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Twilight

Posted by Jessica on May 23, 2008 at 8:12 pm · Filed under 0 cupcakes, Contemporary/Urban Fantasy, Horror

Twilight By Stephanie Meyer [LibraryThing - Amazon]

When Bella moves to the dreary small town of Forks, she doesn’t expect to meet the love of her life – and she certainly doesn’t expect him to be a vampire. But Edward is exactly that, and his love for Bella may not be stronger than his thirst for her blood. And even if it is, can Edward protect Bella from the bloodthirsty newcomer who’s set his sights on her?

Warning: Minor spoilers behind the cut.

In this interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I’ve never been a big fan of vampires. I liked Buffy because it was funny and had rockin’ female characters, but I never bothered with Anne Rice or Laurell K. Hamilton, and I don’t find capes and Transylvanian accents sexy. At best, vampires make me roll my eyes.

But even if I’d loved vampires with an unholy passion, Twilight would still be terrible.

There are a bunch of issues that would be major problems in any other book:

1. It’s boring. Hundreds of pages go by with, essentially, nothing happening except a lot of florid prose about how pretty Edward is. It was so boring that I honestly wouldn’t have finished it if I hadn’t been reviewing it for AV, and I always finish books.

2. Yeah, it’s florid. Ludicrously so. (Edward sparkles in the sun. No, really.) This isn’t helped by Meyer’s somewhat bizarre relationship with punctuation (here’s a hint: you don’t need a semicolon, a dash, and an ellipsis all in the same sentence!).

3. Bella, the ostensible heroine, is a terrible character. She’s utterly devoid of personality in order for the reader to be able to map herself into the starring role. For example, the boys back in her hometown of Phoenix don’t notice her (she’s so ordinary! just like you and me!), but counting Edward, she has five boys vying for her attention in Forks (omg so popular!). The sole exception to her utter lack of personality traits is her completely over-the-top clumsiness, which was apparently added to give her an adorable quirk but actually just makes me think she has severe inner ear problems. (When she breaks her leg, ribs, and skull in a vampire attack, they tell her mother she fell out a window, and this is a plausible excuse because Bella is just that much of a failure at walking without falling down.) She’s also unbelievably passive; she spends the climax of the book barely conscious, unable to move or even see, listening to everyone else save the day.

All of these would be hugely problematic anywhere else, but Twilight has another issue that so overshadows those already mentioned that it renders them almost negligible: It reads like a do-it-yourself guide to abusive relationships.

I’m serious. Edward is moody, violent, prone to anger, jealous, and justifies any poor behavior towards Bella with excuses like “It’s just because I love you” and “It’s what’s best for you.” He works to sever all of her other social connections, leaving her entirely reliant on him – and in fact, she’s disturbingly codependent, with lines like “It would be physically painful to be separated from him.” She lives in terror of triggering one of his bad moods or making him want to leave. She describes his hands on her wrists as “manacles.” He stalks her and watches her while she sleeps and she feels flattered. He’s also insanely controlling; if he wants her to do something, she does it, and if she doesn’t hop to it, he picks her up or drags her where he wants her to be. I’m speaking very literally here – he both drags her around and pins or straps her down multiple times in this book.

Of course, since he’s a vampire, this is all compounded. He’s so much faster and stronger than she is that she is always at his mercy – she lives at his sufferance. (And he utterly delights in reminding her of this fact, which is disgusting.) Plus, since a vampire feeding is inextricably linked in the public consciousness to sex – seduction and rape simultaneously – there are some extra-disturbing undercurrents to all of this. See, Edward and his family have sworn off drinking human blood, but Bella is so extraordinarily tempting to him that he has to fight every second that he’s around her not to kill her. Uh, romantic. Plus, they can never have a sexual relationship, because as he tells her, if he ever loses control, “I could reach out, meaning to touch your face, and crush your skull by mistake.” That is some charming pillow talk there, Ed. First of all, this means that Bella can never make any romantic or sexual overtures towards Edward for fear of disrupting his control; when they kiss, she has to essentially lie back and think of England (or Forks). But more importantly, I’m sorry, but I don’t find a guy having to concentrate fiercely every minute to keep from violating or destroying me romantic. I find it creepy and terrifying.

Now, all of this would have been mitigated if even one person in the book had expressed any concern about the relationship based on something other than the fact that she’s food to him. But no. A few people, Edward included, tell Bella that he’s dangerous to be around because, duh, vampire, but no one – not Bella’s parents, not her friends, no one – says that it’s a bad relationship because he’s an abusive, moody, controlling stalker with rage issues. Bella herself never twigs that the relationship is mind-bogglingly unhealthy, but Bella can barely stand upright, so you can’t expect much from her.

So you’ve got this friendly User’s Guide to Setting Up Your Home Abusive Relationship – and it’s being stuffed into the hands of every teenage girl in the country, if not the world, and touted as romantic. That’s incredibly irresponsible and reprehensible. It’s not a writer’s job to raise the youth of America, but it damn well isn’t her job to tell them behavior like Edward’s is love, either.

Without this last horrendous aspect, Twilight would probably get one cupcake – maybe one and a half, if I were feeling generous. As it is, Twilight gets zero cupcakes. It’s infuriating, disturbing, and just plain bad, and I’d cut out my own tongue before recommending it to anyone, especially the girls it’s marketed to.

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106 Comments »

Angela said,

May 23, 2008 @ 8:23 pm

Hey, it gets worse in Eclipse, where he cuts the brakes on her truck so she can’t sneak out and go see the friend he’s forbidden her from associating with.
Seth Christenfeld said,

May 23, 2008 @ 10:32 pm

Methinks Ms. Meyer has…issues.
maite Lorente said,

May 23, 2008 @ 10:39 pm

This is the best review that I have read about the book. Thanks so much. It is exactly my opinion.
sam said,

May 24, 2008 @ 6:19 am

Oh thank goodness, I thought it was just me! I agree with every point you made! I read this book after hearing so many people rave about it and watching the hold list at my library grow and grow, and I just hated it. Bella is so useless! And Edward just did nothing for me. Perhaps if it was shelved with the other Harlequin Supernatural Romances, I wouldn’t be so hard on it.
Dinah said,

May 24, 2008 @ 6:47 am

Finally! Someone else sees through this “romantic” charade. Thank you for posting this!
Mary Miller said,

May 24, 2008 @ 8:55 am

We all have our tastes in reading. I would just be curious to what level of readers you choose materials for and in what setting you work with young adults.
Kelly said,

May 25, 2008 @ 7:36 pm

My sister absolutely LOVES this book, and I finally decided to give it a chance the other day. I got through, literally, one page and just couldn’t read anymore. But apparently the tweens are going crazy for it, as my friend’s little sister also loves it. Kind of distressing, really.
Jessica said,

May 26, 2008 @ 6:20 pm

Angela: AUGH AUGH AUGH. That’s so not okay even a little. (Although there was a weirdly oblique reference to something similar - like, her father randomly tampered with her truck in the first book to keep her from going anywhere, and Edward is like “Oh, is that all it would take to keep you in one place?” And she doesn’t even comment on the fact that her father TAMPERED WITH HER TRUCK TO KEEP HER FROM GOING ANYWHERE, WHAT.)

Seth: I try to separate authors from their fiction, but yeah, it’s a bit worrisome that Meyer didn’t ever imply that this was anything less than a perfect romance.

maite Lorente, sam, Dinah, Kelly: Glad to know I’m not alone!

Mary Miller: Until last week I was a teachers’ assistant at a middle school and worked with preteens every day. I didn’t then and don’t now choose materials for anyone - all I can do is recommend or not recommend books to my own teenage siblings and the other young people I know. That, however, wouldn’t change my opinion of Twilight. May I ask why you were wondering?
Margot said,

May 26, 2008 @ 6:24 pm

It just gets worse, you know. At least you didn’t hit the love triangle of DOOM and the ridiculousness of Jacob and her having to PUNCH HIM TO GET HIM OFF OF HER and him then getting congratulated for kissing her. And her being manipulated by both boys and her goal in life to SACRIFICE HER OWN LIFE FOR THE BOYS and ARGH this series makes me spiral into caps.

But I agree with your review, and its nice to know I’m not the only one who detested these books.
Jodi said,

May 27, 2008 @ 5:33 am

THANK YOU. All the twittering high school girls where I work luuuurve Edward, sucking up this book like he sucks dry the poor critters on his wilderness camping trips. Me? I wanted to smack some sense into the wet dishrag that passes for Bella. I quit halfway through New Moon due to my increasing irritation with her depiction as a total waste of space incapable of controlling any aspect of herself, from the physical to the mental to the emotional. Not a model any high school girl should emulate.
katherine said,

May 27, 2008 @ 9:27 am

True as these comments are, the popularity of the book is so GINORMOUS…I’m astounded and left speechless. ( except to say, bravo to you Jessica, for speaking out when clearly you could be tarred and feathered by her fans ) Like Sam, I thought I was the only one who shared some of your feelings.
Gillian said,

May 27, 2008 @ 2:51 pm

Well said.

You have gotten a great amount of discussion going among Young Adult librarians. Many aspects of the series are now being looked at.
RPattzLove said,

May 27, 2008 @ 9:33 pm

UGH!

