I finally broke down and read Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, over winter break this year. Curiosity was my entire reason for reading it, but that curiosity came from several different sources. One was how the series as a whole has been touted as the next Harry Potter, and how there seemed to be a significant overlap in readership (but only among girls, I found out later). Since I love Harry Potter, reading the book thus made sense.
I was also curious about its popularity, and how many critics have said the plot is horrendously unhealthy and unrealistic (aside from the fact that it’s about vampires) due to its negative portrayal of female sexuality. Additionally, I wanted to find out why some critics considered the series to have a pro-life message.
The series, written by Stephanie Meyer, covers several years in the life of Bella Swan, a girl of high-school age who gets involved with the underground world of vampires after meeting and falling in love with the vampire, Edward Cullen. The series covers their relationship from their first meeting to their wedding and the birth of their first child. It is narrated mostly in the first-person by Bella, and takes place mostly in the town of Forks, Washington – which actually has received significant attention and increased tourism due to the success of the books.
I will come clean right now about how much I’ve actually read. The series is made up of four books, and I read the first and skimmed the last, with a three-minute Wikipedia search to figure out the missing plot. I apparently missed some Romeo-and-Juliet-style suicide attempts and angst. My sister read the first two books, was told that the fourth, Breaking Dawn, was actually the third, and got several hundred pages in without noticing. Plus, I was the one who told her she was reading the wrong book.
My first source of curiosity about this series was sated about 50 pages into the first book: the series has only one thing in common with the Harry Potter books, and that’s popularity. Any critic who thinks that Harry Potter readers will automatically love this series clearly has read neither. Ignoring any comments on plot, character development, or quality of the writing, the Harry Potter series is an epic adventure, while the Twilight series is, over anything else, a romance; hence its overwhelmingly female fan base.
With regard to plot, character development, and quality of writing, J.K. Rowling’s series easily wins in each category. In case the fact that I skipped half of the Twilight series didn’t give it away, I did not enjoy reading these books. The main difficulty I had with them was that I disliked the person who narrates the books. The girl has very few redeeming qualities. Normally, self-deprecation in a heroine works well at keeping the character real, but all that Bella’s self-deprecation does is to keep her annoying.
She has very little self-esteem, even after causing the most handsome and mysterious boy in school to fall in love with her. However, you don’t feel sorry for her; you just want her to shut up. Her defining character trait (her only character trait without Edward) is her clumsiness, which is ridiculous: Meyer might as well have tried to define someone only by a speech impediment. She exists as a person only through her relationship with Edward. Trying to decide what Bella was going to do with her life if she hadn’t met him is a difficult and pathetic task, since she shows no real interest in any subject or activity, or even any interest in her “friends.” If you’re not a member of the gorgeous undead, Bella Swan wants nothing to do with you.
But Bella’s lack of personality is only part of why any remotely feminist critic would dislike this series. For some background information, Edward’s family, by definition, is a set of “vegetarian” vampires: they only feed on animal blood, not that of humans. Therefore, just being near Bella, whose blood is referenced as Edward’s “brand of heroin,” is a huge challenge for him. It’s made even more difficult by the fact that Bella really wants him to bite her and turn her into a vampire, even encouraging him constantly to do so. The reader is led to believe that his resistance to her temptation is noble and romantic.
The critics have a point, and there is a clear argument that Edward’s desire for Bella’s blood is a metaphor for any male’s desire to sleep with his lover. Her own desires (and therefore female sexuality as a whole) are painted as impure.
What the feminist critics miss by focusing on the negative portrayal of female sexuality is just how inherently stupid Bella’s plan is. She doesn’t want to become a vampire to do all sorts of vampire things; she wants to do it so that she can be immortal like Edward and be with him forever, and in the process cut off every other aspect of her life. As a source for comparison, Edward was turned into a vampire in 1918 to “save” him from the Spanish Influenza, had no choice in the matter, and was an orphan at the time of his transformation. In other words, he was going to die if he had not transformed, and was utterly alone.
