Meyer, Stephenie - Twilight

[oyceter]

It was really odd reading this, because I had heard rilina rant about it a lot, but my sister was reccing it to me (and nearby while I was reading it).

I think I would have really loved it, had I read it a few years earlier, before I got sick of the entire vampire sub-genre, particularly the entire YA vampire sub-sub-genre.

Bella has moved from sunny Arizona to rainy Forks to stay with her dad instead of her mom, who's off being married. She starts noticing the strange Cullen family at school, particularly Edward Cullen, who is gorgeous and sends conflicting signals. They fall in love! It's too bad, since I think the book would have been about ten times more interesting if they fought crime instead.

Several elements of the book made me think that it would work much better as shoujo manga: a) Bella is clumsy and klutzy beyond belief, yet spunky, b) every other guy in the school miraculously has a crush on her and she doesn't realize, c) Edward is supernaturally gorgeous, and d) Bella's smell is irresistible to Edward.

As a benchmark to see if you will like this or not, if you haven't already fled at the shoujo manga description: Bella describes Forks as literally being hell on earth for her, despite the absence of pitchforks, flame, or anything else; Edward is introduced as having bronze hair.

The thing is, I can totally see why the book is a best-seller and loved by girls everywhere. It's got the same formula that's in Sailor Moon, every series by Watase Yuu, and most romance novels: clumsy, normal girl is pursued by a preternaturally handsome, dangerous guy who dramatically rescues her from situations despite her brief attempts to show her independence. Granted, Watase Yuu's guys are generally less dangerous than most, and most shoujo manga doesn't even have the brief attempts at independence. And the romances tend to lovingly describe every gorgeous detail of the guys, whereas manga lingers over them in two-page spreads. But in the end, it's largely the same wish-fulfillment fantasy.

And, in general, I am a fan of female wish-fulfillment fantasies. I just think I have read too many of this sort, and so, my buttons have shifted enough that this didn't grab them. I would also snark mercilessly at it, except my sister likes the book and recced it, and because this is so the thing I would have loved way back when I was reading LJ Smith.

Also, (minor spoiler!) in this world, vampires sparkle like diamonds in sunshine.

sorry, totally could not resist. but really! they sparkle! LITERALLY!

ETA: And why is it that hundred-year-old vampires are always attracted to teenagers? I don't understand! And why is it that hundred-year-old vampires still act like mooning teenagers as well?

Links:
- buymeaclue's review
- habiliments' review
- sophia_helix's review

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I haaated this book, & I'm still in the throes of a vampire phase. I definitely like cheesy vampire stuff, but this was not my kind of cheese. I dunno... I really hate teen romances that feel fake--like "I love you!" & you don't feel like they've even gotten to know each other to that point--& that was totally how Bella & Edward felt to me. Also, I hated how ethereally & classically beautiful everyone seemed to be (in a white way, of course). Yawn.

I've heard the sequel has a badly written Native American guy in it, & is as cringeworthy (@ least wrt what made me hate the first one).

[oyceter]

Yes! The "you are my life!" "never leave me!" stuff really annoyed me. And I forgot to note just how annoyed I was that they made a huge point of Bella being so white and pale that she stood out and the random mystical and mysterious Native Americans.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Vampires are obviously stuck at the emotional maturity level of teenagers. Which means that if you fall for one and don't go vamp yourself, in five, ten, twenty years, you'll be ready to settle down and start paying a mortgage, and he'll be all wanting to go to concerts and go cruising and maybe go off to South Padre at spring break and drink lots of really cheap beer.

[oyceter]

See, someone needs to write that. Or someone needs to write a vampire love story in which the vampire falls for an eighty-year-old woman because of the life experience or something.

[snarp]

Elizabeth Knox's Daylight comes pretty close to the first one.

[oyceter]

Oh interesting, I'll have to check that out! Thanks.

[snarp]

And I just looked at what I linked to, and realized I actually probably shouldn't had, because the Amazon summaries are simultaneously unhelpful and slightly spoilery... so, uhhh, if you haven't read it yet, don't?

Basically it's got a bunch of interesting and intelligent characters - the humans being more so than the vampires - very good, kind of dense writing, and a murder mystery that is almost totally unnecessary. I'm not actually completely sure that the mystery got solved, but I still love the book for those poor people babysitting their vampires.

[oyceter]

Hee! Ok, I'll avoid the summaries.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

vampires sparkle like diamonds in sunshine.

!!!

I would totally run out and buy this if it was a shojo manga instead of a YA novel.

