Fifty Shades...

Well, well...writing some kind of book review...that's a total first for me. Maybe it won't even be a review, more like a gathering of my thoughts about a book that had me intrigued from the minute I heard about it, that has been a must-read for most of my friends lately (and also a lot of women around the world apparently) and that has kept me reading the last day and a half no matter what happened around me (and so I am already 2/3 finished with the first book of the trilogy).

50 Shades of Grey...what is there to say about it? It's weird, it's sooo far out of my ordinary, it's about a topic that has me fascinated, speechless and leaves me with a weird feeling in my stomach, well, maybe even more than one feeling. At times I am intrigued, at times I am appalled, shocked and then sometimes I have this warm and fuzzy feeling when something unexpected happens, when the main character behaves like a normal human being, putting aside his strange manners and learns that there is more in a relationship than force and whips and restraints. I guess it wouldn't be as bad as it is if this was purely fiction. I mean, yes, this story is purely fiction, while the topic it is about is not. BDSM is something no one really talks about, it is something dark and dirty for most people. No one would probably openly admit they do it or like it or are actually turned on by it. I would, and hereby do. It has me intrigued to a point were I would actually want to try it, only for a day or so, but still.

It is weird, yes. But it is also quite fascinating. Why would people actually enter a BDSM relationship, why would someone want to be a Dominant, or even more so be a Submissive. What has to happen in the life of a regular human being to make him or her into someone who can only enjoy sex if it is on his/her terms, if it includes tying someone else up, forcing them to do everything they want, exercising power over them. How does someone become a Submissive, letting people decide for them, willingly doing whatever is asked of them. Is everyone born with the tendency to become one or the other or does it stem from our education and the way we are treated by our parents and surroundings.

I have always been someone who can openly talk about sex, I don't usually chicken out of a discussion about it. If I know the other person enough to trust them I will openly talk about it. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, it's a normal thing most grown-ups do regularly. I admit that BDSM is a special kind of it, one that is out of the ordinary, something that is probably not done on a regular basis. It is however, at least for me, a very fascinating kind of sex.

This book, along with other stories I have read that are about similar things, is the weirdest thing I have read in a while, yet it is one of the only books that has me glued to it's pages, no matter what happens, no matter if my kids empty sand out of their box on the lawn, destroy everything in the backyard or fight over toys. Nothing will keep me away from reading and I am utterly frustrated if I have to put it down to eat or to go to work, sleep or keep my kids from killing each other (or blog for that matter).

I suggest you read it, let it fascinate you, enter the strange world of Mr. Grey and let him change your view of something normal, ordinary or even dull (if that's how your sex life is at times). And I also suggest you bring a set of strong nerves because it can be overwhelming at times, especially if you keep in mind that, while Mr. Grey and Ana are fictional, the topic is not.

Please let me know what you think about it, I am intrigued. And feel free to imagine Mr. Grey to be anyone you like, for me I have someone in my mind that had me intrigued and fascinated even before I read the books and that I could imagine being a lot like Grey in real life...and that makes reading it even more realistic.

Irene