Not Bitten by Twilight

With all the Twilight hype that's been brewing for the past year or so, I decided to read the series.

To compare Stephenie Meyer to J.K. Rowling, as many have, is simply unbelievable. Meyer is probably the worst published novelist, in terms of craft , have ever read.

I am not saying the books are the most terrible I've ever read, but the quality of the writing, the lack of character development, plotting and language use are pretty close to the bottom of the barrel.

I think she had a somewhat clever idea for a series - young girl falls in love with vampire, troubles ensue, but the cardboard cutout characters are such a disappointment.

The love story which is the focus of the books is never really believable. What does Edward the vampire see in Bella? At first, he is just possessed by the scent of her blood. As the story progresses, it becomes even more unclear what he really sees in her. Bella seems wholly obsessed only with Edward's stunning good looks and physical perfection. No matter how many times Meyer reminds us of their forever love, it never rings true.

The werewolf - yes, werewolf, introduced later in the series is a slightly better character, but only slightly. There's never a real chance that Bella will pick him, and Meyer's solution in the end to this problem is pretty icky.

What sent me over the edge in book 2 was the use of the word "chest." I lost count, but I think she used that word more than 200 times in the first 200 pages.

I thought book 4 was the best written in terms of technique, but most painful in terms of plot. The style is so different, I think some of the crazy fans out there might be right in their conspiracy theories that Meyer didn't write it.

An interesting article about the series was published in Salon. Here.

An excellent negative review of the series can be found here.

Comments

[Jana]

As we've discussed, I read the series and agree wholeheartedly with you on everything. I was a little disturbed about how the main characters' relationship was portrayed - Bella as not worthy of the perfectly beautiful Edward. Maybe it was me but I don't believe that's a good message to be sending young women.

I did still enjoy reading the books but I didn't become obsessed with them like some of the other women I'm hearing about. My own sister, who is not a big reader, read the entire series 3 times in a one month period. CRAZY! I told her to stop drinking the "Twilight Kool-Aid" and recommended some other books with a little more substance.