Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
Book Review: The Twilight of good writing
Summary: 1 Stars
Catholic Psychologist Dr Ray Guarendi, during a recent EWTN interview, warned about good Catholic parents unconsciously lowering their standards, and allowing things today that they would never accept as recently as three years ago.
As the rest of the Culture of Death slinks to new lows, we who are trying to raise souls for heaven must remain vigilant. Just because a parent is stricter than 80% of parents out there, remember whether what you are permitting your children to do would have been acceptable in the household you grew up in.
When I first heard the premise of the "Twilight" series from the middle school students in my Catholic school, my stomach turned. A bright young woman, full of promise, cavalierly risks her life for a cold, sulky man who at any given moment may bite her neck and suck the blood out of her.
My students, whose Bible-sized books never leave their arms, protested loudly when I read them a negative Catholic review in class, and raucously insisted I read the book. Most of their teachers had read it, they insisted, and now loved the series, and discussed the upcoming film with them. Devout Catholic mothers and respected Catholic writers have defended "Twilight". When my daughter's high school English teacher made it required reading, I reluctantly decided to read the book find out just what was driving this phenomenon, and whether I would allow her to read it.
The story is compelling and despite not truly bonding with Bella, whom I found condescending towards just about everyone in her life, I looked forward to seeing how her romance with Edward progressed. The feelings evoked by Stephenie Meyer remind me of the intense teenage longing of middle school, where a girl's entire day is made when the object of her affection looks her way.
She is skilled at creating in her readers the intense, prolonged sexual tension of unfulfilled desire. The couple never "goes all the way"; however, so many defend it as a wholesome book. Don't ever confuse abstinence with chastity; "Twilight" is about sex, plain and simple. But it gets worse.
Bella is unfortunately the typical American teenage girl of her generation. She is the product of a broken home with inadequate parenting. She moves from Phoenix, where a mother whose pursuit of a love interest replaces concern for her daughter's welfare, to Washington State where an emotionally incompetent father, cannot protect her from the disastrous choices of her low self-esteem.
In steps handsome, emotionally distant Edward, the guy no one understands, who appeals to Bella the girl no one understands. Is this a match made in heaven, or just passionate co-dependence?
Edward is every parent's nightmare, a bad guy with panache, who makes a hero of himself, stealing a teenage girls' heart while feigning morality. He seems noble for not killing or seducing Bella when they tangle passionately on her bed down the hall from clueless Dad.
He is, however, no stranger to her bedroom. As a vampire who needs no sleep; he has been haunting her bedroom for weeks to watch Bella sleep. Bella disparages her father, whom she calls "Charlie" for his broken heart about her mother's desertion of their marriage. Charlie is the village sheriff, yet he is no match for Edward's good looks, dominating personality, and superpowers. His feeble attempts to protect his daughter are dwarfed by the bold rescues carried out by Edward, whose strength and near constant anger make him seem chivalrous and dangerous all at the same time.
When I asked the young women in my class why they loved "Twilight" they shouted "romance' but when questioned further, they admitted they like it for the theme of "romance with danger". Living on the edge of darkness has been a theme of so much of children's literature; "Harry Potter", "A Series of Unfortunate Events", and "Goosebumps" have created a generation of children who have never seen the true, the noble and the beautiful.
As their parents, we owe it to our daughters, to guide them toward that which uplifts their hearts, and forms their minds. To that which guides them towards good spouses, not dangerous men in need of a `savior'. Girls already have a Savior, and it hurts that I have never seen His book carried by these girls with equal devotion.
What can we do to re-orient our daughters? Contrast this series with the "Chronicles of Narnia'. When my attempts to reason that the "Twilight" series was toxic met intractable opposition, I changed tactics, and exposed my students to a Christian writer, CS Lewis who understood the hallmarks of true nobility, hoping to create an irresistibly clear contrast in their minds.
Reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' with seventh graders who have seen the film and knew the plot seemed futile, until after reading the book's ending in class, I asked them a simple question, `if you were one of the Pevensie children, how would Narnia be different?" I didn't anticipate the firestorm of excitement I had ignited, and sat back to watch their imaginations fire away. Something of Christ figure Aslan's lifting of ordinary children to the level of noble monarchs had captured their imaginations, and they begged me to read "Prince Caspian" next.
So, what if your daughter has already become infatuated by this series? Find her something written by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, JRR Tolkien, or CS Lewis. Together watch the films which their delightful novels have inspired, and gently guide her towards the true, the noble and the beautiful.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Book Review: What a literature teacher thinks of the Twilight series
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, here is a secret confession from me to you - I'm loving the Twilight series! But I do have reasons, real and actual reasons! One may think it is strange for an adult, an adult who is a reader, an adult who reads `serious' literature, an adult who teaches `serious' literature nonetheless, to love these books about an obsessive teen girl who falls in love with a moody, veggie vampire. But I do...and here is why.
