Okay, you all who have read "Fifty Shades of Grey" and loved or hated it, I want you to convince me that you and your opinion is right. Is it worth my money and my time? Have I somehow managed to avoid the biggest joke in the world by not reading it? Why do I need your opinion on this? Because for all that I can normally make this decision on my own, I can't get over the horrific reviews, and somehow that makes me want to read it for the train wreck I'm beginning to believe it might be.
I've even read some excerpts that not only shocked me, but left me thinking that it was far from the sensual, sexual story that so many people are making it out to be, but more of a full on porno. Nor can I get over the fact that this was fan fiction, that this couple was really meant to be Edward and Bella. (Okay, this part I really have difficulty with, I mean, how does one take someone elses world, characters and such and then get away with making money off it???)
So, am I missing out, or have I dodged the bullet? I really am looking to see what you all think, so let me have it! And no, not with the paddle.
11 comments:
I haven't read it (yet), but I am strongly considering it - mainly for the same reasons as you.
And, you know it's being turned into a movie, right? Crazy stuff!
I knew genre-wise that this book wasn't for me, but I read the first chapter just to see how the writing was.
I don't care what the story is, if the writing is awful, I can NOT read the book.
This was BAD. That's my opinion, of course. :)
Shannon - I'm so glad someone asked. I bought it at the insistence of a relative - and shouldn't have. She kept saying she couldn't put it down and from the very beginning I wondered why. I'm just stubborn enough to have slogged through it hoping to see what all the fuss was about. I ended up not liking either main character, skipping most of the sex scenes and irritated at having spent $10 on it. I didn't think the writing was bad necessarily, just repetitive and unable to make up for the subject's gross realities.
I can only think that the audience for this book has been trained to accept poor content by staring at too many hours of sordid reality tv.
I'm probably not going to read it. As a writer, it's disheartening to see someone push fan fiction as an original work. There are so many great stories out there waiting to be read. Not going to waste my time on this.
I'll admit it, I read it. And I read it because someone somewhere mentioned it in a blog post as being erotic fiction. I like a good erotic tale from time to time.
The funny thing is, I didn't know anything else about it at the time. I bought it on Kindle, read it in a day and a half and thought "Geez, other than the graphic sex, those characters really remind me of Twilight."
The writing's atrocious but it was still entertaining...however I've not purchased the 2nd in the series (as someone else points out, there are too many great stories waiting to be read).
But if it will tickle your curiosity, go for it. Just take it for what it's worth.
As for making money off of the works of others, well there is nothing in the world that is truly original. The degrees of un-originality simply vary.
I read the first bunch of chapter recaps on this blog: http://jenniferarmintrout.blogspot.co.uk/ which include excerpts and it was enough for me to realize that there was no way I could stomach the writing. I don't generally like present tense narratives anyway and I'm not an erotica reader, but this was... just yikes. I couldn't even handle a sample size. I was surprised at how unsexy it read in the excerpts.
Hi Shannon,
I've read the first two books. It is a lot like Twilight with a mysterious, powerful man and a young, inexperienced woman who is obsessed with said man. It is in first person, just like Twilight. I'm not typically an erotica reader, so it's no surprise that after a while, I skipped over the sex scenes as I felt they were repetitive. I read the first book and had to go to the second because of the cliffhanger ending, but it did take me longer to finish the second because I got bored. I haven't read the third yet. Not sure if I will.
Eeek, yes, it is a touch subject. I'll admit my husband had actually been the one who recommended the series to me. He had read an article and being an author myself with bits of erotica romance, he figured I'd like it.
I read the books, liked parts of them, while other parts I was confused but overall I gave the books 4 out of five stars.
That was before I heard about the fanfiction. I had a friend send me the original fanfiction documents and word for word, it was there, but instead of Christian it was Bella and Edward.
Now, its touchy to say this because no one wants to slam an author, especially one as popular as Ms. James and in return we wouldn't like the same to be done to us. BUT....after I read the original work, I was somewhat offended. I questioned why Ms. Meyer's hasn't done anything and even why Vintage published it, which is a part of Double Day when SO many publishers state on their websites that they don't publish fanfiction. Because when you really get down to the bottom of it, that is exactly what it is.
Now Ms. James is working on her next novel and I, as a reader and author, can't help but to wonder what other idea she has stolen from an author. What she's done is copyright infringement and it's sad that no one is saying anything and even that the media is supporting it.
On top of it, there are two other authors who have recently released books called, "Shades of Gray." There is a bunch of hoopla over that and while many don't understand the length of time it takes to publish a book and even that those three authors would have had no clue any of the others were going to release books with or close to the same title. Yet....its Ms. James' camp or fans creating the big upheaval when the original work (she) released was created based off of someone elses idea. Okay.
With a movie deal now.....it really makes me wonder just how far it's gonna go and still, why, Ms. Meyer or her publisher haven't said anything.
Definitely dodged a bullet.
I tried to read it, not realizing before I started that it was Twicrap fan fiction.
I've read many books in the genre, and enjoyed them.
But the writing was just so horrible. Like the book that inspired it, the characters were shallow and one dimensional. and the sex? The sex was more like something found on a free porn site than erotica.
Oh, and a movie deal? How are they gonna do that? Especially with it not being rated X... And who will they get to act in it? Didn't they get all the actors who could do no personalty for Twicrap?
I liked the books, because I appreciate them for what they are. Do you like erotic literature in general? If not, then these books are probably not for you. If you do like erotic romance, then give them a shot. I find most of the really negative reviews are posted by people who probably are not the target reader.
As far as the fan fiction thing, these books were inspired by Twilight, but the characters and the story evolved many times since it's original form. I mean, I wouldn't want people judging my books by their first draft, and as a writer, I get inspiration from all kinds of places. Ana is much stronger and more interesting than Bella. Christian has more depth than Edward.
Jesi
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