Fifty Shades Of Grey - Book Review

When I started the much talked about Fifty Shades of Grey (trilogy), I had high hopes.  And I did try to sustain that level till the second part eager for something interesting to happen. Some unanticipated twist, some startling event, something that makes me want to be fond of this book.

Regrettably, none of that happened. The book in my opinion insults romance and love. E L James seems to have a dull understanding of love…err…lust. The books are divided in two parts –

1) Pages and pages of erotica which after a point becomes suffocating and frustrating.

2) The Twilight Saga

The story has two protagonists – Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. The former being a control freak, dominating, bossy, overprotective, stunning and filthy rich guy who apparently has a dark side to him which is not revealed until the first half of the second book. The latter being a clumsy, confused, take-no-bullshit and a hopeless romantic. (Remember Edward Cullen and Bella Swan?).

When the two are not making love they are thinking about making love. As usual the guy has a dark side and has had many girlfriends (or sub-missives as they are referred in the book) in the past but he tersely changes after he meets the clumsy soul who has never had any boyfriends in her past. Clichéd!

The plot is nothing which can’t be predicted. It establishes with a typical, hasty, unexpected meeting which results into love at first side. The guy stalks the girl and the girl instead of finding it utterly creepy falls for it. As the story progresses, somewhere in the middle of all the erotica, it disappoints. The events that bit by bit unfold are nothing novel or atypical from the conventional.

The girl craves for the one thing which the guy has plainly refused to give. The guy has a creepy stalker ex-submissive with a gun who wants to kill Ana. Without a second guess, Grey is all over protective of Ana and all he wants is for her ‘to be safe’.  The family is profligately affluent and they all adore Ana the moment they meet her.

Now doesn't all that sound familiar?

Looks like E L James filled in the blanks for what she felt was missing in The Twilight Saga. The crux of the story remains the same all the way through with just some minor improvisations which fail miserably. It’s distressing how she has looked at romance as a genre in such monotonic manner like there was no hope to explore and give something worth reading. The book has nothing new or exciting to offer (unless you like reading porn). Perhaps the answer to the writer’s every ‘what now?’ was Sex. Every time she didn't know how to advance with the story she laid pages and pages of erotica which after a while got dreadfully exasperating.

Fifty Shades Of Grey – Trilogy has zilch new to offer and is a sheer letdown. If you are a book lover and prefer to read good substantial stories then this one is not for you.