…….
Jeannie said,

May 28, 2008 @ 5:05 am

HAHAHA I loved your review, probably for all the wrong reasons..I am a Twilight Fan..A major one… but i will add that im in mid twenties not a 15yr old.
I would like to thankyou for reading the book. Its so much better than another reviewer on a movie site who bad mouthed the movie and the book without even reading it or watching it as it hasnt come out. Im not here to get angry at you either for not liking it because everyone has their own personal tatses. Ive read books that my friends loved and i hated.
You do raise some interesting points however that i did notice throughout the series. Edward is very controlling… and it is even brought up by another character in book 3. I agree that this weird to be putting towards teens, that its ok to be controlled, to be pressured into things etc. But i also thing that you have read too much into it. But thats my opinion…. You should have a go at The Host. Its a bit different, the themes are definately not the same. I would actually be interested to read what you had to say about that book as well.
But thankyou for your honest opinion on a book that is loved by the world, but i warn you that once it gets out what you wrote, your throat may be cut by the beloved fans. Didnt you know that this is bigger than Harry Potter?
annabeth said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:24 am

OMIGOD. I think that Twilight series are great and I love them. I don’t know how you could say such things. It is a thrilling, gripping series with the right ratio of adventure and romance. Give them a chance please. You don’t have to read them.
I love Alice.
hiphopnic said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:25 am

I think that Twilight and the rest of the series are amazing books that are loved by many people. I am affended that people think of Twilight like this. If you do not like them just don’t read them. I think that it is mean and cruel to do this to a book. I think you should respect books and literature as if they were people.
Cami said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:25 am

I am starting the series, and at least I am giving them a CHANCE!!!!! I really feel you should be a bit more respectful to them!!!!
Bookworm said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:26 am

I totally disagree. If you guys don’t like them, don’t read them! I love this series, even if bella is weak, edwarrd can be controling… i mean, whats a story if it’s perfect?????????????? Edward just wants bella to be happy, and bella does have some issues, but, it’s an amazing piece of writing. I think you should be a bit more respectful, like saying, “I don’t like the way edward or bella was portrayed” or something like that. not difficult!
Livi said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:27 am

I happen to love these series of books! Thank you very much. I think they are a great story of love and adventure! They are really good books if you give them a chance!!!!!!!!!! A lot of people happen to love them! I am very offended that people are really saying this. I think it isnt very fair and that you should respect peoples decitions! Thanks for listening.
ANGIE said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:48 am

Bitter much, anyone? In case you have forgotten, this is HIGH SCHOOL and everyone is trying to assert their own identity. Apparentley, someone never had a high school sweetheart. And you really need to read ALL the books, because in the end, it is ALL about the protection of Bella, not the control of her. And get this, sometimes hormonal teenage boys misread signs and think they are great (Jacob’s kiss). Let’s not get so overboard on this subject without all the facts or feelings shall we? Next thing you know Joe Camel might show up and try to get Bella to light up. Come on people, read ALL the books! Ya know, where Edward does leave her alone, when he comes back to save her and how he and Jacob put their differences aside for her protection? Anyone else out there with some sense? Anyone?????
Debbie Reese said,

May 28, 2008 @ 8:54 am

I’m looking specifically at the Native content Meyer brings into the series… it’s kind of a mess. I find very little reviewer/reader discussion of that content. You can read what I’m thinking over on my site:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com
thalia said,

May 28, 2008 @ 10:06 am

If you don’t like the book, then just don’t read it. These are excellent books in my opinion, not just for teens, but also for adults. There is the right ratio of action and romance and I think that stephenie meyer did a great job.
Jessica said,

May 28, 2008 @ 7:16 pm

Margot: I’m so glad I stopped after one. Jacob was vaguely likeable in Twilight!

Gillian: So I hear! I took a look at some of the discussion and it looked really interesting. Glad I could get something started!

Jeannie: Thanks for the rec. Is The Host another YA vampire series? I’ll have to look into it.

ANGIE: I feel that each book in a series should be able to stand on its own and present its themes without support from supplemental reading. If Meyer can’t convince me that Edward isn’t really disturbingly controlling in 500 pages, she never will. Furthermore, there’s a difference between blatantly advising someone to engage in unhealthy behavior (i.e. your Joe Camel example) and depicting destructive relationship patterns in the guise of “romantic” behavior, especially when those patterns are often mistakenly viewed as romantic in our culture. Everyone knows smoking is bad for you, but plenty of people will read Edward threatening Bella’s other suitors instead of letting Bella speak for herself as romantic, instead of the alarming, controlling behavior it really is.

Debbie Reese: Thank you so much for the link to your blog! I’m ashamed to say I didn’t really think about the portrayal of Native culture in the book, and I’m finding your posts on the subject really interesting.

To all the people saying “If you don’t like it, don’t read it”: How will I know if I like it if I don’t read it?

To all commenters, whether you agreed with me or not: Thank you for commenting! I love hearing readers’ opinions, and I’m sure Rebecca would say the same. I must, however, ask you to be civil. Play nice, guys!
Jeannie said,

May 28, 2008 @ 11:47 pm

The Host is a Sci-Fi novel, no Vampires. Written by Stephenie Meyer though, so it would be interesting to see if you just done like her writing or its just Twilight.
The Host is about Aliens invading the earth, but is considered an Adult Novel.
Go to http://www.stepheniemeyer.com and youll be able to read the first chapter online. I loved it. Its about what is humanity, what is it to be human, what is love? I really liked it. I would love to read your review on it.
Bookworm said,

May 29, 2008 @ 8:10 am

Obviously, if you read this review you probably don’t like them. If you feel that way, don’t read them, and then add more smeely comments. no big! i’ve read the entire series, and i love them! i didn’t like harry very much in harry potter, and, as such, don’t really like bella at all. please give them a chance.
Cami said,

May 29, 2008 @ 8:18 am

I am going to read more into the book tomorrow and I am glad to have different opinions. I agree with hiphopnic that you should treat literature like a person!!! My mom read it and LOVED it, so did a lot of my friends!!!! I think it is cruel though to say that Ms. Meyers has issues. That is just a bit much!!
thalia said,

May 29, 2008 @ 8:24 am

I really like this website. While there might be some strong views (ahem) it is really cool reading about everyone’s opinion. You guys brought some good points to the table that I never even considered.
Rebecca said,

May 29, 2008 @ 9:23 am

Sticking in my two cents about a general issue, rather than the specific book (as I haven’t read it, and don’t plan to as I very much trust Jess’s opinion), but I think it’s a bit much to say that books should be treated in the same manner as people. Books are released into the public sphere, which invites commentary on them. Profession authors such as Meyer (and everyone else whose books we’ve reviewed here) have to be aware of that and, at least for the most part of it, be okay with it. It’s part of the profession.

You can’t succeed as a professional writer without expecting and accepting criticism of your writing. That’s very different than criticisizing the author as a person.
Debbie Reese said,

May 29, 2008 @ 12:11 pm

In the reviews I’ve seen of the series, there is rare mention of the Native content. The omission intrigues me. If you ask most people about the portrayals of American Indians in, say, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, they are “Indians? Really? I don’t remember.” I assign that book to my students (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) and they are stunned that any teacher is asking students to read that book, given the ways that Native peoples are portrayed in it. I’m curious about what people tune into, why, why not they notice/do not notice Native portrayals in lit… Meyer is using Native content, but it seems to me (based on my study thus far) that she doesn’t really know much about Native people. She’s passing along some sketchy info. A lot of people (most probably) would say it doesn’t matter, that it is only fiction, etc., but I disagree. It does matter. Americans SHOULD know what treaties are, not Meyer’s misunderstanding of what they are. That’s one example of error she makes. That is factual error. Also problematic are the ways he’s drawing on Quileute ways of thinking about their history…. So many writers think nothing of appropriating and retelling Native story, shaping it for their purpose, but fail to realize that Native story is sacred to Native people from whom the stories originate…. just like the Bible is for Christians. Most people wouldn’t fool with Bible stories, yet, Native story is seen as fair game…
Sherry said,

May 29, 2008 @ 4:18 pm

I read the books, all three, and thought they were harmless romances in the vein of Harlequin romances with vampires thrown in. Here’s my review if you’re interested:

http://www.semicolonblog.com/?p=2442

I don’t think most girls are planning to find a non-vampire Edward to protect and control them any more than fans of Gone With the Wind are out looking for Rhett Butler. Maybe I’m overestimating the ability of teenage girls (and adults) to separate fact from fiction.
Hannah said,

May 30, 2008 @ 5:36 pm

When I got halfway through the book I was worried the whole book was just going to be them saying “I love you!” I was happy when something actually happened!!
Jessica said,

May 31, 2008 @ 1:35 pm

Jeannie: Hmm. Well, thanks for the recommendation anyway…I don’t know if I’ll pick it up, and if I do I probably won’t review it here, since this blog is for kids’ and YA lit, but I’ll let you know if I change my mind!

Debbie: How can people miss the Native Americans in Little House on the Prairie? They’re pretty important. And yeah, the moral of the book seems to be “Stupid government, giving land to those whiny Natives!” which is…problematic, and one of the reasons it’s my second least-favorite book in the series.

I wouldn’t say writers don’t mess around with the Bible (John Milton and Philip Pullman spring to mind), but they do it a lot more carefully. Writers seem to treat Native culture like they would treat a defunct polytheistic mythology, like, say, the ancient Greek or Norse gods - which is horrible. Of course, this country has always been really good at turning Natives into fictional characters.

Sherry: I thought your review was really interesting (although that quote at the top comparing AIDS to vampirism made my blood boil a bit). I think it depends on the girl - how old she is and whether she’s been taught to question fiction. Of course I don’t think if you went up to the average teenager and said “Abusive relationships are great!” she’d say “Okay!” but I think a relationship like Edward’s and Bella’s, presented as something Oh So Romantic, can be very compelling and misleading.