Bella, however, has parents, has friends (although they, too, are barely developed as characters), and is not actively dying. She pushes herself on Edward with the ultimate goal of being one part of a whole, and nothing else. (Cue the various “I can’t live without you” suicide-plot variations of the second book.) This plan would be equally repulsive and idiotic if Edward and Bella’s roles were switched: no one, male or female, should be living solely for the existence of another.
My third source of curiosity was answered in the final book. The reason for the apparent “pro-life message” in this series appears in that installment, when Bella becomes pregnant immediately after her wedding. The child is a half-vampire, half-human baby, who grows rapidly, meaning that it would be nearly impossible for Bella to carry the child and survive the pregnancy. Edward encourages her to abort the fetus, but Bella refuses, stating she feels a connection to her child.
This is all well and good, and is a somewhat legitimate pro-life plot point. However, it is during the delivery that it all goes wrong. Bella’s labor is long, painful, and gruesome; it nearly kills her; and she is ultimately saved only by being transformed into a vampire. Meyer’s description of this childbirth is horrendously overblown, turning the miracle of life into a bloodbath.
The worst part of this supposed “pro-life” message is the way in which Meyer (through Bella) ranks the life of the child over the life of the mother. This is a gross misinterpretation of what the pro-life movement actually stands for, as the idea of ranking the life of the unborn baby above that of the mother is one which the movement has been attempting to refute for decades. Meyer (hopefully unwittingly) adds significant fuel to the fire just by writing a few hundred pages about a mutant vampire baby.
Politics and plot quality aside – to be fair, I know why this series is so popular for teenage girls. My sister, who read the first book before me, explained it rather well. She said, “I completely understand why young girls like this book. Every teenage girl wants a gorgeous, mysterious boy to fall in love with her for no reason, and then risk his life to protect her.” She’s completely right, and the series serves the purpose of romance novels very well.
Therefore, I can only hope that the girls who read this story see it as just a story, and don’t begin to make their moral and political decisions based on anything Meyer writes.
Christina Cozzetto is co-President of Brown Students for Life.
Usually when you’re reviewing a book you only review the book. You don’t throw in spoilers for the entire series. Thanks for filling me in on the wedding and baby part of the story seeing as how I’ve only read the first book. Thanks a lot.
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Natalie reply on October 7th, 2009 11:16 pm:
You can’t give a good review without giving some details about the book, plus twilight is super predictable, everyone knew that was gonna happen.
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katherine reply on November 1st, 2009 7:46 pm:
no actually, neither i nor my friends expected anything like that to happen. it was definitely a surprise that it went so far but im glad anyways.
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Mike reply on February 15th, 2010 7:04 pm:
Well thats good. Saves you the torture of reading through the rest of it ^^
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Your a big jerk ya know that?
Eduard Cullen is example for young men showing how gentlemen used to treat girls. Maybe if the male race in this century weren’t so assinine, women wouldn’t be hooked on every word Stephenie Meyers says.
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Cassie reply on November 21st, 2009 3:37 am:
You just stereotyped every guy on Earth. The men of today are way better than the men of yesterday who would have only wanted a woman to cook, clean, and make babies…or do you know nothing about history or other cultures apart from your own? Besides, there are many men out there who just want to get married. I’VE MET THEM.
But I have to ask why do you care so much about finding a mate? You should just live your life rather than acting on your hormones. Actually, if all the women in the world acted like you are, then of course guys would treat them badly. It’s crap like that (And this poorly written book) that set womens’ rights back a hundred years. Bella isn’t a heroine. You know who is? Let’s see… there’s Sacajawea, Susan B. Anthony, Joan of Ark, Rosa Parks, Kerri Strug, and many others.
And Edward? He’s a control freak! A stalker! He’s not a gentlemen, he’s a pussy and an idiot.
I’m a woman and I hate the Twilight book series, and I don’t want to be anything like you. And I know plenty of women who hate Meyers to the core. None of us want anything to do with that psychotic mormon “anti-human” bitch, so don’t lump us in with you.
