A while back, I had drinks with one of this blog’s best commenters, and he strongly recommended this book (he also provided some thoughts, some of which I’ve taken).
The recommendation came with a set of warnings, which should be heeded. To put it bluntly, the book is quite horrible. I merely repeat the obvious by saying that the writing is poor (it’s not just not good, it’s prole, it’s juvenile, it’s absurd), the characters are unbelievable, etc. Consult a mainstream review for more on these obvious aspects of the book.
And yet . . .
There’s clearly something about the book. There’s tons of erotic fiction, but this sells very well. And, as much as I might be embarrassed to admit it, I was intrigued by the book. So, the question is: what is it about the book that pulls everyone in?
The obvious answer is the erotic scenes. But I don’t think that’s the right answer. They aren’t as good or as juicy as I’d been led to believe by what I’d heard about the book. See the quotes at the end here for a sample. Terrible.
I think the answer must be that the book takes the reader inside the mind of a woman. Not just any woman though. This woman appears to be entirely devoid of values of any kind (I don’t think this can be excused away by bad writing). She seems vaguely to want a “relationship” beyond the extremely physical, but she has absolutely no idea what this means in any practical sense. Is she, perhaps, the quintessential modern female?
The main character in the book is Anastasia Steele (apparently porn names aren’t taboo in the erotic fiction genre). The next two most important characters are her “subconscious” and her “inner goddess.” They often engage in conversation with each other. One “character” might be excited by a certain situation while the other is crying in the corner. It is their interaction that is impossible not to watch, like a car accident.
Their interaction creates one character (Ana) who is impossibly whimsical. The book goes on and on about her various concerns and emotions and thoughts. Then, suddenly, she makes some absurdly impulsive decision.
For a long time, I thought one of these characters might be her rationalization hamster. Eventually, you realize that she doesn’t have one – she’s fully modern in the sense that she’s progressed beyond the need to even rationalize her completely emotional, directionless decisions. The inner goddess wants to be whipped, the subconscious thinks maybe she should go on a real date first, and the body just does what it’s feeling at any given moment.
Behold, the modern woman fully unleashed!
Beyond these most interesting bits, it’s worth reflecting on some other aspects of the story.
In the story, Ana (who is in her early 20s) has never been attracted to anyone she has met. Until she meets Christian Grey. Her attraction to him is described as entirely uncontrollable, something she just can’t help. It definitely can’t be explained by his physical beauty, epic financial success, or generally mysterious demeanor. Here are some words she uses to describe him:
Confusing, confounding, mysterious, puzzling, elusive, threatening, “gives nothing away”, wicked, possessive, sphinxlike, riddle, dangerous, intimidating, “keeps changing direction”, “feel like I’m being interviewed for a job”, cryptic, controlling, dictatorial, overbearing, amused, bemused, “I have no idea what he’s thinking”, “laughing at me”, entertained, high-handed, antagonizing, difficult, complicated, pompous ass, secretive, unreadable, telepathic, spooky, dark knight, irreconcilable, intense, confident, teasing, frustrating, unfathomable, alien, playful, smirking, “not a man I want to cross”, aloof, distant, masked, distracting, all-consuming, “I am plagued with questions”, surprising, unpredictable, “claiming me”, menacing, etc.
The feminist sites seem to think this “emotional connection” is what makes the book so irresistible to women. How lame and predictable is that connection though?
We live in the age of universal democracy. The masses have spoken, and they love this stuff.
My last GF read 50 Shades like 50 times. I don’t even think that’s an exageration. Demon in the sack but basically lacking any other redeeming qualities. Was cheating on a guy and breaking up her family (with kids) to fuck me.
She was the last in a series of D/S relationships that convinced me that women don’t have moral agency. I don’t think this is a modern women problem either. Simply that women were never in the past allowed to make moral choices so it didn’t matter that they lacked moral agency.
“Was cheating on a guy and breaking up her family (with kids) to fuck me.”
To the extent the story is even remotely true, it appears you lack moral agency too.”
Didn’t know. Met her on the internet. You only know what they tell you. Dumped her when I found out.
I will say this though, she marked the end of a pattern of cheating I found in online dating. Beware.
Crappy literature that nevertheless sells very well is the only real way to get a look into the recesses of the societal ‘gut’. I wrote about this on the Chariot a little while ago.
One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is that women are more herd animals than men. Men can be conformist too but there’s more variation among men and men are more likely to have out of the mainstream interests. So if women are all reading the same thing it does possibly offer insight into the average female mind but at the same time they might all just be reading it because every other female around them is also reading it.
