Have Some People Even Read 50 Shades?

[coltom]

N'ayee, as I have said I am ancient, and I was for most of my life a tear drinker. Those with tears come to me, their pain flows to me, I listen.

I saw too many that played those games, yet I never saw where they ended well. You may call this shaming, I just call it experience.

 

I admit I may be bias, only those in great need usually sought me out. There may be some that played, just a little. There may be those that never got hurt. There may be those that made it to thirties and forties and did not discover the games were just an excuse for a darkling soul to hurt. Aiyee, there might be some like that. I did not see those. I saw, I saw the ones that took love and used it to enslave, to control, to tear a bright soul apart. They always said sweet words at the beginning, yet words are weapons are they not?

 

Still, experience does not always teach, and age does not always bring wisdom.

 

The pale blonde child for which we had the ceremony today, her mother had been such. She had been many years with one that tore a sweet and beautiful soul down, so that he could control. A sweet and beautiful soul, born of the fire of the first Mother, her body formed of the flames of creation, in her blood the stuff of dying stars. A sweet and beautiful child, beloved and cherished in the eyes of the Creator, and yet a fool used her as warm flesh and nothing more. So late in her life, she found the fire to shed her fool, and did with him as fool should be done. At age 40 she joined with a good and true soul, least I hope he is always that way. At age 42 she brings a new life into the world, a wondrous little pale child. Ten years I have known Kate, ten years since she first came to me, ten years as she gathered her strength, did her jail time and finally found one nearly worthy of her fire. Aiyee, and now a new child.

 

This was a joyous day, as the Sisters decided that the new one's true name would Snake. A strange name for a little pale child, I suspect in school she'll go by her Euro-American name of Lindsey.

 

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P.S. I'm ancient, we ramble, with stray. We then apologize yet repeat the same behavior latter. I will apologize in advance.

[LizyMarie]

50 Shades? How about 50 Shades of Lies? Yes? Okay.

 

My point of view on this book is based on how the author wanted the relationship of the characters to be.

 

I have come to hate this book and all it's fan's cheering because I am a Librarian. We have at least 70 copies in our system and people rant and rave over it. I did skim through it, i read the reports and summaries. Not interested. Mainly because (as someone from the BDSM community) it's not true to what would happen. It's hard to really go over this on TDN forums but those of us who are part of that actual community are sort of offended. (Not all of us, naturally)

And we have noticed that the author seems to be nothing more than a soccer mom wanting to experience the other side and so she writes about it. But she doesn't actually know. It's pretty much fantasy for soccer moms and vanilla peoples, again not saying this is bad, but not my style nor many others.

 

I have no interest in where this book got it's start but if it's from fanfiction like you say, then I'm definitely not interested any more than I was to begin with. That's just a load of crap that I won't stand for, and thus I become grim every time I have to hand out that book to patrons at my Library. Enjoy the book, if it's your thing. I'm just quite offended by the whole deal of vanilla folks wooing over the thoughts of the other side.

 

/end rant.

 

KINK-SHAMING INDEED!

[kris10ly]

I agree with OP that a lot of the criticism of the series is unfounded - I've seen a lot of "omw weird sex GROSS" shaming and general prudishness about the fact that women might read erotica - but there are a lot of legitimate criticisms of the series. The racist caricatures, the casual sexism, the romanticizing of an abusive relationship (I'm not talking about the BDSM, I'm talking about the way Edward/Christian treats Bella/Ana outside of the bedroom - though the BSDM is incredibly unrealistic and unsafe, too)...and just the poor, often inadvertently-creepy writing (the bits in the last book where they sexualize their child are uhm sketchy to say the least) are reason enough to dislike it.

