Fifty Shades of Grey reviewed by Slate Audio Book Club: Get ready for the movie with our discussion of the book.

Listen to Slate’s Audio Book Club Discuss Fifty Shades of Grey

Listen to Slate’s Audio Book Club Discuss Fifty Shades of Grey

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Slate's Culture Blog
Feb. 13 2015 8:02 AM

Get Ready for the Fifty Shades Movie With the Slate Audio Book Club

50_shades_screenshot
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015).

Chuck Zlotnick © Universal Pictures

With the release of the Fifty Shades of Grey movie in theaters this week, wandering minds are drifting back towards the world of E.L. James’ blockbuster erotic novel. In this episode of the Audio Book Club, previously published around the height of Fifty Shades mania, Slate culture editor Dan Kois, Slate culture critic Meghan O’Rourke, and Slate DoubleX founder Hanna Rosin debate the merits of the book.

O’Rourke describes it as maybe the worst book she’s read in her life, but still has quite a bit to say about the book’s issues of class. Rosin expanded on her ideas from her March 2012 piece about the book’s sexual politics and admitted that a second read had led her to better understand why every woman she knew was reading and loving the book. Kois attempted to perform Christian Grey’s “gray gaze” on the radio. You can listen to the full, spoiler-filled discussion book.

Dan Kois edits and writes for Slate’s human interest and culture departments. He’s the co-author, with Isaac Butler, of The World Only Spins Forward, a history of Angels in America, and is writing a book called How to Be a Family.

Meghan O’Rourke is Slate’s culture critic and an advisory editor. She was previously an editor at the New Yorker. The Long Goodbye, a memoir about her mother’s death, is now out in paperback.

Hanna Rosin is the co-host of NPR’s Invisibilia and a founder of DoubleX. She is also the author of The End of Men. Follow her on Twitter.