Okay, so is Twilight, the teen vampire soap opera phenomenon, the worst book out there? Of course not, but it was the most disappointing read for me all year. I mean just the phrase “teen vampire soap opera” gets me all excited, but I found this bloated book to be really boring. How many hundreds of pages do we have to read where Bella, a true damsel in distress (no strong 20th century female here) and Edward (her hunky undead boyfriend) talk and talk… and talk? She is repeatedly surprised by how fast he can move and how perfect his skin is; he, in turn, is repeatedly surprised by how she's not scared of him… did I mention repeatedly?
I was pretty much on board for the first part of the book, but as it kept on going, I just became more and more restless. Not a whole lot happens and the characters themselves, (I singled out Bella above, but this goes for all of them), are kind of cardboard and uncomplicated.
I can understand that this series has taken a lot of teen readers (and some adults as well) by storm. For some friends of mine, it's a guilty pleasure (I just wish there was more pleasure to be had), for some kids it's the ultimate fantasy: being misunderstood by your peers, then finding a unique and dashing boy who only has eyes for you, who you, in turn, are the only girl daring enough to offer him the kind of undying love required to fill nearly 600 pages. It's the ultimate bad-boy-who's-actually-good-if-only-your-stupid-mom-and-friends-knew-him-the-way-you-do story. It's a great set up, I'll admit, but it's flawed by weak execution.?
Fans can look forward to the movie adaptation, which I might add did a fantastic job casting the hunky Edward with hunky actor Robert Pattinson. I'm probably pretty alone on this one, lots of people I respect are big fans, but Stephenie Meyer's writing just did not win me over.
But what do you think?