Fifty Shades of Disappointment (Guest Blog)

(Note: I invited two of my friends to guest blog on either of my blogs and they accepted. Here is a review by Diosa of Sense and Sensibility. I have known Diosa for several years now and she was my matron of honor at my wedding. She is a fellow book lover, fond of reading romance and suspense/mystery novels. For those who haven't read the book and plan to, spoiler alert ahead.)

 

     It is in the best seller list for weeks.  It was featured in Good Morning America.  The author was interviewed in The View.  What does this mean?  I don’t know.  But I thought I give it a try with all the hype and exposure it’s been getting from the press.  With all the reviews and interviews, I thought what’s all the fuss about this book? I will check it out and see if I will like it.

     This book is written by E.L. James.  It’s a story of two people, thrown together by fate and their journey to finding themselves as they fall in love.  Christian Gray is our hero, young mysterious and rich.  A combination I would have fallen for.  He met Anastasia Steele by fate, like it always goes, as a replacement for her friend to interview him for a paper assignment.  As their first meeting progressed and described, I could not help myself wondering why there was no sparks there.  Well, there wasn’t  for me.  I could not feel that “kilig” or shivers inside me.  Perhaps it was just the beginning of the story, and I should give it more chance. 

     As the story goes, it also shows how their connection was getting stronger and stronger… supposedly.  With Anastasia calling Christian while drunk and hung up on him at the end. And he tracked her cell phone and found her throwing up in the parking lot and so gallantly holds up her hair.  I think it was so pathetic of him to do.  Don’t get me wrong here but I love a man who shows their softer side to a woman when he is allegedly is a strong and mysterious guy.  I dig that.  But the manner that it was presented was too lame. Okay I did not get what the author is trying to present here.  Forgive me.

     Eventually, he showers her gifts like a laptop computer, which is not yet available in public but since he is a very powerful and rich man, he bought it for her so that he can communicate with her anywhere and anytime.  He buys her an Audi car, just because he thinks that her old junk of a car could be dangerous, and so he says.  Let me point out here that Anastasia being described as strong willed and independent woman who happens to be also naïve and “innocent”, have accepted all that gifts.  Talk about a conflicting woman. I know that we all love that pretense that we are lavished by expensive gifts and flowers from a suitor.  But I thought it was unfortunate that it was portrayed as it had. 

     And the least of my favorite part was how a modern woman naïve as she is was offered a sexual contract as degrading as this is.  Christian offers Anastasia a contract to be his sexual slave for a period of time, and that she will be his becking call girl.  Follow stupid rules such as, no showing of defiance (i.e., rolling of eyes) and is therefore punished.  He was a man with mysterious dark past.  He admittedly said that he is not capable of love.  Now, I know some of you might say that he could be changed, even fantasized that he would conquer the world for her.  But that is not how I see this whole thing.  Christian has a bad habit when it comes to sex.  He likes to torture women.  Make them do things that an ordinary person would not like to do.  So you see, if you are as naïve and innocent, oh ok virgin, as what Anastasia was described, I am betting that you would not do as you are told to do during sex like it is in the book.  I wouldn’t. I don’t know about other people who are crazy enough to be “adventurous” in their sex life.  But an innocent and a virgin… not happening.

     I have to admit, this book is really not an ordinary love story.  It was dubbed as mommy “porn”.  However, I think that most of us ordinary married or even single ones would be appalled with the things they described here.  I guess I am just one of those old fashioned people.  But what happen to the romance?  What happen to the wooing? What happen to the courtships?  It was all defined here in a much different way.  You see, this was a portrayal of an old and new romance.  Anastasia as being the old, naïve, virgin woman and Christian as being the new, experienced, sexually driven man, while their connection is a tumultuous, chaotic and wild relationship, it was a turbulent one.  And I think I prefer the old romance.  But how we love strong mysterious rich men, who kept their feelings secret and would be later revealed at the end of the book.  And by reading romance books helped us fantasized about them.  We read books to escape the reality of our own turbulent relationships.  Or to catch a glimpse of the world other than ours.  Because we are all looking for romance.

     For one thing, the romance aspect of a love story that this book is really about, is not clearly portrayed and way off my expectations. The impression it gave me is that, this is not a romance whether old or new, but it is a statement.  A statement that means these type of books, I guess is the answer to women's desire to step up and be in control and open about what they wanted to read.  I believe that this will allow us not to hide behind some cliche about romance and love story but be more daring without blushing as to what we are holding in our hands reading on the bus or train. I think this is our answer to literally on men's porno magazine without the... slutiness.

     I have to admit that I’ve read more… stimulating “porno” books than that of Fifty.  I’ve read books that lacks the more elaborate part and yet I felt… the intimacy.  Even a simple kiss can be interesting from a very good story teller.  Touching of hands and even the look could be more intimate than what I read from this book. Hay, its only frustrating to look for something that isn’t there.  So what else can I say… its really a Fifty Shades of disappointment! 

     And by the way, I did not read the last book because I got really bored with the 2^nd that I only got to the first 3 chapters of it.

     

     In this modern world we should expect to read more books about empowered, successful and dominant women not such trash as this Fifty Shades Series.  I know a more interesting book to read than that of Fifty, “porno” or not.