I'll admit, when I began reading the first book, while I was intrigued with the concept (I love sci-fi) and interested in the girl's character (I work with teens) the writing itself was...okay here it comes...snoozeville and more than a bit camp! I skipped many paragraphs, just skimmed the top so I'd still know what was happening in the book. The conclusion I came to about what was happening in the book was this - this girl needs to get a life!!! But by then I was mildly interested in how this human/vamp relationship would turn out so I read the next book...strange, I missed Edward a bit and was concerned about Bella's feelings for Jacob. You see what just happened, yes, that is exactly what happened, the characters started becoming real to me. By the time I was into the third book, I was half in love with Edward myself and mentally giving Bella advice. Not that I should be giving advice in the love department by any means.
Then...I stopped at the end of the third book...thinking it was over! And what is more, I was sad about it! Anyway, a little time passed and I kinda forgot about it. I had this thing where I lost my job, found a new job, had to move, blah, blah, blah. But then came a day when I discovered other `Twilighters'...don't you just love the lingo! And yes, they were my high school students...but get this - they were the bright ones. Yes, we teachers do separate into categories...smart yet butt-kissing, smart and pretty but knows it, smart and capable and a truly nice person (that is a fun discovery and happens more often than one might think), lots of potential and will hopefully realize it one day, not-so smart but sweet and kind (worth so much in this cynical world), pretty and doesn't want to explore how much more he/she could become, and last but certainly not least, a big, huge pain in the butt! The latter actually falls under two categories - the pains that are just fluffy underneath it all and like the James Dean of olden times just want to be understood and the pains that sadly, most likely will bury their true selves too deep to be delved. Luckily the very last kind is rare. But I digress - big time. Back to...oh yes my fellow Twilighters.
So these were smart girls (yes girls, did you really think guys would read this stuff?) and while we were chatting it up about the Bella, Edward, Jacob love triangle and our favorite character, Alice, and my secret favorite character, Rosalie, I discovered that there was a fourth book! Joy of joys, I was excited! So do you know what I did, yes I rushed out to make my purchase and then...here it comes...went back and really read, word for word this time, the first three again and then finally the fourth. True, the writer didn't go where I wanted her to go - but hey it wasn't my baby. I was reading these books while I should've been analyzing and breaking down Hamlet into bite-sized pieces for my Seniors. I ignored my house for a week and stayed up late in bed absorbing the vampire family's story. The dishes piled high, the garbage attracted flies and the dogs began to starve...no not really, well maybe a little. Then, too soon, I was done, and again I was sad that my journey into Vamptown had ended.
I discovered another teacher who read the first book, discussion time. Whoa - just what I expected from another adult though I was hoping for a different reaction so that we could be co-conspirators in the world of teen vampire books. She ripped it apart and then some. I saw her point, the same opinions I actually had. But here was the difference - despite my `formal review of such matters', I still loved the books! And now...here is why. Didn't I start to say this much earlier?
Anyway - I love it because it isn't PC! I am a little sick of PC! Yes, the girl is obsessed - what teen girl isn't?!? It is the nature of the beast. And I love it! Yes, the boy is sorta sick, with watching her sleep and all, and yes the fact the he is beautiful is spelled out for the reader clearly, in every other sentence. But come on, what girl hasn't dreamed of a guy like this - admit it ladies - or don't, but it is still true and you know it! And that is the point - beyond all the supernatural, (which I happen to like), beyond the purple prose (which I don't like so much), beyond the lengthy explanations, is truth. This story uncovers and discards layers of correctness that so many people like to heap on everything. This is the secret life of a girl, her real thoughts and her real life.
Too often, writers fall into the trap of creating who they want a person to be - noble, independent, a tad of self-doubt just for good measure - falling at just the right time and coming to self-realizations at the precise correct moment in the novel. This story doesn't do that - it winds and loops and sometimes finds its way back to exactly the emotional place where it began and the reader wonders `Where is the growth?!?'. It is exactly where it is most often in the life of a teenage girl, hidden under heaps of the external. Yes, the book can go on and on without really anything happening at all, but that is exactly what happens in real life. We go on and try to make sense and add value of all this nothingness which to the individual is actually something. Does that make sense? If not, the book isn't for you. But I get it! And get this...a fifth book is coming out! I just hope it comes out during the summer so I don't ignore precious Bronte.
