50 Shades of Opinion

You may or may not have noticed awhile back that I was reading 50 Shades of Grey. I knew that it was dubbed "mom porn" and that many, many people criticized it for its poor writing but that was about it. But there was such a hullabaloo about it that I wanted to read it. Thankfully a friend lent it to me and off I went.

And then the unthinkable happened. I didn't finish it. This is something I never do. Actually, there are two books that I can ever remember not finishing: John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, which I found on one of my parents' many bookshelves and The Art of War by Sun Tzu lent to me by my BIL. I tried, I really did, but I couldn't finish them.

50SoG is about a self-conscious woman, Ana, in her 20s who thinks she's plain and unsexy but who grabs the attention of a multi-millionaire, Christian, also in his 20s, who likes S&M but nothing too over the top (no urine or animals please!). He likes to be in control. Ana, our "heroine", finds that she enjoys his dominance and of course, the earth-shattering sex. Once I had read Christian's list of "do's and do not's" for Ana to live by, I was immediately turned off. I put it down and explained to my friend who lent it to me why I wasn't enjoying it. She told me the second book was better so I decided to keep reading.

The second sex scene was worse than the first, in the sense that it was purely fictional -- only 1 in 100 women would be able to take what Ana took and do what Ana did and the same goes for Christian. Sure, I enjoy a good romp in my books but only if it's semi-realistic. This book is suspension of disbelief to the extreme. So I have once again put it down and am reading something else.

There's so much discussion going on about this book! Some ridicule the poor writing while others defend the right to read whatever you enjoy. Some celebrate the fact that women and their sexuality are coming out into the open and are being discussed, no longer taboo. Some suggest far better erotica to read. Some have said their sex lives have taken a turn for the better and have even predicted a baby boom!

Me? If you read it and you like it, great. If you read it and don't like it, great. If it increases the frequency  you "put in the roast", great. If you, like me, can't finish it, great.

Reading is always better than no reading at all.