118 of 135 people found the following review helpful:
Bite me!................
This is YA fiction and I'm not even close to the target audience. It's been a lot of years since I belonged in the 'teen' category BUT... despite that, I loved this book! I think it might be because the 17 year old that I once was is still fresh in my mind, and if I squint when I look in the mirror I can still see her (she just got better looking over the last couple of...
53 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
Twinkle twinkle little vampire
Stephanie Meyer writes vampire fiction as many teenage girls do -- overblown writing, sexy cold vampires, and a vacuously attractive heroine who serves as the readers' stand-in.
And so it's hardly surprising that her megahit debut "Twilight" is essentially a teenage fantasy about finding the Perfect Hot Immortal Coverboy Who Longs For You Alone...
This is YA fiction and I'm not even close to the target audience. It's been a lot of years since I belonged in the 'teen' category BUT... despite that, I loved this book! I think it might be because the 17 year old that I once was is still fresh in my mind, and if I squint when I look in the mirror I can still see her (she just got better looking over the last couple of decades *grin*).
A five star book for me is one that I have to tear myself away from and this has to be one of the better 5 star books I've read recently. I could not put it down, regardless of whether I fit in the target deomographic or not. I have no idea why I was so enamoured with this particular story but it just grabbed me, literally from the first chapter. It has it's flaws, and at times those flaws tried to pull me away from the pages while I wrestled with my beliefs but never did I feel like I couldn't go on. I'm actually mystified why this is such a great book, I wish I could put my finger on it but it escapes me. I am fond of a bit of vampire lit, it's true, but this goes beyond that....I think. I can't say the writing is superlative so it's not that.....but what is it? I wish I knew. Answers on a postcard, please.
Bella is a complete feminists' nightmare and I can see why that would put a lot of people off of her, but at 17 love is blind so I'm willing to forgive Bella on that score. Edward is so uber male that he fairly reeks testosterone and again, that may grate on some readers but lets put things in perspective, he's the ultimate predator and has had nearly a century of dominating his prey so on that score I'm willing to forgive him his overly masculine nature for now, this nurture/love thing is new for him too.....he'll get it right eventually I expect.
Ultimitely, lets not forget that this is a tale of vampire love which is aimed at teens/young adults and the usual complexities and concerns that come with real life won't apply here. I for one am glad to slip into Bella and Edward's world and remember what it was to be young and in the throes of first love. If you have an imagination and are willing to suspend your disbelief then you might enjoy this story. It's an enjoyable bit of fulff to while away a few hours/days but if your usual reading material tends to be the classics and nothing more, then you probably will feel the need to return here with you own 1 or 2 star review.
I have books 2, 3 and 4 lined up here, ready to devour and if they go as quickly as Twilight then I'll have completed all 4 in about 3 more days. I want to tell everyone to read this as I loved it so much, but I realise that everyone has different tastes so all I can recommend is that you read the reviews and make your own mind up from there.
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Bella (Isabella) Swan moves from living with her mum in bustling Phoenix to sleepy topwn Forks. She is spending some time where she grew up living with her dad while her mum and new partner look for a new job in Florida. She starts at the local school and makes friends, is a hit with the boys and also encounters Edward. He has pale skin, dark hollows under his eyes and he doesn't associate with anyone else at school apart from his family. She is immediately drawn to him. What she doesn't realise is that he is a vampire. Every step she takes getting closer to him, the more she puts herself in danger.
I really enjoyed this book. The style of writing was very seductive and really drew me in as a reader. It changes some of the essential vampire ideas, giving it a fresh take on an exhausted subject. It isn't "just another vampire book" by any means. It's mostly about relationships and Bella getting to know Edward. The last 100 pages or so take a different turn when an outside threat enters the neighbourhood and Bella's life is at risk. The tone of the book changed which I wasn't sure about at first as I liked the gentle building a lot.
I will definately be reading the rest of the series and have New Moon to start when I get time. If you like a good story, vampires or teen dramas than I recommend this to you.
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Stephanie Meyer writes vampire fiction as many teenage girls do -- overblown writing, sexy cold vampires, and a vacuously attractive heroine who serves as the readers' stand-in.
And so it's hardly surprising that her megahit debut "Twilight" is essentially a teenage fantasy about finding the Perfect Hot Immortal Coverboy Who Longs For You Alone. Innocuous sparkling vampires, buckets of pointless teenage angst and a plot tacked on at the last minute leave this one of the more bloodless examples of vampire romance.
