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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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Rating:
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:
-5
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.
3. There is zero originallity in the naming of places and people (Forks? come now, you can do better than that).
4. The plot line is completely unoriginal. It has been done countless times already.
5. The book's pace is slower than a crawl until the fourth book where everything finally happens but if the first three books aren't worth reading, then how are ever going to get to the fourth book?
6. Not only are the characters under developed, they are cliches of the genre. Let us explore this a little more.
Bella: The Perfect Belle (The name is cliche right off the bat) - Your average popular girl that everybody wants but she refuses them all because she's so much better than they are/she already has her sights set on 'the perfect man'. She is meek and helpless and to her, beuaty is only skin deep. She is niave in that she thinks if she has the perfect man nothing else matters.
Edward: The Aloof Hottie (Name is also bad. Ever heard of King Edward? All of them?) - Edward is the kind of guy that all the girls fall for and is the type that is so overused that it's almost sickening. He stays away from everyone because he doesn't want to hurt them and when Bella falls for him he tries to scare her away so she doesn't get hurt (wimper and whine. Old news people. Can we have something new please?). He then proceedes by dictating her every move and what's more, Bella seems to like it. (Hey hold up there! Is this really for preteens? We're getting into some heavy stuff here.)
I've never been one for the sappy vampire romance. Under normal circumstances I would not pay any mind to a book such as this. It would just be another book that I wouldn't pick up on my next book store outing.
However, the huge following this book has earned baffles me and frustrates me because I cannot understand what they see in this book. I have read books that are twenty times better written and original to boot, but you don't see them with die-hard fans apparent at every turn.
As I said, I shall bever understand what is so great about these books. And frankly, I'm not sure that I want to.
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More Twilight (book) reviews
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 … more
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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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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
Caitlyn (Cry_of_the_Wolf)
Member Since:
May 18, 2009
Last Login: Dec 3, 2010 11:21 PM UTC
Last Login: Dec 3, 2010 11:21 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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Although, she didn't make up Forks. Forks, Washington is actually a real place. It's a small town that's known for being overcast a lot. It's why Meyer choose it for her book.
Also, I don't really think there was any significance about the names. Not "Perfect Belle" or "King Edward" or anything like that. I think she just needed names and grabbed a couple (Bella was the name she wanted for her daughter if she'd given birth to a girl). It doesn't appear as though she was looking for any originality.
A fine review though. I actually didn't think it was really that bad, but each books is progressively worse... especially the writing. If you hate the writing it will NEVER get better. It will only get worse.