Fifty Shades of Grey

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I've been hearing a lot of "flack", in the bookstore, about the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.   Smut and porn have been common comments.  I don't do book reviews anymore, but I thought I'd tell you what it's about, and you can make up you mind, to read it or not.

First of all, it's a love story.  Second it's not porn or what I consider smut, it is erotic.

Unfortunately the man Christian Grey in the love story, is incapable of love.  As a young child he was physically abused by his mother's string of male friends.  Beatings and cigarette burns were part of his life, until his mother died from an overdose, when he's a pre-schooler.  The only name he calls his mother as an adult is "crack whore".  When he's orphaned, he's eventually adopted by a successful pair of physicians, and re-located far from his nightmares.  Because of his experiences, he can barely stand to be touched, especially in the areas of his scars.

In his teens he was abused by a sexual predator, who was a close family friend.  The relationship was consensual, but he was still a child, so it was sexual abuse.  His predator was a dominatrix and he was her submissive.  This was his introduction to sex, and it didn't involve much touching, except with pain.  It didn't involve love, either.  It was all about control and pain.

Christian thinks he's unlovable he puts all his energy into being a successful business man.  He's billionaire successful, and rumored to be gay, because he never has a woman in his life.

Enter Ana, a college grad, on the cusp of a grand life.  She falls for him but finds she can't live with his lifestyle of domination/submissive.  She knows this isn't going to work, so she leaves.  He goes crazy/mad without her, and agrees to try it her way, you know, consensual sex and love.  It takes awhile, but they get to the spot where it's good for both of them.

This is a well-written trilogy, not fabulous, but good.  I read the whole trilogy and enjoyed it.  Believe me it didn't make me want to change the way I do things.  I also downloaded them to my nook, so I could read discretely on the plane and in the airports.

What are you reading?