I’m going to just come out and say I really enjoyed 50
Shades of Grey.
I just had to read it after all the breathless reviews I saw, and I found it hugely entertaining. The word I often use for it is ‘compelling’. I found it a truly
compelling read, and clearly mobs of other people did too. I was interested in
the story, interested in what would happen. Lots of things were working just
right in that book.
I was also into it as a writer.
What did it do so right? What is that mysterious ingredient that makes it so
compelling? So entrancing? I heard somebody suggest it was the beauty and the
beast angle. Somebody else suggested it was due to the “caretaker alpha.” I don't think it's as simple as that. It
just sort of fascinates me as an author, thinking about this. I mean, it’s not
just luck it was passed around like wildfire.
I love that is has that magical something, and that I can't quite isolate it.
It’s not a perfect book, and I could see the problems people
typically have with it, on the level of the writing. I do think it could’ve
used better editing, I didn’t like the whole inner goddess bit. And it
portrayed bdsm as illness based, which isn’t accurate. Though I didn’t have a
problem with its fan fic roots—it doesn’t feel like a copy to me.
I also love that this is a book that got people reading. And it got people into genre fiction, reminded them what it’s
like to be swept up by a book, to love a book, to look intensely forward to the
next time they can get to it.
And it was so damn compelling!
