Feminists

couple days. Books 2 and 3 weren't as difficult to get through because after book 1, the human brain turns to cold, raw oatmeal.

I just don't see the appeal in this series, and the problem isn't just the BDSM themes. It's a good roadmap for "How To Run A Successful Abusive Relationship", and that's the only area where the story works. The writing is awful, foul, bad, junior-high-writing-project terrible. The dialogue is awkward. The much-touted sex is as badly written as everything else, and is not sexy. The storyline is so thin you can cut a hole in the wall and use the book as a window. If you go in with the knowledge that this started as Twilight fanfic, it's possible to see a few shadows of the equally shallow Bella in Ana, but overall Ana isn't very deeply developed even though she is the viewpoint character. The peripheral characters are cardboard cutouts. Christian Grey is the only character with any real depth- and Christian is a controlling, mentally abusive horse's ass. Even the obligatory horrible childhood flashbacks didn't make him sympathetic.

I have seen Harlequin romances that were better reads.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put some Terry Pratchett on the Kindle and try to resurrect my suffocating brain cells.