I also think you made an interesting comparison, because before I saw Gone With the Wind for the first time all I knew was that it was supposedly one of the most romantic stories ever told. I loved the movie, but I was appalled by the way Rhett and Scarlet treat each other, particularly when he rapes her. And yet the popular consciousness of that movie states that they are incredibly romantic. Of course, most teenage girls don’t watch old movies like that…

Hannah: This comment made me laugh so hard. Good call.
Kitty said,

June 1, 2008 @ 1:16 pm

Maybe Edward’s abusiveness is some kind of indication of something that’s very, very wrong in Ms. Meyer’s life. As much as I detest the woman as an author, it makes me shudder to think that she’s apparently been raised and taught to live with abusive males as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

If Edward had manifested himself as a villain, I’d have bought it as a cry for help or an attempt to cope with old emotional wounds. But since Edward is apparently considered a heroic, romantic love interest, I’m more than vaguely concerned about Ms. Meyer’s pyschological state. Bella is, as has been said in a hundred other anti-Twilight statements, a blatant stand-in for the author herself. If Bella is a dependant, willing victim of Edward’s abuse…what does that say about Stephanie?
thalia said,

June 1, 2008 @ 4:58 pm

Go Rebecca! That is a really great point about books being different from people and how authors can use criticism to make their books better.
Jessica said,

June 2, 2008 @ 6:53 pm

Kitty: I don’t know if it’s fair to make assumptions about Meyer’s life or emotional state based on the book. After all, it’s fiction. What comes out on the page may have little or nothing to do with Meyer herself.
Alexis Cavazos-Kottke said,

June 3, 2008 @ 11:31 am

OMG! i cant believe u wrote that. My dad sent me to this to read it and i thought it was going to be about how good it was. And just because i am 16 doesnt mean that my opinion shouldnt count, seriously the series is wonderful and u should put on a different mind of thinking when reading these books because most girls my age are just starting to date and don’t have a lot of expirence in what is right and what is wrong in a relationship. I think that Ms. Meyer is doing a great job at showing girls my age what isnt a good relationship. And she sets up the books in a way to attract more of the teen readers to read her adult books.
Julie said,

June 6, 2008 @ 6:41 pm

It was quite shocking to read the first posting. Edward abusive? Even after reading your explanations, I still don’t see it. An abusvie person does mean things to others for selfish reasons, like for power or control. Edward’s motive for his “abusive” behavior is clear, he loves Bella. It may appear that their relationship is obsessive, but I think whole point is that with Edward nothing is ordinary. (Remember, this book is fantasy as much as a romance novel.) That being said, I give this book 5 cupcakes!
GA said,

June 8, 2008 @ 1:18 pm

Well, yes, I would agree. XD I love vampires. A lot. And I read through Twilight but thought it was utterly ridiculous. I mean, honestly? Honestly?

I didn’t pick up on the abusiveness, I have to say, but now that you mention it… x.x I think I just didn’t notice because Bella is so happy to be passive to all his desires, anyway, which I found annoying and also incredibly offensive. Every “talent” Bella may have–like, say, being smart–is always told but never shown. As many problems as Edward has, if she actually defied him once in awhile, he probably just wouldn’t bother with her, period. -_-;;;; Not that I’m saying she brings abuse on herself, but… Well. I don’t know if her character would be happy with a less controlling guy.

It’s hilarious, though, that anyone would find Bella mappable. I can’t relate to her at all. How do you relate to someone who never makes any choices? o.O I really don’t understand.

Maybe adolescence has changed drastically in the, oh, three years since I’ve been sixteen, but seriously. Just because the words “true love” are pasted into a story doesn’t make it romantic. Bella is not a heroine. She’s not even really a damsel in distress. As a reader, I couldn’t respect her, and I really don’t think anyone else should, either.

Gothic Author

P. S. I also find it immensely amusing and ironic that the only argument in defense of this series seems to be something along the lines of, “You don’t understand!” XD XD XD
Jessica said,

June 10, 2008 @ 12:03 pm

Alexis: I absolutely think that your opinion matters, no matter how old you are. I just happen to have a different one. I don’t think that a boyfriend who always tells you what to do, where to go, and what to where, who grabs you and pushes you around physically, and who makes you scared of his temper is a good boyfriend. You’re right that a lot of Meyer’s readers are just starting to date, and that worries me, because they might think Edward is a nice boyfriend. He’s not. A boyfriend shouldn’t control you all the time or make you scared of him. Ever.

Julie: You said “An abusvie person does mean things to others for selfish reasons, like for power or control.” I’m afraid that’s simply not true. Many abusive partners think they really are doing what is best for the relationship. I agree with you that Edward loves Bella and that’s why he acts the way he does. I just don’t think that the way he acts is okay or healthy. He controls her, he deliberately scares her (and I don’t mean the vampire thing, I mean he makes her afraid that he’ll get angry at her or leave her), and he repeatedly hurts her (with his “crushing” grips and so on) and threatens physical violence (”I could…crush your skull”). That is all abusive (remember, emotional abuse is still abuse), and I don’t care how much he loves her, that doesn’t make it okay.

GA: Bella’s mappable because even though there isn’t anything about her that’s like you, there isn’t anything about her that’s unlike you, either. Frankly, there isn’t anything about her, period. I’ve never enjoyed that, but plenty of people do.
Torri said,

June 10, 2008 @ 7:38 pm

wow it’s scary the number of people who are falling over themselves to defend this book. It doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy. If I’m supposed to identify as this Bella well I don’t take well to the ‘it’s for you own good silly rabbit’ thing she sounds like a ‘You Suck’ character from tvtropes.org.
I remember loving Interview With a Vampire and The Vampire Lestat (I laughed out loud when the beautiful vampire pounces on a rat because ‘it’s feet are so interesting!’) But the last Anne Rice novel I read was The Blood Canticle… it bloody well read like a Mary Sue story and I stopped reading after about two chapters talking about how beautiful the heroine looked while sickly and then more on how beautiful she was in OMG such a different way when she was a vampire.
Reading this review I’m left wondering if Edward loves Bella and worries over her so much why not just turn her into one of his kind so they’re on equal footing? Hell even movie Vampire hunter D had a human/vampire romance where the vampire’s been holding himself back from biting her most of the movie and near the end she expresses that she wants him to bite her so she can know him completely.
GA said,

June 10, 2008 @ 9:41 pm

I guess so… >.is trying to scare her on purpose. Before they actually get together, he’s doing his best to make her hate him and fear him so that she will stay away, which would more or less take the temptation of her blood out of his reach. When he threatens her, for example, he wants her to realize how dangerous it is to be near him and what violence he’s capable of even when he’s not thinking. Except since the story is from Bella’s perspective, it’s quite clear that this doesn’t scare her so much as just freak her out since it’s “physically painful” for her to be away from him.

Basically, I figured he was trying to be a gentleman by scaring her out of the line of fire, as it were, but that’s annoying in and of itself. It’s the same thing almost every hero does because he loves the girl, so obviously, it’s all for her own good since she can’t possibly have her own opinion about it. Or, you know, be capable of handling herself.
GA said,

June 10, 2008 @ 9:43 pm

…Ahh, crap, I forgot about the HTML.

Here’s what I actually wrote:

I guess so… It’s just strange for me, though, because if I honestly think about sticking myself in that story, I would spurn Edward and his sparkly skin unless he plied me with vampire wiles or something.

About Edward, though, I didn’t see his actions as necessarily abusive because he is trying to scare her on purpose.
Abigail said,

June 28, 2008 @ 1:26 am

A friend sent me this review, and I thought it was interesting and amusing. I am a vampire fan, though it depends on the series or author; I don’t really go in for Hamilton or Rice, but I enjoy Charlaine Harris and Bram Stoker. (My favourite vampire novel is “Sunshine” by Robin McKinley, and it changed the way I thought about vampires entirely.)

I don’t like Twilight. It has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter, because I adore the subject matter. I get sick of the passive voice and wardrobe descriptions — if I wanted those, I’d read Eragon, which I also loathed. (However, I will give it to Meyer: at least she isn’t ripping off other authors in the fashion of Paolini. Eragon and Arya? Tolkien is rolling in his grave.)

A comment above states that this series is bigger than Harry Potter. I find this idea baffling. It reminds me of a story I found at a blog elsewhere: a man in Washington apparently remarked despondently, “how could Bush have won? Nobody I know voted for him.”

It just makes me wonder if I’m the man from Washington, or if these fans are. Bigger than Harry Potter? I think that depends on where you’re from.
Nikki said,

July 12, 2008 @ 8:50 pm

I had seen this book around. Now that I think of it, it was all over the place. I never really paid any attention to it. The cover didn’t catch my eye and if I ever read the back I don’t remember it (probably because I’m not into vampires or anything like that). I read this review because I wondered about the name ‘Twilight’-it sounded interesting and pretty, I guess. But from what I actually read in your review the book sounds just terrible! I’m very glad I never wasted my time trying to read it. I don’t like boring books but a lot of the time when I get a book from the library or bookstore even if it’s boring, as you say this book is, I feel like I sort of have to finish it and usually I do. But thankfully, I didn’t get this book and I don’t have the content of it stored in my head now. I saw a commercial recently for a movie they’re making of it and I saw for the first time a couple days ago that there were actually 3 books of it. I thought everyone on here was exagerrating a bit about how big it is but now I see that it’s actually pretty big and that’s kind of scary, for the reasons you stated and because I might be tempted to read it now to see what all the fuss is about.
Nikki said,

July 17, 2008 @ 2:39 pm

I think physical, emotional and mental abuse is still abuse no matter what the motives for it are. I just read thru all the comments now whereas before I had only read a few of them. And I haven’t read the book so I don’t want to say anything much about what I think but it still sounds awful to me (even after hearing what people have to say to defend it).
Erin said,

August 1, 2008 @ 2:17 pm

Hallelujah, there are still sane readers out there. I cannot stand this book or any of its sequels. I don’t understand why my peers (teenage girls who are the target audience) are fawning over a book too stuffed with fluff to be interesting. Bella is one of the most annoying main characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading and I do not understand why several respectable reviewers reccomend the book. All of Sephenie Meyer’s characters are Mary Sues and I have to say that my best birthday present ever was a box of matches to accompany a paperback copy of Twilight.
Cassandra said,

August 1, 2008 @ 2:29 pm

I loved this review. It’s spirited. Which I find rather ironic, as I’m really into the series. The points you bring up are valid, however, and I haven’t really read Twilight in a while, so maybe I should take another look at it. I have to agree with you on Bella, however; she’s not a very good narrator, and she paints Edward as practically perfect–something I don’t like at all, because he’s definitely not.

