50 Shades of Grey versus The Story of O

A fellow blogger recommended that I read The Story O on a post I did about 50 Shades of Grey. I have read so many controversial articles about The Story of O so I thought I would read it and compare the 2 stories. (Click here to read my original post: Mommy Porn)

Just to give you some background, my first introduction to BDSM was when I read a book last year called “The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty” by Anne Rice.  I absolutely loathed the book.  But I also could not put in down.  The curious side of me just wanted to keep reading, so I did.  After reading it, my opinion of BDSM was still very negative.  How could anyone do this to women, and  why would any woman want someone to do this to them. I was totally grossed out and vowed never to read anything which referred to BDSM ever again.

But then Hubby came across an article about all the hype surrounding 50 Shades if Grey.  So I thought I would see what all the hype was about and I downloaded the book.

50 Shades of Grey, by EL James:

is about Anastasia Steele, a 22 year old virgin / college senior who lives with her best friend Katherine.  She is swept off her feet by a young handsome millionaire names Christian. He dotes on her and she is besotted with him. However, he is a little kinky and expects her to sign a BDSM contract. It ends up with her not signing the contract but willing to try all sorts of kinky things providing he tries “vanilla sex” (just good old plain sex).  She keeps referring to her “Inner Goddess” when referring to the adventurous, sex-crazed part of her psyche that eggs her on to go farther with Christian.  

The Story of O, by Pauline Reage

originally published in 1954, is about a woman  referred to as O.  Her lover, René, brings her to the château of Roissy, where she is trained to serve men of an elite group. After the training, René hands O to Sir Stephen, a more dominant master. René wants O to learn to serve someone whom she does not love, and someone who does not love her. Over the course of this training, O falls in love with Sir Stephen and believes him to be in love with her as well. Sir Stephen eventually decides to move O to Samois, an old mansion solely inhabited by women for advanced training and body modifications related to submission. There she agrees to receive a branding and a labia piercing with rings marked with Sir Stephen’s initials and insignia. 

My Synopsis:

Just like the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, I did not enjoy the Story of O at all.  And these are some of the reasons:

• I have never seen so many spelling errors in a book.  I know spellcheck was not invented in the 1950’s but I would have thought they would have spellchecked it when they digitized it.
• The book was not very long – in fact the story just seemed to finish with no ending.  One minute she belongs to Sir Stephen and is branded by him and then he abandons her.  So not sure what the point of the branding and labia piercing was.
• There are no dirty words in this book – the story keeps referring to O’s private parts as her “belly” – I suppose this is because this book was written so long ago.   As far a I’m concerned – call a spade a spade!  Referring to someone stroking your wet belly just isn’t an erotic picture.

I downloaded 50 Shades of Grey purely to see what all the hype was about and I could not put the book down and these are some of the reasons:

• It was easy to read.
• In fact, it was so easy to read, I downloaded the other 2 books and it took me about 10 days to read all 3.
• Somehow, the book explained BDSM in a friendlier way.  It made me want to find out more.  It also made me aware that there are many levels of BDSM and not all of it bad.
• It somehow aspires to what all women want – to be swept off our feet by a handsome millionaire (who also happens to be kinky)
• I have read a lot of negative remarks about the spelling and grammar – but trust me – I was not thinking about the spelling or the grammar while I was reading it.
• Just because we find this book to be erotic and turns us on – does not mean we all want to be whipped or chained.
• Someone left a comment on my original Mommy Porn post and said “if her husband showed up with the care and attention Grey gave to Anastasia , the answer would always be YES!” and I think this pretty much sums it up