Friday, December 17, 2010

REVIEW: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Source: Borrowed

It's finally finished. OK, I went into this thinking the book would be so awful it would be unbearable to finish. It wasn't that bad. The writing was mediocre, and I really didn't like the main characters too much, but, overall, it was just meh, mildly annoying, but bearable. I didn't have a problem with the pacing; it's nearly 500 pages, but everything that happens seems like it adds to the story. What I didn't like so much were the emotional parts, the gushy Bella/Edward moments. I like romance, but…I never saw exactly why they were so into each other. Bella just tells us she likes him, and, ooh, he sparkles, and that's basically it. But when we were able to get past that, into the sections about Edward's family, that's the part of the book I like. Esme and Carlisle are really, really interesting characters, and their back story is the most interesting part of the book. Too bad it's not their story. Because I really don't like Bella. She's stupid and completely obsessed with a guy that doesn't treat her that well- he even admits that he's putting her at danger, and she comes back. Why? What does she see in this guy? All the other relationships in the book make sense: Carlisle and Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, and Alice and Jasper. And apparently Bella is Edward's one-and-only, and he's been alone for almost 100 years, fine. But, seriously, I don't understand Bella's attraction to this guy apart from the fact that he's OMG super hot. Which isn't really the greatest basis for a relationship. Basically, listening to Bella talk was just frustrating. And I got really sick of hearing about how clumsy she is. Was that supposed to make her endearing? Ugh.

Here's my favorite part, though: Bella's getting ready for some alone-time with Edward, so she's nervous and can't sleep and take some cough medicine-"I normally wouldn't condone that type of behavior in myself, but tomorrow would be complicated enough without me being loopy from sleep deprivation on top of everything else." An abstinence message-lovely. Really? When I pick up a vampire romance, that's not what I'm looking for. Jeez.

Still, the world Meyer created was pretty cool. Vampires sparkle and play baseball and run super fast. That's fun. Esme and Carlisle and their family were also very interesting. Unfortunately, a whiny, awkward, clumsy teenager who is completely clueless is narrating the story, and that's what killed it. Edward's a jerk, and he's angry a lot (seriously, the guy switches emotions so fast I can't keep up), but he's just mildly irritating. Bella's just awful. Not sure if I'll finish the series, although I've heard a lot of fun things about Breaking Dawn, so I might have to, just to see what the fuss is about. But I'm content with the movies, they seem to get the gist of the story.
 Grade: 2.8/5

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