Written by Phoenix native Stephenie Meyer, the popularity of the young-adult series comprised of Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and the newly-released Breaking Dawn has reached critical mass. With a Twilight film adaptation coming to theaters this winter and an opening day’s sales of 1.3 million books for her latest installment, Meyer can be left with no doubt of her success. From a first-time novelist to a mainstay on the best sellers list, she has risen through the ranks like a veritable juggernaut.
But why? To figure out why the books were inspiring legions of fans and a dozen fan-sites (including the recently hacked Twilight Lexicon), I read the books myself to see what’s what.
To put it simply, dear reader, I was horrified. Not just by the sickeningly purple prose or the lack of general writing quality, but the books themselves are insulting on every level-as a woman, as a teenager, as a literature student, and as a graduate of the Harry Potter craze. What’s worse is that so few seem to realize it.
Twilight is the story of the so-called “average” new girl Bella Swan (Ha, ha, get it? Beautiful Swan?), who finds herself as the object of not one, not two, but a total of five boys’ romantic designs (because she’s so “plain”, see?). The most important of these is the mysterious, hilariously-Byronic Edward Cullen. Bella plays the pitiful damsel in distress a few times and after 200 pages of thinly written suspense, we learn that Edward is in fact a vampire. Never fear, though, because Bella’s “Adonis-like” admirer is no Nosferatu. Instead, he and his vampire family are so-called “vegetarian” vampires, feeding off of animals instead of humans and inexplicably attending high school (during lunch periods they buy trays of food and stare at each other so that Bella can conveniently get a glimpse of Edward from across the cafeteria). The first novel deals with Bella and Edward’s romance and is capped off by a hastily tacked-on plot designed to shove Bella into the damsel in distress role yet again so that her vampire lover can save her.
Okay, you’re saying. It’s a little cheesy. But why is that so bad?
First and foremost, the books present a female heroine who can hardly take a step without needing some boy to rescue her. In fact, the books represent sexist views in almost every way-from the fact that Bella gives up her ambitions and plans for college to get married to Edward, the fact that she is portrayed as a modern Eve, begging the noble, moral gentleman for sex while he desires to preserve their virtue, the fact that their relationship is dangerously unhealthy, and finally to the fact that nearly every single female character in the book is a hopelessly negative caricature.
The series does not improve with subsequent books, either. In New Moon, Bella enters a self-described “zombie” state when Edward leaves her. In fact, the author oh-so-cleverly inserts blank pages with the months’ names as a poorly conceived plot device for showing the depths of her heroine’s pain and also to avoid having to write the “hard stuff.” Bella turns near-suicidal; she purposely puts herself in harm’s way-going so far as to jump off a cliff-to hear her lover’s imagined voice in her head.
What does this say to readers, bearing in mind that the target audience is the tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls? That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them? That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.
The sole bright spot of New Moon is the lovable Jacob Black, a member of the nearby La Push reservation and newly-turned werewolf. It is in Bella’s scenes with Jacob that readers see a glimpse of actual personality, and the burgeoning romance is certainly much more true to real-life teen romances than the lofty ideals of the star cross’d lovers Edward and Bella. But add another half-forgotten plot into the mix and Edward and Bella are reunited, with Jacob left by the wayside like a kicked puppy. Pun intended.
Eclipse. It is in this tome that Edward and Bella’s relationship takes a decidedly worse turn. Edward goes so far as to remove Bella’s engine from her car to prevent her from seeing her friend, Jacob, and even has his vampire ‘sister’ kidnap her from a weekend. Bella is a little peeved at this, sure, but she writes off Edward’s atrocious behavior with the terrifying “he’s just a little overprotective” and “he does it because he loves me”. Reader, I actually felt a little sick while reading this, despite these so-called good intentions (they’re always leading to hell, remember). Not only does Meyer give her two characters an obviously unhealthy-even abusive-relationship, but she romanticizes and idealizes it, and not only with Bella and Edward, but with Bella and Jacob as well.
Jacob, in fact, gets a bizarre personality transplant (lycanthropic dissociative identity disorder, maybe?) and turns into a real asshole in this book. He actually forcibly kisses Bella-twice-while ignoring her protests and actually threatens suicide should Bella refuse him. But not once does the thought of abuse, sexism, or inequality even occur to her main character! In fact, halfway through Jacob’s forced kiss (sexual assault, mind you) Bella actually decides that she’s in love with him. What is this??
I threw down my copy of Eclipse in disgust and I was ready to forget that the books existed until the Twilight-mania began anew in the lead-up to August 2nd‘s release of Breaking Dawn. I can write this article just having read the first three, I told myself. In the end, though, partly due to morbid curiosity and partly a result of wildly irrational hope that somehow Meyer would redeem herself, I gave in.
I was wrong. In Breaking Dawn, Meyer gives us an honestly bewildering and at times horrifying close to the series. The several hundred pages are filled with sickly-sweet self-indulgence and a blatant dismissal of continuity and realism. In brief, Bella and Edward get horizontal at long last (but only after they’re married, of course-we can’t have the naughty temptress taking away Edward’s 107 year-old virginity) and Bella somehow gets pregnant. Please, Meyer says, never mind the fact that all the vampires’ body fluids are replaced with their ‘venom’ or that sperm dies after three days, much less a century. Even more fantastically, the vampire/human spawn grows at an alarming rate, so fast in fact that Bella feels it “nudging” her at approximately two weeks of gestation. Now, I’ve never been pregnant but I did take health class back in high school and I’m pretty sure that there’s something wrong with that picture.
I’ll spare you the details of the rest of this horror show. Trust me, the birthing scene is something I desperately wish I could un-see (after the loosely-called ‘baby’ breaks Bella’s pelvis, spine, and ribs from the inside, Edward ends up clawing his way to a surely-unsanitary vampire version of a Caesarian section using his teeth). I’m sorry. I had to share my pain. Bella becomes a super-special vampire with super-special powers and she wins the not-conflict of the not-climax. And don’t forget her nifty ability to go hunting in a forest in a cocktail dress and heels.
Thankfully, the “Twilight” series is over. Not as great is the fact that millions of girls are reading this sexist tripe without a care in the world, obsessing over the “perfect” Edward Cullen and the “hot” Jacob Black, pretending to be Bella Swan and ignoring the unhealthiness of the relationship just as successfully as the character does. What happened that two hundred years after feminist hero Elizabeth Bennet is put down on the page, we get one of the most awful excuses for a female literary hero that I’ve ever seen?
So frankly, excuse me if I bow out of the Twilight mania. I’m going to go sink my teeth into Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and pretend that Stephenie Meyer’s terrible series did not set gender equality back two hundred years in the minds of millions.
Read my follow-up to this piece, entitled Twilight: A Follow-Up, and a Promise!
Read my review of the movie!
Brilliant review! You are so right about the mess that is this series.
Oh, thank god for saying that! I tottlay agree.
Thank you so much for this article. The craze for these series of books are truly unbelievable. It is a dime-story/trashy romance story at best. If you believe Meyer’s success is the only surprising thing, you should really check out the MOTHERS who encourage their children to read this trash. I am all for literacy and including families to read with their children because in an era of the internet, it’s nice to read from a book and not a screen. However, it’s completely inexplicable by all accounts any parent would condone these books as some kind of guide.
I really hope more open-minded journalist pick up on your review on this series.
[…] Okay, can’t help it. I’m going to paste here really awesome review about the Twilight series. Don’t read if you haven’t read the whole series, unless you really don’t mind, like me. Okay I take that back READ IT ANYWAYS. Taken from here. […]
“What happened that two hundred years after feminist hero Elizabeth Bennet is put down on the page, we get one of the most awful excuses for a female literary hero that I’ve ever seen.”
The worst part about it is that Meyer has stated that one of the books is inspired by Pride and Prejudice. Isn’t that just awful?
thanks so much for trying to take the blinders off of the deluded millions reading this crap! i totally agree, very well written and if Meyer reads this she surely won’t be able to look at herself in a mirror
I 100% agree with what you just said. The books are overrated and I can’t understand why anyone would read them. I’ve read the first one and it was seriously a waste of time. It bothers me that EVERYONE reads them.
you are my new idol.
Yes, yes, and YES!!! Thank you so much for this article!!
I just find it so interesting that HP was under so much controversy for it’s “pro-Magic” messages, when Twilight’s messages are so much more disturbing, and yet no one has said anything about them. Other than the fact that the writing and characterization just plain SUCK, I honestly don’t see how this book could have been published. I find it somewhat offending how they keep comparing this hack writer to JK Rowling, who actually knows how to write and construct a decent story. Rowling actually fills up her 500+ pages with an actual story, not just fluff with a poorly tacked on “plot” in the last hundred or so pages.
Once again, great job on the article! I hope many more people get a chance to read it.
The most hilarious part? If you mention any of this to Twihards, they either stick their fingers in their ears and hum, or they shriek about how, “OMG ITS JUST A BOOK STOP ANALYZING IT OMG UR RONG”. For extra lolz, observe their Chris Crocker-esque reactions to any and all criticism of the Holy Mrs. Meyer. Seriously, it makes the “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE-AHH!” videos look perfectly reasonable. Apparently, if you say anything that isn’t glowingly positive about the books, you’re hurting her widdle feewings and you’ll make her cwy, and you’re a bad bad person.
And to add a cherry of rage to this WTF sundae, take a gander at some of the interviews she’s given. Words cannot describe.
Ugh, I hate these books with a passion. I’m right in the target demographic, so about half of my friends are worshiping these things and getting furious at me for not liking them. If there’s anything worse than that books themselves, it’s the fanbase. Like Narwhal said, they can’t bring themselves to understand that these books aren’t the greatest pieces of literature ever written.
SMeyer has to be one of the most clueless authors I’ve ever known of, to the extent that she’s stated in an interview that her books “don’t have any meaning.” She also said that she’d been planning the Rosemary’s Baby plotline before she even wrote the second and third books, because it was the only direction she thought the story could go. She shouldn’t go around bragging about never having done any creative writing before Twilight, because it shows. Badly.
Thanks so much for writing this. Like the others have said, you couldn’t make this argument to a fan because they’ll deny it up and down the street. But it’s great you did. It’s nice to know that at least ONE article notices these blatant flaws.
It’s so strange that people who see the book for what it really is are in the minority, isn’t it? Like being surrounded by those body-snatchers or something. I dunno, the point is GO YOU for writing this and try to pass the information on. I’m glad we have one more sane person in the world.
But I noticed you didn’t touch on the themes regarding pedophilia. Next time haha
Bella Swan is damn creepy
Her relationship with Perfect Vampire Boy is creepy
How the hell did this blasphemy, the Twilight Series infect millions of teenage girls?
Stephanie Meyer, you FAIL
However, this review totally cracked me up while grossing me out at the same time.
You should go hang out with the Washington Post. The highlight of their review was “Reader, I hurled.” IT SEEMS TO BE A TREND, DON’T YOU AGREE?
All really excellent points. I agree, Jacob has been the only redeeming factor in this series, enough so to keep me in the fandom and shipping Jacob/Bella. I cans ee how people see a personality transplant with him in Eclipse, but I think he’s just an angry, desperate kid doing whatever he can to save Bella’s life.
Funnily enough, I am massively obsessed with Pride & Prejudice now. Austen and the Bronte sisters, I am SO all over them, and I have Bella to thank for it. Ironic, no?
So, basically, I agree with you on pretty much all points. The website I have linked is a community of Breaking Dawn critics, either people who dislike the entire series or are disappointed by the fourth book alone (and by extension, the whole series, even if they still like it.)
This was amazing. I’m linking it EVERYWHERE.
Hey, Kismet.
Very well written essay. I wish more fans would start perceiving the Twilight series like this. However, I disagree with your take on Jacob’s actions in Eclipse. You kind of contradict yourself when you say Bella & Jacob have a “real-life teen romance” and then dismiss the fact that Bella realizes she is in love with him by the end of Eclipse. Bella is an awfully stubborn and clueless person. Jacob was doing everything in his power (whether it be ethically right or wrong) to show Bella that she can have a good life if she chooses to remain human. Bella realizes she loves Jacob after the kiss because she comes to the realization that she can’t bare to lose him. Also, you forget to mention that Jacob was the one who saved Bella from her depression after Edward left her. Jacob was the one who brought happiness back into her life so I don’t she how she can’t fall in love him. Bella even calls Jacob her own “personal sun”.
Nevertheless, I agree with all the points you made. This series is definitely overrated and I fear for all those young teens who obsess and think this its greatest book ever written.
I agree on every point without exception.
If only we could have some new, strong female lead in a new young adult fiction to ease the pain.
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I’m sorry, but i don’t agree with anything you say. At all. I loved all four books and there are plenty of us out there who also enjoyed the series. I can’t wait to read more of Stephenie meyers books. So Fuck you all.
Facts aren’t opinions. Like and dislike doesn’t have anything to do with poor or bad writing.
I have read all the books and by the end of the first I wanted to slap Bella. I have 3 girls(5,3,and 6Months) and I don’t want them reading this book at least until they have had a few healthy relationships and have had a chance to develope strong minds and opinions and relize that this not real life. I really didn’t like the last book. I was hoping that Meyer would come up with a better story. I am not a writer but I think I could have writen a better story.
No doubt I’ll be drawn & quartered for saying so, but I much prefer escapist fantasy to the bitter, negative harping of frustrated feminists. I guess it’s a sign of the times that those who don’t like/appreciate/understand a particular point of view feel compelled to vilify it with the most negative spin possible. Mostly what I hear in such rants is, “I couldn’t care less about a balanced point of view; my opinion is obviously the only correct opinion!” and “Anyone who doesn’t feel like I do is an idiot!”
You do make a few valid points in your essay. Too bad it is so vitrolic that the people you would like to influence are immediately turned off and will never benefit from the thought and effort you put into writing it. All you accomplish by such tactics is whipping up the frenzy of other like-minded souls.
It’s so much fun to read comments like yours. Strong and seemingly civilized, yet sour and as effective as calling them idiots who can’t appreciate good literature. No, you made it right by saying they’re morons who don’t understand creativity so they bash the book. You know, to dumb down your fancy word play.
I think that things like these are more for the meer entertainment of the ones who agree and the frustration release of the writer. Kind of like what the comment section is for. Seriously, there are like, a sea of comments for this article, no one’s ever going to see all of the comments. Personally, I enjoy reading all bad book reviews becuse they’re somewhat more enjoyable than the constant praise but comments are good because then it’s like a debate.
Both sides of the opinion have that ‘I’m right and you’re wrong.’ vibe going for them.
Not to contradict myself but your opinion does have a valid point though somewhat biased. I doubt any fans would read this site, let alone agree with it. As seen from the many blocked comments, including yours, fans have been frenzied and haters have taken their stand.
Personally, I can’t take sides because I have never touched that dictionary of a book, nor will I ever, but the comment section arguments will be an endless source of entertainment. I hope to see more comments like this and the one below (Tarah) to keep giving me reason to believe that the Twilight books do not prove that this generation has horrible taste and that we have not seen the end of epic writing.
Ugh. Give me a break. Every time, in any facet of entertainment, movies, books, tv, whatever, that we get a female protagonist, there ALWAYS has to be some pretentious discussion as to whether or not that protagonist is a feminist portrayal. I found Bella to be selfless, often clumsy, full of love, and incredibly grown-up. She is surrounded by men who love her and a family called the Cullens, who, if we could set aside the anti-feminist argument for one second, are one of the most incredible examples of compassion and tolerance in books and film today.
Sometimes there is more to a book or an entire saga than the heavily scrutinized choices of a female protagonist. Isn’t it more important to embrace the fact that a female author is reigning in the industry right now, that J.K. Rowling wasn’t the end of powerful women in letters, and that this time around, the protagonist is female?
Ok, Tarah, we can “embrace the fact… that J.K. Rowling wasn’t the end of powerful women in letters,” and we’ll get started on it when you stop pretending she was the beginning. If you want to celebrate the fact that Stephanie Meyer is a woman who got published, you’re being silly. That’s the same as Leelah from Futurama being the first female blurnsball player, sure, it’s a great feat for a woman, but if she sucks at the sport, what’s there to celebrate?
Further more, you’re making it sound like it’s rare for a woman to get published. The first novel ever was written by a woman. Not to mention Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickenson, Jane Austen, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, all of whom are women who wrote influential works of literature, and all of whom were infinitely better at writing than Stephanie Meyer.
In fact, as a writer I am terrified. I am terrified that someday, I will be published only to realize that like her, I am a complete, talentless laughingstock of intelligent readers, and I am offended that anyone called Twilight a “novel.”
If you want to see these books criticized while ignoring Edward’s abuse and all the anti-feminist crap, then here you go: Twilight is terribly written, with no true plot or any semblance of common sense. It is littered with purple prose, and Stephanie Meyer uses a thesaurus to “spice up” the description, which in reality only serves to make it even crappier. The main character, Bella, is one of the biggest Mary Sues ever published, and she has absolutely no character depth. She is nothing but an author proxy who is glorified and doted on the way Stephanie Meyer wished she was, and she lacks noteworthy flaws. The “love” between Edward and Bella is nothing like real love, but is entirely unrealistic infatuation. The character Edward is also a Gary Stu, with too many supposedly positive qualities and is glorified to fit the subject of the wet dream that started this whole series. He is a completely unrealistic portrayal of the author’s fantasy man, because no guy, absolutely no guy, who was as infatuated with a girl as he is would ever turn her down for sex in this day and age.
Stephanie Meyer also bastardizes the Quileute mythology in such a way as to show just how little research she even considered doing. Happy? I have told you some, just some, of the other reasons why twilight sucks as hard as it does. You are welcome, madam.
I could’t agree more with you! And what bothers me most is that there are thousands of teenagers in the world that wanted to have a relationship like Edward/Bella. That when I say something like what you writed, people look at me like I’m an Alien. And that’s because they can’t understand that Edward is not perfect and Edward/Bella is such an unhealthy relationship. Personnaly, I have a great relationship and maybe that gives me other point of view. Or maybe is because I was in that “fase” when I was younger. The thing is I don’t dream with a “perfect” obsessive and overprotective boyfriend, and with a relationship when you have to give up all your life, friends, family, your individuality because your boyfriend. In that cases, sonner or later someone get really hurt.
I used to be a twilight fan, but I couldn’t even read Breaking Down. The story is too much ridiculous for me, I still have some sense of quality, I don’t eat everything that people gives to me without thinking twice like some fans do.
(And I know my english is not perfect, but do you know speak portuguese? :D)
This is a fictional book, and I totally disagree with YOUR OPINION. I enjoyed the Twillight Saga.The reason I don’t want to go point by point with you is space, time, and I’m not trying to convince you to change your opinion.
I am just an average reader no fancy titles but with comments like: ” I was horrified”…from the first three books, why keep on reading Breaking Dawn?
Dear writer, it is obvious that you believe that your opinion is the only one that counts, since your opinion piece refes to the people that like It, in this manner
“What’s worse is that so few seem to realize it.”
It seems to me that you are close minded, and only care of the rights of women who only agree with you.
Your opinion piece was very disappointing, I am going to go pretending that feminazis do not exist in this educated world.
Wow, I love how you wrote no facts to support your opinion, but the person who’s opinions you are bashing made several good points.
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Zungia’s reply frightened me…it doesn’t matter if your an “Average” reader. Bad writing is bad writing, it’s not really an opinion. When you have as many mistakes in grammar as SMeyer does, it’s just bad. Also shallow love is another thing you can’t argue with, it just is. But I agree with your post, I don’t think your a feminazi or that you think your opinion is the most important.
I’m still laughing about it. This 23 year old tomboyish single woman is really glad girls finally have someone to listen to besides you!
You do realise that feminism is about equality between the genders and not about man-hating right? It’s thanks to feminists that women are able to dress the way they want to and aren’t socially expected to get married at a young age.
A Zuniga: It does not take a “feminazi” (a decidedly UN-educated word, by the way) to see the blatant anti-feminism in these books. A child should be able to see it. “Mommy, why doesn’t Bella ever have anything to do when Edward isn’t there? Doesn’t she like to draw or color at least, or have any other friends to play with?” or “Mommy, why does Bella think her daddy only loves her and wants her for her cooking?” or “Mommy, why does Bella want to die and leave her mommy and daddy forever?” *rolleyes*
If you think that there is nothing wrong in the message of these books, then you prove the author’s point that “so few seem to realize it.â€
It is not close-minded to disagree with the message of these books anymore than it is “close-minded” to disagree with the message of Men Kampf, even if the one is obviously less extreme and evil than the other.
