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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/23/2012 11:54:30 AM

JDEmpath

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you too!

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/23/2012 12:17:56 PM

JeffBC

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What an interesting and informative review JDEmpath. That was a lot more useful to me than the simple "It's not like real life" things I've heard so far.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/23/2012 12:20:57 PM

slave4teamviewer

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Gee, Munsell only has 10 Shades of Gray (Grey). But I guess the color chart for Home Theaters just doesn't have the panache that Pantone does.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/23/2012 6:14:29 PM

LookieNoNookie

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No, I didn't read it but....I did cut my toe nails today.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/24/2012 1:18:18 AM

metamorfosis

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I haven't read it, but my opinion is that it doesn't matter if the book is badly written or unrealistic. That's just what you would expect from a romance novel. I'm just excited that the book exists, and that people are reading it, because that means that BDSM is gaining popular acceptance. Maybe in 10 years there will be BDSM themed soap operas. They will probably be just as badly written and unrealistic, but that's hardly the point.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/24/2012 7:59:31 AM

theRose4U

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quote:

ORIGINAL: metamorfosis

I haven't read it, but my opinion is that it doesn't matter if the book is badly written or unrealistic. That's just what you would expect from a romance novel. I'm just excited that the book exists, and that people are reading it, because that means that BDSM is gaining popular acceptance. Maybe in 10 years there will be BDSM themed soap operas. They will probably be just as badly written and unrealistic, but that's hardly the point.

Pam

There already are "BDSM soaps" just most of us call them skinimax...available after 10pm CST on this local cable channel!

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/24/2012 8:56:00 AM

MariaB

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We have a successful author in the family. He has read 50 shades and reviewed it as a racy novel which is proving to be hugely successful amongst its target audience. His only downside of the book is that he didn't write it! He believes that 50 shades is great news for budding BDSM writers because this book will empower future publishing. She has commercialized the market and so I am very surprised to hear budding authors on here bemoaning her book. If I was ever going to try and publish a BDSM novel it would be now because the market is hot for more.
It seems to me that most of the BDSM fraternity hate the book and most of the vanilla world (which of course is a lot bigger) loves the book. Love versus hate always instigates very vigorous discussions and so I'm not surprised there are so many threads on the subject. This book will be talked about for years.

I am presently reading the French translation which is probably a bit more explicit and steamy! I just wish I had the English version here so that I could read it in parallel text.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/24/2012 1:54:50 PM

Spiritedsub2

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I haven't read the books and don't intend to. A few of my vanilla friends have though, and they are interested enough to bring up the subject of bdsm, which has allowed me to talk about it a little bit, and maybe soon to tell them what I'm doing.
An article I read awhile ago said those books kept Barnes & Noble from filing for bankruptcy.
For those 2 reasons, I'm grateful for the Fifty Shades books.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/24/2012 3:41:03 PM

absolutchocolat

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i read the trilogy, and it was completely over-hyped. it was a "cinderella meets a tortured, kinky prince charming" kind of series. however, if the widespread popularity of this drivel paves the way for better bsdm erotica in barnes & noble, i'm okay with that.

< Message edited by absolutchocolat -- 11/24/2012 3:42:57 PM >

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 11:12:01 AM

SailingBum

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ehhh my girl read one of them her review. Much ado about nothing...

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 5:41:22 PM

cordeliasub

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I read all three. There was some racy scenes that got me through a few lonely nights (lol), and of course the author is probably a gazillionaire herself now. But here is my take:

It was not very well written. Honestly, there is no way this will become part of a significant literature class 50 years from now. Does that really matter? Who knows? I'm an English major so I have been known to be snobby....but I read all seven Harry Potter books and enjoy devouring Janet Evanovich novels while sunning on the beach. Nothing wrong with entertainment or fluff is you understand that is what you are reading.

I am not an experienced sub with lots of years and wisdom under my belt, and even I could tell it wasn't an accurate portrayal of the typical D/s relationship. For one thing...she was kind of a lousy submissive, not to mention a completely neurotic character. Christian...well, some things about his character made sense, but....it really bugged me that his past and his Dominance kept being so closely linked....like one has to be "damaged" to be in this lifestyle.

I wish she had just gone ahead and set it in England. A lot off her colloquialisms were NOT American in the book, which is fine, but don't set it in America if you are going to use some other country's informal terms. It's like the literary equivalent of an actor from Detroit who over exaggerates a southern accent in a role but then forgets to say "y'all."