Anyway, thanks for reading. It’s nice to know that people actually take the time to read before making judgments (*cough* unlike my friends *cough*).
Cassandra said,

August 1, 2008 @ 3:39 pm

Sorry about the double post, but I actually went back to read all the comments and saw someone posting something along the lines of Meyer identifying herself with Bella. I was at the movie panel at San Diego’s International Comic-Con last week, and she said that she actually identified more with Edward, rather than Bella. Figure that one out. *shrugs*
GungaDin said,

August 1, 2008 @ 3:49 pm

Oh my God! Stephanie Meyer beats women!

Sorry, but that post above was too priceless for me to let that joke go unsaid.

Anyways, this is insanely enlightening as a review/post. Comments aside, I wonder how much of this is your… reading too much into it or whatever (we’re on the internet, no offense but you’re not completely reliable)…

That said, holy God is this horrifying. Just straight up terrifying how Meyer can craft the story in such a way that the relationship is described as entirely normal and people won’t see it because of the cluelessness of Bella as a character (can anyone say they actually like her?). The fact that Edward can do these things and she can get away with it makes me… worry… incessantly for this whole romance idea that other people have said more eloquently than I ever good….

Now I want to read the book to make my own informed decisions about the validity of calling “the perfect man” a misogyinist, woman-abusaling vampire who’s insanely overromanticized…

… I think that makes sense…

Thanks again for this!
Heather said,

August 1, 2008 @ 7:31 pm

Brilliant, thank you so much. I went in to reading this book thinking it would be a possible fun thing to follow Harry Potter with, and ended up being completely horrified. Everything about it is crap, and I could only make it through half of the first book. It makes me physically ill to think of Bella, and Edward.. Edward is just hilarious, in a sad, sad way.

In addition to all that you said? I also think that Edward being viewed as “the perfect guy” by girls is like a sex addict house maid with ginormous boobs being viewed as the perfect woman for guys.

I would also encourage people to look at the warped sense of beauty displayed in these books too. Vampire venom is what makes you eye gougingly beautiful, and becoming so includes lightening of the skin. There are several instances where Bella describes specifically white skin and straight angular noses as “perfect”. I also just have to laugh at the Native American kid being “one w/ the wolf” or whatever x)). Stereotype much?
Bridget said,

August 2, 2008 @ 3:49 pm

And I thought I was the only one. What a relief to know not all are completely blind to the disturbingly unhealthy relationship of Bella, oh so weak and fragile, and Edward, limitlessly strong physically and mentally. It’s like the feminist movement never happened. I’m disturbed people read the book and don’t see a problem with its blaring sexism. What is Meyers teaching young girls? That they need to be soley dependent on a man to be happy. That they can sit by idly and do nothing while they let their man walk, talk, and LIVE their lives for them!? It makes me so angry.
AJ said,

August 3, 2008 @ 10:49 am

Man, people.

‘If you don’t like the book, don’t read it’
‘You need to give the books more of a chance.’

Well, apologists: which is it?

People are allowed to have opinions and allowed to review books! Comments like “books are like people and if you say bad things you will hurt their feelings” are just silly. Is the same true of movies, even ones you don’t like? It is OK if you like the book but it’s immature to chastise the reviewer for expressing her (valid) opinions.
Alyx said,

August 3, 2008 @ 9:31 pm

This is a really spectacular review — you’ve managed to put your finger on what’s been troubling me for so long about the Edward/Bella relationship, but that I was having trouble finding the right words for. Thank you for stating it so baldly — he is, plain and simple, abusive, and it really does send a poor message to all the (clearly rather impressionable) teenage girls reading this series.

I’m also amused by all the people saying this review is “cruel”. Uhm, are the fictional characters going to get their feelings hurt?

Thank you for writing this! It’s a brave woman who will put herself up to the fangirl firing squad.
Hannah said,

August 9, 2008 @ 11:15 am

Holy crap, and just when I thought it couldn’t have gotten any worse from the talk and hype about it to begin with, this review talks about /more/ crap. o_o What astonishes me is that I’ve heard most Breaking Dawn fans have hated the final book.
My, how did Meyers somehow out-do herself with making her series any worse than it originally was, seriously?

I’ve tried to read it, admittedly the first page, but the punctuation and tenses were out of order so much I was disgusted, and of course, as you said, the characterization is just awful; especially how it starts off. =l
I think I’d rather play Russian roulette with a fully loaded pistol when Twilight is concerned.

Usually I can say something good about a novel, even though I don’t read much, but from the school reading list, there are at least some commendable elements in them.
Jessie said,

August 21, 2008 @ 6:02 pm

Thank you so much for writing this very insightful review. I agree with everything you said. Honestly, it’s about time someone mentioned the fact that Edward is an abusive boyfriend. Just so you know, I used to be a fan of the series. Breaking Dawn was such an epic failure that I immediately lost all my love for it (Eclipse and New Moon helped too).

As far as The Host is concerned, terrible book. Although it’s supposed to be an adult novel it comes across as a YA one instead. It’s not nearly as bad as the Twilight series, but it’s still bad. Just like Twilight, there is a lot of sexism. For example, at one point the protagonist, who is marginally more likeable than Bella in my opinion, states that “this body did not belong to [her] or to Melanie, but to Jared”. After reading that I had to set the book down for a good long while. I was absolutely livid!
Yuki said,

August 21, 2008 @ 6:38 pm

Well, you’re actually very lucky - most of your commenters are reasonable, rational people, whereas this poor link:
http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/#comments
was utterly blasted. If you want to debate almost any point in the book, you can find it in the comments here.

I made it through Twilight, gritting my teeth all the way, and I found that I had to take New Moon in small doses - the utter stupidity of some of Bella’s actions practically enraged me. She complains about how Jacob is spiteful when she spurns him (again) for Edward - but can you honestly blame him? And then she repeats over and over again how she has a huge hole in her chest, as if the reader just doesn’t get it the first dozen times.

I may, in fact, read the last two books, if only for the sake of continuity, and dare I say it, laughs. I love debates, and Twilight has pulled up a wonderful one. And thank you so much for your wonderful review. I agree - no cupcakes for Twilight.
Maddie said,

August 21, 2008 @ 7:15 pm

THANK YOU. This article is great. It tells the truth that most people aren’t willing to hear. Abuse is NEVER attractive, and I’m glad people are finally waking up, taking the initiative, and telling people the truth about these books.
katururu said,

August 23, 2008 @ 6:56 pm

I disagree with the statement “IF you don’t like it, then don’t read it”. Well we CANNOT know that we won’t like the book if we don’t read it first. We give a chance to the book. The book is bad, we say our opinion openly, throw the book away, and the matter ends. It’s only a opinion, we don’t want to fight.
Anyway, this Twilight fever will fade in a year or maybe two, and it will be replaced by some other “fast-read” book. Because the book is not only bad in its complete plot, it is structurally bad written, I don’t think this book will become a classic, so we don’t have to bother too much.
Allina said,

August 25, 2008 @ 2:27 pm

People who are saying that you shouldn’t review the books like this, ever heard of critiquing? Well this is exactly it. She has a right to speech. She’s saying what she thinks.

I love this article. It’s well written and simply brilliant.
Rosa said,

August 28, 2008 @ 5:10 pm

w-o-w, I’ve been a twilight fan since the day the book came out and I just stumbled across this today, I have something to say, I am a die-hard fan but I understand everyones critique, I did read breaking dawn, but some of this stuff is utterly stupid, The book is from love-sick Bella’s point of view, obviously there are going to be alot of flaws, i bet you people aren’t perfect either. Ms.Meyer is -was- a brilliant writer and I suppose this is the place for the “twilight” haters, or strongly dislikers. but clearly the main thing everyone hates is the romace, this is a romacne book, it clearly states that in so many places. -eye roll-
Max said,

September 8, 2008 @ 5:57 pm

I agree with your review completely. Well said.
And it’s sort of funny how many people are trying ever-so-hard to defend the book..
Nikki said,

September 19, 2008 @ 9:14 am

I’m sorry. I still haven’t read the book (I put it on hold) but I found a link someone posted on a site about The Looking Glass Wars books (which are great books, by the way). It went to this comic strip thingy and I thought it was funny and I haven’t even read the book, so I thought some people here would find it amusing. Anyway, if you go here you should see it: i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg15/ReadingChick/TwilightSucks.jpg. I hope that works for you.
Rosa said,

September 19, 2008 @ 4:24 pm

Oh and another thing, I had read some old posts above, abusive pshhh, isn’t that a little over-exadurating? and about Stephenie Meyer, she is -was- a first time author, she wasn’t even going to wite this novel, it came to her in a dream. And the twilight fan-base is of every age. I actually dont come across many “tweens” who read the book. It does imply a little “sex” AND AGAIN this is from Bella’s Point of View, I’m betting none of you have ever actually been IN love, when someone falls in love with someone, said person things everything they do is basically perfect.
Nikki said,

September 19, 2008 @ 7:54 pm

I’m sorry again, that address probably won’t work. If you take away the i244 at the beginning it should work better. (To tell the truth, I’m not all that technology savvy, or I might be better at giving a simple web adress.) Rosa, no offense, a lot of people have commented here and I think it would be a bit much to just assume that none of them a have ever been in love. And only some people idealize their loved ones. I know plenty of people who love other people very much (their spouses, parents, children and so on) but also know that they’re not perfect.
Rosa said,

September 21, 2008 @ 2:25 pm

okay, my bad. But did you actually read twilight?
Cay said,

September 21, 2008 @ 8:17 pm

Excuse me, I’m about to jump in headfirst.