Tarah: “Sometimes there is more to a book or an entire saga than the heavily scrutinized choices of a female protagonist.”
But isn’t this series all about the choices of a female protagonist? In this case there really isn’t much more to it than that, and thus it is perfectly acceptable–necessary even–to analyze her weak, anti-feminist, immature choices and decision. You say that Bella is “selfless” and “grown up,” but she is only selfless in certain situations (her desire to leave her family and friends forever to be a vampire and her deciding to risk her life and succumb to death in NM were extremely selfish decisions), and is extremely immature (last I checked, mature people don’t want to go to college only to have sex with their love interest all the time, or don’t act like ungrateful brats when people try to give them presents, or don’t want to commit to vampirism forever, but not marriage).
Excellent article, spot on except for your analysis of Jacob in Eclipse–the second time he kisses her was *not* forced (especially if you list the “suicide threat” separately), so it was not “halfway through…sexual assault” that she decided she loves him! The first time he kisses her was wrong, and he deserved to get punched, though it’s understandable as far as him desperately trying to make Bella see other options besides suicide by fang. His ploy at the end was manipulative and also not entirely morally sound, but it was also part of his attempts to save her life from vampirism, and it did ultimately succeed in showing her she did love him, and that there was another life path she could choose from than death and Edward….
So even if Jacob acts a little more annoying, and does a couple of things he shouldn’t, I don’t think that makes him an asshole in the second book–he’s mostly just desperate, and running out of time before the woman he loves/his best friend kills herself…..
The feminist argument plays like a broken record. Feminism is about choice. Bella chooses the path she wants out of life and never lets anyone persuade her otherwise. That is the essence of what woman fought for in the 70’s, their right to choose their path in life, not the idea that to be be a real woman you have to shun love and become the most hard-a$$ professional out there.
Yes, their love was obsessive, but name a love story by any author where the characters aren’t consumed by their love? To claim this is unhealthy is to claim that books such as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Romeo and Juliet, where in that case the two lovers committed suicide, should not be read by teenagers either for fear that they get the “wrong” message.
If you hate the story, fair play, but don’t construct arguments that have no merit.
The author of the article is saying it is unhealthy because the girl (Bella) is the only one going to the extremes to stay with the boy (Edward), while the boy doesn’t. In Romeo and Juliet, both of the lovers are willing to go to the extremes to stay with each other. You clearly missed the point about sexism the author was trying to make.
Oh goodness!! Who cares!?! It’s a literary escape. Some people get heated about the most ridiculous things!! These books don’t make me want to be any less independent of a woman than I already am!! It’s an outlandish love story, with the attraction of vampires and werewolves who are portrayed in a different, yet appealing light. It’s suspenseful, plays with emotions, yet is clearly fiction and has no means of trying to be applicable to the real world. It’s written for enjoyment – not critical feminist literary analysis!!
I find that the enormous popularity of the Twilight series proves that now more than ever girls and young women are showing an affinity for traditional gender roles. I think it is a naturally built-in characteristic of a female to want to be cherished, and wherever is the harm in that? Does it make women any less stronger, independent, or intelligent than men?
I also find that a feminist debate over a fantasy novel is rather childish, this book is FICTIONAL, the characters do not share a normal relationship, yet it is being judged as so. I think the real debate should be whether the girls consumming these books are old enough to separate fantasy and reality.
Concerning the hero… Your sarcasm over Edward and Bella’s chastity doesn’t apply. The character of Edward is not a “perfect” seventeen year-old-boy, he is a 107-year-old man. He was born into a world in which people actually possessed scruples.
Concerning the heroine… Did any one stop to point out the feminist nature in Bella before she was thrust into the world of vampires? Did anyone make comparisons to Bella and your “ordinary” teenage girl? She was a precocious, independent, self-sustaining female who had never had a serious relationship and cringed at the thought of marriage? How feminist can you get?
Also, this whole outrage over Bella’s need to be constantly saved is hilarious. What do you expect her to do when confronted with a mythical monster- stop Edward in his tracks and say, ” It’s okay babe, I got it!”?
Concerning the pregnancy, I feel that Meyer’s characters possess traits to be admired, not disparaged. They are loving and self-sacrificing. However, in a world where women are quick to abort HUMAN babies, much less violent, blood-sucking ones, Bella’s actions could be perceived with misunderstanding and disgust.
I do not think the Twilight books are the best books in the whole world, nor is Meyer the best author. I DO however, feel that they should be appreciated for what they are- escapist fantasies- nothing more, nothing less.
I for one liked the first book. It was addicting…like crack or something (I wouldn’t know, haha). It wasn’t very realistic (duh, vampires aren’t very), but overall I liked it.
After that, the books got subsequently worse. Especially Breaking Dawn. And the way you described it so honestly…well…
You are my hero.
sherrilina
what you don’t realize is that,when I want a message or roll models I go to an institution or person, that is going to give me that according to my believe or need. I do not go looking for a book that is clearly fiction, doesn’t apply in the real world and is for my entertaiment.
Sneha
You lost me, but anyway if don’t like it the Twilight Saga fine,
but bad writing? that is your opinion not mine.
I thought is was very enjoyable . Mistakes and grammar? well there is something call editor,and have you notice how many grammar and spelling mistakes our text books have, that is scary!
@ Brenda:
If your friend made the “choice” to stay with her abusive boyfriend or to kill herself to be with him, would you think, “Oh, okay. That’s fine. Feminism is about choices.”
There’s more to feminism than choosing a path. There’s a huge difference between a woman choosing to stay at home with the kids rather than go to work (I consider that in line with feminism) and her choosing to die and leave everything about herself behind for the sake of being perfect and to be with a guy.
The biggest problem with these books is that romanitic love is shown as the be-all, end-all to life. Forget friends and family, give them up for dazzlement. Bella doesn’t even have to experience real motherhood. With Jacob and the other Cullens there, plus the fact that her child is practically invincible, will live forever, AND is accelerating mentally…she’ll never have to deal with the hardships of motherhood. She can just go shag Edward for all eternity.
I feel for anybody who lives in the belief that the Twilight saga is an actual good read, honestly. I don’t have any friends, or family members, who’ve read the books and actually enjoyed the story in the way in was intended. They’ve definitely gotten some unexpected laughs, please Edward as a pillow biter? My ribs nearly cracked with laughter – as opposed to being booted in them by my ~angelic~ demon spawn – but I don’t think any educated individual should be allowed to say that these books are going to have any literacy impact at all. I searched high and low for a plot, throughout the four dragging reads, fruitlessly. How she managed to have these awful works published, I can’t imagine. There needs to be a law against allowing the minds of our younger generation to be infected with this conservative rubbish. SMeyer should be ashamed of herself for trying to coast on the back of the unexpected, undeserved, popularity she achieved with what I can only assume was limited effort.
@ Sara. You do understand that “traditional gender roles” are what we term a social construction? Society has been conditioned to accept without question that women are the weaker sex, with the only desire in life to be ‘cherished and protected’ while men are the stronger, protectors, without whom we couldn’t exist. Please. Perpetuating that myth is how women are constantly branded the lesser of the sexes – if anything, I would have appreciated more of an effort from Meyer to show the equality that can exist between the sexes, rather than have Bella be the “adorable” klutz (oh, i’m rolling my eyes so hard now) and Eddie Sparkles her dazzling knight.
It’s becomes easier to fight the inequality within the world when the younger generation of women are informed of this imbalance sooner, rather than later – but filling their heads with nonsense about how nothing will ever mean a thing without their twu luvv by their side does nothing but harm.
First, let me say that I don’t think the first three books are very well written (and the fourth, well, I’m only 150 pages in and rolling with laughter it’s so terrible. I’ve read fan-fiction by 12 year olds that was more realistic, but I digress.) I enjoyed the first three for what they were (fantasy, teen-romance novels) while thinking that SMeyer’s success was a bit unwarranted considering how juvenile her writing is. However, she has never denied the fact that she writes these books as a total wish-fulfillment for her own crazy desire for Edward. She dreamed this guy and wanted to make him real. Fair enough.
I don’t, however, see the feminism argument. Perhaps it’s because I’m a little wifey who chooses to stay at home and do the laundry and cook for her husband (who works a strenuous job all day to put food on the table and a roof over my head) and take care of the house and finds it amazingly fulfilling. Oh no, wouldn’t want me as a role model for children!
I find nothing disturbing about Bella wanting to cook or take care of things for her Dad, and I think that she well understands his inability to really express his feelings and also the depth of hurt he’s encountered from divorcing Renee and not being able to help raise his own daughter. She *chooses* to do things for him, to be a responsible housemate, actually. She could choose to have pizza every night, but since her dad isn’t a good cook, she takes the reins. Go her. I think that’s amazingly empowered and mature when so many teenagers (and adults!) out there today prefer McDonalds to a home-cooked meal.
Do I take these novels seriously? No. They’re fantasy; the plots and characters are mostly unrealistic and Bella is much too self-effacing for me. Her self-opinion needs some serious help. As far as the sacrifices Bella wants to make to be with Edward, eh, as someone who moved 10,000 miles to be with her husband and only gets to see her family once every few years, I know how hard decisions like that can be.
But, if anything in this world is about sacrifice, it’s love. Would I kill myself to be with my husband? No. But I’m not a heroine in a fantasy novel, either.
First – It’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.”
Second – I read the Twilight series and my feminist world view is intact! Can you believe it that women are not that easily influenced by works of fiction that they adopt any novel’s political agenda after reading it?
Third – Elizabeth Bennett is not much of a feminist hero to begin with. Not only is she a regular Cinderella, she passively waits for other people (in this case Mr. Darcy) to save her sister and her family’s reputation. And Wollstonecraft’s ideals she fails on pretty much every level.
Fourth – Breaking Dawn was indeed a really, really bad novel even by the low level standard set by the previous three books.
Personally, I wasn’t able to get past the first book. While it is… let’s say, mildly entertaining (if you’re a 14 year old), it did nothing for me and I found the writing to be quite poor and uneloquent. In fact, I still can’t get why the series are so famous, when there are thousands and thousands of better adolescent-themed books / vampire versus werewolves novels (whatever) out there. But then again, just because something has sold many copies, it doesn’t mean it’s brilliant. Harry Potter is so much better in every way it isn’t even funny.
Jennifer: You’re trying far too hard to thrust pseudo-intellectual English class feminism onto a book series meant for bored teenagers. “We” don’t all have to consider the idea of traditional gender roles a four letter word like you apparently do. The poster you are regarding makes a very valid point: where, in a woman’s desire to be cherished (or hell, a man’s desire) is weakness implied? The ideas of love and security do not have to demean one in any measure of strength, but steep that person in a larger measure of normal HUMANITY.
The Twilight Saga (or trilogy, as I prefer to believe) is not written in or for the traditional system of literary merit. A housewife is exploring her own imagination and dreams through middling prose and inspiring millions of kids (and grown up kids) to pick up a book and turn off the TV and we bitch and moan like this? How about celebrating that something has allowed the medium of the written word to stay as popular as it had become through books like Harry Potter instead. Despite declarations of love for Edward Cullen in facebook groups and applications most of these readers are grounded in reality. This is just a book with a Darcy-like character for a younger generation, not the downfall of modern humanity as we know it. Or an excuse to belittle people through tirades about supporting modern feminism.
Alright, where in this article is the writer saying she thinks women who choose to be housewives are bad role models? No where.
Everyone who is defending this series needs to keep in mind that just because you, yourself, are not influenced by the books does not mean that others are not either. Many of you are claiming your mothers, or in your twenties…you should be over the influence of the media. However, the majority of readers of Twilight are impressionable 12 to 16 year olds who believe that what they read is reality and tend to want to make their lives based around what they see, read, or hear.
This article is not so much about feminism as it is about showing how a story is telling young women abusive boyfriends are romantic and ideal. Just pretend you did not see any reference to feminism in this article, do you still have an argument against it? The writer is saying how this story portraying an unhealthy relationship is not right. There are girls I know who want boyfriends just like Edward and think he is so perfect and do not think other guys live up to that standard.
How is this not a negative influence? If you had a friend or family member who was in the same kind of relationship as Bella and Edward, would you not be concerned? If someone’s boyfriend is taking the motor out of their car, or having them kidnapped, or “suggesting” they not hang around certain friends anymore…can you honestly say you would not be worried?
And yet there are millions of teenage girls reading this and wanting it. It disturbs me that so many people are unconcerned that their children and people they know are reading this and wishing for it.
Okay, everyone, let’s be mature about this.
I’m personally against the books, citing constantly the errors in research and editing (at this point, I believe she bribed her editor), and moaning in sheer horror as I slog along, trying to find the enlightening plot in the story. Yes, it is fiction. No, I should not take it seriously. But when it comes down to it, stories affect the way people view things, and I believe that it should at least be a proper young adult novel and at the very least show some character development. Bella learns nothing about herself throughout at least two books, and as for her role in modern feminism, I must lean more toward the detraction theory. It may be a matter of choice, but I am disheartened to read that she goes into a coma for something like six months after Edward leaves. So she doesn’t go watch a sad movie and cry and bond with her friends – she chooses to walk around like a zombie moaning about her true love.
What message does that send?
As for her precociousness, she never shows it. Meyer always states how she thinks everything is just so easy and backward at Forks, but we never see her reading anything of her own volition, as far as I know. So she cooks – but what does that say about her father? He simply expects her to cook for him, and let us ignore the fact that he cannot have possibly eaten TV dinners and take out every night without gaining massive amounts of weight. Forks is a small town, as well, and unless he is at the gym constantly, he won’t exactly be getting much exercise. What does this say? That the man shouldn’t bother doing any housework at all? As much as some people may choose to cook and clean for their husbands, most of us would expect an occasional hand with the dishes or something. I do cook, and there are many, many days where I wish my parents would stop complaining about the dishes in the sink when yes, I do wash them nine times out of ten.
As for her love interest, I am extremely confused. What chemistry is there? He can’t read her mind, she’s not afraid of him. She smells tasty, he’s pretty. What else? Oh yes, he plays piano. And is pretty. And apparently, despite being frozen as a seventeen-year-old boy, who, scruples or no scruples, should have had some trouble resisting, he remains a perfect gentleman. Never mind that he went on a ten year stint of sin. Never mind that he lived through the hippie era. Never mind that biologically he is unsound. Where is the relationship development? They abruptly decide to start dating, she gets saved who knows how many times because of his or her own stupid fault, and then they end up married. Wonderful. I see no real bond there, other than the constantly stated one – stated, not shown, and if I must repeat the adage – let your actions speak for you.
Modern feminism…hmm, such a confusing word. What is it, exactly? Let’s define it as a choice to do what you feel is best for you…and let’s find if it really applies. What about the Yates case? She kills her children for their own “good” and it is her choice – she systematically drowned them, despite their struggles, put them in bed in a pretty little tableau, and called 911. She feels this is best for her, because now she cannot lead them into hell. A redemption for her sins. I suppose this is feminism.
I suppose too, that the questions I have read online are feminisms. That when a fourteen year old girl asks how to make her twenty year old, physically abusive boyfriend accept her apology after her father and brothers defended her, it is an example of feminism, because she wants what is right for her. What other skewed concepts of life do you wish to throw at me? Should we completely outlaw abortion and pray that no teen mother dies from a coat-hanger home abortion? Or that no black market will rise up, as it did for the Prohibition? I don’t like the concept of killing fetuses, and I would much rather that girls be taught to keep themselves safe, but is it good for anyone if the child grows up unloved? People have great potential – and no one wants to see a baby grow into something monstrous.
Feminism is the concept, I believe, of relative gender equality. We will never be perfectly equal, but I am sickened by the fact that Bella never stands up to Edward. She does not want to go to Prom beause, well, that’s the way she is, and she has a broken ankle. He tells her to go, and she goes. She cannot bear to have him leave her side, and the only time she stands up for herself on any issue is when it is about her death/vampiricy. She allows him to order her about, as if she is nothing but his beloved pet, and eventually endures a night of incredibly rough sex – which, the biological processes confuse me – from which she emerges mentally unscathed.
Bring out the whips and chains if you like, but if it’s going to leave bruises, that’s not a very good sign.
And just as a quick footnote: I am seventeen. I have a boyfriend, whom I love dearly, but I am nowhere as obsessed as Bella is. I would be furious if he decided I was not on equal footing as him – he has stated his dislike of some of my friends, but he’s never pressed me to stop talking to them, much less disabled my car, and I have done the same.
I shudder to think about what would happen if I had not been with him when I read the first book. I gritted my teeth throughout every idiotic act of “modesty” or “sacrifice”. I can not help reflecting on the insane difference between my dearest and Edward – and being extremely thankful for it.
@ Holeigh.
I find it hilarious that whenever somebody wants to discredit a point made, they find it appropriate to call it ‘pseudo-intellectual’, as if that is enough and they are the ultimate judge. And yet you completely misread my post. I don’t find anything wrong with people wanting to be cherished, or protected, as that speaks to our more primitive urges – what I do have a problem with is people dressing it up as only female or male proclivities. Which simply isn’t true.
Oh please !
everyone feel sorry for me, I Really love the books.
I have read worse books, with worse role models than bella,
but i don’t hear anybody putting the blame on those authors, you people have very selective ways of thinking.
let’s remember this is a fictional book that doesn’t apply to anybodys life.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, I read the host too and I had a great time.
my two teenagers read the books and were the ones that introduced the series to me. I am very glad
Perhaps the reason for us not criticizing other, much more horrid books is because they’re not currently under the title of “Bestseller” or “The Next Harry Potter”? What would be the point of it, if we don’t actually feel worried that it’s wrongly influencing generations of girls?
“It’s fiction” isn’t much of an argument. Especially if you look around the internet and find many girls comparing every aspect of their lives to the Twilight series. Not always in a positive way either. Teenage girls, for the most part, are insecure, and therefore often easily misguided by books such as Twilight. Whether you believe it or not, it happens.
The argument of Bella being strong because of her actively choosing to do this or that falls short when you find that her mind never does much choosing beyond, “I want to be with Edward. Edward, Edward, Edward.” Edward leaves her, so she chooses to be a zombie for several months. The author even exaggerates it by giving us pages with the names of a few months and nothing else. What does that say? This girl is so unealthily devoted to this one being that her life really is absolutely nothing but passing time. This girl does not choose to make herself healthy, it just so happens that another man comes into the picture and she decides to cling to him for support. Even then, she definitely chooses to hear hallucinations of her loved one getting angry with her, being fatherly in that “Bella, don’t do that, you’ll get hurt” kind of way. She definitely chooses to put herself in danger in order to keep the hallucinations around. She chooses to get near men that reminded of the ones that wanted to rape her earlier in the series. She chooses to go cliff-diving.
Bella does not actually care for her own life. She is defined by the men she loves. If she is not a Vampire Girl, she is a Wolf Girl, as she stated somewhere in New Moon. Without them, she is nothing. Unlike many other romantic novels, those aren’t the sweet words from a lover’s mouth, they’re real actions.
Also, when arguing whether or not anti-feminism exists in these books, perhaps some of the doubters should take a look at the portrayal of the other women in the series? The first argument against me might be that Rosalie and Alice are strong, and therefore the books are not anti-feminist, yet who are Alice and Rosalie strong in comparison to? Bella, right? Would you say Rosalie is tronger than Edward, Emmett, Jasper, or Carlisle? Same question goes for Alice, and then you’ve got Esme who is nothing more than a mate/mother.
That’s not to say I have a problem with anyone devoting themselves to their children or their lover, but I do think something’s wrong when every single female’s life story surrounds that one love or their children. Even when the women don’t have men, they spend their time pining over the one that left them. The men on the other hand have all these great backgrounds that stand apart from their women, if we even hear about their backgrounds that is- though I think Meyer’s lack of character development skills is more to blame in this case.
As you can see, you’ve been kind of forewarned. The obnoxious screams of the hardcore fans will come in droves because GOD FORBID a critic or anyone for that matter dislikes the series.
Again, while most of the “omg, ur sooo wrong” comments will arrive in the tons, beware of rabies, those Twi-Hards are vicious.
Thank you! Thank you so much.
I started reading the Twilight books when I was 18 and had just had the most miserable first semester of college. I was looking for anything to lose myself in and Meyer’s books were the first that came into my life. At the time I thought they were the greatest romance books I’d ever read, which you’d think that after my many years of reading Tamora Pierce’s books, where woman actually have spines, I would have known better than to like Bella.
But I have seen the light and it saddens me. One of my own friends is disgustingly in love with Edward and thinks he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread and it makes me sad that girls like her can’t see what you’ve so poignantly stated here. Girls should be given better role models in this day and age, and Bella is most definitely NOT an acceptable role model.