(Why is this sort of thing more acceptable in manga form? I don't know. Possibly 'cause of pretty drawings of preternaturally beautiful and sparkling vampires.)

[oyceter]

I know! I nearly burst into hysterical laughter at that point.

(Why is this sort of thing more acceptable in manga form? I don't know. Possibly 'cause of pretty drawings of preternaturally beautiful and sparkling vampires.)

I have no idea! I agree; I suspect some of it is having eye candy to ogle at, as opposed to having to wade through bad prose about bronze hair and topaz eyes that change colors to onyx (so not making that up). And chibis. Chibis make everything better.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

That was my exact thought as well!

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Wait, why are hundred-year-old vampires in high school at all? I mean, after the twentieth time you repeat your senior year, isn't someone going to notice?

[oyceter]

Well, like most vampire YA books, they explain it by having them move to different areas every so often so presumably people don't remember. Of course, this doesn't address things like paperwork, but I think most of the books handwave and say vampires are master paperwork forgers.

What I don't get is why a hundred-year-old vampire would ever want to go through high school repeatedly. I can see the first few times for the novelty, but after that?

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Now THAT is hell.

[oyceter]

I know! I can see college, but high school? Whyyyy?!

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

why a hundred-year-old vampire would ever want to go through high school repeatedly.

Tasty, tasty snacks?

[oyceter]

Hee! Except they are moral vampires who won't snack on people!

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

To pick up High School girls.

All that 'forever' stuff is easy to say when a) you'll be alive long after they die, and b) they'll probably get sick of you in a few years, what with your emotional growth being so stunted.

And plus it's gives you a romantic tragedy to tell the next girl about.

[oyceter]

HEE! In that case, I feel they should be forced to live in high school forever as punishment.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I suppose it helps you stay current. But still, talk about hell.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

You know, somehow I had managed to forget about the sparkling.

[oyceter]

You DIDN'T! That is too funny!!

I feel the sparkling adds a whole new level.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I would also snark mercilessly at it, except my sister likes the book and recced it, and because this is so the thing I would have loved way back when I was reading LJ Smith.

I'm probably unfairly biased because LJS was my intro to trashy vamp literature, way back when, but I felt that she (or most her books, at least) had a redeeming sense of snark and self-awareness that Twilight, while harmless fun, was completely and totally lacking.

I mean, seriously. Sparkling vampires? Bella? Meyers is pretty shameless with her wish-fulfillment, and normally I like that, but... actually, my main problem was with the narrative drive that seemed to screech to a half 2/3rds of the way through. Like Meyers honestly wasn't sure what to do with her lovebirds once they were in each other's arms.

[oyceter]

Dude, LJS was totally my intro too. Though I'm still pissed off about the ending for Forbidden Game. I think she started off not being quite as snarky (at least, from what I remember of the Vampire Diaries, what with the absolutely beautiful blonde Elena who had two vampire brothers swooning for her). I think I like her Night World books best, except the whole soulmate thing. Ok, mostly I just like Jez. And the three vampire sisters and Ash.

Meyer is very wish fulfillment! One of the things that I did like about Edward and Bella was that they actually talked to each other, but sadly, most of that was lost amongst the "My love and my life!"

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Dude, LJS was totally my intro too.

I remember looking at those lurid Nightworld covers and feeling, somehow, in my soul, that there would be no going back from this. ;)

Though I'm still pissed off about the ending for Forbidden Game.

Sometimes I wonder if LJS was writing according to spec, or at the whim of an editor, of even against her own instincts, because the end of the Dark Visions trilogy always read like "Okay, I screwed up the romance in Forbidden Game, but I'm making it all better here" to me. I've never read either the Vampire Diaries or Secret Circle, though.

I think I like her Night World books best, except the whole soulmate thing.

Ditto. Again, the treatment of the soulmate thing made me wonder if what was going on behind the scenes -- I loved how Mary-Lynnette kept using it to give Ash pink, fuzzy shocks in Daughters of Darkness... which is exactly the kind of saving grace Twilight needed. A pinch of salt in all that cloying sweetness.

I agree that it read very like a stereotypical shoujo manga -- which was both a strength and a weakness. I think if it'd been an actual manga, she could have also put off Bella and Edward coming together a bit longer, which might have served the narrative better in the long run.

[oyceter]

Whoo! Another LJ Smith fan! All these comments are totally making me day! I seriously thought LJ Smith was me, my sister, and our cousin's secret guilty pleasure.

I adore Mary-Lynette largely because of the pink fuzzy shocks, and the fact that they're completely annoyed that they're soulmates. I also like that they didn't get together at the end, despite the whole soulmate thing.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

LJ Smith was my high school experience. I had no idea there were other people who read her!

