Monday, June 25, 2012

Should I read Fifty Shades of Grey?

Today I have a question for all my readers: should I read Fifty Shades of Grey?  Normally, I don't ask these kinds of questions. I usually make up my own mind to read a book or not. But the more I hear about the book, the less I know.

Fifty Shades of Grey is the first of a trilogy by E L James, a British erotica author. I suppose this is not a type of book that would hit the bestseller lists. In fact, from what I gather it is of the S and M variety, not something I am at all interested in spending my time reading. A couple of months ago, I checked the book out on amazon and read about it in the readers' reviews which I find helpful in most cases. They pretty much panned the book. I then decided not to read it.

Now I am not so sure.

I can't tell you how many women I know (including a lot of great Christian women) have read it. In fact, many of them could not put it down -- I hear about a lot of sleepless nights. Apparently, James is a very good writer and she does suspense extremely well. Some women have said they simply skipped over the spicy parts and kept reading. From facebook to group conversations, this book seems to keep showing up.

This should make me want to get a copy for myself. I hate not knowing about a book everyone is talking about (I read Hunger  Games and The DaVinci Code so that I could talk to people about them). I dislike having to give an opinion about a book that I have never read.

But do I want to wade through the spicy parts when I find it incredibly distasteful? I don't like reading about abuse either and try to avoid it if I know about it (haven't read Water for Elephants for instance). Do I want to read something I find disturbing just so I can have an opinion?

I would like for you all to give me your input: should I read Fifty Shades of Grey?

On a humorous note, I am sure I won't be reading the parody, Fifty Shades of Black and Blue.

3 comments:

  1. Amelia,
    thought I'd post over here instead of on facebook... because I will admit to having read all three of the trilogy. I read the first out of curiousity- wondered what the hype was about... and then, I wanted to know more of the story.
    What can I say about it? I have read all three in the trilogy of the Girl with the Dragon Tatto and find it far more disturbing. Although, they are the same in that the "sex" story is integral to the storyline, this is not nearly as violent in general.
    What really held my attention had more to do with the wanting to know "why?" What the explanation for why "fifty" was the way he was. I actually thought it was a story about healing in some ways.
    I also think that as clergy we are sometimes sheltered from certain aspects of society. I always think "wise as serpents and innocent as doves." But, after I read "silence of the Lambs" years ago, I did decide that there were things I just didn't need to read. I think for each of us, that line might be in different places.

    ??

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  2. Hmmm, I'm with ya. I've heard about it from everybody but would have no interest in reading it....except that my SIL is bringing it to the lake next month, so I guess I will read it. I've heard from a couple of people about that "healing" aspect of the trilogy that Rachel mentioned too.

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  3. Amelia, I wanted to share this with you..

    one of my very conservative friends posted a link on FB the other night to a blog about the book by a Christian woman. It was interesting because she was linking this book to Magic Mike (which I haven't seen and dont' intend to go and see in the theater). But, it was an interesting read. By chance today, I saw that Rachel Held Evans (christian blogger) posted something about this on fb.. so here is that link:
    https://www.facebook.com/rachelheldevans.page

    It was interesting because in one of the first few comments was the link to the blog I'd already read. when i first saw this post there were only about 10 comments-- now there are 97!!! Lots of people have lots of opinions about it.. thought you might be interested...

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