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

Always Get a Second Opinion.

I'll have to admit first that my wife liked the book, but that's as far I'll go.
The story read as if it were written as from a 16 year old's diary. And quite a boring diary at that. No matter how much "whips & dips, chains & chips" one could throw into this, more tepid than torrid, story, if you care little for the characters then the situation becomes completely pointless.
I can't see how this novel has became such a literary tour de force, while just in the "reading" of this novel requires a literal "Tour de force" of the Reader!
"Pedantic!", would be the best word I would use to describe this book. "Awful" the other.
But if the subject matter is of such interest, as it seems to be going by various TV media outlets, then may I suggest Jean-Jacques Pauvert's "The Story of "O", and Anne Rice's (under the nom de plume A.N. Roquelaure) "The Claiming Of Sleeping Beauty." to wet the appetite, and perhaps stimulate the desire whilst kindling the slowly dying ambers of romance in a couple's relationship. I wish those on that path the best in their endeavors.
Now as to "narration" ... Dreadful. The reading of a phone book would have been more enjoyable. I won't blame Becca Battoe for that. Any performance artist is only as good as the material provided. To blame the messenger for bad news is unfair.
Clearly, this production could have been better suited with an addition of at least a second artist providing a voice of the male characters. Since it didn't it, this gives testimony to the uncaring cheapness of the production, and insults both the author and the reader alike.
And that is the real crime to purchase.

What a horrible book!

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

I have no idea.

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

No - the book is written in an immature, basic manner. I purchased this book because of all the hub-bub but did not know the content - won't make that mistake again. Talking about the dumbing down of America.

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

N O - she sounds like an immature Valley Girl.

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

I didn't and won't finish the book. Hopefully it will help anyone getting into that life style as I can't see the merits.

holy cow, holy crap, holy s--t (all she says)

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

I paid for this. Reader was awful, but since there was no story it didn't matter.

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

Everything

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

Never.

What character would you cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

All.

Any additional comments?

It should be banned!!!

Repetitive Dialog, Nearly unbearable at times

What would have made Fifty Shades of Grey better?

It was an interesting story idea, but the execution seemed amateur and lacked an interesting dialog.

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

Not likely.

Which scene was your favorite?

There are a lot of sex scenes which was interesting, but the lack of variety in the dialog made even those hard to bear.

Bad writing and weak story

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

I've heard so much about this book that I had high expectations. Unfortunately, the book is FAR below my expectations. My main complaint is that the writing is so sophomoric that it is almost funny. But it is not supposed to funny, it is supposed to be sexy. The reader is the perfect complement to the writing, however. Either she is a teenager, or she has done a good job of sounding like one. The problem is that it is not interesting to hear teenager's weird fantasies - at least not when they are so poorly told. But, perhaps this is the best we can expect from people who think that Twitter is communication.

What do you think your next listen will be?

A Tale of Two Cities.

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

no

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

disappointment

Anastasia Steele, please just die.

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

Gahhhhhhhhhh! Everything! The writing is absolutely atrocious; the fact that this book has become a best seller has caused me to lose all faith in humanity. The idea that a 27 year old drop dead gorgeous billionaire would be attracted to one of the most moronic, annoying & naively idiotic characters I have ever had the displeasure of letting into my imagination is completely unbelievable & blots out any potential that this story may have had, which was very, very little to begin with. The sex, which I believe is probably the only thing that 99.9% of people read this book for, is mundane, childish, unarousing and is most certainly NOT erotica in any way, shape or form. The only thing that would have made this story satisfying is if Anastasia had been beaten to death at the end; I would have done it myself. Don't waste your time and money on this piece of trash; it's not even fit for a landfill.

Of course it would have to be "Oh My!"

What made the experience of listening to Fifty Shades of Grey the most enjoyable?

Listening to Fifty Shades of Grey in the privacy of my own headphones was terrific.Sharing a listen now and then with my husband was a lot of fun and left us with many interesitng conversations and "Oh My's"..

Any additional comments?

As much as I enjoyed the diversity of this audiobook and look forward with great curiosity to the next Fifty Shades Darker, I can't quite shake the feeings that I don't want my daughter to read/listen to this book at this point in her young life at 19 years old. Although Anastasia was 21 years old and had these experiences in this story, I worry about the lack of 'life experiences' she hasn't had and the chance to really imprint this type of sex play, or conduct, as something that is completely normal in a relationship. Married and 59 with great life experiences and an open mind, I am curious about the impact this story is having on every college kid that buys these books. My 21 year old son tells me that the bookstores on campus cannot keep them on their shelves. With an apparent lack of self control among so many young people today, I worry that some young person is going to get hurt if not mentally, but physically. My daughter will read this book even though I asked her not to. I guess I hope we can have a little 'debriefing' at some point down the road....we are all such curious cases!

A lot of hype for no reason

Would you try another book from E L James and/or Becca Battoe?

no

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

She made the female characters very whiny.

Any additional comments?

The hype for this book was disproportionate to its quality. It dropped a lot of names i felt were just put in to attract a certain crowd. (converse,xbox, bands)
main character is awful.
needed more character development.
its a romance novel.
whatever floats your boat i guess

pretty bad...

What would have made Fifty Shades of Grey better?

From what I had heard I wasn't expecting a literary masterpiece but this reads like it was written by a teenager. To begin with the story line is a joke...you have a girl getting ready to graduate from college who not only is a virgin but has never had a boyfriend or been kissed, yeah right.

Second, she doesn't own a computer (this story is set in 2011, how is that possible??!)

As if the story line itself wasn't bad enough, it was made TRIPLY bad but the worst narration I've ever heard on an audio recording!! The girls tone drones on and the voice she gives ea character is a joke. The male is only 26 yet she makes him sound like a stuffy man!! There is a section whereas the two characters are emailing one another in quick succession...EVERY TIME the narrator read an email she said the time, time zone, who it was from, who it was to, the subject and the salutation...all this took longer to say than the message itself!! If I hear 'oh my' and 'my inner goddess' one more time I'm going to scream!!

Then only redeeming part to this book, if you can overlook the ridiculous characters and annoying reader...are the sex parts, they are pretty steamy

What could E. L. James have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Created a more believable scenario than a girl graduating from college that is a virgin, never even had a boyfriend or been kissed (year right, this is set in 2011!!), she doesn't have a computer (how did she get through college?),

HE is a multi-million, maybe billionaire who is drop dead gorgeous but has never had a regular relationship or 'vanilla sex' before and he's 26 yrs old and only feels good about himself when he's controlling women sexually.

YET

he falls for this girl and they go happily off to his 'red room of pain'...yea right!

How could the performance have been better?

Get a more professional narrator

I couldnt get into it

Would you try another book from E. L. James and/or Becca Battoe?

I think you either love it or not: I was not loving it

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

I couldnt get into the story at all