I'm new to the boards here. And I really need a female opinion.

Could you give me some feedback and insight on the Fifty Shades phenomenon.

I'm involved in a project that attempts to figure out what my clueless gender could and should learn from Fifty Shades of Grey.

First and foremost, I'm wondering 1). should men invest the time to read the book, and what could (should) they learn from the story and from the person of Christian Grey.

Could you take a stab at any or all of the following questions:

• How important is the chiseled billionaire part - or is more about who he is as a person?
• What is it about Christian that makes him so appealing?

* why would a stalkerish control freak like Grey intrigue a woman when she should just run away?
• Is it a bona fide hit or did it piggyback on Twilight and just replace the supernatural elements with vivid descriptions of nonstop sex and kink ( as some would say)?
• How realistic is the story?
• Any other miscellaneous thoughts?

Based on what I've seen so far - mostly Amazon reviews - most reviewers say that it is poorly edited with a minimal storyline - and copious amounts of sex are used to compensate what it lacks in other areas. But they also say that they couldn't put the book down, love the honest dialogue, and have all but fallen for Christian Grey.

Any thoughts you might like to share will be invaluable and greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark