PUA Book Review

To offer everyone a frame of reference for my reading tastes, my interests range from classic literature, plays, magazines, all the way to Twilight (I’ll return to this in the second). So, it had been with little trepidation which i picked up (or rather, downloaded) a replica of Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. To be honest, I was pretty excited to find out what all the hype involved. However, nothing could mask my utter disappointment as to what I will only sum up being a total lack of personal expertise, fact verification, and reality around the author’s part. Fifty Shades of Grey was to me, quite the disappointment.

Anastasia Steele


To begin with, Fifty Shades of Grey features a main heroine-and I personally use this term loosely- Anastasia Steele is really a twenty one years old college senior who, while this book owns no computer, current email address, and seldom touches her mobile phone. Additionally, Anastasia or Ana as she is sometimes known, makes it through college while keeping her virginity, never getting kissed, and never getting drunk. Her roommate Kate Kavanaugh (alliteration!) is the sexy, strong-headed closest friend who appears to have somehow failed Ms. Anastasia Steele in not giving her any morsel of life experience as a possible adult, living on her own, and attending school. I’m not buying it. Apart from the complete and utter insufficient believability within this girl’s circumstances, enter in the book’s protagonist and main romantic interest, Christian Grey. Since the story goes, Christian soon woos and wins Anastasia Steele. He takes her virginity and soon consumes her lifetime.

Anastasia Steele

Christian is perfect externally; rich, handsome, and single. Because he secretly stalks pursues Ana, she of course is completely not aware of his aversion to BDSM. Ultimately, what torments me one of the most relating to this book is E.L James’s depiction of the items the standard BDSM relationship should be like. I don’t believe she's going off of much knowledge, but rather internet research, which curiously, Christian encourages Ana to do. Christian doesn’t come across as a Dom who can be trusted. In this type of relationship, the book is true in praoclaiming that trust is the central thing. But Christian is really a man out of control. He can’t be trusted and consequently makes poor Anastasia Steele do things she doesn’t want to do, a smaller amount decided to, within the realms of the “mutual” contract. Christian is really a stalker, obsessive compulsive, as well as in my personal, emotionally abusive.



Secondly, I'm that Christian, being an older more experienced man, took undue benefit of Anastasia by taking her virginity without any intention of actually participating in a meaningful, partnership. He ultimately strong-arms her into accepting his terms, conditions, and BDSM lifestyle. This turns out to be disastrous because Ana wants hardly greater than a fairytale connection with Christian. As the story progresses, Ana begins to questions who she is as a person, alienates herself from friends, and bends over backwards because of this man. Like a girl who has zero dating or sexual performance, the final results of her meeting Christian were doomed right away.



As far as the “graphic sexual scenes” described in the book, I wasn’t shocked (I’m unsure in the event it says anything about my character or not). The chapters and interactions travel on in a very concise pattern since the story unfolds. Christian and Ana meet up, they can’t help themselves, and also have sex-three times after which it repeats within this pattern, chapter after chapter until I found myself just skimming through the sex parts just to get on with the storyline and acquire through this book! Shades of Grey? Yeah right!



Author E.L James is quite British as well as the language definitely hints (or hits you within the head) at it. The setting is Seattle and Vancouver however they make reference to a film theater as a “cinema” and the characters are constantly stating that they are very “pleased” and they also have to “fetch” something. I'm that had E.L James given a draft over to as a famous friend, many of these little misuses of Americanized English might have been avoided. They took me out from the story and also confused me at the beginning of it since i was trying to puzzle out whether it was a Canadian turn of phrase in Fifty Shades of Grey.



I can see the allure of Fifty Shades of Grey. Certain demographics including the housewife or inexperienced college girl (similar to Ms. Anastasia Steele) would dive into this book and never come up for air until they’ve see the entire trilogy. Since this is fan fiction, deriving in the Twilight franchise, the similarities and fanatic interest do understand. Books are after all, a way for people to escape and imagine another world of their making. This story allows women specifically to imagine some sort of in which a rich and handsome man would woo them to experience things they might never imagine. Ana is depicted similar to Twilight’s Bella Swan; unremarkable, average looking, innocent, and primed to play the victim. Only if she meets her Edward Cullen, or perhaps in this situation Christian Gray- does she produce a stubborn streak or any original thought. My main gripe will be the vehicle by which Christian uses to obtain what he wants along with the murky portrayal of the an actual BDSM relationship is similar to. But, women react to the thought of men in control. Even some of my most staunch feminist friends have found these books and admitted the allure can there be.



In every, the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy could eventually belong to oblivion together with Twilight and all the remainder of them. If you’re looking for an erotic read written from your perspective of a British woman who appears to have never experienced a BDSM relationship, then this is the go-to book! I was entertained however, not towards the excess i would actually see the last two books within the trilogy.