Let me start by saying that I am in no way your typical, obsessed Twilight fan; I do not believe that Stephanie Meyer is in any way a "genius" and I have many critical remarks. That being said, this is the second time I've read the series.
Collectively, the series is intriguing, which is the reason Meyer got four successful installments out of it. However, my biggest criticism is that the characters are too perfect. Everything fits together like a perfect little puzzle, from Bella's maturity making it possible for her to connect to a 90 year old man, to the rivalry between Edward and Jacob, on Bella's behalf and because of their respective species.
Twilight is romantic and idealistic. The vampires that Meyer has created are unique and the special talents that some of them possess add drama.
New Moon is a little irritating in that Bella is so mopey and does not come off as mature at all. She's needy and helpless and a little crazy. Jacob is a sweet, endearing character, and has a few flaws that make him a little more relateable.
Eclipse is probably my least favorite in the series. Bella's attempt to maintain a friendship with Jacob is selfish and screams of High School drama. The whole book is forgettable to me.
Breaking Dawn is my favorite of the series. However, it was extremely anti-climatic.
Stephanie Meyer is a pretty good writer, but she is extremely long-winded and drones on with too many inner monologues. It's exhausting to remain aware of Bella's every thought. These books could each have been shortened by a few hundred pages. This time around, I found myself skimming paragraphs, sometimes skipping whole pages, and didn't feel like I'd missed anything.
Personally, I do not relate to any one of the characters Meyer has created, which I think is the real flaw. They are too perfect, too romanticised, too in love, too talented, too attractive. It would be easy to have a perfect relationship if you were in love with a perfect, attractive, ageless person with more money than you could ever spend. They don't get tired, or fat or even hungry. If I could spend my days admiring my flawless self in the mirror, tearing apart feather pillows with my flawless husband, studying art and music and whatever else I wanted to, and flying off to Italy at a moment's notice, my life would be pretty great.
I think this was a better read the second time, but I'm not sorry the series stopped at #4.
No comments:
Post a Comment