Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

stormie said:

Okay, after p. 200 or so, it picked up speed somewhat. But this is what I've noticed about the book: it seems the first 50 to 100 pp. are written by someone else. The writing in the beginning is sloppy with an abundance of adverbs and extended dialogue tags. More tell than show also. The writing gets somewhat better as I read on.

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eh, it was the first book she like ever wrote. maybe she just learned some stuff as she went along.

i wouldn't be surprised if you found the same thing in my novel.

My ex-best friend(no, we didn't split over this) loved Twilight; her room was full of Twilight posters, books, and other merch. She begged me to read it, and so I did. I think that the only other book I've read that I really wanted to stab myself while reading it was Wuthering Heights(no offense to anybody who likes it). Twilight doesn't deserve all of this attention. It was not worth reading, and I wasted two days of my life wallowing in the terrible story. My friend begged me to read the second, and I politely declined.

I must admit, I have been influenced by others in the past when it came to my attitude to Twilight. I have not read it, but feel I should, simply so I can make my own mind up about it. I will, I expect, probably dislike it, but even so, I feel it is only fair to the author before I say it is rubbish!

Saying that, though, as a teacher of English who struggles to get teenagers to read, these books are a godsend. Kids are actually reading again! I saw a girl walking down the road with the Twilight book cover on a T-shirt - wow! Since when did a book garner such pop-culture credit? Twilight has turned a lot of people who may not have read otherwise to books (I know this 'cos they come to me for reading recommendations!). And for that reason and that reason alone, I can't knock Meyers: getting people to read is always a good thing in my book.

Mistress Elysia, I agree one hundred percent.

Twilight will always hold a special place in my heart. HOLD ON! Let me explain.

I teach middle school and these books were everywhere. I refused to read them, based purely on having to deal with the preteen drama every day. I ended up changing my mind when my niece borrowed the book from a friend and didn't put it down. Then she read the rest without putting them down.

My niece has lived with me for many years and I've tried EVERYTHING to develop a love of reading in her. Both of my boys are avid readers like myself and it just broke my heart that she was missing out on so much! Since finding and loving the Twilight series she has been reading everything she can find. She is particularly fond of Patricia Briggs right now. She swears she has to read all of the time because she has so many wasted years to make up for. She has also come to me and said that now that she's read so many great authors she understands that Meyers writing wasn't the greatest, but like I said that series will always be special to me.

After watching the first two movies and not liking them, I decided I had to check out the first book to see if I could figure out how this managed to become so popular. I'm still stumped. The book was better than the movie, but still boring. It felt to me like the author was trying a little too hard to be all dark and broody, it came off a bit silly. That's only my opinion, no offense meant to the author or to those who liked the books. It's all a matter of personal taste.

lizanne said:

Mistress Elysia, I agree one hundred percent.

Twilight will always hold a special place in my heart. HOLD ON! Let me explain.

I teach middle school and these books were everywhere. I refused to read them, based purely on having to deal with the preteen drama every day. I ended up changing my mind when my niece borrowed the book from a friend and didn't put it down. Then she read the rest without putting them down.

My niece has lived with me for many years and I've tried EVERYTHING to develop a love of reading in her. Both of my boys are avid readers like myself and it just broke my heart that she was missing out on so much! Since finding and loving the Twilight series she has been reading everything she can find. She is particularly fond of Patricia Briggs right now. She swears she has to read all of the time because she has so many wasted years to make up for. She has also come to me and said that now that she's read so many great authors she understands that Meyers writing wasn't the greatest, but like I said that series will always be special to me.

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Patricia Briggs is wonderful! I love her books. Glad that your niece has found a love of reading. If she is into fantasy and paranormal romance, there are tons of books for her to choose out there. Many great YA titles, and even more adult ones depending on her age.

No.

Read if you are curious, drop it if it sucks. I read Twilight. I have the second book, which I borrowed from my sister, but I haven't picked it up yet. It has been collecting dust for a while now.

I didn't think it was bad. It's not my favorite. I happen to like books for all ages, I don't care who it was written for, and while I have some YA and Children's favorite authors, Meyers isn't one of them.

But the book was OK, to me.

The movie could have used a little less glitter.

But honestly, the reason I picked it up was because I was talking to one girl at the check out counter, who said she read it and it was better than she thought it would be. It was an honest opinion from someone who was resistant at first but tried it. She surprised herself and ended up reading the whole series. Wasn't her favorite but she dug it enough to finish.

I can't tell anyone what to read. I totally judge books by the covers. The only real way is to just delve in and read the thing and if it isn't for you, you'll know soon enough and you can put it away.

The fourth book is interesting, I will definitely give it that. I say just start reading. If you don't like it, you at least tried it. If you do, then you get to read something you like.

The one thing I can't get over. Sparkly vampires?\

Anguished. "This is what happens when I go into the sun!"

...You sparkle? Hey, at least you don't burn and die. Just tell people you're wearing shimmery lotion or something.

I gave it a shot, thinking it couldn't be as bad as people were saying. ALL THESE OTHER PEOPLE LIKE IT, RIGHT?

It wasn't as bad as people were saying. It was worse.

Give it a go. It's worth reading to make yourself feel better as a writer.

You should only read what you want to, and it should never be about giving in.

The only good Twilight book in my opinion is the last one, because the whole time I sat there going "WTF? .... WTF? ... WTF?!?!" Far more enjoyable than the previous three where I just went "...oh. I see."