[oyceter]

Me too! I am so happy to find all these people in comments!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I seriously thought LJ Smith was me, my sister, and our cousin's secret guilty pleasure.

She's got quite a cult following that still thrives on the internet -- her section on FFn.net, for instance, is impressive for someone who a) was never a bestseller and b) hasn't put out a new book in, what, over a decade?

She just satisfies the craving for cheese in so many of us. ;)

I think you're right -- the soulmate thing worked best whenever the people involved either denied it or didn't get immediate vindication from it -- i.e., falling into each other's arms immediately afterward with "It's you! It's been you all along!*" so forth etc.


*Listen, LJS, if you're lurking and reading -- I wanted to like "Dark Angel," okay? But I couldn't. Because it sucked.

[oyceter]

That is awesome! Although now I am hoping her section on FF.net isn't so big that it disqualifies her for Yuletide, because now I sort of want LJ Smith fic for Yuletide, muhahaha.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

This book annoyed the hell out of me. All the "no I love YOU more, shmoopy" "No, sweetums, I love YOU more" and Bella's insistence that she is plain and boring when no less than three guys (not counting the Hot Vampire) are falling all over themselves to ask her out - it was all just ridiculous.

And how about the "we're vampires keeping our secret under lock and key, but Edward has a crush, so let's not just tell her that we're vampires, but also our whole history."

Or the fact that she wants to be a vampire, but can't stand the sight of blood? Or the fact that she wants to be a vampire so she can live with him forever, but shies away when he brings up marriage?

There is just so much.

Have you read Vivian Vande Velde's Companions of the Night?

[oyceter]

OMG! Bella not noticing she was hot drove me crazy. Particularly after Meyer's loving descriptions of her gorgeous pale skin.

Ditto with the wanting to be converted to a vampire thing for a guy she has only known for a few months.

I think I've heard some people mention the Velde before, but I've never read it.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Companions of the Night, in my mind, is everything a teen vampire book should be. It's smart and scary and concise and wonderful, and every time I read it, I find myself wanting there to be more of it, but knowing that it's perfect as it is.

I highly recommend it. It's a very quick read.

[oyceter]

Oooo, ok. I will definitely look for that.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I liked that one. But my favorite teen vampire romance is Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss, in which part of the reason the teenage heroine is attracted to the vampire is that her mother is dying and she wants to understand death.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Klause's book really is a gem -- and real one, not a trashy, guilty pleasure-type gem -- of the genre. Her Blood and Chocolate does the same for the "teen werewolf" trope, if you haven't read it.

[oyceter]

I still need to read that! I read Silver Kiss a while back and meant to pick up Blood and Chocolate but just somehow never did.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I actually prefer BaC to SK -- I feel like so many authors (*coughLKHcough*) have borrowed heavily from her portrayal of humans-in-pack-mentality, it's a shame her book isn't just as widely known.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I've heard a lot of people prefer BaC to SK -- I can sort of see why, given that SK is good, but really freaking depressing.

[oyceter]

I liked that one a lot because it was sort of a non-romance and a neat take on the usual human-vampire romances. Though I'm not sure how often I'll reread, because wow, was that not a happy book.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I thought it was pretty hilarious, but sadly not intentionally. (Sparkly vampires!) I enjoyed the read, but didn't bother with the sequel.

By far my favorite character was Alice. If the whole book had been about the vampire family and Bella and Edward hadn't even been in it, I would have been much more into it.

[oyceter]

I tried not to giggle too much, since my sister was there and I felt bad making fun of it. But, um, yes. Sparkly vampires!

I liked Alice a lot too. I think the book would have been ten times more interesting had it been about Alice and her secret past.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I could not BELIEVE that I was being asked to accept sparkly vampires with not a hint of humour. Sparkly vampires! They should be hysterical, I feel so wronged.

I also feel like the vampire subgenre needs to take a different turn. Hot vampires are all well and good, but I am sick to the teeth of them.

That said, OMG you also read LJ Smith? I was seventeen, and terribly terribly obsessed. I had a little fan website with reviews. It was so lame.

Apparently in the sequel, Edward makes Bella a mix tape about their great love. Won't be reading that one.

[oyceter]

YES! Sparkly!

I am really sick of preternaturally beautiful and graceful vampires as well. Particularly those with metallic hair and gemstone eyes.

