300 and Fifty Shades of Grey Series

While I was speed blogging a few days ago I happened to notice that we were about to churn out the 300th post!  Wow! I started this blog on February 27, 2008.  So the Book Nook is 4 years old.  I'm going to have to do something super special next February for it's 5th birthday.  I want to thank the Book Nook followers.  You guys are awesome.  I want to thank my guest book reviewer, Gerti.  I know she does it for the free books but she has recruited her family.  How great is that?  I want to thank my fellow library staffers for their help as well.  Sometimes it takes a village.  And I think I am done with my acceptance speech now.

In honor of our 300th post I think it is only fitting to leave you with 2 reviews submitted from Gerti on the first two Fifty Shades of Grey books.  These books are so popular the waiting lists are in the 300's.  I think that is some kind of record.  Gerti's reviews are very well written and while she isn't raving about them her reviews do make me want to read them.  As a librarian I really should know about the story, right?  Right? :)

Although I waited a long time on the library's waiting list to get this book and find out what all the media hoopla was about, there were a number of times when I felt like putting "Fifty Shades of Grey" down for good. At the beginning, it doesn't seem different from any other novel about an adolescent girl's fantasy boyfriend. In this book, a rich, handsome billionaire named Christian Grey begins to romantically pursue the wallflower protagonist - Anastasia Steele - after she has to interview him when her journalist roommate is ill. James' book follows all the age-old romantic formulas as well - her heroine is innocent but intelligent, poor but honest, gorgeous but doesn't know it. Up to that point, I'm reading a Barbara Cartland novel from the '70s. The twist in this novel is that the protagonist~Prince Charming, Grey, wants to do things with her that are very out of step from the usual Silhouette Fire romance, things that would be more suited to a Penthouse forum or the diary of the Marquis de Sade.

James writes the sex scenes well, and there are A LOT of sex scenes. But I shudder to think of all the sweet, young things who might pick up this book, thinking this is how their first sexual experience/partner will be. While titillating, Christian and Anastasia's constant need for sex and each other, despite Anastasia's inexperience with men (she is a virgin when they meet), speaks more to their youth and James' need for a salacious page turner than to reality. James makes each sex scene modern and different, and there is none of the awkwardness that a reader finds sometimes in other bodice-rippers on the market. But when the "romance" turns dark, and sado-masochism becomes the
word of the day, the book begins to lose its appeal for me. I wonder how many women would be reading (and raving about) this book if the heroine was a 40-year-old mother of five who becomes the sadistically beaten sex slave of her new boyfriend?

Bottom line for me, what two consenting adults do in privacy of their own homes is fine, but I'm not thrilled about a book where beating women for pleasure is the subject matter. I feel for Anastasia, and to her credit, James does discuss all her character's conflicted emotions regarding this fellow she has fallen in love with. But for me, it's always going to be wrong to beat somebody up, even if they let
you do it because they love you. It's always going to speak of women's shelters and restraining orders, not of riches and romance. Steele leaves Grey at the end of this book, but since there are sequels, I can't help but think that they'll get back together in the coming (no pun intended) two books. Reminds me of Anne Rice's naughty fiction, and for me, is just as disposable.

"Fifth Shades Darker" is the second of EL James wildly popular novels that I have read, as well as the second book in the trilogy, and I have to admit, I like it better than the first book in the set because in this book, the heroine begins to express her likes and dislikes, and the "hero" lets her do that. What I don't like is that this book reads more like a soap opera than the first, which was pretty ground-breaking in terms of content and subject matter.

The characters from the first book return in this effort. We meet lovely young heroine Anastasia Steele, who is beginning her adult life in Seattle after graduating from college, and her some time boyfriend, billionaire Christian Grey, who alternates between being the good guy and the villain of the story. New in this book is a crazed former "girlfriend" of Christian's, Leila, who had evil intentions toward the couple. Anastasia is disturbed by how much this ex looks like her, and that observation leads Christian to make a startling revelation. Another villain in the piece is Elena Lincoln, whom Ana calls "Mrs. Robinson" because this old friend from Christian's past is the woman who introduced him to the BDSM lifestyle. These two have quite a dust up at Christian's birthday party.

Also introduced to bring trouble to Christian and Ana as they reconcile is her new boss at the publishing house, Jack, whom Christian rightly thinks is trying to make his relationship with his new hire sexual. But being the powerful billionaire he is, Christian has Jack fired when he tries to touch Ana, and puts his lover into the bosses old job. Seems Christian has bought the company to keep an eye on Ana. But somehow Ana is all right with this arrangement. Finally, Christian has to survive a helicopter crash, which may have been caused by the vengeful Jack, but Christian survives, much to the relief of Ana and his family. His accident brings the couple even closer. By the end of the book, the pair have already bought a house and are planning their wedding.

Those dramatic elements aside, I like the book better because in this book, compared to the first, the pair become equals, despite the fact that Christian is so wealthy, he is constantly undermining Ana's ability to make her own choices. This includes ordering her food, buying her the car he wants her to have, and even buying her a house he wants for his own reasons. Still, in this book, Ana is only beaten by Christian when she wants to be, and she begins to break down the limits he has set for their relationship. She refuses to be hog-tied by his controlling personality, and starts making her own decisions, like insisting on meeting with an old male friend of hers, and wearing the dress she wants to the store, over his objections.

There is still a ton of sex in this book, and like in the previous "Fifty Shades," it is well written and of a varied nature so it is never boring or ridiculous. The only wrong note for me is how dramatic the pair's life is. with someone always trying to shoot, kill or seduce them. I can't wait to see if in "Fifty Shades Freed" the pair can finally spend some time living in the real world.