50 Shades of Grey

A while back I posted about how spanking has gone mainstream. On the cover of Newsweek, tons of news programs like 20/20, Dateline, Nightline, and more. Interviews galore with the author of the now worldwide best seller of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy. 

Image from Wikimedia

Now, the books aren't solely about spanking, nor are they about domestic discipline. I get that. But, does spanking exist? Yes. Does the book have some element of domestic discipline? Yes (but it's hidden..more on that in a moment). The fact that this sort of lifestyle (even though the books are much more BDSM) has gone mainstream is really cool to me.

So, when I first heard of these books, I was skeptical about reading them for numerous reasons. However, the popularity of these books kept increasing and week by week I saw it as the #1 book on the New York Times bestseller list. Finally, I caved in.

I'll admit, I've only read 1 book (out of the 3) so far. I probably should have waited to put up this post after I read all 3, but I've had a lot of inquiries as to what I thought of the book, so I decided to do it now. After I've read all 3, I'll re-review probably.

I didn't have very high expectations (at all) for the book. However, I must say, it was better than expected.

I won't give too much of it away for those who haven't read it yet, but want to. However, the basic idea is a young girl meets a successful businessman and they begin a relationship. However, he is very dominant and controlling (and she isn't used to it) and insists on the two of the implementing a contract in order for their relationship to go further. The contract details out expectations/rules, consequences, hard/soft limits, etc. I'll admit, it was pretty interesting considering I've never really seen a contract like that before.

The book is very sexual (there's your warning). It's also very graphic. I'll stop short at calling it porn, but I will say that unless they very  heavily edit the movie that they're planning on making around this book, it will, no doubt be given over an R rating. 

Still, the book raises a lot of questions. The biggest one I have is that if people appear to be so against the idea of rules and punishments (whether sexually based, like BDSM or non-sexually based like DD) then why is this book a) getting great ratings (out of over 7,000 reviews on Amazon.com, over 3,300 of them rated it 5 stars..and that's just on one website) b) gaining popularity like you wouldn't believe. 

Lets face it, this topic fascinates people. 

The book is not about domestic discipline. Let me just put that out there. The 2 characters in the book do not have a domestic discipline relationship. So, will the popularity of this book increase the popularity of couples doing domestic discipline? Probably not by much. 

However, the book does have moments that are a little "DD-like". Example: He threatens that she won't be able to sit if she doesn't listen. The entire book isn't sexual, although a very large majority of it is. But, would I recommend it? Yes. 

If you read the books, please don't read them in order to use them as like "advice" books for your own marriage. That would be a bad idea. Also, don't read them if you're offended by sex. Don't read it if you are expecting it to be about domestic discipline. However, it is an interesting read, and I'd be curious to hear what ya'll think of it.

So, have you read the books? What do you think?

Also, I have the 2nd and 3rd books downloaded onto my Kindle, but haven't read them yet. Once I do, I'll update this post.

Until then, if you're interested in reading, you can buy 50 Shades of Grey on Amazon (or virtually any other site, or at any bookstore).  


I'm curious to hear your thoughts!