I have a Twilight Confession (possible spoilers)

[motely36]

I am 80% through the first book and while I will finish this one, I will probably not continue with the series.

I have a major problem with the relationship between the two main characters: a 100 year old vampire and a 16 or 17 year old girl.

I just can't get past it. In my opinion his behavior is bordering on pedophilia.

Does anyone else feel this way?

[buzzycrumbhunger]

1. Granted, that's creepy. . .

but I'm afraid the pedophilia stuff just comes with the territory when you're undead, y'know? The poor writing in general turned me off more than this one aspect. My son (who's always reading, but never fiction) forced the series on me because his GF forced him, and we were increasingly underwhelmed as we went through them.

Even worse, I seized a bit of advice from the Lounge and DLed the movie to compare to another vampire movie (Let the Right One In--wow, no comparison!) and it was astoundingly bad. Just. . . gobsmacked that it was such a hit (however briefly). It was like. . . high school AV club bad. I don't know what I was thinking, having already wasted four nights reading the four books. Another two hours I'll never get back.

If you can't get past the age thing, I feel obliged to warn you that you really don't want to read to the end, 'cos it actually gets worse. :P

[motely36]

4. Well I finished it.

Maybe it is just the insipid nature of the book that drove me crazy, but I practically had to force myself to finish the book. I have the second on my night stand, but I think I will read some other stuff first.

By the way, I really enjoyed 'Let the right one in'

[buzzycrumbhunger]

6. Yes, THAT one was worthwhile

In LTROI, I found that I was recognizing where the story arc was going early on, but it didn't dampen the impact. A much more realistic story--and very disturbing, even days after I saw it.

Back on topic, I have to reiterate that I read the whole Twilight series. . . It was easy reading, and fast, despite the fact they top out over 700 pages. It's just that I recognized it as trash the whole way. I guess I feel so hostile toward it because I invested that much time in something and it wasn't even a guilty pleasure. I mean, I don't even watch soap operas, so what was I thinking? I think my problem is that once I start reading a story, I'm committed--apparently, even if that means the crap goes on for three more books. I can only think of a couple books that were sooooo bad that I put them down unfinished. This obviously should have been another on that list.

I suspect I should just find the book version of LTROI to undo the damage. Should be interesting because I almost always read a book before I see the movie version, which usually has me griping about all the stuff they had to leave out.

[LWolf]

2. Yes.

Some attention is given to the idea that the vampire is "always 17." Physically, of course.

I don't care if your body stays 17 forever, I'd expect the person, vampire, whatever to mature mentally and emotionally.

He doesn't seem to have done so, though. While May/December relationships are reasonably common, with old men attracted to fresh young things, it seems to me that 100 years to mature might possibly create a need to relate mentally, as well as physically, to someone.

I don't see "Twilight" as about actual relationships, though. It's a physical attraction on both of their parts.

Frankly, Bella is pretty insipid. She's stupid and self-destructive, and the only real attraction she's got is that she is an adolescent stereotype. It's hard to be interested in whether she survives or not.

Edward may be "hot," but that's explained in the full sun, in the meadow; he's the perfect predator, with everything needed to attract his PREY.

A predator/prey relationship.

It feeds on adolescent girl angst and hormone excesses, at the time when so many girls don't care what is underneath. They like "hot," they like "bad boy," since they are in the rebellion stage, and they like extremes. So plenty of girls are fascinated.

I had this conversation about Bella with my middle schools students this week, as a matter of fact. The boys didn't care one way or the other. The girls? They acknowledged my points as valid, and stuck to their fascination. As I expected them to, lol.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

3. Exactly!

I was actually discussing this with a friend today--who IS Mormon--and what bothers her the most is the dominant/submissive overtones and the fact that this "perfect" boy is an abusive man in the making. (Pulling her spark plugs to "keep her safe," etc.?) Interestingly, there are some LDS writers who are working feverishly on taking Meyer to task because they feel she had no business writing about something without fully understanding what she was creating. Yes, she knew enough about how vampirism = sex to make a point of the chastity so she did know that much, but everything else just points out the real dangers of being a sheltered Mormon. That kind of naïvté is perhaps not so dangerous if it were just her, but some dorky publisher took this unknown with a "daydream about a sparkly boy" and pushed her into the literary forefront and at least a couple generations of her peers are eating it up like candy, unaware of the full scope of what they're buying into.

[LWolf]

7. YES. nt

[motely36]

5. I just didn't care about any of the characters

except maybe Alice. And I think this was just because she was on the periphery. I fear that I got to know her any better, I wouldn't like her either!

[joshcryer]

9. Does the book really exhibit how young women are, though?

Because when I thought of him, of his voice, his hypnotic eyes, the magnetic force of his personality, I wanted nothing more than to be with him right now.

It was a colossal tribute to his face that it kept my eyes away from his body.

But outside the door to our Spanish class, leaning against the wall — looking more like a Greek god than anyone had a right to — Edward was waiting for me.

I tried to remember how to exhale. I had to look away before it came back to me.

I was stunned by the unexpected electricity that flowed through me, amazed that it was possible to be more aware of him than I already was. A crazy impulse to reach over and touch him, to stroke his perfect face just once in the darkness, nearly overwhelmed me.

He grinned his crooked smile at me, stopping my breath and my heart. I couldn’t imagine how an angel could be any more glorious. There was nothing about him that could be improved upon.

His cold touch on my skin never failed to make my heart thud erratically. Twice, when that happened, I caught a look on his face that made me sure he could somehow hear it.

---

I know some people who have called this smut, and wondered what message it was sending their teenage daughters.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. What sad commentaries all around.

The book's target audience is teenagers. The writing is incredibly bad, but it doesn't matter. It's in the first person and it is so detailed that the author succeeds in putting the young reader right in the story. If you allow yourself to get caught up in Stephenie Meyer's fantasy world, it works. She had an explanation for all of the twists she put into her vampire world, and quite frankly, it was refreshing. Obviously, True Blood thought enough of the twists to come up with their own hit.

I didn't have trouble with the age issue because everything about this relationship is forbidden, so what does a 100 years of age difference matter by comparison? It also works because Edward is a vampire so his human qualities have been suppressed, repressed and the vampire ones dominate. The book goes into that. In fact, the writer goes through great pains to compare their bodies to marble, stone, cold. This could be a metaphor for the way they're usually dominated by their vampire side, whereas their human side is repressed. So this is as much a new experience for Edward, as it is for Bella. It's not about him being a lecher, but about remembering how to be 17 and human again.

But, if you really found it hard to get into all that suspension of disbelief thing, you will love this review, about why Book 4 should not be made into a movie. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Lots of spoilers:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2008/12/twilight-10-rea.html

[Iggo]

10. I saw the movie, and it was hilarious.

I'm not going anywhere near the books.

(I spel gud.)