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The books are horribly written but addictive. Your reward for making it through books 2 and 3 is book 4. Then it got fairly interesting.
That was exactly my take on the books. I likened them to movie theatre popcorn. You know it's not good for you and it doesn't even taste all that good, but you can't stop eating it.
I've been working up the nerve to read the Twilight books. We have all of them. My 10 year old blazed through them, and now my 12 year old is almost finished with the first book.
I'm just not into fluff. With that said, I do have all the Sookie Stackhouse books. Couldn't resist them on ebay. I'm a True Blood fanatic.
I have read all of the books and have seen all of the movies. I did enjoy the books. They were quite addictive. I have heard that SM is a bad writer and I could not pick it up (I really don't know how to tell the difference in a bad writer and a good one). The movies are good as well. The chemistry between Edward and Bella is great and I really like the whole idea of vampires and werewolf's. If you are not open to "sci-fi" then you might as well not read them or watch the movie. It is worth reading though. I can't wait to try the Sookie stackhouse stuff. I never knew it exsisted until I found the book forum.
I've seen all the movies and read all the books. I don't think the movies are that great but I'm obsessed with the books. I don't think she's the greatest author - but she is a great story teller. I don't know if that makes sense to everyone but that's the way I see it. JK Rowling is a great story teller and a great author - Stephenie Meyer is not.
That being said - I've read the books many, many times. Can't get enough of them. The same with Harry Potter. I do read adult literature, too - but I am a big fan of Twilight.
I read the books because I wanted to know what the big deal was. The writing wasn't so great in my opinion (the author could use a thesaurus and the structure of many sentences seemed so backwards I had to read some of them two or three times to understand what she was trying to say), the characters were weak, but the story wasn't so bad. I thought they were quick, easy and somewhat fun reads, but parts of them really did get on my nerves.
Then I reached the fourth book and couldn't help wondering what the hell was going on throughout it. It was really absurd.
I'm not a fan of romance or anything, which might be why I also found bits to be incredibly corny and lame.
Over all, I really disliked most of the characters (I liked some of them in the beginning and then grew to dislike them as they developed). I think the only character I really liked throughout the whole series was Charlie. Plus, the story line took a turn for the worst somewhere along the way it seemed. They weren't the worst things I've ever read, but they were far, far, faaaar from the better stuff I've read.
I remember when I was going through my 'vampire book' phase in high school, and the stuff I read was much better than this (though I've never read Anne Rice).
The Twilight books are pretty badly written, and if you're fairly well read, you'll also notice that they're largely derivative of other stories, except for the disturbing pedophile wolf shapeshifters. I don't know where that came from. Stephenie Meyer gets credit for being a good storyteller (I hear this all the time), but most of her stuff is lifted.
But honestly, I don't understand how these books got so popular with such young girls. I can understand allowing teens to read them, but they're not at all appropriate for anyone under the age of 14. Eight and ten year olds should not be reading these books. The seventeen year old main character spends much of the first three books obsessing about her boyfriend and about having sex with him (he repeatedly turns her down). This is not subject matter that elementary school aged children are prepared to handle either cognitively or emotionally. Add to that the fact that the central romantic relationship is paternalistic, and borderline (if not outright) controlling, and these books send a dangerous message to young girls about what relationships between men and women should be like.
Don't even get me started on the fourth book, when Edward and Bella get married and have furniture-destroying and body-battering sex (she is literally left bruised over her entire body), and then Edward chews their child out of Bella's womb so that their buddy, Jacob, can look at the INFANT and decide that she will be his life partner (and yes, this eventually means that they will marry and have sex, and he's made this decision about an infant). Any elementary school aged child who was permitted to read this book was the casualty of a bad parenting choice (or lack of parenting).
Last edited by lucygirl951; 07-10-2010 at 11:49 PM..
Don't even get me started on the fourth book, when Edward and Bella get married and have furniture-destroying and body-battering sex (she is literally left bruised over her entire body),
I guess Stephanie Meyer took Mallrats seriously.
Quote:
and then Edward chews their child out of Bella's womb so that their buddy, Jacob, can look at the INFANT and decide that she will be his life partner (and yes, this eventually means that they will marry and have sex, and he's made this decision about an infant).
Why is this not the first thing that anyone ever discusses about this series? Because seriously what else happens that should be mentioned before this? This is one of the most insane things I've ever read.
Why is this not the first thing that anyone ever discusses about this series? Because seriously what else happens that should be mentioned before this? This is one of the most insane things I've ever read.
I don't know. Two wolf shape-shifters in the book "imprint" on very young children. This means that they choose little girls, a two-year-old and an infant, to be their life partners. It's presented as a spiritual connection, but still, the idea that a grown man looks at a two-year-old or an infant and thinks "she's my soulmate" is pretty disturbing.
Violence is also problematic. Edward bruises Bella during sex, and one of the wolves accidentally brutally attacks his wife (or girlfriend) and leaves her face scarred. The message is that women need to be careful not to get their men too worked up.
I've had mothers tell me that they don't mind their girls reading the books because Bella and Edward don't have sex until after they're married (when Bella is 19), as if that's the only plot element worth noticing.
I
Violence is also problematic. Edward bruises Bella during sex, and one of the wolves accidentally brutally attacks his wife (or girlfriend) and leaves her face scarred. The message is that women need to be careful not to get their men too worked up.
I don't know that I'd take it that way, but then again I haven't read it so maybe it is what she was trying to convey. It sort of gets back to my Mallrats comment about people being thinking too much about superhumans having sex with normal humans. It's not something anyone should take seriously or think about in depth.
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