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Christine reply on November 21st, 2009 7:42 pm:
Knowing full well that I’m putting my life on the line by saying this, I absolutely agree with you @Cassie. The Twilight book series is a peice of crap that’s doing more damage to teen girls than Sarah Palin did to the world of politics. This review only scratched the surface of the Twilight book’s innumerable blunders. I’d like to point out the staggering difference in the amount of spelling and gramatical errors between twilight critics and supporters in the responses to this article.
I think that the character of Bella was so vague and poorly done so that any person could place themselves in her shoes with no mental exertion whatsoever. Any teenage girl could be Belle, including myself, but i found the story so obruse that it was a waste of my time to pretend to be Bella.
Please note that I’ve read all the way through every Twilight book, but only because i was under the illusion that at some point, the story would get interesting. Alas…
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Ryan reply on November 22nd, 2009 12:48 am:
I’m a guy, I have never read twilight and never will, but from the reviews and everything I’ve heard about the book, it seems Edward is HARDLY the type of guy to be used as a prototype for what a “true gentleman” is.
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Exactly, it is a romance fantasy novel.
Of course every girl would love to have an Edward of her own. Thats what fantasy fiction books are meant for, to dream, day-dream, to try to imagine the unreal. People shouldnt analyze every part of a book that isn’t even real.
So, obviously in my opinion the books were great. Yes, they were boring in some parts, but we readers suffered through the boring parts because we couldn’t wait to get to the good parts ;).
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crystal reply on November 16th, 2009 6:14 pm:
Its not just any romance novel it sings to my heart….NOT! I didn’t mind the books though. The thing I don’t get is why all these girls like Edward so much. I mean, he’s nice and all, but I would never want to marry a guy like Edward. But that’s just my opinion.
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bklepzig reply on January 26th, 2010 10:52 am:
what is your opinion on jacob?
(not an insult or anything like that!!)
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This review really “sucks”. Meyers has clearly portrayed Edward as an old fashioned but passionate man. That’s it (though his perfection is over the top even for a fictional character…but still…)
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ju reply on November 10th, 2009 4:00 pm:
Why are you reading a book review if you already know what you think of the books?
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Monica reply on November 12th, 2009 7:01 pm:
Romances like this never happen. You have all these teenage girls swooning over the idea of dating, and marrying a guy who acts like their father. Relationships should be equitable. Not to mention he’s abusive. Stalking isn’t normal girls.
Do you want to lean on a man all your life? Do you not want to be independent at least for a little? Do you really want someone to tell you what to do and father you for the rest of your lives girls? Sick!
Anyhow, thanks for this Twilight Review.
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I didn’t know what was going to happen nor did my friends, but you do make a good point. I guess a lot of people thought this story was predictable. I can see both sides. But yeah, I didn’t expect spoilers when I started reading this twilight review.
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I think you should read the whole Twilight book series before giving a Twilight review. I agree that character development is lacking but it’s obvious that you didn’t quite get the gist of the story. For example, Bella is not trying to commit suicide in the second Twilight book so your points there are not valid. That along with other parts of this Twilight review show that you really don’t know what you’re talking about.
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Courtney reply on December 1st, 2009 12:48 pm:
…to my understanding, Bella threw herself off of a cliff after laying on the floor of the forest for… who knows how long?
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SilverDemon reply on February 7th, 2010 5:01 pm:
Edward did try to comit suicide in the end, and as Bella was running to save him, she said she wasn’t going to leave there alive if Edward died. She was trying to think of ways to kill herself before Alice could drag her back home.
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Personally, I think the Twilight book series was original. the Twilight books held my attention throughout the first three novels.
I loved the characters. Bella and Edward are foils, operating in totally different spectrums. Yet, somehow, they come together in a perfectly beautiful way.
The twilight books are filled with realistic problems for them to encounter. Sure, they work their issues out in a weird fashion, but somehow Bella and Edward re-unite for the greater good and the continued existance of their intense and passionate relationship…. It all reminds me of my boyfriend and me!