Rosa, “Twilight haters” don’t hate the fact that romance is present. We hate the way the romance is portrayed. An abusive, unhealthy relationship is touted as the coolest thing since string cheese, and this is marketed for an audience that is liable to do stupid things based on this information. We humans are wired to find meanings and lessons in stories whether the author intends them or not, and whether we want to or not. There may be fans of every age, but younger fans tend to have less in the way of filtering systems, so they’re the ones we’re worried about.

Oh, and just because the story’s in first person doesn’t mean that the author has no control over the message of the book. A good author can write a character who believes her views are right, but still hold that in tension with the overall theme of the book. It is, by the way, not at all healthy to idealize your crush.
Nikki said,

September 23, 2008 @ 8:21 am

No, Rosa. As I said before, I haven’t read the book yet. I put it on hold so that I could read it and develop my own opinions. I was just putting something I thought was funny here. (By the way, if anyone tries to go to the place with the address I posted could you tell me if it worked? I’m just curious.) I have posted a few comments on here already, but they were about what I thought of the books from what I could gather from what everyone was saying about them (Otherwise, they were about what my opinion was on general topics, such as whether Edward’s abusive behavior was okay if it was done on purpose to scare Bella away. I said no.)
Nikki said,

October 30, 2008 @ 1:44 pm

Okay, I read the book and I reread the review and the comments. And I have to say, nothing I read criticizing or defending the book really “matched” what I actually read. More than once I stopped and wondered if I was reading the same book as everyone else. First, I thought the punctuation and grammar were pretty standard. And Bella didn’t seem a mindless zombie to me. (BTW, I’ve read several comments on this site and others defending Edward or the books in general, but almost none defending Bella. I guess she really does seem mindless to most people?) She had both qualities I could relate to, and ones I couldn’t (like her attitude toward Forks’ climate: “Forget vampires! The RAIN is sucking the life out of me!”). She was almost likable a few times, but really irritating at others. (When Tyler is trying to apologize to her in the hospital, she calls it harrassment and ignores him. What? Why?) And she wasn’t the most passive character in the history of forever. I’ve read several other books with protagonists just as passive, if not more. She at least comes up with the plan to get away from James, and she goes to save her mom on her own (she could have just told Edward and let him deal with it, but she didn’t). It is annoying that she has to be saved by Edward all the time, but she atleast expresses her wish to be equal with and independant of him (which is more than Lois Lane ever did, as far as I know). At the end, she openly states that a couple should be equal so the book leaves us with that message and does counter her dependancy on Edward (rather than saying “a girl needs to be solely dependant on a man to be happy). Then there’s Edward. I was scared to read this book because I was afraid it would be some horror story about a guy physically hurting his girlfriend. I really can’t stomach violence (I almost dropped the book and ran away, screaming, at the scene with James) and if the book had been centered around physical abuse, I probably wouldn’t have made it through. (I read the book inspite of being scared of it because I was curious to know how so many people could hate it at the same time so many loved it, or how anyone could like it at all if it was that bad.) Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad. It was bad, don’t get me wrong, but not as bad as I expected. (I think I linked your mention of a vampire attack to Edward and thought he attacked her). The most violent things Edward does are probably tackling her when she met his family and dragging her to his car when she got sick. And the worse out of those two is probably dragging her to his car. When he does it said he probably wouldn’t have cared if her feet dragged, and he threatens to “just drag her back” if she runs away. And what does she say to this? “You are so PUSHY!” That’s an understatement; he was kidnapping her! I don’t think I’d call his moodiness or temper abusive, though, since those are personality traits rather than actions. I don’t see how he “severed her social connections” and I don’t think he was threatening her with the “crush your skull” thing. Also, Bella makes herself afraid he might leave. He never tried to scare her away (he ignored her which is different) and I don’t think Ms. Meyers was trying to show a bad relationship. I completely agree that Edward’s abusive in that he’s much, MUCH too controling. He orders Bella around so much that she notices if he doesn’t tell her what to do (”He’s giving me a choice? Like, no way!”). I don’t think this is based on sexism, though. All the vampires were controlling of Bella. When Edward driving Bella away from the baseball field against her will (kindapping her AGAIN, *rolls eyes*) Emmett actually grabs her and won’t let her go. Jasper almost KO’s Bella at the hotel. (BTW, I don’t think it’s “kind” to mess with someone’s feelings like Jasper does. It’s manipulative.) Alice is also controlling of Bella, making her get dressed up and making her go to her birthday party (there was a chapter from the next book at the end of Twilight). And it doesn’t matter how much they “love” her, it’s not okay. Guess I had a lot to say. Sorry. Maybe I’ll even say more later, but not now.
Nikki said,

October 31, 2008 @ 9:27 am

Sorry. I know that comment was long but I have more to add. If you don’t like long comments, just feel free to skip over mine. I agree with you that the books were pretty boring. It seemed like every other paragraph was about Edward’s skin. And the villains aren’t even introduced until the last quarter of the book. It’s basically a romance story, which is fine if you like that, but, when I read fantasy, I want the characters to do something epic, rather than lie in the sun and SPARKLE. I agree that, as I said before, Edward is abusively controlling. It’s way over the top how he threatens Bella’s other suitors and if he really loved her he’d let her make her own choices and speak for herself. The first time Edward talked to Bella he actually seemed gentlemanly, but then, when I saw him in the hospital after he saved Bella, totally REVELING in how much stronger he was than her, he seemed like a huge jerk. (Like you said, “she lives at his sufferance and he delights in reminding her of it, which is disgusting.”) He’s completely smug all through the book. In fact, all the vampires are pretty smug, controlling of Bella and without personality. On the bright side, though, I thought there were a few funny lines. If it helps with your peace of mind about the impression this book gives girls, I don’t think it’s meant to be romantic that Edward wants to eat Bella. I think what was emphasized was his “self-sacrifice,” or “self-control” in NOT eating her. (Of course, the nobility of this is utterly spoiled by the way Edward treats Bella otherwise.) And I have to admit, I like the idea - a group of vampires trying to be better than they’re inclined to be (reminds me of Mr. Canis from The Sisters Grimm). Or I would like it if it didn’t fail in some major ways. I mean, they try not to be BAD but don’t especially try to be GOOD. They don’t go around saving people from bad vampires, even though their powers would be perfect for that. I think Edward said he occasionally saves the random passerby, but what does he use his powers for, mostly? Stalking his girlfriend (also over the top) and playing baseball. Real heroic. So, I guess, this book wasn’t particularly good, especially when you consider Edward’s outrageous, controlling behaviour and Bella’s bizarre under reactions to it (PUSHY? Really?). But it also wasn’t the poorly written, badly punctuated, nearly unintelligible, sexist, R-rated for violence monstrosity I was expecting. I guess I’m not sure that it deserves the, um, attention it gets from either its detractors or admirers.
Morgan said,

December 7, 2008 @ 9:57 pm

you have to keep an open mind and read all the books to get the full and WONDERFULL effect that this book has.
i think it was absolutely amazing and am recommending it to everyone!
edward is amazing, as is jacob. i dont think series of books could get any better. they are deffinately my favorite and i have read them more than once.
stephenie meyer writes with personality and spunk, i love her writing style.
very amazing!!
Jessie said,

December 8, 2008 @ 3:41 am

It is quite easy to tell which comments in here were made by teenagers who absolutely love such abhorrent books and apparently hate correct grammar and punctuation. Only people I know who have finished the series are girls who don’t like to read good literature, and the only two guys I know who have even attempted to read these only did it because they wanted to get laid and boy did they regret having to slog through these abominations.
“i dont think series of books could get any better”
There are a LOT of series that are definitely much better. Read some classic literature and you’ll see.

“I’m betting none of you have ever actually been IN love, when someone falls in love with someone, said person things everything they do is basically perfect.”
Yeah if you are blind and stupid. I’m actually pretty sure it is YOU who hasn’t been in love before. You WILL find things they do annoying and you WILL have problems with that person. Just when you are in love you can overlook those things and work them out. If you can honestly tell me that you believe your spouse is perfect, you are some sort of serious denial.
Cate* said,

January 17, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

Hi!
I agree that Bella is a bit passive, and Edward is moody, violent and jealous. I also think that the romance between them is kind of creepy. I mean, if Edward is being really moody and violent, Bella has to stand up for herself and not let him control her! Seriously, Edward has so much power over her! cutting the brakes on her truck, just to stop her from sneaking out to be with a friend who she is forbidden to be with. really nice. And Edward decided that she couldn’t see this person without Bella getting a say in it! I don’t think that it is OK at all!
Lily said,

January 20, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

Jessie- I understand your feelings, but that was harsh. Too harsh. And very ignorant. For someone who has a problem with peoples’ bad grammar, you seem to have made a few mistakes yourself. I have finished the series, and I DO read good literature.

