There are two things that everyone is saying about Fifty Shades of Gray:
It is not well written.
You can’t put it down.
To recap for anyone who’s just waking up from a refreshing six month nap: Fifty Shades of Gray by E.L. James, along with its sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, has topped bestseller lists around the world for months. The trilogy has sold well over 20 million copies, and is the fastest selling paperback series of all time, leaping ahead of Harry Potter. There are well over 8,000 reviews on Amazon.
The one thing you hear over and over – often in an embarrassed whispered by your most highbrow friends — is that you can’t put it down.
The question is: why?
The answer is: Fifty Shades of Gray does exactly what a good story needs to do in order to captivate the reader’s brain. It catapults us into the protagonist’s skin and allows us to feel the emotional costs – and, um, benefits – of navigating the escalating problem she’s bound to struggle with. (Sorry, couldn’t resist. Ever notice that when talking about sex everything becomes a double entendre?)
By thrusting us into a risky situation that, let’s be honest, we’ve always been a wee bit curious about — you know, solely in the academic sense — James’ protagonist Anastasia Steele lets us experience what it would be like to take those risks – pretty much risk free. Except, of course, for the risk of being seen actually buying the book. Which might account for the sign seen recently in the window of a Malibu bookstore that simply says, “Shhh, we won’t tell” — and proves it by selling the book discretely wrapped in brown paper.
Which brings us to the real secret of the novel’s success – of any story’s success. There’s something that prose gives us that nothing else does – not real life, not movies, not plays. Prose provides direct access to the most alluring and otherwise inaccessible realm imaginable: someone else’s mind.
Prose let us experience what something really feels like, as opposed to what we’re willing to admit to on the surface. Story is about all those things that we brood on, fantasize over, and wonder about, but would never actually talk about for fear of making a fool of ourselves. Or worse, for fear of finding out that we are, indeed, the only one who feels it. Story shows us we’re not alone. That’s what the reader comes for.
And good writing? That’s gravy. Yes, the writing in Fifty Shades of Gray is clunky (I mean, “holy crap” 44 times? once was too much), but James more deft storyteller than it might seem at first blush.
For instance, writers often forget to let the reader know what the protagonist’s expectations are, so when those expectations aren’t met (and they almost never are – that’s kind of the point), the reader is clueless. James lets us know exactly what Anastasia expects, beginning with her first fateful meeting with the enigmatic Christian Gray. And so clunky writing be damned, a whole lot of us want to know what happens next.
Would Fifty Shades of Gray be “better” if it was well written? Absolutely. Does it matter that it’s not?
Well, it hasn’t stopped over twenty million people from reading it. That means one of two things. Either all those people are idiots, or “good writing” doesn’t mean nearly as much as we’ve been lead to believe when it comes to hooking readers.
Which would you put your money on?
I haven’t read it yet, but I had to take my 85-year-old mother to the bookstore because she wanted to buy it. I guess I’ll have to borrow her copy to get in the mood with twenty million other readers.
You go, mom! That sounds like a story in itself, Darrelyn. When that many people are drawn to something, the most interesting, and revealing, question is: why? And hey, doing a little undercover research into it can be fun. I’m just saying!
Great post but I have to disagree with your conclusion: the success of FIFTY SHADES doesn’t really come down to only two things. Good writing still means a lot to most readers and there have always been books – ever since there have been books — that have captured the popular literary imagination, by both good writers and bad (when Victor Hugo died in Paris last century, thousands and thousands of ordinary readers attended the public funeral of the very fine author of LES MISERABLES, amongst others. Ditto Dickens, a very fine writer, and a very, very successful writer).
There are always idiots amongst us, just as there are non-idiots; there is always good writing, and bad. As Malcolm Gladwell argues in THE TIPPING POINT, there needs to be a raft of specific things in place for a tipping point to be reached and for, say, hula hoop madness to infect the world, or Dan Brown madness (now there’s execrable writing for you).
FIFTY SHADES madness is about reading what everyone else is talking about, or at least buying the book that everyone else is talking about. I don’t know that you can take many lessons at all from its success: people are buying it because other people are buying it — a kinda domino effect.
BUT what does it say about certain womens’ fantasies about being overpowered by sexy millionaires? That’s the interesting part!
Thanks for the interesting post! Best wishes
Thanks Susan! Well said. I completely agree, there is a tipping point, and a lot of people are buying the book because everyone is talking about it — curiosity is a powerful force. But I’d venture to say that the exact same thing is true of books like ULYSSES — people buy it based on the fact that it’s touted as the best novel ever. But far fewer actually read it (although they’ve been known to troll for the dirty bits).
What I love here is that you allow me to clarify an important point: I’m not saying that good writing doesn’t mean a lot to readers (it sure does!), it’s that good writing alone doesn’t cut it. In a contest between story-less good writing and a poorly written page turner, the page turner would win hands down. But add good writing to the mix? Yeow! It doesn’t get better than that, as the massive crowds at Dickens’ and Hugo’s funerals attest.
Love the post. I agree with you Fifty is full of “clunky”
language and could be written better. The appeal to me is, of
course the characters and plot. I, too, can’t put it down and
that’s what a writer’s dream is . . . to be so addictive that the reader wants more and be entertained as well. For a first
effort E.L. James as done remarkably well and with time her
writing will improve. (We all want our first novels to be a
best seller worldwide, don’t we?)
I completely agree on every count, Angela. Well said!
I think story telling is more important than good writing. After all, books are just written stories. If the story’s no good, what’s the point.
On the other hand, everyone’s taste is different.
There was one popular series that millions of people loved that I couldn’t continue reading because not only did I disagree with the beliefs put forth, but I couldn’t read another word of the abysmal writing.
The opposite end of the spectrum includes books that are so obtuse and esoteric that literary critics love them, and regular readers either love them or hate them.
Why then do so many writers work so hard to become skilled at their craft?
One of the reasons is that we are all working with a finite number of known facts and plots from which to make a story. So that the difference between stories becomes not so much what they are about, but how they are told.
Good writing is not a story. But a story is a work of art with good writing.
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The writing was bad. The story hooked me. I liken 50 Shades to a well written movie with a low budget and B grade actors. Once I get hooked in the story I forgive the downfalls.