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Lost Realist reply on November 22nd, 2009 12:10 am:
I’m sorry, but the statement “they are confronted with realistic problems” just made me fall off my chair due to excessive laughter. Getting hunted by a vampire who apparently wishes to kill you for the fun of it is realistic? Don’t even get me started on some of the other ‘realistic’ problems they face (honestly, an army of ‘baby’ vampires? I honestly can say I relate to that). And you claim that the relationship reminds you of you and your boyfriend? Oh, so he was a psychopathic, abusive stalker who acted in a paternal manner toward you? How romantic!
Edward Cullen climbs through a girl’s window, watches her sleep and is called charming, whereas I do it and get an AVO. Go figure.
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If the Twilight book reminds you of your own relationship, I honestly think you need to get out of the relationship. Because it’s abusive. I read all four books and although I was gripped, it was like gorging myself on cheap, bad candy. I ate it ’cause it was there and was kinda satisfying, but ultimately, it made me sick. Aside from the negative portrayal of female sexuality/sex as a whole, Meyer pushes the abstinence thing like it’s her JOB. On the surface, that seems like a “pure”, “moral” message, and that seems to be what people dwell on. Honestly though, their relationship was abusive. He would tell her she “wasn’t allowed” to see Jacob. Not that he didn’t approve, she /wasn’t allowed/. If that doesn’t SCREAM manipulative boyfriend, I don’t know what does. He also keeps the whole “Victoria is trying to kill you lol” thing from her entirely. Not like, you know, it’s her life or anything. Just keep important stuff from her. Manipulative, plain and simple.
Bella is simpering and reading about her made me sick. She’s such a static character, the books were a waste of trees. I hope no girl ever thinks it’s ok behavior for her boyfriend to tell what and what not to do unless she is a six year old who tried to run into traffic and was stopped by her father. Edward is a creep, and Jacob becomes one too…but only because (and this is a personal theory) Meyer discovered she had made him far more likeable, and that wasn’t what she wanted.
Down with Twilight, Harry Potter forever!
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wow reply on November 29th, 2009 8:32 pm:
These are just books. There is no need to get your underwear in a wad over all this. I hate to tell you this but neither Twilight NOR Harry Potter is actually real.
So, go get a life!
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It’s a good Fictional book thats it.I am a teenager and believe it is sad that all u guys have nothing better to do than comment on a book series for teenagers ,there are many more vampire series other than this one.I am standing up for a book series that doesn’t deserve all the bad reviews it’s getting.Girls need a escape from all the rejection,and pain caused from what we is saw our “Edward Cullen”,this book provides that escape.Most girls who read this book won’t kno if there is a battle of morals and won’t care.A book series such as Twilight will not alter our morals or beliefs.this review like many was an overreaction.
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Ruby reply on December 22nd, 2009 3:55 pm:
You would be surprised by how many girl have been altered by this book. Perhaps you haven’t, but I regularly see a girl dumping some guy because he isn’t “Edward Cullen” enough, or a fan of the book simply waiting for Edward Cullen to sweep her off. And yes, most of them are serious. In conclusion this review isn’t a overreaction at all.
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Janie reply on December 26th, 2009 3:51 pm:
It’s just a phase. Trust me. If you are in a relationship, then you should go to church together or find another activity that you both enjoy. Either way, Twilight is just a book. Find someone you love and stop searching for Edward.
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Mike reply on February 15th, 2010 7:13 pm:
The biggest problem with that? You’re blatant stereotyping of girls.
Not only do not all girls feel such pain and agony in their lives, but the one that do should probably grow up. I myself will willingly admit that I have no true idea as to the meaning of those words. Any teenaged who claims to know pain and agony is, with a few exceptions here and there, lying. Relationships are but “the fripperies of man’s soul,” and not the true source of vitality in life.
