Recently, I was invited to become a part of a real book club. Ok, I invited myself, but that seems to be okay with these people. So anyway, I've always been a voracious reader but I've never belonged to a group who sits around and discusses books for fun. Books, wine, junk food. I am besotted.
This month, the book is "Twilight," by Stephenie Meyer. Not knowing much about the series but having a vague idea that it was written for teenaged girls, I turned my nose up slightly at the thought. I am, after all, in the middle of several other books, including Oliver Twist, a re-read of The Time Traveler's Wife, and whatever I happen to be reading in class with my students. Everything I've heard or read about this first book of the series has, heretofore, kept me at bay.
Well, the book club meets next Thursday night, and last night, I didn't have much school work to do, so I decided to go ahead and start reading. The book is 500 pages long, and I thought if I could just get a little bit into it, I'd be good. Whitney, a history teacher at MHAFYOS, warned me that I wouldn't be able to put the book down. Hmph. I sniffed as I began reading.
The first few chapters of this book are written exactly in the style of a teenaged girl. This, in my opinion, is NOT a compliment. There is a formula to the prose: noun, verb, adverb; noun, adjective, etc. I slogged through Bella's awkward reunion with her father, her first few days of school, her inane descriptions of each of her classes. Honey, I thought, I went to high school already. I don't need to relive it.
I already knew the premise of the story: girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy ends up being undead. Formulaic, boring. For an almost-thirty year old woman, I was really wondering how this novel ended up as a Book Club Pick.
Around page 100 or so of this tome, I began to notice the incredible tension that surrounds every exchange between Bella and Edward. Her other friends are not very well-developed (and alas, I have been told that they don't ever get more developed than that in the subsequent volumes); her relationship with her father seems to be on an even keel. The drama in each and every conversation: do they like each other? Does one hate the other? Why does Edward act the way he does upon Bella's arrival at the school? Why does he play with her mind? was getting tiring. But then, the explanations begin, and the conversations, though still fraught with high-school drama, are now rather intriguing.
I love, and I mean LOVE, the concept that seems to play out here: vampire with a conscience, a predator who hunts animals so he doesn't have to kill people. The reasons he gives Bella for needing and wanting to stay away from her, though they get repetitive and a bit tiresome, are also juxtaposed with the absolutely palpable tension and electricity in their exchanges, once they declare their feelings for one another.
And I think this is what is so completely disturbing and unnerving about this book for me: as an adult, reading the sexual and emotional tension between these two teenagers makes me itch. It physically makes me have to move around while reading the story, and because I am so visual, I have detailed scenes playing out in my head while I read.
The actual writing is terrible, but I love the concept. I began reading at around 9 and didn't stop reading until I'd finished the last page, at 2:30 in the morning. I NEVER, EVER do this. I don't know really how to put into words why I could not tear myself away from what I consider "junk food" in the literary world. This book should not win any awards. The author should be flogged for some of her prose. But her idea is just so alluring-- just like Edward Cullen's topaz eyes.
And for the record, I will NOT be seeing this movie. It makes me feel like a dirty old woman.
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2 comments:
I felt the EXACT same way about this book- it's such total junk food! And it is easily the worst writing I've seen in dog's years.
I read all the volumes, all the while muttering "This book sucks so much!". Jason kept asking me why I was reading it then, and I had to say, "Because I have to see what HAP-pens..!". So embarassing.
Now, to put this in perspective, the writer is a total, total Mormon who is cra-zazily against sex pre-marriage, which is why- fantasy of fantasies!- Edward keeps pressing Bella to marry him, marry him, marry him and won't put out until she does so. Talk about your fairy tales.
Once I knew about the Mormonism (about the middle of the second book), it all became clear and was much, much stupider than I'd originally thoguht (hoped?) it was. Silly mormons.
Right, I knew about the Mormon thing... apparently, she wrote them while a Mormon, "in secret," but is no longer a Mormon. . . ?
WhatEVER, I say, with a hair flip and glare at Edward. Gag. Total fucking GAG.
I have heard snippets of what the rest of these are like, and though I am, in ways, interested in seeing if the writing gets any better, I really *do* have better things to do with my time right now.
Hey, you don't wanna come help me do some painting, do ya? ;) I have, over the next month, a total of three weeks off of work. I LOVE working for Orthodox Jews.
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