In all honesty, you really need to realize that it’s better that some of these people have gotten into reading SOMEHOW. It’s okay to criticize literature, but dont criticize other peoples’ literature choices.
Lily said,

January 20, 2009 @ 5:13 pm

Some of you guys DO have good points, but I would say definetley finish the series first, on account of certain things DO change for the better throughout the books. Like there IS a soloution for the whole love triangle. That is, of course, not saying the books don’t have flaws. But it is still a very good series (in my eyes).
Jessica said,

January 20, 2009 @ 6:38 pm

Thank you for your comments, everyone! However, if you’re going to comment, please take the time to familiarize yourself with our comment policy. We do not tolerate insults and personal attacks, of ourselves or of other commenters. This includes calling people who don’t agree with you stupid. Feel free to say whatever you like about the book, but any direct insults I see after this comment will be deleted. Play nice.
Dina said,

March 5, 2009 @ 8:16 pm

This review gave me hope that there is still some good and literacy in the world.
Twilight is probably the most overrated and horribly-written book ever.
Matt said,

April 16, 2009 @ 1:13 am

I can’t stand the Twilight fandom, generally. I don’t care if they read the book and enjoy it, but they actively market it and tell those that critique the book that we just don’t understand the nature of Bella’s romance with Edward. I could not relate to Bella at all, and Meyer seems to have an infatuation herself — with purpose prose and absolutely unnecessary filler. I can recall one scene in which she described Bella cooking a meal, adding nothing thoughtful to the storyline at all.

There is no sense of danger from the villains, particularly because of the timing of their character. I can understand that love makes us do “crazy things”, so to speak, but Bella was generally over-the-top. Jumping off of a cliff because she heard Edward’s voice? The whole “time skip” in New Moon seemed to indicate that Meyer couldn’t write the hard, psychological stuff. She just leaves it to the purple prose and one-dimensional characters. The series also seems to place an emphasis on physical beauty/attributes as opposed to a more meaningful, spiritual relationship. Meyer heavily relies on telling us things with her excessive prose; she rarely takes the time to show us, to probe deeper…

People can argue all they want, but strip down the prose and you essentially have a basic relationship. The narrator, Bella, seems to draw her “magic” from Edward and her reliance on his pretense. We’re told that she’s intelligent, beautiful to humans — however, this is Meyer’s issue: she just tells us. We never see what makes her characters unique individuals.

Edward’s human life, his reasoning and why he’s such a reflective immortal were never really explored. We knew his past, but we only receive snippets of it. We’re just told that he’s acting in Bella’s best interest, and I think that’s just an excuse that mirrors Meyer’s whole month skip. She can’t probe enough, and her fanbase is alarmingly excessive at times.

There’s too much of an emphasis on Edward’s beauty.
Matt said,

April 16, 2009 @ 1:15 am

Correction:

purple prose*

timing of their introduction*
Rebecca said,

May 13, 2009 @ 3:13 pm

Friendly reminder time again! If your comment has not shown up or you think your comments have been deleted, please check our comment policy, as we do, in fact, enforce it, and you may well be violating it. Once again, disagreements (with us and with other commenters) are fine. Being rude is not, and we will delete your comment.
Kimberlee said,

June 19, 2009 @ 3:48 pm

Just stumbled upon this review. I happen to love the Twilight books, not because of their literary quality, but because of their over indulgent ridiculousness. I completely agree with this review & many times throughout reading each book I saw many things that were disturbing & completely out of focus…but being that I’m an adult with a healthy love of some light trashy reading, I kept going & I found myself loving each book completely. I loved your review it definitely the most concise & accurate one I have ever read about the Twilight series.
S L Bird said,

June 20, 2009 @ 1:11 pm

I love Twilight, but I do not disagree with your review. More than half of any narrative takes off the page in the experiences the reader brings to it. How any story is interpreted is coloured by those experiences. Girls who have felt the way a first love can re-interpret their world relate to this story in a way that plainly you do not. Book attachments are all about those connections. Your observations are valid, but don’t capture the magic of these stories.

I’m a high school English teacher and a writer. I went to Forks for Spring Break last year. I love how Meyer has crafted characters that are so real that you feel you know them. I love how her voice is genuine. I love how Bella is so much like all the girls I teach who can’t see their own value. Bella is actually quite strong, but she’s paralysed by irrationality when she falls in love. Talk about unreliable narrator! Edward knows he has issues; he’s honest about how awful and dangerous he is. Love makes everyone irrational. There’s a lot to think about while reading Twilight.

Meyer has explained that the popularity thing is based on her own experience from changing from high school to college. I can personally second that experience! I too have been the girl the boys were intrigued with when I went into new places after years of being a non-entity in my high school. Novelty brings a certain cache.

Sure, the grammar and punctuation aren’t perfect, but that’s the editor’s fault.
Is it perfectly crafted? No, but it’s a first novel. She definitely improves her structure in later works.

Is it a compelling story? yes.

Does it provide hours of fodder to discuss relationships? yes (and my husband and I have spent many, many hours in discussion about various scenes in the Saga).

Have I read each book in the series including Midnight Sun more than 10 times? yes. With joy and delight every time.

I wrote a novel in response to the relationships in this book. Watch for it!

Shawn Bird
Chips said,

June 20, 2009 @ 2:54 pm

I completely agree with your views. I do not understand why this book controls so many teenagers and their lives, 5 people wanted to do it for their critical essay in English, in my class alone. It is a strange romantic novel and that is probably why I do not like it, it is romantic. If you class being controlled and basically forced to do whatever your lover says is romantic.
Gixugif said,

June 20, 2009 @ 5:16 pm

http://www.exmormon.org/mormwomn.htm

She’s a Mormon, and so probably has quite a different view about women’s roles in society. I think this is what leads to Bella’s position and how she is treated.
Lydia said,

June 20, 2009 @ 10:08 pm

I happily read all negative reviews of this book.
but anyways, i used to like it. Now that i have matured and actually read good vampire literature (Dracula) I find twilight quite repulsive. And anyway, after the movie came out, the only reason teenage girls read the book anymore is because of Robert Pattinson or whatever.
this book totally ruined vampires for me. Vampires should not sparkle!
and the thing about abusive relationships was not something i realized when i read them, but now that you point it out..i do agree.
thanks for the review!
ern said,

June 21, 2009 @ 5:22 am

I only barely made it through the first book. The prose is exactly what you’d expect from a high school student: florid, full of emoting without action. Absolutely horrible quality. And I could leave it at that if it was just badly written. There are a lot of badly written books out there.

But what makes this book worse than that is that the message is so destructive not only for young women, but the young men who read it. And there are a lot of teenage boys reading it. I’ll tell you: I’ve heard a lot of young women talking about how they’re “looking for their Edward.” Do you realize how disturbing that is? But what’s worse is that there are a lot of young men emulating Edward’s pattern of abuse, and these young women are lapping it up, not realizing that they are setting very destructive patterns for themselves.

Had the books even *attempted* to offer some sort of balance, some sort of criticism of the relationship, I could live with it. But the book does not portray the relationship in any such light. It is all positive. It’s okay because Edward loves her. NO, it’s NOT okay! Edward acts like a stalker and a pedophile. And young women love him!

So this book does deserve more criticism than your average bad book. It’s not just passively bad, but actively bad. It is brilliant in the way that it taps into the dark, emotional turmoil that teenage girls imagine they’re in. But rather than lifting them out of it, the book encourages them to indulge their tendencies toward codependency and abusive relationships.
nordland said,

June 21, 2009 @ 10:19 am

my 10 year old girl came home from her father’s house and RAVED about this movie…..i knew i had to watch it regardless

didn’t read the book (i know i should have read it…but it didn’t interest me in the least)

i picked up on the hollow female lead right away….wow simpering females without a thought for herself?

and the edward character i wanted to kick in the nose…..not only controlling but snotty and one of those preppy pretty boys who get away with anything…..’sigh”

it was aweful

i will be “boycotting” this for my daughter in the future….any sequels and books as well

she needs positive strong female role models…not ones that push her back into a time where women weren’t allowed to work think or vote
Jenna said,

June 21, 2009 @ 8:47 pm

As an older teen, I see both sides of the coin. I’ve always loved vampire stories, and when I had gotten so many rave reviews from some of my peers and friends, I decided to read the series. I like the series, but only to a certain extent. When I read Twilight, I identify with the situation more than I do the characters. Unfortunately, I do find myself identifying with Bella occasionally, but I am aware that I am doing so. I read Twilight more as an escape into mindless fluff because reality (and a number of required readings all firmly grounded in reality) have taken a toll on my mind. I look at Twilight as an escape in that way, but also as something that reminds me of my own reality in a vague way.

I believe I am fortunate enough to have identified an abusive relationship before it really began, and promptly ended it before it could grow to fruition. In this way, I can see Jessica’s point with Edward being overly controlling and Bella essentially being as developed as a wet dishrag in terms of her personality and character. I truly enjoy the series on occasion, because it is merely a story. But, when being a conscious reader such as Jessica, this series could be toilet paper.