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I noticed that conversion seem long past and died ,but I am a huge fan of the book (not so much the movie I am hoping however new moon turn out to be better then twilight) I sadly almost agree with matt ,I mean twilight is actually what sage says it is a very twisted love story often said by the author. An epic love story. A story often compared to romeo and Juliet. Both stories are about teen girls who fall completely for guys they have just met. They both turn to suicidal thoughts and ways. Which I guess
Is not such a good idea for girl to think is okay EVER ,but come on dude it just a story and the problem with like old people ,is like they have to find bad things in every thing and believes every girl 13 -19 in the world is like stupid romantic and going to believe this is like the word from some like girl bible. Relax partners ! Breath
I mean its just an idea okay ,that’s a week worth of novel to read when teenage life sucks. When your boyfriend make you angry for a day. Matt gave you the fact of the book now I am help him understand form a girl point a view, a girl who stood long lines the book before the lines for the movie
Bella is a girl who meets the love of her life. It not just a little love not that teenage love parents are always warning us about, but the big love at first sight ( most girl believe this is can happen but we are not so clueless to believe we are going to find it. Which is one of the key reason I like this book ) edward is a vampire which is just another version of a bad boy,and she needs him a much as he need blood.
beside the idea of love at first Mayer introduces a possible love, A jacob kind of love . Jacob is. A friend who has been their for bella truly for thick and then. Sometime it hard I agree to understand why Jacob loves Bella so much but if you take the idea that he is of a wolf of it and you imagine your self as jacob and not bella with jacob it becomes easier to understand. If you see yourself as a girl (or guy)in love with someone who doesn’t really see you as anything else but just a friend (who hasn’t ,really) its impossible to not love jacob. And for those who can’t understand Bella love for Edward see him as a guy just a guy who loves you and not scare to tell you or show it as much as can. Now imagine real love. A love that can last past those who are against it , even if turn out only to be each other holding you apart. The Twilight sage is love at its best happy and easy and sadly its worst painfully hard and sometimes lonely. Its just a story. Take it as it is. Boy meets girl ,girl fall for boy. boy marry girl. Girl has boy child ,child is perfect and special in every way.
Now throw in vampires vs werewolves ,then vampires vs vampire , werewolves vs werewolves. I guess I should have said throw in drama instead . So here is the story in one short sentence. An epic love story of a vampire and girl and the love of her werewoves friends and the drama in between. My advice is read the book for it self. Matt pick up the book again this time read the whole series ;)
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Mike reply on February 15th, 2010 7:17 pm:
You’ve admitted the main shortcoming of the book already. It could never happen. What some seem to call “love” is better defined as “lust.” Love at first sight does not happen, and it never will. Even in Romeo and Juliet.
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Ps. For JB re read breaking dawn. No one can really make Bella do what she don’t really want to do. She will try to please you and listen to your opinions because you are important to her ,but think about how long she dated Edward without her fathers approval. How many times she went against what Edward thought was best and went to see Jacob ,or went to see Edward when Jacob says it was not safe. Really did we read the same book.
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Christine reply on November 29th, 2009 2:34 pm:
To Shantel G- We’re not talking about Bella here, we’re discussing whether or not Edward is an overly-controlling stalker, which i think he is. Sure, Bella exercised her free will once or twice throughout the series, but when she did, Edward got PISSED! He was angry when she didn’t listen to her father and continued to see him, he freaked whenever she was with Jacob, he hardly respected her choice to keep her child and … um… er….I’m out of instances when Bella makes her own decisions… but you get the point.
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Rachel reply on December 8th, 2009 10:41 am:
Shantel G-
Perhaps you should learn how to spell and write a coherent sentence before you go off about the successes of Twilight.
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My thoughts on this review:
It’s genius. I’m so happy that more people than just I can see the failings and misgivings of the Twilight series. This “epic” love story is a sorry excuse for a relationship; what has our society come to when the ideal relationship is between the antithesis of feminism and an overbearing, abusive pedophile. Face it, Edward is a complete control freak, and Bella is a simpering sorry excuse for a girl. Every single female in the entire series is completely obsessed with the concept of childbearing, marriage, and having a man in your life. Meyer has completely destroyed the ideal man in the creation of Edward Cullen. Personally, I wouldn’t want a boyfriend who controls my entire life; nor one who IS my entire life.
