Fifty shades of Gray

Oh where to move on from Mr Gray?

Dunno, Jenny, and I'm *not* getting at you, but the fact that no one has anything whatsoever to say about the book makes me wonder whether humanity isn't the waste of space I'd taken it for. Well, European humanity at least--this thread wd probably have got hundreds of posts on US amazon forum . . .

Bared for you and insufferable proximity are similar....almost !

If you google 'Books similar to Fifty Shades Of Gray' you will see some pages of suggestions and links to Amazon.com where there are a few active discussions on the subject and peoples listamania's under the very title. Good luck with your search I hope you find some good books to fill the void!.:0)

Hi Jenny,
I'm not being smirky, but could someone explain the appeal of this series to me? I actually bought the first book to find out. It's taken me forever to get to 23% (I have kindle). Given the whole scandal around it I expected more explicitness earlier on. I was surprised when I reached 18% and the heroine hadn't yet been kissed. I'm only now getting that the appeal is basically to romance fans and this is a conventional romance with an S&M twist, but really, how do you get past the bad writing? How do you not get taken right out of it when characters constantly call each other by name in dialogue even when only two people are speaking to each other, Jenny? Isn't that a little strange, Jenny. Ms Wren, do you see what I mean?

I know books about attractive people attract some readers, but how many times per page do you need to be reminded that Ana is beautiful or Christian is hot or that Ana thinks Christian is hot?

I'm not trying to stir up trouble. I'm trying to figure this out. Is this book a phenomenon because it's a phenomenon? Do a large percentage of readers actually find it erotic? (I was shocked that the book is 1/5 over before we get to ANY sex, and it's not even the kinky stuff). If this is a "romance" what makes it work for people who normally read romance?

monica --

I'm in the US and plenty of us are mystified here too. The threads on the book aren't much longer and the additional length is probably due to the fact that so many more people use the fora in the US. Not only that, but here, we know the dialogue isn't just inane, but terribly off and filled with Britishisms that Americans don't say.

I will admit I honest to god bought the thing thinking if I could understand the formula I too could write a mega-bestseller. However, there is no way in hell I could ever write anything like this. I'd have to unlearn way too much.

I agree with you entirely. I read it on holiday and thought if Ana smirks one more time, or rolls her eyes again, I will throw it in the pool!
Repetitive badly written twaddle.
Lynne

The hype about this book is amazing! Also a bit unjustifiable really! Erotic romance books have been about long long long before this book was even thought about.

There was an interesting discussion about whether people should read this book on the train and whether it was appropriate to!

I missed this thread at first... I'm so glad I just spotted it!

Finally, you are all saying what I thought... What a load of...xxx

For a great romance try You Don't Have to Say You Love Me

She put this series to shame! best book I have read in a long time...

Let's try and promote the authors books that deserve it not the ones that frankly don't!

Forget shades of grey... It's not worth the time or effort :) xx

Watch out, the market will soon be flooded with this kind of book. It is paranormal romances all over again, The Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse novels made it big and suddenly everyone seemed to be writing/publishing them, OK they still sell but have slowed down and now Mr Grey type books are going to take over the world! Fifty Shades has taken over as the fastest selling paperback since records began, faster than Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code. Personally I wouldn't give it house room but there you go. All the psychologists are going to have a field day 'explaining' why these books are so popular and are going to be popping up on TV regularly.

i considered buying this book but after reading these comments im pretty sure ill give it a miss!! im not into all the mushy mushy gooey love stuff and s&m just does nothing for me and if she really is that bad a writer i reckon alot of people are dumber than we think!! but then again stephanie myers kinda stinks to high heaven too i enjoyed the books dont get me wrong but so many mistakes and Edward is scary possesive lol anyway thanks i wont be reading fifty shades of grey anytime soon xx

I don't know if you are aware but they were originally written as Twilight fan fiction with vampires then for some reason the vampires were changed to humans with Edward becoming Mr Gray (I suppose). I am not in to s & m either but for people that are I am sure there are far better written books around. From the blurb it actually seems to be a bit of a rehash of the books 'Nine and a Half Weeks' that was made into a film starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger, anyone remember it, very controversial at the time.

