I could not resist the temptation of reading E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey if only to know what the rage is all about. And now that I have read it, I am at a bit at sea. It is riveting, there is no denying it. But what really sets it apart from all the erotic romantic novels published since the last decades of the twentieth century? For there is no denying the fact that it is one. Perhaps it is the first time a novel like this is put under the genre of 'fiction' and not 'romantica' or even 'adult fiction'.
Needless to say, this is a typical romantic plot written by women for women. It is not surprising that the author herself states that she had written her female erotic and romantic fantasies and compiled them in a novel. The plot is very simple and very romantic. Ana, freshly graduated from college, is pursued by the utterly sexy, multi-billionaire Christian Grey who has a fifty shades of grey in his life. Like a typical romance, from Jane Eyre to Nora Roberts and Daniel Steele, Ana is an ordinary girl who is besieged by her attraction to the sexy billionaire who wines, dines, and dazzles her with his charm and affection. There is just one catch to this deal: Christian is a confirmed dominant who cannot be in any relationship that does not involve a heavy doze of BDSM.
Mr Rochester had a mad wife in his attic, Heathcliffe was obsessed with Catherine, bordering on madness, and Edward Cullen is a vampire, to mention but a few of the heart-wrenching romantic novels. Mr Nice Guy has never featured in this type of novels. It is always, Mr. tall, dark, handsome, and most of all: dangerous. Yet it is the first time for our hero to have a shady sexual past and yet appeals to female readers like Fifty Shades of Grey. So what makes readers move on and keep reading? Is it the explicit sexual scenes? Is it the love between Ana and Christian? I would vote "no" for the two questions.
The answer lies in the following: Of course the author keeps the reader on her toes trying to find why Christian is the way he is. As a female reader myself, I wanted to find an excuse for this man. He is the Fallen Angel that needs to be restored to normal. So I say this is the first reason this novel is attractive. The secret behind the hero, which we will only have glimpses of in the first volume.
Another thing: the exchanged emails between the two. Let me ask you this: how many men have you met in your life who in this day and age kept up an email communication with the woman he loves?With this frequency, and this fervor, and this wit? Oh, and he replies almost instantly, considering he is the CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings Inc. Now who can resist that? :) It is clear most of us women are won over by the elaborate email exchanges between Ana and Christian throughout the novel, and the author uses this very wisely.
As to why this heady amount of explicit sexual scenes found appeal in the audience, I have only one reason that comes to my mind. Women have become more desperate than ever before. If women readers are OK with a rough guide to BDSM that normally catered to only a fraction of people, then there is a question mark here. Like the recent obsession with vampires and their famous love bites, the audience is merely taken to the next level, a normalization with sexual activities that are not in any way 'normal'. Have women had enough of liberation they want to be dominated by the men in their lives? Tied up, flogged, and spanked? Ordered about? Eyes always cast down in the presence of their Masters? Or is this another means of exploring the boundaries of female sexuality, as I always hear repeatedly? I personally don't know.
In the end, Fifty Shades of Grey, whether we like it or not, has become one of the most popular novels in today's market. The author's lure using the reader's natural curiosity into why Christian turned into a Dom, and the elaborate emails are the two main reasons for the novel's popularity.