Klutzy Bella Swan is oh-so-self-sacrificingly going to live with her small-town cop dad, and is appalled by the student body -- all the local boys decide that (ick!) they like her, and all the girls are shallow idiots compared to her.
Then she's struck by the ash-pale, vaguely incestuous Cullen family -- an especially by the Hawt and Brooding Edward Cullen. Edward doesn't seem to like her much, resulting in much Teen Angst. but when Bella is nearly killed by a runaway car, he somehow manages to zip across the parking lot and knock away the car. Bella eventually figures out that he's a vampire-- a "vegetarian vampire" with the power to read thoughts... except hers.
Despite his fears that he'll hurt her, their smoldering chemistry (and Bella's tantalizing smell) draws them into a relationship... at which point, since the plot has had zero non-teenybopper tension, three two-dimensionally evil vampires enter the scene, intent on hunting Bella. The Cullens whisk her away to keep her safe from this trio -- but their enemies have more than one way to find her.
The book "Twilight" is essentially the eroticized fantasies of a teenage girl, purple of prose and taking itself hilariously seriously. In fact, reading this novel feels suspiciously like eavesdropping on Stephanie Meyer's fantasies of having a hot, sparkle-skinned vampire stalking her on a nightly basis to show his undying love.
Unfortunately there's not much more to the plot than that -- most of it involves Bella and Edward smoldering at each other, and Bella's contemplation of Edward's "scintillating, incandescent" body and Greek-god hotness. Furthermore Meyer smears the entire book in wildly swinging emotions, tepid dialogue, and overly ornate, purple prose -- the descriptions of Edward's chest alone may induce choking and diabetic coma.
After a horrendously silly "meet the vampire family," Meyer belatedly realizes that the book needs more than angst and sparkles and Edward is constantly shying away from Bella's virginal neck (what does that imply about sucking blood from animals?). So she tacks in a contrived subplot about evil vampires who are hunting Bella. Just... because they want to.
And heroine Bella is truly an amazing character -- she manages to be a blank slate for mass fantasy projection, while also managing to be whiny, selfish, snobby and superhumanly shallow (since the only person she cares about is the Hawt Rich Guy). Edward is a suitable mate for her -- he broods, smolders and stalks her to show that he loves her eternally. After all, isn't a bipolar stalker watching you sleep the very image of true love?
As for the other characters... well, we have quirky vampire Alice to add some humor to the story. But otherwise, none of them really matter much except to reflect how awesome Edward and Bella are -- and the villains could not be any thinner if Meyer snipped them from sparkly incandescent skin.
Those who dream of eternal angsty love with an Immortal Hottie may find "Twilight" a delight, but it's no more than a thin, flat guilty pleasure at best.
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First off: I'm 20. With that in mind and the fact I'm an obsessed bookworm (reading as much literature as I do for example Sci-Fi) I wasn't sure this book was up my "level." I know that sounds arrogant. But haven't you ever read a book meant for the lower part of your age 'group' that you thought it was too easy? Dissatisfying. I see I have as much trouble explaining myself as Bella.
Well, I can tell you that wasn't the case with Twilight. Usually, I avoid popular books. They rarely live up to the hype. I took the chance with Twilight. I'm happy I did. I'll tell you why:
First off: if you're not into romance novels: skip this one. Passionate is written all over it. And that's the strength of it (for me.) The story revolves around two impossible lovers, meant to be together. The only problem is that he's the Lion and she's the lamb. A bright one like you should be able to figure out what kind of threat that poses.
It's written in first person, Bella's POV. I've read some reviewers say they didn't like Bella much. I can tell you it's just jealousy. Hell, I'M jealous. Edward Cullen is, gorgeous and perfect, but also impossible which makes their struggles with eachother even more interesting. They take the front seat in the story and you might even think the (also interesting) supportive cast is kind of left out. I must say I usually detest little subplots in books (exceptions are present ofcourse.) It makes me skim over pages until I've reached the part where my favorite characters interact again. If you feel differently, then this might also be a reason the book is not for you.
The reason I liked it so much is because I could really, (almost to a scary extent) empathize with Bella. If her name was changed in mine, highschool was switched for College and Forks was replaced by the little town I live in (rain stays about the same) you'd pretty much get me. Except that I don't have an Edward Cullen to spice up my life.
