Just Finished Reading: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (FP: 2005)

For those of you who have been living on Mars for the past 8 years here’s a synopsis of the plot: Isabella (AKA Bella) Swan has just moved from Phoenix, Arizona to the small town of Forks in the northwest of Washington State. Dreading her first day at the local high school she is intrigued by a group of seniors who sit away from everyone else. They are, she finds out, the Cullen’s – a group of natural and adopted siblings of the local doctor. Exhibiting otherworldly grace and good looks Bella doesn’t know what to make of them. One of the boys in particular catches her eye but only succeeds in annoying her by blatantly ignoring her in class. It is only when Edward Cullen saves her life with a seeming act of supernatural strength and speed that she suspect he, and his family, may be far more than they appear to be. As they become increasingly infatuated with each other Bella slowly realises that the Cullen’s are creatures she thought to be merely myth and legend. The Cullen’s are vampires and once over the initial shock Bella realises that she simply doesn’t care.

I bought this before seeing the movie back in 2008. It’s taken me this long to get over the disappointment and actually read the book. I had thought that I’d most likely abandon it unfinished but hoped that, against that expectation, I’d rise to the challenge. I rather surprised myself by not only reading the book but by finding it didn’t entirely suck the big one. OK, it’s not exactly high literature but it does hold together fairly well and is far superior to any of the Harry Potter books I’ve read (the first 2-3 from memory). Although Bella is definitely a whinny teenage girl her whininess is believable. What is far from believable is the whole Edward Cullen thing. If I had seen him or his ‘family’ the very first thought in my head would’ve been: VAMPIRE. It’s so, sorry about the pun, bloody obvious I can only think that Bella (and the rest of the town) are particularly dim. I can get with the not drinking humans thing. If you are essentially the same person, which it seems that you are in this version of the vampire myth, then it follows that there will be vampires who look for (and find) an alternative to preying on people. One of the thing that I particularly liked, which I don’t think came across in the film, was Edward’s minute by minute fight with his desire to rip Bella’s throat out. OK, for most of the movie I was with him on that but don’t think that I could have restrained myself in the same way. I can certainly see why this story, such as it was, would appeal to teenage girls across the world. I’m sure that many of them dream of a beautiful, strong, protective but potentially dangerous boyfriend who can’t have sex with them though desperately wants too. The unfulfilled and unfulfillable passion would be, I’m guessing, quite a turn on – romantic even. Of course one thing this series of books will do, rather inevitably I’m afraid, is to ruin the future emotional lives of a whole generation of women. When they find out that real Edward Cullen’s simply don’t exist no matter how hard or how far they look they may well become disillusioned and despondent. Such is, of course, the whole problem with romantic literature and film. It portrays things are they hardly ever are or hardly ever can be…. Or maybe that’s just my experience of things……