Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Twilight

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Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

59 reviews

pbraue13's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Guys, it's Twilight. I started my reread because my job provides me with free audiobooks and I needed some background noise for my heavy work periods. If you don't know what this series is about by now let me reiterate: Bella Swan the most accident prone (seriously girl with your balance problems go see a doctor! You probably have an iron deficiency!) and most sought after new girl in literary history meets Edward Cullen. Pale, gaslighting, and piercing eyes - Edward is obviously...a toxic relationship waiting to happen. Just kidding (not really), he's a vampire. After a few weeks/months of knowing him (honestly who knows?) she believes she is "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him" to the point where even her life literally constantly being at steak is a turn on. She wears khaki skirts to turn him on (did y'all know the author was Mormon? This clothing choice says it all) even contemplates putting herself in danger purposely so she can keep Edward close (Edward the guy who, when he isn't gaslighting her, is constantly reminding her "I COULD KILL YOU IF I WANTED RIGHT NOW I AM SO MUCH STRONGER THAN YOU!"... nice guy, right?). Honestly, both are so dumb and toxic, they kind of deserve one another.
But I feel bad making this whole review bashing the book and its characters, so here are some positives. Stephenie Meyer is great at atmosphere, her sense of humor between characters is well done and got a chuckle out of me at points, and her unique portrayal of vampires is one I must say I enjoy. I also enjoyed the backstories for each of the members of the Cullen family we are given (Alice's especially due to it being covered in vagueness and mystery). I also will say I loved the vampire/supernatural YA boom this book cause so I am thankful for that. Otherwise, this gives me an excuse to listen to the killer movie soundtracks again.

2.5/5 stars (the .5 for the khaki skirt)

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stindex's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

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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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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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dark fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

A reread because of course I was all up in this series as a teen. Ya know, I didn't hate it this time. I'm reading through the lens of horror and it's kinda working for me. Of course it's angsty and dramatic but Bella is 17, I think we were all at least a little angsty and short-sighted around that age. Obviously I do not care for the promotion of toxic romantic relationships but I do think there's at least something to get out of this series. It's a cultural touchstone whether we like it or not.

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celisabeth's review

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

With this type of subject matter, the story could have been completely campy, but instead was surprisingly beautiful at times. I thought that Twilight exhibited a surprising depth of emotion, intimacy and even sensuality without ever resorting to anything explicit. I think the intimacy was owing in large part to the amazing level of communication between Bella and Edward. These two teen protagonists affected more stark honesty in their communication than many adult characters in romance novels, rarely holding anything back from each other. Edward was even forthcoming about who and what he was far sooner than I ever expected him to be. The sensuality was conveyed through simple things like smiles, kisses and touches and most importantly their beautiful dialog. The first two-thirds of the book moves at a rather languid but steady pace owing to the extensive character and relationship development. After that, it almost instantly turns into a taut suspense/thriller when Bella's life is threatened. Even though the book is written entirely in first-person from Bella's perspective, I thought the author did a good job of conveying Edward's thoughts and feelings too, through extensive use of dialog. As an aside, I really liked the small-town atmosphere of Forks.

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sarah_speaks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

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ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is fine. Sure, there are a lot of corny moments at the point of cringe, but still okay. I don't like the super long chapters; not a fan.

Bella has a funny mind. She's opinionated, clumsy, and awkward and I love that. I also like that she reads books for fun. Oh, I also love the part where she prepares and cooks in the kitchen a lot of times.

Edward on the other hand is toxic basically. The horrors of the vampire life aren't mentioned that much, it might have been interesting.

Jacob was chill and funny.✨

By the way, didn't Bella even realize that she might have liked or loved Edward because it's part of the vampire stuff? I mean, teenage hormones, I guess? But yeah, I sensed that she had a death wish.

Poor Charlie, he had no idea.

Oh well, thanks, Stephenie❤️

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sav_22's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Decided to reread this, I read it in middle school and used to be a fan but decided to revisit. Whether you like or hate it, its such a landmark in pop culture; I never take it seriously, it’s a fun read if you just like shallow paranormal romances.

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nienora's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

It finally happened. I gave a book (less than) 1 start. I really don't understand how this became so popular. It's terrible. I hated every single minute of it

Bella is boring and annoying as fuck. Her narration is so bland. She just rambles on and on and on, and doesn't have one useful thought. And just repeats everything for each day. She went to school, drove her old barely functioning noisy car. Talked with Edward and wondered where Edward is. Talked with two of her friends but she's so much smarter than everyone, except Edward. She came home, cooked dinner.
It felt like I was reading 3 same conversations over and over and over again for 400 pages.

Edward said he is very scary and she should stay away from him. And she just refuses to listen to him and does exactly opposite. If a guy himself tells you he's walking, talking red flag in every conceivable way, chances are he's right and you should run in opposite way. And he has one facial expression - smirk or crooked smile.

This is a guidebook of how to get into toxic relationship and how to be manipulative, gaslighting boyfriend. (It's no wonder why everyone idolises Rhys now.) Edward puts her in terrible situations and somehow she ends up apologising to him. And he constantly gaslights her about anything and everything. And keeps asking her if she's scared of him, and she should be scared of him because he's very scary. And then he proceeds to throw stuff around and she just stays with him. Bella is sooo in love with him, she would literally die for him after like three months. And she really, really wants to become a vampire so she could be with him forever.

Anyways, if it isn't obvious from this very lovely review, I'll continue reading this.

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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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