He's dazzeling but dangerous. He's like the adrenaline rush skydivers feel when they jump out of a plane. Addicting, exciting, lethal. You come back for more, knowing in the back of your head that one mistake could end your life. Yet you feel that if you'd turn your back and walk away, it would be like you didn't have any life at all.
That's what attracted me to this book. I've been reading it everywhere. In the train, at work (sneaking in a couple of pages) in my room....and I always have to restrain myself from smiling when I read in a public place. It manages to lighten my mood. I'm not destined to meet someone like that, but atleast I can dream and read about it. Romances in novels are usually so alike. They can be well written, but similar nevertheless. This is a new take on it for me and it works out really well.
So, anyone interested in an orgional lovestory with an edge to it should get this. Right now.
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This is very average teen chick-lit with a basic plot, shallow characterisation and minimal charm. It's also highly unoriginal: Margaret Mahy's fantastic teen novel 'The Changeover' (written several decades earlier), features a romance between a teenage girl and a male witch (ok, not a vampire, but still a dangerous 'other' with supernatural powers).
However, in The Changeover, there's a compelling main plot, with the romance as the sub-plot. This builds up interest and sexual tension in a way that cannot happen in Twilight, where the romance is the main course (literally!) The Changeover is multi-layered, turning the fairy tale on its head; championing feminism (unobtrusively); and introducing characters that you really miss at the end of the novel.
By contrast to Laura Chant and Sorensen Carlisle, the heros of The Changeover, Twilight's Bella is a tedious, self-absorbed, one-dimensional wimp and Ms Meyer doesn't 'show' us how sublime Edward is through clever writing, she just goes on and on telling us that he's perfect and beautiful (if a little bit dangerous). Bella's one unusual feature is that she's clumsy, but does Meyer need to tell us this repeatedly? If she simply fell over a few times during the novel, we'd get the point without it being spelt out.
Whether or not you loved Twilight, please try reading The Changeover, it's really in a different league in terms of writing; plot; originality; themes; and memorability. Sadly, I doubt it has made Ms Mahy as many squillions of dollars as Twilight has made Ms Meyer.
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I read Twilight both at my friend's enthusiastic recommendation and because of my own curiosity over the barrage of bad reviews it had. My reaction to it was a sort of horrified fascination, coupled with a strong desire to jab the protagonist, the utterly unlikeable Bella Swan, with a sharp stick.
For some reason that is never quite explained (not to my satisfaction, at least), Bella Swan moves to the town of Forks, a place she loathes with a passion, to live with her dad, a man she doesn't feel even warrants the name "Dad", and leaving her mom, a woman she claims to be closer to than anyone else on the planet but whom she actually ignores for most of the book. On her first day at her new school, which she also hates despite pretty much the entire student population - the male half in particular - making every effort to be perfectly lovely to her, she encounters a group of insanely beautiful students who ignore everyone; among them is Edward Cullen, who she freaks out over because it seems he might not love her like everyone else. Then he becomes passably friendly, and Bella is smitten. Bella is smitten. Bella is smitten. Bella finds out Edward and his insanely beautiful family are vampires. Bella is smitten. Bella is smitten. In fact, Bella is smitten for three-hundred-and-thirty-three pages of this four-hundred-and-thirty-four page novel before anything resembling a plot actually happens, and then not even particularly good plot.
Oh, don't worry, it's not one-sided at all - Edward is smitten too. Edward is so smitten that he sneaks into Bella's house and watches her sleep without her knowledge. If Stephenie Meyer had put in a twist in which Bella gets a restraining order slapped on him as a normal person would, that might have saved the book. However, Edward is, as I said, insanely gorgeous, and so on the contrary, she finds his stalker antics flattering. And isn't it alarming that so many young girls describe Edward as their "dream guy" or look to Bella as a role model?
On the back of the book, I am told that it "...encapsulates perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation." I can only imagine that the reviewer from The Times has long forgotten their teenage years, because I don't think that Meyer spoke to a single seventeen-year-old before writing this book. For the record, none of us feel any need to comment repeatedly on the godlike good looks of people we date. Some of us even look for something beyond godlike good looks in the people we date, but such a concept is apparently lost on Meyer and thus on Bella. And I like to think that if anyone behaved as creepily towards most seventeen-year-old girls as Edward behaves towards Bella, the alarm bells would start ringing pretty fast. The book encapsulates many things, such as pancake flat characters and How Romance Doesn't Happen, but it is certainly not something that I, as a seventeen-year-old girl, can possibly relate to. I find it quite laughable that Meyer claims she gave Bella the "vague" physical description of "slim" with "long mahogany hair" and "wide chocolate brown eyes" in order for readers to find it easier to 'step into her shoes'. I would prefer a complete profile of a character who was written in a believable way to a spineless Mary Sue who could possibly look like me, if I want to imagine her in such a way (which I really don't, thanks).