[coltom]

I agree with OP that a lot of the criticism of the series is unfounded - I've seen a lot of "omw weird sex GROSS" shaming and general prudishness about the fact that women might read erotica - but there are a lot of legitimate criticisms of the series. The racist caricatures, the casual sexism, the romanticizing of an abusive relationship (I'm not talking about the BDSM, I'm talking about the way Edward/Christian treats Bella/Ana outside of the bedroom - though the BSDM is incredibly unrealistic and unsafe, too)...and just the poor, often inadvertently-creepy writing (the bits in the last book where they sexualize their child are uhm sketchy to say the least) are reason enough to dislike it.

 

Aiyee, yes I looked at my original rambling posts. Kris10ly and Lizymarie you got to the point I felt yet so poorly made. It is not about the acts themselves, I have done stranger. It is about the older/controlling just plain abusive nature I saw when I skimmed a copy I found left in an air plane bathroom. You don't know my religions, you don't know my culture, but in both I was the person whom those that had been harmed went, to be protect, to be cherished as the sweet and special souls that they are. Not just meat. There are way too many out there that are abusive, and abusive in a way you come to believe that there is true evil in the world. You all may be talking about padded handcuffs, my memories are of one with cigarette burns on places where a person should never have a cigarette. You may be talking about 300 feet of cotton rope wrapped loving over and over a bed, a bucket of ice cubes and a day to tease, my memory of those with scars. Aiyee, I am an ancient.

 

People have varied desires, I don't wish to kink-bame anyone. Yet a controlling mature that manipulates a young one, well that just rubs me hackles the wrong way. Yes that is a cultural bias.

[~Xandria]

I do have to agree with most others, I really really dislike this book. It's an insult to the BDSM community as well as people in general. I did manage to read the first book, but I just could not read any of the others. Not only did I find it extremely boring and uneventful but also kind of creepy. If anyone here knows anything about true bdsm, then they should know that it is always consensual, safe, and done with a trustworthy partner/lover/husband/wife.

 

Coltom - I do understand that woman get harmed. They get beaten, raped, and controlled by their husbands/men and sexually abused. That is not bdsm, that is assault/rape. When you are in a bdsm relationship it does not mean that the partner is abusive or controlling. It is a mutual agreement through love, trust, and sharing the same fantasies. There is nothing wrong with BDSM, there is however, something wrong with books like this that portray bdsm as something it's not.

 

Btw, what does "Aiyee, I am an ancient" mean and why do you keep saying that? I'm honestly curious. :mellow:

 

I'm also not happy that they will be making a movie out of this. It's going to be another huge hype like Twilight that never ever ends.

[April]

My main problem with the series is how poorly the BDSM is done. There are several spots where it got out of hand from bits I've been shown by my friend.

 

Another problem? It's based on Twilight fanfiction. It's not that it's Twilight, eww, go away. It's the fact that the characters aren't really her own. She's based them off of Edward and Bella. You see the main character in 50 Shades being a bit clumsy a few times. All she's done is change the names. She didn't come up with them on her own. She's taken someone else's work and tweaked it. I'm not a fan of Twilight but I really think it's cheap that she was able to 'borrow' the characters for FanFiction then just change the name and voila.

 

I find nothing wrong with erotic novels. I just think 50 Shades didn't handle some things the way they should have been.

 

My next issue? How it's written. It's poorly. The author tries WAY too hard to sound intelligent and creative. She tries way too hard to use wonderful language and descriptions. Instead? It sounds pathetic and sad. (Some explains below.)

 

 

""You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince" - This line. It's from a random facebook page. It's not the only one.

"I flush. My inner goddess is down on bended knee with her hands clasped in supplication begging me." - Someone please explain what the pants this is?

""My inner goddess is jumping up and down, clapping its hands like a five year old"" - How original. Inner goddess? Who refers to themselves like that?

"He mewled smirking at me like a mother hamster about to eat her three legged young" - There's just no words...

