I finished the 500+ page book in four days-- which says something in itself. It's an incredibly fast read, probably because there is so much sex (which isn't particularly intellectually challenging to read), but we've all heard that it's about sex. I promise to spare you the unnecessary details, as it really is not appropriate for mixed audience, nor is the writing good enough to even rationalize it as quality reading. If you choose to read this book, read it for trashy, un-pure reasons. I've made the sacrifice for you, so if you don't want to hear about it except for the analysis, stop reading now and skip to the last few paragraphs.
The premise is that a young woman named Anastasia Steele is about to graduate college when she helps her roommate conduct a long-sought-after interview with a wealthy Alumnus. Anastasia interviews Christian Grey and he becomes drawn to her and shows up at her job and in her neighborhood, finally requesting her to see him again. Ana is excited about the potential relationship, but also has her head so far into books that she is seemingly naive about the whole situation. (This aspect was very hard for me to buy-- particularly because the reader is lead to believe that she's still a virgin and has never had a boyfriend of significance, despite being attractive and dumb--ahhem, I mean... bookish. No girl gets to be 22 and a virgin without having figured out some techniques to keep "gentlemen" at bay.) Ana clearly loves literature since she's an English student and she can't help but relate everything to British Literature.
In the meantime, Christian pushes the relationship and Ana goes along with it, seemingly with some reservations. After a variety of encounters, Christian proposes S& M sex with her with a legal document, vowing that she can share no details of their relationship, when she lets it slip that she's never even had sex. He tells her to think about it and then they have "vanilla sex"-- i.e. sex without the sadism or masochism. Christian continues to pressure her about if she's going to sign the contract and then he simultaneously backs off, trying to give her the perception that she actually has the choice to say "no." Christian and Ana continue to see each other on a regular basis and have sex, and Christian "threatens" to punish her with sex every time she does something he disapproves of such as bite her lip, roll her eyes, or make some snarky comment.
Christian also provides her with a computer to research S& M sex, and then he gives her a phone so that he can keep tabs on her. By her graduation, only a few weeks after knowing one another, he foists an Audi into her possession. All along, he continues to ask her about the contract.
Her parents seem thrilled with Christian, as are his parents about Ana. Meanwhile, Ana's roommate distrusts Christian and the roommate simultaneously dates Christian's brother. As Ana waits to hear back about jobs she's applied for, she heads to see her mom (out of state) to think clearly about her relationship and its full potential. Ana visits with her mother a few days and is then surprised by Christian's appearance at the hotel in which she and her mother are dining. Christian wines and dines Ana, the mother is impressed, and then Ana consents to the contract.
Finally, Ana returns home, has a "light" version of the type of sex that Christian wants and then she demands to know how bad it could really hurt (with the S& M). He spanks her to the point where she cries. She leaves and then by the final pages ends the relationship. Book One ends here.
(Start here) Once I finished the book, I was curious of other people's reviews. From what I can tell, the critics are essentially saying the same thing: it's a trashy book, poorly written, but it's addictive at times (the reviews on Amazon are split between 1's and 5's- see the link below "reading and researching"). The controversy surrounding the book stems from the fact that one faction of readers are seeing Ana as a feminist doing as she pleases (by exploring), while the other faction is challenging the book with the claim that it does nothing to further women's struggles and if anything it feeds into dating violence against women and just supports it legally with a document of her consent (so it's ok to be abused as long as you consent?). Regarding the S & M sex, if I felt like Ana went into the S& M sex willingly, I would not have been so disgusted, but instead I felt that she was pushed into it by Christian-- particularly when the reader begins to consider the powerplays he keeps pulling on her by check on her via email, phone and physically showing up where she is, as well as by separating her from her friends (both male and female).
If the book was simply about S& M sex between two individuals seeking it out on their own accord, I wouldn't be as disturbed by the story, but instead, I do feel disturbed by the story because I have teenage girls telling me what a fabulous love story it is. Instead, all I can see are the signs (obvious to me, but not so obvious to my students) of dating abuse and psychological control and I hope that they are learning how to get out of such harmful relationships rather than by getting in them; these girls feel that they may change their partners. Such a message is dangerous to young and inexperienced readers (and potentially to older readers too). Even with clear eyes for watching and avoiding being persuaded by such a message, I cannot recommend the book to an aware reader because of the negative relationship and sheer amount of cliche. After reading and researching the book, I also found the the book developed out a fan fiction based on the Twilight series. At that point I had an "Aha" moment. It became obvious that this was the ersatz Twilight that included more sex. I'm the fool for reading the fan fiction and I guess E.L. James can laugh all the way to the bank.
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