Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Title: Fifty Shades of Grey
Author: E.L. James
Publisher: Arrow Books, Random House UK
ISBN: 978-0-09-957993-9
Pages: 514
Genre: Fiction, Erotic Fiction
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3.5/5

BDSM stories are not my cup of tea – somehow the entire concept doesn’t appeal to me (quite traditional in that matter). However I really enjoyed E.L. James’, “Fifty Shades of Grey”. I came across the book through the people at Random House India and somehow it turned out to be a racy and an entertaining read.

The book is much talked about and has created quite a stir; and this is my view on it. Fifty Shades of Grey is about Anastasia Steele, who is a few weeks away from earning her degree at Washington State University. When her roommate Kate gets sick with the flu, Ana volunteers to take her place to do an interview with the illustrious Seattle CEO Christian Grey (but obviously that’s where the title comes from). When Ana meets Grey she senses a spark, so much so that she has to keep her cool around him. When Christian shows up a couple of days later Ana feels that he might also share the same attraction and then wards the idea.

Christian on the other hand is a private and suave man, keeping pretty much to himself. He has no qualms going after what he wants and all he wants is Ana. He has a dark secretive need to dominate. A contract is signed up and she knows about his need. The game begins. The relationship between the Dom and the Sub starts, leading to a very surprising conclusion.

So the premise is interesting. I liked most parts of the book. The sexual awakening is captured in a believable manner. The attraction between the two is raging and intense and that’s the idea of the book, otherwise how else would the BDSM angle be so intense. It is a dark and addictive story (with the usual and quite predictable parts) and character driven, which works best for this kind of a book.

Now to what I did not like about the book: Like I said some parts were predictable, which I read in other books and that was that. The sex scenes are sometimes more laughable than erotic. Having said that, the book is racy and mpoakes you turn the pages as quick as possible. The writing is okay. E.L. James has created quite a series (I am sure the next two would be as quick) considering it is her first attempt at writing fiction. I would say one can read this book and one should however may be borrow it before owning it. I would read the other parts – Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed just to know how it all ends though.

Vivek Tejuja (157 Posts)