This article is like a breath of fresh air.
The perceptions that Twilight is giving girls’ around the world about reltionships is down right worrying.
Like, “He only does it because he loves me.” is one of the biggest reasons women give fro not leaving abusive relationships.
And yet girls all around the world believe that it is a justified reason..
Whatever happened to healthy relationships based on trust and commitment.
Yeah, I really need to get roung to reading the Vindications of the rights of women. It was written by Mary Shelley’s mother right?
“Third – Elizabeth Bennett is not much of a feminist hero to begin with. Not only is she a regular Cinderella, she passively waits for other people (in this case Mr. Darcy) to save her sister and her family’s reputation. And Wollstonecraft’s ideals she fails on pretty much every level.”
Sorry, but I had to reply to this comment, you are taking the story out of it’s Historical context.
If Eizabeth had been the good little girl she was supposed to be she would have married the first man who proposed to her.
She would therefor be stuck as an unhappy wife to Mr Collins.
What was she supposed to do when Lydia ran away with Wickham?
She has no money, no social status, nothing with which she could possibly influence anyone. Her father can not do anything either.
And she turns down Mr Darcy the first time he proposes because she does not see how she could be happy with him at that point of the story.
When we look at books written in an differnet era than our own we need to take them in context of the day. I mean people say that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is racist, but if you look at the context of that day it actually admitted that the Back slaves were people, which is much more then most people did.
@jennifer- bella was existing just fine before edward came along, and wanting Meyer to show more equality between the sexes is rather irrelevant for a YA novel. Bella is not Edward’s equal because she is a human, and he is not. That was the only differance I found, which was eventually eradicated in the last book. In what way are women branded with the title “the weaker sex” these days? History has proved that women can write books, give speeches, tend households, follow careers, fulfill dreams, lead nations, just as well if not better than men. Is this a brand we choose to place on ourselves? I believe in “equality” of the sexes. However I also believe that men and women are different. What is so wrong in that?
I disagree with your statement that society has been conditioned to accept without question that women only possess the desire to be cherished and protected. I believe that the past century, from women’s suffrage to women’s rights, completely refute that idea. Even throughout history, when women were treated worse than dogs, we didn’t need a wall street job or the vote to prove that women are certainly NOT weak.
It is just so great that this entire debate is doing the opposite of what is was meant to do! It’s only adding fuel to the fire if you know what i mean. I can see the headlines now-“VAMPIRE SERIES SPARKS CONTROVERSIAL DEBATE CONCERNING FEMINISM, AND TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES”. Meyer is going to have her hands full, and i personally would love to hear what she has to say about all this.
Thank you so much. It’s nice to see that not everyone in the press is blinded by this book. The story is, as Sara puts it, escapist. Yet, I find that many teenage girls believe it to be the Bible and dictate their lives after it, usually resulting in angry and often threatening responses to those who aren’t “dazzled” by Edward.
I read these books because my friends were so in love with them. I expected to like them, but I felt that Twilight was mediocre at best. I tried finishing the rest, but gave up halfway through Eclipse and read Wikipedia instead. When I told my friends, I was greeted with things like:
“But, I thought you were intelligent! Why don’t you like it?”
“You’re going to end up with someone like Eric and I’m going to laugh.” (The person who said this ended up rejecting an extremely nice boy because he was “on the chess team and a nerd.” Um hello? You’re on the math team. you’re technically a nerd too.)
“I hate you. Why are you alive?”
“I think we should get Edward to kill her.”
“I wish I was Bella. Then, I’d get my vampire friends to kill you.”
These were from people who I’d been best of friends with since the third grade, but this book has changed them. They were all very studious and looking at top colleges. Now, I’m the only one even looking at college (to anyone at MIT, if you’re reading this, I’d like to be accepted :D). I haven’t spoken to them about Twilight since then and I’m dreading the beginning of school because I know that they will talk about Breaking Dawn and how Edward and Bella are the epitome of human relationships. I’m 17 and, though I’d like to think otherwise, I believe that girls around my age are impressionable. My friends go around squealing, “OH! I wish -I- was Bella… Life would be so perfect.” So, you’d like to defer your admission to Dartmouth in order to get married (to a 107 year old man who left you at one point, resulting in a suicide attempt and a zombie-like mindset) and pregnant. Then, you’d like to narrowly escape death during childbirth and have your friend take a liking to your newborn daughter? Um, did I miss the memo?
Maybe I’m just drifting away from my friends, as so many teenagers do. Maybe, I just don’t understand this kind of romance. But, what I do understand is that no one is telling these people that being so devoted to a novel is bad and that the choices they make now could, potentially, change their lives.
OK people SHUT THE FUCK UP,if people like this book stop dissing it and stop compareing it to FRICKIN harry potter!they are 2 different series.and in the 2nd book BELLA SAVES EDWARD FYI!!!!!!!!!!!so there bella is a great role model she cooks for her dad,takes care of her mother,and does her homework and is an excellent stdent!and smeyer said bella will go to colleage but as infinate time so ahe can do what ever.so in conclusin if you say twilight sucks YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Profanity just makes you seem immature. If you really want people to consider your opinion, you shouldn’t resort to ad hominems.
Screw You Twilight is awesome
HOW DARE YOU !!!!!! I’m at lost for words but you know what your only just another person ! But really this fandom is going to grow with or without you !!!! HONESTLY THIS IS ONE OF MOST BEAUTIFUL STORIES I HAVE EVER READ ! I’m not an intelligent person like yourself and others who have written comments on here but when I READ I LOVE TO GET AWAY AND JUST BE ENTERTAINED AND THAT’S WHAT THIS BOOK SERIES DID FOR ME ! I DON’T CARE ABOUT ALL THE STUPID LITERARY FACTS OR ANY POLITICAL OR WHAT’S RIGHT OR WRONG I JUST READ ! I’M SORRY I JUST FEEL REALLY BAD FOR YOU AND WHY DON’T YOU TELL US WHAT BOOKS ARE WE SUPPOSE TO READ HARRY ? NO I ALREADY TRIED THAT PASS …
SORRY BUT THIS WAS ONE OF THE WORSE ARTICLES I HAVE EVER READ !!!!
TWILIGHT FAN
TRUE TWILIGHTER ….
This article is awful ! Thanks for bowing out because honestly the Twilight fanbase just doesn’t deserve someone who’s so NEGATIVE in the community. I loved the books and so did MILLIONS so your just one of those people who can’t just take the ride and enjoy it for once. YOU JUST THINK TOO MUCH JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE ! Well anyways I hope you find what your looking for because I doubt you’ll find it !
Team Twilight/Stephenie for me.
First of all… STOP GENERALIZING YOUR OPINIONS! gosh… its disgusting. if you would add a “i think” or “in my opinion” and “for me…” to your theories and thoughts, ok… but you say, that it IS this way. and that is wrong… neither is twilight perfect for everyone. its a question of taste and whatever…
and thats the ONLY reason i found your review just terrible.
i hate people who think the only thing that matters is their opinion… gooosh! stop it! don’t be that… that overheaded! irks.
and by the way… write a bookseries that is that popular and, in my opinion, genious. then you will have MAYBE the right to be so self-absorbed and post your review because you thought the world has waited for it…
SORRY Miss I’m too good for regular books. Women like you just piss me off and GIVE US A BAD NAME !
Harry Potter fans go away you guys are always looking to bring us down but I’VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU GUYS GO AWAY AND CRY IN YOUR ROOM BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO WAIT 11 MONTHS FOR YOUR MOVIE BOOOHOOOO ! Anyways I loved the series and it’s sad you had to write an awful article to get your retarded opinions out.
If a person is to good for regular books, they they must obviously be reading classics such as “A Scarlet Letter” and other such works. But you’re reading Twilight, which actually means that you “aren’t good enough for you.” As for the movie thing, the Harry Potter fans waited ten years for their book series to finish, so they can easily wait eleven more months for the next. Also, facts aren’t opinions.
It’s an opinion piece. The author can express an opinion if he/she (sorry!) wants. There is no such thing as a better opinion. The author doesn’t think that his/her opinion is the only one that matters. If that was so, there would be no “comment” function.
So what your daying is, love can’t exist.
Soul mates don’t happen? There’s not half of you missing?
Have you read any classics, especially during the 1800’s, romance period? They’d do anything for their love. If you are a 13 year old girl (which i just so happen to be) and you believe that you need to kill yourself because your boyfriend left you, than you are an idiot, you just want attention. But to Bella, Edward wasn’t just someone she was in love with, he was her best friend, someone who completed her, the only reason why she was able to be fully happy, no parts were missing when he was there. She’d miss him even if she never met him. It may sound cheesy, but thats what he was to her, i don’t believe you can be truly happy if you meet your soul mate and they leave. But of course that is my opinoun. I haven’t found my soul mate, and i may never, but bella found hers and she can not live without him. It’s simple and not complicated. I’m sorry for my missspellings. I’m awful at typing and spelling.
I think that Twilight is AMAZING you people don’t get it do you SHE LOVES HIM!!!!!! Stephenie is a clever author and whatever you have against her is really idiotic!!!!!
Oh please the haters on here are harry potter fans who are still mad at their movie coming out late. GO AWAY ! They are so annoying !
Anyways the article was awful and it’s sad people like you have to bash something that’s not yours to begin with. But you know what theres opposition in all things and your it. PEOPLE JUST READ IF YOU LIKE IT YOU LIKE IT ! I LOVE THE SERIES AND NOBODY IS GOING TO CHANGE MY MIND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The TWILIGHT SERIES ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ur just a bunch of haters! its just a book and it makes people happy and brings joy to many people lives! STOP KILLING ARE JOY!
IT’S A LOVE STORY AND IT’S FICTIONAL GET OVER IT LADY WITH YOUR STUPID ARTICLE REALLY !
Maybe you should try THE HOST !
Can I ask where all of you guys got this link? I’m just wondering…
She can give her opinion BUT WERE GONNA GIVE HER OURS WE HAVE THE SAME RIGHT !!
WE LOVE TWILIGHT AND WE WANT TO LET HER KNOW WHY ! AND WE DON’T CARE TO CHANGE HERS !
See…why does the Twilight Series evoke so much hatred?
Why can’t fans of the book understand that not everyone loves the book?
Personally I thought Twilight was boring (only the end was somewhat interesting), but I got through it. Then I moved on to New Moon because I thought Meyer’s writing and story would get better ( I had faith. Faith.). It didn’t so I didn’t finish it.
And don’t say I don’t have an opinion when I haven’t read all of the books when you’re going to turn around and say “why did you keep on reading them if you didn’t like them?”
I can’t dislike them if I haven’t read them, but I can stop reading because I read enough and had enough. Stop asking that stupid question.
It’s like yelling at someone for no liking bananas or The Dark Knight. People have the right to their opinions.
First off, Bella’s mother (or Renee as Bella so disrespectfully calls her) left Charlie when Bella was a few months old so Renee spent a good 13-15 years (benefit of doubt) taking care of her daughter. It may have not been the best parenting, but Bella seems to be 100% so I don’t know why she has this idea that she’s done everything. Don’t forget Bella. You were a baby once.
I can’t stand my mother sometimes and sometimes I think I can survive without her, but she does more things behind the scenes then I could ever imagine.
And Charlie has been on his own for 17 years. No excuse. He’s not some caveman.
And no one has yet to tell me just why Bella and Ed love each other. What’s the basis? Please someone help me. Does he make her laugh? Does he know what certain looks on her face mean without her saying anything? Do they finish each others sentences (I know cliche, but it’s a sign)? Do they do things before the other knows because they know that’s what they wanted? do they just fit together?
Please. I want to know. And please don’t yell. Be civilized.
IT”S A BOOK!!!! Get over it!!! Why do people seem to love to degrade books that just happen to be cheesy or too feminist!!! It’s f*cking fiction!! Not real!!! People like it, that’s what matters!!! Yes, it will never live up to Harry Stupid Potter, but no book will!! Does that mean you get to bash on a series that has success even if you don’t understand it? Stephanie Meyer is a great writer, no need to be jealous because she’s better than you.
It’s no real!! It’s not hurting anyone! If you didn’t want to read it, then no one forced you to. Does that you mean you get to come online where the author and millions of fans are going to see who bash on there book? NO!!! People like to get lost into it, get over it!!!
And Get A LIFE!!
Fine. But, there’s no reason to insult her.
LADY THE ONLY THING HERE THAT SUCKS IS YOUR BLOG !
FOUR MOVIE, MIDNIGHT SUN AND MORE BOOKS …..
IT’S NOT OVER AND WE’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
IF IT’S JUST A BOOK WHY THEY HELL ARE YOU ON HERE YELLLING ? YEA …..
“First and foremost, the books present a female heroine who can hardly take a step without needing some boy to rescue her.”
So you’re saying it’s bad if someone can’t save herself? You’re saying it’s bad if not everyone can defend themselves? Not everybody is wonder woman you know. And how is a human girl supposed to save herself from a car about to kill her? She can’t! Killer vampire? nope. How about 20 newborns? Yeah, she’s really weak for failing to defend herself there… Stephenie Meyer states on her site, “I am not anti-female, I am anti-human.” How is any human supposed to appear strong next to a vampire? They can’t. And I’ll tell you why Twilight has so many fans. It’s because we can relate to it, it’s a personal story. Take out the vampires, and you could probably put yourself in Bella’s place. I don’t think you have the right to personally tell people what’s sexist and what’s not. And besides IT IS FICTION! I really wish people would stop taking good books, and over analyzing them. When I read New Moon do you think I’m going to jump off a cliff because Bella did? Heck no! People read books for FUN, not to get a message for themselves. At least people who actually want to enjoy books do… And next time you write a review could you please make it less bias, not everybody is as “strong” as apparently you are…
Perfect response to Twilight. You’ve entered the minds of all the properly functioning brains out there and put their thoughts into words perfectly!
For a piece of writing to be good, in terms of literary rules (and yes, you HAVE to judge a piece of writing by those rules no matter who you are), there has to be a reason for writing it. When Meyer blatantly says, “They’re just vampires”, or “There’s no meaning behind any of it” (I’m paraphrasing here), that’s just about the worst thing any “author” can say or do! There HAS to be more to a story than just mushy romance!
Twilight has no deeper meaning intended except for influencing the 10-15 year old girls out there that you MUST find your own Edward NOW or you’ll die a lonely unhappy woman, and you might as well kill youself.
Please. Twilight is just bad writing. That’s all there is to it; Ani-femenism and abusive relationships aside.
what sucks is this article. NOT WASTING MY TIME.
Millions of books sold who cares what this lady says !
Only virgins who cant drive would actually like TWILIGHT haha. Everyone at my school who reads it is an ugly, sad loser, sry to say, deluded into believing theyre just ‘average’ and that someday, maybe some beautiful, strong boy will look at them and fall in love, even though it would make no sense and never really happen. So yeah, keep reading Twilight, losers, cuz it’s as close as you’re going to get.
Oh and I cant believe married women with kids like this. Really? LOL thats the most pathetic thing I have ever heard. What is WRONG with you???
I never insulted her.
I have a right to have an opinion and discuss the book. That’s what people do with Shakespeare and Robert Frost and Flannery O’Connor. They pull it apart and see the themes, conflict, etc.
So why can’t we do the same for the Twilight series?
I admit that those books are nothing compared to the previously mentioned authors, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look at them. Some people saw the flaws even they were reading them for the first time. They saw that actions speak louder than words and they watched Ed’s actions. That’s good if you didn’t notice, but as you said, it’s a book. Readers should leave fiction and fantasy on the pages. You say you want a hot guy like Ed, but then claim that it’s fiction and none of it is real. Well then…Ed doesn’t exist. He’s an exaggerated fictional character that would be impossible if he existed to today.
But sadly people don’t believe that he’s not real and that’s a problem.
I liked the Twilight saga and just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean you have to be a bitch!! Stephenie Meyer is a great writer and millions of people love these books so f@#* off. but i do agree with you on the part that these books should NOT be compared to Pride and Prejudice cuz that is like the greatest book ever, in my opinion.
I personally disagree with you. You look at it from a VERY negative view. I’ve seen that with reviews about HP too, and arguments turn out to be just pointless. (they teach children witchcraft…that’s very bad…, they say there’s no good or bad, only power (well, yeah Voldemor said that, and that’s the bad guy) etc.)
I think it’s a very good book. Many people think Twliht isn’t, but some there are always people who don’t like a book (also with HP).
Ow, and please Twilight fans, now don’t get mad at all HP fans, because the person who wrote this likes HP and doesn’t like Twilight, that’s absurd. Many of the HP fans are Twilight fans too(like me).
Did you read The Host? It’s very different and I think you’d like it better.
And ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The HBP movie is coming in JULY…(sorry, I just had to say that)
~evanna11
Lily, probably most people got it from Bellaandedward.com
I’m sorry Evanna. Are you referring to me?
I’m simply turning the arguments of fangirls and readers who love the book on their head. They contradict themselves and I had to use a harsh (though, I didn’t find it harsh) example as to why none of these people make sense.
@ Jeanine: If you mean me (in your second post), I was talking to TwilightFan who consistently called Rice “stupid”.
Honestly, when a person publishes something, they are putting himself or herself out there and, while there will be praise, there’s also criticism.
Hallelujah!! A sane review of the series. I love you for writing this.
I’ve read the books and let’s just say I wanted to throw them out the window more than once but I’d spent money on them so I wasn’t about to do that. [The first 3 I bought second hand thankfully.]
I only read them because 99.9% of my friends were reading them and I felt so out of touch when they went on and on about them. The reason I hadn’t wanted to read them in the first place was because I don’t like Vampire stories but they said these vampires weren’t your typical ones so I thought. ‘Hey why not give these a go then’.
I wish I hadn’t given in. Really and truly I do. I only kept reading because I didn’t want to just stop mid-way through a series. I’m kind of weird like that. No matter how bad something is I won’t stop halfway through it.
So enough rambling on my part. Again thank you for posting this review. Very well written. That short page is better written than the entire saga put together.
This article sucks…and not in a good way.
wow. you are the craziest person in the world.
edward does all of that because he loves and
cares for bella and wants her to be happy. =]
stop critizising it… nananananaa I CANT HEAR
YOUU! – that was for one of the reviewers (; -
@ …on
Sorry I thought you were a fan.
But yeah. I agee.
I never insult Meyer and Rice (the author Anne Rice?) doesn’t deserve to be insulted either.
Theres one thing the FANS and STEPHIE MEYER have in common….conflict avoidance! I didnt read past the first book but apparently theres never any real battles in ANY of them, not even the last one. And the fans keep saying “stop criticizing it!”… they dont want no battles, not in their books or in real life. How fucking boooooring.
wow you’re a b**** and a snob for that matter… I’m sure you’re not too pretty yourself sunshine
Your opinion matters.
Its okay to state it.
But your title is just rude and disrespectful.
I’ve seen and read reviews for Twilight that hate the series but at least their titles were respectful. “Twilight Sucks… And Not in a Good Way” is a poor and rude way to state your opinion.
Your title gives off an amature vibe. Sorry.
how the hell could u write that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ur such a freaking retard!!!! thsi is the worst thing ive ever read in my life. im a true twilight fan and there i nothing wrong with these series. if u do thing that (which obviously u do) u just have to remember that this is a FICTIONAL book!!! and U DONT HAVE TO BE A FAN OF IT!!!! we dont care-of course we disagree and we think that u should see or view of the books but apparently ur past resoning…. but i will tell u this and i know other twilighters will agree with me- stephenie meyer is a wonderful author and she is a great mom and is just writing for herself and to make a living. of course she is very happy when others enjoy her books but if they dont….thats ok with her. contrary to what u think SHE IS NOT A WITCH TRYING TO SUCK US TEENS INTO WANTING A ””BAD”” REALATIONSHIP LIKE BELLA HAS!!!!!!!!! this book is just for enjoyment…nothing more!! yeah, fans do fall in love with edward (like me!) and jacob (im team switz) and they do want to be bella but so what??/ if u dont agree witht he book’s views and ideas of stephenies writing then u shouldnt have even finished them of even have written this review. thats all i have to say. one thing though-i do have to give u this- breaking dawn wasnt that great. dont get me wroing im still a twihard twilighter but not a ‘breakingdawner’ im not mad at the plot she took- im just mad that the way she wrote was not the same and it wasnt as magical (yes, magical-just like twilight, new moon, eclipse) as the others. thats all. i really do feel bad for all u anti-twilight people. ur really missing out of a good part of ur life-reading these books and enjoying them just because they’re books. I LOVE TWILIGHT, NEW MOON, ECLIPSE, BREAKING DAWN, EDWARD, JAOCB, BELLA, ALICE, JASPER, EMMETT, ROSALIE, CARLILSE, EMSE, RENESMEE, CHARLIE, SETH, AND STEPHENIE MEYER!!!!!!!!!!
umm, she took her heels off when she was hunting?
and the second kiss Bella asked for.
