What women want?!

Finally finished Fifty Shades Freed this morning. So Mr. Arrogant and Mrs. Self-Obsessed ride off into the sunset with the perfect children and perfect house etc. etc. etc. I don't think they would be very nice people in real life, after all, many of the people they meet want to kill/kidnap/impoverish the pair of them. Ana only has Kate as a friend (I had trouble with Ethan, who was he???), or Jose, who just wanted to stalk her (I guess E. L. was always on team Eddie. Shockingly couldn't remember his name there. Team Adrian? Who has a vampire hero called Adrian?!). Christian also came across as a bit of a git in the reverse pov at the end, but then I suppose we were meant to accept that he'd been changed by love (barf).  


Poor old Jose, he got nothing in the end. Everybody else paired up with each other, he didn't even get a half-vampire baby to love. I suppose Ana could've hired him as a nanny to make up for it (although I can't remember if anything happened to the mysterious Ethan at the end...oh, no, didn't he end up with Mia? See, Ethan metal block. The man is some sort of void).
 
Can't be too supercilious though, I have just read the books right to the end. Struggling through the last one, which I thought was quite ludicrous. I guess that's why fairytale writers don't do sequels. Happy ever after gets dull quickly, especially when you're as rich as Croesus. It quickly becomes a litany of holidays, dull work stories, expensive presents, shopping and building new houses together. That, along with the sickly sweet 'oh, my Fifty, you're SO wonderful' stuff makes a dull book. Evidently, you need an accident and a good kidnapping to spice things up. I noticed how she almost couldn't be bothered to write about all the amazing sex they were having. We went from quite descriptive stuff to coying closing the bedroom door in some of it, but then I guess even sex gets boring if you're doing it every three pages. At least E. L. could have a break from smut writing about Ana's angst about Ray and her recovery from the dramatic kidnapping. 

I suppose if I was to go all literary theory, the obvious path would be Ana as a feminist. Richardson warned in 1748 (Clarissa) about the perils of trying to change a man, in that case, trying to change a rake. Does Ana change him? I think that the author wants us to assume that he has been changed by his relationship with her. She doesn't seem to have changed that much in return, although she expects him to trust her she doesn't trust him enough to tell him what's going on with Mia and the kidnapping. Also, she accuses him of behaving like an adolescent after she dresses up like a slut (to annoy him) and flounces about ignoring him rather than talking rationally like an adult about him contacting his ex-dom. Pot calling there, I think. 

Food is a re-occuring motif in the trilogy, as Ana unconsciouly uses it as a weapon almost. I noticed that if she was angry with him she would stop eating or refuse to eat, but during episodes in the book where she was accepting his sexual advances she would either agree to his entreaties to eat or spontanously feel hungry.

As a 'feminist heroine', she's strong-willed, yet obviously attracted to someone who wants to dominate her not only in the bedroom, but also have people follow her about and nag her to eat all the time. In the meeting told from Christian's pov, he recognises that there is a certain element of submissiveness in her character in the way that she looks at him. From reading this it's evident that he has managed to change her appearence to suit himself in the course of the books. Despite the strong personality, I wouldn't think of her as someone to aspire to be like, like Bella in Twilight she can be a bit too stubborn about the wrong things. However, I am not agreeing with Samatha Black, (the woman who is so beautiful no other woman will talk to her) here, another one of my 'friends' from the Daily Mail. Thanks for the warning there Sam, I will make sure I am carefully tucked up in bed with a cup of cocoa and maybe the latest Adele Parks not trying out the dangerous degrading BDSM from this book. Missionary position it is, girls. Suppose I am even more of an anti-feminist now. 


I guess I'm supposed to love the books or hate them. I can't say that I loved them or hated them. The first two were an entertaining diversion, and I'm glad that they provoke discussion. However, I think the last one went downhill. I think you have to accept them as they are, then go watch Secretary. 

Much better! (Wikipedia Link)