[Mr. X]

Discussion of the recent publishing phenomenon – what you liked, what you hated, what turned you off, what turned you on, and what thoughts the book inspired about erotica.

[Alix James]

I will comment as, somewhat ironically, I have read it. Now, lets start with how in Gods green earth I came to actually read this. I have heard about it, seen it prominently featured on Amazon’s website when considering “erotic literature” and though never tempeted to buy it, was struck by how popular and omni-present it had become in such a short period of time… Then I see that my wife has downloaded it on the recommendation from her mother of all people (God is Oprah’s Book club even promoting this?). Now, I have my own proclivities and my own challenges for getting my wife on the same page with me on certain of these…but knowing that she would be reading it, I simply couldn’t resist both the opportunity to look at it, have her know I was looking at it and using it as a springboard to launch into a much more robust conversation with her about the topic overall.

I thought the story itself was reasonably well written. The authors “voice” was entertaining and l liked the way that the main character had three distinct perspectives, her inner goddess, her cynical conscience and her uncomfortable self…It went into much less of the BDSM dynamic or practice than I would have expected, but hey, it had the guts to put that out on the table in the chic lit/beach read format that will reach a broad audience. It does run through the conflicting emotions that this concept creates, it does capture the mental struggle to accept certain realities and it does it in a popular style.

It is light and fluffy and somewhat informative from a literary perspective, but a true breakthrough in the sense that it enabled two very important topics – notions of equality and women’s sexuality – to break squarely into the mainstream consciousness… Whether you find it to your tastes or not, or particularly even authentic, everyone here (who I presume is more comfortable with and fluent in much more heavy thought on their own sexuality) should think about how this book could be used to improve their own dialog with others who otherwise would not find themselves on this site or discussing these topics.

[Author]

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