The unfortunate fact of this whole debate is that there are readers who have mindlessly consumed this literature, and are completely unaware that as they defend the series, they cannot find solid reasons as to why they defend it. I defend the reading of this series because it is perhaps an interesting piece of fluff literature, which is sometimes useful for taking a break from the stresses of reality, almost like a guilty indulgence. Jessica’s review is one of an aware and critical reader who is certainly aware of the sorts of despicable actions that occur in reality. I am very thankful that someone could critically read this series and not just mindlessly consume. As a reader of this series, I am aware of these nuances, but can ignore them for the sake of the story being told. As a seventeen year old female, I defend the readers who can still consume this media, but realize that in the end, it is a work of fiction with questionable themes beneath the fluff.

I apologize for such a long comment!
AnAuthor said,

June 22, 2009 @ 2:08 am

I wasn’t going to comment—everything that needed to be said about the books had been said. But, perhaps inevitably…

S.L. Bird said: “Sure, the grammar and punctuation aren’t perfect, but that’s the editor’s fault.”

I take offense.

The author’s job, after completing a manuscript, is to make the editor’s life easy. Copy editors are amazing people, and have steel traps for minds, but even they cannot be expected to catch every error. Flagging any discrepancy for the author to review takes a hideous amount of time, and it’s a job that could grind a person down just as well as hard labor. A copy editor cannot turn dirt into gold, nor can they make any changes that the author does not approve. Technically sound writing does not come from the editor.

The source of good writing is always the author. Editors can point out polish points, and can help the willing author transform his or her manuscript, but the author is the stalwart keeper of the line. If there is an error, it is his or her fault.

Digression: proofreading is ineffective, because readers (and goodness knows, editors are always great readers) read forward, not in one spot. You cannot proofread something and expect it to come out error-free, because proofreading must be done consciously, and consciousness can be fooled or misled so easily—at best, you can only expect that you’re near perfection. The only way to properly manage errors is to learn good habits in writing, and to apply them when writing. The only way to prevent mistakes is to never make them in the first place.

Even the best technical writers make mistakes. Sometimes we’re tired and type ‘won’ instead of ‘one’. Sometimes our keystrokes don’t entirely register, and we write ‘rossed’ instead of ‘crossed’. It happens, and that’s what editors are there for—to point out where we goofed. Editors are not there to point out deficient education, and to hold the hand of the writer so that she can produce something readable. Suggesting otherwise is a foolish—and ultimately dangerous—abrogation of writer’s responsibility.

I’ve not read Ms. Meyer’s book beyond the first few chapters, so I’m not qualified to speak about her application of grammar. Still, if the criticism is legitimate, then people have a valid right to point out her deficiency in that regard.

Sorry. Rant over.
Rachael said,

June 22, 2009 @ 8:31 am

I’ve read bits and pieces of Twilight and everything about this review lines up with it. It baffles me that girls my age are head over heals for “men” like Edward.
Lily said,

June 22, 2009 @ 9:23 pm

I really liked Twilight when I first read it (and was 15), and I sorta liked the sequels, although I feel they got progressively worse.

Now grown up, I actually noticed how many things were wrong with this book. I completely agree with your review… I finally noticed how creepy and wrong it is to want a controlling guy like that.

For those of you who still like the books, it’s not that there is nothing to like, since everyone is free to their own opinion. They do fill a certain void, much the same way as a harlequin romance novel for teenagers. However, you also have to be able to look outside of your own perspective and understand why other people are saying what they’re saying.

So anyways, I agree. Also, Edward is friggin creepy.
Esther said,

June 26, 2009 @ 8:01 pm

If anyone is interested in seeing just how creepy Edward is when he’s put up against normal people and not Meyer’s Mary Sue’s and Gary Stu’s, check this out:
http://blip.tv/file/2261825/

It’s pretty funny, and shows how controlling and obsessive Edward sounds and looks, and just in the movie! I haven’t read the books myself (but I watched the movie for the sake of seeing what all the hub bub was all about), and he’s a huuuuuuuuuuuuge creeper.
Ash said,

June 26, 2009 @ 9:03 pm

This contains sort of spoilerish material for The Host, so don’t read it if you don’t want to know. I tried to make it as vague as i could.

I’d have to disagree with whoever said The Host had completely different themes…it was like reading Twilight except with aliens instead of vampires and characters with different names. The main character has two love interests, one who is her ‘true’ love (it’s a little more complicated than that but you know) and another that she ’shouldn’t’ be interested in but is (again, oversimplified but i didn’t want to spell out the plot in case you read it). Also she is portrayed as mostly helpless throughout the book, with one special talent (see Breaking Dawn) that she uses for the benefit other characters.

I think there might be other parallels but i haven’t read it in awhile.
Ted said,

June 26, 2009 @ 9:47 pm

ANGIE: I find it somewhat troubling that you feel compelled to offer us nothing more than the same vacuous assertions Stephenie Meyer provided in her book when attempting to tell us Edward’s abusive behavior is “all okay”. Additionally, while you may adore the works, the proclivity towards excess punctuation is one it would behoove you not to adopt: Indeed, under no grammatical convention of which I am aware are five consecutive question marks acceptable, nor - to my knowledge - is “all” meant to be spelled “ALL”. I could have missed a revision to the English language included in one of the sequels however, to be fair.

More substantially, the power dynamic in this book is disturbing for several reasons: It is abusive, non-consensual, and gives a generation of teenage girls an inappropriate definition of what a relationship should be. People claim that our generation - those born in the 1990s and the “millenials” are products of our popular culture, and I am loathe to teach girls that abusive boyfriends are the cultural ideal or norm. Futhermore, the attractiveness of the couple might inspire girls (and subsequently the men or boys they date) to aspire to a Bella/Edward dynamic, which would be extremely destructive and leave our society cleaning up the emotional rubble left by Twilight twenty years down the road.

Finally, Twilight and its sequels are of little literary merit. With all respect to S L Bird, as a graduate of the IB English program and having taken literature courses at university, I find her work lacking the stylistic or storytelling quality of Ondaaje or William Gibson or even Christopher Paolini. Each of these writers attempts an economy of description which conveys an idea while leaving the reader room for imagination. Even eschewing this form of narration and examining the florid prose of Hawthorne, it is apparent that Meyer is outclassed. Unlike Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, or Scarlet Letter, both of which lend themselves to deconstruction for examination of the interplay of motifs in short sections of the book, Twilight is dense but says very little. In this regard, it is most like the ill-conceived NASCAR-licensed romance novels: The same description is repeated many different ways in a crude attempt at emphasis. This has the negative side effect of decreasing the youth’s ability to tackle and digest complex, interwoven narratives. Is it the only book guilty of this? Harry Potter immediately says no. But the behavior of the collective does not justify the behavior of the individual, and Twilight certainly has not done anything to alleviate this situation.

Twilight gives teenagers an unhealthy view of relationships, and is not lacks literary significance to make up for this grievous flaw in content. For these reasons I recommend against reading the book or any of its sequels.

-Summer Glau
Ash said,

June 26, 2009 @ 10:15 pm

Also Nikki the link worked just fine and i loved the comic.
Ash said,

June 26, 2009 @ 10:30 pm

Also, as a former huge fan of the books (until the writing became too bad to take), i’d like to try to put my finger on why girls are ‘looking for their Edward.’ Because the books are shown through Bella’s point of view, we see what she sees, the perfect boy. And as a young teenager, i didn’t look into the short, short parts where we see anything more multi-layered than that, because i was too caught up in their ‘true love.’ There’s something so…attractive about the words ‘true love’ and any description of the subject that accompanies it, no matter how long or badly-written because many young girls are dreaming of finding their own true love, though they don’t know what that may be. And Twilight provides a foundation to base these dreams off (which i now find disturbing->). While reading the books, i didn’t notice the abusive nature of E&B’s relationship (which makes me worry for others who haven’t stumbled upon clear headed reviews such as this). I do now, but at the time i only lost interest because while there was some conflict in the first 3 books (awful conflict, but conflict nonetheless), the 4th was just wish-fulfillment for hundreds of pages. Sure there’s a final battle at the end, but…i guess the best way to describe it is that it was like a daydream. In my daydreams, i am chock full of interesting superpowers, i get the guy with no awkward moments or difficulty at all, and the rest of the daydream is us tromping along the fields of flowers, tra la la. That’s great, but that’s not good fiction. Good fiction has to have characters with PROBLEMS. plain and simple. And what i FINALLY noticed in the fourth book is that there aren’t really any problems for Bella and Edward. Their love is too perfect. It just isn’t believable or interesting. But when i first read them, i glossed over that fact because i wanted to dream. I think i lost track of my point in there somewhere, but i just wanted to explore some thoughts.
Beej said,

June 27, 2009 @ 2:10 am

I will say that I read the first three books, and at the time, I loved them, and didn’t see anything wrong with them.

But the more I thought about it, the more I came to the same conclusions as you did, Jessica. It is not written well at all, nor are the characters very deep or dynamic.

I think the reason why I liked the books so much to begin with is that I loved the world Bella was thrust into, not necessarily the main relationship of Bella and Edward. I loved the Cullen family, although still hate Edward (mostly because of his whiny “I’m-such-a-monster” attitude, and because he’s a creeper). I hate Bella because she is nothing.

I love the dynamic of the vampires and werewolves, the whole other world that humans don’t know exist right under their noses… I think that’s what made me love Twilight and made me keep reading the books.

Anyway, that was a whole lot of nothing because it’s 3 AM, but there you go.