In short, don't waste your money. This is not a good book.
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Now let me give Twilight haters this. Almost every single thing the negative reviews said about this novel is true. It really is. What are the negative things said about it, you ask? These are the most common observations I read when I read countless negative reviews and things I had also picked up myself whilst reading:
* It's unoriginal.
* The prose is overly filled with adjectives, mostly describing how beautiful Edward is, and constantly reminding us of that fact on every single page.
* The narration is overly detailed. e.g. the narration tells us that she gets up, brushes her teeth, what tooth paste she uses, what corners she drives round, which parking place she takes, what she has for dinner, how she cooks the dinner, and the list goes on.
* The vampire myth, or its world, does not have very much depth.
* We are reminded, far too often, how dangerous Edward is.
* We know at the very first page that Bella hates rain and cold, and that she is clumsy, and yet the author insults are intelligence, also reminding us of this on every page as if we might forget.
* Bella has no personality.
* Edward has no personality.
* Actually, nobody has a personality.
* The love that Edward and Bella share is completely superficial.
* The tone of the novel is inconsistent (pages 1-300 are completely different to the pages 301-430)
There is an element of truth in all of these points, though I would like to contest some of them, if only a bit mildly. The first and most common criticism is its unoriginality. At its bare bones, it is a teenage romance novel. It is what it is. Yes, it is unoriginal, but it was not trying to be anything new and amazing, and why is it things have to be original these days, anyway? I commend anyone that can come up with anything completely original, but also I'm not sure why unoriginality equates bad quality and vice versa. It boggles my mind.
The second point I want to contest to is Bella having "no personality". I cannot help but think that it is up to the reader to see something in her, or to relate to her somehow, because I did not see the non-personality. I saw a frustrated, lonely, but, emotionally, a typical teenager. I do not know what her haters problem is, I can only guess, I only know that I disagree. As to the rest of the characters, the narration did keep mentioning different names and I could not determine the difference between them all - they were pretty lifeless. Character development is not this novel's strong point.
The third and final I part I want to disagree with to a degree is that Edward and Bella's relationship is completely superficial. I am not disagreeing on the grounds that they fell in "love" with one another because of appearances, but I am disagreeing to the point that their romance is typical of teenagers. Meyer is not writing about two adults in their forties falling in love, she is writing about two hormone raged adolescents. What do you expect? Even so, their conversations do begin to progress into deeper meaning behind their attraction for one another; think to when Edward explained why he would never hurt Bella. He explains that her personality, and her nature is unusual, and that is what attracted him to her, why he cannot read her mind, and why he could not bare to lose her - because her mind works differently to everybody else's.
Now, before you think I am flanking to this novel's defense, I will say this simply: This novel is an enjoyable read, but it is very, very flawed for the reasons listed above. The author is far too repetitive and tangential. She seems unable to develop her characters, or give good reasons for their actions; the last 100 pages of the novel feel like they are tacked on from a completely different novel. The "threat" that Bella comes under is too coincidental, out of nowhere and stupid to believe. The author seems to think that her readership are stupid and need reminding of certain things on every page (Bella's clumsiness, Edward's beauty, Bella hates rain, Edward is dangerous), there's no depth to any characters but the protagonist, perhaps Edward too, if we push it. The exclusivity of this novel is also a problem. With Harry Potter I recommended to anyone from my grandparents, to my best friends. Twilight? Would not feel right recommending it to a male. Men reading Twilight and enjoying it seems implausible to me. It really hits its market dead on centre. Everything about this novel is girly, and I think that is a major flaw (only on an aesthetic level, it is obviously very good for marketing and business).
But this book is enjoyable. There must be a reason. Quite frankly, to be overly bothered about its flaws is missing the point a bit. It is just a teenage novel. You would not go and read a Point Horror book and then write negative reviews for it saying how badly it is written, or how obvious the twist was at the end, because most people accept the Point Horror books for what they are, and hey, no one is talking about a Point Horror book, or making a film out of it! People's problem with Twilight is that it is popular, but it is no different to the Point Horror books. It is a novel aimed at teenage girls. Think of a milder and ever so slightly better written Mills & Boon novel, only with vampires, and that is Twilight.
