I have just finished reading the novel Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James. Everyone is talking about this book. You can’t open a newspaper or magazine, or turn on the TV, without a discussion about Grey and its two sequels. And it’s being discussed at the Library, as you can imagine. Is it erotica? Mommy porn? Fantasy? Or is it just a hot, sexy romance? Meanwhile, Library customers have placed hundreds upon hundreds of holds on the books, from throughout the County in our shared online catalog.
When I told them at my hairdresser’s, “I am reading Fifty Shades of Grey as a self-imposed work assignment,” they laughed. But really, that’s why I did it. I ultimately feel responsible for all the books we buy at Main, so I thought I should know first-hand what all the talk is about.
Choosing books to include in the library’s collection is a serious responsibility. Books are selected by librarians, and they must meet certain criteria. Check out, for example, the fiction criteria from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Collection Development Policy. Because of the unprecedented high demand, and because this book is seen as a touchstone of the culture of our times, we did decide to purchase James’s books to fill our customers’ requests.
I read a lot of fiction and about 50% of what I read is some form of romance–contemporary, regency, historical, chick lit, women’s fiction, romantic suspense, etc. I have gotten to an age where life is serious enough, and romance literature has an almost guaranteed happy ending. Clever, thoughtful authors always have something new to say about the condition of love and relationships. To be honest, with James, I was curious as to just how the sex descriptions compared with today’s typical romance novel. Romance novels have gotten increasingly “spicier” over the past ten years. Could Grey be that much different?
Generally we do not purchase erotica for the CLP collection. Certainly, lots of mainstream fiction includes graphic sex scenes and we do have some of the classic erotica like The Delta of Venus by Anais Nin* as well as her Diaries. I remember back in the late 70s when one of our more sophisticated librarians talked her boss into letting her have an Anais Nin / Henry Miller book discussion group. Gosh, that was a long time ago! As I recall, much of the talk was about the “literary” merits of the erotica and florid prose of that writing style.
So, I have read Fifty Shades of Grey, and here is my opinion: Grey’s prose is not florid. It is repetitive, pedestrian, titillating, often vulgar, and clichéd. It’s not fifty shades of grey, it’s fifty shades of black and blue and rosy pink. Here is a short, sanitized synopsis of the plot: virginal college graduate Anastasia meets and falls into immediate mutual attraction with a rich and powerful entrepreneur, Christian, who is not much older than herself. He sweeps her off her feet, literally, and quickly offers her a contract to be his submissive sexual companion. The rest of the story–at over 500 endless pages–is Ana’s conflict of conscience between her “subconscious” (I am not even sure that James is using this word correctly) and her “inner goddess,” for good and ill.
Can Ana negotiate her way to a somewhat normal relationship by redefining Christian’s rules and setting strict time limits on his potential actions while still indulging him in his craven need for dominance in all things? Throughout the whole story Ana is required to call him “Sir,” not out of respect, but instead recognizing his physical and emotional dominance in all aspects of their relationship. Their most honest communications occur in terse e-mail messages. Egad! What has love got to do with this?
For my part, I can’t explain the demand to read these books. The storylines are anti-feminist–though Ana sees herself as an independent woman. And it’s misogynistic. I think you would really have to hate women to treat them in such a demeaning manner. What really makes me feel bad is that a woman is the author of these stories.
So why the popularity? And why now at this time? Is it curiosity about kinky sex? Or maybe it’s a distraction from the bad economy or the difficulties of normal, everyday life? Maybe it’s just the fantasy of relinquishing control to a handsome, rich, devil of a guy? At the end of book one, Ana takes a stand. How will this play out over the rest of the series? Someone who slogs through these books is going to have to tell me, as I just can’t invest any more of my time with E. L. James.
My hope is that these books, much like the Harry Potter series did, will have folks reading again. I hope that they will discover authors who write about love and relationships that are based on mutual attraction, love and respect, and are well-written! Get lost in the stories of Susan Wiggs, Robyn Carr, Susan Mallery, Victoria Dahl, Nora Roberts, Emily Giffin, Lauren Weisberger, Jennifer Weiner, Mary Balogh, Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and many, many more. Just ask a librarian and we can recommend books for all tastes.
