Books: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
[Note: I am well aware that this book hides a volatile fandom which would probably lynch me for what I am about to say. I can only assume they will not find me.]
At the behest of much buzz and with the excuse of a class in young adult lit, I finally read Meyer's vampire romance Twilight. And my feelings are both definite and mixed, if that's possible. I do not think it is a "good" book. In fact, I think there are a lot of harmful ideas being perpetrated here under a "romantic" guise. And yet... and yet... I found myself drawn into the romance of it despite strongly disliking the viewpoint character/first-person narrator.
The basic plot is distressingly simple for a book of nearly 500 (admittedly large-printed and wide-margined) pages: emo!Sue Bella moves to Forks, WA, where she hates the rain but loves a very pretty boy whose family keeps away from everyone else. She soon learns the secret behind both the family's distance and Edward's bizarre behavior around her: They're vampires. And she smells really good to him.
The rest of the book follows Bella's efforts to learn more about the Cullens, Edward's futile attempts to stay away from her (he loves her, but he wants to eat her, do you see?), and Bella's complete inability to keep herself out of harm's way for more than twenty pages at a time. Time after time, Edward must rescue her because she floats around in a perpetual daze over his gorgeousness. And time after time, he warns her that he is dangerous and that she should stay away. Now, this particular thing hits something nice for me--the whole "I love you but I shouldn't" business. But it doesn't go anywhere interesting. At no time does Bella question the feelings she has; she admits that he "dazzles" her, that she cannot think straight about him, and never shows the slightest agency in her behavior.
Bella is one of the weakest "heroines" I've ever encountered, hearkening back to stereotypical romance heroine and silent film star material. The whole thing reads like an abuse metaphor to me: young girl with self-esteem issues, boyish older man who claims she is "special," repeated warnings (both voiced and not) that this is Not a Good Idea. The setting of this in the more or less realistic high school scene leaves me unable to truly divorce the "it's just a vampire story" from the above considerations. I can lie to myself that Gothic fiction isn't condoning stupidity in modern-day females, or that enjoying Erik/Christine has nothing to do with real life.
All this might have been redeemed had Meyer decided to follow through on the very real threat Edward claims to pose for Bella. As it turns out, whatever internal struggle there is is his, and we are not privy to it because Bella's telling the story. And her opinions are uniformly naive and besotted--not to mention repetitive. Instead, an external threat is brought in in the last 1/4 of the book to put Bella in danger yet again, for a dramatic save which must up the ante from her previous scrapes.
All that said, and realize it's a pan, I kept reading. Avidly. There's something about a guy clenching his fists because he likes you too much to want to have to kill you that has an effect on me, despite my pre-determination to be above it. I'd encountered descriptions of Meyer's brand of vampirism online and I still don't understand what's so interesting about a race of creatures with no flaws at all: they're sexy, virtually unkillable, frequently have extrasensory powers, and literally sparkle in the sunlight, which is just stupid. I don't blame Bella (or readers) for falling for them; but I do blame Meyer for creating such a vapid portrayal of what should be a very troubling relationship. And I blame myself for sort of liking it.
At the behest of much buzz and with the excuse of a class in young adult lit, I finally read Meyer's vampire romance Twilight. And my feelings are both definite and mixed, if that's possible. I do not think it is a "good" book. In fact, I think there are a lot of harmful ideas being perpetrated here under a "romantic" guise. And yet... and yet... I found myself drawn into the romance of it despite strongly disliking the viewpoint character/first-person narrator.
The basic plot is distressingly simple for a book of nearly 500 (admittedly large-printed and wide-margined) pages: emo!Sue Bella moves to Forks, WA, where she hates the rain but loves a very pretty boy whose family keeps away from everyone else. She soon learns the secret behind both the family's distance and Edward's bizarre behavior around her: They're vampires. And she smells really good to him.
The rest of the book follows Bella's efforts to learn more about the Cullens, Edward's futile attempts to stay away from her (he loves her, but he wants to eat her, do you see?), and Bella's complete inability to keep herself out of harm's way for more than twenty pages at a time. Time after time, Edward must rescue her because she floats around in a perpetual daze over his gorgeousness. And time after time, he warns her that he is dangerous and that she should stay away. Now, this particular thing hits something nice for me--the whole "I love you but I shouldn't" business. But it doesn't go anywhere interesting. At no time does Bella question the feelings she has; she admits that he "dazzles" her, that she cannot think straight about him, and never shows the slightest agency in her behavior.
Bella is one of the weakest "heroines" I've ever encountered, hearkening back to stereotypical romance heroine and silent film star material. The whole thing reads like an abuse metaphor to me: young girl with self-esteem issues, boyish older man who claims she is "special," repeated warnings (both voiced and not) that this is Not a Good Idea. The setting of this in the more or less realistic high school scene leaves me unable to truly divorce the "it's just a vampire story" from the above considerations. I can lie to myself that Gothic fiction isn't condoning stupidity in modern-day females, or that enjoying Erik/Christine has nothing to do with real life.
All this might have been redeemed had Meyer decided to follow through on the very real threat Edward claims to pose for Bella. As it turns out, whatever internal struggle there is is his, and we are not privy to it because Bella's telling the story. And her opinions are uniformly naive and besotted--not to mention repetitive. Instead, an external threat is brought in in the last 1/4 of the book to put Bella in danger yet again, for a dramatic save which must up the ante from her previous scrapes.
All that said, and realize it's a pan, I kept reading. Avidly. There's something about a guy clenching his fists because he likes you too much to want to have to kill you that has an effect on me, despite my pre-determination to be above it. I'd encountered descriptions of Meyer's brand of vampirism online and I still don't understand what's so interesting about a race of creatures with no flaws at all: they're sexy, virtually unkillable, frequently have extrasensory powers, and literally sparkle in the sunlight, which is just stupid. I don't blame Bella (or readers) for falling for them; but I do blame Meyer for creating such a vapid portrayal of what should be a very troubling relationship. And I blame myself for sort of liking it.