Essentially, there's a lot more but definitely not appropriate to post. XD Basically, the author tries way too hard to make the story sound good and instead makes it sound awful. Trust me. This is the short version of my rant. XP

[coltom]

Coltom - I do understand that woman get harmed. They get beaten, raped, and controlled by their husbands/men and sexually abused. That is not bdsm, that is assault/rape. When you are in a bdsm relationship it does not mean that the partner is abusive or controlling. It is a mutual agreement through love, trust, and sharing the same fantasies. ,There is nothing wrong with BDSM, there is however, something wrong with books like this that portray bdsm as something it's not.

 

Btw, what does "Aiyee, I am an ancient" mean and why do you keep saying that? I'm honestly curious. :mellow:

 

I'm also not happy that they will be making a movie out of this. It's going to be another huge hype like Twilight that never ever ends.

Just a point, in both Twilight and this Shades of Eating crippled hamster book, we are talking about much more experience and controlling "men" that use, abuse but mainly use as a sad crutch for their shallow egos. You say that is not BDSM, then I say that was not the part of the book that I was objecting too. I do not share your belief that the two are entirely independent of one and another, but that aside in what I read these are not balanced relationships, they are dominance. You may counter that BDSM is about trust, then I'll counter with a little smirk because it takes little trust to expect that another give you pain, trust when you know they will not give you pain. Look, if it were a book about two equal and balanced souls discovering the depth and heights of their fire and passion, that is one thing. All I saw was innocence dominated by old controlling slimepuppies.

 

Also, I did mail about the ancient thing. Aiyee is a phonetic spelling of a sound made in traditional debates with the old bloods (NDNs). Not sure it means anything other than a sort of "LISTEN TO ME" I'll ask if there is a literal translation.

 

Old does not always mean wise, but I've known those that played with pain. I've never known one that was in to the "S" part of BDSM that I judged to have a very balanced soul. I hope that you've had better experience in your short years, and you have the wisdom to see the difference between games and insane.

[the_microwave]

My problem with the book isn't the content (I mean, I do have problems with the content, but it's not the smut I have a problem with), it's with the writing. The quality of a story doesn't matter if the writing is impossible to suffer through. And, like was said above, there are some incredibly sexist undertones to the book and an extremely inaccurate and problematic portrayal of BDSM. It's offensive on several levels, from writing to content, and it makes me sad that things like that are published when much better books never will be.

[tk421beth]

I read all three of the books.

 

I have read better "erotic" scenes in Penthouse Forum! :rolleyes_anim:

 

It was entertaining, though.

[hannah_abdash]

I've read all three. All I can say is Christian is one creepy jerk. Seriously...

[redtopaz]

Nope. My mother, sister and some other women I know read them.

And imo it's titillating sexy stuff with oodles of emotional abuse.

Plus I mean, ugh. I rich, gorgoeous self made billionaire that can fly his own stuff, and is still young? But never seems to work? Or atleast so little there's 3 books about their relationship. If that guy wanted all that double standard stuff. I think he'd just hire em.

...
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Now I love me some fiction but if I'm going to read romance it's NOT going to be something that reads like the 13 year old girls fantasy man, with patriarichal/rape culture bones, and Disney Princess perfection.

[Naamah D.]

I've never read 50 Shades of Gray, but as a writer I think that the community of authors rely too much on typical romance. I'm writing a series right now and there is a mention of a romantic relationship, but it's not the Edward and Bella style romance. The rest of my series remains romance free.

I think romance, sex and erotica are overused in a typical sense.

 

My characters mostly male and it's hard to use romance with male characters. I like that.

 

 

 

"He mewled smirking at me like a mother hamster about to eat her three legged young"

 

Muh eyezzz!!! Ther a Burnin!!!

[blueberrykiwi141]

I have read all 3 and I liked them. Read them all in about a week or so (If I remember correctly).

It was not all about the sex (BDSM) that got me hooked.

The relationship portion and the story line, is what I truly enjoyed.

 

To actually read all 3 books is an accomplishment of mine, since reading is not what I do normally.

