David Shobin becomes cause celebre with review of Fifty Shades of Grey

One Amazon reviewer’s comments on E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey has become something of a viral hit over the past 24 hours, as David Shobin’s views of the erotic novel have been mentioned by Vanity Fair, the LA Times, Gawker and a variety of other media sources. You can read the review here.

Shobin’s 3-star review is titled ‘An older man on truckling’ and he talks about how his arthritis flared up as he read the steamy novel in which a woman submits herself to the desires of her new lover. The review has been almost as big a hit as the novel itself, with an astounding 3,169 people (at the time of writing) having clicked that they find it helpful.

So it seems we’ve now reached the point where people can become (semi) famous simply by posting an amusing or interesting Amazon review. That’s certainly a bit of a game-changer. Or is this just an extension of the ‘Old people are funny on the internet’ meme? Either way, there’s been no comment so far from Shobin himself about his new-found ‘fame’.