Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

9 reviews

trinloyd's review

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I reread this for the first time as an adult, having only read it one other time as a 12 year old. It was fun rereading it as an adult, and doing it as a buddy read as well, but yikes this book is problematic. Red flags everywhere, Bella is so unlikable and annoying, and the writing can be so over-descriptive that it honestly takes you out of the story. As a reread/buddy read, it was enjoyable, but I think we can all agree that Twilight is definitely nothing to write home about. 

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phouka's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25


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clovetra's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

im actually soooooooo normal about twilight
ok so confession - i have never read twilight before. or seen the movies.
until 2024.
FUCK THAT WAS GOOD???
now i will say. yes the book is cringe at points. like when edward literally eats bella's tears.
and also meyer is um. Odd! like calling jacob "indian"....... Erm!
but i did in fact gobble this book up so. i think im at fault here.
i don't know why i was so addicted to this book but i swear to god its laced with crack.
ummmm i actually cant put how i feel into words.
the ending ate, the story ate, the characters ate (shout out alice u remind me i like women), the pacing, everything (minus the cutesy-cringe moments & the microaggressions....)
i hate you alastair because im an addict. i need my next twilight fix.

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gildedspines's review

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emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


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toastyghosty13's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

i forgot how cheesy this book is. i definitely enjoyed the nostalgic part of rereading this for the first time since middle school, and i will probably finish the rest of the series while i am at it. however, i also remember this being better from the last time i read it. 

the romance aspect is exceptionally cheesy and pretty toxic.
2 teenagers falling in love with each other after 1 kiss and both of them being pined after by every girl and guy and school was very cringey and eye roll inducing. bella being creeped on by every guy under the sun was also ridiculous. shout out to alice for being the best character ever

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morenowagain's review

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challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Such a hard book to rate. We all know it's not a great piece of literature, and Meyer's racism and obsession with weird age gaps definitely depreciates the quality of the literature that is there. But it is so fun. I had a blast reading it. It's silly, very of-it's-time, funny at parts, and a very interesting take on vampires. The background characters are far more interesting than Bella and Edward. I read this for class but I am tempted to read the rest of the series again. 

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soundlysmitten's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

One star for inspiring an entire generation to start reading again. And one for sparkly vampires ;)

I think I was ten or eleven when a friend let me borrow her copy of Twilight. The suspense kept me turning pages through church, lmao. Putting myself in Bella’s place, I remember feeling really frustrated at times, but also like the swoon worthy moments absolutely made up for all the unfairness.

This time around, I felt more detached. Which is to be expected, lol. But while I still found Edward’s patronizing chuckle irritating, I was unimpressed by his “musical voice”, and did not so much as sigh. I couldn’t overlook how controlling he is in every little matter or how he talks down to Bella like she’s completely incompetent when she got by just fine on her own before she met him. Moreover, I couldn’t make allowances for how various other characters also take away Bella’s agency at his discretion (i.e. Emmett restraining her, Jasper manipulating her emotions, all of them keeping her in the dark/making decisions without her). And I couldn’t deny the fact that Bella often responds to toxic behavior in unhealthy ways (i.e. being flattered when Edward spies on her and stalks her, feeling like it’s a commendable thing for him to give her the occasional choice in a matter, not breaking up with him when he threatens to get her nurses to drug her into unconsciousness...)

Basically, Edward is obsessed with Bella in the scary sense and Bella’s got major blinders on. He watches her sleep and wants to drink her blood, and she thinks it’s a romantic display of trust not to let anyone know when she plans to be alone with him. In my opinion, she isn’t a great heroine, nor he a great hero. I get that the danger, intensity, and singularity of their love is supposed to make their story epic, but as an adult, insta love can be hard to find compelling regardless. And the way it plays out in this saga seems a bit foolish to me. Of course forgetting about the rest of the world and valuing your relationship over your wellbeing is not unheard of. But the concept in and of itself is obviously not something to celebrate, and most people would hopefully draw a line before sacrificing their humanity to bank on forever with somebody they met at seventeen 😅

Despite everything mentioned above, I’d say the writing style is alright for a YA novel meant to be accessible to younger audiences. It’s not exactly gorgeous prose, and there is some annoying and inconsistent characterization as well as a few nonsensical lines of reasoning, but everything that made me cringe had to do with content rather than delivery. In general, the language flows pretty well. The pacing seems odd at times, though. And I’m not sure whether the little twists pull any weight cause I’m too familiar with the story at this point to fairly evaluate.

However, something I haven’t considered since my first read through is the novel’s misrepresentation of Native American culture and the author’s appropriation of the Quileute tribe. The number of problematic attempts at humor—which include Bella saying she’s so clumsy she’s “almost disabled” and trying to make a joke out of albinism—also previously went over my head. And there’s a stupid part I didn’t recall in which Bella takes “unnecessary cold medicine” cause she’s too hyped on Edward to sleep. Like, I know a kid could get into a lot worse both drug and activity wise... but really?

Okay, that’s all from me.

Just kidding—back to pose a question on the incident in Port Angeles. Bella almost gets snatched and Edward tells her: “Only you could get into trouble in a town this small. You would have devastated their crime rate statistics for a decade, you know.” Anyone else think his comment is a little blame-the-victim, and that it’s messed up to fabricate attempted assault just to support the notion that a woman is incapable of taking care of herself?

Yes, fiction is fiction. But the media we consume plays a role in shaping our culture, and we consume a lot of it, so I’d personally like to see better standards set in fictional works. Especially when a piece is marketed towards young readers. I think books with controversial content should be examined and discussed, though, rather than put on a black list. And I don’t think it’s right to judge anyone for the way a story resonates with them. So if you like Twilight cause nostalgia or cause fiction is fiction and the story just gives you the feels—I hope you do so shamelessly. (Fuck misogynistic hate).

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froggydanny's review

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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chloevienna's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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