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A review by bookphile
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
3.0
It's been five years since I read Twilight the last time. I can honestly say that reading it at different points in my life has made it a different experience each time. I have loved Twilight and I have hated it, I have been apathetic towards it, and now I simply accept its existence in our pop culture in my periphery and think nothing of it. At least I did, until Midnight Sun became officially published. All I can say is that there's a reason that his book, this series, has been called a phenomenon.
Like many things, Twilight is a combination of both good and bad things. The writing isn't good, there's no other way to say it, but the thing is Twilight is so very readable. It's gives you everything you want from a teenage romance novel: a mysterious boy, a bland heroine that you can paste yourself onto, a slowly built forbidden romance, drama, suspense, a larger than life danger to tear the lovers apart, and a promise of a bittersweet forever. It's one of those books that's very easy to pick apart once you start, but it's also something a lot of people would call a guilty pleasure. A story doesn't really have to make sense, it has to make just enough sense for you to enjoy it.
The biggest problem of this book, aside from shoddy writing, are the characters. Edward is our mysterious bad boy, but unfortunately he's actually a patronizing misogynist, who at first gaslights the heroine to protect his identity and then spouts out nonsense about being bad and dangerous and deciding that he just can't possibly stay away. When I was a teenager, I saw nothing wrong with his behavior, in fact I saw it as romantic, just as the author intended. As I got older I was frequently shocked by all disturbing and unacceptable behavior Edward was often exhibiting: stalking the heroine, watching her as she slept for weeks at a time, gaslighting her to the point where she thought he regretted saving her life. I wondered how it could be that another adult woman wrote Edward and tried to pass him off as a hero. Then I got it: he's an 80's romantic comedy heartthrob, just as they often were, wrapped up in toxic masculinity. No seriously, if you have ever watched movies from the 80s and even a good portion of the 90s, you'll see that the kind of behavior we thought was romantic back then, totally won't fly today. Though of course, many adults don't see anything wrong with Edward's behavior even today, which is another problem in itself.
Bella, oh Bella. She's been called many things, but her main and only function is this: to serve as a mirror for the reader. Bella barely has any sort of personality, or as the writer tries to convince us, she's just a perfectly ordinary girl who catches the eye of a gorgeous, wealthy, and mysterious boy who falls heedlessly in love with her. She's meant for us to live vicariously through. And she serves that purpose beautifully while also being occasionally snarky, sarcastic, and bitchy. Otherwise, she thinks her own mother is an idiot, of her father as clueless and helpless (despite him being the Chief of Police), she has no friends, and frankly, doesn't want them. And when she does accidentally make them, they're inconsequential, but also she's the Mom of the group. It's so funny too, to read Bella act and talk like a middle aged woman and mom instead of a teenage girl. You know, like her author. Also, there's a least five other boys in love with her at any given time despite the fact that she makes it clear to all of them she's not interested. For some reason, none of the men in Bella's life ever listen to her. Ever.
However, the worst part about Bella is how non-reactive she is and she never really reflects too much about anything Edward tells her. To the point where even author (through Edward) kind of pokes fun at how she barely ever reacts to anything scary that Edward does and says. I think this is supposed to portray Bella as accepting of Edward despite his flaws, but the thing is unless Bella grew up in a certain way, her reactions - or lack thereof - make little sense. I'm pretty sure that if a boy told a girl that he'd been following her around and watching her sleep and that she sometimes drives him to homicidal urges, they would on some level at least - be super freaked out. Bella is flattered. Yes, he's following her to protect her, I guess watching her sleep could be seen as admiring from afar, but at least the fact that he broke into her house on several occasions and says he kind of wants to kill her or others to protect her warrants a response other than bashfulness.
The biggest sin of this book however is how boring the world building is, even when it has some potentially interesting characters with cool backstories. Meyer's vampires have been called laughable and for good reason. Here they are, immortal, gloriously beautiful, rich, physically superior in every way and they're going to high school. Not only do they go to high school, when they all have multiple college degrees, but they've made themselves play this charade multiple times over decades just to seem "normal" in their small town life. Except it makes absolutely no sense because everyone knows that you get absolutely zero privacy in a small town, and if you put five beautiful teenagers, all seemingly adopted by a young doctor and his wife, who all seem to be dating amongst themselves while ignoring everyone else... and you've got a recipe for the worst kept secret in North America. There are so many ways in which this could have been done better and has been in fan-fiction and meta posts online. But you know what, Meyer gave us yet another bland backdrop onto which it's easy for the reader to imagine themselves in and act out their daydreams. Voila!
