A Review of 'Twilight' by Stephenie Meyer

“Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife—between desire and danger. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.”

(From Goodreads)

“Urg… why do you do this to us?! And on Christmas Eve!!” Hey, I can’t deny that I’ve read Twilight. In fact, I can’t deny that I’ve read the entire Twilight series and I was among those many fan girls that was really exciting for ‘Breaking Dawn.’ Let’s move on, shall we?

I liked the concept of a Vampire romance novel, but mainly because I hadn’t read any vampire books to speak of. Not even ‘Interview with the Vampire.’

It’s a cool idea having someone who is virtually indestructible (I say virtually, because there are ways to kill a vampire) be with someone who is as fragile and clumsy as Bella Swan.

There are arguments that ‘Twilight’ is anti-feminist. I see their points. Bella is not the strongest heroine on the planet. She cooks dinner for her father. She relies so much on Edward Cullen. While these points are true, I have some other points to bring up. I have nothing to counter that Bella is not the strongest heroine, but her father never once demands that she make him dinner. She used to make dinner for her mom all the time, so it’s what she’s used to. While Bella does rely on Edward a lot, she’s pretty brave to deceive Edward and go off to save her mother—though those who read the book know how that whole shindig went down).

My favorite scene was the ballet studio. Just the vision I had in my head was cool! The mirrors on every wall, vampires jumping around everywhere… it felt like a lot of work went into this scene, which I really appreciated.

I didn’t find Bella and Edward’s relationship all that real. You’re probably thinking, “Well, duh, he’s a vampire. No one has a legitimate vampire boyfriend.” I’m talking about their actual relationship. Though we don’t know Edward’s full romantic history before he was a vampire, he acted as if he had never even talked to a girl when he met Bella. He was incredibly protective of her, telling her to be careful and watch out for everything. He even snuck into her room to watch her sleep. That’s incredibly creepy! No normal boyfriend or girlfriend would sneak into their significant other’s room just to watch them sleep.

Alice was my favorite vampire. She was a cute person and she had my favorite power of all—seeing into the future. What I liked was that she couldn’t really control her power, because the future is susceptible to the present.

Overall, I think Stephenie Meyer had an interesting first novel, but it could use some more work.

I give ‘Twilight’:

Thanks for reading!

--Jude