OMG! You read LJ Smith too! Awesome! I am getting such a kick out of old LJ Smith fans coming out in the comments. I was so obsessed in high school. I even wrote Forbidden Game future!fic resurrecting Julian that I never finished. I actually never read all her older series, like the Secret Circle, b/c I couldn't find all of them in the library, but I loooved Night World (reincarnation! blue fire! black flowers! wasn't that big a fan of the soulmate thing though).

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

I loved the Secret Circle! (Okay, might you possibly be at World Fantasy in November? Because I will be, and I am totally willing to bring the books to you.) I wrote fanfic I never finished about that one, in which the Bad Boy didn't get totally screwed. (She had a habit of totally screwing her bad boys. Oh, Julian!)

I re-read the Night World this Christmas, and wept with shame at my past self. Mind you, when I first read the Forbidden Game, I cried so hard I fell off the bed.

Okay, truth-telling time: I actually got my Online Alias Maya from the Night World books.

[oyceter]

I haven't planned for any other cons this year, so I doubt I'll be going to World Fantasy =(.

She totally screwed over her bad boys! Except Gabriel in Dark Visions, except I hated Dark Visions because I hated Katelyn or however you spell her name.

I had the hugest crush ever on Julian. I think I walked out in a daze when I read the last Forbidden Game book.

I actually got my Online Alias Maya from the Night World books.

Awesome!! My FG fic is still up on my Sekrit Fic Journal. Also, I totally wrote drabbles in college for the LJ Smith drabble LJ comm. The biggest secret, though, is that me and my cousin and my sister used to play games to the books: making up characters in the Night World and etc.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Woe! Mind you, the Secret Circle books are heartbreaking because her bad boy in that (Nick, I believe) was actually a good guy! Never did anything wrong! Did not deserve to be crushed into dust! Was just a bit snippy and unfond of the hero, never had a moment's glance towards the dark side, consistently protected the heroine in a surly, awkward, cold-eyed sort of way. (As I swooned, natch.) And I was like, man, of all your bad guys, LJS, this is the one who should catch a break. Alas, no. Well, the hero and the heroine were soulmates (cue greenish pallor) so what could you do.

My best friend helped me make the LJS fan site: she called herself Hellewise. Poor sweetie, she's a little horrified that I took Maya and ran with it. But nobody played games with me, that is awesome.

[oyceter]

Awwww! Poor Bad Boy!

Hellewise! Awesome!

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

>That said, OMG you also read LJ Smith?

Apparently LJ Smith = the Labyrinth. One of those things that I always thought was my secret, but no.

I think I have a couple of them in a box in a crawl space in my parents' house somewhere. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I had 'em all. The vampires, the witches, the Game books. Wow. So much angst!

[oyceter]

EEE! More LJ Smith fans! I feel so vindicated now.

I missed the Secret Circle books, as I had to read LJ Smith at bookstores when I vacationed in America over summers, but the Game books? I had such an embarrassing mad crush on Julian for ages.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I may have seen this website you speak of. Link?

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Ah, Twilight. I hated it.

http://buymeaclue.livejournal.com/236565.html

SHE FAINTS AT THE SIGHT OF BLOOD.

Gawd.

[kate_nepveu]

If I'm ever a vampire, I'm just going to be civil and quiet and polite. That's how you keep a low profile, kids.

Somehow this sounds familiar . . .

I particularly like your quote of "slender, but soft somehow", as a particularly egregious example of a standard genre romance novel description ("slim curves," etc.). It's the "somehow" that does it.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

Ah Twilight! This book probably qualifies as uber-cracktastic for me because I thought it was crap in every possible way, yet couldn't put it down and raced through it all the while thinking it was crap. Maybe it was because the whole time I could very clearly see myself reading this at 13 over and over - and hopefully noticing it was crap. It has every teen girl hook possible short of a mystical horse joining in - but Meyer's still writing more books, give her time. This thing should come with a warning label.

I even read the second book - I didn't want to! but a friend as revenge for loaning her Twilight gave it to me - and it's even worse, with yet another supernatural guy in love with Bella and her passivity taken to such an extreme that she spends a fair amount of the book asleep. Burn these books! Scatter the ashes lest they rise and devour our souls!

[oyceter]

I even read the second book - I didn't want to! but a friend as revenge for loaning her Twilight gave it to me - and it's even worse, with yet another supernatural guy in love with Bella and her passivity taken to such an extreme that she spends a fair amount of the book asleep.

No way! I think I will definitely skip the second; I've heard it has even more mystical Native Americans in it.

This book is utterly cracktastic, but unfortunately, it doesn't hit any of my good crack buttons.

(I am still not over the sparkly.)