I noticed the many drawbacks the novel had, but I still enjoyed it, because I am one of those people that like to fall into a nice romance. The writing is easy and accessible, you turn the pages, you're drawn in whilst you're reading it, you want the protagonists to just flipping kiss, you finish it, and you want the next book. Is that not what enjoying a book is all about? It is just a nice light read to tune your brain off too. Who cares if it will not win the next Booker prize? I would fully recommend this to anyone who enjoys a cute little romance and quick, gliding read.
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I bought the Twilight Saga after I watched the film; mainly because of curiousity as to what happens next. So far, I've read 2 of the 4 books in the series.
Everything happens quite fast and can keep you reasonably interested but,sadly, the writing is so bad and so poorly put together that this would probably be the one and only situation where I would really recommend that people watch the film first and then read the books. The film will set a nice scene for you to fall into if you like... Otherwise, I can easily imagine how these books could be unbearable.
The first two are full of, "I love you, you love me, we love each other... and it's forever" ... I've just started part 3 and, frankly, cannot either see how much longer this can be sustained or where the author is heading with this. Her vocabulary and use of adjectives seems pretty limited and she appears unable to keep up any reasonable descriptions of feelings with words other than, "glared and growled". Neither can she portray people with phrases beyond "ice cold, marble white, looked perfect or Adonis like". This gets very tiring and repetitive after about 3rd time she says, "He glared at me and growled and his face was ice cold". It may sound like an exaggeration but the author truly seems to repeat this in almost every chapter!
All 4 books are pretty thick. On average, well over 550 pages each. And trust me this is a lot of glaring and growling! At the start of book 3, it's still not apparent to me what Edward Cullen is like apart from the fact that his skin is marble white and ice cold, he is a reincarnation of Adonis, he can fly through the forests, and, of course, glare and growl! Similarly, it's not obvious what Bella is as a person apart from the fact that she smells nice, studies well and cooks for her dad.
Before anyone points it out to me, I do fully understand that love is meant to be unconditional and, in reality, it's exactly that. Most of us can't explain why we fall in love with someone and how it keeps going but we also ought to admit that some of us just would like that little bit more from a book.
There are positives to this story. The idea is quite good and could have been a fantastic story had it been written by someone with a bit more talent for it. Instead, it's just an enormous 4 volume set that's written with a "talent" that would make Mills and Boon stories seem eligible for the Booker Prize.
All in all, giving it 1 star purely for the idea and the effort that has clearly gone into it. Also, I can see how certain type of teenage girls can gasp and be mad about this but, generally, I still stand by my recommendation to stick to the films. You won't miss anything at all and at least there will be something nice to look at in the shape of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, both of whom are pretty good looking. At least, you will be able to get some satisfaction from all the glaring, growling and brooding!
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I'm a big fan of vampires, so when I heard of Twilight and all of the positive reviews it was receiving, it immediately sparked my interest. Sadly enough, once I finished reading it I felt that I wanted my two days and seven pounds back. First and foremost, the characters, the core of the book, are nauseatingly saccharine Marie Sues. The moment Bella Swan (the name alone should be quite a good indicator that 'profound' or 'complex' are not a part of this character's agenda) arrives at Forks, three boys instantly fall in love with her, one of which is a beautiful vampire. And the book from then on dances back and forth around Bella and Edward the model vampire's relationship.
Bella (a character that I have grown to loathe) has no flaws whatsoever, apart from being very clumsy and a complete BORE. Honestly, the book revolves around the sole fact that Bella bases her entire existence upon Edward, whom she fell in love with only because he is of unearthly beauty. Yes, Meyer never forgot to emphasize that fact - in every single page of every single chapter. We get it! Personally, I couldn't care less about his sparkly topaz eyes or charming crooked smile.
Another thing that bothered me was the painfully obvious cracks in the plot. I really loathe when ends don't meet and the author fails to include a grain of logic here and there to make it a bit more believable, but I guess that's asking too much, when there isn't a plot to begin with.
Also, the whole vampiric aspect of Twilight has wandered so far off that I'm beginning to doubt whether vampires are actually included into the book. Meyer's laughable, sparkly (I emphasize this word. The most ridiculous and mind numbing point of the book), embarrassing creatures that she calls 'vampires' along with Twilight should have never been brought up into daylight (pun intended).
