Fifty Shades of Grey book 1 - book discontinued by Vintage Books - review by Geography

This book was awful. I did not think it had any redeeming qualities. The characters were boring, the writing was horrendous, there was no plot, and the sex wasn't even good!

First, the characters had no dimension. I read the book a week ago and I could not tell you any thing about the main character, Ana. She was super boring. Grey had potential, but unfortunately he also fell flat. Can't we have a BDSM main character who was not abused as a child or teen, as the story goes? Just because you are interested in being a dom does not mean you had to have a tragic childhood. Many people are doms because, well, it is fun!

Another of my main issues with this book was Ana's interest in BDSM. First she loved the sex, then she hated the BDSM aspect of the sex, then she wanted the BDSM, and then she hated it again. At one point she runs away from Grey and he follows her! This is not a healthy BDSM relationship. If someone is unsure about this lifestyle they should put it on hold. If they say they need time away from it, a dom wouldn't or shouldn't follow them! This frustrating aspect makes it worrisome that this is people's first introduction to BDSM, or any non-vanilla sex!

I know that many people say we don't read these types of novels for the plots. However, I find books hard to read if they don't even have a semblance of a plot. This book has none. I would put this book down and not want to pick it up again. That is not a good sign in these types of novels. The plot doesn't have to be good! Just give me something!

Lastly, the sex scenes were not that great. They were pretty boring for a BDSM novel and they were so repetitive. The words she used to describe orgasms were the same every time! There was very little variation in descriptions, which made the sex scenes rather boring.