But also, her vampires sparkle like diamonds in the sun. My question is, why? It's never really explained what it is that makes them sparkle? Is it the venom? Does it somehow effect the skin? Is it a protection thing? WHAT? In what way does them sparkling serve the story? Because you know what, if a guy who's been hinting to me that he's dangerous, possibly murderous, and in no way good for me, and then he stepped out into the sun and started to sparkle, I would die of laughter, not of fear. Is it supposed to play on the fact that girls like sparkly and shinny things? Sure, we do, just you know, not people.
In the end, I think, Twilight wasn't written to impress anyone. It is a fantasy world with bland characters, a cliched romance, and a lackluster world which is precisely why it's so easy to read and imagine yourself in the place of these characters, so easy to become part of that world and allow your own mind to fill in the blanks. It's as good as your imagination can make it. Or just as bad.
-----
Old review
Re-reading Twilight at 24.
Unsurprisingly, this was a whole separate experience than when I read this as a teenager. I believe I re-read this several times in high-school but not since then. And now I truly believe that the only reason people hate this book is because it's the teenage girls fantasy (but also racism, ridiculous setup, bad writing, whatever).
Things I noticed:
-Bella is kind of a bitch. I don't think I noticed her sassiness or sarcasm levels before. But she's unfriendly, had no qualms about making jabbing comments at people who are just trying to be nice, and frankly thinking nasty thoughts about people. Come on, she thinks of Mike as a lab!
-Bella has no friends and is not interested in making any. She didn't mention having any friends in Phoenix. And she didn't seem that interested in making friends in Forks. I'm fairly certain that if Jessica and Angela didn't attach themselves to her, she would have just kept to herself.
-In that vein, I really don't understand why she hates Forks so much-- aside from hating the weather.
-Nor do I understand her attitude towards Charlie -- but I think that's just bad characterization.
At first I was in confused like: because my friend told me that Edward would attack Bella and try to bite her. But this didn't happen, instead some fucker named James showed up.
Then I liked it because my friend liked it and I wanted to have something in common with her.
Instense hate followed.
When I realized I was spending too much energy hating I stopped.
Now I just ignore it.
I recognize everything that is wrong with it and I chose not to give it any more attention that it already has.
Like many things, Twilight is a combination of both good and bad things. The writing isn't good, there's no other way to say it, but the thing is Twilight is so very readable. It's gives you everything you want from a teenage romance novel: a mysterious boy, a bland heroine that you can paste yourself onto, a slowly built forbidden romance, drama, suspense, a larger than life danger to tear the lovers apart, and a promise of a bittersweet forever. It's one of those books that's very easy to pick apart once you start, but it's also something a lot of people would call a guilty pleasure. A story doesn't really have to make sense, it has to make just enough sense for you to enjoy it.
The biggest problem of this book, aside from shoddy writing, are the characters. Edward is our mysterious bad boy, but unfortunately he's actually a patronizing misogynist, who at first gaslights the heroine to protect his identity and then spouts out nonsense about being bad and dangerous and deciding that he just can't possibly stay away. When I was a teenager, I saw nothing wrong with his behavior, in fact I saw it as romantic, just as the author intended. As I got older I was frequently shocked by all disturbing and unacceptable behavior Edward was often exhibiting: stalking the heroine, watching her as she slept for weeks at a time, gaslighting her to the point where she thought he regretted saving her life. I wondered how it could be that another adult woman wrote Edward and tried to pass him off as a hero. Then I got it: he's an 80's romantic comedy heartthrob, just as they often were, wrapped up in toxic masculinity. No seriously, if you have ever watched movies from the 80s and even a good portion of the 90s, you'll see that the kind of behavior we thought was romantic back then, totally won't fly today. Though of course, many adults don't see anything wrong with Edward's behavior even today, which is another problem in itself.
