Kathryn's Inbox

Okay. I've snapped. Actually, many regular visitors to this blog might well argue that I snapped long ago and they may very well be right. The truth is, the whole Fifty Shades of Grey  phenomena has never sat well with me and it probably never well. Anyway, the reason for my latest burst of anger on the subject has come from a shopping trip this afternoon at a popular shopping centre in the southern suburbs. Now, silly me though that it might be nice to walk to the bookstore and browse the new releases. And what do I get? This: Fifty Shades of Grey. Three bays, filled from top to bottom with copies of Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed . And yes, that bottom poster on the right is also advertising Fifty Shades of Grey . All other new and popular releases by talented and well-respected authors such as Stephen King, Penny Vincenzi and Richelle Mead that would normally occupy this section of bookstore have been pushed a littl...

In which our heroine marries her abusive boyfriend and gets herself knocked up, consequently ruining her life because she is a complete idiot.  Okay, I confess. It actually took me two months to read the first three chapters of Fifty Shades Freed. Mostly this was because I was repeatedly distracted by books that I actually considered worthy of reading.  Anyway, from the perspective of the plot, Fifty Shades Freed is probably about the nicest book in the trilogy. This is the one where Christian and Ana marry and an incident involving a kidnapper finally teachers Christian that he cannot control every aspect of his life. Christian makes peace with his past, he and Ana have children, blah, blah, blah ... The same problems with bad writing, Ana's inner goddess and a talking subconscious plague the novel, along with the glamourising of abusive relationships and the gross misrepresentation of BDSM. The fact is, an abusive relationships do not have a ha...

In which Ana returns to Christian and resumes their abusive relationship because she is an idiot. I really do not understand why this whole series is so popular. If  Fifty Shades of Grey  a book which basically depicted an abusive control freak and his successful attempt at seducing an innocent virgin into a kinky, semi-sadomasochistic arrangement, is supposedly liberating then how come Christian Grey shows all the signs of being an abusive partner. Seriously. The guy controls every aspect of Ana's life, from what she eats to what she wears. He even hires people to sit outside her workplace all day and watch her and seems to object to the idea of her undertaking any type of paid employment at all. He justifies his behaviour with pathetic statements that go somewhere along the lines of, "This is who I am," and "This is the only way I know how to be." And if you've read the series and don't believe me that the relationship is abusive, I suggest you...