;D
I think that you understime the teenagers today, I see them under a different light.
Teenagers today are well read, travel, they work, get involved in so many activites, music, art, they are independent and know what they want.
I had the opportunity to live abroad: China, Korea, Mexico,Thailand,Japan, USA. I can say that this bright young women and men are not uninformed nor uneducated. (I want to mention that I read the twilight Saga in other languages too)
Do they know the difference between a fictional character from a book with vampires and worewolf from a real life situation?….. let me think.
I dare to say yes, a positive yes. you will always come across some exceptions, not the rule, but that can be applied to adults too.
Are teenagers unexperience, awkard, undecide, odd, overbearing overexicited , trying to find their place?… yes
But who is not? I have seen tons of teens with a lot of common sense and more maturity than some adults.
Am I impressed by all these young women and men today .. YOU BET!
I am worried about the twilight Saga influence on the teenagers today? A definefly, clear, NO !
I do not understimate them for a second!
Haha, thats the classic ugly persons defence.
I love me some ugly people actually, I appreciate people of all stages of physically finesse as long as its accompanied by some braincells and a sense of humor. But those sad sacks who wallow in fantasies about impossibly beautiful, yet totally humorless people, when they themselves are so damn beat in the face region? It’s just pretty lolloriffic when you stop and consider it!
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okay clearly every one has their own favorite genre. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SERIES THEN FINE! Just stop putting negative comments about it. I bet half of you haters didn’t even read the series. You guys are just annoyed by all the talk and obsessiveness going around.
i personally love the series bc i find the chemistry between edward and bella absolutely romantic and AMAZING!
THIS ARTICLE SUX……..and not in a good way!
cecilia: “i really do feel bad for all u anti-twilight people”
Oh, do u? Why thank u! U so thoughtful.
Wow I bet the boys are all over you
Besides that the article was well written.
Sure, Twilight is not a master piece. But sometimes people just want to read a book without having to deal with the underlying details and the analysis. Just to read a book and enjoy is something that people want to.
While I agree with barely anything in your article, I understand that you have your opinion.
Though, this being said, I agree with Emy. It’s your opinion, yes, but there is no need for that kind of a title.
And truthfully, slating the Twilight Saga is quite blatantly the best way to get hits – hoards of angry Twilight fans are going to come here and slate you right back, or Twilight haters are going to agree with you. Which was probably the point of the entire article.
Just like a swarm of fire ants, rawr.
wow Dollywood, that was bit immature.
and now your probably going to reply with somehting more immature that sounds thoughtful and insightful. What a sharp mouth you have! and I applaud you for that… it’ll get you places…
if you don’t like the series, thats wonderful. But I don’t understand how you can’t understand Bella. Firstly, she’s the new girl, so obviously, all the guys are going to be over. Secondly, she doesn’t need a boy to save her, she just chooses to have a boy save her. So what if she can’t take two steps without finding a way to get hurt or need to be saved. MILLIONS of other girls are the same way. Me included. Thridly, in New Moon, Bella is devastated. I believe if the love of your life, whether they be human or vampire, left you, you would be in a state similar to hers. Sorry that not everyone in the world is capable of waking up the next morning and pretending like that never happened. Fourthly, whatever, you can have your opionion, and so doesnt everyone else. People like this book, people don’t, but there is no need to take it to this extent.
Ok, I’m one of the young teenage girls you’re talking about and I love the Twilight Series. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion so I’m going to voice mine. The Twilight Series encouraged me to read classiscs like Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. I enjoyed them a lot. I really like Bella. Maybe it’s because I can relate to her. She’s clumsy, afraid of blood etc.
People say Bella and Edward are too obsessed with each other but I thought it was like a breath of fresh air to read about that kind of never-ending love in a time when people divorce everyday.
I don’t think Edward’s perfect. You have to remember that Bella thinks he’s perfect, but she would, she’s in love with him. Edward has his flaws. Yeah, he’s over-protective but he’s been waiting his whole existence for a partner and he knows that Bella could be killed so easily by one of his kind. He wants her to stay, forever.
I’ve read Stephanie Meyer’s book The Host too and I think it was a great read. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan too and I just want to say I completely agree with Evanna11.
I’m finished my rant now….. I think!
Um, WHATEVER!!! Why mince words when the books really do suck? Harder than a toothless ten peso Tijuana hooker, even.
Yes, there are very brilliant children and teenagers, but there’s also children and teenagers that get swept up (as you can see with all the capslock hate). There are actual people that want an Ed, but that’s impossible.
Now I won’t venture into the extremes (because I do have faith in us), but as you can see right now that some of these posts are very violent and fail to provide answers to the questions we have. We see things differently than you do and that would be fine if no one rejected a perfectly good human man because he wasn’t perfect or went crazy on someone with a different opinion or complained to their husband because he wasn’t Ed. That’s why we have a problem.
Not to mention it’s poor writing (too many adverbs, no subtley, purple prose, etc.).
Emy: No reply because we…AGREE! Praise Heathus!
wow rude much? if someone wants to read about a teenage girl who falls in love with a “vegitarian” vampire then they should be able to. if u dont like it (is it obvious) well o smart one DONT READ IT. i dont really care that much wat u say about the book just dont be so rude about it and PLEASE, go get some help b4 u ruin another books rep.
I am not a teenager, but a stay at home mom who appreciated the ability to get away from reality and enjoy a little unrealistic romance. I don’t think anyone would consider Meyer to be the author that Austen was; she is no where on that level. However, I find it funny that you feel the need to take the time to crucify another person’s work rather than creating something worthwhile of your own. Best of luck to you in your career. You will need it!
if u read the books with a mind set of feminist, independent rights and crap like that… its wat its gonna b. y cant u just read the book and say “hey i dont like that, but congrats to the authors success.” no. u people have to worry about all the other people in the workd instead of yourself.
so waht do i say???
WHAT HAPPENED TO UR INDEPENDENCE.???
i bet all of u wished that the love of your life culd b there to save you wen u were in need of help. and i bet u were all were a bit peeved wen ur boyfriend said he doesnt love you anymore and left u.
make wat u can of that!!!
Lia
We have to read it to not like it. If we didn’t read it then it would be pointless debating with you.
I truly can’t stand that argument.
srry i got bored and decided i wasnt done.
o and if u havent figured it out yet i actually liked twilight (just thot id let u know) i totally agree with cecilia and dollywood is a bitch (srry but u know its tru)
good thing u have ur point of view, but simply i dont agree with you, this book IS the bes,t while i was sad and lonely this book game me happines made me laugh and cry in a good way, but there are always twilight haters anywhere but whatever, its not like Twilight is my life either.
I personally love the twilight series. But we all have our own opinion. Millions of people around the world like these books, but not everyone can like them. You have your own opinion, and thats great. but i dont think you should go around writting articles telling people what they should and should not read. You read the series and didnt like it, ok so what. i read the series and loved it, ok so what. we are 2 different people. and i personally have to disagree with everything you said. again just MY personal opinion. The Twilight series is not a real life situation. You cant apply every little thing about these books to real life. Nothing in these books will ever happen in real life. its not possible. these books were written to entertain. To some people it certainly did that, to others not so much. we all have our own likes and dislikes so you read whatever you want to and ill read whatever i want to.
Oh I truly do admire STEPHIEs success! She was able to sell four books about gentle sparklepires to the masses, and considering theyre books where nothing really ever happens (no conflict-climax-resolution as one would expect and hope for when reading any book), and that the writing is really pretty mediocre verging on bad, thats absotastically amazing! But also proves that people basically have no taste or minds of their own and that they need a crap writer like Meyer to introduce them to Austen or Brontes before they would even think of picking those much better authors up.
The reason STEPHIE gets reamed out isnt because of her success, JKR was way more successful and she didn’t get her ass chewed out on the internet nearly so much. Its because STEPHIE is successful for producing something that a good load of people find stunningly crappy! OMG I am too young to be a published writer so save your “write a book yourself” arguments, but I’m pretty confident I could take a poo, walk my dog, go to school, and come up with a lame concept like Twilight all in one day.
As a writer myself, I do not think about the people who are going to read my works, I write for myself. It’s MY story. And in Mrs. Meyer’s case, it’s HER book. It just so happens that this book was adored my millions, and the author of this entry fails to realize that this is a work of FICTION. Yes, it does have some flaws and such. However, that is not enough reason to “trash” the series.
The reason I am against this entry is because the author of the entry claims that the book was written to influence women to be damsels of distress. But we all know that books like those only aim to ENTERTAIN. Even if this book, or any book for that matter, includes anti-feminist or pro-sexist characters and situations, it is still just a book. People have brains to think for themselves. It is up to us to decide what to do with the information that a book presents.
Obviously, the author of this entry is very one sided and refuses to keep an open mind, which a good reviewer should do. He/she greatly succeeds in twisting the points of feminism and sexism to attack this book.
I’m sorry.
i couldn’t read everything.
i was getting blinded by the words. And besides, why are you yelling out that the book is bad? Just keep it to yourself or something. Besides, I read both Twilight books and Harry Potter books and by what I mean is all of them.
I don’t hate any or give to any what reason to them but
just step of. Besides, I think Stephenie gave reason to
the book to mostly talk about vampires and their habitat but probably just in her world.
Anyways, you are rude for one thing and sometimes, some people who have read twilight don’t actually think of feminist and stuff like that. Some of them get lost in their mind after reading the book or just can’t wait for a new one.
W/e
everyone has their own opinion.
you guys don’t have to fight over stuff like this.
if u like it..fine you like it. if you don’t, then you don’t.
and if other ppl post articles online about how they feel about it, and you don’t like what they said, you just close the window and continue on with your life. you don’t need to trash each other….
OH HA would you all say “its just FICTION” if a young adult book openly supported something like paedophilia or…
O SHIT WAIT
Thats so dumb though, srsly, to say that because something is fiction its above criticism. If you produce anything for the public whether its a computer or some cereal or some long johns or anything thats consumable then consumers will make their criticisms heard. AND WAIT WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT THINGS ON THE INTERNET, ITS JUST SOME STUFF ON THE INTERNET WHYSO SERIS?
If you didn’t like the article then why did you read it?
Hmm…sounds familiar.
I could not even finish this pointless article. This person KNOWS NOTHING about Twilight. Stephenie NEVER ever said that venom replaces blood, that was a rumour on the internet, nothing more. She has addressed this several times. Why would she say that when she has known since 2003 that Bella would get pregnant. SO HA!, SCREW YOU! Secondly, why do people think Twilight is insulting to women? Of course Bella needs rescuing now and again, she hangs around with vampires!!! And she is a very strong person, she actually has most of the power in her relationship with Edward. The person is a complete TWAT!!!…and not in a good way haha. (people from england will know what i mean hehe)
First off, I am a fan of the series, and I do somewhat agree with this review. However, I am not an impressionable 12-17 year old girl and I despise Bella Swan with everything I have. Basically, you have to have a certain, sort of twisted mindset to enjoy them. Edward is a fictional hunk that falls for the “geeky” kinda girl. What’s wrong with that kind of romance? Psh, anyway, I just had to say that some fans (all of my friends, at least) usually agree with these reviews. We just love the loveable characters. Except Bella.
And having read a few vampire-themed novels before (not that I’m a fan of them, I just like to read), Meyer recreated the vampire image in a way no one else had done before. Yeah, it’s still weird, but its better than humans volunteering their blood for said mythical creatures, hoping that they can control themselves (and yes: there is a book like that).
“It’s just fiction!”-
What the hell? Fiction should still follow it’s own logic. If I wrote a fiction where only pink elephants could fly, I wouldn’t have a blue elephant fly. That is it. Like Dollywood said, it shouldn’t be above criticism if it’s fiction. That’s the worst excuse in the book.
“If you don’t like it, don’t read it”-
And when we say we didn’t read it, people say, “Well, you can’t have a proper opinion on it!” This argument is moot.
i must say this article was interesting to read. i agree with some points and disagree with others. i agree that Bella shouldn’t have gotten pregnant because of the physical impossibility, but it is fiction therefore not real. i didn’t agree with the hostility that seems to ooze out of ever sentence of this article. he or she seems to have abandoned self control in his or her attempt to convey that they aren’t a twilight fan anymore, or never were. well that’s fine, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. i won’t attack this person for exercising their right to tell the world that they hated a book series.
I could not even finish this pointless article. This person KNOWS NOTHING about Twilight and just sounds like a spoilt child who can’t understand or appreciate an emotional beautiful love story.. Stephenie NEVER EVER said that venom replaces sperm, that was a rumour on the internet, nothing more. She has addressed this several times. Why would she say that when she has known since 2003 that Bella would get pregnant. And vampires are FROZEN in time you retard so yes Kellen, whatever sperm Edward had when he was turned into a vampire would still alive and in his body. SO HA!, SCREW YOU! Seriously, did you even read Breaking Dawn properly?
Secondly, why do some ignorant people like Kellen think Twilight is insulting to women? ITS NOT AT ALL! Of course Bella needs rescuing now and again, she hangs around with vampires!!! But she is a very strong person, and she actually has most of the power in her relationship with Edward. Is Kellen THAT stupid not to have noticed that? Bella took care of herself and her mother perfectly fine before she met Edward remember?
And Edward was MUCH more then just her boyfriend unlike other teen couples, thats the whole f*cking point of the story! Thats why she fell apart, because he’s MORE then just a boyfriend!!!! Have you never read Romeo and Juliet?
Kellen is possbibly the most ignorant person i’ve never had the displeasure to encounter and is a complete and utter TWAT!!!…and not in a good way haha. (people from England will know what i mean hehe)
KELLEN RICE: GROW UP, go to your local store and buy a brain, and don’t insult things you obviously don’t understand!!!
I actually don’t like the Harry Potter series. But hey, that’s just me. I’m not going to go on and on about how “stupid and close-minded” HP fans are. Because again, like it has been said, EVERYONE is entitled to their opinions. Oh, and yes, I’m a fan of Twilight. Does that make me stupid and close-minded? Nope.
Obviously, a debate like this will be going on until FOREVER. Some people just can’t stick with what they like and leave what they don’t like alone. Oh well. That’s the world nowadays for you.
I think you have a point it really beacuse i think girls get obseed on finding their on Edward Cullen or Jacob Black , belive me I was one of them.
Did you even read the right book? You couldn’t have if you said all this.
The Twilight Saga is fictional, and written very well. If it wasn’t a well written book then it would not be number one on the charts.
you are rude!
Kellen Rice has an opinion on the book…like you do. She has the right to voice it…like you do.
If you like the book, that’s great. She didn’t. She saw flaws in this book and decided to address them. You can too.
Don’t bash her.
Oh i forgot their never gonna find one becuse it’s just a book and the movie it’s just a movie so the actors are not them and they’ll never be them.
o fuck off u dumbass moronic bastards. it’s a damn great series and you know it. u dickheads are stupid. u suck….and not in a good way
Why does everybody have to be so extremely cynical? I don’t care if Bella is a good role model or not, I live my life the way I want to live it and I don’t look toward Elizabeth Bennet, Wollstonecraft, or Bella for guidance which is how every “strong” female should live. Anyway, Twilight isn’t a story about role models and life lessons, it’s a story about an amazing, binding love. Bella’s not being weak, choosing Edward over college, because being in love, true love, is not being weak, it’s being human. You seem to feel that a woman isn’t strong unless she is alone. Also, Bella isn’t being a damsel in distress. If you recall, Bella herself tried to save her mom and the Cullens from James in the first book (damsels in distress don’t often wield the sword themselves to save their loved ones, that’s called a heroine if I remember right). Once again, you see the theme of love, she’d die for those she loved. Anyway, if the strongest, most independent woman was being pursued by a vampire, they’d have absolutely no chance to live through it and they’d need to be saved by another vampire. Also, about Stepehine Meyer, she never claimed to be the next Jane Austen, or even a good writer. In an interview, she actually said she wasn’t. She IS a good storyteller though, and that’s exactly what she did, she told an amazing story about love. Sucks for you that you think that being in love means being a stupid little girl. Maybe you ought to listen to what Stephenie Meyer has to say about herself, her books, and her characters before you judge them all. Since you obviously have no reasoning or logic skills when it comes to human emotions or behavior, you need to go listen to what Meyer has to say about it all before you attack everything. That’s what a good journalist would do.
Why can’t people just read a beautiful book and just take it for what it is? Why most they be SO cynical?
Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn are all beautiful books about a love that could not be broken and the very real characters that it affects.
I don’t agree with your opinion of the series. Maybe it’s not an “enlightened” dream, but I think women long to find someone that they love entirely and a love that is sweeping and life changing. That is what Edward is to Bella and that’s the main focus of the story. To me, it’s like Romeo and Juliet. Sorry if you feel that is a sexist and dangerous thing for young girls to read about.
I would be more concerned, if I were you, with shows like Gossip Girl that turn young women into bitchy stereotypes with nothing to do but cut each other down and sleep with everyone in their school. Just saying…
Although the fourth book was a HUGE dissapointment, I enjoyed the rest of the series. Not because “ZOMG EDWARD WUZ SOO HAWT” or because I saw Bella as a model-figure. No, I just liked the idea of having the choice to be swept away from the trite human world and into something ELSE.
The Twilight Series is DEFINETLY not the greatest literature out there. It’s just an entertaining read. It’s more entertaining if you don’t over-analyze everything and you don’t compare it to real-life scenarios. Let’s all chill out; it’s just fiction.
I read the script for the movie, and, I think the screenwriter’s adaptation of the novel is much better than the book itself. They got the book and made it better.
by the way:
The Host was a good read. Better than the entire series.
Quantity does not equal quality.
Fast food is abundant and easy to get in a drive thru. You have to go to the grocery store to get fruits and veggies. So is fast food better than fruits and vegetables?
Numbers mean nothing when it comes to quality.
@K
Opinion: a personal view, attitude, or appraisal. (from dictionary.com)
What a lot of you people need to realize is that people have different opinions on this book. The author of this article happens to not like it (GASP). The people that insult others for their opinion only prove to be close-minded.
@sarah
In Romeo and Juliet, some characters actually commented that the relationship was mostly lust, and would fizzle out eventually (The Friar). This is not so in Twilight. Bella and Edward’s relationship is automatically classified as “True love!”
AH, YES!!!!! THANK YOU! Someone has got a mind! My eyes are watering over because I’m so giddy with what was said here, and I am still clapping! I totally agree with what was said and I’ve been saying it myself for ages: Cliche characters, terrible, bland writing style, and predictable, poorly thought out plot line.
This article is the East, and the writer is the Sun!
Like I said, no one over analyzed anything. They were reading the book for the first time and noticed things they didn’t like and didn’t like the book after they read it.
Personally for me, the book was boring. It took too long to pick up and when it did it was over. And I’m not talking solely about action. I’m talking about conflict. There was none. No suspense.
LOL@ at the majority of fans defending the books who can’t seem to piece together a coherent sentence and can only be insulting.
To those fans I say: Turn off capslock, sit back and think about what you just read (or what someone told you the article said), and then come up with a real argument against it. If you can’t do that, then just say “I don’t agree with this at all.”
You only make yourself look bad and prove the reviewer’s point if you sling around insults for no reason whatsoever.
It’s just a book? Then why are you getting so defensive?
There were HP reviews back in the day that I didn’t agree with, but I wrote coherent arguments. So much for Twilight being the more “mature” series. Look at the fans. lol
Jeanine
I will invit you to see both sides. low class, vulgar, with tons of personal attacts and comments taken out of context. they are out for blood.I had to quit visiting some sites because of the negative responses to the twilight saga.
No vulgarity is neccesary.
I do not worry about the twilight Saga being a bad influence for the teenagers today. they know how to think
First of all, i have to say that you were very convincing, though i have to disagree with you.
This is written from Bella’s perspective and usually most teen girls have a slightly low self-esteem and that’s the reason why she calls herself plain. Moreover every second she looks at herself she just assumes she’s this plain, dull-looking, accident attracting magnet.
About Bella’s suicidal moment in New Moon, ..well..it doesn’t target that every girl should leave her soul behind if her boyfriend ditches off. Bella and Edward are “star-crossed lovers” and seemingly it’s their destiny to love forever… yet in our modern world i am pretty sure that any girl would dread herself in a broken relationship for months. But this conflict in New Moon happens in most books and shows. Like Instant Star where Jude wants Tommy , etc.. Who wants to read or see something without broken hearts or reuniting moments. …Moreover..it’s soooo romantic. lol. and…” That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them?” NO NOPE Never. Total No no!