Book Review: Twilight
Summary: 4 Stars
In twilight by Stephenie Meyer a 17 year old girl named bella moves to Fort Washington with her father Charlie after living her whole life with her mother Renee in phonex Arizona. When she gets there she finds out that her father bought her a truck for her since she was already looking for a car or something to drive. Bella soon discovers that she hates the weather its not warm and sunny out, every day its cold wet and raining. The next day she goes to school she she makes lots of friends, but it is in the lunch room when she see's him. Edward has pale light beautiful skin and an adorable face. She could not take her eyes off him, then he looked over at her and caught her eye she looked away suddenly. Then later in biology 2 she got to sit by him since that was the only seat left, but soon she was disappointed because he was at the very end of his seat leaning away from her like she smelled, she smelled her hair it smelled like strawberry's as always. The next few days Edward was not at school and she thought it had something to do with her. Then finally he returned! She was staring at him in the parking lot he was a few rows down from her when just then a kid named Tyler, someone she had just meet in one of her classes, was going to fast and hit some black ice and slid going right for Bella. In a blink of an eye Edward was there and it looked like he was lifting the van off of her. Later after she noticed that there were dents in the van where Edward had lifted it off her. In the hospital she told Edward she wanted to know what had happend but he refused to tell her. The dance was coming up and since she could not dance she was going to go to Seattle to go shopping. When Edward heard he offered to drive because for one he did not know if her old truck would be able to make it and for two he knew how her luck was if there was trouble 10 miles away or closer she would find it. She said she was going with Angela and Jessica when they got there Angela and Jess went to the bay and Bella was going to go to the book store to look at some books. Bella got lost and soon figured out she was being followed by some guys that was bigger then her. They cornered her in an alley when Edward shows up in his car gets Bella and is out of there. Then they go to the restaurant were Bella was suppose to meet up with her friends. Bella shocked at how he knew where she was and where to go just sits there wondering, but then he gets out and she ask him where he is going he said to dinner. When Bella sees Angela and Jess she runs to tell them that she is fine, but they said they already ate so she stays to eat with Edward. Later while she is eating he tells her how he found her that he can read other peoples minds and he followed her scent but tells her he can't read hers. In the meadow Edward tells Bella the reason he did not want to be close to her that he wanted her blood and the reason he left was that he found her so hard to refuse and so he ran to Alaska but then he realized that it was much to hard to stay away from her so he came back and since he liked her so much he figured that he could keep his self under control. Later on Alice,Edwards sister in a way,had a birthday pary for Bella at their house everyone keeped their distance careful not to scare her,well beside Alice who skips right up and kisses her on the cheek. Later while Bella is opening a present she gets a paper cut and one of Edwards brother,Jasper who is new to it all,smells Bellas blood he attacks her but luckly Edward jumps in front of her slamming himself and Jasper down on the floor so that was the end of that party. But then later Edward tells Bella that Alice seen some others coming so he would be on his toe's for a while. Edward invited Bella to come watch them play baseball so she said yes. When she seen them play it was so hard for her to see what was happening because they all moved fast and could jump so high. Well the visitors that Alice had seen coming showed up and when they got Bella's scent they were by her in no time but Edward stayed right in front of her. Well the visitors was very interested in Bella so they began to follow her so Edward and his family went to her home town to hide her until it was safe. Jasper and Alice took Bella and the rest of them went to hunt down the three that was tracking Bella. The leader of the three was named James and he tricked Bella by saying that he had her mother and if she did not come alone that he was going to kill her. So when Jasper and Alice was not watching Bella snuck out and ran to a old building that nobody ever used where James had told her to go. When Bella got there he did not have her mother so now she was all alone with a vampire that was faster and stronger then she was. Nobody knew where she was and she was scare. She tried to move her feet,but they would not move so she stood there looking at him. Then he attacked her,her head was spinning,he throw her against the wall that was covered by a mirror and the glass cut her making matters worse being with a vampire. Then he bit her and the pain she said hurt so bad like nothing she had ever felt before but then Edward and his family came in and finished James. Edward had to suck the poison out of her hand so she would not become one of them. When Bella woke up Edward was beside her and kepted telling her everthing was going to be okay. Then he told her that he told everyone she had fell down the stairs and went through a window and that everyone seemed to believe it. Then one day Edward come in and told her he had a suprise for her so he took her out of the hospital after asking her dad and when she figered out what he was doing she said she was not going over her dead body. He was taking her to prom and she HATED dances. Then Edward took Bella outside and asked her if she really did not know what he was doing and they finish the night talking...Book Review: Don't Bother
Summary: 1 Stars
In the midst of Harry Potter withdrawal, I began my search for a new YA saga worthy of the pedestal JK Rowling managed to build up. Along with a slew of others that managed to muster some semblance of a cult fan following (Spiderwick and Eragon among them), I was recommended the Twilight series.
