Fifty Shades of Grey Part 1 Review

If you will notice to your right, I've posted the poll for our summer reading series.  For some reason, it let me add more than four this time.  Don't ask me why.  You'll have until May 10th at 11:59pm to vote in the poll.

Below is the review of the first 249 pages of Fifty Shades of Grey.  With the last book, I was pretty specific with the review.  With this book, not so much.  Now- on to the review and beware of spoilers!


This book is an odd mix of hurry-up and slow-down.  Some parts seem way too long and drawn out, like the pages and pages of the contract.  I know that E L James is showing us exactly what Ana is getting herself into; I just don't see why we needed to read all of those dirty details in legalese.  And then you have the parts that go too fast.  Is it really believable that a virginal 22 year-old is going to hop into a helicopter and then hop into the bed of a man she barely knows?  Even after seeing his "Red Room of Pain"?  All the preceding chapters of them bumping into one another (sometimes literally) seem to drag and then bam! We've jumped into carnal relations.  I think that the book's problems with pacing stem directly from James's poor-quality writing.  The sex scenes are steamy, but if I have to hear about Ana biting her lip or getting messages from her "inner goddess", I might have to scream.  And it is painfully obvious that this book started out as Twilight fan fiction.  Stephanie Meyer should sue for copyright enfringement and plagiarism, especially of Edward.  Ana and Christian don't seem to be real characters, just Bella and Edward stunt doubles.  The book as a whole, so far, is too much fantasy and not enough reality.

All of that being said, it's still an enjoyable book.  Because, if we're being honest, we're not reading it for original content or quality writing.  We read it because it's hot.

Discussion Questions:

• What do you think of the book so far?  Is it what you expected?
• How do you feel about the characters of Ana and Christian so far?
• Is there anything you don't find believable?  The rate at which Ana and Christian jump into bed is one that I can't really see happening in real life.
• Is there anything about E L James's writing style that's bugged you yet?