Think of this situation on the flip side. When teenage girls are reading New Moon from Bella’s perspective they might realize how much of a jerk Bella was being and they might insist a solution for themselves if they were put in that situation like..”Omg..Bella’s a jerk, i would neva do dat, hmpf..screw Edward, Hello Jacob”..Lol.
It all depends on how you are seeing it. I’m pretty sure that girls at the age of 12-18 are mature enough to know their rights and wrongs.
Well..as for Eclipse..I totally thought that Bella was a slut when she thought she loved Jacob. BTW Jacob is a jerk for forcing a kiss and forcing someone to like him. Damn Wrong.
Breaking Dawn was a…hm..i don’t know how to put it…fuzzy. When i was reading i was like ” She’s preggers..OMG! WHat the Heck is this B.S” Yes, totally agree with the venom and no sperm .. and how she got pregnant thing. But the ending was cute with Renesme.
As for this book setting a bad example for teenage girls..well not exactly. This book is giving girls the glimpse of the modern version of Romeo and Juliet. If you think this book is wrong, then i guess mothers should be outside of English classrooms with signs protesting about schools teaching Romeo and Juliet. Because Juliet got married at 12 and suicided for her love, well in that case, Bella is totally cool. She is confident with her love, honest, and a naturing mother. Edward is 100x better that Romeo in the sense that he waited till marriage, looked after Bella’s every move, and a handsome-looking gentleman. (Even though they both meet their love from the window side.)
Disagree or Argree not with what’s on my mind, it’s just all how you think of it. Btw don’t let this article damage what you believe about the Twilight Series.
Oh! theres more from the Twilight series such as the Midnight Sun.
Chow for NOW!
Wow, i’m in shock! People really have a lot on their mind when it comes to The Twilight Series. I personally love the books, they’re actually one of my favorite, i understand that some people don’t like them , but just because they hate them, does not mean they have to be so rude and go to extremes, yeah Bella is clumsy so? Who ever said that physical strenght is more important than mental strenght? Heroes don’t always have to be strong and magical, enyone can be a hero, and just because she decided to be with Edward and marry him and have sex with him does not insult females at all, she just made a choice she thought it was better for her, and what if she cry and got depress when Edward left, as someone said in one of the comments, he was the love of her life and suddenly he was gone, Damn!! I would’ve felt that way too! And Yeah Edward maybe perfect for Bella, but she just sees him that way because she loves him, but in fact Edward isn’t flawless, he can be selfish and stuborn and so many others things. My point is that people need to stop talking about the book as if it were the world’s worst book ever written, GIVE ME A BREAK!! Stephenie’s intention wasn’t to write a masterpiece, but to let others feel the way she did with her invented, loveable characters, and she’s said it herself She’s not a writter but a storyteller, so just get OVER IT!!
First of all I must say, this article is extremely well written and that you’ve made your point, but, ugh please… You have GOT to give some props to Stephenie Meyer, something about what she wrote attracted millions of girls. I must admit, I’m one of those 17 year old girls who loves the book, but I’ve also told people how irritated I am when the protagonist (Bella) seems to always put herself in danger and gets saved by so many people, i.e. the vampires as well as the wolves.
Who’s the kid here? I mean, you seem thoroughly pissed for some very odd reasons. You sounded like Stephenie Meyer was purposely writing this book saying that women has absolutely no power to save themselves and therefore must be saved by creatures with super strengths. Seriously, we’re not THAT pathetic. Ever wonder that maybe the sexist views you pointed out are merely your personal interpretation of the book?
I don’t know about other people out there, but as far as I’m concerned, dozens of people that I know that read this book, including myself, have not deluded ourselves with the idea that if our boyfriend ever leave us, we should all go into a zombie state.
The whole body fluid thing, I don’t get it either, but I’ve always bared in mind that it is a fantasy book.
And what with Elizabeth Bennet? Who ever said that the theme of the book was about feminist hero?
No harm intended, my apologies if I offended anyone, but seeing as the debate is pretty much heated up and that you had your ’15 minutes of freedom of speech’, might as well add my own opinion.
With all the above said, I must say, it’s good to know you actually have copies of the books.
ok just ‘cuz u don’t like that story doesn’t mean that u have to make an exstremely mean & rude article about, fine if u don’t like the series, but keep it to ur & let the people who do like it alone!!! u big jerk/meany!!!! T_T!!!!! & i agree w/ elyse& sarah up above me too!! ^_^!!! & who doesn’t like this article!! thanks!!!
I said no vulgar statement.
I haven’t cursed.
I haven’t used capslock.
I’ve brought up questions that haven’t been answered.
I’ve been calm throughout this entire debate.
I’m sorry if you don’t see what I’m trying to say.
But hey. That’s your opinion. Right?
I did enjoyed the four books, so my teenagers. of course we all have different opinion on which one is our favorite book from the series.
I know you didn’t . I wasn’t saying you did.
Absolutely brilliant. I’ve seen some poor reviews for Breaking Dawn (and after its release, some for the first three books) but none have addressed the issues you have.
Those same issues (and many more) have been brought up at this forum: http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi
You may want to check it out.
I was refering to both sides tha are doing that.
This was the worst review I have ever read. Even though I am a fan of the books, I am incredibly open to negative reviews, but come on. You could try being a little tactful. This was just outright mean. And remember people, this is fiction. Its entertaining. Its fun to read. You’re entitled to your opinion, but have some class. I actually find it quite comical that your hatred for the book has you so fired up and emotional. Too bad it couldn’t be channeled in a better direction.
Oh, sorry. It’s difficult to know who is coming from where.
Yes, a woman decided to be sexist..right(*insert heavy sarcasm*). Twilight is a series, in which you see how Bella and Edward change. Throughout the book Bella’s personality grows and she matures. At the end of the series she goes from that ‘damsel in distress’ to one of the most strongest females/ characters in the book. Like someone earlier said, it’s fiction. You don’t find sexy vampires out on the street trying to save people and falling in love with a plain girl. It’s all about have imagination and being a fan of romance and action. We all have our say in this, I am not telling you, you are wrong. Obviously it is your opinion, and this is mine. Twilight is an excellent book, i found myself reading the series over and over and i CANNOT wait for the movie.
im a woman and i still like the books!!! they are awsome
also, they are just books, come on
not reality
From Spain.
I find it strange that so many of you fans blubber things like, “How could you not like it? Did you even read it?” but then when we say that we HAVE read it, you say, “Why would you keep reading if you didn’t like it?”
I have to tell you, that’s pretty strange. Almost as if you think that nobody that’s read it couldn’t like it. But then you start wailing things like “EVERYONE’S ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINIONS” and “WOW DO YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN CRITICIZE THIS BOOK?”
But really, Twilight haters aren’t the first people to criticize books. Critique of all kinds has been around for a long, long time, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anybody saying “if you hate it so much then why are you writing about it?” before Twilight. Does this give you a hint at how incredibly rabid and senseless many of you are?
I’m not even going to bother to address the article, since I agree with everything that it’s said.
But really, so many of you fans are just unbelievable, you know that? I mean, I’ve met a few genuinely intelligent, sane people who liked Twilight, but they’re this tiny minority drowning in the sea of obsessed, dimwitted fans like TwilightFan, Jess, Alize, Selu, Lia, Gabby, lillia(:, TWILIGHT FOREVAAAA, sarah, and cecilia. It’s fans like them that ruin the names of decent fans like… okay, there aren’t too many, but if you scroll up to look at a few fans’ comments you’ll see that some of them attempt to make some sense, and I appreciate that.
And please, fan girls, stop confusing popularity with quality. Just because the books have sold millions doesn’t mean that the books don’t suck. Or are you really so stupid that you have to rely on popularity to figure out if something’s good or not?
I think that you understime the teenagers today, I see them under a different light.
Teenagers today are well read, travel, they work, get involved in so many activites, music, art, they are independent and know what they want.
I had the opportunity to live abroad: China, Korea, Mexico,Thailand,Japan, USA. I can say that this bright young women and men are not uninformed nor uneducated. (I want to mention that I read the twilight Saga in other languages too)
Do they know the difference between a fictional character from a book with vampires and worewolf from a real life situation?….. let me think.
I dare to say yes, a positive yes. you will always come across some exceptions, not the rule, but that can be applied to adults too.
Are teenagers unexperience, awkard, undecide, odd, overbearing overexicited , trying to find their place?… yes
But who is not? I have seen tons of teens with a lot of common sense and more maturity than some adults.
Am I impressed by all these young women and men today .. YOU BET!
I am worried about the twilight Saga influence on the teenagers today? A definefly, clear, NO !
I do not understimate them for a second
Now I am moving on
Um… okay. Some of us actually LIKE this series and there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. I’m pretty sure Stephenie Meyer didn’t intend for this book to be “anti-feminist”. Stop bashing her.
You need to chill out.
I’m a girl, but come on. I hate all that feminist shit that woman always talk about.
the books are great.
It’s a love story so yeah, Bella loves Edward and that’s why she’s willing to give up things to be with him. It’s because she loves him.
And it’s not like she’s giving up college and stuff for just marriage. It’s to become a vampire, because that’s what he is and she wants to be with him. It’s not a like a normal situation. It’s a fantasy book.
And thats also why the whole pregnancy thing can work. Because it’s a fucking fantasy book!
You really need to chill out! Feminist are annoying as hell! What the hell does it matter? It’s the stupidest thing to get upset about. This whole review was so stupid I’m ashamed to be a girl just knowing there are women like this who can’t even read a love story without thinking its sexist!
Umm hello…it’s young adult FICTION. What do you expect? She tried to keep the setting realistic but the books are entirely fantasy…something that came from a dream.
Sorry if you’re dreams are so boring that you can’t appreciate that. I am an adult and I happen to the love the books…for the fantasy. Just like the fantasy of HP.
If you don’t like them…then stop reading and get over yourself. Meyer even states that the books really aren’t for the readers as much as they are for herself (and the first time she say down to really write, would you be stellar at it?), and who else would have the balls to admit that!? So don’t get so upset about something you really have no control over.
If you want to feel more equal in your reading that perhaps you should stick to an age range that better suits you or perhaps nonfiction.
[…] has an article discussing why the writer thinks Twilight […]
Okay, I HATE the claim, “It’s just fantasy!” Even if that is true, that doesn’t mean the book shouldn’t follow it’s own logic/canon. If i were to write a book and claim that only pink elephants could fly, I wouldn’t write about a flying blue elephant. That would break canon, no matter how many excuses I made for it.
To Kill a Mocking Bird is fiction, but does that mean it’s stupid and unrealistic? No.
Just because it’s FICTION doesn’t mean it should be exempt from criticism. Just because it’s for Young Adults doesn’t mean it should be empty, stupid, useless, or messageless. That’s insulting.
i really liked the amount of examples in your essay and i see your point of view although i think that you’re looking a little too far into the messages in the book. I dont think Stephanie had any intentions of the sexist views and she wasnt even planning on having the book be this popular or as influencing. I do agree that it was extremely intense during the birth and pretty creepy but atleast Stephanie didnt skip over any “difficult” or “painful” sections you claim she skipped over in New Moon.
It was very refreashing to hear someone on the negative side of The Twilight Craze.
Very good article, even if i dont agree with it, and i think you’ve got a lot of guts to post it online.
Awesome again!
~S~
I enjoyed reading this article although I disagree with most of what was said. It’s interesting seeing things from another point of view.
I’m a Twilight fan which means I’m used to defending the book. Most of the Twilight community are sick to death of trying to explain to people that Bella isn’t some ‘damsel in distress’ character. She is a ‘normal’ girl who happens to be surrounded by supernatural beings. Of course she’s going to need rescuing, how would she be able to hold her own? She makes her own choices, she fights for what she loves and I think that’s a lot to admire in a character.
As for Edward, you must remember we’re seeing him through the eyes of someone who’s desperately in love in him. Love, as they say, is blind. He is by no means perfect.
I’m insulted to read that you think teenagers are so immpressionable. (I’m 18 myself.) I think most people are able to seperate a book from real life. If everything were to influnece how we acted goodness knows how we would be with shows like ‘The Hills’ and ‘The O.C.’ I think you should give us a bit more credit.
If you did a bit of research the pregancy would have been explained to you. Meyer has had it mapped out since 2003.
The books are not sexist. Simple as that.
The saga has inspired people all over the world to write, draw and create music. Most importantly they have got people to read again and created interest and excitment over literature.
I work at a library and I read a lot. Twilight remains my favourite book. I enjoy Meyer’s writing and her stories. I wonder why you continued the series if you hated the first book so much?
I’m interested in debating the series and looking at it from a critical point of veiw. But this article wasn’t a review. You did nothing by bash the series and look at it from a narrow, one minded side.
A few of the commenters are laughing at the Twilighters for coming on defending the saga. I find it wonderful that people can be so passionate about books. We don’t automatically hate anyone who doesn’t like the books. But with an article like this I think we have a right to be mad.
I’m sorry that you didn’t like the them. But I hope some of these comments will help you look at the books from another light.
In the meantime I would ask you to work on your reviewing skills.
Sarah.
I think Twilight is boring until the nomads arrive… only the end was interesting and Catherine Hardwicke and Melissa Rosenberg perfectly know that– we will mostly see the end of the book in the film and not the entire story of Bella & Edward.. Thanks Catherine!
Twilight ROCKS!!!!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!
Okay ladies…..
Let me first state that I am a wifey, mommy, and have a great career…. I loved the series! It is a nice escape from the every day to do list. It is fictional, everyone knew that going into it. If you don’t like it….. fine, but to WAIST this much time on something that you don’t like is sad!! There is so much more going on in our world to worry and debate about.
Also, to worry about what it is doing to young teenage girls today, here’s a thought… I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and I am appalled at the song on the radio that is so popular “I kissed a girl and I liked it”. Are you kidding me?? Not to mention what they are showing on TV now a days. There are teen girls out there experimenting with kissing other girls, drugs, and other horrible things and you guys are worried with them reading this and hoping that they can maybe find true love or whatever it is they get from it. Give me a break!! Lay off them!! There are no such things as vampires, and it is a great read to some.
Why not focus your time and debate on something good or worth it! BTW, women have so many choices today and you cannot ridicule anyone for the choices they make, reading a book or not. Their life, their choice, thats that!
Not trying to offend anyone, just stating MY opinion!
i think you are full of crap.
Twilight is beautifully written.
I do recall countless times where Bella does stuff and takes more than one step without having Edward to come and save her.
Many books have damsels and distresses and are amazing.
There are many people who feel this article is right while there are others who couldn’t disagree more.
If you did hate the book so much why did you continue reading.
I must agree with what Sarah said. Everything she said was true especially the part about where you were just bashing the book.
If you were a good reviewer you wouldn’t have just bashed the book.
Your reviewing skills suck.
WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE
THAT SERIES WAS AWESOME …..
U GUYS RUIN EVERYTHING FOR EVERYBODY
ITS PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT ALL DESERVE TO DIE
EVERYLITTLE DETAIL WAS AWESOME IT PUT A PICTURE IN MY HEAD ON WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE IN THE MOVIE
I HOPE U SUFFER WHOEVER YOU ARE THAT WROTE THIGS THINGY AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT IT
SKREW YOU FOR THIKING THIS TWILIGHT IS AWESOEM IN EVERY WAY YEAH
I think for all of you hate this saga you sure are putting a whole lot of time and effort to read it and then bash it. Something about is good otherwise you just woudn’t care. I read this because my 14th yr old daugther wanted me to know what was going on when we went to see the movie and couldn’t put it down. We bonded in a really cool way. It rare to find things in common with you teengae children. And we raised our daughter well enough to know this book is ENTERTAINMENT reading for your own pleasure. Her Dad and I are her role models in life not the book. Ienjoyed the romance part of the books because its fantasie not real hello people. If you were married than you would know. I love the Twilight Saga and I can’t wait for the movie. My family will go and get dressed up as vampires and we’ll connect with our teenage daughter on her level. How many parents can say that.
somebody else already wrote what i wanted to say for the most part….THANK YOU SARAH !…
Damn you! You’re a bad reviewer because you gave this book a critique! [/SARCASM] Seriously, Twilight fans?…
If the reviewer utterly hates the book… then their review is going to be mostly negative. They will not sugarcoat anything so poor Twilight fans don’t get their feelings hurt.
OH MY GOSH HOW THE HECK CAN YOU SAY THAT?!?!?!?!?! TWILIGHT IS AN INSPIRATION!!!! WHAT THE WEREWOLF (HEHE) IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!?!YOU ARE SICK!!! WHAT THE CRAP DUDE!!!!!!! YOU ARE A WEREWOLFIN WEREFOLF WHO SHOUND GO TO WEREWOLF!!!!!!!!! WTH?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT THE HECH IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU SICK PERSON??!?! DONT WRITE AN ARTICLE ABOUT IT!!! JUST SAY THAT YOU DONT CARE FOR IT AND KEEP IT LIKE THAT!!!!! BUT DONT GO BLABBING IT OUT TO THE ENTIRE WORLD!! YOU SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR MAKING SO MANY PEOPLE MISERABLE!!!!!!!!! WHAT HTE HECK LADY, WHAT THE HECK!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!? YOU JUST WANT SOME ATTENTION!!!!
So ok obviously there are people who don’t like the series and they will speak there mind! I LOVE the series! The only problem I have with this article is the fact about the depression and everything that Bella falls into in New Moon not be a very good potrayel for young women, all I can say is thet it IS A STORY!!! I think it’s nice to have wonderful, fantastical stories like this to escape into after the reality of life! Especially teenage life these days! I mean really I think most of the young girls that read this are smart enough to know that it is FICTIONAL! If not I think there are bigger problems in there life! Any way that’s about all I have to say!! Oh yeah and SOOOOOO looking forward to the movie and the BEAUTIFUL Robert Pattinson!!! WOOO HOOO!!!!
The romance may be fantasy, but that doesn’t change the fact that Bella is in an abusive relationship. Some teenagers may know that it’s just a story, but for every one of them there are more saying that they wish they had a boyfriend like Edward. Is that the type of relationship that should be promoted?
I totally disagree with you. Although your article was very well written.It was interesting to hear a different opinion to the story no matter how insane it was. These books aren’t about the fiction aspect of it, the vampirism is the conflict that makes the books more complicated and shows how strong the bond between Bella and Edward truly is. I don’t think its sexist, it would be the same story if Bella were a vampire and Edward was human.
I think you just have to get over the fact the is a very fantasy type book. Even if fantasy isn’t the core of the books it still is a very good part of it, it is part of the reason it is so fantastic,it adds some action and imagination to the story .
The Twilight Saga is awesome and always will be !
I have to say that love can be many things. No one way of expressing love is better then the others and while some women want a man to protect them others find that idea horrific. Some people find the best way to express their love is physical and other people chose to wait. It is just that–a personal choice.
As for those who seem to be troubled by the “disguesting” scences I suggest that you read other vampire books. Anne Rice, for one, writes excellent vampire books all of which have violence as a large part of them. Even Bram Stoker (the author of Dracula) had a good deal of vampiric violence and damsels in distress. Even the great Elizabeth Bennet (no scarcasim there) had Darcy’s help in regaining her younger sister’s reputation after she caressly ran off with Wickham. And with Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff digs up Catherine’s body and thoughtout Catherine’s lige she could never actually marry the man she loved because she believed that “it would degrade” her. At least Bella married the man she loved and didn’t beat around it.
Lastly, let people read what makes them happy. This is America, let’s not go off the deep end and start censoring books like people did with Harry Potter and many other books that can whiz young adults away from their viedo game consuls.
I wholly disagree with you. I’m a woman and a feminist and I think your claims (along with others) of Twilight being anti-feminist are a source of a serious misread.
I would agree with you, that Twilight is anti-feminist, IF any of the situations where presented as anything other abnormal or supernatural. But it isn’t. Not once is any situation in the books presented as anything close to actual life.
Bella is not weak and needs saving b/c she’s female. Bella is weak and needs saving b/c she’s a HUMAN in a SUPERNATURAL situations. The supernatural, abnormal, superhumanness of the characters dictate and informs everything that happens in the series.
To pretend as if it is otherwise seems very willful to me.
Aside from the baby craziness in nearly all the female characters in the last book, (except for the ever Amazing Alice), I really don’t see a damn thing anti-feminist about it.
Bella makes up her own mind and sticks with her choices even when everyone she loves is telling her she should do otherwise.
