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"THE KIND OF BOOK I COULD SINK MY TEETH INTO & BITE DOWN HARD!"
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The first book in the "Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyer.
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I first read Twilight the summer after my senior year of high school. I was still 17, stuck up in bed for months recovering from a minor surgery, and reading at my most voracious pace yet (where was Netflix Instant in 2007, huh!?) in order to get away from endless Full House reruns. I had long since abdicated library authority to my mother and she had perfected the ability to pick a perfect mix of young adult and adult fiction and nonfiction for me. After one of these library trips, Twilight found it's way into my hands. Blame the teenage hormones, the cocktail of pain medications I was on, my "delicate" gender, or even the break-up of an awkward relationship only a few months before, but I was wooed by the sparkles, the feelings, the bloodlust, and the smoldering looks. It wasn't until later that year that I had found out about the rest of the series, and despite the sudden Twilight obsession, continued to read and enjoy. It wasn't until I returned to the series for a second go-around last year that I realized something was very off this time. Something about it just nagged me and pulled at my mind. Slowly I began to realize the types of things that Twilight was actually advocating. On the surface Twilight appears to be a strong female narrative. Written by woman with a woman protagonist, it is a veritable triumph for feminists everywhere, correct? Oh so very wrong. Bella is described by most Twilight fans to be a strong girl whose main strength lies in her ability to sacrifice herself for those that she loves. While this may be somewhat true, I feel it is only so apparent because it is contrasted with a somewhat meek and forgiving nature. She is adored by everyone, especially males. The fact that she even manages to attain adoration and obsession by creatures that aren't human only serves to show this even more. What causes this adoration? She cooks and cleans for her father while he cleans his gun and brings home the bacon, she looks pretty, she is so very fragile, and can charmingly not handle anything more than reading and daydreaming, unable to fend for herself. She is diminutive and doe eyed. This is all it takes for her to be adored and exalted. Her character is creepily perfect without any real flaws other than the harmlessly charming self-deprecation and clumsiness. I won't even delve to deeply into the fact that Edward invades Bella's privacy and her home before he even says hello to her...that he watches her sleep on a consistant basis, and we all find it so sweet and charming before you realize that it is more than a little creepy. Should we, as women, expect to have our privacy violated and to find it charming? It is a common societal belief that the line of "creepy stalker behavior" is drawn quite differently for men than for women, considering that when most men behave in an overbearing and unhealthy attitude we are conditioned to see it as charming, as a testament of love, but when women do it is stalker, Fatal Attraction behavior. There are many more reasons that I have such issues, as a feminists with Twilight, but many revolve around the narrative as a whole and I wanted to just focus on the first book. While I agree that the books are written about as well as any other young adult fiction is written (long flowery prose, etc.), I feel it's underlying messages are much more dangerous than we give them credit for.
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More Twilight (book) reviews
Hundreds and thousands of fans couldn't possibly be wrong, could they? I figured with so much hype surrounding Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series, there had to be something to it. So I took the plunge and dug in. Now, please ... before hordes of young female fans climb all over me and shower my review with negative comments, I hope that they'll understand this review is being written by a fifty-something male for a similar audience. In summary, it just wasn't … more
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There has been a lot of smack written about Twilight, mostly because the book’s primary audience is not articulate enough to adequately voice their opinions of the book beyond: “Edward is so dreamy,” “I want someone to love me that much,” “Vampires are sexy.” What Meyer has done is taken every romantic cliché from a book or movie and compiled it into one book that doesn’t move beyond its primary archetypes. Without plot dynamics … more
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My older sister is a librarian, and for Christmas and my birthday she often gives me a stack of "good books" - the ones she's heard good things about, or would recommend. A couple years ago, Twilight was part of the stack. She was insistent that I should give it a try, even if I am not a fan of vampire stories. I am a middle- and high school teacher, so I figured I really ought to know what my students are squealing about. I read it over three days, and determined that it is definitely … more
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Listen, I'm not a Twilight-hater, nor am I a hard core fan. I read the books a few years ago and was swept up by the love story between Bella and Edward. I certainly give this book props for how captivating it can be. However, in order to analyze this book critically, and fairly, I'm going to look at how healthy the Edward/Bella relationship really is for teens to be digesting as they read Twilight. This is more of a response to the ideas portrayed in Twilight vs. an outright review of the … more
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I read the book because I am a middle school teacher and thought I should be familiar with the novel because of its popularity with my students. The book is honestly poorly written and incredibly predictable, but despite this obvious reason to dislike the novel, I could not put it down and soon found myself reading the other books in the series. The Twilight series has become my guilty pleasure. Here are my thoughts as a teacher on the appropriateness of the text for your adults: … more
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review by silvertofu.
