I might repeat myself but with the end of this trilogy, you see that these books show very blunt that its readers will either love it or hate it. E. L. James manages it like no other to polarize with her stories, the style she writes about passion and the dialogues you can read in the story. If you don´t expect too much, you will be able to enjoy the novel and have some sort of fun one way or the other.
Fifty Shades Freed*
Publisher Vintage on April 17, 2012
Genre Love-Women-Erotica
Pages 579
Format Paperback
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When unworldly student Anastasia Steele first encountered the driven and dazzling young entrepreneur Christian Grey it sparked a sensual affair that changed both of their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and, ultimately, repelled by Christian´s singular erotic taste, Ana demands a deeper commitment. Determined to keep her, Christian agrees. Now, Ana and Christian have it all – love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian´s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own identity. And Christian must overcome his compulsion to control as he wrestles with the demons of a tormented past. Just when it seems, that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to make Ana´s deepest fears turn to reality.
Story
Christian and Ana have an unusual marriage – at least in the eyes of the others. No day is the same, no night the previous. Ana enjoys days full of happiness and love, experiences how Christian seamlessly changes from the protective role of friend and lover to that of the also protecting husband and defers everything else when a bad accident happens, and Ana is completely confused.
Style
The author has remained true to her language style and in her third part of this trilogy, E. L. James managed to bring together the right mix of eroticism, passion and everyday life. Right at the beginning of the novel, the reader is thrown into the past by Christian Grey with a prologue, and from Christian´s first-person perspective experiences one of the most horrific horror scenes for him. The plot is often very predictable for the reader, but the scene between Ana and Gia, during a house renovation meeting, is awesome – and has literally burned into my mind. Ana is in top form, makes it unmistakably clear who is in charge and clearly dictates the rules of the game. The tone of this scene is fantastic and the way she speaks plain text was just great! But as entertaining as I found the novel in many places, the plot got too cheesy in the last third. Above all, the end – that could have been phrased differently.
Characters
Christian Grey finally reveals his real soul and, as already suspected, it is incredibly fragile and shaken. In some passages, I had the feeling that I was dealing with a small child during some scenes with Christian Grey only to see myself a few lines later towards an uncompromising and emotionally cold businessman. For Ana, this also means walking a tightrope in everyday life. If one can speak of everyday life when living with Grey. And a total emotional roller coaster.
E. L. James`s characters are convincing, even if I asked myself at one point or another whether they really felt the original characters that way or only made a slight change as part of their commercial success.
Conclusion
A novel that is entertaining and does not place great demands on its readership. Passionate scenes, highly erotic moments and two well-known characters offer relaxed reading pleasure and, in the end, even a little surprise – at least for me, it was.
Happy reading
*I read the German edition by Goldmann on October 24, 2012
E. L. James
The British author E.L. James was an employee of a TV station in London. Her “Fifty Shades” trilogy, which has sold more than 150 million copies globally and has been translated into 52 languages, was initially published by a small Australian publisher and became the most sensational international book success of recent times through word of mouth. The first volume, “Fifty Shades of Grey” was on the Spiegel bestseller list for 147 weeks. And the film versions of the three volumes broke all records. E. L. James lives in West London with her husband, writer and screenwriter Niall Leonard, and their two sons.
