- ISBN-13: 9780345803481
- Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Publication date: April 2012
- Format: Paperback, 514 pgs
- Source: Personal Library
I am sure many of you must have heard or read some reviews on this trilogy; after all these books are hard to miss, as they are often seen under the best-selling section in the book stores and/or that many readers have read and raved about them. I have to admit I was piqued with curiosity of the hype of this trilogy and thought this is a thriller at first glance of the book cover. I was wrong; this trilogy has nothing to do with mystery or crime but of romance - erotic romance, as the back of the book indicated. Well, I have nothing against erotic romance and a few friends of mine are reading it so I decided to jump on the bandwagon.
Literature student, Anastasia Steele gets to interview a young entrepreneur, Christian Grey, who is brilliant and good-looking yet intimidating at the same time. He intrigues her and despite knowing their difference, Ana wants this man and little does she know that Christian wants her too. However, Christian has secrets and his agenda, but the top of it all is, he has this singular erotic tastes and he wants Ana to be the one for his own dark desires. Ana would then embark on this daring and passionate physical affair but would she be able to resist or consumed by Christian's dark desires towards the end?
The beginning of the story was great; for I felt the sparks of attraction between Christian and Ana. Unfortunately, my interest in the story began to wane towards the middle as I felt it was the same old emotional struggle between the couple throughout the chapters (i.e., Ana gets frustrated over their so-called relationship and after some comments or a few 'jealousy acts' by Christian, they would be back together in bed, again). There was a point where I felt like throwing the book against the wall because I was getting tired of their charade. Also, I felt it was not well-written though it made an easy read to me.
Another thing I think I was not wowed by the story is the stalking and controlling behaviour of Christian. While some readers may think it is kind of romantic to have the hero to stalk and control the heroine, however it is another different story in reality and I hope one would not mix the fantasy in fiction with reality. And you know what, the controlling behaviour in Christian reminds me a lot of a co-worker in my ex-company, though he is not at all good-looking or charming like Christian, ha. This ex-co-worker of mine loved to give (unreasonable) orders and couldn't seem to take no for an answer, and I suppose this is probably another reason why I wasn't impressed with this book, despite all the hype. That said, I have Book 2 and 3 in my TBR pile but I am not in a hurry to read them. I suppose I would wait for my reading mood to strike, and I hope the storyline will get better.
Posts
Honestly this was the biggest bunch of garbage I'd ever read in my life. Poor writing, undeveloped and dysfunctional characters. I can't fathom anything romantic in that mess. I have no interest in finding out what happens to these two...I only read this one for book club! But it must say something if ten gazzillion women are going crazy for this series!
You saved me, really. I was so taken by the awesome reviews that this book had and put it in my TBR. Now I am not sure, if I will read it in the near future.
oh man...I borrowed this book from my friend just yesterday but now I'm not too excited to read it but still hoping I would like it better than you did...
Thanks for the honest review Mel. I read this one and I enjoyed it. I do know what you mean about Christian's behavior, it could be taken as 'stalkerish' at times.
I'm starting to get so much pressure from my non-blogging friends to read this book (as if this is the only book left in the world!!!) that I think I'll finally have to read it just to say that I did. I know, that's really lame. The premise doesn't sound interesting to me but I AM interested in this book from a phenomenon standpoint. What is it about this book that is driving women mad with...I don't even know what. The press has been insane and it's only fueling the fire.