Edwards IS A VAMPIRE, so this informs a lot of his actions that if considered for someone like Mike would be seriously disturbing. Also, everyone seems to forget that Edward apologizes, tells Bella will trust her decisions, and then changes his behavior. This is a very big development, yet it is always left out.
I don’t mind people disagreeing with me. But what I do mind is when people take the book out of it’s very own context in order to try and make your arguments.
More detailed argument as to why Twilight is NOT anti-feminist can be found here.
http://www.shakefire.com/boards/showpost.php?p=285397&postcount=266
and
http://www.cinematical.com/2008/08/11/film-clips-is-twilight-anti-feminist/
Lastly, I swear I have read these exact words before from other reviews that site Twilight as anti-feminist. Word from word.
@ Jeanine: Notice I said the “majority.” I didn’t single you out, did I?
You don’t understand at all. What age are you? 40? 30? You really need to give Stephenie Meyer some credit. Ok, so Bella Swan is not plain. But, she thinks she is. I mean most teens now see them selves as boring and plain.
I’m not going to harass any of you guys but you have to remember that other people do like it. You can’t really understand some teens minds. I being a teen, read it and i thought it was pretty good. Some people prefer these books to more mature books. They are easy to read and quick.
Btw, You really need to shut up about the feminist shit crap. I’m a girl and to honest, I don’t give a damn about all that. I live in a house with 6 stepbrothers and 3 sisters. We’re all teens. 4 of my stepbrothers have read it and love it. I know more boys than girls that read it. Ok, so more girls read it than boys but i hardly doubt any one who loves it would jump of a cliff if there boyfriend dumped them.
The one thing to begin with of your review is the fact your biased towards Harry Potter. If you look closely at Harry Potter you can find the same sexist behavior you claim the Twilight series has. I am a fan of both series. Twilight has a different spin on vampires, something that isn’t easy to accept since it is so new. The relationship Edward has with Bella is not an abusive one as you call it. Edward has been around since the 1900’s his attitude is old fashioned mixed in with modern ways. Bella is not the damsel in distress. Surely in the other books she takes on a more defensive act rather than to be defended. If you wanted to talk about damsels in distress how about Cho Chang or even Ginny.
Cho Chang is your classical save me damsel in distress, while Ginny allows a decison to be made for her about her safety. Bella is just like any teenager with just a slight fantasy twist and you could say the same about the characters in Harry Potter. There are many teenagers and people that are older than can identify with Bella. But you call her anything but normal as Meyers claims; then what of those people that see a little or alot of themselves in her are they simply abnormal, freaks of society. You need to get your facts straight about anything related to Twilight before you go and bash it. I get it Twilight isn’t for you but before you go and tear it down like you did look at the Harry Potter series you can see in it some of if not most of things you acuse Twilight of. Your review of Twilight was unjust and biased before you even read it. You hold Harry Potter in such a high light that if anything comes around that may best it you feel the urge to nit pick at things that are the way they should be considering the plot and background of the book. Nothing is wrong with feminism but in the end your review just made you sound like a disgruntled Harry Potter fan who hates being bested by a new fantasy series.
Let me first say, that if you hated the characters and writing style of this series, then why did you read ALL of them? If was such an awful series and you hated, then there would have been no reason for you to continue reading….So obviously there was something that you liked about these books and I don’t really understand why it bother’s you so much about how Stephenie Meyer has chosen to portray her characters, especially Bella. She is the author, and she writes the characters how she sees them fitting into her story. And the whole comment about setting woman back two hundred years or whatever, me and all of my friends love the romance in this book and Edward being abusive….I mean come on! Every girl wants some boy that will love her and take care of her, that doesn’t make Bella weak. And why do you have write such a mean review, can’t you just let people read books they like and respect that millions of teenage GIRLS out there love these books? At least people are reading. So, you kinda really suck. Later
I actually enjoy the books, writing isn’t great but the story telling is good.
I’m 27 years old, and most of my friends who read this series are over 21. Its a fictional story, if girls take this story seriously, they have deeper issues, and their parents haven’t done their jobs.
Most young women aren’t going to take a fictional Vampire romance as fact…
The author of this article is in no way “stopping people from reading the books they like”.
I don’t think anyone wants to censor books. A lot just want people to stop treating it like it’s the greatest book ever and realize that there are numerous flaws, including Bella and Edward’s relationship.
Also, since it was mentioned by Sarah, there is still a flaw when it comes to venom replacing almost all bodily fluids except for sperm. If a vampire’s body does freeze exactly like it was then that means that the sperm is frozen as well and doesn’t die, right? How does that explain Nessie being half-vampire? If it’s frozen then it should still be human, as Edward’s body can’t produce more.
Anyone got the pitchforks?!?
okay, i’ll admit.. at first, when i heard about these books from a friend, i thought it sounded STUPID. But when i finally gave the books a chance nearly 1 year later, cause i desperately wanted something to read, i really really liked them. Ofcourse, being the young teenage girl that i am I “fell in love with both Edward & Jacob”..both fictional characters and, but then i realized as soon as the books got bigger and bigger and more “twilighters” were being CREATED, I actually realized how silly these books were..suuuure they were just so tempting and addicting, but when I started seeing little girls aged 8-11 reading these books, it makes you think “WTF?!…” and seeing more and more people just OOOOVERLY obsessing about how they wanna be BELLA or have a man ‘JUST LIKE EDWARD CULLEN CAUSE HE IS SOOO PERFECT’, kinda made me realize that all these people (including myself) look DUMB when they profess their love to fictional characters. heyy, dont get me wrong..sure the characters ARE interesting, but seriously..if there was an actual ‘edward cullen’ in real life – aside from his DAZZLING, HOT LOOKS- would’nt he annoy the hell out of you with his way over the top protectiveness, and his seriousness?. Think about it guys..what are the true reasons that soooo many freaking teenage girls love these books?, i bet you if there wasn’t an Edward Cullen or a Jacob Black in these books..it wouldn’t even be nearly as big as it is today.
BUT im just saying y’know?
To Dollywood
The girls who read these series are not fat girls who just want to be loved. I am not fat and i have a lot of people who support me. This book is not to be taken as something to profile people as…it’s very disturbing knowing that people can catergorize others by what they read, honestly if you asked around, you will find more older girls in their 20’s will love this book too. and to be even more honest…I have not found one supposedly FAT girl who wants a handsom guy who loves this book… and It is not just the teenagers who like it.
I LOVE THE WHOLE SERIES!!! Yes i agree some things could have been better…but then this is someone else’s book, planned out to the way they wanted it to be. S. Meyer may not be the best author, but she is a great story writer. She knows what she wants and she tells it the way it is supposed to be. While reading through these, I was seriously getting offened by the remarks of there being any sexism in this book. Honestly, everyone knows that if men dont have to cook, they wont. it is just a fact of life. In the beginning of Twilight, Charlie, Bella’s dad tries cooking adn Bella saw that it was something that he was not good at, so she told him that she would do the cooking from now on and he said “ok” there is nothing sexist about a girl who wants to help out her father. Another thing is that YES! Edward makes her happy. Just his presence makes her smile. They are two people, ( people used as just a saying), in love. Love does many things to you. Honestly I have never felt that kind of love, but if you look around you can just see it. It does not have to be explained…I am not bashing this artical, everyone has their own opinion and this is mine, this is a book that you have to be open minded to read, and if you are too busy looking for the errors you will find them…but if youare just reading for fun this book will grab you rattention and you will fall in love with them. Everyone has their own type of reading, some like westerns, some like way out there books and others like FANTASY books. I am a fan of the real life and a fan of the fantasy books. My first true love of a book was Speak. It was a book that I can relate to. The twilight books are books that I can do both with. I can relate to them in the love aspect, and i love the fact that there is a twist of fiction in it. Vampires rule, well they would if they were real…to like these books you have to be in touch with the fantasy lands, you know what i mean lol. And another thing that got me was that about Edward’s and Bella’s relationship was abusive…I SEE NO ABUSIVE ASPECT TO IT… Edward knew the chances of Bella getting hurt if she went to see a newly young werewolf…Bella didnt quite understand…Edward was looking out for her like i would hope that a boyfriend would look out for me. That is all I have to say and that this is my oppinion and you can disagree or even agree with me but there is no way you can change my mind about it….I LOVE THE TWILIGHT SERIES and they were the best books I have read in quite a while so I say thank you to stephenie Meyer for creating and publishing these books!!! They are much appreciated!!!!
wow. seriously how lame do you have to be to spend your time writing an article about a story you did not like. if you didn’t like it then you should have stopped reading it. not every person in the world has the same views as you and not everyone has to think what you say is right. it is your opinion however but if everyone in the world thought and talked the same then there would nothing interesting in the world. Of course many people may agree with you but there are also many who disagree and as a fan of Stephenie Meyer i believe that you should keep your opinions to yourself and allow other people to read the series and create their own opinions. this article was very immature and as a young teen i know that every person likes different things and have different views on EVERYTHING. but honestly let readers come up with their views on their own, they don’t need articles like these to influence what they read. And i agree with Amanda, you really suck.
Amanda: “Every girl wants some boy that will love her and take care of her, that doesn’t make Bella weak. ”
Please don’t put all girls into the same category, especially into the same category as Bella. What Edward does goes beyond wanting to “take care of her.” Watching her while she sleeps, removing the engine from her truck, and listening in on the people around her to find out what she’s thinking goes way beyond concern and becomes controlling.
Arietta..
There have been very old legends involving Vampires and pregnancies,there are many many different legends about Vampires, so really the Pregnancy in the book, depending on what legends you choose to follow isn’t all that impossible.
I am 28, I enjoyed the books for what they were, fiction…Just as I love Harry Potter
I just wanted to say that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The series was amazing or horrible, Stephenie Meyer is amazing or horrible… think what you want. What I honestly can understand is why someone who HATED the series, the characters, AND the author all in the first go-round would even start the second book? Or finnish the entire series? Or post a huge rant about how horrible it was. Why not just move on to something different that you will enjoy? Leave the fans to the series and the haters go elsewhere. I will never understand why haters spend so much time and energy to point out all the things they disagree with. Wouldn’t they be happier finding something they did enjoy?
That’s just my thoughts on this rant.
Lol this is pathetic.
I’d like to see you right a book.
You can hardly right a sleezy article.
It’s the best book I’ve ever read.
You’re pathetic scum. :]
I disagree and that’s all I have to say, because I would be here forever explaining why the Twilight series is the best series I’ve ever read, including Harry Potter.
Charline: I agree with you, though the problem is that Stephenie Meyer focused too much on the science aspect, so a lot of her explanations don’t quite add up. If she hadn’t tried to use science to explain her vampires then it would have made much more sense.
I’d like to see you spell correctly.
right =/= write.
The reason fans are foaming at the mouth when they see *any* sort of criticism is because they are incapable of defending this series on any sort of intellectual level. At all. It fails virtually every objective measurement of good writing.
Have you noticed how all of the Twilighters respond with curse-ridden ad hominem attacks, laughably bad arguments against the series’ obvious faults, idiotic comments about how we’re all “femi-nazis”, or simply whinge and moan about how it’s “not nice” to say anything but nice things about poor widdle Mrs. Meyer’s book because we might hurt her fragile ego?
On the other hand, people who see this series for what it is present themselves intelligently and have clear, concise, and accurate arguments as to why they think it’s crap.
The replies speak for themselves.
seriously…Narwhal my arguments come right out of the book if you dont like what I have to say dont read it and say that the arguments are bad…everyone has their own opinions and I guess to you everyone who likes the book is uneducated…we just have a different taste in books than you almighty people who dont like these books and think they are crap might i remind you that these are all opinions!!! And I never swore in my oppinion thank you though for mentioning the swearing it was kinda unnecessary
Yes, Ashley, your arguments do come out of the book, but most of the other “twilighters” resort to ad hominem attacks on Ms. Rice (“pathetic scum” etc.)
yeah I agree, they dont make sense even to me…LOL
I love how a majority of the time the rabid fangirls can’t even bother with a real debate, it’s just a load of, “WAAAAH, I HATE U THESE BOOKS ARE AWESOME ID LYKE 2 C U WRITE SOMETHING BETTER U THINK UR SO SMART WELL I DONT LOLOLOL!!!111″
This, ladies and gentleman, is the audience of these books. Even the adults who enjoy these books still have their mindsets stuck at 16, and no, I don’t care who I offend with that, because it’s true. Meyer herself is an example of that. Interview after interview she shows a lack of thought process. No wonder her fans behave this way, they try so hard to be like her.
Well… you know what…. you SUCK!
Im sorry roxana that my mind is stuck in the 16 year old mind set…I have no intentions of being like S. Meyer. I just like her book and I will stick up for it…If we all backed down it wouldn’t give you anything to do…….. And There are a lot of intelligent people who also like these books dont just take the few people who like this book and label them all the samed…I think that im not chilish…I just have an imagination so thank you
sorry my spelling errors are really bad in that last post!!!
Arietta
The same could be said for Frankenstein, or Doctor Van Helsing when it comes to science.
When it comes to works of fiction, one is only limited by ones imagination, I can think of many good things that have been filmed or written using science to explain impossibilities, when even with the science it still wouldn’t be possible.
It is after all fiction.
ok so this article was great!! i read all of the books …….harry potter was way better i dont think anyone could ever touch harry potter though…..but twilight was a good read and i understand everything you say about girls being obsessed about finding an Edward or Jacob because i have seen all of my friends like that..it was not entertaining……….people should not bash rice beacause she expressed her opinion and everyone has their right to do so……Harry Potter fans should not worry either although the movie was pushed to next year it will still be 100% better than Twilight the movie….whoch looks really stupid (although twilight wasnt that bad)…but i am sure that the movie will not be great and people are making too much of a fuss over these four books which were not that great..
Really? They “come right out of the book”? So do the far superior counter-arguments made by anti-Twilighters. FYI, the vast majority of us have read all four books.
And yes, everyone is entitled to an opinion. Mine just happens to be backed up by fact.
Great review. Of course the other side of the coin, like in the ol GooseBump days, at least these books are being read. Reading anything is better than not at all. Bravo for giving these girls something to think about. Honestly, The New York Times should hire you.
oh and all the pple who posted comments like “you suck : and all the profanities just know that rice is talking the truth and have nothing to say about that .lol oh well i find it to be very funny
Wouldn’t give me anything to do? Erm, wrong. I happen to be online just now, please don’t get the impression that I live and breathe Twilight. I do have a life, regardless of what the rabid fangirls believe of the Antis.
These intelligent lovers of the books that you speak of- yes I’ve met them before, they make up about 1% of the Twilight loving population. Have you seen the comments above at all? Or in any article that has a negative opinion of the book? The majority, without a doubt, speaks in exactly the same way that I mocked them in my last comment. Besides, this doesn’t particularly pertain to you, so whether you’re childish or not doesn’t matter. The majority is, though, and that’s what matters, because it shows you the type of audience these books appeal to.
I hate this review. Twilight is different from a girl’s view and a guy’s view.
Jeanine
when i said dont read it i was talking about people that went halfway thru “o this suks. im going to finish it just to bore myself to death”
dont know if ur one of those ppl. if ur not good 4 u
WELL.
i have to admit that that was a very well written essay. or watever trash you call it.
if you dont like it GOOD FOR YOU. dont bash it.
if you ever write a book im going to TRASH YOURS. do you know why? because you feel the need to do that to stephenie meyer.
AND
what?
are you trying to lower the sagas status on the charts?
i dont even think you understand how good the books are if you look at them negatively.
think of it as a FICTIONAL LOVE STORY. written out of true love and almost real life situations.
i dont mean literally you are going to fall in love with a vampire and a werewolf but between two guys if you were a girl. and vice versa for a guy.
TAKE A CHILL PILL. it wasnt that bad.
i have read them all and i enjoyed them all.
breaking dawn was a little weird but im not going to say IT SUCKS.
i hope your happy with all those sick fans you have now. and all the twilighters who hate you.
sorry.
its the truth.
have fun running from angry mobs of twilighters.
OH AND DONT MAKE IT SEXIST AND ABUSIVE. YOU’D PROBLY DO THE SAME THING IF YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH A VAMPIRE AND THOUGHT YOU WERE IN LOVE WITH A WEREWOLF TOO.
take into consideration the OBSTACLES you would cross it supernatural creatures existed.
think about it.
I believe the author is indeed a girl, Mary.
@ Pat O’Neill: I could not agree with you any more. You, good person, are amazing.
its upsetting that everyone labels ALL twilight fans the same. No we are different and we all act different…That is all I was saying…And when I said “you” I meant everyone who sits around waiting for one person to be for the book and then they put their two cents in just trying to be right…Not saying you but that is how you came across but that is your opinion and I respect that I was just giving another perspective to look through….but I agree most of the girls who Adore the twilight series are childish and they need to cool it down…I was just putting my two cents in and defending the 1% population of twi fans and thank you!…
I am a Twilight fan. Now that you have that fact, allow me to speak from my side in a rational, non-text speak rebuttal.
I enjoyed the series because Bella is a strong female protagonist. There is evidence of that in each of the books. Instead of running into Edward’s arms toward the end of book one, Bella chooses to try to save her mother’s life. She walked into that fully aware that there was a 99.99 percent chance she would die. Please explain to me how that doesn’t give verification that she was brave and self-sacrificing for someone other than Edward.
In New Moon, where as Edward completely falls apart without Bella, she still gets up every day and pretends that she is ok. Sure, she did have her zombie state but can you really blame her? It is not a fault to mourn the loss of someone you loved. Plenty of people can take it to Bella’s extreme (and many have) over the death of a loved one. It does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that she is weak for feeling so strongly.
In Eclipse, Bella had to deal with events and confusion that would send some screaming to an asylum. The constant threat of losing her father, her best friend, and others could send most over the edge. Not to mention facing down her own death again and again. But Bella didn’t sit down and allow letting the chips fall as they may. She took an active role in her life, making tough choices when it would have been easier to hang back and let Edward solve all of her problems.
Sure Bella isn’t physically strong and is not the most self aware person alive (if she was she wouldn’t get in half of the messes that she did), but Bella shows that you can love someone deeply and still keep your independence. On the surface, it may not seem that way but look a bit closer and hopefully you will see a little of what I saw in her. She didn’t sit there and mindlessly agree to everything Edward told her to do. She fought often with him and Jake, who both thought she was too weak to make her own decisions.
I do respect your opinion of the book and am glad you at least did your research before writing. However, it does not change my love for the books.
I usually don’t mind people expressing their opinions about the books and its fans… but this article was just fucking rude. Why don’t you try backing up some of this shit with fact.
Does anyone here understand what the meaning of Fiction is? Twilight is pretend for gods sake! It’s a means for entertainment. Not something to read if you want to know what to do in a situation where your boyfriend leaves you or where to get your political views from!
I for one love the Twilight Saga, and Bella isn’t just some damsel in distress. At the end of Twilight she thinks her mom has been kidnapped, so she goes and gives her self up to try and save her mom. Yes, Bella sort of annoyed me when she was all stubborn towards Edward, but it doesn’t matter to me..because i remembered that the books were..fiction… I probably shouldn’t have even read this article. I’ve got better things to do.
Yeah I somewhat agree with that! They are entertaining but… thank you for saying what alot of people are thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!
i cant really say that i agree with anything in the article although it did have some good points. Please dont confuse me with some random Twihard that loves the book more than his or her own life, but the article was very rude to the book and its fans. I agree that it shouldnt be compared with harry potter but for different reasons; harry potter and twilight are completely different books so theres really not that much to compare. I think that people should calm down though because no matter what book it is theres always going to be some people that love it and some that dont and there will always be articles saying “this book was awful! dont read it! there was nothing good about it at all.” There will also always be articles praising it for being “wonderful and fresh.” honestly i loved twilight and i do want to defend it by saying this: twilight is a really good book for some people. It has an interesting plot and the characters have depth. I would recommend it to people who like romance novels and people who just want to read something about vampires but not to people who are looking for the best piece of writing there is out there.
Twilight is my favorite book though so please stop trashing it, and if u want to make fun of it then at least dont talk about stephanie meyer bc writing is hard and her book was at least a good book (to some ppl at least)
hahah i really loved twilight, new moon, eclipse, and breaking dawn. im a total fan. but i love reading the negative reviews because they give a fresh outlook besides crazy fan girls say “OMEC” (oh my edward cullen) or “TEAM EDWARD!”.
But this seriously has to be the meanest review ever! good, yes. and also the writer is very insightful. and it really shows has different people perceive different books.
