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A review by bookishrealm
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
1.0
If I could give this 1/2 star I would, but you know the way the rating system works on Goodreads...This is ain't it folks. This really didn't do anything for me.
If you know me or if you've been following my journey in re-reading the Twilight series then you know that I have not been enjoying any of these books. It's been a rough journey, but has also given me better insight to understanding why and how this series is problematic. I won't lie; I was curious about how Meyer would frame this book in context of the original book. My curiosity wasn't enough to even begin to make me like this book.
Let's get the easy part of this out of the way. Midnight Sun is boring. I know everyone was/is super excited to see Twilight from Edwards perspective; however, there was no reason for this book to be over 600 pages. We literally revisit every scene word for word with Edwards insight tacked on. By the time I was 50% into the book it began to feel very long and drawn out. Her technical writing skills have improved; however, her ability to write a compelling plot has not changed. Would it have been a better book if it was shorter? For me, probably not because the content itself is still problematic; however, I think it would have been an easier read. An interesting part of this book is that Stephenie Meyer essentially attempts to re-write the book in a way that attempts to get rid of the critiques that she experienced with the first four books. In doing this, she recreates characters that aren't true to the source material which was WEIRD. For example, I thought Bella was a bland, boring, and insensitive character in Twilight. In Midnight Sun she becomes this well rounded, interesting, and compassionate character. I'm not sure if she was attempting to paint this picture that Edward was seeing Bella through rose-colored glasses, but it didn't make sense. There were also scenes in Twilight that were incorrectly translated over to Midnight Sun as if Meyer didn't even attempt to re-read her own work before writing Midnight Sun.
Now....what I can't seem to understand is how 10 years later Meyer still has the monopoly of writing problematic crap. I feel like she attempted to keep the Black family out of this book as much as possible because she received so much backlash for her portrayal of the Quileute tribe. She still couldn't get it right. There was a line in the beginning of the book in which Meyer allowed Edward to say that he had no problem SLAUGHTERING the entire Quileute tribe because he felt that Jacob broke their treaty. First, the imagery that this brings to mind is disgusting. Second, think about the fact that it is a White character saying this. I don't think that this was appropriate in any world to write that line. Then there is the issue with Edward acknowledging that he is no better than a peeping Tom and that he's a stalker, but continues to stalk her anyway. It's almost as if Meyer believed that if she acknowledged the behavior then she wouldn't have to fix it. There was also this weird alignment with God and Carlise. Don't get me wrong Carlise is hands down one of my favorite characters; however, I found it very awkward that she had Edward describe Carlise as this a Christ-like figure. It was clear that she still wanted to make sure that she wrote herself and her beliefs into the book. There is still a whole aspect of control on Edwards part and the inability of women to be able to define their own lives. I feel like Meyer intentionally wrote all of the other high school students as villains so that should justify the isolation that ends up occurring between Edward and Bella. I just didn't feel comfortable with a lot of the contents of the book.
There were a few things that I did like about the book including the scenes where we learned more about the Cullens and some of the back story about the final scene. Was it enough to save the book? No. Will I be reading anything else in the future? No. I appreciated having open and candid conversations about these books, but I think, for me, it's time to close the door on this series.
If you know me or if you've been following my journey in re-reading the Twilight series then you know that I have not been enjoying any of these books. It's been a rough journey, but has also given me better insight to understanding why and how this series is problematic. I won't lie; I was curious about how Meyer would frame this book in context of the original book. My curiosity wasn't enough to even begin to make me like this book.
Let's get the easy part of this out of the way. Midnight Sun is boring. I know everyone was/is super excited to see Twilight from Edwards perspective; however, there was no reason for this book to be over 600 pages. We literally revisit every scene word for word with Edwards insight tacked on. By the time I was 50% into the book it began to feel very long and drawn out. Her technical writing skills have improved; however, her ability to write a compelling plot has not changed. Would it have been a better book if it was shorter? For me, probably not because the content itself is still problematic; however, I think it would have been an easier read. An interesting part of this book is that Stephenie Meyer essentially attempts to re-write the book in a way that attempts to get rid of the critiques that she experienced with the first four books. In doing this, she recreates characters that aren't true to the source material which was WEIRD. For example, I thought Bella was a bland, boring, and insensitive character in Twilight. In Midnight Sun she becomes this well rounded, interesting, and compassionate character. I'm not sure if she was attempting to paint this picture that Edward was seeing Bella through rose-colored glasses, but it didn't make sense. There were also scenes in Twilight that were incorrectly translated over to Midnight Sun as if Meyer didn't even attempt to re-read her own work before writing Midnight Sun.
Now....what I can't seem to understand is how 10 years later Meyer still has the monopoly of writing problematic crap. I feel like she attempted to keep the Black family out of this book as much as possible because she received so much backlash for her portrayal of the Quileute tribe. She still couldn't get it right. There was a line in the beginning of the book in which Meyer allowed Edward to say that he had no problem SLAUGHTERING the entire Quileute tribe because he felt that Jacob broke their treaty. First, the imagery that this brings to mind is disgusting. Second, think about the fact that it is a White character saying this. I don't think that this was appropriate in any world to write that line. Then there is the issue with Edward acknowledging that he is no better than a peeping Tom and that he's a stalker, but continues to stalk her anyway. It's almost as if Meyer believed that if she acknowledged the behavior then she wouldn't have to fix it. There was also this weird alignment with God and Carlise. Don't get me wrong Carlise is hands down one of my favorite characters; however, I found it very awkward that she had Edward describe Carlise as this a Christ-like figure. It was clear that she still wanted to make sure that she wrote herself and her beliefs into the book. There is still a whole aspect of control on Edwards part and the inability of women to be able to define their own lives. I feel like Meyer intentionally wrote all of the other high school students as villains so that should justify the isolation that ends up occurring between Edward and Bella. I just didn't feel comfortable with a lot of the contents of the book.
There were a few things that I did like about the book including the scenes where we learned more about the Cullens and some of the back story about the final scene. Was it enough to save the book? No. Will I be reading anything else in the future? No. I appreciated having open and candid conversations about these books, but I think, for me, it's time to close the door on this series.