I will admit that I am a sucker for love stories, more's the pity if it involves macabre themes and hair-raising stuff like... vampires etc.
So, when the whole "Twilight" madness exploded, I thought, "What the heck..." I read the books much like the general public - or at least the heavily drugged up citizens on romance. I admire the sane one's like my boyfriend who discovered the truth from the get-go, lamentably, I was roused from all the "cloud-nine" feelings for the tale when I realized that at the end of it, I felt well, dead, the better term, since the tale involved vampires, would be "drained" drained of my intellectual power to be left sane about it all.
And then I thought, what a pity, it was an interesting read, but it left me wondering about a great deal of things, things that should have, I don't know "made sense" as the story progressed... True, it is a fictional tale, but something was a little off...
I gushed about it during the beginning, but I prudently kept my "objective" opinion about the series, until I got to the last book, the book that left a gaping hole, kind of a... "That's it?".
The series has its merits, however, there are just so many parts in it that leaves you wondering about things like:
"Why the heck is Bella so damn clumsy?" I mean come on, all the girl does is trip over books, and chairs, and if she doesn't have anything to trip on, her feet seem to do the job well enough to propel her to her to the ground. The whole milking the damsel-in-distress act did leave me cringing, seriously, no girl in this planet can be that pitiful. It would have been incredibly satisfying to have a protagonist to admire, not someone who compelled you to look away (yes, I looked away from the book) every time she fell over or blatanly threw herself at Edward.
Edward, now he is another matter to discuss, as mentioned in the books, he's perfect, but as Bon pointed out, he's a little err... I'm unable to come up with a better term... Bi-polar...
"Oooh Bella smells nice... I love her...", "NO! I must not love her, I'm dangerous...I must stay away...", "Oooh Bella is sleeping, she said my name....", "No, I must leave Bella, she will be happier without me..." - I mean, it threw me off a bit really, I did go into the whole "Edward is sooo dreamy..." phase, but his moody episodes did irk me, not as much as Bella, but it touched a nerve.
I'm not trying to disparage the Author in any way - more power to her, her imagination and her take on the whole vampire world is rather unique, I'm just voicing out my genuine opinion regarding my "reading experience". I did enjoy reading the books, albeit, some parts were just better (more bearable) than the others. If I were to rate the books from 1 - 10 I would give it a 5 or 6 perhaps.
It's interesting, but it lacked depth. The love story was just odd really, it's like she just saw him in the canteen and the next thing you knew, she was madly in love with him, well, I suppose since it's a tale of "young love", the progression of her feelings are justifiable, I think...
I read this critique / discussion (below) from one of the Twilight forums, and I just laughed at the outrageous comments. Yeah, it is rather cut-throat, but it is quite true, if you allow yourself to be a little objective about the series. I won't dare to proceed with my little critique because, well, I think it would be a merciful and charitable act to spare the faint hearted of my opinions and a.) My officemates who are clamoring to read the books will kill me, b.) I don't want to sound all whiny about it & c.)I trust that we have objective and educated readers out there who can weigh the merits and flaws of literature...
In closing, I will say that I do, I truly do, or did enjoy the "lovey-dovey" parts of the tale, I'm a girl, a romantic to boot - sue me... but that's about it, that's the only part that sustained my enthusiasm to read the books.
Enjoy....
I am an avid reader. I love and read books voraciously, one of my better vices. Literature is my life. So, when my younger sister told me of the book, Twilight, I decided to take a look. She raved about how awesome it was, a wonderful book worth reading. I decided to look past the fact that it was rated young adult, (after all, there are some books for the younger crowd that have proven themselves to be great books, such as the Chronicles of Narnia, and The Golden Compass). I love vampire fiction anyway, and with that in mind, began reading Twilight.
It was one of the worst experiences in my life.
I have this compulsion, a personality quirk if you will. I have to finish reading a book, and book series. Even if the books prove themselves to be terrible, and shoddy. However. Twilight was the exception. It took all of my strength to finish reading that book. An ordeal that left me drained, and scarred for life. I won't be continuing the series, as I am not fond of pain.
It is beyond me why this book is so popular. For one thing, it is badly written. Written in first person, the book is a prime example of how first person can be abused, and mangled. Most of the book is a minute by minute account of the dull life of the main character, Bella. However, I could overlook the way the writer writes...which is terrible, if the story was good. And If the characters were compelling, and were able to show me their world, and make me feel for them. Twilight, was none of those things.
What attracts people to vampire fiction, is the struggle of good and evil. Are vampires automatically damned? Are they trading away their souls for immortality, and twisted perfection? Is such immortality a perverse imitation of God's plan for eternal life in Heaven? Are they evil, or is it possible for a vampire to be good? The sun (God's light) denies them. They feast on human blood every night, when they were once human themselves. The moral quandary of vampires is what makes vampire fiction so great. Good and evil battle within every story, an eternal theme that replays every day within our lives and imaginations. Vampires internalize that struggle, that age-old battle, within their very beings. A battle that means their soul, or the loss of such.
Twilight manages to destroy all that is good about vampires in one foul swoop. In Twilight, vampires do not burn in sunlight. No, such a mark of evil would ruin the god-like perfection of Twilight's vampires. Instead, they glitter in the sun. Glitter. That is perhaps one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. Instead of vampires, we now have angst ridden, depressed pseudo-angels. So beautiful and perfect, their kisses can make you faint, and no doubt their farts smell like fresh-baked cookies. The sun makes them glitter so prettily, sort of like how all those kiddie shirts have words written in glitter these days. The battle of good and evil does not exist. While the vampire, Edward, bemoans the fact that he is a vampire, the absolute perfection of his being takes away from such apparent suffering. In fact, it makes him seem whiny, and irritating.