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

I'm still not over how spastically clumsy Bella was supposed to be. I mean I'm aware of the romantic comedy convention where the heroine has to prove how cute and non-threatening she is by falling over and walking into things, but Bella was to the point that I thought someone was going to suggest she get a brain scan.

[oyceter]

Hee! That was the one thing that I actually accepted, since I'm about that clumsy ;). But I was a bit irked to see that presented as her "look! she is not perfect!" flaw, because seriously. How about personality flaws instead?

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I desperately loved-- and still love-- L.J. Smith.

Nevertheless, I will not be reading this book, although I wish someone would do shoujo-manga style art of the sparkly vampires.

[oyceter]

You are a fellow LJ Smith fan! Now I'm sad I didn't know this last year because I would have inflicted a ton of reminiscing on you.

But yeah. I am for actual illustrations of sparkly vampires, but not necessarily reading about them.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I guess it's time to come out of the closet, I was once an LJ Smith fan.

Mainly Night World, but I also read the Circle books, and a few of the Vampire diaries. By that time I'd grown enough to hate Elena and think that Stephen was an idiot.

I was fascinated by the combinations of hair/eye colours because she never seemed to run out! You'd think there'd be more than one person in a series of books with brown eyes and brown hair, but I'm pretty sure that statistically blonde hair and violet eyes was the most common combination. Of course that made it even stranger that every single one of them was so freakishly pale. Where's the creativity with skin-tone, Smith?

I'm trying to figure out what the appeal was, because it was pretty rare for me to find any of the male leads attractive. I loved Mary-Lynette, and Jez, and that one girl who wasn't impossibly gorgeous, even though she was 'plain' in the most obnoxious way.

I re-read it a few years back it's even more shameful than I'd thought at the time.

[oyceter]

Another LJ Smith fan! Awesome!!

I loved Night World the best, though I am also secretly fond of Forbidden Game, even though it totally had the wrong ending. I read the last book of Vampire Diaries first, so I was ok with it, but when I finally got around to reading the first few, I came to the same conclusions about Elena and Stephen that you did.

But yes to adoring Mary-Lynette and Jez! And I was more in love with bad boys then, so I completely fell for Ash and Mor... I forgot his name.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

It's Morgead! I wasn't sure whether it was Mordred, Morgaine or neither and I had to look it up.

[evil-kat.livejournal.com]

There must be something appealing about vapid 17 yo girls. Perhaps these vampires have spent the majority of their first several hundred years chilling out with mature, intellegent women, discussing philosophy, theology, and the problems of immortality. (And sparklology?)

And, reaching 450, they have a midlife crisis, buy a corvette, and cruise the high schools.

[oyceter]

And, reaching 450, they have a midlife crisis, buy a corvette, and cruise the high schools.

That is so awesome. I love the idea of high school girls as vampire mid-life crises.

[evil-kat.livejournal.com]

I should totally write THAT book!

[oyceter]

You should!

[keilexandra]

My school friends rec'd this book (very strongly) to me, so I read it without any reservations and expected an easy YA romance. I loved it; NEW MOON made me cry and gave me a tight, painful feeling, even as my brain recognized how cliche it was. Hey, maybe my tolerance for YA hasn't been completely destroyed. [Link is f-locked; don't remember if you still read springgreen]

Most reviews I've since read online are negative, so I'm glad that I wasn't prejudiced by that going in.

[oyceter]

I read it without any reservations and expected an easy YA romance.

Hey, that is good too ^_^. I suspect I would have liked it more had it not been about vampires and had I not read it now, as opposed to before -- also, not commenting on your age! Commenting more on the insane amounts of vampire books I have read. Like, seriously. I think the only reason I wasn't a full-blown loligoth kid was because a) I didn't know such thing existed and b) I was too wimpy to stand out that much in a class of 20 people.

[keilexandra]

Vampires are good--it's werewolves that I can't stand. XD

[oyceter]

Hee! Me too. I never quite got into them.

[(Anonymous)]

I really liked the book. And i really didn't find the sparkling hilarious, i didn't even think about it that way. Both me and my friends and classmates really enjoyed her books.

[oyceter]

Cool, I'm glad you guys did.

Forget you all.

[(Anonymous)]

I LOVED Twilight!!
I also LOVED New Moon and Eclipse!
They're very well written, in my opinion.
And Stephenie's view of vampires is different than yours. She see's them as drop dead gorgous and sparkly.
So what?
Grow up.

Re: Forget you all.

[oyceter]

Hi!

I'd appreciate it if you'd sign anonymous comments.

Also, I'm glad you liked the book. My not liking it doesn't make your liking it any less valid, so I would appreciate not being insulted for not liking it.