Fifty Shades of Grey

Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy

By: E. L. James

Narrated by: Becca Battoe

Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

More than 150 million copies sold worldwide.

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success - his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family - Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

This audiobook is intended for mature audiences.

Look for E L James’ passionate new love story, The Mister, coming April 16, 2019.

©2011 E L James (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

• Finalist, GoodReads Choice Awards, Best Romance

I'm murmuring my review

This was horrible and I feel sad for everyone who thought this was good. Letters to Penthouse have more depth to them than this. It was horribly written, same words (gaze, murmur, mutter) used over and over. When she actually did discover a thesaurus she used the word Ad nauseam. The only people who should read/listen to this are aspiring writers as a "What Not To Do" guide. Really sad I wasted my time on this.

This book is as bad as everyone said it was.

I think the main character said "holy f-ck," or a slight variance of that, at least 200 times. That is not an exaggeration.

The writing was poor. There was zero character development outside of Christian and Anastasia. It was unrealistic. And I didn't find it particularly sexy. Wish I could get my credit back!

Worst story ever

What would have made Fifty Shades of Grey better?

Real characters, real situation, anything that didn't sound like it was just the musings of a horny man who has issues with women.

Has Fifty Shades of Grey turned you off from other books in this genre?

ughh

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Didn't like the attempt to have a "man voice" for Grey

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger that something so horrible could be written

Any additional comments?

Do not read.

This was terrible.

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

I couldn't give it more than 10 minutes of my life. Terrible story, bad performance, if I could give it less than 1 star I would.

Would you ever listen to anything by E. L. James again?

No thank you.

Would you be willing to try another one of Becca Battoe’s performances?

Hell no.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

All of them.

Horrible narrator and cheesy writing

Couldn't even get through the second chapter. The nasal voice of the narrator combined with terrible writing was a total bore.

Roll Your Eyes Terrible

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

This book was poorly written and narrated. I couldn't decide who was worse and I'm going to say the author and narrator tied for the worst performance EVER! I was laughing so hard I peed my pants. My tip, listen with a group of friends and get ready to mock. If you want to roll your eyes a lot, then this is the book for you.

What didn’t you like about Becca Battoe’s performance?

She is terrible. She overacts throughout and the character sounds psycho. But the psycho part is 50% the author's fault.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

NOPE.

Any additional comments?

Why is the book and series popular? Got me. I have no clue. My tip, listen with a group of friends and get ready to mock.

Flat Out Terrible!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Improve the quality of writing in the book.

Would you ever listen to anything by E. L. James again?

No not if I can help it!

What didn’t you like about Becca Battoe’s performance?

She did not get a fair chance with this book. I would listen to something else she did as it was not her at all but the quality of the writing that makes this unlistenable!

What character would you cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

Characters might be interesting with a different author...

Any additional comments?

I was having surgery where I knew that I would have problems interacting for a few days, so I thought it would make the time pass. I like trashy romance and a good fluff read from time to time, but the writing on this is amazingly bad. It made the time drag!!!!! Just don't!

Worst EVER!!!!

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

The story seemed like it was written by a 15 year old girl. The characters are absolutly unbelievable. The main character was dumber then a box of rocks.

What was most disappointing about E. L. James’s story?

Far too juvenile, maybe even for juveniles.

What didn’t you like about Becca Battoe’s performance?

She sounded like a fifteen year old reading it. Although, no one could make this story worth listening to.

What character would you cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

All of them.

Any additional comments?

I kept listening thinking it had to get better...IT DIDN'T!!!. At one point I contemplated piercing my eardrums with an icepick

Battoe is a disaster.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I loved the trilogy. Battoe ruined this for me. What a huge mistake. Her voice is "valley girl". She makes Christian sound like a seal on drugs. The worst interpretation of an audible book I have heard.

What other book might you compare Fifty Shades of Grey to and why?

For me Fifty Shades stands alone in this genre.

What didn’t you like about Becca Battoe’s performance?

Nothing.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

None.

Any additional comments?

This is such an explosive cultural phenomina. Can't we have a redo with a real artist. Bartoe should stick with kid's books.

Intersting Listen

I went into this book with unease due to the reviews. However I've read books that had bad reviews and loved them so I gave this a try. Here are my thoughts:

Positive points to the book:
I loved the humor laced throughout the story between the two main characters. I laughed often.
I did appreciate that Anna wasn't a total pushover and she didn't meekly follow Christian and is ridiculous contract.
I found Becca Battoe a good narrator for this character. As the story went along I was reminded of how young Anna is and I felt Becca fit what I expected of Anna. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I felt the narrator fit Anna's character as her character was extremely immature and young and that fact followed through the entire book.
I am not a bdsm kind of person but I felt this book was written on the lighter side of that life style so I was able to get through the scenes.


Negative points to the book:
Very slow paced
A lot of repetition
I couldn't see what attracted Christian to Anna other than his need to take an innocent and mold her into his ideal female as had been done to him. I didn't understand how he didn't see what happened between himself and Mrs. Robinson was wrong especially that he has been in therapy for so many years. Did the therapist not bring this point to light?
The emails back and forth, while I enjoyed the banter reading every little line in the emails was tedious.

Overall I found myself laughing, but I skipped many of the sex scenes as I found them off kilter, I wanted to smack Anna for her lack of confidence, being stuck on his looks, her indecision. As for Christian, I don't believe he could fall so hard for this naïve, immature child. I would have enjoyed this much better if Anna had some backbone and confidence.

While I listened to the 2nd installment (due to my own curiosity) I definitely will not be listening to the 3rd book.