I read a passage at random from one of these these books and closed the book. I like my writers to be interesting and literate.

I agree. I listened to the first 2 books. Didn't know there was a 3rd. There is no way I could have read them, my eyes were rolling at the stupidity, as I listened. I admit to being curious, and being a fan of silly romance novels and movies, I was expecting some degree of vapidness, but not quite that idiotic.

I thought maybe the movie would get it right, but nope. A lot of hype, but it missed the mark all around. Having been curious about bdsm relationships, I had done some research and read articles by real people in that culture which helped me understand a bit of the psychology behind it, but these books/movies didn't match what I had learned. In fact the books totally squashed or spoiled my curiosity. Seems the moral of the story is to put up with abusive behavior if he's rich. Thud.

I was convinced (by a friend) that I would enjoy reading the first book, but I quit almost immediately. I do not enjoy reading anything rife with disrespect and humiliation. It wasn't "sexy" to me, it was disgusting. What I read, and have heard, was not appealing or interesting in any manner. Yuck, no thank you!

Although it's not my favorite genre, I like a few romance novels and I agree with you. I only read a little bit but that's as much as I could get through as the writing was so awful. I tried Twilight as well ... at least I could read more than a chapter of that. As for the movie, I left my comment under @ProudMerrie's post.

They shouldn't even get the honour of being called books... the writing is garbage... how many goddam side to side periods, instead of commas, can that person use for emphasis??! He was abusive; particularily emotionally and psychologically abusive... I've only read 1.5 of the books so cannot say if he becomes physically abusive later on... controlling and stalking one's life are forms of abuse... sorry not sorry.

I can think of few ‘books’ further down my list ...literally laughing as I type. Thanks for confirming my suspicion

I leafed through one in a charity shop just to see what all the hype was about. Boring soft porn in my opinion

I do not. The book has good fantasies and people see their wishes fulfilled through the characters in the book.

Have you wondered why the book is loved around the world and was so popular? There are millions of others who love the stuff and characters in the book who are not like us and love that stuff. I have noticed that women at work... many of whom are conservatives loved the book.