material.

Then, as we were about to leave the store, there it was, Fifty Shades of Grey. I made some comment about finding after I'd already bought something and my husband asked me what it was. All I knew was that it was supposed to be a very good book and that it was erotic in some way. Of course the minute I said erotic my husband immediately told me to buy it. I just laughed.

We walked around the mall a bit but on the way back through I did in fact buy the book just on a whim. I thought, why not.

When we got home I read the first couple of chapters and then I called my friend who had wanted to discuss this with me before I read it. She was displeased and I could hear it in her voice. She told me that the book is a poor representation of the BDSM community and that it promotes the abuse of women. I was a bit taken aback. Had I just bought some terrible book? Was this book really going to be about the poor treatment of women?


Well now I was more curious than ever. If she was right then I would speak out against it but I needed to make the assessment myself. I am not closed minded or uptight and wasn't concerned about the sex scenes in the book being too much for me. I was more concerned I was going to find some real traumatic things within these pages.

I continued reading and found myself extremely drawn into the storyline. The sex scenes were not written all that well and were in fact not the more interesting part of this book. In my opinion the story could not have been written without the concept of them though because they are an integral part of the characters and the story.

What I found were some very interesting characters. I read reviews on the internet that tear these characters apart for this reason or that reason but in reality they are incredibly diverse and funny and fun to watch within the pages as they grow closer to one another.

Christian has a dark side but he has so many other sides to him as well. Sides even he has not explored and is slowly discovering through his developing love for Ana. Ana is sweet and innocent and in that she brings out some of the best sides of Christian while she explores the darker sides of herself.

That is not to say that BDSM has to be considered dark all the time. Actually some of even what is portrayed in the book is loving and sensual more than dark.

In my opinion the writing in this book is not terrible and maybe not one of the greats but it's certainly done well enough. The storyline is where it's at here. There is an amazing love story that people are far to easily dismissing because their own uptight 'morality' keeps them from seeing it.

If you feel you cannot handle the sexual expressions within this book then you probably should not read it, but if you are comfortable enough with yourself and your sexual being then this book is actually a really good read.

The love story, the character development, the unspoken undertones within the pages are my favorite kind because it all makes you think. It allows you to explore the different parts of the human psyche. This book is definite book club material because there is plenty to discuss and ponder about.

Quite honestly I do in fact plan to read the other two books in this series. I don't think I would have but I will admit I was so furious with the way book one ended that now I have to see how the story continues. I'll let you know if/when I manage to buy and read them.