Twilight: The Twilight Saga, Book 1

This book was horrible. All of the Twilight books were horrible. I just can't get over the fact that they're 17! And excuse my reference to other books in the series (as well as some possible spoilers coming up) but they get married at 18, at 19 (or still 18?) they have a baby... I mean, the author is basically sending the message that "If you believe you're in love when you're only 17, go for it! Get married in a year, have a baby the next. You know your love is true and because you've been together for almost a year, you two are perfect for one another. You'll never get a divorce." Okay, my friend (a seventh grader) was with a boy for a year. Does that mean they were planning to get married? No. But teens might start thinking about that earlier and earlier if we send out messages like this. The book was awfully boring, dragged on and it was just horrible. Vampires aren't meant to sparkle and make out with humans. Now, Bella isn't even a character. Well, she has no emotions anyway. She's somewhat dumb and naive, too. What a great role model. Honestly, this entire series is horrible.

A former critic, I am astonishingly now a fan. This book/series is sort of Jane Eyre meets X-men saga; it tells the story of a humble, kind, introverted girl who feels incomplete and longs for home, love, connection, intimacy, family, and agency. Within a simple 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again' tale there are many layers. To explain the book's appeal and artistry I strongly recommend the Granger lectures on Ancient Faith Radio. Bella, with her shy, self-effacing manner and intense first love, is not a model of career woman efficiency. This is a fairy tale parable of opening our hearts to love, and allowing that love to transform us. This tale is also a coming of age story. We see a smart, capable girl grow up, mature, make her decisions, and blossom. That she chooses being a wife and mother as her adult priority is probably the single most controversial aspect of this book. Now read my earlier negative review from years ago - written in a knee jerk reaction after having read the book only once. My previous review: "Bella is a poor role model for chastity, honesty, and self-care: The book was suspenseful and erotic, but morally 'junk food'. WHY are parents letting young girls read this? Bella pursues only her infatuation w/ the vampire. She makes no female friends; she has no career plans; no extracurricular interests, no religious practice; no sports; no job. She has no interest outside of wanting to give her body to the older powerful attractive male - even if he kills her. She lies to and deceives her father. She hides her boyfriend in her bed at night as he passionately and dangerously kisses her neck. Bella is not an upstanding role model for a young girl." Obviously my feminist hackles were raised the first read through, but strangely enough I delight in the book now and have read the series through several times. In fact I really like everything S. Meyer wrote: The Twilight series, The Host, and especially, Midnight Sun (book 1 from Edward's voice) downloadable from her website. And I no longer think Bella's physical desire for Edward is inappropriate for teens to read. Humans feel desire. What matters is how we handle it. Bella and Edward's restraint and choice of chastity is more of an accomplishment b/c it did take effort. Bella and Edward are fine role models - their maturation takes 4 books, so don't judge them too soon. If interested in the inner life, popular culture, or the power of story to transform, I strongly recommend you read or listen to John Granger on both Twilight, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter at hogwarts professor site.

All right. First of all, I hated this book pretty bad. I mean, it had an okay plot and all, and when I read it the first time I said to myself, "Well, all right. This is an okay book." Until I read it a second time. I'm a book freak, and the first time I read a book that actually interests me (I'm an extreme book critic as well) I sort of gloss over the flaws in it. Until I read it a second time. I read Twilight once more, sort of half-skimming through the pages, and then notice one thing that really bugs me, since I'm a half author, half editor (Well, very nearly, and no, I do not vomit out some vampire crap): Spelling, punctuation, and, most of all, grammer mistakes. It's one of my biggest pet-peeves besides socks and pillows, as well as the texture of my walls (I know; I'm a strange one). The second thing I just happened to notice was that Bella, the main character, is a really big whiner. Now, whiners also annoy me, and I started to think, "Now why the heck did I read this book in the first place?" Bella also depends too much on Edward, who sort of gives off some creepy stalker vibes and an impression of a serial killer (Seriously, I had nightmares of him stalking me. Just a tad strange). And then I read, once more, the part of how he sparkles. Really, now, we know Edward is hot (In the book), but you're seriously overdoing it now. I'm thinking, "Really? Does he really need to SPARKLE?" Then I noticed the dad, Charlie. He's the worst dad ever, or haven't you noticed that? I thought I noticed you noticing. Seriously, though; all he does is sit around and watch TV, talks to Bella about once a week, goes fishing every day and leaves the kid unsupervised, and doesn't seem to really give a crap about the poor girl. No wonder she's such a whiner and willing to have any man, right? I also noticed that Meyer adds tons of weird and unrelated details to the book, the h--- word is used every once in a while, and, the biggest problem of all I read in Newmoon, Bella gets a little on the suicidal side. Seriously, she got my friend thinking that jumping off a cliff is really cool and fun and that she should try it as well. Meyers has also gotten two of my friends thinking that they're vampires, and she got my friend on drugs lined with BLOOD. Seriously. I'm getting a bit worried about our society and the Twilight series. My other friend is a literal addict of it, and it's creeping me out about how loyal she is to the books/movies. And yet another thing: Bella has no personality. She's all whiney and dependant, yes, but pretty much nothing else. Even in the movies (Really bad acting, by the way), the person who plays her has like, this blank stare the entire time. Even when the one guy kisses her at lunch, she's giving the girl next to her a look that says, "What? Did I pee myself again?" It just...bothers me. It's unnatural. And little ten-year-old girls, believe what you will. But really, you shouldn't be reading this stuff. Why not read Catherine Called Birdy? Best and most funny book of all time about this stubborn, personality-packed girl who's being forced to get married--to the ugliest, most disgusting man ever. But will she have to marry him? Not if Birdy can help it, with a little luck with accidentally catching the privy (bathroom house) on fire and running away multiple times (She always comes back to her friends, of course). Now THAT is a good book!

I am glad to see there are others who saw what I saw when I read this book, as a parent previewing it for my young daughters. My 5th grade daughter was begging me to read it because all of her friends had and a couple of moms whom I would usually trust said, "Oh, Twilight is harmless!" But for me, as a single mom who has just left an abusive relationship, the negative messages of this book stood out as ones my young daughters don't need to be exposed to, especially when they are being glorified. There is way too much desire in this novel for young girls to be reading about, let alone the fact that Bella desires someone who is dangerous, and she is more than willing to ignore the danger in the name of love. This is not a sweet, innocent love story, and I am amazed at how many VERY young girls are not only reading this series and watching the movie, but are obsessed with it, and their parents don't see it as a problem. We need to open our eyes with our daughters at this age and think about what we are teaching them about the world and how they, as women in it, should expect to be treated.