Unless you live under a rock, located in a cave, which is situated in Tristan da Cunha (the most remote island in the world FYI) you should by now have heard of E.L James' novel 50 Shades of Grey.
Not even the boy wizard himself Harry Potter could stop James' raunchy first installment of her trilogy surpassing JK Rowling to the fastest selling paperback since records began.
Soo what is all the fuss about? The plot is basic, boy meets girl, girl falls for boy and boy decides he wants to tie girl up in his pleasure room, ok so not quite the fairytale we're all used to but underneath it all there is the classic love story albeit a rather twisted one.
Let's be frank the novel is not a literary work of art but it is gripping and you can't help but want to read more of innocent Anastasia Steele's fall down the rabbit hole. Christian Grey is the male protagonist, Grey who was adopted as a child has severe mummy issues and a serious need to control all around him. At first we assume Ana is the all innocent girl who is helpless to Grey but she succumbs to him rather early on and her willingness drives the plot forward.
Of course erotic romantic novels are no new thing Jilly Cooper seems to have been around forever, but E.L James has passed boundries and crossed a line which I doubt Cooper has even seen. The trio of books has even been described as pornographic yet up and down the country they are the topic on every women's lips. In the lingerie store where I work part time hoardes of women have flocked in daily eagerly asking about purchasing the stories. We sold out within a day. In every whisper I hear "Mr Grey this Mr Grey that" showing that modern women are neither afraid or embarrassed to discuss a little bit of erotica, in fact I feel that women all over the country are doing a little bit of female bonding due to 50 shades.
One female I work with experessed her embarrassment at first explaining that she couldn't bring herself to read it on the commute to work in the morning, later on that week she exclaimed "f**k it" if everyone else is reading it why should I be ashamed.
Of course in this day and age where we are a country who very much buys into the 'sex sells' mantra the media are having a field day covering 50 shades even dubbing it 'mummy porn'. As I previously mentioned erotic novels have been around for as long as anyone can remember so what is it about 50 Shades of Grey that has everyone talking? I can't help but feel it's the controversial nature of the erotic acts which take place that has kept our nation interested and also prompted every man and his wife (literally) to buy into the series.
I myself have not finished the book but I do hope that the storyline and the relationshiop between the 2 main characters develops slightly more than just in the bedroom, although I have a feeling the controversial sex scenes alone are what's going to carry the book through, but is this enough to spawn 2 sequels and if the media has anything to go by a movie? I'm not sure but apparently a nation of women think so.....
Tally xo
