Fifty Shades Darker (James)

Fifty Shades Darker (Book Two of the Fifty Shades Trilogy)
E.L. James, 2011
Knopf Doubleday
544 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345803498


Summary
Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life. This book is intended for mature audiences. (From the publisher.)

See our Reading Guides for the other books in the Fifty Shades Trilogy: Fifty Shades of Grey, the first book; Fifty Shades Freed, the third.

Author Bio
E L James is a former TV executive, wife and mother of two based in West London. Since early childhood she dreamed of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Sorry, There are no mainstream press reviews online for the Fifty Shades Darker, the second book in the Shades of Grey trilogy. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Fifty Shades Darker:

1. Talk about Ana's state of mind at the beginning of the book. Why does she allow Christian back into her life?

2. Does Ana's explanation about why she never said the safeword at the end of book one make sense to you? Christian wonders whether he can ever trust her again...and she apologizes. Why?

3. Jack, Ana's boss, is one of the new characters introduced in this installment. What do you think of him? Does your opinion of him change as the book progresses?

4. What do you think of Elena, or "Mrs. Robinson" as Ana refers to her? Why does Christian refuse to acknowledge his teenage sexual encounter with her? Why does she desire a friendship with Ana?

5. What's wrong with Leila?

6. What more do you learn about Christian's past? Does that knowledge provide further insight into his character?

7. Why does Ana wish to up the ante (or discipline) with Christian?

8. Talk about the party scene between Ana and Elena toward the end of the book.

9. What do you think of the marriage proposal?

10. Is this just a dirty book—or are there deeper issues at stake here?

11. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Or is it merely a set-up for the sequel?

12. If you've come this far in the trilogy, you'll most likely read the 3rd installment. Any predictions? Or have you had enough?

13. Do either Ana or Christian change from the first book through the end of the second (or does your attitude toward them change)? Has their relationship evolved...or does it remained as it was previously?

14. Review the questions from Fifty Shades of Grey—some of them pertain to this book as well.

15. Time for honesty: are these books a turn on? Would YOU do this? HAVE you done this?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

top of page (summary)