For my part, I’ll take romance. Fifty Shades of Grey was just too much.
–Sheila
Eleventh Stack 
“So why the popularity?”
My opinion: A good publicity agent.
I’ve been fascinated with all the library hullabaloo about the book. Libraries having to defend their purchasing decisions; libraries that purchased Grey and then pulled it from the shelves… I can’t remember the last time there was this much dissension in the ranks!
I only read about 4 pages of this book, and it was 4 pages too many. My future mother in law flipped through to a random scene for me to get a taste of it one day. I have a very hard time reading books that are not well-written. That makes me sound like a snob, but I get frustrated easily with books that I have to struggle to make sense of a given sentence.
I agree that Emily Giffin’s books are very good. Its just the right amount of carefree but also well written that sucks you into the story.
I have a recommendation for anyone reading this blog that is looking for an amazing story/series. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is a 6 book series at the moment (#7 is due out next year) that takes place between post WWII England/Scotland/Boston and late 1700s Scotland. The best way to describe it Is that it’s part romance, part sci-fi, part historical fiction. It’s incredibly well-written, funny at times, sad at times — it’s very real. The characters are so well constructed that I feel like they are friends after reading the book. I can’t recommend it enough.
“My hope is that these books, much like the Harry Potter series did, will have folks reading again.”
Well, at least they’ll get a taste for erotica – from what I’ve heard, of the Marquis de Sade type.
I thought it odd that “Hunger Games” did so well. I’m beginning to have serious doubts – and disappointments – about the reading public.
I just checked the Amazon site for “Outlander”. “20th Anniversary Edition”! I usually check the “1-star” reviews to see what people hate about the books. It seems there’s little halfway here. About 1500 people really liked it, about 500 didn’t.
I keep hearing so much about the book, but I’m hesitant to read it. I don’t mind the BDSM content (in fact, it can even be refreshing), but I do mind bad writing. There are so many books that have taken similar subject matter and done it so much better. “Kushiel’s Dart” by Jacqueline Carey comes to mind. It’s about a masochistic prostitute who becomes a spy and saves her kingdom. There’s plenty of kinky content, but also a larger story/point.
I adore the Kushiel saga! Couldn’t agree more, Grace. Thanks for your comment!
Leigh Anne
“Kushiel’s Dart” – reminds me of a story by Balzac, about a prostitute who “entertained” enemy soldiers. At the end of the story, she has a conversation with one of her countrymen’s officers.
“I’ve killed many more of them than you have”, she said. (And not with guns or knives.)
Well done, Sheila. And thanks for the great list of alternatives to this puzzling phenomenon.
I read this book to see what everyone was talking about. Like you I found it absolutely appalling. It is just an awful piece of fan-fic that has been allowed to see the light of day. If it was well-written I could understand the fuss, but it’s not. I mean the only endearment in the entire book is ‘baby’.
If it does get people reading again that will be plus. I remember being in a bookstore a couple of years ago and hearing two women in their 40s discussing how Twilight was the first series of books they had read in a decade.
But at least “Twilight” had some redeeming value. At least, that’s what they tell me.
It’s another disturbing piece of evidence for the collapse (not even decline) of modern America’s moral values. One other: The Adam Sandler movie (that alone is enough for me to pass on it) “That’s My Boy” From one of the IMDB reviews: “definitely one of the more vulgar movies I’ve seen this summer”.
That it did poorly at the box office (“Madagascar III” was #1 – and for good reason) is probably a good sign.
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I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now and I have to say that, if this book (and others like it) get people reading, I’m thrilled for that. I was never judged for the books I read and I would never judge others for their reading preferences; at least they are reading. And library books, too!
I’ve been going back and forth about reading this book, and your blog just confirmed my decision NOT to read it was a good decision. Thanks!