And to all you whiners who think that Jessica’s review is unfair, it’s her opinion. She has hers, you have yours, and I have mine. Let’s try to coexist, mmkay?
motherofateen said,

June 27, 2009 @ 7:58 am

After reading the books to see if I my daughter could handle the themes in them, I did allow her to read them. First of all, after reading about 70% of the reviews here, I noticed that no one mentioned the fact that throughout the entire series Edward and Bella don’t have sex until they are married. I was initially concerned about the vampire theme in the book, but after reading it and noting the low level of gore and useless sexuality I thought it would be OK for my daughter to read. I think that the series shows that it is possible to have a meaningful relationship (whatever that means to those in the relationship) without jumping each other. I can see that if you over analyze the relationships and are overly critical of literary license you would hate these books. For me they were what I read for, a good STORY that takes me away to another place. Is it literature, no, but it is definately not Harlequin either. We are all entitled to our opinions…
Howard said,

June 27, 2009 @ 9:16 pm

Just an aside from the comments, it is nice to see that someone else appreciated “Sunshine.” I was shocked to find such a gem in the bargain book section and was hoping for a sequel.

Now on topic. Those of you excusing the abusive relationship and negative female roles in the series should be ashamed of yourselves. As a father of a young girl it is up to me too see that her influences are positive ones. Meyer’s writing style is terrible, I do not write because my grammar is terrible, but after seeing her’s I am well equipped to give it a shot. This is excusable. Her themes are not. Not only are the male characters dominating and the females severely codependent, but throughout the novels they are portrayed through their actions as worthless without a man. The men make the decisions and do the work while the women are “protected” and “sheltered”. Really Bella is along for the ride and to provide the positive narrative to go along with the decisions made around her by “men who know better.” This is not the message I want for my daughter, and not the message that we should promote for any woman (young or young at heart.)

As an adult I can see the subtext and decide for myself to listen or not. A child does not have the same cognitive ability. Children have not learned to detect those messages and recognize them for what they are. Instead they blindly follow and attempt to emulate them in their own lives and I cannot see how any message that Meyer’s has (other than abstaining until marriage - I do need to give credit where it is due) is a healthy one.

Please take it for what it is worth, but I hope to be able to teach my daughter well enough that she does not become a twilighter.

Great review and the comments have been very entertaining.
Jessica said,

June 28, 2009 @ 5:53 pm

I’m really glad to see so much discussion cropping up on this review again, but I’d like to remind everyone to review our Comment Policy. The number one rule is to be polite. There have been a couple of borderline comments so far from both sides, and if they get any ruder I will start deleting them.

I’d like to clarify a point from my original review that I think some people are misunderstanding. When I say that Edward demonstrates borderline emotionally abusive behavior, that has nothing to do with his being a vampire. He warns Bella off, yes; he tells her to stay away from him because he wants to drink her blood. But that has nothing to do with the fact that he isolates her from her friends, cuts the breaks on her truck to keep her from seeing other boys, sneaks into her room to watch her sleep, stalks her, and just generally controls her behavior as much as possible. When I say that she’s frightened of him, I don’t mean that she’s frightened that he’ll attack her, I mean that she’s frightened that he’ll leave her - not worried, but terrified, because “It would be physically painful to be separated from him.” That is how an abusive relationship works. You put up with being controlled, because you can’t imagine being on your own. That is not okay. Not even in fantasy.

Furthermore, I don’t actually consider the fact that Edward and Bella waited until marriage to have sex to be a terribly strong point in their favor. It is absolutely a valid life choice to wait until marriage to have sex. But since Bella didn’t want to wait and Edward did, it becomes another arena in which Edward wins and Bella loses.
Jason said,

June 28, 2009 @ 9:45 pm

I’d like to add my 2 cents as a father, and, actually, an author.

I would never, EVER, promote banning books in any way, shape, or form. People should be allowed the freedom to write anything they wish, without fear that some controlling “other” is going to stop them.

That doesn’t mean we should allow CHILDREN to read it, of course, and therein lies the rub.

Children don’t have the experience or the filters to be able to determine on their own what’s right and what’s wrong in what they read… it’s why we don’t let kids read Rosemary’s Baby or American Psycho when they’re 12. It’s why I don’t let my kids near the internet without strict controls, even though my oldest is 16. When I was young, an occasional glimpse of a Playboy was my “education” towards the opposite sex, and even that was skewed. The internet would make you believe the most astoundingly WRONG things go on between men and women, and that those things are prevalent and normal. Again, this is because they have nothing to compare it to, and no way to know if this is normal or not.

Is Twilight as bad as porn or American Psycho? Depends on how you look at it. If you’re a 14 year old girl, you’d probably instinctively know that something was wrong with raping and killing and such, but Twilight is presenting it’s ideas in a HIDDEN way, couching abuse as love, control as caring, codependency as romance, and gift wrapping it as totally OK to read, enjoy, and absorb! All your friends are doing it!

I may let my daughter read Twilight if she wants to, but I will DAMN well talk about it with her, a lot, and talk about how the relationships in it are wrong, and skewed. I doubt very many other parents are doing the like.
Nobara said,

June 29, 2009 @ 10:33 pm

I agree with Jenna in that I think of Twilight as fluff. Not necessarily the best work ever written (heck, I can think of a few authors whose prose blow Twilight out of the water!), but as far as a piece to read when I feel like reading about an improbable love story, it’s great. It was only after the Twilight boom that I actually began to examine the work for the things mentioned in this review. Before the Twilight boom, I was in middle school so my maturity level has definitely increased since then. My reticence to read as the books were criticized (fairly or unfairly) increased, and I have to say that it’s harder to read my copy of Twilight now since I notice all the flaws. The thing is, when I was a middle schooler, I didn’t notice any of the issues with Edward’s behavior, and that worries me. A lot of teenagers think that they have life all figured out, and if they’re reading this book they might absorb the ideas in the way that people are describing here. Even looking at some of the fans, it seems that they do have the mindset I just described. (Disclaimer: I am still a teenager, albeit being a legal adult, but I am aware of the fact that I don’t have everything together in my life and I have a lot to learn as I continue to mature. I am not trying to be rude in saying that teenagers tend towards thinking that they know more than they do but I have experienced this firsthand and notice it in others.)
Also, I did read Meyer’s unfinished manuscript of Midnight Sun which is now available through her website, and I found that besides being much more interesting to me than Twilight, the insight into Edward’s character provided was rather interesting. Meyer never really gives an explanation as to why it is that he “loves” (the use of that word is debatable here) Bella, even in this manuscript. Basically (spoiler!) she writes that he just knew he was going to fall in love with her without any concrete reasons as to why that is. I don’t think the way she smells is a valid reason to say that he loves her. As such, I really do see that the relationship seems like it is not founded on much more than physical attraction.
It really does seem like we should be watching what we read and how it is affecting our actions. This definitely extends to parents–I feel that the responsibility to be involved in their children’s lives is on their shoulders. Kudos to Jason for caring about his daughter enough to do this. Thanks to Jessica for writing the review.
JohnR said,

June 30, 2009 @ 4:55 am

I’m curious…I’ve read many opinions on Twilight, both the novel and the movie. There are two sides: those who like it and those who don’t. As a school teacher, I encourage reading. Period. I also encourage dissemination of the literature on different levels.
However, my question is this:
Why is there a consistent comparison to the Harry Potter series when people defend their opinion? Harry Potter is quite different and aimed at a different audience. For example, Jeannie says that: “Didn’t you know that this is bigger than Harry Potter?”
This is quite premature. Longevity of any story will attest to “how big” anything gets. Twilight has got big very fast - how long will it last along with the sequels?
I have read none of the books in either series. Purely out of choice; they’re not my preferred genre`. But I don’t begrudge anyone reading them. See? I play nice :))
Kate said,

June 30, 2009 @ 6:46 pm

Thank you thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou
Andrew said,

July 1, 2009 @ 9:07 am

This is a great review, I’m glad I found it. However, even this does not go into the worst part of the book (for me, at least): the grammar. She abuses every part of the english language like a stereotypical 7th grader with a dictionary. It makes me worry for humanity that this book is so popular, and I really think that its presence in the home of almost every teenage girl is disturbing. The content - and the setup of the content - are terrible. I hope that the readers find some /real/ literature while they grow. Harry Potter is better than this (even the last book), and if you want to go way above that, read something classic. Anything by Tolkien is a grand example of the English language.
Thank you for braving the fury that is the Twilight Fangirls. Your sacrifice will not go unnoted
Mary said,

July 1, 2009 @ 11:57 am

I haven’t read the book myself, mostly because I’ve been reading all my life. I grew up on Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Tolkien, and as such have developed what I consider to be good taste in literature.

That being said, I have read a lot of reviews and none of them have been good. Most of them have something (usually quite a lot) to say about the relationship between Bella and Edward.

I have been there. I had a relationship with a man who was controlling, and by the time I managed to get out of it, I had virtually no willpower, survival instinct, or personality. I was terrified of the thought of being without him, and I couldn’t bring myself to see any of his flaws until almost a year after I had been away from him.

Twilight defenders, there are some disturbing correlations between my experience and Bella’s “true love”. I wasn’t hit, I wasn’t raped, but bit by bit he took away what made me ME. From what I hear, Bella hasn’t got that much to start with, which may be why she fell into it so easily.

This is not a healthy message to send to impressionable young girls. End of story.
maryhappyface said,

July 1, 2009 @ 8:50 pm

hah. this was a great review.
while i liked the books as i read them and would reread them, i know there are serious flaws including the ones mentioned here.
actually, while i’ve considered edward’s treatment of bella creepy, the fact that it is really abuse didn’t even pop into my head until i read this. this doesn’t set a good example for all the young girls who are reading this then go and are all like, “omgeeeee i want an edward!!!!1!” because who they want apparently? a stalker who emotionally abuses them.
wow.

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