50 Shades of Dull.

With three of her novels topping the current bestseller charts, I thought that E. L . James might have more to offer than literary pornography in her novel 50 Shades of Grey.

Several times I thought that I was reading a chapter again since many parts of the book are so repetitive. A long contract and quite frankly boring contract is detailed three times, completely unnecessarily and if I ever have to read the words ‘Stop biting your lip Anastasia’ just one more time I think I might set the book on fire.

I naively thought that the unveiling of the ‘red room of pain’ as Anastasia calls it, might offer some interest and intrigue to an otherwise plotless book, but the contract which Christian lays down prevents the couple from doing anything really twisted, which, however uncomfortable to read might have provided a bit of relief from the monotony.

Given its current status in the book charts, I thought tha E. L. James might have been a bit more imaginative with her supposedly raunchy sex scenes but actually all that seemed to change each time was the location, and I found myself skipping through the book to desperately find a bt of plot to cling on to.

I found the title of the book very apt, No matter how many shades of grey there might be, grey still remains an incredibly boring colour. Anastasia herself is not particularly interesting as a character but the name perfectly suits Christian, a run of the mill billionaire with more money than sense and some interesting past times.

It’s not a great advert for feminism, despite making a success of E. L. James, the book seems to idealise the silencing of woman. Let’s take a woman who’s not afraid of saying what she thinks and force her to be quiet simply to satisfy a man’s sexual preferences.

So I think it’s safe to say that I do not agree with the Great British public on this one. Halfway through the book I was thoroughly bored but struggled on until the end desperately hoping for a twist or turn in the plot. It is definitely the least interesting book I have read in a long time and I have absolutely no desire to read either of her other books. I congratulate E. L. James on her success, but personally I don’t see the appeal, sorry.