Comments on: Fifty Shades of Twilight: a Fifty Shades of Grey Review

By: Elizavetta

Elizavetta — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 08:13:11 +0000

Though I came to this comment party late, I had to take the time to thank you for this review! I hated this book, but even more than that, hated all the factors that went into making it so stupidly popular. From my viewpoint as a sexually complex female creature living in an impossibly complex culture (as well as one who has dabbled in erotic writing and much more than dabbled in BDSM), this book just made me feel sad in too many ways to count.

There are so many levels of “wrong” in this whole situation. It’s not just the Dan Brown-ish quality of the writing itself, but the associated vapid sensationalism and clueless sexuality of this culture (and publishing industry) that somehow managed to shove this book up to the heights it reached. Ah well… you pretty much said it all in your review.

All 50 shades of wrong aside, I’m overjoyed to revisit online Erotica Land after an extended time away to find that you’re still here, still writing some of the best erotica I’ve ever read. And for that, I thank you as well. May you live long and prosper

Be well, dear.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:58:11 +0000

I totally agree with your review. Frankly, it was poorly written and the plot was too shallow. Some parts of the book made me feel they were just copied and pasted from different erotica stories. Thanks for your enlightening analysis RG. From a fan here in the Philippines =)

By: rmpltskn

rmpltskn — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:43:57 +0000

I read your review and every comment. All true…but there was one sentence that totally stuck out to me and really wrapped it all up “Thinking about that a little more, I think it is interesting that for sex to be BDSMish, it’s not so much the act as the headspace that really makes the difference.” You are sooo right RG. THAT is what makes me read and reread what you write. That is what draws us in and keeps us reading.

By: Remittance Girl

Remittance Girl — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:32:52 +0000

Robin, I very rarely review books, and when I do, it’s more a sociological study than a critique of the book. You really DON’T want me to review your book. I promise.

By: Robin

Robin — Sat, 05 May 2012 04:34:16 +0000

Hello Kitkat. If you would be willing to write a review of my book, ‘It’s Been a Pleasure’, I would be happy to send you a copy, just for the review!
It has been on sale on KDP for a month and sales are very slow. I need some reviews to post alongside it.
If you like realistic porn/sex, then I have a feeling you will love this story.
Let me know and I can send you a .pdf or .doc file, as you like.
Regards, Robin

By: kitkat9000

kitkat9000 — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:26:34 +0000

Your review was both thorough and thought provoking. I admit that I’ve not read any of the series, frankly the media hype surrounding it made me suspect. Having them refer to it as Mommy Porn made me cringe in consideration of its contents. I’m actually sorry to hear that my trepidation was warranted. This reinforces my inital reluctance to read it with a determination not to. I like my erotica to be realistic and I prefer my authors to know whatof they write and to do it well. James evidently fails on all counts.

By: Christa

Christa — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:23:30 +0000

Great review. I started that book as my first foray into erotic fiction. I was a very naive 18-year old who could in some senses, identify with the main character. At 30, I’ve fixed a lot of that. (Like you said – coming out of that shell could have made for a compelling character line) Even THEN I had to put down the book – it just was not good. Still, it was a platform and I found your website doing some google of better erotic fiction. Read some of your short stories, just bought one for my kindle last night. You write some seriously great stuff. Thank you! I need to write some positive feedback on your short stories…but you should seriously keep going on the Mumbai Coven. Will catch up on my commenting. Have been devouring your website rudely, without comments. Will fix that. Thanks for your work!!

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:01:09 +0000

I haven’t read all of the comments here (there are a lot of them!), so I apologize if this has already been pointed out. You question why Random House chose this novel over better-written, more accurate depictions of BDSM relationships, and I can say with near certainty that it’s because mainstream America isn’t mature enough to “get it.” We live in a society of idiots (sorry, my fellow Americans) who crave a love story, crave a flawed character who sees the light and changes his/her ways. Ms. James was all too happy to deliver that pedestrian love story, rather than surfacing the true complexities and eroticism of BDSM. It’s milktoast erotica, IMO, but that’s the only kind of erotica that would truly appeal to the tightassness (pun intended, + just coined a new term!) of mainstream Americans.

By: Sex Fairy

Sex Fairy — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:38:01 +0000

That was my suspicion as well. I felt that James didn’t REALLY know what she was writing about…that there MUST be something wrong with this guy from his traumatic childhood.

Thanks for the great review!

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:13:33 +0000

I’d better remove my tags then!