Twilight: Chapter One
I think you all know how much I hate Twilight and all that it stands for. I've said before that I read the first book and couldn't finish it. I think this was just after New Moon came out (is New Moon the second one? The second one anyway). Some friends with similar tastes to me REALLY loved it and were raving, so I borrowed a library copy and gave it a look, though I've never been keen on vampire stuff (Buffy excepted). I guess my expectations were high, and I was not impressed.
I found it sexist right away, perhaps influenced by my knowledge of history and mythology (the sexual dominance issues in it). Hearing from others what happens in the other books, I continued to be angered by the content.
Bren isn't a big fan, and he sees where I'm coming from with the misogyny issue, but he quite liked it. Anyway, I saw it on his bookshelf and grabbed it down. It's time for a second chance and this time, I'll read the whole series.
Because I found it so utterly uninteresting, I don't remember much of it. It wasn't a memorable book. I just remember being pissed off by it.
This time, I decided that with such low expectations, it could only be BETTER than I remember. I went into it with a mission of finding things I like or think are good.
So... Chapter 1.
Bella doesn't seem to have much personality at this point. It's only the first chapter, so she's not developed, obviously. She seems very full of herself, but maybe that's because I remember it from the first time.
I feel sorry for Charlie. So far he seems like a nice dad and Bella is super rude to him, but then I guess she's a teenage girl, so that kind of goes with the territory. What is she, seventeen??? She can drive, so I guess so.
I liked the line where Bella talks about her parents buying the house in the early days of their marriage and she says those were the only days of their marriage: the early ones. That was kind of sad but funny. And I liked the bit where she has the realisation that Charlie never really got over her Mum. That's sad, and I thought quite real.
The other thing I liked was Bella's reaction to Edward's massive hostility to her. All teens, especially girls, have felt like people hate them for no reason. I liked how she's confused because it does seem ridiculous for someone to hate you on sight, but at the same time, there's a part of every girl who is CERTAIN everyone hates her anyway. (That's why Meg is my favourite in Family Guy- everyone actually does hate her.)
I think the end of the chapter where Edward is obviously trying to change out of her class is sort of interesting. I think if I went in totally blind, that I'd read on, wanting to know what his problem is.
Overall, I think one chapter is too early to pass judgement on whether it's absolutely as shit as I remember. Stay tuned for more. Not sure if I'll be reviewing every damn chapter, but I'll pop in for occasional remarks.
I found it sexist right away, perhaps influenced by my knowledge of history and mythology (the sexual dominance issues in it). Hearing from others what happens in the other books, I continued to be angered by the content.
Bren isn't a big fan, and he sees where I'm coming from with the misogyny issue, but he quite liked it. Anyway, I saw it on his bookshelf and grabbed it down. It's time for a second chance and this time, I'll read the whole series.
Because I found it so utterly uninteresting, I don't remember much of it. It wasn't a memorable book. I just remember being pissed off by it.
This time, I decided that with such low expectations, it could only be BETTER than I remember. I went into it with a mission of finding things I like or think are good.
So... Chapter 1.
Bella doesn't seem to have much personality at this point. It's only the first chapter, so she's not developed, obviously. She seems very full of herself, but maybe that's because I remember it from the first time.
I feel sorry for Charlie. So far he seems like a nice dad and Bella is super rude to him, but then I guess she's a teenage girl, so that kind of goes with the territory. What is she, seventeen??? She can drive, so I guess so.
I liked the line where Bella talks about her parents buying the house in the early days of their marriage and she says those were the only days of their marriage: the early ones. That was kind of sad but funny. And I liked the bit where she has the realisation that Charlie never really got over her Mum. That's sad, and I thought quite real.
The other thing I liked was Bella's reaction to Edward's massive hostility to her. All teens, especially girls, have felt like people hate them for no reason. I liked how she's confused because it does seem ridiculous for someone to hate you on sight, but at the same time, there's a part of every girl who is CERTAIN everyone hates her anyway. (That's why Meg is my favourite in Family Guy- everyone actually does hate her.)
I think the end of the chapter where Edward is obviously trying to change out of her class is sort of interesting. I think if I went in totally blind, that I'd read on, wanting to know what his problem is.
Overall, I think one chapter is too early to pass judgement on whether it's absolutely as shit as I remember. Stay tuned for more. Not sure if I'll be reviewing every damn chapter, but I'll pop in for occasional remarks.