And there’s so much more. There’s her need to be his savior. There’s the need to rationalize his “badness” (and justify her attraction to it) by giving him the childhood trauma excuse. And it goes on.
Ignoring the deplorable quality of composition, the basic sexual-selection / attraction science and psychological content of the book would be a work of uncommonly insightful genius if written by a man, but as produced by a woman, it is a produce of a brutal honesty just as rare. Like I’ve said before, every man who wants to improve his game can benefit by a critical and enlightened reading of the book, and understand that he will benefit by being less nice and more temperamental and aloof like Christian Grey.
Very few men actually read the book, but if you’re looking for an awesome conversation opener with a woman or even a group of women, casually mention that you just finished it. And, like asdf implies, you’ll discover, perhaps to your surprise, that they’ve all read it and it’s all their favorite and they love to talk about it, especially with the extremely rare man who’s read it and really gets it. Look, it’s up to you – the game is yours to lose.
I could write an entire book that is to Fifty Shades of Gray as Steve Sailer’s America’s Half-Blood Prince is to Obama’s Dreams From My Father. I’m all ears as to title suggestions.
mmm “Why you should whip your woman”
When you read the book, you’ll see how utterly inconsequential the actual D&S stuff is, and how, I’d argue, the author almost always seems to be in a hurry to get past it and move on as “the relationship” evolves. It’s possible it wasn’t originally meant as such, but it functioned well as an effective marketing hook, better in fact than as a plot device.
Only one of the many women I’ve talked to about all this has admitted any kind of interest at all in experimenting with this stuff (more out of a general fondness for role-playing, I believe), and I mostly get the, “eww!”, “recoil in disgust” face when they think of actually doing these things themselves (the counterpart of the straight-male reaction to thinking about buggery).
Within the structure of the story, however, the disgust factor shuts down and they mostly “don’t mind” these things being in there, because it’s in the context of the relationship. Heartiste once referenced a study that’s on point about this subject. Anecdotalyy, I find that there’s almost nothing a girl won’t do so long as she feels it really pleases the man she loves. Some will even really get into things they previously would have been disgusted by, and insist on continuing to do it with future relationships, trying to physically resuscitate that memory of those five minutes of alpha she once enjoyed though a mistaken association with the deviant sexual act. But it’s never really satisfying to her, because you can’t get enough of what you don’t really want – which is really the alpha, not the alpha sex.
Anyway, the real point of the whips, etc. is the unfamiliarity, the mystery, the taboo, and being utterly at sea in your ignorance, innocence, and naivety, but in the capable hands of an experienced master and having to merely “submit” and relax and go with the flow and let the man lead you on the path he knows best.
Instead of religion you should ask Japanese people about this book. Way better feedback. Do they sell it over there?
You know, honestly, that never occurred to me, and it’s a good idea. I’m going to guess that it will be much more difficult to open up a frank discussion of the topic with the mostly middle-aged women I know, but, what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. I’m go check out a local bookstore too, but I don’t know if they’d have the same cover design.
What about ” Zen and the art of rationalisation hamsters”
I’d also add that Orwell, naturally, had some interesting things to say about the sex and violence trashy but popular literature that was emerging out of his era such as Chase’s famous 1939 No Orchids For Miss Blandish. The British stuff (of which the 50 Shades in a recent species) has always, curiously to me, seemed particularly fond of S&M these. I know the French tend to make fun of the Brits as all being closet subs, but then again, I’m not exactly an aficionado of foreign erotic fiction, so maybe it’s less a peculiar national trait than I think.
Jayman did a whole piece on the genetic correlation to liking “kink”.
Where I’m from Brits are regarded as kinky deviants, all of them. Of course it might just be the fallout from Prince Charle’s tampax adventures.
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I couldn’t agree more. Out of all the erotic fiction out there…why this book?
I realize this is almost as sleazy as Christian Grey himself, but I’d like to invite you–shamelessly–to plug my own book, a parody of such works as 50 Shades.
I wanted to let you know about a giveaway I’ll be hosting this weekend of a book of my own which was inspired, to some extent, by the illiteracy of the 50 Shades series. The book is ludicrous–purposefully so. Here’s a bit of a link, if you’re interested…
http://thebaroninsideyou.blogspot.com/2013/03/passover-book-giveaway.html
thanks for your consideration, and I apologize in advance for so shamelessly, brazenly asking you to plug my thing in the comments section of your blog.
Best,
-David