Not a rehash of Nine and a Half Weeks -- more mushy. Plucky virgin rescues hot billionaire from his S&M obsession.

ahh nine and a half weeks, Kim Basinger...mmmmm

Nine and a half weeks - remember it - Mickey R was mega hot (not for long before he was sleezballville.com) seem to remember blindfolds and fridge food and she was all panting just thinking about things. God how long ago was that film?

I agree the book is truly awful!

Fifty Shades of Gay! Now we're talking. Plucky virgin rescues hot billionaire from her S&M obsession.

Couldn't agree more with these comments. Dreadful; poorly written, repetitive and tedious. I teach special needs English, and many of my students use language more effectively than this!

Yet worryingly it is being read (and enjoyed) by acquaintances I previously considered to be intelligent. Let's hope it is a passing phase. Hardly Jane Eyre, after all!

Hi marion,
I so agree with you. Do American women really go round saying 'holy crap, holy moly, oh my and biting their lip ever hour of every day?
Any way it gave me a good laugh reading the reviews on Amazon, all of which are much better than the book.

I'm hoping to hear from maybe a Phd in psychology or something (not in literature, and not another pundit) help me understand the success.

It's confusing. There's stuff all over the forums (especially the US-Amazon site) about the various offenses against the English language and the "rules" of storytelling committed by self-publishers, yet this book is filled with clunky prose, flat characterizations, awkward dialogue, and several items on various agents' "hate" list, and it is LOVED by masses. There has to be something there. Not quality but something, and I have trouble believing the something is sex as there are much "hotter" numbers out there.

I get trash. I really do. I remember Jacqueline Susann. But even her stuff which also involved plucky heroines somehow emerging victorious and various erotic shenanigans had some memorable, if purple, prose and seemed somehow (better) edited. I still remember a line, "She had a mouth like ten fingers, and ten fingers like a mouth." That's Shakespeare compared to what's in Fifty Shades.

Just checked and it was released in 1986 with the book first published in 1978. Just thought of another infamous one 'Story of O'.

Try this, it's been getting quite good reviews and I'd love to know what you think - there's also an unillustrated paperback and it's available for Kindle too...
xx

Unlost Collected Short Stories K L Gillespie

`One of the most exciting 21st century writers in the UK' Edward Timon, The Erotic Review
`Poetic, lyrical, deeply moving in many ways. Unlost touches the heart and soul and to be honest the bad part of us all.' Anthony Amor
`At times these stories remind me of Anais Nin or Angela Carter for their beastly beauty, and sometimes of Cheever for their sardonic realism.' James David Audlin

No problem with you mentioning your book but it might be wise not to add a link to it in the Fiction Forum, Amazon are clamping down since the advent of the MOA Forum and posts with links are being deleted.

I saw an article that said the reason women like this book is a reflection on men. I haven't read it, but apparently the male character is all about pleasing the woman, doing what she wants, without having to be asked. It's not by a doctor or scientifically based, but it was part of a radio show where they actually spoke with readers who loved the book.

Warning for those afraid of language-->

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/why-50-shades-of-grey-is-less-about-submission-a

Thanks for sharing that, Frank. I think it does make it a little clearer to me. I got far enough in the book to know it's appeal is not about the bondage. Comparisons to books like Story of O are irrelevant. It's not surprising that the women in the article said they weren't into bondage. Neither is Ana.

Kate Roiphe's piece mentioned in that article has also been criticized all over the internet.

I'm not surprised that women like a book where a hot billionaire pursues a young woman and promises extreme pleasure and then delivers. I'm surprised they want that story so much they are willing to get past the really, really bad writing. I'm surprised (and disappointed) that Random House would put this out in the form it's in. I don't think it would have hurt the book to have made Ana less annoying by canning some of her "inner Goddess" dialogue, to have pushed the writer to show a little more than she tells, to have simply edited out the habit of starting and/or ending every line of dialogue with a person's name, maybe even to have had an editor Americanize the dialogue a little bit since they are supposed Americans in America.

People complain all the time about self-published books being trash because they don't have editors. That a major company puts something like this out under its name basically means that they've given up on quality and don't care about professionalism. What they have to offer readers and writers is publicity and nothing but, and that seems to be all that's needed.