50 Shades...

I once tried to read the book. Just to understand the hype, of which, there was a lot. I gave up after mentioning of her "Inner Goddess" for the umpteenth time. Also didn't understand the attraction to a stalker with severe psychological issues.

I appreciate other people reviewing these things, so I don't have to suffer them myself. You're doing me a great service, so thanks for that!

I think Gilbert Gottfried’s narration made it a LOT better For real though, while the writing was shit, it was obviously successful in appealing to a specific yet large audience, so... I gotta give it a little respect for that. Don’t know if the points I’m gonna mention were already brought up in the original conversation in the thread in the lounge, but I’d like to give my opinion anyways.

Not sure if you guys understand the appeal based on what you said above. If not and you’re genuinely curious about it, think of it like this: you don’t watch porn for the plot, script, or acting, right? Not only that, but the shitty quality of these aspects when they’re present in porn don’t necessarily turn you off either. Like holy shit, there’s some porn that consists of girls moaning and groaning while humping animal shaped pool floaties (which is really fucking funny). As a girl, I didn’t initially see the appeal, but I’ve learned that people have quite the fantasies. Exact same thing going on here: the book depicts a fantasy that appeals greatly enough to outweigh the weaknesses in the writing.

Think about the audience: not exactly catered to the male sex, that seems obvious. There are a lot of sexually unsatisfied females out there, and yes I mean females, not just wives/middle aged women. Literally had classmates in 9th grade reading this during advisory period in front of our middle aged alpha male teacher, who obviously didn’t get it either lol. That type of audience isn’t necessarily looking for an insightful read on female empowerment in the bedroom or even for something that’s intelligent or relateable 100% of the time. Sure, that’s what we prefer a lot of the time, but not ALL the time.

If you’re a sexually frustrated woman who’s reading this book, you’re not going to give a fuck about the doormat MC or the shitty plot or even the disturbing love interest. What you’ll care about is how satisfied the doormat is after the rich, attractive, confident man is done pleasing her. She’s not just getting dominated by him; in general, the writing describes her pleasure more than his. And if ya didn’t notice, the MC orgasms almost every single time, which seems like one of the most ridiculous things about the plot to me.

Not only is she getting the sexual satisfaction most women who read this are probably not even receiving half of from their partners (if they have them), but she also achieves the ideal emotional relationship with her love interest. In general, I see the satism/psychological problems with the LI as a plot device more than anything else. The author made the LI so fucked up so that the MC could overcome it, breaking down his walls throughout the books and finally achieving true emotional intimacy by the end, which is something a lot of people don’t get in their relationships. That’s the other half of the fantasy, and probably a bigger reason why it’s so successful than even the sexual fantasy portrayed alongside it.

Anyway, the point is that it’s basically porn for women. Women masturbate too, with the same reasons (or lack of them) that men do. It’s just that we don’t have the same fantasies and we don’t do it to the same stuff men do... usually . It’s kinda surprising that a lot of guys don’t get that.

That was really good, Poem. Maybe you should do reviews as a regular thing.

@flawed personality Thanks! Maybe I will . Kinda interested, though, if @Iain Aschendale or @Moon have any thoughts on what I said too...