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In reply to the discussion: Does Anybody Else Have A Bad Taste In Their Mouths, Over Objections To Sexually Explicit Books ??? [View all]Chan790
(20,176 posts)I don't merely mean the content...it's also some of the most sophomoric prose ever type-set. The content could have been utterly staid and uncontroversial and it would have still been unreadable. The fact that the content is an exploitative misrepresentation of kink which reinforces notions that BDSM is about oppression of women and contains multiple depictions of such exploitation/oppression presented uncritically is problematic.
I was in a book-group/reading-circle and we took turns choosing the books.
I'm convinced that one of our members chose it explicitly to torment me for choosing Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt as she complained about the Byatt book; it's too long, it's confusing and boring, "I don't want to think that hard", "reading is about enjoyment and this isn't enjoyable." The rest of the group was enthusiastic about her book-choice...they really wanted to read that crap.
I needed a better book group. Sadly, these people all want to be writers; that was the genesis of the group: aspiring novelists reading and discussing novels. What I thought would be one of the best and most-enlightening experiences of my word-nerdery turned out to be one of the most frustrating.
As an aside, I highly recommend Possession. It's a highly enjoyable novel if you're in the right frame of mind for experimental fiction and a different kind of mystery. I can't recommend 50 Shades, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't read it if they think they might have strong feelings on it. (It'll either prove you wrong (but almost-certainly not in this case) or better prepare you to be critical of it.) It's perfectly valid as-well to start reading something, declare it "complete shit"1 and abandon it.
1: e.g. 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James