To think that the fact that 50 SOG is so popular is a bad reflection on women or at least the woman who like it?

[Jiggleballs123]

I've read all 3 of the books and they are awful or so many reasons which I think most of us here agree. I bought the books thinking it was going to be about a sub dom relationship and wanted to read some porn.

But what really bothers me is that so many women are swooning over Mr Grey. He is their 'fantasy man'. The amount of times I've sene facebook posts about 'going to curl up in bed with Mr Grey'.

To me he's an abusive partner with mental health problems. I realised this when he told Ana he likes to spank women (or in his words beat the shit out of them) because they remind him of his neglectful birth mother. Yet she still continues to allow him to 'punish' her. The abuse continues throughout all three of the books and ends with her somehow managing to 'change' him ans they all live happily ever after.

Is this really every womans fantasy, take a rich, controlling abusive, abused lost soul and change him?

These threads are popular. I'm just going to cut and paste "it's shit, I will never get those hours of my life back I spent reading it".

OhDearNigel in answer to your question - I'm tight. Once I've paid for something I'm goind to damn well read/wear/eat/drink/etc it

And if discussing something that has been discussed to death bothers people so much why bother reading about it?

Same reason you forced yourself to read not 1 but 3 badly written books I guess

I think people who like it and rave about how erotic it is must have and always have had really dull sex lives. Do it! Don't read about it .

I read all four twilight books with the sole purpose of being able to accurately pick them and anyone who likes them to pieces.

I d/l them though so it was not so painful lol

If you dislike them, why read all 3 of them. Surely you knew from the first book that it was crap???

YABU - these books are nothing to do with me!

This thread isn't supposed to be a book review though.

I don't care if it's a badly written book, I read lots of badly written books as well as some better ones. I can get through a book like this in an evening and I do like reading erotica.

It's more about womens perception of the characters.

Isn't it just to give sad, saggy mummies with stretch marks and no sex life something to fantasise over?

I don't understand all this. They are not well written, they are not realistic, I learnt nothing from them, the kinky stuff is very tame, I would not want to be Mr Grey's wife in real life, Ana is annoying... all this is true but irrelevant IMO. Anyone reading them for the literary merit is like someone telling themselves strawberry ice cream is a good source of fruit and veg. You might like strawberry ice cream or you might not, but there's really no point in eating it if you don't, because it's hardly an excellent source of nutrition - it just tastes nice to some people and not to others.

Either the 50 shades books turn the reader on, in which case all the above lack of literary merit is irrelevant, or they don't, in which case why bother reading them? Anyone who's not sure can read the first couple of chapters, and if not strangely compelled to continue in spite of yourself, then stop!

Me, I read all 3 in a week, furtively on my Kindle, and loved them. I have plenty of imagination, have been married for 20 years in a pretty good relationship, lots of academic qualifications (read plenty of "heavy" books), and am old enough not to care what anyone else thinks. They were fantasy. They were brain candy. I enjoyed them. I am able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Lots of stuff that people enjoy as fantasy would be a very Bad Thing in real life - all crime drama, lots of erotica, thrillers, even fairy stories. I don't see why this is any different, really.

I just assume that any woman who thinks the books are good has never had great sex or read decent erotic fiction , if they had then they wouldn't be frothing at the gusset ( to coin an MN phrase) at that shit.

50 sheds of grey on twitter however, is a brilliant parody, it's my second favourite thing on the net, 2nd only to Texts from dog on facebook.

I have to say I read a LOT of books, and I've also read a fair bit of the Black Lace, womens porn stuff. And I read the 50 shades trilogy out of interest, cos I couldn't bear not knowing what others were on about!
So please can we stop with the "the only people who read these are slightly stupid, completely out of touch with their sexuality" generalisations?!

Thank you.

They're not the most well written books you'll read, nor are they much more than a simple love story. They are (after the first book) pretty repetitive and very predictable.
However they're also mildly erotic and a bit of a fun read. We don't have to read clever, stimulating and intellectual stuff all of the time!

I think what these books have done is to bring right out into the open that women actually like reading about sex! When the Black Lace books first came out there was still a lot of embarresment about them and no-one really read them in public or owned up to enjoying them.
I think it's great that this is making women talk to one another about the fact that they enjoy reading this stuff (even if it's fairly low quality writing!).
Let's not over analyse this please!

I read about 15 pages and could read no more.

If he'd been a vampire I probably would have finished the book but to be honest it was horribly written and boring shite.

This from someone who LOVED Twilight!

I realised a few years ago that some books don't deserve to be finished. 50 SOG trilogy are 3 of them!

I'll say again I didn't dislike reading them as such. I didn't force myself to read them. I know they are crap, so is Corrie/Macdonalds/The DM, I still watch/eat/read all of those things on occasion.

Its like that Valentine film in the 80s. it does apeal to women with dull lives. And just like the olympic airlines's tickets sale rose then, i'm worry that a search for 'Mr Grey' on the internet or rl will be a trend now.

And these women see abuse with rose glasses, they are naive and vulnerable. The book's success and the 'trend' must be a dream coming true for the abusers out there

Two chapters in and im gutted .he's not a dom he's a prick. Was hoping for some secretary esque porn but i know im not going to be a fan

Oh it's fucking awful and I can't cope with the sheer volume of women I love and respect who are reading it. Makes me sad.

This article was rather good on the subject.

As for the "happy ending" I don;t think it says, means or justifies anything. It's just a triumph of the author's princess-happily-ever-after fantasy over her ingrained be-a-good-girl indoctrination.

Hear hear Aliceinsandwichland and Dotty342kids, I am also fed up with being told than I need a better sex life and am slightly stupid, just because I am enjoying some easy/light reading.

Some of us have so much stress in our lives that reading a nice (badly written ) book helps us unwind. When I'm relaxed and stress free, I will read something a little less taxing. Until then, I will stick with Mr Grey!! (And love it!).

missmiss i find your post extremely offensive.

Missmiss i am not a mum either.

I haven't read them but I don't feel any need to judge those who have.

The fact that they have caused such a sensation shows that they have filled a gap in the market (so to speak!).

I have seen people who never usually read anything raving about them, and reading something is better than reading nothing.

Literary snobbery can be quite destructive.

Maybe the characters are one-dimensional or flawed or abusive or don't promote a certain view of the world.

It doesn't mean that those who can't, don't, won't see these flaws are stupid for enjoying the book for its own sake.

I can't remember there being an equivalent book where men sneered, criticised and belittled each other for enjoying it.

Not every title has to be worthy or attempt to champion the way for any particular cause.

Missmiss i am reading im disappointed but im a saggy mum with stretch marks whose sex life would make Mrs James hair curl. Never judge a book luv j

I think he's just misunderstood. He's quite nice a lot of the time. He just like kinky sexy time.