About "50 Shades of Grey"

[cabot]

I haven't read the book and I have no plans to see the movie. What offends me about the book is its bad writing and the fact it is based on "Twilight" fan fiction. The woman who wrote the book was a "Twilight" fan who wanted the idiotic vampire story to be more adult. And now she's a millionaire. Bloody hell.

Yes, the rape and weakness of the female lead bothers me...but what bothers me more is the fact that this piece of tripe made money. As a woman with an IQ in the triple digits, I'm offended by the book's bad writing and nonsensical storyline. As a writer, I'm offended people actually want to read this literary shit sandwich.

That being said, if some polyester-swathed moron wants to live out his or her fantasies vicariously via two wooden characters, fine. I hope they enjoy contributing to the dumbing down of society. And I shall countdown the rest of my days, looking forward to death and grateful I didn't spawn and leave my children to exist in a world of semi-literate jackasses.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. "I haven't read the book ..." " What offends me about the book is its bad writing "

Um, uh....

[moriah]

2. What I've seen of it has been terrible.

That being said, I still feel like I'm going to have to subject myself to the blasted thing enough to make more commentary, if people keep talking about it.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. In my family we prided ourselves about our profound opinions on stuff we had neither read nor

watched. It was a running joke.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. The sadly departed blogger 'Jon Swift' made an artform of reviews of books he hadn't read

http://jonswift.blogspot.co.uk/2006/11/jon-swifts-complete-amazon-reviews.html

Sample:

Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism by Sean Hannity

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
I am against evil, January 19, 2006

I have not actually read this book but I agree with Mr. Hannity that evil is bad. I am against all evil whatsoever, whether it is in an axis or solo. Liberals are always making complicated distinctions between things that are a little bit evil and things that are moderately evil and things that are very evil. Not Mr. Hannity. Everything to him is either good or evil, period. I think that's a much easier way to view the world and it saves a lot of time.

Are Men Necessary? by Maureen Dowd

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Men are very necessary, January 16, 2006

I have not actually read this book but I want Ms. Dowd to know that men are very necessary. Without men, for example, I think we would be losing the War in Iraq. I used to like Ms. Dowd when she was attacking President Clinton for having sex but now she is attacking President Bush and there is no evidence whatsoever that he is having sex so I don't understand what the problem is.

I don't think anyone else had the right to take the 'Jon Swift' name - he was a brilliant satirist of conservatives. He died suddenly in 2010.

[catbyte]

21. LOL, I've read chunks of it and wondered if there was something wrong with ME.

The writing really is heinous, completely apart from the subject matter.

[shawn703]

4. I tried reading it at a friend's request

I couldn't get through the first chapter, that's how bad it was. Yes, one can come to a conclusion about the quality of writing without needing to read more than a few pages.

[Scootaloo]

6. I have read the book.

And believe me when i say, someone can definitely be offended by the writing due to the first chapter alone.

Had cabot continued reading, the writing would have gradually become one of the least offensive things about the book. Which isn't any sort of praise, because the writing is REALLY fucking awful. I hope for the sake of the actors that the dialogue was seriously re-written for the movie.

...Especially given that there are two chapters made almost entirely of emails. Syntax included.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. The op clearly states "haven't read the book".

Not "stopped reading the book". Other people chimed in that they either read the book and found it horrid or stopped reading the book because the writing was so atrocious. I also am of the opinion that the book is shit, and I haven't read a word of it. I just find it amusing that we (or at least many of us) do this.

[Scootaloo]

11. Semantics

Before I read the book I was well aware of the "quality" of the writing, becuase of simple prevalence of the content. hard to follow writing blogs without "holy shit what is this i don't even..." paired with excerpts of the crap, for instance.

I suggest getting over your defensiveness about people not liking this garbage. E. L. James is running to the bank three times a day on the backs of people with shit taste, your defense isn't really needed.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. Maybe the op can chime in. It isn't semantics in the sense of ambiguity.

"I haven't read the book" is plain English and has a pretty clear meaning and there is the obvious alternative of "I couldn't read the book" or "I stopped reading the book". But the op could straighten this out.

I think the book is shit. I've said that twice now. I haven't read a word of it.

[JanMichael]

22. wife is a librarian- she ordered the three "50 Shades" books

because of patron requests.

The writing style is so awful, she read one chapter and skimmed most of the three volumes.

Said they are awful- worse than the "Bridges of Madison County."

[devils chaplain]

5. Genuine question...

There are endless BDSM smut books that have been written over decades. Why has this particular book, which is generally regarded as a piece of crap, so prominent?

[Warren Stupidity]

9. It has sold a shit ton of copies and started a whole replicant viral ebook worm of sequels

and copy-cats.

[devils chaplain]

12. Yes, but WHY? nt

[Warren Stupidity]

15. apparently women love to read this stuff.

