Wednesday, July 30, 2014

50 Shades of Discernment

I started following a new Instagram and found this picture.

I try to be very careful about what I read and what I post about what I read or haven't read.  I don't like to bash a book if I haven't read it.  This image made me wonder about Fifty Shades of Grey again.  There has been so much talk about it.  

Most people pick a book after reading the description on the back or on Amazon.  I don't have a copy in front of me, so I headed over to Amazon to see what someone else wrote about it.  I wanted to know what the preview is about the book from someone who is trying to sell it instead of push me away from it.  

Here is the preview from Amazon
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.
 
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This book is intended for mature audiences.

I found the reviews really helpful too.  It seems that quite a few people have read this book and had something to say about it.  I really enjoyed one person checking to see if the book was written by a 16 year-old girl because it was so ridiculous!  

Either way, I don't think the content of the book is appropriate for me to read.  I don't want to imagine these situations when I'm with my husband.  We have our own thing going.  

You might ask why I'm even spending this time on such a book, to research it, to blog about it.  I'm trying to show that all literature has value.  So what is the value in this type of book?  Even without reading it?  I don't know that it has any moral value that would make God ok with it.  Of course, I haven't read it to know the answer to that.  However, I can see from the reviews that it does highlight the values of an immoral society.  This is a snap shot of the culture in which we live.  Not many people may be living this life style, if anyone at all, but people crave this type of entertainment and fantasy.  

Personally, I've read enough from Amazon to move past this book.