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I won't read the book or see the movie, sounds like a bunch of trash I personally could care less about. Veiled porn and I have enough of my own experiences in life and love I do not have the need to read about someone else's.
I have ZERO interest in reading these books, despite all the stay-at-home moms in my life urging me daily to read them. Nothing against SAH moms, just the idiotic ones who think this is the kind of thing I'd actually enjoy reading.
First, the fact that the Grey books started as online "fan fiction," to me, means they are pretty close to crap. I have not read a lot of "fan fiction" (I couldn't keep the little bits of vomit from coming up in the back of my throat) but from what I have seen, it's people with little-to-no writing skill, who aspire to be writers, but can't come up with original ideas on their own, so they piggyback their stories on the characters and worlds created by well-known authors. Either that, or they are pathetic people who write themselves into stories written by well-known authors, so they can live in some kind of role-play fantasy world, and they hope strangers online will want to read about it.
Second, I understand that the trilogy's "fan fiction" origins arose out of online groups of people who are followers of the Twilight series. If teenagers read about hot young sparkly vampire boyfriends, that's fine, but when grown women not only read them, but get obsessed with them, it's just plain sad. I know too many women who are in their 30s and 40s (who also love Justin Beiber, oddly) who are soooo into the Twilight books and movies. These are a bunch of women who realized that they are about 10-20 years too old, and 30-40 pounds too heavy for a hot young glittery vampire dude. So they turned to this "Grey" phenomenon, so they can now fantasize about a hot sexy billionaire, who will probably also have a sparkly, glittery complexion and great abs, who is a sexual and emotional "vampire." But they are still just really, really, sad and empty people.
Before everyone jumps on me, I am only basing this on the women I know who are into Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey, and some online blabbering by others. I'm sure there must be a few intelligent, educated, women with actual full lives out there who might have liked these books. Maybe.
Third, I just think "erotica" as a genre is stupid. If you want porn, just get porn. No shame, as long as it's the legal kind. But to build an insipid story around porn, trying to work in some romance, and call it "erotica" is just silly. Just read porn and call it a day. I have tried to give erotica a fair chance (...from some of the classics like Fanny Hill and modern "classics" like the Story of O, to a lot of free books my boyfriend got from publishers at his last job). It's mostly poorly written (yes, even written with less skill than the Penthouse letters!) and after a few sex scenes, the reader gets mentally dried-up, flacid and calloused, from the repetitive, tedious descriptions of what the author thinks is erotic.
Then inevitably you'll run into a line like "the obsession took on a life of it's own..." or "your so wet" or something equally annoying. Poor grammar makes me lose my mental erection in about 0.2 seconds.
I tend to think that a person's sexual fantasies are about as interesting to other people as listening to a person's "really cool" dream from last night. That is, with the exception of the person who wants to have sex with you...that's really the only time it's good to share one's private sexual fantasies. Otherwise, you'll learn that everyone else's fantasies are boring, weird, freaky, sick, or pathetic to you. And they will think yours are. That's the way fantasies are and why they should be kept to ourselves.
I guess the other exception is that if you have a bunch of unintelligent soccer-moms, who are bored with their vapid lives, their manicures, and their play-dates, their shriveled up marriages, who are obsessed with "Real Housewives" and "Dancing with the Stars," then maybe they do all think alike. And maybe a rich, narcissistic, manipulative, sexy young guy who is into S&M is their shared fantasy, because they can't even come up with their own viable fantasy if you paid them.
To me, this is the "white zinfandel" of literature.
Hey it's not just for SAHMs with shriveled up marriages! We unemployed bitter single females (bitter from being jobless, not from being single) have a reason to read some trash when we're tired of writing resumes, getting rejected for jobs, etc.
Sometimes a trashy escape via bad fiction fits the bill.
Before everyone jumps on me, I am only basing this on the women I know who are into Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey, and some online blabbering by others. I'm sure there must be a few intelligent, educated, women with actual full lives out there who might have liked these books. Maybe.
I guess the other exception is that if you have a bunch of unintelligent soccer-moms, who are bored with their vapid lives, their manicures, and their play-dates, their shriveled up marriages, who are obsessed with "Real Housewives" and "Dancing with the Stars," then maybe they do all think alike. And maybe a rich, narcissistic, manipulative, sexy young guy who is into S&M is their shared fantasy, because they can't even come up with their own viable fantasy if you paid them.
To me, this is the "white zinfandel" of literature.
Wow, over generalize much? I am not a SAHM. My marriage is amazing. My kids don't play soccer. I hate manicures. I am intelligent. I can even do math, read and write with no help at all - imagine that. And I loved the books. Maybe instead of casting everyone in your "oh so stupid and vapid, surely less than intelligent than me light" you could find a book you do like and start a thread about how only intelligent moms with outside jobs would read it.
