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Books: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
[Note: I am well aware that this book hides a volatile fandom which would probably lynch me for what I am about to say. I can only assume they will not find me.]
At the behest of much buzz and with the excuse of a class in young adult lit, I finally read Meyer's vampire romance Twilight. And my feelings are both definite and mixed, if that's possible. I do not think it is a "good" book. In fact, I think there are a lot of harmful ideas being perpetrated here under a "romantic" guise. And yet... and yet... I found myself drawn into the romance of it despite strongly disliking the viewpoint character/first-person narrator.
The basic plot is distressingly simple for a book of nearly 500 (admittedly large-printed and wide-margined) pages: emo!Sue Bella moves to Forks, WA, where she hates the rain but loves a very pretty boy whose family keeps away from everyone else. She soon learns the secret behind both the family's distance and Edward's bizarre behavior around her: They're vampires. And she smells really good to him.
The rest of the book follows Bella's efforts to learn more about the Cullens, Edward's futile attempts to stay away from her (he loves her, but he wants to eat her, do you see?), and Bella's complete inability to keep herself out of harm's way for more than twenty pages at a time. Time after time, Edward must rescue her because she floats around in a perpetual daze over his gorgeousness. And time after time, he warns her that he is dangerous and that she should stay away. Now, this particular thing hits something nice for me--the whole "I love you but I shouldn't" business. But it doesn't go anywhere interesting. At no time does Bella question the feelings she has; she admits that he "dazzles" her, that she cannot think straight about him, and never shows the slightest agency in her behavior.
Bella is one of the weakest "heroines" I've ever encountered, hearkening back to stereotypical romance heroine and silent film star material. The whole thing reads like an abuse metaphor to me: young girl with self-esteem issues, boyish older man who claims she is "special," repeated warnings (both voiced and not) that this is Not a Good Idea. The setting of this in the more or less realistic high school scene leaves me unable to truly divorce the "it's just a vampire story" from the above considerations. I can lie to myself that Gothic fiction isn't condoning stupidity in modern-day females, or that enjoying Erik/Christine has nothing to do with real life.
All this might have been redeemed had Meyer decided to follow through on the very real threat Edward claims to pose for Bella. As it turns out, whatever internal struggle there is is his, and we are not privy to it because Bella's telling the story. And her opinions are uniformly naive and besotted--not to mention repetitive. Instead, an external threat is brought in in the last 1/4 of the book to put Bella in danger yet again, for a dramatic save which must up the ante from her previous scrapes.
All that said, and realize it's a pan, I kept reading. Avidly. There's something about a guy clenching his fists because he likes you too much to want to have to kill you that has an effect on me, despite my pre-determination to be above it. I'd encountered descriptions of Meyer's brand of vampirism online and I still don't understand what's so interesting about a race of creatures with no flaws at all: they're sexy, virtually unkillable, frequently have extrasensory powers, and literally sparkle in the sunlight, which is just stupid. I don't blame Bella (or readers) for falling for them; but I do blame Meyer for creating such a vapid portrayal of what should be a very troubling relationship. And I blame myself for sort of liking it.
At the behest of much buzz and with the excuse of a class in young adult lit, I finally read Meyer's vampire romance Twilight. And my feelings are both definite and mixed, if that's possible. I do not think it is a "good" book. In fact, I think there are a lot of harmful ideas being perpetrated here under a "romantic" guise. And yet... and yet... I found myself drawn into the romance of it despite strongly disliking the viewpoint character/first-person narrator.
The basic plot is distressingly simple for a book of nearly 500 (admittedly large-printed and wide-margined) pages: emo!Sue Bella moves to Forks, WA, where she hates the rain but loves a very pretty boy whose family keeps away from everyone else. She soon learns the secret behind both the family's distance and Edward's bizarre behavior around her: They're vampires. And she smells really good to him.
The rest of the book follows Bella's efforts to learn more about the Cullens, Edward's futile attempts to stay away from her (he loves her, but he wants to eat her, do you see?), and Bella's complete inability to keep herself out of harm's way for more than twenty pages at a time. Time after time, Edward must rescue her because she floats around in a perpetual daze over his gorgeousness. And time after time, he warns her that he is dangerous and that she should stay away. Now, this particular thing hits something nice for me--the whole "I love you but I shouldn't" business. But it doesn't go anywhere interesting. At no time does Bella question the feelings she has; she admits that he "dazzles" her, that she cannot think straight about him, and never shows the slightest agency in her behavior.
Bella is one of the weakest "heroines" I've ever encountered, hearkening back to stereotypical romance heroine and silent film star material. The whole thing reads like an abuse metaphor to me: young girl with self-esteem issues, boyish older man who claims she is "special," repeated warnings (both voiced and not) that this is Not a Good Idea. The setting of this in the more or less realistic high school scene leaves me unable to truly divorce the "it's just a vampire story" from the above considerations. I can lie to myself that Gothic fiction isn't condoning stupidity in modern-day females, or that enjoying Erik/Christine has nothing to do with real life.