It seemed to me, that the writer thinks that the bella/edward romance is just a stupid highschool romance, making bella seem anti-femenist(sp?) and idiodic for becoming “zombie-like” for half a year. But the truth is that their romance isnt just a highschool crush, its the real deal. True, uncensored LOVE. The two could literally not live without eachother. Hence edward’s overprotectiveness and bellas obviousfolding to his will (which i agree she is a pansy when she refuses to kick his ass after the whole engine thing).
Its the real deal, and they have undying (pun intended) love for eachother. so i dont think it is a sign of unrealistic weakness that bella has, simply the overhwhelming devotion that she has for edward.
Edward, is another story. Thought, its hard to grasp(since the books are in bellas pov) it is obvious that edward feels just as intensly for bella as she does for him. Every minute he is with her, he is in physical pain. but his adoration for her makes him able to resist his primal urge to kill. Now it seems that, since he must protect her from himself, everyone and everthing is a danger to her. So in edwards overexaggerating mind, he goes to extremes to protect her. Even from the all to sarcastic Jacob.
Basically, i really liked this review. and it seems people dont grasp the concept of true love the same way. wether they think it exsists or not. So yeah:]
(ps i dont want anyone bashing me cus it wont do any good, i’ll never come back on to read it so dont waste your time)
LOL @ all the twelve-year-old Twitards acting butthurt and dropping F-bombs. I hope you all find your very own Edwards some day soon. <3
I wasn’t going to get involved, but having finished reading the comments I felt the need to.
Firstly, we all realize we are arguing over 4 works of YA fiction by a housewife who had never written before in her life, right?
Just checking.
Secondly. I am 19 years old, a sophomore creative writing major, and I loved the entire Twilight saga. I was among the girls waiting in line for Breaking Dawn at midnight. Are the books perfect? No. They were not meant to be some great thought-provoking works of adult literature. They are YOUNG ADULT books and they provide an escape from life for a while. Do I expect everyone to love them? No. If you don’t like the books, that’s your opinion and I respect that.
But just like everyone is arguing and complaining about everyone else’s takes on the stereotypes of housewives, feminists, and etc, not all Twilighters are rabid fangirls who will rip your throat out if you don’t love their precious books. I am a Twilighter and I would greatly appreciate a little respect rather than being grouped in with the obsessive pre-teen demographic.
Thank you.
Okay first of all ..i understand it’s your opinion but you can go about sharing your opinion in a more respectful way …
First of all. This book isn’t sexist or completely anti-feminist what so ever.. People are so quick to judge on Twilight but they don’t even consider other stories that happens to have the super hero of the book save the girl .. and yes people may think that it’s all about a girl who can’t take care of herself but if you really look more in depth in the stories you would surely realize that Bella is an extremely strong character.. She may not be strong physically (until BD) .. But she’s extremely strong mentally .. Case 1. in Twilight she was willing to risk her own life to save the ones she loved .. she didn’t want edward to come after her .. she was willing to die to make everyone else safe.. so her plan didn’t exactly come out the way that she hoped because edward came into the rescue, but the fact that she was even willing to consider dying for the people she loved made her a strong character.. Case 2. In New Moon.. Again she was willing to risk her life for Edward .. Everyone only sees everything to one side.. everyone only seens Bella as this weak girl who Edward or Jacob has to keep on saving.. But she’s done plenty of things to save her loved ones.. Her running down in Italy trying to save Edward from committing suicide almost.. && coming into Breaking Dawn she was the HERO of the book ..
Your comments about the books being sexist are your own personal opinions .. But you’ve clearly not looked deep enough to the series to see all the strife and the things Bella has had to overcome and go through .. All which clearly represent how strong of a character she really is ..
&& i see that you are one of the people out there that have complained over the fact that “vampires can’t get someone pregnant”.. Seriously people.. the Twilight series is a FICTION.. say it with me now.. FICTION .. It’s not your vision or your book to say what Stephenie Meyer can and can’t do .. It’s her vision .. her books .. and she can write in whatever she wants to .. I find it ridiculous that so many people are so quick to say how it’s not possible that Bella got pregnant, yet they don’t understand the whole book isn’t even possible in the first place.. Vampires aren’t real nor are werewolves.. So why all the complaining now about how Bella’s pregnancy isn’t possible.. When in reality the whole book is work of fiction ?
Lastly, I will say that Meyer isn’t the best writer ever.. and any Twilight fan who’s read plenty of descent books will agree that Meyer has plenty of grammatical errors in plenty of her books. But the books are a great read, and the truth of the fact is Stephenie Meyer isn’t a writer she’s a story teller.. So of course she’s not going to have the same great writing styles as other authors out there, but in the end Meyer knows how to deliver a great compelling story that you may not love .. But plenty of people in this world have grown to adore and love.. Some of us are a bit obsessive… Yes i will admit that I am one of those fans .. But so what? If it annoys people how much we love the book then they don’t have to pay attention.
Overall .. I respect your views on the book, yet i don’t agree with them what so ever.. It’s your opinion and that’s okay, but I hope you don’t think that this one little review you give will affect any fan out there.. We will still love the books and still defend the books when someone bashes them..
I must say, although I am a diehard Twilighter, you did bring up some good points. Yes, Edward’s close to abusive behaviour in Eclipse regarding Jacob Black was aweful, and were I Bella I would never have put up with it. But other than that one fault, Bella is an admirable character. Despite her clumsiness (which there is nothing wrong with, I myself am extremely accident prone) she is an incredibly mature and self confident woman.
And let me point out that although Edward went to some ridiculous extremes to keep her away from Jacob (I mean, taking out her truck’s engine! Come on!), she didn’t really put up with it. Yes, she did brush it off by saying “He’s doing it because he loves me” or whatever other rubish excuses she came up with, she still went out of her way to undermine him. Like hopping on Jacob’s motorcycle in the middle of the school yard. That was awesome!!
I loved these books very much, nearly as much as I adore Harry Potter! (Although I do admit that Breaking Dawn was rather frightfully…..extreme.)
I stood in line for Breaking Dawn for hours, and I plan to do the same for the Twilight movie and for Midnight Sun.
Stephenie Meyer is my hero, as is her wonderful heroine, Bella.
oh and i dont thing twilight fans should bash the writer for putting up the essay cus we have a lovely little thing called free speech. and i bet they got paid to write a review (or maybe not i dunno) so we all gotta make a living
LMAO.
How old are you ? Seriously, What is this shit ? Who are you to say all this crap ? THIS is just a book ! You don’t like it ? OK. But it’s not a reason for insult the autor like that. Poor girl, I feel really, really, sorry for you.
You’re just so pathetic.
I can’t believe you all want to rant about how MEAN the review was. She stated an opinion she felt strongly about, so what? Have any of you noticed that some of you start your sentences with “Sorry, but..” and end them with a big ol’ “FUCK YOU”? That doesn’t make sense, it and only makes you come off as bipolar. You want to talk about mean and rude? Have any of you read the reply message from Meyer’s brother, Seth, to a fan who wanted her petition acknowledged? Now that was mean and rude, especially with someone so close to Meyer herself, he shouldnt have behaved like an angry rabid fangirl.
Back to the angry fangirls though- If you really want to defend your books, do so in a civil and mature manner, otherwise the rest of us will learn to go blind when your comments come up. If you want to have a healthy debate, we’ll respect you (it’s hilarious that the anti-twilighters have a greater tolerance for differing opinions than the real fangirls do) and we’ll listen to what you have to say. By jumping in and typing all in caps, you’re not doing anything for your argument, and you’re only causing me to keep believing that a good majority of the fangirls are complete idiots.
Learn a little, help us take you seriously, or don’t bother with it at all, because your screaming comments will end up as wasted space.
&& i forgot to add.. At the end of the day Stephenie Meyer can go home and say that all 4 of her books have made it on the New York’s Time Best Sellers List.. As well as topping many other best selling lists out there..
&& she can also say that one of her books sold 1.3 million copies in one day .. I’m pretty there are so many more accomplishments that she has had ..
But then again, you writing this article can’t really say any of those things listed above.. So what makes you think that what you say really matters?
Dear Kellen Rice,
If you can do better, then go on, write a book! Can’t wait to read it!!! But if you’re only jealous, I can understand, ’cause this is the best series ever!!!!


I think you totally suck!
So I just say: shut up and go to hell!!!!
Oh and this also goes to all of you who are jealous of Stephenie and “hate” the series!
PS. I will never come back to this site, so you can write whatever you want, I won’t be able to read it!
i have to respect you for you oppinion…however…i think you are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong its not even funny.
these books are amazing, and they arnt being shoved down you throught, so i don’t see the reason for such the harsh artical..but other than that. the thing i think you are most wrong about is stephanie meyer’s writing style…its amazing. it is so detaled, and beautifuly written…and its not giving wrong ideas about feminizm, just because some don’t like an enchanting love story does not mean that every one else does not love it.
thanks
To Kris:
So what if Stephenie Meyer made a load of money? Have you seen the backlash that’s happened after BD? Half her fans hate her now. Have you been to Amazon.com at all? Hundreds of discussions with people furious over how everything’s turned out. Lately, if anything, Meyer doesn’t have much to be happy about, because her fanom 180’ed like crazy. Call those people what you will, “traitors” or whatever, but it still happened, and I’m sure Meyer’s taking it pretty badly, since she can’t own up to anything in her interviews and now her own brother has taken to being a jerk to the former fans. So right now, I, and I’m sure the author of this article, are quite happy we’re not Meyer. That women had something nearly good going, and then she turned around and destroyed it all single-handedly, so really, what am I supposed to be jealous about here?
Writing this article accomplished quite a bit I think, unless you’ve blinded yourself to the praise she’s received by writing it. She now gets to meet more like-minded people who aren’t resorting to ad hominem attacks just because they can’t come up with a rebuttal. You, with your comment, did the same. “You’re not rich so you suck!” is basically what you said. Unlike the article, what YOU said, really doesn’t matter, as much as you think it might.
Wow. Someone is totally jealous of Stephenie Meyer and her amazing ability to write.
lawl.
rofl
your negative thoughts will manifest in your own writing. don’t say i didn’t warn you. lmao
Wow you guys just cant stand to leave something as it is. You just have to try to ruin it and pick it apart it saddens me. This is a BOOK a FICTIONOUS BOOK. Let people enjoy a good story. The author isn’t claiming shes the next JK FAG Rowling or Jane Austen she simply wrote a story her sister thought it was good so she published it and shared her story when she didnt have to and iam glad she did so are the other millions of fans. Why waste your time to start a hate rant just because so many people like a simple book hey at least teens are reading instead of getting pregant and doing drugs. Also I happen to belive that this is a GREAT ENTERTAINING STORY not a fucking peice of literature. I also happen to believe that maybe 1% of the world has found there soulmate including FICTIONOUS Bella. The story has no drugs or sex nor does it promote anysort of drugs or sexual relationship between teenagers Bella and Edward got MARRIED then had sex just like any sort of normal couple in our world what makes them stand out more? So let little girls and boys who like the story enjoy it for what it is. So FUCK all you whiny ass HATERS or Harry fagget lovers i can go on and on about what a little bitch harry potter is and all the faggets that love that gay ass book about little kids with wands who waddle around and say some wierd ass shit how imature its fans are expecialy the adults and the adult fans will be able to read in al little more about twilight and why things are in there it is a little mature for young readers. So thank you again for whoever wrote this to try to stop peolple for like a simple series wow you must be really pist Meyers raking in the money no matter what.
PS: By the way blast magazine didnt you just post an article on 10 best part of the series and how good it is. hmph wierd
yeah i loved the article with the 10 best Bella and Edward moments
awesome
You are crazy.
Dhampirs were never supposed to make sense. Do recall that the original legends had mystical/magical bases to them, and that at the very, very bottom, I do believe, it was just cholera. A sickness that drains your energy, and makes you cough blood, especially in the night. Vampires come from the belief that when some people died, they would rise because of their sins and drain the energy of the living – blood is actually nutrient poor, but back then they did not know better – and sometimes even have sex with their former wives. Some people took advantage of the myths – men would come to their lovers as “vampires”, women would say that the new baby is a dhampir when they had them some year after their husbands died, etc. My problem with the whole thing, and you may correct me if I am wrong, is that Meyer attempts to explain vampires with science. If she had left it at “it’s magical”, I would probably be less irate about it, but she insisted on giving a scientific explanation for the creatures. So many things are wrong with her vampires that, while you may say she’s simply being original, I say that she has no clue about basic biology.
Now, vampires are stuck in at one stage of their life, right? So, since their entire bodies are simply frozen, down to the cellular level, where does the venom come from? How does his frozen sperm move – recall, they are not alive to swim to the egg. If there is no blood, what services their bodies? What surrounds their brains? What cushions their joints? What cells create the pheromones that scent their breath? If she had said “Magic”, perhaps I would not complain. I like to have my species explained in logical terms, but if she had to cop out with “magic”, I would not mind as much. It’s when you try to force science into a design that was never meant to hold water…well, I suppose it’s happened many times, in many other books and movies. Just not quite to this extent.
Moving on….
I must disagree about the non-abusive statement. Jacob has never hurt Bella (But then, not having read Eclipse nor Breaking Dawn, I can’t be perfectly sure) to my knowledge. For that matter, if irks me greatly to read her whine about how “Why can’t he be like the Cullens? Never mind that he only just became a werewolf, never mind that his rage is not an easily inhibited issue like blood lust – there is no way you can block every rage-inducing thing that happens – never mind that he was your best friend for who knows how long, that he went against his pack for you. Ignore all that he is and has done as you run to Edward, dropping him like a hot potato – a little irony, anyone? Where is your sympathy? Where is the truth I was hoping for – that a friend may, after all, become the best mate for you?
And even for that, why does she love Edward? I will willingly suspend my disbelief of their relationship, but I demand an answer. Why does Edward love her? What kind of relationship is it if I only hear “Because they do”? Their sacrifices? What sacrifices? Bella worries for her mother – how sweet – yet is still willing to leave them all behind. Edward decides that he must take his own life because his true love has died – such a smart boy, going to his death without even returning himself to verify it, or at the very least to visit her grave. Selfishly, they react only to react, without even a thought. I love my boyfriend because of his humor, his patience, his determination to do well, and the very human laziness that makes me push him onward. And more.
I cannot help but think, because I am. When you lose your ability to think and reason, are you nothing more than a fictional character catering to Meyer’s purse? I suppose I may think of you that way. I suppose that, in my quest to understand the human mind, I will read these books, cringing and grinding my teeth before finally going to my warm, cuddly boyfriend for comfort. And learning at last that Camus was right – nothing matters, because nothing is on the human mind anymore. We look only to be entertained, forgetting how everything affects us? Did that one message, perhaps one of the very few decent ones, not make it across the Twilight series? The future, and your mind, is subjective. If you choose to read something, you may say it is for entertainment value, but you will make a choice in your life because of it. What choice, I cannot say, but good luck on come what may.
lol well this was fairly entertaining.
but you all need to put your claws away and use your energy for something productive. ohhh wells.
i agree completely with Kris, Jessi, Kerry, and Gossip. like i said I love Twilight to death but im not going to spend my life daydreaming about a handsome sparkly man riding in a volvo coming to sweep me off my feet. It would be nice but this is real life; in real life that doesnt happen. I also dont appreciate the twihard pre-teen – 15 yr old stereotype. Yea im 13 but im not going to go into public and look at every hot guy and think OMEC EDWARD! that would be a little… yeah. anyway i dont care if anyone writes about twihards as being lovers of anything twilight or related, just dont get the idea that every teen who loves twilight is going to be rabid over it. I know im sort of ignoring all the comments from twilight fans above who are foaming at the mouth over anything that anyone says about their “black and red bible” but they are only a fraction of the people who love twilight and not at all the typical fan. Keep arguing if you want to but seriously!
Twihards: its just an article! yes its rude but does it honestly matter to you so much?
Anti-Twilighters: its just a book. say what u want about the book, but leave the real life people behind it alone. Stephanie doesnt deserve your jeers and comments.
There’s not much point in saying that, Michelle, considering you’re here too.
Also, lol @ FICTIONOUS. Hahaha.
All right, I’ll stop being mean now.
I don’t understand. Every single one of you is saying something about feminism and I so don’t see it. I am a feminist; I read the books and loved them. I would recommend them to anyone who just wants to escape for from this hell we live in. I’m sorry if I offend people but, come on, don’t we read novels to get away from the troubles of our lives?
Some of us are having trouble with money, family problems, and someone we love or know is in this war with Iraq, don’t you want to escape all that? I know I do. I read books because they take you away somewhere different. That is what they are supposed to do. The Twilight Saga is a fiction novel it is in no way shape or form to make women think less of themselves or go back to the 1600s when women where nothing but slaves, basically.
I never once thought that and hello, feminist! Right here! If you think about all of us want that kind of love, the kind that never dies, and the kind that lasts even after death. I know that will probably never happen but what is wrong with dreaming about? I never once thought Edward being abusive maybe a little bit overprotective but that’s normal. I know some of you will say something about this but I don’t really care this is my opinion.
Twilight – Bella was a mature 17 years old. She cooked, cleaned, basically took care of herself, and had never been in a relationship. (Name a seventeen year old like that today.) When she met Edward she was like every other girl shy, nervous, and awkward around him because she liked him. (Aren’t we all like that around the guy we like?) Edward and Bella are not a normal relationship but I’m sure most people with even a half a brain could tell that. (Most people know that vampires and werewolves don’t exist.) Oh and she risks her life to save her mom! (Would you do that?)
New Moon – Bella was heartbroken after Edward left. (Tell me someone who isn’t broken after a first love has gone.) Bella doesn’t jump off a cliff to commit suicide. She was going to do that with Jacob remember? Cliff Diving! She wasn’t paying attention to the weather and that’s why she nearly drowns. Yes, she does start doing stupid things to try and remember Edward’s voice but doesn’t matter because it’s FICTION!
Eclipse – Bella is stuck. She doesn’t know who to choose and Edward said that if she fell in love with someone else he would walk. Jacob and Edward make it hilarious because she is trying to choose and they are fighting over her. (Who doesn’t want two hot guys fighting over her? I know I would.) She makes the choice to be with Edward he didn’t make it for her. Jacob was the one who tried to make her choose him.
Breaking Dawn – Bella and Edward get married but OH MY GOODNESS! She’s only eighteen! (Most women in America get married when they are 18 or 21.) They are married and they have sex. Another OMG! She having sex! (Hello people married! Most lose his/her’s virginity at, sadly, 16 or 17 and they’re NOT married.) She has a kid, it’s killing her, and she’s keeping it! (Guys, I agree with pro-choice. If I were pregnant I would do whatever it takes to make sure it was okay. I would give my life for it because it should have a chance to live.)
I could go on with all four novels but I think that I got off topic. It’s a FICTION NOVEL not a Biography on someone’s life. My cousin reads them or rather read them to her and she knows the difference. She’s six and a half.
Please Remember that this is MY personal opinion so please don’t take offence. I just don’t see why everyone is going crazy over these novels. This is the same thing that happened with Harry Potter or any other novel with a supernatural genre. Google it.
I’m a Twilight fan and I respect your opinion but you should really respect Mrs. Meyer and her fans. I will not be returning to site because if you can’t respect others than what’s the point of reading.
This is a bunch of feminist bullshit.
Bella makes her choices and that’s what the book is about. The second kiss from Jacob isn’t forced by the way.
And Bella made it through 17 years of being clumsy, before Edward came into her life.
Twilight sets standards for boys, so that every girl can find an Edward Cullen. She doesn’t have to settle for less.
This article was a waste of time. If you didn’t like the book, why are you bitching about it online?!
Because, as has been previously stated, we have the right to free speech.
I fear the standards for boys now. I may become lesbian, after all.
@ Heather:
“Fictionous” is not a word; you probably mean fictitious.
I don’t see why Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling need to be called to homosexuals. Say you don’t like the review and say you don’t agree, but there is no reason whatsoever to be throwing in the word “faggot”. You can’t argue without throwing in ad hominems or profanity. If you can’t criticize something without profanity, I’d say you’re just as immature as those Harry Potter lovers whom you hate.
@Yuki: I agree.
I totally see where your coming from, and I respect your opinion.
But I had to say, I don’t think you should put down anyone’s work. This article sure does that. Stephenie Meyer’s books are so detailed, so beautiful. I learned alot from that series.
The angle that you are looking at the series at, is wrong. If you look at all books like your looking at, I bet every single book will have fault.
Perhaps you should read it again. You don’t understand the beauty of twilight at all.
ok i totally agree with Nicole on the comment before mine.
