Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) Summary and Reviews

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Brand: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-09-06
ISBN: 0316015849
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Product features:
  • Trade sized Paperback

Book Reviews of Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

Book Review: "And the smell of your *throat*." He stopped short, looking to see if he'd upset me.
Summary: 2 Stars

All right. Many people who are much wittier than I am have effectively savaged Meyer's writing. It *is* a tempting target. First book that I have read in a while whose prose made me chortle-- and not because it was (intentionally) funny, either. The writing is bad. Pretty bad, in fact. But people are not reading and loving this book for the literature value, so I'm not sure how relevant Meyer's prose skills are to the experience.

Anyhow, I won't discuss that further.

I want to talk for a moment about what makes this book compelling. And at least for me, it had its moments. Even as the clunky and repetitive adjective use made me want to toss the book out the window, I kept reading it. I have to confess, actually-- I could not stop reading it. Why? What's the attraction?

Honestly, what I think Meyers does absolutely brilliantly is capture the wish fulfillment dream of your average teenage girl. I had one. Mine was that for some reason David Bowie or Adam Ant found themselves in my unbelievably small and boring town visiting a relative or something. In my fantasy, I would run into him on the street. "Hello", he would say in his British accent. "What is there to do in this town?"/"This town?" I would say smoothly, not missing a beat. "Nothing." And my smile would be so infectious that he would smile back, and instantly recognize that he and I belonged together. All my faults would be charming to him. All my quirks would turn out to have been designed to win his love. Then I would show all the stupid and small minded people from my small town. That was, with occasional variation, how the fantasy went.

And that is what Twilight is all about. When confronted with the dangerous and out-of-bounds love of her life, everything that Bella does badly is suddenly an asset. It turns out that she was intended for something different. Something special. Who doesn't want to be intended to be something special?

This is not to say that Bella is somehow a good role model. She isn't. But role models are things that grown-ups focus on-- not teenage girls. And, apparently, also not grown women who still have a teenage girl hiding in the corner.

So. No interest in reading the next book. If I see it used, I might pick it up. I can't in good conscience really recommend it. Twilight made my brain hurt.

Still, I get it. And I can't blame the kids who eat it up. I can blame Meyers, just a little bit; she had a chance to make Bella much more interesting, but decided not to do it. And from what I have heard, this does not improve in the later books.

p.s. Don't be reading this for further exploration of the vampire legend. These vampires are moody boys who sparkle. Romance Vampires. Not even worth mocking. Blame Anne Rice and the Buffyverse.

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