Bella, the main character, is an attractive teenage girl, who moves to a new town. She is unaware of her attractiveness, so as to give her cliched character some depth. Bella has pale skin and dark hair, as heroines of vampire fiction must be pale of skin and dark of hair. She listens to classical music, and reads classic books such as Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, her musical and literary choices an attempt to show how unique and how much of a maverick she is. Bella doesn't care about the popular things in high school, again another trait to show us that Bella is really cool without trying, which makes her extra cool. This poorly written attempt to make Bella into an interesting and multi-faceted character, falls short, as Bella has as much depth and personality as a sheet of paper. Her character really has no interests or personality, beyond her obsessive love with the vampire Edward. In fact, it seems the only point to Bella's life is to love Edward, as teenagers know so much about being in love. This is worse then an over-dramatized teenage romance, I could almost appreciate that. This is a soap-opera...with vampires.
Edward's character is absolutely perfect. A god among men. His beauty is overwhelming, and constantly noted, so we don't forget how amazingly beautiful he is. To prove how awesome Edward is, he doesn't hunt humans. No, Edward hunts mountain lions. It's nice to know that we have perfect god-like vampires killing off an endangered species, as humans aren't doing a good enough job of it. He falls in love with Bella, and her scent, which is beyond me. Edward's character is portrayed as a perfect being. He has lived far longer then Bella, making him far beyond her in emotional and mental maturity. Yet, he loves her, a flawed human who is still little more then a child. Which makes Edward, a pedophile.
All the characters are flat. Nothing is there to allow for the reader to connect with the character, to share their pain and love. Edward and the other vampires are too perfect, having the power of powers. A reader finds it impossible to identify with such absolute perfection. In fact, it is annoying, as how can there be any trials to overcome if the character is so perfect and amazing in every way? Bella has nothing to her character beyond love for Edward, she is just a card-board cutout to further the romance of the story.
The twisted farce of a true love that Twilight parades about is disturbing. A generation of young girls now believe their only goal in life to fall in love with Edward. The main character, Bella, isn't even liked by Twilight fans, as she is competition for Edward's love. Twilight has created a female character that reflects poorly on the gender, diminishing all respect toward women, and showing women to be weak-willed creatures always in need of rescuing. Twilight essentially tells young girls that the only point to a girl's life is to get a boyfriend. Find the perfect man, gain true love...and that's about it.
All of the above combines into what is one of the worse books in literature. It is a soap-opera, full of cliched, trite bullshit that is enough to make someone stop reading for good. There is nothing original or creative to the book. In fact, no one likes the book because they think it is original, or a good read. They like it for Edward, they want to be Edward's girlfriend. Congratulation Stephanie Meyer, you have convinced young girls that their only purpose in life is to be a girlfriend for Edward. I'm a romantic myself, guilty as charged, but there was no real romance to this book. Only a bizarre obsession between two characters, both of whom have personalities that are about as interesting and multi-faceted as a potato. This is not romance.
The book is a travesty toward vampire fiction, and romance in general. It is a sad state of affairs when a bestseller is so horrible, that there is absolutely nothing of value to it, beyond a nice cover picture. I hope that the younger generation eventually turns to better books, ones that have an actual point. A story, a message to tell, something that connects us all with a common theme, and characters that reflect our own short-comings and accomplishments. Unfortunately, that won't happen while Stephanie Meyer continues to write kiddie slash fiction. Perhaps all the money she gains from the books, book merchandise, and movie is worth what she has lost in artistic integrity. May all the gods of literature have mercy on her soul.
Trish inserts:
Again people, do not condemn this person (above) for dissecting the series, it is his/her opinion, you are entitled to yours, as am I. I think Stephanie Meyer is very clever, creating her own version of how vampires should be in her world - I applaud that, what's sad though is that the books swallow you whole and spits you out in the end, it's fast paced, taking you from point A to Z , leaving you craving for satisfaction when it ends, with a lot of question marks trailing in it's wake.Point A. Bella finds Edward in the canteen - Point Z She dreams about him and soon it dawns onto her that she loves him... What happened in between exactly?
Point A. Edward meets Bella, and realizes she has a very potent scent, which he finds irresistible, which draws him to her (or repels him sometimes) and he is filled with the consuming urge to kill her, but his conscience kicks in and by some perverse twist of fate, he becomes her errant protector - Point Z he realizes that he has feelings for her too...
~Cricket sound echoing~
Just an opinion people, don't bite my head off for using what brain cells I have left...It's a cool read if you were a hormonal teen who has yet to experience the bittersweet trials of "true love", or if you're just hoping to re-awaken the teen in you (longing for vampiric love and all that jazz)... after all, it is a tale that is tailor made for the kiddies or perhaps, the young at heart (grin), but for those who have gone beyond the realms of the "teen" mile post - or for those who posses a more diverse literary palate, and has savored and appreciated the timeless masterpieces of Anne Rice & marry it with a little Shakespeare.... allow yourself to think about it...
I'm not launching an all out propaganda against the book, no,no, I did enjoy it (some parts anyways) I'm just saying that it leaves a lot to be desired....
Quel dommage
As told by Edward ~spoof~ (click me)
As told by Edward ~spoof~ (click me)
Links to other interesting reviews for the twilight series, click on the names:
