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422 of 479 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good for a rainy day fantasy..., July 27, 2008
It seems this book has received massive amounts of acclaim, but I never heard of it until I decided to watch The Dark Knight. A preview for the movie Twilight came on and mentioned that it was based on the best-selling novel by Stephanie Meyer. Since the preview looked good and I prefer to read books before seeing the movie, I picked up a copy.
Now that you know why I purchased the book, I should also mention that I'm not necessarily the target demographic and haven't been for a few years. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the good YA fantasy fiction book every now and again. (I've been called a perpetual teenager on more than one occasion.)
I'm going to try and keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. In case you haven't already gathered it from other reviews, or the book description itself, Twilight is about a young girl named Bella Swan who moves to Forks, Washington and finds herself in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. The climax of the story happens when a vampire who doesn't abstain from feasting on humans, as the Cullen coven does, decides he wants Bella. Up until this point (first three quarters), the novel progresses at a moderate, but not lagging pace and then instantly picks up.
The book itself is a rather easy read, however, the characters seem somewhat shallow. Bella is supposed to be an honour student, but behaves exactly the opposite. Edward, who has been in existence for more than a hundred years, should be more intelligent and far wiser than is portrayed in his character. Armed with this tidbit about him, Meyer had plenty of room to play around and mold him into so much more, but never truly took that opportunity.
In fact, after finishing the first book (I've read both Twilight and New Moon), I wondered what a century old vampire might find utterly attractive in a seemingly average 17 year old girl, besides the fact that she smelled delectable, could pick out a common tune by Debussy, and had a penchant for identifying the mitotic phases of an onion. Even Bella herself wonders the same thing and makes it plainly obvious by asking almost every other page what this magnificent Adonis can possibly see in her, which became rather tiring.
(On another note, I'm still trying to figure out how any person with dark circles under his eyes and lavender eyelids can be likened to Adonis. It could just be me, but the way Meyer described their features, I couldn't help imagining a well-fed crack fiend half the time.)
While I don't understand how the love between Bella and Edward can be so true and deep as made out in the book, considering they only knew each other for a few months, I can understand how Bella formed such a strong attachment to Edward: he saved her life on more than one occasion and, in a sense, has become her personal Superman. Is this right thinking? Dunno, but I guess constantly saving a girl who can barely walk without tripping does equate to being inexplicably lovable.
By the end of the novel, I realized that Bella's character, though stubborn, was unbelievably insecure--more so than one would expect from the typical teenage girl--and Edward, arrogant as he can be, used this insecurity to his benefit (whether consciously or not), thus causing multiple crises of conscience for "putting [her] in harm's way".
When one really steps back from this novel and looks at the entire scope of it, the true dysfunction of their unhealthy relationship is obviously apparent.
Plus, Meyer's overuse of the word incredulous began grating on my senses, not to mention all the glaring, whining, cringing, grimacing, and her overwhelming need to append a "he said" or "she said" to almost every bit of dialog that transpired. (Surely, even truly young minds are able to keep up with the general flow of dialog). And let's not get started on the editing: You know the editor was asleep at the wheel, or either non-existent, when there's a glaring grammatical error within the first ten pages.
But, despite all of that, I enjoyed the book. Meyer is a wonderful storyteller. There was a cliffhanger at the end of each bite-sized chapter pressing the reader to continue on, if for no other reason than to see whom else is glaring or grimacing at whom. The story also had a light-hearted comedic edge which played in its favor.
Rather than feeling as though I were trudging through a heavy piece of fantasy fiction, I was able to let my mind relax and float into the story as if I were watching some strangely intoxicating reality show about a clumsy teenage girl and a thoroughly confused vampire. In the end, despite their flaws and not fully understanding their logic or reasoning, I even enjoyed the characters Meyer created.
This is a novel you should pick up when you just want to shut off your brain for a little while and escape reality. Basically, you shouldn't try to read this novel with too serious an eye. Ideally, it should be read while curled up in your most comfortable outfit eating your favorite snack with the lights dimmed, and television and phone turned off.
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824 of 979 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The legends are true; the vampires sparkle, May 27, 2008
I wasn't going to read this, but all the sparkly text and hystrionics on the internet piqued my curiosity. It took a couple of goes to get into it, but once the story hooked me, I found it difficult to put the book down -- except for those moments when I had to stop and shriek at my friends, "SPARKLY VAMPIRES!" or "VAMPIRE BASEBALL!" or "WHY IS BELLA SO STUPID?" These moments came increasingly often as I reached the climactic chapters, until I simply reached the point where I had to stop and flail around laughing.
The plot revolves around Bella Swan, a Mary Sue whose primary skills seem to be having a martyr complex, attracting trouble, and falling down. She moves to the rainy town of Forks to live with her father after some banal shenanigans make it impossible to live with her mother. Or so she likes to claim, but like I said, one of Bella's superpowers is Being a Martyr. At her new school, Bella is instantly feted as the queen of the social scene -- everyone likes her except (shock!) the impossibly beautiful Edward Cullen. Who is a vampire.
(Particularly grating is Bella's OUTRAGE that the normal boys of Forks like her and want to spend time with her, and express this by being friendly and openly indicating that they have a romantic interest in her. I mean, sure, it's awkward being the subject of unwanted romantic attention -- or so I've heard -- but at least they're not playing creepy mind games and breaking into her house to watch her sleeping, because that would be -- oh, hang on...)
