Twilight
I got a chance to have a read of the book the other week, and in all honesty I wasn't impressed. I know a lot of you lot have read and enjoyed the books, so I have to ask - what is the attraction?
From what I read (~250 pages/the hike where Edward sparkles) and have seen (a dodgy pirate copy of the film in January) it's an interesting idea poorly executed.
There's so many things that I found jarring. Bella as a character, for example, seems so clunky. She's an outcast, she's clumsy, she's painted as awkward and unappealing from page one - but lo! All the boys at school fall head over heels for her!She gets asked out by three boys in what feels like as many pages! I get that she's meant to be an 'every-woman' type character, but I felt she was so over the top at being average! She reminded me of all those bad fanfics that talk about 'plain' Hermione/Ginny/Whoever with the shiny hair and perfect teeth and trim and toned bodies.
Bella's descriptions of Edward and the Cullens too reek of bad fanfic. The kind where some beautiful new kid comes to school and gets put in all the houses cos they are just so super. Also, there seems (so far) to be no downsides to being a vampire. Oh no - you glitter in the sunlight! Oh no - you have a blood lust but you can easily get by eating the local fauna. Oh no - you're super strong, super speedy and can read minds! Isn't the point of Vampires (and any other mythical monster) that they AREN'T human and they can't live with people. In HP you see that being a werewolf sucks as soon as you know Lupin is on. He looks ill, his life has been rough. The Cullens get shiny sports cars, and are able to mingle with people no bother. The whole point of the sunlight thing is it prevents them from being human - sparkling is kind of missing the point.
The 'relationship' is weird too. They are creepy and obsessive and effectivly stalking one another. Edward listens in to other peoples thoughts so he can keep track on Bella day to day. He follows her and her friends when she leaves town because she is accident prone. (Note that at this point the only really bad thing that has happen to her has been the car/van accident. If the 'bad' vampires had been introduced by this point, and we know Bella is in danger from them but she doesn't then his stalking would make sense. As it stands I just find it creepy.)
The love story is weird too. It has no sustinance. I had seen the film, I had read all your posts about it and I still don't really get how and why the pair of them are head over heels about one another. One of my friends compared it to Romeo and Juliet... sorry but I don't see that at all. Romeo and Juliet are willing to sacrifice their families love and ultimately themselves for one another. No one sparkles. Edward and Bella, to the rest of the world are just two teenagers. There is no sign of anyone sacrificing anything - no one is disaproving, and where I currently am, no one is having to make changes to their life to be together. Twilight is a book for teenage girls. The 'romance' is that first crush/first love that we all have when we are in our teens. It seems like your world and you feel like you can't live without each other but you grow up and look back and see how silly it all was. I've read Romeo and Juliet and I believed the romance. I read Twilight and I didn't. It just feels like lust.
I think I just don't get the Twilight mania. I'll just stick with Harry Potter!
BTW - what is with all romantic heroes having 'lopsided smiles'? I bet if I met a guy in real life with a squint face I would not be impressed.
From what I read (~250 pages/the hike where Edward sparkles) and have seen (a dodgy pirate copy of the film in January) it's an interesting idea poorly executed.
There's so many things that I found jarring. Bella as a character, for example, seems so clunky. She's an outcast, she's clumsy, she's painted as awkward and unappealing from page one - but lo! All the boys at school fall head over heels for her!She gets asked out by three boys in what feels like as many pages! I get that she's meant to be an 'every-woman' type character, but I felt she was so over the top at being average! She reminded me of all those bad fanfics that talk about 'plain' Hermione/Ginny/Whoever with the shiny hair and perfect teeth and trim and toned bodies.
Bella's descriptions of Edward and the Cullens too reek of bad fanfic. The kind where some beautiful new kid comes to school and gets put in all the houses cos they are just so super. Also, there seems (so far) to be no downsides to being a vampire. Oh no - you glitter in the sunlight! Oh no - you have a blood lust but you can easily get by eating the local fauna. Oh no - you're super strong, super speedy and can read minds! Isn't the point of Vampires (and any other mythical monster) that they AREN'T human and they can't live with people. In HP you see that being a werewolf sucks as soon as you know Lupin is on. He looks ill, his life has been rough. The Cullens get shiny sports cars, and are able to mingle with people no bother. The whole point of the sunlight thing is it prevents them from being human - sparkling is kind of missing the point.
The 'relationship' is weird too. They are creepy and obsessive and effectivly stalking one another. Edward listens in to other peoples thoughts so he can keep track on Bella day to day. He follows her and her friends when she leaves town because she is accident prone. (Note that at this point the only really bad thing that has happen to her has been the car/van accident. If the 'bad' vampires had been introduced by this point, and we know Bella is in danger from them but she doesn't then his stalking would make sense. As it stands I just find it creepy.)
The love story is weird too. It has no sustinance. I had seen the film, I had read all your posts about it and I still don't really get how and why the pair of them are head over heels about one another. One of my friends compared it to Romeo and Juliet... sorry but I don't see that at all. Romeo and Juliet are willing to sacrifice their families love and ultimately themselves for one another. No one sparkles. Edward and Bella, to the rest of the world are just two teenagers. There is no sign of anyone sacrificing anything - no one is disaproving, and where I currently am, no one is having to make changes to their life to be together. Twilight is a book for teenage girls. The 'romance' is that first crush/first love that we all have when we are in our teens. It seems like your world and you feel like you can't live without each other but you grow up and look back and see how silly it all was. I've read Romeo and Juliet and I believed the romance. I read Twilight and I didn't. It just feels like lust.
I think I just don't get the Twilight mania. I'll just stick with Harry Potter!
BTW - what is with all romantic heroes having 'lopsided smiles'? I bet if I met a guy in real life with a squint face I would not be impressed.