All this might have been redeemed had Meyer decided to follow through on the very real threat Edward claims to pose for Bella. As it turns out, whatever internal struggle there is is his, and we are not privy to it because Bella's telling the story. And her opinions are uniformly naive and besotted--not to mention repetitive. Instead, an external threat is brought in in the last 1/4 of the book to put Bella in danger yet again, for a dramatic save which must up the ante from her previous scrapes.
All that said, and realize it's a pan, I kept reading. Avidly. There's something about a guy clenching his fists because he likes you too much to want to have to kill you that has an effect on me, despite my pre-determination to be above it. I'd encountered descriptions of Meyer's brand of vampirism online and I still don't understand what's so interesting about a race of creatures with no flaws at all: they're sexy, virtually unkillable, frequently have extrasensory powers, and literally sparkle in the sunlight, which is just stupid. I don't blame Bella (or readers) for falling for them; but I do blame Meyer for creating such a vapid portrayal of what should be a very troubling relationship. And I blame myself for sort of liking it.
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Edited to say that I loved it. It's not a deep read, but gosh it was fun.
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Like... all the parts where he's all "I'm going to hurt you and I can't help it"? Even though he doesn't, the threat is explicit and textual.
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Granted, Angel, Spike and Edward are all examples of arrested development, which I guess is really what this vampire thing is all about, but like I said all those factors combined made me feel weird.
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Ok... I am now being informed there is gonna be a companion book as well - Twilight told from Edward's POV. And they're trying to make me read thepreview chapter. *hides behind giant alien whale*
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Must confess I am curious about the movie now. Will Edward get a seedy opium den? *pokes the seedy opium den*
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http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/otherprojects_midnightsun.html
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(And she says she's trying to publish it.)
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If you haven't read Eclipse and plan on it, just wait until you get to the part where you can no longer contain yourself and just start screaming "GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY" at Edward.
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Hahaha. I was resisting.
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Also it'll make me feel younger or something... maybe... like a vampire.
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Also, library.
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Hated, hated, hated New Moon. Eclipse was okay.
I don't "do" book discussion groups because I like books no one else likes, and I hate the ones most people like. I don't like examining my feelings towards a book, either. I would say that's because I'm shallow (which I am, unfortunately) but it's basically because I don't like examining my feelings, period.
I've moved on, though. I am now obsessed with Karen Marie Moning's Fever books. (Although I'm only on the fifth reading of the first two books. I think I'll have them memorized before the next book is released September 30th.)
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And we all read in different ways, for different reasons. It's all good, even if we disagree.
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What can I say? The main character is a bitch. I've never disliked a protagonist more since I read Ethan Frome in high school. The author self-insertion grates on the nerves like something horrible. She moans. She whimpers. She complains about how horrible it is to have guys interested in her at school. She complains about all of the girls wanting to be her friend. She complains that the emo-vampire boy (who dresses in cream turtlenecks and tan leather coats OMG) isn't interested in her, then gets even moodier when he's worried about eating her. I could continue on, but most of my cheese involves portions of book 2, which I'm not sure if you're committed to reading yet.
Just... ugh. I'd write something more coherant, but the disgust is overwhelming me.
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It's very troubling.
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My mother gave me all three books for my birthday. She knows I like vampires, so she bought them with only the best of intentions in mind, the dear thing. (It may also have had to do with the fact that the author is LDS, which happens to be the Cookie!Family religion of choice.)
I made her read them so she could understand my abhorrence. I was impressed that she made it through all three. Not because they're difficult to read, but because Bella gets progressively more and more obnoxious. We talked about what worked and what didn't work, and came to the conclusion that it was an interesting premise placed in the hands of a bad writer. At least that's what I took out of it.
I kinda want you to start reading the second book now so you can understand the hate they inspire in me. *mmm?*
P.S. Edward is unequivocally gay.
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And I totally understand the shared hatred. Bella gets worse? See, this sort of thing needs to be seen to be believed. I think you're right about the interesting premise, which must be what propels me forward; I'm interested despite myself, and can't help but hope.
I mean, I know it's futile.
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Tripped over this by accident
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It's a strange combo, to be sure.
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Would you mind if I added this entry to the community memories? I'd understand if the rabid fanpoodles scared you off, but if it's any consolation, they prefer shouting at us through the website guestbook.
Re: Tripped over this by accident
What BS. Very amusing in its way, though, I guess. If you like wank.
By the way there are some typos on the website--sorry if you're aware already but it can't hurt to fix them.
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I mean, exactly. The most disturbing thing to me about Twilight is that I kind of like it. I mean, I lolgasm on nearly every page. But the damned thing is so consumptive. It's really made me be, like, dude. If Stephenie Meyer can write this and have it be a bestseller, what the hell am I waiting for? Like I said in another post, it's making me kind of stupid.
Oh, and I hate Bella. Seriously, I don't understand why any of the other characters like her. She's so vacant. I guess that's the Mary Sue.
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HER SKIN IS ALMOST TRANSLUCENT LOL
But... yeah. I do sort of like it. Like I think I said, part of it is a "I'm no good for you" kink. There are buttons you can push, however inexpertly.
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Mind if I friend you?
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