Fifty Shades of Grey
The likes of Jackie Collins and Harold Robbins were never my cup of tea because I couldn’t digest the kinkiness that accompanied their stories. But recently, E.L James’s novel Fifty Shades of Grey arrived in my mail and I read it. And I can safely say that despite the eyebrow-raising – and some pretty disconcerting – scenes in the book, it had my undivided attention.
Fifty Shades is a trilogy, the first book of which is Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s like a super-evolved Mills and Boon Desire, only so much better in terms of the story and narrative. Christian Grey is a man of many layers, and 21 year-old Anastasia Steele feels it from her first encounter with him, when she has to interview the young CEO for her university’s newspaper. There is immediate physical attraction of course, but there’s also a hint of something more under their interactions. Whether it’s a promise of better things to come or the beginning of a nightmare is for you to decide as you read the book.
Soon enough, Christian makes it clear that he’s attracted to her, and Anastasia responds with equal fervour. On the night that she decides she wants to “go for it”, she discovers a horrifying truth about the enigmatic man she’s rapidly falling for. And boy, if I could feel such shock at the man’s secret, I can only imagine what that poor girl must have felt. My jaw stayed hanging low through the remaining chapters.
The unexpected twist in the tale is the overpowering plot of the rest of the book, which at some points gets kind of boring and perhaps even forced. But disregard that, and the fact stands that as Christian and Anastasia consummate their passion, there’s a burning desire within the reader to know Christian’s history and why he is the way he is. That curiosity is effectively kept alive till the end of the book, with just enough snippets thrown the reader’s way to keep him or her interested and wanting to know more.
Overall, for an erotic/romance novel, I give it one thumbs up for the way it’s written: witty, smart, sexy, mysterious and…stimulating. Pun unintended, of course. I’m just itching to get my hands on the other two books in the trilogy and unravel the mystery for myself.
loading...
This post was submitted by Nabila Tazyeen.
