Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James is the book of the year 2012, with over 40 million copies sold in eighteen months, it was the best-selling novel in the world last year. A phenomenal success for this erotic romance, flirting with the world of sadomasochism which arrived in France this fall. The last volume of the Fifty Shades trilogy was published last February. Nice-Premium delved into this offbeat love story.
Anastasia Steele is an innocent final-year college student, her thing is literature, English classics, but to help her roommate and best friend, Kate, she agrees to interview a (very, very, very) wealthy CEO, Christian Grey. From the very first meeting, the electricity between Ana and Christian is palpable, only Christian is not as wise as he seems. Indeed, the gentleman has a very strong tendency towards sadomasochism and domination. Ana and Christian will embark on a passionate but extremely complex relationship.
An Ordinary Heroine
The promising summary gives way to a novel where, unfortunately, the author’s style is not the best. Fifty Shades of Grey, written in the first person, suffers from this choice, concentrating the narrative around the thoughts of an uncharismatic heroine.
While the novel is easy to read, the psychology of the characters leaves much to be desired. Ana is uptight and intimidated by Grey, like everything that is somewhat sexual, she dares not name her genitals “how is it possible that I feel it from here?” she lacks self-confidence, constantly belittles herself. Ana blushes about twice per page, which makes her a difficult character to appreciate, the reader – adult – cannot and does not want to identify with this character.
E. L. James proposes a heroine inexperienced in both sexual and emotional relationships. Ana simultaneously discovers love and pleasure, as well as BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadomasochism). We must forget the realism of discovering female pleasure, which is presented here at a fast pace: Ana is a virgin, but by the end of the weekend, she knows everything about her body and transforms into Mrs. two-orgasms-minimum.
We would have preferred a 21st-century heroine, comfortable in her body and mind, exploring her pleasure. Here, the total surrender to a man and the complete trust in him happens very quickly; but in reality, it doesn’t appear like that, by magic, during the first sexual encounter, especially when it’s the first one of her life.
Moreover, the contradictory juxtaposition between Ana’s awkward reactions and fairly raw and detailed sex scenes is quite apparent in the novel. For example, her friend Kate kisses her boyfriend passionately, and Ana thinks “Goodness… get a room!” – p. 98. Right after or before, there is a sex scene described in minute detail. According to the author, Fifty Shades of Grey should be seen as a love story and not as an erotic book and certainly not pornographic; let’s say this first volume sits between the two, but what is certain, is that one cannot say of Fifty Shades that it is an emblematic SM book. The genuinely SM sex scenes number two, and everything remains fairly soft.
A Mysterious Hero
The most interesting character in the story is unquestionably Christian Grey, the novel is almost exclusively formed by his duet with Ana, as the few secondary characters are not well developed. Ana’s mother, extremely insightful even though they hardly see each other, and her father appears briefly for a few pages, Grey’s family is skimmed over; as for Kate, we would have liked her to be the heroine, but again we know almost nothing about her. Fifty Shades of Grey is entirely centered around the Christian/Ana couple and the thoughts of the latter, which makes it quite a reductive book.
Returning to Christian, Ana holds him up as a model of perfection because of how beautiful, sexy, seductive, wonderful, and magnificent he is, how good he smells like shower gel and laundry… it’s somewhat the notion of a heroine needing a man to fulfill herself: before him, she was nothing, and it’s solely because of him she becomes who she is. This is quite a retrograde and conservative view. Ana sees Grey as her savior, a true knight “Oh my god – what would I not do to be his? He’s the only man who’s ever excited me. And yet, he’s exasperating, difficult, complicated, confusing. One moment he pushes me away, the next he sends me fourteen-thousand dollar books and stalks me like a predator. And despite all this, I just spent the night in his suite, and I feel safe, protected. He loves me enough to rescue me when he thinks I’m in danger. He’s not a dark knight but a white knight in shining armor, a romance hero, a Gawain or a Lancelot.” p. 82
Apart from that, the author manages to establish a certain suspense around this character; we want to know more about who he is, why he refuses to be touched, where his scars come from, and who his parents really are. This intrigue is ultimately more interesting, more captivating than the sexual SM games.
A Mixed Reading
The novel is read very quickly and very easily, but numerous flaws mark the reading. Between the nickname “baby” used by Grey during a sex scene, the very formal nature of the relationship Grey proposes to Ana in the form of a contract worthy of the greatest mergers and acquisitions in history, with absolute control over her, even beyond their sexual relations, the reader doesn’t know what to think.
Nevertheless, the story takes a more thrilling turn when we realize Grey is entering this relationship without a safety net, that there is something fascinating about Ana. Their dialogues, when Ana is far from Grey, are actually quite good, filled with irony and humor.
But it is still quite depressing to know that this was the best-selling book in the world in 2012, the writing is neutral, without style, the story relatively mundane but ends with a plot twist… enough to pique the curiosity of readers and make them delve into volume 2, Fifty Shades Darker.
