Twilight ( Twilight #1)By Stephenie Meyer
498 pages | September 6th, 2006 | Little, Brown and Company
About three things I was absolutely positive.
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him—and I didn't know how dominant that part might be—that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
I know I have referenced my experience with Twilight in some of my other reviews, so I decided I would write it out for you all. Twilight and I have a complicated relationship. I first read the series in 2008 the summer after that I graduated high school. I was coaching at a soccer camp for two weeks and all the kids were talking about this book. FYI They were talking about Breaking Dawn so I was an entire series behind. Still, it caught my interest. So I asked what books they were talking about and alas, Twilight came into my life.
I didn't even know at this time, that the film was about to be released in November of the same year. So, when we had our coaches weekend off. I bought Twilight in town (Since I'd already finished the other 4 books I'd brought with me) and began my journey.
Let me break it down for you on my first experience.
Things I Liked:
Edward Cullen: If we take away the creepy stalker portion. Which, I was admittedly oblivious to when I first read the book. He is first and foremost the modern gentleman. Except, that he's only a gentleman because he was raised in an era where it was expected of him to be. In contrast to the Erics and Mike Newton's of their world, it was refreshing. It was the true fantasy. For me, it wasn't that he was this sparkly vampire, it was that he was a gentleman, with standards and morals and respect. He obviously had his flaws (overprotective much?) but at the time, he was what the Jane Austen fan in me was dying for. (Still is admittedly. Where is Mr. Darcy?)
Jacob Black: Not Jacob necessarily, but his whole story, his family, his life. The whole reservation. It's really interesting the way it was all brought together with the legends, why the 'cold people' aren't allowed on their land. This was a well thought out portion of the book that continued for me.
Things I Didn't' Like:
Bella Swan: I know she is supposed to be there every girl. Average, not too pretty, but I just can't stand her. This makes the book particularly difficult because if you can't stand your narrator there's a problem. She just makes a lot of dumb decisions and doesn't really redeem herself. (Unfortunate to say this continues through the series). She bleeds too easily, and I understand being clumsy but if I returned back from a trip with my boyfriend all beat to hell after having 'accidentally fallen down the stairs and through a window' I'm pretty sure my parents would have had him arrested. Particularly if one of my parents was a law enforcement official.
Jacob Black: I know he's also under my likes but come on. People complain about Edward being possessive, but my God, Jacob never even dates Bella, ever, and he behaves like he has some sort of monopoly over her time and attention. Even in this book when he's a year young than her, barely ever sees her because they go to different schools. He somehow still manages to behave with some sort of right to her.
NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO ANYBODY. This is what particularly bothered me about the series. Both Jacob and Edward are emotionally abusive in their own right. Luckily Bella can make her own decisions (Even if those decisions are always terrible, ridiculously awful decisions)
I binge read this series. Once I returned home I bought the next three and finished them all in one week at the beach. After I was done, I felt obsessed. I was a Twihard. It wasn't until the film came out, and I saw some of my favorite moments played out visual I started to second guess myself. So I went back. When I re-read it, I found that the content I had so eagerly sucked up, was now bothering me. Don't know if it's because I'm older now, or because I wasn't a fan of the casting. I don't know but I can definitely now scratch Twihard off my list of Fandom Titles. I still give it three stars because I cannot deny the fact that I was swept up in this series.
Stephenie Meyer's life changed dramatically on June 2, 2003. The stay-at-home mother of three young sons woke-up from a dream featuring seemingly real characters that she could not get out of her head.
"Though I had a million things to do, I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering."
Meyer invented the plot during the day through swim lessons and potty training, and wrote it out late at night when the house was quiet. Three months later she finished her first novel, Twilight. With encouragement from her older sister (the only other person who knew she had written a book), Meyer submitted her manuscript to various literary agencies. Twilight was picked out of a slush pile at Writer's House and eventually made its way to the publishing company Little, Brown where everyone fell immediately in love with the gripping, star-crossed lovers.
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