If you’ve managed to resist the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey this long, then perhaps you can’t imagine actually giving in and reading the book. Sure, you’ve heard plenty about this best-selling novel – and its two sequels, 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed.
You probably already know author E.L. James originally wrote the story as Twilight fan fiction. It tells the story of Anastasia Steele, a recent college graduate who lives in the Pacific Northwest, and Christian Grey, the wealthy Seattle businessman she falls in love with.
The book is essentially a romance novel that follows the basics of the genre: girl meets boy and they fall in love quite suddenly, but then some unforeseen circumstance threatens to keep them apart forever. In the case of 50 Shades of Grey, the dealbreaker is Christian’s dominant nature and his insistence that Ana behave as his submissive. The book includes some pretty risque S&M scenes and has been called “mommy porn.”
In the past few months, it seems like everyone has had something to say about this book, which is often criticized for not only its no-holds-barred bedroom scenes, but also for repetitive writing and somewhat silly lead character, who is depicted as “biting her lip” on almost every page.
Still, the numbers don’t lie and Fifty Shades of Grey has, um, topped best-seller lists for months. Nearly 20 million copies of the three books have been sold, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Here are five reasons that you should just go ahead and read Fifty Shades of Grey already. –rachael mason
