Tuesday 17 July 2012

Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James


A chance meeting for the young innocent Ana Steele with the attractive successful entrepreneur Christian Grey leads to a strong attraction, but when Grey warns Ana that he is not the right man for her and to keep her distance from him, Ana just can not resist.

As Ana gets more and more involved with Grey and they begin a passionate affair, she learns of Grey’s deeply hidden secrets and his need to control. Just how far into Grey’s darker side of life is Ana prepared to go into to keep her man?

Fifty Shades of Grey is the trilogy that everybody is talking about. It would seem this book is like Marmite, either people love it or they hate it. Even the people who have not read the books have an opinion about it. So I decided to read the book for myself to see if I could find what is so special about this particular book and what could be behind all the hype that as propelled this book into popularity and is making people go out and buy it.

Yes it is full of sex scenes and my first thought is this why the book sells? But when you actually read the book there is nothing too shocking about these scenes. It reminds me in the eighties there was a lot of hype about the film Nine and a Half Weeks, all sorts of stories went around about the content of the film and then when you watched it, it was not that exciting really. Well it is the same with this book. There is not a great deal of storyline, the main theme seems to be if two people can compromise, if Grey can conquer is demons and how far Ana is prepared to cross the line, not very exciting really. I could take or leave this book. I did not love it or hate it. Would I rush out and buy book two in the trilogy? The answer is no, but I will probably get around to reading it sometime in the future.

The positive side to Fifty Shades of Grey is that it is getting people reading. I think it is through people’s curiosity that the books are selling and if that brings forward more readers then that is what the best thing about it is.

To buy this book from amazon.co.uk click here http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0099579936

To buy this book from amazon.com click here  http://amzn.com/0345803485


6 comments:

  1. Yes I have to agree that the book is getting people reading more. That can only be a good thing. Perhaps they'll move on to a better book next time! lol. Great review.

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  2. Excellent review Nikki. I actually read all three. After finishing book one I was curious to see whether the whole thing would notch up a gear and develop into something more interesting. Unfortunately it didn't, but by the time book two was finished I knew I had to complete the whole thing just to see what did happen. If I have a criticism it's that I'm sad, because I think the story had the potential to develop into something much better. And think about it the only reason it has been such a big hit is down to publicity that's been whipped up and the public's curiosity - D H Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover experienced the same huge boost in sales when there was a court case about it in the sixties. We writers can only dream about getting the kind of exposure E L James has and as a knock on from that, huge sales - she's one lucky lady and I wish her well!

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  3. I agree Jonty! And thanks x

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  4. I totally agree Jo, it is alot like the same steam Lady Chatterley's Lover gave off. I will most likely go on to read books two and three too :)

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  5. Thanks for this review Nikki, these books seem to have a cycle, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Mandingo series etc. Happened to be Ms. James's turn and lots are enjoying while others wonder what the fuss is about.

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