Honestly though, as much as I dislike the series as an adult, I have to say they're really great because they have gotten a lot of children and teenagers (and I suppose even adults!) to read again and I can't hate on that.

How Twilight Works by The Oatmeal: http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight

Thought-provoking critique, highly recommended.
The critique, that is.

It took me awhile to get into the first book, then about 1/2 of the way through, I gave up and just put it aside.

One day I happened to see it on tv. I'm usually a person who prefers the book to the movie version, but this time I have to say, the movie version was far better.

I'm going through this with the book Hush, Hush. My friend thought it was fab and told me to read it, then I read all these horrible things about it and it's hard to get myself to read it. I know I should read and form my own opinion, but I have yet to read it. I even had it checked out from the library and sitting on my nightstand only to turn around and return it, unread after 3 weeks.

I really enjoyed the Twilight series and honestly until all the negative hype I read here at AW regarding the series, I really loved the series (stalking, controlling, weak characterization and all).

I'm also going through this with the House of Night series. I just won the entire series on a contest and was all excited to read it until I read a thread tearing it apart. Now it's just sitting on my shelves while I find my motivation to get into it. I guess you just have to say, To each his/her own and decide for yourself. Maybe I like to read about lame, weak, self-centered, self-indulging, conceited, controlling, characters/story lines once in a while. Not sure what that says about me, but que se joda. I can only be me

Anahid21 said:

Sorry, I didn't know where to post this among the several dozens of Twilight threads.

A friend of mine who is a fan of the series keeps gushing over it. I come with my arsenal full of bad reviews I've read on personal blogs, Amazon and AW. Still, she cracks all my defences by simply stating, "Have you read the books?" and since my answer is no she claims I have no right to dis them.

This has made me consider reading the books, so we would at least be on even grounds. But every time I think about it I remember the dreadful things I saw in the reviews: Vampires walking in daylight, an abusive immortal boyfriend, an overly obsessed, clumsy heroine, grown men "imprinting toddlers" *shudder.* Could someone please tell me if I should give it a try? Do you think my head would explode? Or is there something worthwhile in the books after all? Or perhaps all these assumptions are wrong and I shouldn't literally judge a book by its cover?

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Should you read them? No! Well, okay, if you want to, then do it.


I read the first five pages on Amazon. And the poor writing was enough to turn me off. That and Bella's character. In five pages we see that she refused to visit her dad for years because it's cold and rainy in Forks, he had to take a 2 week vacation to California every year to see her. On a cop’s salary! (Yet she liveed in Phoenix). She is worried half-to-death when he tells her he got her a truck because she is afraid it won't be a 'cool' truck. This before she sees it. People in wheelchairs creep her out. She doesn't want to ride in his police car because nothing slows traffic quite so much as a cop-car. Think there was more too. But enough already.

The main character lacks: character! She is an egocentric little brat from day one.

Then you have the other side. Meyers says she doesn't want casual sex in her books. All right. But necrophilia is okay? It's okay to be weak. Dependant. Abused. Stalked. No, that's romantic. It's okay to dis your friends for the sake of some jerk abusive guy.

Then there is the writer aspect. They aren't well-written. Any writer with basic skills can see that from the first 5. It's junk food. It's just not worth the time.

Check out the first pages on Amazon. If you want to go further, fine, if not then tell your friend even reading those bothered you. (I've done the same with people, and they did leave me alone after). Though I'm not sure why, at 40, I keep getting bugged to read these things by people my own age!

Interestingly enough, I like the movies. But in the movies a lot of the character flaws in Bella are mitigated, and the visuals are appealing.

Anahid21 said:

Sorry, I didn't know where to post this among the several dozens of Twilight threads.

A friend of mine who is a fan of the series keeps gushing over it. I come with my arsenal full of bad reviews I've read on personal blogs, Amazon and AW. Still, she cracks all my defences by simply stating, "Have you read the books?" and since my answer is no she claims I have no right to dis them.

This has made me consider reading the books, so we would at least be on even grounds. But every time I think about it I remember the dreadful things I saw in the reviews: Vampires walking in daylight, an abusive immortal boyfriend, an overly obsessed, clumsy heroine, grown men "imprinting toddlers" *shudder.* Could someone please tell me if I should give it a try? Do you think my head would explode? Or is there something worthwhile in the books after all? Or perhaps all these assumptions are wrong and I shouldn't literally judge a book by its cover?

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Make a deal: You will read one Twilight book and see if you're "hooked", if she reads a "real" vampire book, like The Strain or Agyar, in return. Then you both get something from it.

My daughter has the Twilight books, reading the prologue and a few pages it seems the writing is weak on technique, but it obviously makes up for that in ability to hit a certain chord--just not mine. There are poorly written books I happen to like, and a number of mediocre books I also like, where the story and pacing make up for a multitude of sins.

I will add, as an aside, I have always been a strong proponent of reading some bad books along with the good (I see King also recommends the same in On Writing) as it does wonders for showing you what does NOT work, so you could consider it "homework" to read one.

some others disagree and say you should only read truly great lit, but by analogy, that would be like only investigating cars that pass the crash test, instead of looking into why the XXX-brand Zandalee wound up with the steering wheel crushing the driver's lap in a 5 mph crash or the YYYY Digio rolled over at 15 mph out in the cones....to me why a book fails is at least as important as why another soars. I may not ever hit the point of "soaring", but I damn sure want to get my head above the slush, so I'm more interested in the lower cutoff bar......