Edward doesn't actually hate Bella, he simply lusts after her. I mean, wants to suck her blood. I mean, sniff after her creepily. Bella apparently poses a threat to the entire non-evil vampiric subculture, so of course Edward asks her to go steady with him. But not until they've spent many, many, many chapters engaged in tedious 'banter' that is possibly intended to remind the reader of Pride and Prejudice, or at least, remind the reader of some fanfic based on a loose film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Then they hook up, and Edward glitters in the sun a bit.
Then some evil vampires turn up, one of whom is obsessed with Bella. Why? Because her blood just smells that good. Apparently there are sequels -- well, there's no "apparently" about it, I can see the sequels from where I'm sitting -- but unless they involve Bella Swan and the entire town of Forks being obliterated in a nuclear devastation, I don't intend to read them.
Twilight should be taken as mindless fun, but it has a lot of subtextual ugliness that makes its popularity disquieting. Bella is one of the most useless, insipid heroines I've encountered in a long time -- and I genuinely love Fanny Price, btw -- while Edward is like a textbook example of a creepy stalker boyfriend. There's a strong element of wish fulfillment -- average girl attracts bad boy who's willing to change for her -- but I cannot be comfortable with a text that portrays abuse as love. Apparently, the series is popular for its abstinence subtext -- Edward and Bella can't be together until their relationship has taken the proper form, that is, Bella's a vampire -- but possibly parents should be wondering if it's really a good idea to conflate "marriage" with "death".
Or, possibly, I'm overthinking. When a series has become this massive, I don't think it hurts to give some serious brain-time to the question of what, exactly, is being consumed.
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415 of 497 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Contrived and formulaic, February 23, 2008
The quick version of this book: If you're pretty and pouty, you too can land yourself a gorgeous vampire boyfriend who will continuously save your a**.
Let's take our main character first - Bella Swann. Yet another heroine who doesn't know she's beautiful and describes herself as shy but never exhibits the trait. The book is told in first person, which is unfortunate, because that means the reader is at ground zero for all of her insipid thoughts. She moves in with her father in his small town and holds contempt for just about everyone she meets at school, even though all they are doing is being friendly and including her. Not that any of this matters to Bella once she spots beautiful Edward. The next 500 pages are filled with purple descriptions of his magnificence, of how she's not worthy, of how could this god-like/Adonis-like creature stoop to love her.
I'm going to try to condense my irritation with Bella into a series of points:
* She's ridiculously clumsy, which is meant to be a fault, is passed off as charming, but basically just gives her an asinine reason not to run so Edward can save her.
* She "falls in love" with Edward within weeks of knowing him, and after a couple hundred pages, if he even mentions leaving, she hyperventilates and acts like her world will freaking collapse. Stalking is illegal in all 50 states, Bella.
* Whenever Eddikens so much as barely brushes his lips with hers, she either tries to rip his clothes off (natural) or her heart stops beating and she passes out. The girl hit the floor so many times in this book she put Giles to shame.
Which brings me to Edward. Angsty telepathic vampire Edward. While we have very little clear idea what Bella looks like, we get to hear about Eddiken's gorgeous, transcendental face and body over and over and over again. He's impossibly frustrating because he's been crammed with so many character traits, depending entirely on what the author wants him to be like at the time. He calls himself a monster and thinks he should have died all those years ago, but then totally lords his awesomeness over the mundane humans. And he is awesome. Lest you forget it, he's even awesomer than the rest of his vampire family at everything.
But the worst part about Edward is how he treats Bella. He is initially attracted to her because her smell is particularly attractive to him (okay, I'll bite) and because he can't read her thoughts. (Trust me, Eddikens, I'm lookin' right at 'em, and there ain't nothin' up there worth wondering about.) He knows he's a danger to her (woe!) and tells her straight off that it's better if they not be around each other (sorrow!)...and then he proceeds to hang all over her! He berates himself once every few pages for putting her in danger but never has the guts to fix the matter because he "just can't stay away from her" and "[she's his] life now." *wretch*
The author's writing style is unimpressive. Not bad, per se, but it wasn't giving me anything new. It all felt rather generic. Her vampires weren't bad - the "ultimate predators" and all that - but they were slightly ruined by her reasoning of why vamps can't go out in the sun. It's not because they'll burn up and die - it's because they glitter. That's right - these are GlamRock!Vampires. I also can see how Bella never takes Edward seriously when he tells her he's dangerous and she shouldn't want to be cursed with vampirism. Honestly, the author never shows us anything negative about the condition. It's all quick reflexes, superiority and baseball games with the fam.
The plot is bogus. Four hundred pages of ill-conceived romance and then a quick 100 pages of worse-conceived conflict. The romance, to put it frankly, is a little disturbing in how it borders on the obsessive, especially on Bella's side because he's just so, so, so beautiful!
And that's what bothers me the most about this book and the message that it sends to all of its rabid readers: the importance of beauty. Not inner beauty, either. Edward and his wonderful vampire family (all of whom are good because they don't feed on humans) are described over and over again in all of their wonderful physical qualities. They're cardboard characters for us to admire. Bella, of course, doesn't think of herself as beautiful, but the fact that she has four other boys in addition to the vampire falling all over themselves to please her begs to differ. I was willing to forgive the beauty of the vampires as a trait they acquire when they're turned, but a few others turn up later that are described as "nondescript" and ordinary-looking. And of course, they turn out to be the bad guys. Really, Stephanie Meyer?
I'm not buying it. Or your sequels for that matter.
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