Okay, so I have to make a confession: I listened to the audiobook of 50 Shades of Grey. Why did I do that? I thought as a person who studies literature, who reads masses of books in her free time and who writes herself, briefly as a person who lives literature I couldn’t not read something that is debated so much. I was curious. I have been offered to borrow the books by several people when everyone read them, but I refused. Now I finally dared to read (or, well, listen to) the first volume and I must say: it was horrible. It was absolutely disgusting and I am very happy that I didn’t read it a few years ago.
I won’t say anything about the unspeakable things that were described there, except that I was shocked that someone published something like that. Apart from that it was really badly written. There were many repetitions of sentences and phrases (like: really a lot, not just once or twice) and it was more than obvious that the story derived from a Twilight fan fiction, because there were so many things from Twilight in there. I just want to name a few: The story takes place in and around Seattle. The main character’s mother lives in a warm, southern state. The guy is really, really rich and wants to give the girl presents all the time. She doesn’t want the presents. He is obsessed with keeping her “safe”. He says, he is “not good for her”, but he wants to be with her anyway. He plays the piano. He buys her a car (and there is a debate about her old car)…
Generally it was the worst thing I have ever listened to. It made me cringe so much. I will definitely not read (or listen to) the sequels (nor would I dare watch the movie). I was curious before and now I know, what the book is like. What I really ask myself now: Why did so many people read it? And did they actually enjoy it?
Miss Squishy and me
Planetracks in the Sky 