January 05, 2010
I read a book several years ago, that I've read many times since then, also in the young adult category, called Demon In My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, that was published when she was 16. The book is less than half the size of Twilight, with far more plot and character development then Twilight could ever achieve. It has it's faults, but was a quick, and amusing read. Then, I read Twilight, written by a woman, with supposed writing ability, with the same plot, similar characters, and far too … more
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This book was 'ok', I didn't go out of my way to read it, nor did I see the reason behind all the hype. It was well written if not well thought out. Too many characters to be introduced to, and confusing conflicts of interest to the younger audience set. I think this was meant to be a romance for the ages, that falls AGES short. To me, this is written to attract the exact demographic the writer intended- tweens. While not … more
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review by Cry_of_the_Wolf.
May 18, 2009
I will never understand the huge following the the book Twilight has earned. In my opinion, this 'book' is more along the lines of a teenage girls fanfiction about some other vampire romance novel they picked up at an airport book store. Here are the reasons I shall never pick up these books again: 1. The characters are painfully underdeveloped. 2. While there may be one or two well written passages, they are ruined by the horrible ones that follow. &nb … more
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What a wonderful plot for a young adult book. What could be more heart wrenching? A tragic battle between love and death. Boy meets girl. Boy wants to eat girl, yet boy is madly in love with girl. The series I should mention is not only for teens. I've known a few adults to have gotten off on the vampire romance. Though some cynics may throw the word beastiality around, the sexual tension is what keeps the pages a turnin' and the sales a rollin.' With that in mind, the novel should … more
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Okay, I'll admit it. I first read this book because of the hype. Also, because the trailer of the movie looked interesting. Lastly, I've been going through Harry Potter withdrawal and I'm trying to find a fantasy series to put all of my pent-up energy in. So, now, what I have to say is this: WHAT THE HELL?!! This book's premise sounded interesting. Bella moves in with her dad to a remote town in Arizona and falls in love with a vampire. But I foolishly thought … more
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About the reviewer
Ryn Greer (kgreer20)
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Jun 29, 2010
Last Login: Feb 14, 2011 03:45 PM UTC
Last Login: Feb 14, 2011 03:45 PM UTC
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About this book
Twilight is the debut, young-adult vampire-romance novel by author Stephenie Meyer. Twilight was initially rejected by 14 agents, but became an instant bestseller when published originally in hardback in 2005, debuting at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list within a month of its release and later peaking at #1. That same year, Twilight was named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2005. The novel was also the biggest selling book of 2008 and, to date, has sold 17 million copies worldwide, spent over 91 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, and been translated into 37 different languages.
It is the first book of the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. The novel is followed by New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. A film adaptation of Twilight was released in 2008. It was a commercial success, grossing more than $382 million worldwide and an additional $157 million from North American DVD sales, as of July 2009.
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It is the first book of the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. The novel is followed by New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. A film adaptation of Twilight was released in 2008. It was a commercial success, grossing more than $382 million worldwide and an additional $157 million from North American DVD sales, as of July 2009.
ISBN-10:
0316160172
ISBN-13:
978-0316160179
Author:
Stephenie Meyer
Genre:
Young Adult Fiction,
Paranormal Romance,
Fantasy,
Vampires
Publisher:
Little, Brown and Company
Date Published:
October 5, 2005
Format:
Format
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I agree with much of what you've written, though. In particular I'm disturbed by all of Meyer's flowery prose and hearing about how perfect Edward was. The first book in particular doesn't even have any real plot until around 300 pages in. I admit when I first read the first book I thought it was alright. Then I thought New Moon was better (only because I hate Edward that much) but by the time I got to Eclipse I was getting tired of seeing the same flaws over and over and over again. But I still finished the series (Breaking Dawn was the worst of the lot for sure).