New Providence, NJ - November 29, 2012 - As it turns out, the notion that readers of the 50 Shades Trilogy are moms filling wait time while their kids finish sports or music practice isn’t entirely accurate. A new analysis by Bowker® Market Research of buyers of the novels shows that less than 30 percent of purchases are to women with kids at home. A snapshot of buying habits from January-June 2012 showed the appeal of the books has been far more widespread. For example, 14 percent of purchases were for readers older than 55 and 20 percent of buyers were male.

“It’s a remarkable phenomenon. Nearly one in five adult fiction books purchased for women in June were from the 50 Shades Trilogy,” said Jo Henry, Director of Bowker Market Research, a service of ProQuest affiliate Bowker. “Certainly, the ability to read these books discreetly on an e-reader is a factor, but women are not shy about discussing them. A recommendation from a friend or relative is the primary factor in both discovering and ultimately purchasing the Fifty Shades books.”

Compared to the typical adult fiction consumer, buyers of the Fifty Shades books are more likely to be women, live in the Northeast, and have a significantly higher household income. They read fewer paperbacks and more digital books versus last year and are especially likely to use a hand-held device such as a Kindle. Their purchase of a 50 Shades book was more likely to planned -- just 11 percent were whims – and oh yeah, nine out of ten times the purchase was for “pleasure/relaxation,” but it’s worth noting that an intriguing one percent were purchased for “work/career” reasons.

http://www.bowker.com/en-US/aboutus/press_room/2012/pr_11292012.shtml

I think one of the driving forces is kindles. Nobody can see what you are reading.

[devils chaplain]

19. Ahh, ok...

Apparently every reason BUT "literary merit."

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. because this is the one that made the MONEY.

[devils chaplain]

13. But why this one? nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. Combination of Right Place, Right Time and it got huge Exposure from the Networks.

[Adam051188]

14. marketing

slick title for someone who doesn't know what irony is.

this is actually becoming common. books written for the best seller lists being dumbed down enough to be mainstream, that is. world war Z is another off the top of my head recently.

[Adam051188]

8. see spot run, run spot run. spot removes his tie and whips it. it whips like "CRACK"!

[link:

|

[Cresent City Kid]

18. If you have to read it to justify commenting on it, don't bother

I would rather you didn't waste those minutes you would never get back. I haven't read it but the little I know about it gives me zero curiosity to learn any more about it.

The real grown up version of Twilight is the set of Underworld movies. This just seems like it takes everything we don't like about Twilight and adds sex to it.

[treestar]

34. I'd read it but

it has gotten so many bad reviews on DU.

[TwilightGardener]

20. I've ignored all of this, but to me this whole deal is just another

"Bridges of Madison County" fad-sweep but pornier.

[JanMichael]

23. see my post

above

[TwilightGardener]

24. LOL--yep, we are thinking along the same lines.

[msanthrope]

25. Recently, I attended a bridal shower where it was read aloud by the attendees.....

Okay...imagine about 30 drunk women. You take the book, open it to a random page, and hand it to the person on your left....who must then read 2 entire pages.

Hilarity ensued. It is a fucking awful tome.

[marions ghost]

26. I found a copy on the ground at the dump

I read a few pages, skimmed...threw it in the dumpster.

Agree with your opinion. It's just bad porn posing as literature. Maybe those who are into self-flagellation and masochism go for it?

[KittyWampus]

30. I think it's more like Vanilla's who like to imagine they're into hard core stuff

read it and think they're getting somewheres, IYKWIM.

[marions ghost]

32. Maybe you're more correct

I give the point to you as I'm not qualified to speak on it.

I did find what I read misogynist. Do you think so?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. Well said. It is to writing (or, even erotica) what Thomas Kincade is to art. K&R

Or, what Twinkies are to nutrition.

[marions ghost]

33. Good point--

Like Kincade's art --it's cheap, trashy, over-hyped and popular because you have to read it to be cool--not because there's any merit to it. I predict the movie will bomb.

Twinkies have more lasting psychological value. If you like sugar.

[pnwmom]

36. 50 Shades makes Kincaid look like Monet. n/t

[demwing]

28. What I find most annoying

is the 50 Shades of Poutrage

It's a book. Read it or ignore it. Or, read it then ignore it.

Now excuse my while I add "50 Shades of Grey" to my key word ignore list so that I may more easily follow my own advice...

[awoke_in_2003]

31. Pulp has always been present in literature...

yet the literary world keeps going on. This is not a defense of the tripe, just an observation. Can I ask what you write? I am always on the lookout for new avenues to explore. You can PM if you want, or if you don't want to answer I understand.

[snooper2]

35. elevator sex sucks...unless you hit the emergency stop

The door is about to open and you are like, is somebody waiting on this floor?

not cool LOL