I know everyone LOVES the “Twilight” series, and I do too – don’t get me wrong. But I just think that the author, Stephanie Meyer, has written a book in which about 50 pages could have been cut. Those 50 pages would have been the 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th conversations that Bella and Edward had about how he’s all dangerous and how she should stay away from him and how she can’t and how he can’t either. Seriously – after the ninth conversation in that same vein, I think I got it.
Despite this major flaw, the book was still a great read and I enjoyed it a lot. As I said in a comment before, I kept reading the book as though Edward was being played by Hayden Christiansen (he of “Let’s Ruin ‘Star Wars’ Forever With My Bad Acting” fame). Fortunately, I had the foresight to go online and find out who is ACTUALLY playing Edward so I could get HC out of my head. It worked, and I began to enjoy the book even more.
In a nutshell, the book’s plot as outlined on Amazon:
Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all vampires, [and they have] renounce[d] human prey. For Edward’s sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst.
It’s teen lit all the way – after all, it’s set in high school. But the author wrote the characters very old – they talked in a way no teenager *I* know speaks. Edward, I can understand, since he is a century old vampire. But Bella’s dialogue was sometimes distracting with the words the author put in her mouth. Nonetheless, Edward was enough to keep me riveted, and I look forward to the second book, “New Moon,” which I’ve already pulled from my shelf to begin reading.
I’m not usually a fan of vampire lit, but I thoroughly enjoyed the very high-brow, non-teen version of the Dracula story, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Since it boasted the redeeming quality of being heavy on Eastern European history, I didn’t feel quite so guilty 🙂
Just about to finish this book up…. I try to read a little at lunch and a little before Anthony gets home. I am pleased that I have a two more books after this one. I will say I love Belle’s dialog. I find myself laughing and her quick wit and love the way the aurthor has chosen to write her. It did help that I too went onto Wikipedia to find out who was who in the movie. I think it will be great casting.
As for the Star Wars movies. I don’t think the full blame needs to be layed at the feet of H.C. The writing for those movies is aweful and can ruin any great actors chance of doing what they do best… ACT. Of course I will say that I just saw “Jumper” and H.C. does play the same character in every movie. But Star Wars ruins itself.