I wanted to like this book; I really tried. And I thought that the hoards of obsessed teen girls who clog up these review sites had to be onto something. But then I started reading it. And I thought Eragon was bad...
If you're looking for an heir-apparent to Harry Potter, you might want to look elsewhere; Twilight is a pretender to the throne if there ever was one. The minimal plot revolves around Bella Swan, the newest inhabitant of Forks, which is apparently the rainiest little town in Washington State (I've never been to the real town, but I have lived in the vicinity of Seattle, and here's a little secret: it's nowhere near as rainy and dreary as most people think, and certainly not as much as Twilight's author seems to think). Bella, having decided to spend the summer in Forks with her police chief father instead of going to Florida with her mom and new step-dad, paints herself as the atypical Mary Sue: she's clumsy, brunette and apparently plain and unattractive, despite the fact that she has two boys drooling over her by the end of her first week in school. But Bella's too preoccupied with the resident A-crowd: the Cullen family, particularly Edward.
Ah, Edward; he's perhaps an even more wooden and one-dimensional character than Bella. He's beautiful and smart and perfect, and every plain, seldom-noticed teen girl's fantasy. Did I mention he's a vampire? But don't worry, he and his family don't drink human blood. See, they're the vampiric equivalent of vegetarians.
At first Bella is convinced Edward can't stand her, but it turns out he's just totally intoxicated by her smell, and wants to eat her. And so begins the long, entirely-too-drawn-out, tale of Romeo and Juliet- I mean, Edward and Bella. Apparently there's some action scenes at the end; I must admit, I never actually got there. And before anyone starts complaining about reviewers who never even finished the book, I honestly don't think I needed to finish it to get the gist of what happens. And in any case, once I got to the part where Edward explains to Bella why he and his siblings can't come to school when it's sunny out, I lost all ability to tolerate the idiocy. Aren't vampires supposed to be dangerous predators? Really, what possible survival advantage does sparkiliness serve? I don't think a vampire that dazzles in the sunlight would ever scare me, even as it's ripping out my throat.
But let's forget the dubious excuse for a plot and bizarre lack of research for a moment; for an author who professes to be so dedicated to her characters, they are rushed, undeveloped and shockingly-flat. Bella is a study in the good old fashioned damsel-in-distress; I can't, in good consciousness, call her a heroine, since she never actually seems to show any characteristics of one. (This is one thing I really like about the Harry Potter series: almost every female character in HP, be her good or bad, major or minor character is strong, intelligent, courageous, loyal and totally adamant in her beliefs, whichever side they happen to run towards). Bella likes to think of herself as the lonely outcast who has no friends, yet there are plenty of human kids in Forks who are eager to be her posse. She says she's shy, but she isn't. She thinks she's plain and undesirable, but clearly, that's not the case at all (by the time I stopped reading, she had a grand total of four boys fighting over her, and apparently the big bad vampire at the end joins the ranks). She may be able to ramble on about Shakespeare and cell division, but she's so ditzy and clumsy I'm glad she's not blonde (we have a bad enough rep as it is). She criticizes her mother for her neediness and naiveté, yet she herself can't seem to do anything on her own. Edward is constantly following her around, diving in just in time to save her from whatever distress she's found herself in.
As for the other characters, Meyers didn't seem to have taken a lot of time to elaborate on any of her secondary characters at all. Even the other Cullens weren't particularly interesting, just a mob of moody teenage vampires glaring around the school cafeteria disdainfully. The only character that I wanted to learn anything else about was Jacob, Bella's childhood friend who turns out to be a werewolf.
And then there's the writing; yes, this might not be full-fledged literature, but kids and YA fiction has come a long way. There are countless well-written, interesting kids fantasy series out there (and I'm not just talking about Harry Potter).
Twilight, on the other hand, is fanfiction, and it's not even good fanfiction. It reads like many of the stories Meyer's own fans write. The writing is juvenile, there weren't any plot twists to speak of, unless the arrival of the villain counts (as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't), and her multi-paragraph, adjective-laden descriptions of Edward every-other chapter are ridiculous and distracting.
At the risk of the wrath of a legion or seven of rabid fangirls, I am of the firmest opinion that there are far better alternatives to this badly-written garbage out there. This is fanfiction that someone decided should be published. And while they have certainly made a killing on the profits from this obsession, I don't believe the praise is at all deserved. Maybe if Meyers would take a writing class or two and spent more than a year writing her books, her future work might be tolerable. Until then, I'll pass on this saga.
