All this fuss about Fifty Shades of Grey! I wonder how many people have actually read all three books? Sado-masochism is only half the story. When you’ve waded through the entire oeuvre, if such appalling writing can be dignified with that term, you discover that the whole story is one of redemption. The ostensibly wicked, but aptly named, Christian is actually a tormented man who was cruelly abused by his mother and re-enacts this cruelty towards his lovers. But with a good woman (and a baby), pervy dungeons vanish and love conquers all. Pure Mills & Boon.
These days I don’t go to films. I watch the trailers instead and I’ve saved myself hours of misery. Wild, Birdman, Whiplash — I listen with schadenfreude as friends describe the torture they’ve suffered watching films like these. Were there a trailer for the new Stoppard play I’d watch that to confirm that I don’t want to go.
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