Fifty Shades of Grey - A Book Review
BDSM
culture involves bondage, discipline, dominance & submission, and
sadomasochism and is very much alive and practiced in today’s society. Although
submissive-dominant concept is pretty much frowned upon, Fifty Shades of Grey
entails and explores the budding romance between an experienced male dominant and
an innocent woman.
Fifty
Shades of Grey starts with the introduction of Anastasia “Ana” Steele and her
best friend Kate who are college students finishing their degree. Kate is part
of the university’s publication and she is tasked to interview Seattle’s most
promising bachelor: Christian Grey. However, Kate falls ill and asks Ana to go
in her stead. Ana indeed goes and meets Christian in his office for the
interview. In the course of their encounter, unbeknownst to Ana, Christian
develops an interest in her. She finishes the interview and leaves the office
expecting to never see him again. However, fate would have none of that and
they meet again when Christian stops by a hardware store that she works in. The
two converse as he is purchasing, with Ana expressing Kate’s intent to shoot
some photos to go with the article. Christian consents and gives Ana his phone
number. Later in the story, Ana falls in love with Christian and the duo starts
a relationship with many barriers: an old lady, Ana’s best friend, and
Christian’s dark past.
Fifty
Shades of Grey is the first installment of British author, E.L. James’ Fifty
Shades of Grey trilogy. The book is a controversial one, dealing with sensitive
themes like sex, BDSM, and abuse. The scope is too wide and I do not know where
to begin. What struck me the most was how submissive and accepting Ana was
towards…. Well, a lot of things. To name a few: 1) Christian Grey reveals his
intent to have sexual intercourse with her and she, more or less, response with
a mere blush. 2) Christian Grey reveals his past relationships and how they
were only insignificant, beneficial BDSM arrangement with 13 or so other girls.
Ana is, well, scared, but she still doesn’t run away for her life. Christian
Grey officially gave off creep vibes and Ana is still blushing. 3) Jose, her
best friend, gets drunk and tries to kiss Ana forcibly despite her efforts of
refusal. Christian intervenes and one sentence from his mouth was enough for
Jose to get his hands off her. 4) Jose apologizes for his actions and Ana
forgives him easily. 5) Anastasia Steele is a 21-year old senior college
student and she is as naive and as innocent as a 14-year old would be. Aside
from Anastasia’s character flaws, the erotic scenes are actually
poorly-written. However, I also understand that erotica is not the book’s main
theme. The plot is also somewhat predictable, inhibiting the stereotype: the
good girl always falls for the bad boy.
To
sum everything up, Fifty Shades of Grey is, I reiterate, controversial and I do
not advise it to be read by general audience. The reading material may be
enjoyable to those whose interests align with erotica-angst. Christian’s
character development was what kept me on reading until the very end.
-Stephen Quijano (STEM-Mendeleev)
-Stephen Quijano (STEM-Mendeleev)
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