Book Review: WWBSD (What Would Bella Swan Do?) cry and then get nauseous
Summary: 1 Stars
I will admit my biases in reviewing this series of terribly written books for teenagers. First, I am not a teenager, I am forty years old. Second, I don't find vampires to be attractive romantic heroes. I read the Ann Rice books back in the eighties and I thought they were decently written fluff but I was never interested in the characters since they were murderers who feasted on human blood and that's just, you know - gross. I mean, even as a 19 year old college student I didn't find it romantic or exciting - I wouldn't have wanted to actually "date" a vampire - even if he looked like Brad Pitt.
Finally, I loathe "chick lit", wish fulfillment, fan-fiction that depicts women as only being complete when they have a man (or in Bella Swan's case, every man she meets) who tell them how beautiful, wonderful, loveable etc they are and that gives them their sole value and self-esteem. I realize there are many women out there exactly of this nature which is why the Twilight series is so hugely successful. What's worse is that so many of these women are young, impressionable and this is the message that is getting to them - be like Bella Swan. Cry and stumble and get nauseous and be adorably awkward and maybe you will be pretty to some guy who will then rescue you and spend his life taking care of you.
Hang on let me just get into my Time Machine and come back from the 19th century to the 21st.
This is a tell, don't show book (as are all the books in the series) and there is no sense of place or time. There are cell-phones and modern cars but strange anomalies like further into the series when Bella gets a camera that uses film. No teenager on Earth would want a camera that uses film. They wouldn't even know what film is! Can you imagine them looking for the screen on the back and not knowing how to even look through it?
A really good writer can make characters any age in any time and place and make the writing transport you there. Stephenie Meyer is not a really good writer. She is one of the worst writers I have ever read in my life. I wrote better stories when I was eleven, but we had standards back then.
I do remember what it was like to have a crush on a guy. But this was a crush - not love. You learned that quickly because usually two or three months later the crush was gone and so was the guy.
So I can get with the whole teenager love at first sight thing, especially for Bella Swan. Who wouldn't fall in love with the Adonis glittering perfection of Edward Cullen?
But why would 117 year old Edward Cullen fall in love with Bella Swan?
Edward may only look 17 years old but the poor sod is NOT 17. He is 117 years old. He's been to high school dozens of times (I mean, like, totally kill yourself now - can you imagine you get to live for eternity but in high school and this becoming a vampire thing is considered good?), traveled the world and he falls in love with a little girl 100 years his junior.
Remember in "Interview with the Vampire", the little girl that Lestat turns into a vampire is stuck as a little girl but after dozens of years she has a woman's heart. It is a tragedy since she will never physically be a woman. But inside, she suffers as only a woman can.
Are we to then believe that Edward still has the "mind" and "heart" of a boy? It makes no sense.
There are many ridiculous conundrums of this sort.
For instance, it is one thing to make the story work by leaving out the fact that this 117 year old man would NOT be interested in a twittering 17 year old child yet it is entirely another when the Cullen's (his adopted vampire family) adore her and love her and accept this human into their midst even though it would be much like us finding out that one of our human children has fallen in love with a cow and will be bringing her home to the family and wants to marry her and build a life with her . And even though we used to eat meat but now don't ( since we are vegetarians )I venture it might still be a stretch to see the attraction as well as to support it completely and totally and even champion it. Oh, downside too is that his bringing home this cow could ultimately cause our immediate and total ruination.
Edward once was human but hasn't been in 100 years. Bella Swan has only been human for 17 years and frankly isn't very good at it. She needs constant assistance with everything. She is awkward, clumsy, not terribly bright, completely flatlined with no personality and doesn't even have the vaguest notion of a sense of humor. And it took poor Edward 100 years to find this remarkable creature?
Bella's father treats her like the cleaning lady. Edward treats her like an amusing pet. She is a ghost-character; on the page but insubstantial, just perfect for any tween or teen to put herself into. Like the author did.
Bella is willing to give up being human for Edward. She's known him a few months and is ready to spend her existence as a blood-sucking vampire. Just to be with some guy. What kind of message does this send to young women? Is it just a little too much to ask for a girl's immortal soul?
Bella is the most repugnant female character I have ever come across in any kind of fiction. Other reviewers have called her a "Mary Sue" character which is a wise assessment. But honestly this character is not really a "Mary Sue". She's a Stephenie, through and through.
I just cannot enjoy a book (and series) that sets feminism back a couple hundred years. I find it an egregious sin. Stephenie Meyers is the real vampire here. And the souls she is dooming to eternal despair are the souls of the young women who read her books.