Aside from Meyer’s inability to develop a character without a semblance of personality, her writing is some of the worst I have ever read in my life. Her constant “descriptions” and use of “imagery” are completely focused on Edward and how perfect he is. (Just a few statistics…. there were 165 references to Edward’s beauty, in Twilight alone.) Her command of the English language is contrived and ineffective; Meyer only exhibits her ability to use a thesaurus.
Twilight is a sorry excuse for a book, that would have been better served as toilet paper. The only reason I managed to make it through all four books was because I hoped that perhaps Meyer would take a different direction – and I was sorely mistaken. I was left with a heavy sense of disappointment that I fed into the hype around Twilight.
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I actually hated twilight so much that I went online just to look for a review that agreed with me! Because it seems like everyone has fallen sick with this fever that clouded their judgment! I haven’t yet finished the first book, so I think you were brave even reading the fourth one. Not even comparable to the brilliance of Harry Potter, not in the same category.
I was a teenager once, and yes maybe that’s how teenage girls think, written in a boring, overly detailed, fruitless way, with lots and lots of repetition. Not creative at all, I mean what did she come up with? Vampires? Good vampires? vampires falling in love with humans? All have been done before, nothing new.
I sincerely think she was just lucky there are many silly readers in this world, and obviously “book writing” is just a business now, not literature, no great morale or message, just money making.
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jealous of edward reply on January 6th, 2010 11:47 am:
f offf your just ealos that you’re not as hooooooootttttttttttttt as edward cullen. and if you hate it why do you care why did you look it up ou f****** a***
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Christine reply on January 26th, 2010 11:44 pm:
To Jealous of Edward,
If you’re going to try and argue with your intellectual superiors, at least try and make use of more sophisticated language. But that’s beside the point. I’m just going to guess here… you’re a teenage girl who’s either never had a relationship with a boy (or girl, whichever you prefer, it doesn’t matter) or has only gone out with pathetically shallow boys who can’t differentiate the feeling of love from the sensation of sexual attraction. The fact that you have a limited (at best) understanding of human nature, particularly the nature of the average male led me to this conclusion. Not that I have problems with teenage girls, some of them (myself included) are realtively intelligent and mature. As I was saying, no snesible boy would EVER envy Edward Cullen, because he has no interests or talents and chooses to exist for the sole purpose of “serving” his soul-mate. Men don’t live only to protect, and women don’t exist just so that they can submit to the wills of their chosen mates (even if it is “for their own good”). And by the way, none of Edwards physical characteristics, save his eyes, hair and “rock harndess” are described in the novel, so his “hotness” is all in your tiny little head.
As to your rhetorical question, people who hate Twilight generally wish to find like-minded people on the internet, with whom we can converse about the book’s pathetic attributes.
My appologies if my words were too big for you to comprehend, here’s a translation for you. . .
“Go f*** yourselves Twi-hards, you a**holes are all f****** idiots!”
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Allow me to clear my throat and give you two words that can describe this entire series in a whole: Romantic Fanfiction.
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i hate edward but my friend s love him so woohoo go team edward. oh and priya patel loves jacob,,, go team jacob,,(but edward is awsomerrrrrrrr) yaaaaaaaayyyyyy edward :) :) :) :) :) :) :)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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nora loooooovvvveeees edward……priya lovees jacob……..edwards hot and so is jacob but edward is hotttttttttttest
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madi reply on January 14th, 2010 10:17 am:
Gag. Thanks for this Twilight Review anyhow.
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I absolutely agree with this Twilight review. I read all four books (actually, I got fed up halfway through the last one, so 3.5, really) and was increasingly put off by them. Where the appeal comes from is obvious, but the book totes so many negative messages they’re hard to count. The anti-female sexuality tones may be a bit exaggerated in this Twilight review, but there are plenty of other glaring issues that are at least as harmful.
