Fifty Shades of Grey Review: Not All About Steam

After much anticipation and media hype, the curiosity of every soccer mom and bored woman was piqued, anxious to read the novel that so many women were raving about to their friends and book clubs.

The title was a clear depiction of the book, but never alluded to dual journey we were about to take. A young woman was about to lose her innocence and experience her sexual awakening while a man who some would say was robbed of his innocence, would explore his capacity for genuine love.

The plot is set primarily in Seattle and focuses on two main characters, Anastasia Steele, college senior just days away from graduation and Christian Grey, a young, handsome, and successful entrepreneur. Though Steele and Grey come from two vastly different worlds, their paths would cross during what began as an innocent interview for a student newspaper and would develop into so much more.

British author, E.L. James has an illustrative imagination, setting every scene down to the very detail, which took away from the actual storyline. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is the first book of a trilogy, but is a poor start and major disappointment. From its slow lead to its unexpected interim conclusion, it’s unfathomable that this could have generated so much excitement among the public.

All the little things are spelt out throughout the course of the book, in visual detail, except the reason for the book’s dreary location. Did James set the book in Seattle, known for its gloomy weather, to accentuate the overall tone of Grey whose name exemplifies his ability to love someone? Who knows. Regardless, despite several attempts by Steele to break through the barriers that have caged Grey’s heart, he sways back and forth between a warm and compassionate man to business as usual. This is where the heart of the novel is and not the steam-inducing love scenes that have every one talking.

James deserves some credit for the scintillating intimate scenes but other than that, it was simply the vivid description of the internal struggle Steele faced when she had to choose between youth and adolescence in addition to the emotional exploration of Grey that made this book interesting, not the bargain bin sex scenes.