The Twilight Phenomenon

Although I have spent this whole blog writing about how much I love reading and mentioned several books I have loved, I'm actually going to end by talking about two books that I didn't love: the first two Twilight books. As you have surely heard, the Twilight books are sweeping the nation. (They are especially popular, it appears, with teenage girls and their mothers.) They are, in short, about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. All of my friends and neighbors had read these books and most LOVED them. They were all in love with Edward (the vampire) and told stories about how they couldn't put the books down. One read the first 500+ page book in two days, another stayed up most of the night to finish it, and a third (a former English teacher and very bookish, well-educated woman) said she actually followed her two-year-old on a walk through the woods while reading Twilight! She couldn't put it down.

As an English teacher, I sort of feel like I should be hip to what "everybody" is reading, so I decided that over spring break I would read the series. We were going to be spending 18 hours in the car driving to the coast of Alabama so I figured the timing would be perfect--the hours I wasn't driving would melt away if I had a good book to keep me occupied.

Indeed, the first book was totally compelling--I did read it compulsively and finished it in two days. When I was done, though, I had sort of a bad taste in my mouth. I found parts of the book REALLY annoying--namely the main character's ridiculous obsession with a cold, pale, angsty vampire. Ugh.... how is he attractive? Plus, she was COMPLETELY head over heels obsessed with this guy. She would do anything for him. She was willing to give herself up completely to him. Also, she was constantly being carried by him, picked up by him, moved physically around by him. It was all very self-surrendering. She essentially gave herself mentally and physically up to his control.

Now admittedly, I'm not a real romantic type, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes pretty regularly at this girl-vampire relationship. Beyond just finding it annoying, though, I also found it a little troubling. I do not advocate banning books and think that pretty much any reading is good reading, but I sure don't want my daughter reading this book any time soon. I don't like the suggestion that this is what a relationship is for a woman or girl--giving up oneself entirely to a man.

Having committed to reading the series over break, I continued on to the second book even though I found the first one so annoying. Well, book number two was even more annoying. Bella continues to be PATHETIC in her obsession with the cold, pale vampire and she even blows off a much more normal relationship with a normal guy (okay, he's a werewolf, but relatively speaking he's pretty normal!). First, I was annoyed Bella seemed to be choosing the cold, angsty guy over the happy-go-lucky, decent guy. Second, she was still pathetically obsessed and self-denying. Third, I was annoyed with the werewolf plot twist--it just seemed too similar to the vampire thing. Werewolves? vampires? really?! Come on. . . I was just not buying it!

So, even though I said I would read all four books in the series, I just couldn't do it. They were too annoying, and especially since they ARE the kind of books that totally sucked me in and kept me reading compulsively (even though I was irritated), I decided I just didn't want to give them any more of my vacation time. So I quit. I might read the last two once school gets out, again mostly because I feel like I should know what the people are reading, but I really doubt I'll like them any more than I liked the first two.

I'll let you know if I change my mind! I'd love to hear if you have read these books and what you thought. If you haven't read them and you want to, don't let my crabby opinion keep you from it. I definitely seem to be in the minority with my opinion--most people love the books and love Edward the vampire. So give the books a try and let me know what you think! :-)


Kristen