Friday, April 27, 2012

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James

As you know, I only post about books I love, and, as surprised as I was by this, I loved this book. I didn't love it for the writing. For example, each time, after the first ten times, the narrator said, "My breath hitches," I wanted to hurl the book across the room; but I could not pull my eyes away from the titillating plot.

Two worlds collide when a virgin about to graduate from college meets a wealthy, handsome sex slave master. The novelty of learning, through Ana's eyes, about this deviant other world is what most compelled me to keep reading. Along with Ana, I'd never heard of breast clamps and butt plugs and had no knowledge of the ways other props, like a riding crop, were used to create sexual pleasure. My curiosity about this world was greater than my frustration with the repeated words and sentence structure.

The characters, too, became endearing. Christian Grey's hard, cold, domineering cruelty is coupled with an emerging humanity and vulnerability I wanted to know more about by the end of the novel. I especially wanted to see Ana happy.

I recommend this novel.