It's true -- Fifty Shades of Grey is pretty much all anyone can talk about. Maybe it's because we're just so sex-starved as a country that E.L. James' schlocky writing was a breath of hot, horny air for readers, or maybe it's because sticky summer nights offer the perfect excuse to bury your nose in a sexy book. But for all the hype about the books, there sure are a lot of complaints. Mainly about the writing, which we all know is not going to win Mrs. Erika Leonard a Pulitzer for Fiction anytime soon.
So, for all you haters out there -- and even for fans who can laugh at themselves -- here are excerpts from some of the best one-star reviews for Fifty on Amazon, which may be even more entertaining to read than the steamy trilogy itself!
"About half way through the book, I looked up the author to see if she was a teenager. I really did because the characters are out of a 16 year old's fantasy. ... If you take out the parts where the female character is blushing or chewing her lips, the book will be down to about 50 pages. Almost on every single page, there is a whole section devoted to her blushing, chewing her lips or wondering 'Jeez' about something or another." -meymoon
"The author makes sex and eroticism as boring as mowing lawns." -Gary F. Mullins
"This has to be the most appallingly atrocious writing I've ever seen in a major release. The pseudonymous British author sets the action (such as it is) in Washington State ... but the entire first-person narrative is filled with Britishisms. How many American college students do you know who talk about 'prams,' 'ringing' someone on the phone, or choosing a 'smart rucksack' to take 'on holiday'? And the author's geography sounds like she put together a jigsaw puzzle of the Pacific Northwest while drunk and ended up with several pieces in the wrong place." -DS from LA, who also used their Kindle to note how many times Ana says "jeez" (81), "oh my" (72), among other hilarious observations
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"Is anyone else catching that this guy is a sociopath? Controlling, jealous, isolating.... just remember- Ted Bundy was considered good looking as well." -L. Reigner
"I found myself thinking 'Twilight, plus some spanking, minus the sparkly vampires.' Here, I'll save you all some time (SPOILER ALERT): Once upon a time... I'm Ana. I'm clumsy and naive. I like books. I dig this guy. He couldn't possibly like me. He's rich. I wonder if he's gay? His eyes are gray. Super gray. Intensely gray. Intense AND gray. Serious and gray. Super gray. Dark and gray. [insert 100+ other ways to say 'gray eyes' here] I blush. I gasp. He touches me 'down there.' I gasp again. He gasps. We both gasp. I blush some more. I gasp some more. I refer to my genitals as 'down there' a few more times. I blush some more. Sorry, I mean I 'flush' some more. I bite my lip. He gasps a lot more. More gasping. More blushing/flushing. More lip biting. Still more gasping. The end." -Ebeth822
"This novel (if a bunch of childish, repetition words comprise a novel) is the biggest load of crap I've come across since visiting a dairy farm in Wisconsin when I was 7. My tabby cat could write better sex scenes than this woman." -Cynthia Ivers
"'Down There?' are you kidding me? It's called a vagina. Grow up. ... I feel stupid for reading this book and wish I had spent that ten bucks on socks." -Taylor
"I have seen Twilight referred to as vampire romance with training wheels. Well, this Twilight fanfiction (rewritten with new character names) is erotic romance with training wheels, a helmet, and shin pads." -Reviewer Aus
"Fifty Shades of Grey is not the first book I've thrown across the room -- it's the second -- but it is the first book I also kicked after it hit the floor." -Joanna Bell
"This book is absolute and complete garbage in every possible sense. Try to imagine of the smell of a large crate full of month-old eggs in the dumpster behind a questionable greasy spoon diner on a muggy, sticky August morning. With a dead skunk on top. And garbage juice dripping onto the pavement. And a drunk guy urinating onto the whole thing. Now imagine rolling in that dumpster. Naked. That's how this book made me feel." -Celtic Thistle "Kelly"
Even if you liked the book, you have to admit -- how hilarious are these reviews?! What's the funniest thing you've heard or read about the book?
Image via Amazon
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Comments 60
I did end up liking the books but you are so right these reviews are very funny and also true! I hadn't even noticed all the British wording in there. What really got me in the first book (aside from all the stuff mentioned above) is the use of the word 'belly' Like she could feel his manhood pressing against her "belly" WTF! Bellies are for children and pregnant women! That was just one of the many reasons I almost didn't get through the first book, but once I did the 2nd two books got much better.
Okay I have to say Ebeth822 was the best one. I was laughing so hard I actually was crying buy the end of her review!!!
Look these books are NOT going to win any writing prizes. It is fan fiction. Total fluff reading. Why do all these people expect these books to be prize winning potential? I've read the trilogy and enjoyed it. It's not something everyone will like just like the books that inspired this. Enough said.
I agree with what Andie said about the term, "my sex," used for Ana's vagina. I mean, come on. This young female character just graduated from college. Even if she was fairly naive in a sexual sense, she surely learned the real name for "down there" sometime in the fourth grade (or earlier).