So for me it was nice to have a book that I enjoyed.

 

I am sure there are better erotica type books, but I have no idea since I am not a reader like that.

All of the media attention is what really got people to read the book.

I would not have read it, if I never heard of it on the media sites.

[rcticsun]

What I really liked about the books was the reality of it. In so many series, the couple meets, falls in love gradually, and doesn't really meet many obstacles on the way. In Fifty Shades, it's kind of a rough whirlwind romance that, despite personality differences, breakups, and disturbing pasts, manages to work. It shows that things don't always happen in a perfect order or exactly how you planned.

[Calfie]

Yes, some people have read this book. I have not.

[Maraquaza]

No I haven't read it, but I hear it around a lot

[zahhlee]

Another thing I see a lot is that 50 Shades is aperently riding on the fame of twilight.

 

 

50 Shades was originally published as a Twilight fanfiction.

 

And I made an attempt to read the first one, but I just couldn't get into it...

[emkatrine]

I have not read it, and it annoys me so much to constantly hear about it, that I am not going to.

 

I am going to watch the films though.

[KyokoHateshinai]

I haven't read it myself. And I probably won't. I do rather stay oblivious to the topics they're talking about. I can't judge it because I never read it but I know that I won't either.

 

But there's one thing I can't dislike about it: the title! I mean 50 shades of grey is a really good title. When I first heard of it, I literally thought it was a law book. Grey--semi-legal/illegal? Sort of getting off topic but yea.

 

I don't really understand why some people hate it so much though...a book is a book, whether it came from fan-fiction or not.

[Babygal4eva]

Well after hearing about it so much i can say that i've finally read the three books, and sad that i won't ever get back the time i spent doing that, at least twilight had a story line that at least had some action and a love triangle.. fifty shades is just... well suffice to say i was greatly disappointed after all the hyping it got. i get that it is an erotica novel but jeez three books of saying the same thing over and over. no offense to anyone who likes it, just my opinion.

 

can't wait for the movie though, will love to see how they can possibly act it out

[tierney_dale]

I read the first book and honestly it disgusted me. Not the erotica bit -- obviously I was prepared for that when I read the book. The disgusting part is the actual relationship between Christian and Anna.

 

Ummm HELLO, am I the only one that noticed that their relationship is completely abusive and unhealthy?

 

Anna's not allowed to bite her lip or skip breakfast or go a whole day without sending a sexy email to her "boyfriend" or else he might punish her.

 

I'm not going to get too into it, but seriously, it scares me how so many women (girls even!) are talking about how they want their own "Christian Grey." You mean you never want to think for yourself again? You want someone rich and handsome, but not someone who genuinely cares about you as a whole person (and not just as their girlfriend)?

 

Ugh. Makes me sick.

[Jmarbs]

I have read the first and the start of the second book. IN MY OPINION, the writing was horrible. (A similarity with Twilight. Both writing styles are on par with a sixth grader.) The sex was unrealistic and Christian Grey is abusive. Basically the book is everything BDSM couples are trying to STRAY from. It's horrible sterotypes and very sexist.

[laceew45]

I read all three books of the 50 Shades series and I loved it. I do like erotic fiction.

[yasha]

I never knew it was originally a twilight fanfiction... Not that it matters, never really got into twilight either.

 

I read the first book and first chapter or so from the second book, but they just bored me. Perhaps it's because people told me I'd probably like it which made my expectations higher... but really... it was boring. Aside from that, the whole start of their relationship and feelings towards each other bugged me. Plus I also really don't like how they made it seem christian is into bdsm because he was scarred as a child. As if everyone in the community is only into it due to some sort of abusive or horrifying past... I think that's what bothers me the most... I also don't really like how he claimed a bdsm relationship should be... but I guess even within the community different people want different things...

[Oganagey]

I haven't read it, and you know what they say, 'never judge a book by it's cover'....they may include media cover! :P