The book "Fifty Shades of Gray" can rightly be called the most scandalous novel of recent years. The sensational erotic bestseller E.L. James caused a storm of controversial emotions among critics and the public, and overtook Harry Potter himself in sales! This work is not only actively discussed around the world, but is also going to be filmed, so that very soon we will be able to see Ana, Christian and other favorite characters with our own eyes.
If you haven’t read Fifty Shades of Gray, readers and critics can shock you. This novel cannot leave anyone indifferent - it is either adored or considered a disgrace to modern literature. This is a rather controversial book, shocking, but at the same time incredibly attractive. Such a frantic resonance is caused not so much by the very fact of the presence of explicit scenes, but by their character. Probably, every modern person has ever heard of BDSM culture, a rather unusual model of relations between a man and a woman based on submission and domination, at least once in a lifetime. The main character of the novel is a representative of this particular culture, which only adds charm to it.
In Russia, the novel was published in August 2012. No one expected such a massive wave of discontent almost immediately after the book “Fifty Shades of Gray” appeared on the shelves. The reviews were the most disappointing: the author was accused of childishness, unnaturalness of heroes, the focus of the novel on "juvenile fools", etc. However, the popularity of the book continued to grow. The plot of the novel focuses on the relationship between the attractive millionaire Christian Gray with strange sexual inclinations and a young student Anastasia Steele, who is head over heels in love with handsome Christian. Further, he offers the girl a rather specific model of relations, which includes sado-masochistic elements. Ana begins to doubt whether she should throw herself into the pool with her head, however she is too fascinated by Christian to refuse.
The book appeared on the network much earlier than on the shelves, and the audience was simply shocked, because infrequently novels on the topic of relations in the BDSM and BDSM style come to the attention of such an extensive circle of people. There are still many active forums and sites where readers discuss Fifty Shades of Gray. User reviews are also rather ambiguous: some admire the courage, sensuality and frankness of the novel, while others are unhappy with the overly detailed sex scenes. American critics even demanded the removal of the book from the libraries, but all their attempts were unsuccessful thanks to the supporters of freedom of speech.
It is worth saying that the author of the novel, Erica Leonard, already had experience in writing erotic works. For example, shortly before the "Shades" came out her fan fiction on the theme of "Twilight". Moreover, there is an opinion that Fifty Shades of Gray, reviews of which are sometimes more shocking than the book itself, is also a fan fiction in which Bella and Edward did have sex.
Despite the huge number of negative reviews, only in English-speaking countries more than 30 million copies of the book “Fifty Shades of Gray” were sold. Critics' reviews of various resources of the World Wide Web can also not be called comforting. Most reviewers agreed that the book is a category of literature that was called "pulp fiction" several years ago.
However, there are a number of critically acclaimed critics inspired by The Fifty Shades of Gray. Reviews of the novel contain enthusiastic discussions about the evolution of the tabloid novel and the establishment of this genre on a par with "traditional" literature. Some even consider the novel a classic of a love-erotic genre. Read or not read this work, it’s up to you to decide, however, perhaps the frankness of the novel will help to discover new and unknown feelings and desires ...