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

An Awful Book with Unpleasant Narration

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

From the moment I started listening to this book, I knew it would be a difficult experience. The narrator's voice is extremely annoying. She didn't have much to work with, though. Fifty Shades is terrible. The story would possibly be better if it portrayed a BDSM lifestyle in a more positive light instead of making it sound like something one should be "saved" from and forced into a more typical sexual relationship. I've read better BDSM erotica for free on the internet, by the way. The sex scenes were not even very sexy. Unfortunately, I do not think the writing can be saved- it is terribly, terribly written.

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

It has not. Actually, I am more determined to find a well-written, well-researched, realistic, sexy BDSM themed novel. I absolutely hate how popular this book is.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator tried too hard to make a man's voice. It may have been better if both a man and a woman narrated. Also, her valley-girl voice was hard to listen to.

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

Honestly, no. It's a generic Woman-tames-Man-into-marriage story with awful writing that defames practitioners of BDSM. I suppose one redeeming quality of this book's popularity, however, is that many people overlook the implications the book makes about how "unhealthy" a BDSM lifestyle is. Instead, they pick up on how hot it can be and try it out themselves. As a result, BDSM may be perceived more positively in general. On the other hand, these individuals are frequently practicing unsafely due to ignorance. Safety is a key component of BDSM.

Any additional comments?

Worst. This book is terribly written. It is riddled with redundant, ridiculous phrases, and the plot is absurd. My biggest qualm with the book is its portrayal of a BDSM lifestyle. It leaves one with the impression that anyone who practices such dominance must have been abused or have some mental illness. The whole premise of the story seems to be that the main character can "fix" Grey and his "depravity" while simultaneously engaging in a non-communicative, bordering on non-consensual, sexual lifestyle immediately following the loss of her virginity. I can't imagine a serious Dominant trying to coerce a virgin into his lifestyle while actually falling in love with her. It's such a girlish fantasy. I'm not saying, by any means, that there is no room for love in BDSM, just that this particular scenario is terrible. Depictions of BDSM in pop culture are negative enough as it is. The author clearly did not do enough accurate research. There is much better BDSM erotica out there on the web, if that is what you're interested in. Stay away from this awful book. I wish it was not so popular.

Car Wreck

This book is like a car wreck, you don't want to slow down and look, but you can't help it. You want to stop listening, but you want to know how it ends. The reason this book is sooo long is because it keeps going over the same stuff over and over and over again. Enough. If you want to write an erotic book, just do so, but don't beat us over the head with the same stuff or have the narrator read emails including the to, the from, the date, the time, the signature. I wanted to stick a pencil in my ears.

Trash

Trash. Poor grammar. Poor plot. Trash. Did I say trash? I am no prude, but this was a sad piece of literary work. Unfortunately the hype intrigues many. One word if you are intrigued.....Library. I want a refund.

Boring

Wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. Maybe the actual book works, but didn't work at all for me as an audio book! Just repetitive and boring.

True boredom

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

Someone with no imagination and a lower level of education

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

I have read erotica, this is simply not written well and drones on.

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

No

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

Every repetitive OH Christian and Baby scene

Any additional comments?

waste of time.

How I end up listening to this garbage?

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

I really hate to write bad reviews and truly respect those who work up the nerve to write something and expose themselves out there to be read and judged. Having heard so much about this book I decided to give it a shot but it goes without saying that I was extremely disappointed. How I end up listening to this garbage? I wish I had taken the time out to read reviews on different sites before downloading it to my kindle. The story is not sexy at all I absolutely hated Grey and Ana I was hoping for his helicopter to crash and put an end to this ridiculous redundant mess. I have learned never to go by the five star reviews again. The book is mostly about sex and a naïve, clumsy, innocent girl Anna who orgasms at everything/or anytime his billionaire boyfriend moves/emails her/touches her. Then if you remove the parts where Anna blushes and orgasms the book will be down to 25 pages. This is the most appalling, immature book I have ever read. The bad news is I’ve bought the whole trilogy I did not know that this book will turn out to be so dumb. I will have to read the whole trilogy now. If some of you are thinking about reading it please don’t! I wonder how someone (the author) who is right in her mind could write a book where she repeats over and over the same word. I wish I hadn’t bought this garbage.

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

I was mad, let down and hated the book! As far as I am concerned this book does not deserve to be called book at all! This is fifty shades of sh*t!

Any additional comments?

No

Unispired

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

The story is childish and basically boring. I am trying to keep listening to it, but I feel like I am trying to pay attention to a teenager's account of romance with no real layers.

Any additional comments?

It's very sad, since I was looking forward to some well written erotic romance, but this book came across as neither romantic nor hot enough. Can't figure out what the fuss is all about.

Waste of my time. Nothing but bad PORN!!!

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?
Everything. Who gave this thing more than 1 star is stupid. NO woman should put
up with the SHXX that ASSHXXX dished out. Book was crap.

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

Would you be willing to try another one of Becca Battoe’s performances?
not sure.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
NO nothing but bad pron. Don't understand the draw.

Don't waste your time. It's an awful waste of $$

What disappointed you about Fifty Shades of Grey?

From the opening paragraph i knew it was going to be bad, but i had no idea how bad. i got the book because everyone was talking about it and i wanted to know what all the hype was about the new "Mommy Po$n". The story lacked any sort of plot flow and character definition. The main character was whiny and annoyingly self-deprecating, and i swear if i hear about her "inner goddess" one more time i'll loose it.
There's no way i'd ever read or listen to the other two books, even though there's no way they could be any more sorely written than this one.

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

No.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator wasn't the issues, the story itself was.

What character would you cut from Fifty Shades of Grey?

Anna

Overhyped.....

This book has had so much press I had to check it out...... The narrator is not suited for the theme of the story. An irritating voice for certain. The story itself isn't really new or even as sensual as I expected. I should have saved my credit.