Twilight is a book for the young adult segment, a demographic I am not hence probably not qualified to review it. However, I have read it, I have an opinion and I want to say it out loud.
Twilight is one of those rare books appearing to be much better than they actually are. The plot, in short, is the love story of Isabella, a young teenage girl, and Edward, a vegetarian vampire. Quite enticing, right?
Well, don’t be fooled. The book is nothing more than a high-class Mills & Boons.
This is how it goes: Boy meets girl. Instant repulsion and attraction. Boy larger than life, perfect, know everything plus vampire. The girl is feisty, short-tempered, and intelligent but forever the damsel in distress. The boy saves the girl. Girl a melting candle in the arms of a boy. Blah blah blah..you know the drill.
Okay, it’s not that bad. It starts off brilliantly and you are hooked. You admire Bella for being more than the average teenager, you relate to her clumsiness and her inexplicable crush on a guy in her class. But that’s about it.
Yes, Edwards is a vampire and yes, he is drop-dead gorgeous, and yes, he is always saving her life but is that an excuse for Bella to become a pushover? The minute he enters her life she loses her essence. Her whole world is centered around him. She loses the spunk that she had. Even the final face-off with the enemy (a bad vampire who wants to eat her, seriously !!!) is clichéd and unimaginative.
I think Bella and Edwards are really bad teen models but not every book has to be about values so that is not really one of Twilight’s major faults. The storyline is flimsy, and the characters are not developed. I could not muster empathy for any character. I also don’t really buy into the tell- death-do-us-part story for a bunch of 17 years old. It might make for good TV but not for reading.
Update: In a decade since I read the first book, I have never been tempted to pick up the sequels or watch the movie.
For books that did catch my interest, I highly recommend checking this out.
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Well Well… wasnt really a surprise to see this post aft yesterday’s discussion. One thing is for sure.. after reading your review i wouldnt be caught reading the book 🙂
I agree with you completely about the character Bella. For that matter although Edward and the rest of the Cullens are these picture perfect vampires, Edward is more of the brooding types which makes it all the more pointless.
Au contraire, this series seems to have picked up publicity and fandom faster than Harry Potter ever did! And that’s a lot for a vampire series. I haven’t seen such a publicity for True Blood or even Anne Rice’s vampire chronicles. 🙂
Medha – trust me you will not like it. Harry Potter was waaaay better.
Zoya – I dont understand the popularity of the book – i think its more to do with teenage romance and not the vampire/paranormal angle
I completely agree with you. Bella has no depth or confidence to basically give herself to Edward who at first wanted to bite her.
I didn’t want to read the series but I did as a teacher. A 10 year old shouldn’t be reading the last book.
Harry Potter is soooo much better.
Hi Emma – thanks for dropping by – I find it very flattering when anyone from the teaching profession drops by my blogs and gives their comments. I dont know if you ever got a chance to read but Sparknotes did a very good spoof on Twilight where they sort of pointed out the holes in plots and even language of the book. It was an attempt to de-mystify the success of the series. What my basic expectation is that what kids and YA read in young age, determines a lot of their character and morality and its kind of important for books to have the right models. Those don’t have to be perfect or ideal..but the messaging is important. I mean creating role models of characters who at their time should be focusing on going to colleges but instead are so busy falling in love and having babies before they are 20..its just stupid. I mean I don’t want to be judgmental..but there is so much more going in your life when you are 18-19 then just who you are in love with.