In short, there were parts of it that were fun fun read, but I would never use it as a BDSM or D/s manual, and I would not add it to a graduate level lit curriculum. :)

And though I have never read The Story of O, I did recently watch the movie and I was.....not overly enamored. My main thought throughout was "why don;t any of these women have BOOBS???" They all needed a few good meals LOL.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 6:08:10 PM

theSwan

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I don't know if this has been mentioned..
(I skimmed through the pages on this topic and didn't see it, but I admittedly didn't look as closely as I could have.)
But Fifty Shades of Grey originated as Twilight fan fiction.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/05/the-origins-of-50-shades-of-grey-go-missing.html

I think that says a lot about how relevant it is to BDSM.
Also, my web development friends have taken a liking to replacing Lorem Ipsum (dummy text sent along with website drafts) with Fifty Shades-style text generation.

http://www.fiftyshadesgenerator.com/

In terms of the actual question about the book, I skimmed it and I didn't enjoy what I read.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 6:11:08 PM

cordeliasub

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Yes, it was originally Twilight inspired fanfic, which explains a lot (I'm sorry, but sparkly vampires???? Do some research people!!). There was even some sort of big buzz that Pattinson was going to play Christian in a movie. Good lord.

I wonder if I could put Jane Eyre into that generator....that could be fun....then Moby Dick (tee hee, I said dick).

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 7:25:11 PM

FemmeD76

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I tried reading it but I'd rather live it than read about it. You kinda don't need to fantasise when you know you can just go do it. I have read a lot of BDSM fiction and written some myself. I've had short stories published that I said were fictional but were actually factual :}

I guess it's good for exposing BDSM to the mainstreamers but I think it makes it just a kinky sex thing and trivialises the lifestyle and the complexity of how BDSM relationships work. That's just my two cents.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 10:25:39 PM

lovethyself

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I've read all three. I will admit that the writing style is somewhat simplistic in the beginning, it does develop slightly towards the end. I enjoyed the steamy sections, but I've read better erotica. As far as realistic, I think that it is a pipe dream. The thought that a good girl can meet a bad boy, fall in love with him, and change him into a good boy, essentially 'curing' him of his kinks is absurd. Been there (but opposite, I was the one with kinks, he was vanilla), tried that, didn't work. But hey, who knows, maybe he just wasn't the right one to cure me. Personally I hope I never find the right one if it means getting rid of my kinks. I kinda like them.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/25/2012 10:31:38 PM

littlewonder

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Left at a bookstore....

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/26/2012 1:04:13 AM

MariaB

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Was it ever meant to be realistic to real life BDSM? Was it ever meant to be a manual to BDSM? Its fantasy fiction, the same as 'the Story of O'. Its no more real than the thousands of titillating Mills and Boon romance novels we have had the opportunity to read. Romance fiction and erotica have been this 'naughty' for decades. The book is just one of thousands and probably sold like it did because a) it has a very discreet cover, making the book more approachable for the masses. b) E-books and C) the internet.
Of course the author won't go down in history as writing a literature classic. Its the phenomenon of why the books sold like it did to such a huge audience, earning the author a kings ransom that will go down in history.

For me BDSM started off as a fantasy (from a novel). It remained in my head and was used for my sexual gratification because it was hot, steamy and racy and it certainly wasn't consensual. That didn't have me coming into the real world of BDSM and acting like a character out of the book. It just inspired me to find out more. I honestly don't care how well or badly written the book is. I care about how many previously closed doors have now been opened because of this book.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/26/2012 5:40:26 AM

SpaceSpank

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I tried to read it to see what all the hype was about... honestly I did.

But the fact that it was a Twilight fanfiction edited into a stand alone story is painfully obvious.

The characters and story are just so... bad. The writing is contrived and very poor. I was having flash backs to high school just trying to follow it. Not a single one of the characters in the first book made me want to keep reading as none were remotely likable.

The only thing that gained it any attention at all was the slightly racier than your average romance novel sexual content with a dab of the taboo.

Had it not been for the poorly characterized and rather tame BDSM content in the series... it would have been quickly forgotten about. I'd say it would be entirely passed over, but Twilight is popular without that stuff, so it's still possible some people would still have gone nuts over it.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/26/2012 9:19:33 AM

meatcleaver

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I haven't read it. I am one of those lucky people who have got a life.

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RE: Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? - 11/26/2012 10:45:45 AM

freedomdwarf1

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I grabbed a free ebook - all 3 of them.
I was hoping for some light entertainment if nothing else.

I started the first one and really struggled to make much sense of it and I was falling asleep trying to read it.
I think I got to about page 9 or 10 and have deleted those ebooks - what a yawn!
Needless to say, I didn't bother with the 2nd or 3rd book.

I also acquired The Story of O, both of them - one and two.
Again, I was falling asleep trying to watch them.
I did eventually get to the end of both films after several attempts and groaned at the cost of the DVD I burned them onto - what a waste!

I tried, I really did. But no thanks.
In a word?? Crap - nothing but pure Crap.
A complete waste of my time.
I'd have had better satisfaction, not to mention a good laugh, at my Tom & Jerry cartoons!!

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