Hey, if people enjoy garbage, that's fine. Enjoy. But I truly believe in "you are what you eat," "you are what you read," and whatever you choose to "take in" affects who you are. I don't eat a 100% healthy diet, but I try my best, and always try to improve. I don't read 100% fine literature, but I always try to improve myself; and If I read occasional brain candy, it's at least smart and witty with some redeeming value.
Polute your mind with trash, and lower yourself. Watch Jersey Shore and drink boxed wine while you're at it. Everyone has the freedom to choose these things, but you can't deny what it says about the person. Just like the people you choose to associate with says something about who you are, what you choose to read does likewise. We all have freedom of choice, but our choices speak of who we are.
Everyone has the freedom to choose these things, but you can't deny what it says about the person. Just like the people you choose to associate with says something about who you are, what you choose to read does likewise. We all have freedom of choice, but our choices speak of who we are.
Reading a book says something about a person who reads it? To me it says the person picked up the book to read. A book says much more about the author than it could ever say about the reader. That's why authors are analyzed.
And, if you don't read a book, or at least some portion of a book, then how do you know it's trash? Should everyone take someone else's opinion as gospel? At what point is it incumbent for a person to read something for themselves and make a determination? Never, because it may look 'bad?'
A book can be "trashy" without being trash. There is a difference. Some books with a lot of sex would be called "trashy" but the story might be also be considered interesting and/or compelling. This series doesn't rise to some highbrow level of literature, but then again, neither does it try to portray itself in that way.
Hey, if people enjoy garbage, that's fine. Enjoy. But I truly believe in "you are what you eat," "you are what you read," and whatever you choose to "take in" affects who you are. I don't eat a 100% healthy diet, but I try my best, and always try to improve. I don't read 100% fine literature, but I always try to improve myself; and If I read occasional brain candy, it's at least smart and witty with some redeeming value.
Polute your mind with trash, and lower yourself. Watch Jersey Shore and drink boxed wine while you're at it. Everyone has the freedom to choose these things, but you can't deny what it says about the person. Just like the people you choose to associate with says something about who you are, what you choose to read does likewise. We all have freedom of choice, but our choices speak of who we are.
As a true cultured individual, I must with all seriousness say, "Get over yourself."
Well, okay. First, I know people here disagree with my assertions. That's fine; it's a free country (well at least for now...) But a LOT of people agree with me (you should see all the reps I've gotten on that post!)
If you don't want to believe that what you choose to read says something about you, and affects you, then don't believe it. But you're in denial.
What makes me so vehement about this opinion regarding "Fifty Shades of Grey" is that people are raving about it, gushing about it, and it's taking up a huge amount of conversation time. I have not really heard any woman say "yeah, I read it and it was okay." I instead hear how they "love" it, how they're "obsessed" with it, how they can't wait to get home and read more of it.
Maybe I can explain this in a way that people won't get so offended by:
I like good food. I enjoy trying well made foods made by good chefs in good restaurants. I really love home-made meals made by talented cooks who are just ordinary people I know.
But sometimes I eat Arby's. Is there anything inherently WRONG with Arby's? No, not really. But I don't rave about it and go on & on about my Arby's sandwich. I know it for what it is. I was a little hungry, and in a hurry, and it served a purpose. At the time, it seemed kind of tasty, but it wasn't great.
I would never mistake it for fine food. I would never mistake it for particularly nutritious food. I can admit it was kind of a "trashy" meal. If I chose to get "obsessed" with Arby's sandwiches, or if I chose to talk about my "beef & cheddar" every day, with every one of my friends and acquaintances, that would say something about me as a person.
It would say I like garbage, and don't mind filling myself with it. It would say my tastes are not particularly cultivated.
So if the "fans" of "Grey" just simply said "I read this book that was total trash, but I was in the mood for an inane story with hot sex, and I know it wasn't fine literature" then I could respect that. It would be like me and my Arby's beef & cheddar. But the people who act like this book was well written and good literature are just pathetic. It's like in the 80s and 90s when I knew women who would say how they love to read, and read all the time, but when I asked what they read, they said "Danielle Steele." To some that might be "reading" but to some, it's not.
And I have read excerpts of the book, and I see that it is not particularly well-written. I had to do so in order to make a judgment as to whether I wished to read it. I've read a lot about the books, and literary criticism often says a lot more about books than simply reading the books does.
Last edited by Tracysherm; 05-08-2012 at 10:09 AM..
Reason: typos
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