Finished Breaking Dawn!
Finally!
Um.... It took me so long to read this (PDFs are slow reading!) that I've already heard most of the wank -sans spoilers- and knew that people HATED this book and its happy 'wish fulfillment' ending. Perhaps that lowered my expectations. And there WERE a lot of slow parts - um, well, most of the book was pretty slow. The exciting plot started at like page 550 (with the Volturi). But I did enjoy reading the book. It is clearly the weakest of the four books (even the book 2 shite had the awesome ending in Italy), but I enjoyed reading it more than I would have expected from the reaction of others. And my basic desires were met: Bella did marry Edward at the beginning of the book, and turned into a vampire with enough time for us to observe and appreciate the transition.
My biggest criticisms fit these two points:
Other things were cool, though - I knew Alice would come back, having been all plan-actiony in her absense. I liked seeing the other clans/nomads and expanding of their world. Renesmee is neat. (And, no, I don't mind the name.)
In conclusion, this book is a let-down for sure, but I don't hate it like many others seem to. Then again, I'm not a Twilight fan (ardent fans surely have more invested in the universe, like with HP, and may be pissed off by certain plot developments even if the story itself didn't suck; and it did kinda suck). But I'm not a "lolfan" either, like cleolinda. I enjoy her write-ups for the books, but unlike her other parodies, she obviously doesn't love or respect the source material, which gives them an edge of bitterness I don't appreciate. They're still funny and awesome, but as someone who may not love the books but does enjoy them, they seem a little too eager to jump to the worst conclusion, make a joke of not only things that are obviously joke material, but also of things that aren't really unless you stretch them (and, say in LOTR, these would not have been stretched; but in source material that doesn't come from fondness, they have been stretched.) I don't know if I am explaining clearly, but there's an underlying - cynicism, let's say - that gives the parodies a harsher edge than her other parodies.
Anyway. Now I'll go read other people's reaction and maybe that will colour my own (for the worse I expect). (Note from the future: I have read a lot of insicive criticism of the book which I do not disagre with in the least. Yes, it does read like fanfiction, yes there is a hell of a lot of Mary Sue material; but like Cleo has said, these were present in the other books as well, if not so obvious. Though I will say they are obvious enough here that you look back at the other books and see it more clearly than you did initially, so maybe that's a bit embarrassing. But those elements were there all along.)
What did you think of the book? Please link me to your reaction posts!
Whether you've read the book or not, these links will amuse you greatly, I promise. (Spoiler warning!):
In non-Twilight news, I've hit the 200 mark in my TV-show count (and surpassed it quickly)! Maybe I will be able to reach my goal this year, or at least be respectably close. That would be nice.
(Also, if anyone wants to read Breaking Dawn for themselves, I can hook you up.)
Um.... It took me so long to read this (PDFs are slow reading!) that I've already heard most of the wank -sans spoilers- and knew that people HATED this book and its happy 'wish fulfillment' ending. Perhaps that lowered my expectations. And there WERE a lot of slow parts - um, well, most of the book was pretty slow. The exciting plot started at like page 550 (with the Volturi). But I did enjoy reading the book. It is clearly the weakest of the four books (even the book 2 shite had the awesome ending in Italy), but I enjoyed reading it more than I would have expected from the reaction of others. And my basic desires were met: Bella did marry Edward at the beginning of the book, and turned into a vampire with enough time for us to observe and appreciate the transition.
My biggest criticisms fit these two points:
- Wow, you really see Meyer's Mormon values in this book.
I think they were present in the other books, too, but since the whole vampire!love = abstinence thing is a pop culture trope, we didn't see it so clearly. But in this book, as cleolinda has pointed out, most of the female characters are obsessed with babies, eagerly willing to sacrifice their lives for a baby. Bella's suddenly With Child and is instantaneously in love with and protective of it, no thought to abortion (gasp! shock!) or what she might be losing in her life - just blind adoration and acceptance. What more joy is there but in being a wife and mother? At the tender age of 18 (then 19)? Maybe this is one of the reasons many people are upset with the book, if Meyer's values as reflected in the book are hopelessly outdated in today's society; a life path that seems awesome and unquestionable to Meyer is furrowing the brow of many-a-reader.
And then the contradictions are hilarious. Like, for a book (and series) professing such conservative values, how much kinky sex is there? And teenage boys "dating" (or being "promised") to toddlers and newborns. Even if I think a particular plot point works in the book, there's a awful lot of things here that look very very un-Mormon. Very conservative people could draw the wrong conclusion about a lot of things, if you know what I'm saying. (Though, in all fairness, maybe kinky sex is okay within the bonds of marriage?)
Anyway, I can dismiss many of the perplexing plot points and developments as a reflection of Meyer's outdated world view, so I'm not as incensed about them as I might have been - or was initially. (God, I've been reading this thing since Saturday. Granted I've been doing other things. But. Glad to have finished finally!) - THERE WAS NO CLIMACTIC ACTION.
Holy fuck that's frustrating. All the lead up, the expectation... there should have been SOME fighting.
I mean, in terms of "yay happy ending!" it was a relief that half the Cullens & company weren't slaughtered, but you're left thinking "That's it?? That's the big payoff of the book, of all four books?!?!?!?" Edward's explanation (that Aro was terrified of a fair fight) in the epilogue made it a bit more satisfying, but couldn't that have been incorporated into the previous chapter so it wouldn't feel as much of a let-down? Sheesh.
Other things were cool, though - I knew Alice would come back, having been all plan-actiony in her absense. I liked seeing the other clans/nomads and expanding of their world. Renesmee is neat. (And, no, I don't mind the name.)
In conclusion, this book is a let-down for sure, but I don't hate it like many others seem to. Then again, I'm not a Twilight fan (ardent fans surely have more invested in the universe, like with HP, and may be pissed off by certain plot developments even if the story itself didn't suck; and it did kinda suck). But I'm not a "lolfan" either, like cleolinda. I enjoy her write-ups for the books, but unlike her other parodies, she obviously doesn't love or respect the source material, which gives them an edge of bitterness I don't appreciate. They're still funny and awesome, but as someone who may not love the books but does enjoy them, they seem a little too eager to jump to the worst conclusion, make a joke of not only things that are obviously joke material, but also of things that aren't really unless you stretch them (and, say in LOTR, these would not have been stretched; but in source material that doesn't come from fondness, they have been stretched.) I don't know if I am explaining clearly, but there's an underlying - cynicism, let's say - that gives the parodies a harsher edge than her other parodies.
Anyway. Now I'll go read other people's reaction and maybe that will colour my own (for the worse I expect). (Note from the future: I have read a lot of insicive criticism of the book which I do not disagre with in the least. Yes, it does read like fanfiction, yes there is a hell of a lot of Mary Sue material; but like Cleo has said, these were present in the other books as well, if not so obvious. Though I will say they are obvious enough here that you look back at the other books and see it more clearly than you did initially, so maybe that's a bit embarrassing. But those elements were there all along.)
What did you think of the book? Please link me to your reaction posts!
Whether you've read the book or not, these links will amuse you greatly, I promise. (Spoiler warning!):
- Recap of Breaking Dawn, snarkiliciously summarized by Edward Cullen himself.
- And, of course, cleolinda's recaps, which start here. Hysterically funny.
In non-Twilight news, I've hit the 200 mark in my TV-show count (and surpassed it quickly)! Maybe I will be able to reach my goal this year, or at least be respectably close. That would be nice.
(Also, if anyone wants to read Breaking Dawn for themselves, I can hook you up.)