Bella, oh Bella. She's been called many things, but her main and only function is this: to serve as a mirror for the reader. Bella barely has any sort of personality, or as the writer tries to convince us, she's just a perfectly ordinary girl who catches the eye of a gorgeous, wealthy, and mysterious boy who falls heedlessly in love with her. She's meant for us to live vicariously through. And she serves that purpose beautifully while also being occasionally snarky, sarcastic, and bitchy. Otherwise, she thinks her own mother is an idiot, of her father as clueless and helpless (despite him being the Chief of Police), she has no friends, and frankly, doesn't want them. And when she does accidentally make them, they're inconsequential, but also she's the Mom of the group. It's so funny too, to read Bella act and talk like a middle aged woman and mom instead of a teenage girl. You know, like her author. Also, there's a least five other boys in love with her at any given time despite the fact that she makes it clear to all of them she's not interested. For some reason, none of the men in Bella's life ever listen to her. Ever.
However, the worst part about Bella is how non-reactive she is and she never really reflects too much about anything Edward tells her. To the point where even author (through Edward) kind of pokes fun at how she barely ever reacts to anything scary that Edward does and says. I think this is supposed to portray Bella as accepting of Edward despite his flaws, but the thing is unless Bella grew up in a certain way, her reactions - or lack thereof - make little sense. I'm pretty sure that if a boy told a girl that he'd been following her around and watching her sleep and that she sometimes drives him to homicidal urges, they would on some level at least - be super freaked out. Bella is flattered. Yes, he's following her to protect her, I guess watching her sleep could be seen as admiring from afar, but at least the fact that he broke into her house on several occasions and says he kind of wants to kill her or others to protect her warrants a response other than bashfulness.
The biggest sin of this book however is how boring the world building is, even when it has some potentially interesting characters with cool backstories. Meyer's vampires have been called laughable and for good reason. Here they are, immortal, gloriously beautiful, rich, physically superior in every way and they're going to high school. Not only do they go to high school, when they all have multiple college degrees, but they've made themselves play this charade multiple times over decades just to seem "normal" in their small town life. Except it makes absolutely no sense because everyone knows that you get absolutely zero privacy in a small town, and if you put five beautiful teenagers, all seemingly adopted by a young doctor and his wife, who all seem to be dating amongst themselves while ignoring everyone else... and you've got a recipe for the worst kept secret in North America. There are so many ways in which this could have been done better and has been in fan-fiction and meta posts online. But you know what, Meyer gave us yet another bland backdrop onto which it's easy for the reader to imagine themselves in and act out their daydreams. Voila!
But also, her vampires sparkle like diamonds in the sun. My question is, why? It's never really explained what it is that makes them sparkle? Is it the venom? Does it somehow effect the skin? Is it a protection thing? WHAT? In what way does them sparkling serve the story? Because you know what, if a guy who's been hinting to me that he's dangerous, possibly murderous, and in no way good for me, and then he stepped out into the sun and started to sparkle, I would die of laughter, not of fear. Is it supposed to play on the fact that girls like sparkly and shinny things? Sure, we do, just you know, not people.
In the end, I think, Twilight wasn't written to impress anyone. It is a fantasy world with bland characters, a cliched romance, and a lackluster world which is precisely why it's so easy to read and imagine yourself in the place of these characters, so easy to become part of that world and allow your own mind to fill in the blanks. It's as good as your imagination can make it. Or just as bad.
-----
Old review
Re-reading Twilight at 24.
Unsurprisingly, this was a whole separate experience than when I read this as a teenager. I believe I re-read this several times in high-school but not since then. And now I truly believe that the only reason people hate this book is because it's the teenage girls fantasy (but also racism, ridiculous setup, bad writing, whatever).
Things I noticed:
-Bella is kind of a bitch. I don't think I noticed her sassiness or sarcasm levels before. But she's unfriendly, had no qualms about making jabbing comments at people who are just trying to be nice, and frankly thinking nasty thoughts about people. Come on, she thinks of Mike as a lab!
-Bella has no friends and is not interested in making any. She didn't mention having any friends in Phoenix. And she didn't seem that interested in making friends in Forks. I'm fairly certain that if Jessica and Angela didn't attach themselves to her, she would have just kept to herself.
-In that vein, I really don't understand why she hates Forks so much-- aside from hating the weather.
-Nor do I understand her attitude towards Charlie -- but I think that's just bad characterization.
At first I was in confused like: because my friend told me that Edward would attack Bella and try to bite her. But this didn't happen, instead some fucker named James showed up.
Then I liked it because my friend liked it and I wanted to have something in common with her.
Instense hate followed.
When I realized I was spending too much energy hating I stopped.
Now I just ignore it.
I recognize everything that is wrong with it and I chose not to give it any more attention that it already has.