I wouldn't recommend reading this book if you're looking for a truly good read, because you'll end up being as disappointed as I am. If you're a vampire fan, I'd strongly recommend picking up one of Anne Rice's early works.
P.S. I'm fifteen, if you're wondering, thus included in the audience at which this book is aimed. Goes to show that even teenagers (gasp!) can identify a poorly written book when it's presented to them.
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I will say that, despite my constant eye-rolling at my female friends when it came to passionately discussing this book, I came to Twilight actually wanting to be proven wrong, to find that it was a great read. And for the first few chapters, it succeeds. A softly written, gently enticing introduction to Forks, and Bella's world, and above all, Edward.
At first, Edward appears to hate Bella. Excellent, I thought: although I know that the story ends up with them falling madly in forbidden love, the real journey of Twilight will show how they get to that point.
It was the moment when Edward suddenly, out of leftfield, professes his lust (yes, lust - not love) for Bella before the book's barely started that things begin to crumble. Because the budding romance is, at this point, the ONLY plot there is to Twilight. There is nothing else. So when Bella and Edward become an item, the pace shudders to a halt, and you're treated to nothing more than hundreds of pages of them engaging in dull, endless conversations and making out.
And that's another thing: unless you somehow have managed to avoid all the hype surrounding this book, you'd start the book aware that Edward is a vampire long before Bella does. Even the clues Meyer leaves are staggeringly simple, if you know even the most basic of the lore. But wait! Surely, then, the tension comes from awaiting the moment Bella cottons on to who he is!
Unfortunately, the moment is so poorly handled, you'd barely realised it's happened. One minute she's none the wiser, the next, she's onto Edward, and she doesn't appear to care less. No screeching, no `OMG! He's a BLOODSUCKER!' moments, nothing. Once again, what could have been a potentially powerful narration handle is left to rot, as Meyer seems keen to get on with the Edward-gazing.
Ah, yes. Edward Cullen. The perfect gentleman. When Bella meets him, she's struck by his pale beauty, his chiselled Adonis-esque features, his topaz eyes...but she's bowled over by his looks again, and again, and...well, throughout the entire book, actually. It gets very tedious: if you were to condense all the praise Edward receives about his looks throughout the book, I'd confidently predict it takes up somewhere between a quarter and a third of all Twilight.
Many fans have stated how perfect Edward is. In what way, though? So much time is devoted to his physical appearance that his personality barely reveals itself. And from what can be gathered, he likes to watch Bella sleep at night, reads her friend's minds to tell what she's thinking, and when he's not around, is pleading with her to stay out of trouble. To me, that sounds like a relationship that's uneven at best, abusive at worst.
But even Edward is better than Bella. I could go on for pages with what irks me about her, but to me the biggest crime here is that she barely exists as a person on the page. She is vacuous, and if personalities could be summed up by colours, she would be colourless; see-through. However, even I have to admit that this is clever on Meyer's part: what's happened here is that Bella is a self-insert, or in literary jargon, a `Mary-Sue'. In other words, she is there to allow the author or reader to role-play as Bella, to allow them to slip into her shoes as the ordinary girl, and get her fantasy about being swooned over by every male in the school, asked to the dance by several people mere days after arriving there, and ultimately be the object of desire of a sexy, powerful young vampire.
And that is perhaps the greatest sin Twilight, and by that token Stephenie Meyer, has committed: creating a book riddled with flaws, a wafer-thin plot and an unsettlingly disturbing romance (not because he's a vampire; just the sheer dynamics of the relationship) that has somehow managed to cheat it's way to the top along with it's sequels by allowing fantasy roleplay for young women, in the manner described above. Fine, you think, but what's the message, here? Only looks matter? It must be: it's all that seems to matter to Bella. I'm hardly the type to be preachy, and I believe teenagers are thicker skinned and more perceptive than they're given credit for, but maybe not in this case.
I'm giving this 2 stars as opposed to one, simply because it starts well, and it picks up slightly toward the ending when James arrives (though even this is a bit tacked on), and the writing, while flowery and purple-prose riddled, is fairly good, but that really is it. I've read worse than Twilight, but I've read far, far better books that receive infinitely less attention. Twilight is a sad example of style over substance, of wish fulfilment over storytelling, and hype for no justified reason by over-zealous fans.
I have no interest at all in reading the sequel, and to be honest, I'd recommend nobody gets started in the first place.
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