Title: Twilight
Author: Stephanie Meyer
Date Begun: June 20, 2007
Date Completed: June 20, 2007
Stephanie Meyer seems like a pretty nice person (with tragic music taste), so it made me sad when I didn't like Twilight even a little bit. I would have been sadder if I'd paid money for it though.
You're probably thinking "You're reading Twilight now? Way to lose track of the YA literature bandwagon there." And you have a point. The Stephanie Meyer phenomenon is well-documented already. But the third novel is coming out this summer, and it didn't seem too inappropriate to review the first one.
Stuck somewhere between a romance novel and a television show, Twilight follows (Isa)Bella Swan through her move to a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Bella narrates, a tactic I found easier to handle if I thought of Angela Chase's voice doing the narration instead. Normally, this would be a compliment. Really, there's probably nothing wrong with Bella - I sympathize with anyone who is abnormally pale and has to move half-way through high school (been there). But it would be nice if she'd exhibited a personality that was a little less clingy.
Even clingy would have been all right, maybe, if she'd clung to someone other than Edward Cullen. Because frankly, Edward Cullen is kind of a dick. He's high-handed and autocratic, he constantly talks down to Bella and wraps himself up in his own immortal angst. Traits that maybe Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer could have pulled off in a hero don't work here. Even if he was born in 1901, the novel was written in the twenty-first century. I found myself cheering for Jacob Black - a side character in Twilight who seems to come to more prominence in the sequels. Jacob's a sweetheart and probably has his own sources of angst, a more unusual combination than anything Edward Cullen offers even if he is really Henry Cavill. (Henry Cavill was good at being a sweetheart with unsuspected level angst in I Capture the Castle, for what it's worth.)
Twilight isn't egregiously bad. The writing is fine, and as mentioned Bella has her own redeeming qualities. But if I want to hear about angsty love with gorgeous and autocratic vampires? Well, I've already got Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD, thanks.
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8 comments:
if you do not like twilght there is something insanly wrong with you or the rest of the world who is head over heals for this book. i WILL be buried with the book Twilight one day. It is worth the money! I even have two copies! Anyone would be as clingy as bella if they had a drop dead perfect edward cullen by their side. Yes, Jacob black is an amazing guy and he is in fact my second dream guy, but with edward cullen there is thrill and constant danger and a family of vampires who could adopt you for their own and in reality are just trying to do good in the world and save people by being doctors and hunt animals instead of hunting people. What do werewolves do, kill and keep out vampires from their land? what type of hero is that? And yes i can admit edward can act and treat bella like a child and thinks he knows best even if it is not what bella wants. But she is clingy like you said and that is a bit of the reaction about anything from a child. so i would get on with your life and miss out on the most amazing experiences that come from that book because if you really knew you would be so sorry.
a romantic i may be but for this book so is the rest of the world.
- the girl who reads twilight like a bible.
if you do not like twilght there is something insanly wrong with you or the rest of the world who is head over heals for this book. i WILL be buried with the book Twilight one day. It is worth the money! I even have two copies! Anyone would be as clingy as bella if they had a drop dead perfect edward cullen by their side. Yes, Jacob black is an amazing guy and he is in fact my second dream guy, but with edward cullen there is thrill and constant danger and a family of vampires who could adopt you for their own and in reality are just trying to do good in the world and save people by being doctors and hunt animals instead of hunting people. What do werewolves do, kill and keep out vampires from their land? what type of hero is that? And yes i can admit edward can act and treat bella like a child and thinks he knows best even if it is not what bella wants. But she is clingy like you said and that is a bit of the reaction about anything from a child. so i would get on with your life and miss out on the most amazing experiences that come from that book because if you really knew you would be so sorry.
a romantic i may be but for this book so is the rest of the world.
- the girl who reads twilight like a bible.
I have conflicting reviews, I found it an amazing story. I have a love for vampires, I always have really. I also have a good respect for werewolves, being a native american myself I found the ideas of us liveing in packs as werewovles fighting blood thirsty vampires off reservations halairous! I must say though I enjoyed the book more than anything I have ever read. I am an avid reader and I look for things I know will hold my attention. I became so caught up in this story at one point I wouldn't responed to other people. I had so much in common with Bella and having a boyfriend named Edward myself fueled my fire. I have read it twice and I love the way Stephanie Meyer writes!She has become one of my heros! She gets into your head and makes you look at things from different perspectives, makes you believe in the unknow and holds you in a chilling grip. That's why Twilight is such a good book, you may have your view of the novel but not many will agree with maybe you should re-analyze your thought on it.
- A Future Writer
Alrich you bitch I think your a dick not Edward. Maybe you could have expressed your opions a little nicer but you brought this on yourself you just pissed alot of people off and i have news for I will whoop some ones ass for being a bitch and you really should think about being nicer. You only wish you could find somone to love you like Edward does Bella so your smart doesnt mean anything. and Buffy the Vampire slayer is way differant from Twilight. So get over yourself and shut that hole in you face you call mouth. I wonder why you didn't spend any money on the book hmmm... maybe because your a broke ass bitch that needs to shut the fuck up.
I found your review while I was looking for some sign that other people also found this book totally unremarkable. I wrote my own brief review in my LJ
if you care to read it: http://aoibhinn.livejournal.com/466039.html#cutid1
(Well, I saw this from googling Twilight...)
I actually agree with you. Twilight's a good book and all. Just with questionable characters and it's drowning with angst.
You stole the words out of my mouth.
My friends who drool over the book are a bit aggressive when I say my opinion about it. (Hey, they asked me and I never said I liked it.)
Tis a good review you left.
I too, am only reading this book for the first time and it's nearly the end of 2007 ^^. I guess I overlook Edward's sense of talking down to Bella because...he's a vampire. I just love those people! *I'm a bad reviewer...* And Jacob seems like such a sweet kid right now (haven't finished the book to know anything more about him at this point). And as for Bella being too clingy, I can only see her depression and sometimes I feel like I'm reading Speak all over again (but obviously what happened to the girl in that story didn't happen to Bella, right...?) I am also put in another's shoes when they are struck with love to the point they are obsessed. It's funny to read sometimes. But overall, I like it. It's hard for me to keep with a story once I read it, but with Twilight I've stuck to it (but have yet to finish it because of busy schedules T.T)
I think anyone who doesn't like Twilight has questionable issues but everyone is entitled to their opinion. The only thing I have to say is that those books have taken me over. I love them dearly and love Edward dearly because he makes me think of my husband to be a great deal. I don't think he is high-handed and autocratic. I think Bella needs someone to be that way with her I mean for crying out loud she is a walking accident. I love her and all but she needs someone to protect her and stuff. She can't move an inch without attracting disaster. I hate Jacob because I know guys like him and they are never out for you to be happy, they always want themselves to be happy. You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine but I think you should read some more literature and maybe some of the classic before you start throwing around opinions on character makeup. She writes her characters like Bronte and I love that about them.
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