For example:
Not only that, but I’m only *fourteen*, and *I* can already see that Twilight is no example of good writing. The characters all stick vehemently to their base archetype, the plot devices are ridiculous (yeah, new vampires are all unable to control their urges and go off eating people and things, but not me, ’cause I’m special!) and leave holes wide enough to fly a plane through, and the entire premise could be replaced with something much less cliche and still stand.
It pains me to know that an entire generation of kids are having their views warped by this sorry waste of paper and ink, and what’s worse, those kids are my future bosses, coworkers, and employees. Ugh.
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While I absolutely agree with this Twilight review, I do believe that there is one particular effect of the Twilight Book phenomenon that has been overlooked.
It has achieved what few books (with the possible exception of Harry Potter) have done: it has people reading again. It has kids debating and arguing with passion. I love that.
I’m 19, and have been an avid bookworm since forever – my whole family is like that. But I’m one of the few in my generation.
My friends quite simply do not read books. They would much prefer to watch television or sit on Facebook for hours on end. The idea of reading gives them headaches.
But they read the Twilight books. And most of my friends loved the Twilight Book series. They read all of the Twilight books in the series – even though pre-Twilight, the thought of reading such thick books would never have appealed to them.
Yes – Bella is a bit pathetic. But for some reason, possibly due to the fact that teenage girls in my generation, as a whole, have low self esteem, something about these books makes them addictive. First time reading, anyway. I tried reading Twilight again and wanted to slap Bella.
Yes – Edward is pretty creepy, with the actions that would be considered typical stalker behaviour in humans.
And, yes, Twilight has probably given SOME girls pretty unrealistic expectations for teenage boys.
I just think, as someone who frequently was in trouble throughout childhood for reading when I was supposed to be setting the table, that it is refreshing that books are back.
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Hanh reply on March 13th, 2010 10:35 pm:
Simone, though it’s true that people who never touched books unless they had to for school are suddenly now reading because of Twilight, keep in mind that these people are ONLY reading Twilight. They SAY they read all the time now but what they’re really doing is rereading the Twilight books over and over and over again. They never branch out, therefore, they’ll never learn or develop in anyway.
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Twilight sucks.
I don’t know how you could even stand to read the Twilight books to write this Twilight book review.
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Christina,
Thank you for this reveiw of Twilight. I myself have just recently finished listening to the audio version of this book (the first one in the series) because I was curious about its popularity. I was expecting either to be imildly mpressed with the gunuine quality of the book or to laugh myself silly at how abysmal it would be. To my great dissapointment, I found the book to be neither a good read nor unintentionally hilarious. As I listened to the narrative, I found myself reviewing the book much the same way a high school English teacher would review a creative writing assignment from a student. The sentence structure was noticably dull and repetitive.
The only favorable trait Edward seems to exibit is his stunning good looks. Time and time again Bella comments on his unearthly beauty. Meyer, however, does little to give readers a detailed description of even this one quality, falling back on vague comparisons to magazine models. This left me thinking that Bella must be a very, very shallow girl, which did nothing to make me sympathize for her as a character.
Given the undeserved popularity of this series, I went online looking for reviews of this book that didn’t gush with fan-based bias. Yours was the first I came across and II was glad to read it. Your views match my own very closely. I have several Twilight fans among my friends and family and reading your thoughts on the books made me realize I am not as alone in my opinion of the book as I felt. Thank you for that.
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Jonathon reply on January 31st, 2010 4:46 pm:
I forgot to mention — Thank you for the spoilers in the final book of the series. Don’t let any snide comments about giving away plot points of the books get you down. Your review has saved me (and anyone else who finds your review) from having to plod through any more dull books in this series to know the conclusion of Meyer’s story. Here’s a happy ending: after finishing Twilight, I moved onto the Harry Potter series, again to learn why the series was so wildly popular. Last night I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I’m finding these books to be much, much more enjoyable. :)
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Emma Tarlishman reply on February 23rd, 2010 5:35 pm:
Well done you!
wait til you get further into the series – they just keep getting better and better!
unlike a certain young adult vampire romance novel we all know
this link is hilarious – read it.
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