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Loading... Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) (original 2005; edition 2006)by Stephenie Meyer
Work InformationTwilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005)
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I read the first book because I like fantasy and it was very successful fantasy. Even if I was not the target audience, I thought it would have some good qualities to be so wildly successful. I expected some kind of appealing urban fantasy with a romantic plot. After reading it, I thought it was shockingly bad for its level of success. From a technical point of view I agree with you that the writing was not awful. Not particularly good but not particularly bad either. Just plain and functional, and I'm perfectly OK with that. The problem was not that the author couldn't put together a subject and a verb to form a sentence. The problem was what the sentences said. It was like a parody of the worse traits of YA romance. The absolutely passive and brainless main character, with the personality of a dead fish who is sighing all the time and for some inexplicable reason has hot supernatural sparkling hunks all over her. Really, pretty awful. I mean, OK, YA supernatural romance is not my thing. But I can enjoy a good YA supernatural romance, one with appealing characters and an engaging story. This was very far away from that. So why was it so successful? I guess that for the target audience it was a wish fulfillment, harmless fantasy. But still, there are so many wish fulfillment romantic fantasy books for teenage girls, most of them much better... It's just crazy how sometimes destiny makes a book wildly successful. Overall impressions More entertaining than I was expecting. Most of what I knew about Twilight was cultural osmosis and mockery. That said, it's not for me. I doubt I'll read the rest. The sparkling vampire thing is so bad. Having your vampires be unaffected by traditional wards or having the vulnerability be because of some kind of twist isn't new. Nor is it bad to have your vampires be different somehow. Having the vampire aversion to sunlight due to them being too beautiful and sparkly... I just don't know what to say. Recommendation Honestly, it is a surprisingly wholesome for a trashy romance. I get the appeal and getting teens reading isn't a bad thing, they have to start somewhere. As a wish-fulfillment/self-insert kind of novel, they definitely should have the ability to separate fiction and reality. It feels really weird to say that having just read Sense and Sensibility and straight up not understanding the appeal of that novel. Given that Sense and Sensibility has lasted for 213 years, it will probably still be around in another 100. No idea if Twilight will. Probably a case of the genre isn't for me, but Twilight is just easier reading. Brief summary Bella moves to live with her father as her mother begins a relationship with a new guy. She runs into the mysterious and incredibly beautiful Edward Cullen. She is instantly attracted to him, but he seems initially hostile. A little later he seems more friendly. They start conversing but he is still standoffish and insists that Bella should avoid him. Through a series of strange events and hints from others, Bella eventually discovers Edward is a vampire. That is why he thinks she should avoid him. Their attraction is just too strong so they become a couple. A wandering vampire group encounters Bella and the Cullens. The leader decides he wants Bella for the thrill of the hunt and the Cullens have to protect Bella from this bad guy vampire. Thoughts Ultimately, it is just a girl falls for the bad boy kind of story. Despite his danger, he uses his strength to protect and defend the girl. Not exactly realistic, but it isn't supposed to be. One thing that really stood out to me, having just recently been in a car accident, was Bella's memory of the car crash was way too detailed. Even from a dispassionate observer perspective, there is so much going on and it happens so fast you are not going to have that kind of detail. It is important to the narrative for her to remember it all vividly, so I understand, but it killed any sense of immersion. There were a number of legitimately funny parts. I laughed out loud multiple times. I do not know if they were all supposed to be funny. The worldview contained within the novel is pretty conservative. That makes sense from what I know about Meyer. A lot of the book is just mooning over Edward. Some pruning of that would really help the pacing. Once James shows up, and we actually have something happening, I enjoyed myself. Characters Bella: she is pretty much just there. She's clumsy. She's not like other girls. All the boys want her: named male classmates, Edward, Jacob, James. Why, I am not entirely sure. At least with Edward there's the something magical something draws him to her. McGuffin, yes, but at least it is a reason. Her most relatable feature is the guilt she feels over the Cullens endangering themselves to protect her. I totally get that feeling regardless of how irrational it is to attempt to take responsibility for someone else's free choice. Edward: I get his appeal. He's the most handsomest man in the world. The only thing he wants is Bella. He is physically powerful. He's got money. He is dangerous, but kind. None of the other characters really stood out to me that much aside from Charlie. I really like Charlie.
"Meyer's prose seldom rises above the serviceable, and the plotting is leaden" [....] "It's like reading a young teenage girl's blog" Astonishing, mainly for the ineptitude of her prose. Teen vampire schlock that has the nation’s youth in thrall. [L]et me say to you as a meat-eating, Entourage-watching, sports-loving (OK, I really don't love sports, or actually understand sports) — heterosexual man who can't sit through a single show on Lifetime television, let me loudly proclaim: I, Brad Meltzer, love the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I confess, I have joined the legions of the bitten and smitten. The plot may sound rather comic and camp, but Meyer chooses to play it straight and serious. Vampires or not, what this novel is really about is a fatal attraction to someone or something dangerously different from yourself. The trajectory of the story is such that Bella's behavior and choices grow increasingly more disturbing, with irrevocable, self-destructive consequences. Is contained inHas the adaptationIs parodied inIs replied to inInspiredAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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{reason for reading} - I honestly read this series because everyone was all hyped up over the movies that were coming out and I wanted to see what all the excitement was about. ( )