Twilight does hav its problems but jesus christ wat is your problem?!?!
so wat if twilight was a bad book in your point of view, it makes people happy and yes bella has some problems and its unrealistic
but OF COARSE IT IS ITS ‘BOUT VAMPIRES!!!!
you either hate the book or you love the book, in the end ITS JUST A BOOK!!!! a book that millions of fans love.
Stephanie, as you just said, it’s her opinion, so how can you say the angle she’s looking at it from is wrong?
There a many, many Anti-Twilighters who read this book loving it at first, and as time passed and they reflected on it, certain things began to bother them. Personally, I could plow through the stuff I didn’t like until I got to the end of Eclipse. Then the books annoyed the hell out of me. So can you say I was looking at it from the wrong angle or that I need to re-read them, if I started out enjoying them and THEN hated them?
Perhaps we don’t understand it’s beauty, but then one could say that perhaps you don’t understand it’s horrors.
Sorry people, but she says a big truth. When you get some books for read, not Harry POtter, another real books. You will understand.
Twilight is a horrible serie, with a horrible end.
I actually like the first 3 books, but I see what you’re saying and I agree with it , though not to the level of passion you do,
I let these issues slide because I liked the story line. The character development, if you want to call it that, got worse and worse as the series continued, But still Twilight, new moon and eclipse are my guilty pleasure
Anywho, I 1000% agree with you about Breaking Dawn… my review? “WTF was that?”
Though I do respect your opinion, why read all the books if you didn’t like them? haha just saying, if you hated them so much… why read the whole series?
Ah, escapism, uselessness is your nature.
Of course, the world has been going to hell for the past century or so. Yet you complain that the greater the stakes in your future, the greater your escapism potential. I see how it works – Bob’s in the army, I’m afraid he’s going to get shot and die, I should read a romance novel. Very logical, very concise, very intelligent. Never mind doing what you can to support the troops, such as researching the candidates and voting for the right one, or donating money and supplies, or coordinating a rally. What you should do, as a wife, a mother, a feminist, a woman in general, is read Twilight. If we all did, the world would be saved.
Passion lives, passion dies; to attempt to wring more out of life is a treacherous path that tends to lead to hell.
I have made my comment on the fact that it is, after all, just a book. Just fiction. Just something to swoon over and eat up time. Don’t bother thinking about the studies on how the media affects teenagers, don’t think about how peer pressure can and will press a normal girl into an abnormal mold, don’t mind that there are probably subconscious desires in many fans that will never do anything but get in their way.
And like every other concept, maturity is subjective. I’m seventeen, I can cook, clean, take care of myself, have been invited to Harvard about five times now, have planned out my life carefully, have managed to hold a job, drive a car, earn plenty of college credit so I might skip a year, and even support my boyfriend without having sex, and guess what? My parents would tell you that I am immature. My friends would tell you that I am very mature. I am who I am, and her apparent maturity shows only in her house-wife skills. She is not emotionally or mentally mature, she is simply performing as she has for a long time – otherwise, she would at least attempt to teach her father to take care of himself. Give a man a fish…
Perhaps I am the only one here who does not want drama. I am perhaps the only one mature enough to realize that drama sounds good only on paper – in real life, it’s nothing but an annoying, immature mess.
The actual statistics on marriage are about 23-25, and rising as women enter the workforce. And clearly, you are confused – Pro-choice would mean that you believe she should have aborted Nessie.
I’ve gone on and on about how thing affect people. No one listens – but please stop making the same inane statement as an attempt at an argument. It is pointless, has been disproved several times already, and of course, simply takes up space.
haha you stupid ass brainwashed cunts
TWILIGHT IS SHIT.
EDWARD CULLEN IS ABUSIVE AND CRAZY
STEPHANIE MEYER IS A FATASS
i shall not read the comments. they don’t interest me.
i can honestly say: FINALLY SOMEONE GOT IT!!
i am so glad someone said it all,and i hope all ”twilighters” realize this-what you and i know for a loooong time.
To Roxanna.. First of all i never said “you’re not rich, so you suck” .. I merely made a comment of things that Stephenie Meyer has accomplished in her years of being an author mainly because many of the haters of the books on here seem to make very nasty mean and rude comments about Stephenie and her work … When there is simply no reason to do so .. Many people love the books that Stephenie has put out there .. I’m pretty sure more people respect Stephenie than what you have to say, than what i have to say, or what this writer of this review has to say.. && you right, why should anything I have to say matter? Well it doesn’t, it’s simply my opinion.. This review is her opinion .. and none of anything on here really matters cuz at the end of the day Stephenie is still considered a very successful author ..
&& as for Breaking Dawn.. Where is your statistic showing that half her fans hated this 4th book .. Yes i’ve read plenty of negative comments out there about Breaking Dawn.. But at the same time so many of her fans LOVED the book .. so it’s not completely true that half her fans turned on her unless you’ve got the numbers to prove it .. So you don’t know that more of her previous fans hated the book than the fans that loved it.. Because with every book there is a mixed review and mixed discussion just like Breaking Dawn has .. People may have dissed and said rude things about Meyer after reading BD.. But so many people have also praised her for her work..
So basically .. I’m pretty sure that anything this writer has to say about the Twilight series doesn’t matter.. it doesn’t change anything .. there are still a TON of fans of this book .. More so fans than haters considering many of the comments on here are defending the books instead of bashing it ..
So before responding to my comments again =)
ITS JUST A BOOK, GUISE, RIGHT?
Well this REVIEW is just a REVIEW. Why so butthurt? Twihards are such sensitive flowers. And wth would anyone want their “own Edward”? I would die of boredom. Him and Bella dont do anything fun together other than coo-cooing and kissing. My boyfriend is: human, flawed, warm, funny as hell and i’ll take that any day over mister tasty freeze.
I agree with Stephanie! The books are beautifully written and detailed and the language is just gorgeous! I, for one, can never hear enough about Edward’s scintillating arms, his flowery breath, buttery eyes and his overall ability to be both dazzling and dazzled.
And the richness of Bella’s character! The readers get a fascinating looking into the mind of a teenage girl verging on being a sociopath but she’s eventually saved from complete misanthropy by her vampire lover turning her from an average human into something far superior. Sometimes, when all else fails, it takes a very close relationship to fix everything.
PS I agree with Ebonie. REPRESENT!
That is an absolutely genius review. I absolutely agree with you and admire your ability to express the pathetic mayhem these series have created. Well done.
To ProTwilight I used to like this series. I used to be completely CAPS LOCK-y fangirly about it. I mean, I recruited my friends to read it. I made fanart. And do you know what? I waited a month, I reread, and I counted how many times Meyer could call Edward stunning/gorgeos/perfect. And then I realized something. There is no such person. He is fictional.
I know everyone hast the right to their own opinion, eh, but if you guys could turn off the cap-locks long enough to realize that you’re just criticizing some one else opinion, hence, you are the epitome of hypocracy.
In addition to this, I love the posts saying OOOOOMG I can’t belive this!!! Your jus lyk mad cas lyk HARRY POTTER IS DEAD! DEAD I SAY!!! If you haven’t properly read the article, I found little to no comparison of the two series. You treat it as if every insult to the Twilight series has a Harry Potter fan standing behind it wringing its hands maniacally. Seriously, you guys need to stop feeding into the MTV hype.
I agree with Yuki and Kris .. everything they said was absolutley true ..
this writer of this review doesn’t matter she’s nothing compared to Stephenie and what she’s accomplished !
Back of haters!
OH MY GOSH, i know that some people dont like the twilght books but its no reason to start talking major trash about it! Even though bella is very weak in the beginnig of the series she gets so much stronger as it progresses. I think she is a good role model even though she has low self esteeem, she is still a good student, she is honest, she is very unselfish, i mean for gods sake she moved from pheonix to forks, all to please her mother so she could spend more time with her husband and to please her dad also becasue he lived alone, if thats not unselfish i dont know what is!! And you have to remember that stephenie meyer originally wrote twilight for herself and she didnt think about pleasing other people when she was writing it. Everyone has there own opinion but you all are just being rude saying all this hurtful stuff, stephenie made a chioce to let the world read her book. if you think about it its not that much different than if someone made dinner for themselves, but out of generosity decided to let other people have some too, and then people start saying that they did a horrible job and it was gross and horrible, think about it, ITS JUST PLAIN RUDE! and lets face it, I doubt many people could have done better if they were going to write a book, i mean look at how popular these books are! millions and millions of poeple read these books and if they really were horrible do you think they would have done this well!! I know you have a right to voice your opinion but this was someones fantasy and not even originally meant for others, so please if you wont have respect for the book, have respect for stephenie meyer!
I am sorta confused, why did you kept reading if you knew you didn’t like the first book to begin with? You even end up finish reading the fourth book. For me, of course I couldn’t deny how Bella could give up all her future just to be with Edward. Thats stupid. But somehow people are ignoring the facts that there are PLENTY of woman and girls out there who puts themselves in the same position and somehow, at least 50% of you who posted here might gather the same position in 10 years time. Its an unconditional love type of book and merely less fraction of the earth knew exactly what it was and based on Breaking Dawn, I say even less fraction of the Twilighters knew what to feel. Again I am wondering, why bother reading if you really disliked the first book and end up having the four books of SMeyer on your shelves? For me, it just doesn’t make sense. But I know you are a very strong women and it is understandable you argue with SMeyer’s writing. I just hoped that you understand there are millions of women on this planet and they are different from us beings, and there are weaker women placed in the world, some who could take Bella’s shoes easily. And you know what, they are a lot stronger than we are at times. Bella for me is a lot more stronger than any other characters of the book. Plus it is never wrong to rely on someone, wanting to be saved.
@ Nicole. Jacob’s second kiss IS forced. Coercion is a form of force. Saying, “I’ll kill myself if you don’t do this for me!” is coercion.
LOL god …
i know many of you think that it was tupid that bella gave up her future to be with edward, but think about she didnt have much of an exciting life to begin with. and now edward comes and hes amazing and she loves him more than anything and he loves her the same. its not like she had huge dreams for the future anyway and she still gets to have a child and live with edward forever and even still se charlie and maybe even renee eventually. if i was in her position i wouldnt have done tings much differently!
“So before responding to my comments again =)”
What?
Perhaps half was not the best wording, but the one’s who turned over aren’t exactly a minority. Even websites that once praised the books and Meyer (EW for example) have now given her the thumbs down. She may still have a large fanbase, but it’s still something to have another large group of people hating her. What authors do you know of today that are currently receiving this kind of backlash after only five books sold?
Also, “You’re not rich, you suck” was the gist of your comment, because you made it a point to compare Meyer’s success to the writer of this article’s lack thereof. What was the point in that?
Perhaps you think what the writer says doesn’t matter, but she’s obviously getting loads of attention because of this article, even if half of them are negative, clearly what she has to say does matter. It adds to the tally of people hating the series, and this article has been linked to dozens of other websites thus far. I think that says a bit on how much it matters to people. So yes, at the end of the day Stephenie is considered a very succesful author, but you should add on, “who has loads of people that currently hate her.”
I love the books. So fuck you.

First of all, I’m disgusted by people like you. You can hate these books but you can’t talk in the name of the whole fan base. It’s your opinion, right, but don’t generalize it !
I think you’re jealous. But jealous of what ? And who ? Stephenie Meyer because she has the capacity you don’t have to write some beautiful sentences ? The capacity to write something that please without insulting ? Or maybe you’re jealous of Bella’s and Edward’s not as perfect relation as you told it was ? Maybe you have a lack of getting horizontal ?
Anyways, you’re not as talented as SM is. You have to insult a books serie to gain some reactions. People like you shouldn’t write this kind of tings or even read this kind of books. You’re too clever for that !
As for the feminism, what a stupidity you wrote ! Will you see in Twilight series a failure to animals right soon ? In deed, Jacob and his pack are kicked by some newborn vampires ! You should defend as well all the poor grizzlis, mountain lions and deers, it’s not fair ! All for the women, but anything for the animals… Maybe you’re not as clever as I thought…
Anyways, that just a book. Some psychologist would say that a man hurted you several years ago and that you’re not anymore capable of believe in a true love. True love does exist, not vampires. Sex does happen and it’s not harrassment. To be share between two men does happen, but not involving werewolves and vampires. If you can’t dream, don’t read these books. And if you can’t understand difference between reality and fiction, stop living it must be hazardous for your health !
What a pity reading this kind of thought… I feel bad for you but not enough to forgive this insulting manner to treat the work of an honest woman. You only deserve the fans spitting on your own work. And I am one.
Laeti_Cullen
@ Cami:
Did you even read what Yuki wrote? She doesn’t even support your point.
@ Those of you who would like to know why we kept reading:
There are so many reasons for this. I kept reading so that when my friends asked me why I disliked the books, I could give thoughtful answers without resorting to ad hominems. Some people didn’t dislike the book until they thought about it and others didn’t start disliking the series until Eclipse. some read it to stay in touch with friends who are obsessed.
Also, in response to those countless cap-lock replies stating: OMG. I CANT BELIEVE YOU SAYD THAT!!! ITS A BEAUTIFUL STORY!!!! THIS ARTICLE SUCKS IN ALL THE WRONG WAYS!!!!
Aha! How clever! Even though the author of this article used a play on words of the original MTV article, you just reiterated what they said to play to your agenda. Its if someone says “Gosh, this movie sucks.” and you respond, “YEAH!!! LYK WELL UR MOM SUCKS!”
That is lame.
and To Pro Twilight who says:
“Lol this is pathetic.”
You’re right, free speech, coherently formed opinions sure are pathetic. (sarcasm spasm)
I’d like to see you right a book.
Indeed, I am righting a book. I’m RIGHTING the hell out of a book. With my WRITE hand. GO FIGURE!
You can hardly right a sleezy article.
Sleezy is a great adjective. BTW, there is an A in sleazy. Ha! Its good to see she can hardly WRITE.
It’s the best book I’ve ever read.
Now that is just insulting. HOP ON POP is an EPIC.
You’re pathetic scum. :]
Indeed we are. Voicing our opinions in ways that might be mean to people. Hey why don’t you go pick on MadTV/SNL/any comedian.
I’m always amazed at the number of people willing to jump down a bloggers point for speaking her mind. That is kind of the point after all. If you don’t like what she has to say, then don’t read it. She’s not claiming that her view is more important than anyone’s, she just giving us her honest opinion, and frankly I applaud her for that.
That being said I have to agree with most of her points. Even for “literary escapism” I can’t deny that Twilight is pretty poorly written. Not to mention the fact that her character’s personalities seem to magically morph between books, especially from New Moon to Eclipse. Edward goes from being overprotective to becoming a kidnapper, Jacob goes from being sweet to turning into an ass, and Bella gets even whinier and more insecure than ever. It boggles the mind, and signaled a trend that only got worse in Breaking Dawn.
It’s a shame, but it’s true. Twilight just really isn’t that good. I’m sad is took me four books to get it through my head too.
Ok, so after reading this i see where a lot of people are coming from. I like twilight because it was a cute love story that a friend suggested. I didn’t like every part of the stories and there are parts of it that i know a lot of people would do things differently. So it’s a story. It’s interesting hearing a new point of view for once instead of the constant Edward crazed emotions I’ve recived. Do i agree with everything? Well thats my opinion. But it’s interesting how much people can get worked up about fictional writting. Appreaciate anothers opinion! It just gives people another way to think about things. So thank you Rice for your article it was very sane. Maybe a little rude to the author of the books but what are critics for if not to be blut and to the point.
P.S. Twilighters, please express yourself with some dignity instead of potty mouth slandering. “Fuck you”, is not a very good argument to be fighting back with and it’s giving others a bad name and proving the point that Twilighters are simple minded “idiot fangirls” Please be more mature then that!!!
Do realize that this is nothing like your dinner analogy. This is much more like a restaurant – writers tend to write for themselves, in all honesty, or at least they say they do. If the food is bad, you have the right to complain, yes? Meyer isn’t exactly handing out free copies of Twilight – I’ve heard complaints about the signing fees and the fact you have to purchase new books for her to sign – and does anyone else think that Midnight Sun is going to be nothing but another cash cow? We hear Twilight again, all over, but this time in Edward’s view. What people say may not be true, and it’s just a bit frightening how quickly words are being swallowed.
Bella is a good student, but does not care about college. Bella is honest, but lies to her father constantly. Bella is unselfish, because she keeps hurting those who care about her. Yes, she did move to Forks and take care of her father, yet he is a grown man, able to care for himself, and her mother, as stated, was incredibly silly. Do you think that maybe this was little but a plot device, a bit of a lie? Where else is she so unselfish? Where else does she sit down and think about how everyone around her must feel? I’m sorry, but Edward doesn’t count.
Have you heard of the term research? Do you realize that no good warrior goes into battle unarmed? Do you understand that we want nothing but to understand why this book is so loved, that we want to perhaps make our marks on the world, perhaps even do some good? Wasn’t that what the Harry Potter moms did – they feared witchcraft and protested the books. We are here to talk reason into you – because while witchcraft is obviously fiction, romance rarely is, and I will say it yet again – books will make an impact on someone’s mind. Not obvious, perhaps, but it will happen, and I fear for the future generation.
Whatever happened to picking up a book to pass the time? Must people over analyze every single detail in those books to death? I don’t know if you knew this, but this is a FICTION book. Everyone reading them knows that so thanks for the warning about us teenagers impressionable young minds being corrupted, but apparently, your mind got corrupted with stupidity at a very early age if you can’t distinguish the difference between a book thats for fun and one that would change the way we see the world and make us girls want to be damsels in distress…or whatever it was you were trying to say. It’s a book about VAMPIRES for fucks sake. Obviously we don’t expect any guys to be like Edward because, guess what? EDWARD IS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER. I hate to ruin all of your fun but, we knew that. You’re the idiot for thinking so lowly of all of the females who have read this book and liked it. And another thing, when you start a series of books, and intensely hate the first one, I have an idea; PUT IT DOWN.
Your just a fucker who’s jealous that every girl would rather read these books than give you the time of day. Grow up, you fucking douchebag.
I highly disagree with this article. Most of these ‘examples’ from the book are not even major parts of the story. And even though there are ups and downs in the series {I was personally disgusted by Book 2 in Breaking Dawn}, it still is good and wonderful in many ways.
The heroine in the book is named Isabella Swan because Stephenie Meyer always wanted to name her daughter Isabella. But, because the name is kind of out of style she decided to nickname her Bella. This has no connection to this lousy reviewer’s ‘joke’ of it’s origin from ‘Beautiful Swan’.
Also, when Edward and Bella decided not to have sex until they were married, the reviewer tried to turn that into a bad thing! I think it’s fantastic that finally someone wrote that you can love someone without giving away your virginity. Young adults need role models {Real OR Fake} that set a good example and Edward and Bella are one of them! And even in the last book, she only said the word ‘sex’. She DID NOT write in a big sex scene were she described every little single detail that happened during the night.
There are many other points I would like to dig into but I have better things to do with my life then to dissect a cruddy journalist’s review of a wonderful book. Stephenie Meyer has a very big fan base that knows that her writing is genius.
Stephenie Meyer has sold MILLIONS of her books all across the world and was on the New York Times Bestseller list for each of her books. Can you claim that millions of people all across the world read your writing Kellen Rice? That you’ve even been in the New York Times? Yeah, I thought not.
Stephenie Meyer wrote this for her self and willingly shared it with the world. And I truly thank her for sharing it.
Kellen Rice, on the other hand, just has a big case of jealousy.
I rest my case.
I agree with Nicole, It said in New Moon “It wasn’t like I hadn’t landed myself in the ER before with just the help of my own two feet”. Bella WAS making the decisions for herself, and do not trash Jacob, I hated him, but then I realized that he was helping her. If you think about it, Stephenie kind of used Jacob to show that it isn’t really that bad, there is always some one else, the same with the whole imprinting thing. And to go as far as to say it’s sexist… Well, that’s just the most extreme over exaggeration I’ve ever heard. Edward save’s Bella to have the prince-charming in the book. And there is Alice, who I think is awesome, AND she saves the day, don’t forget Jane either, according to the GUYS those two GIRLS are the power houses. How is that sexist? I think that this article is the work of a Harry Potter fan gone mad, that’s what all of the other one’s like this with evidence against this were. And guess what? ALL of the guys that you say make the book soooo sexist aren’t complete without the girls. Edward left for Bella’s own good, but he was nothing without her. Jasper and Alice couldn’t even seperate to fake out the family in BD, Emmett and Rosalie are the two peices of the puzzle, and Esme and Cralisle are 100+ years and still strong. So suck on THAT!
Oy. Some amazing case you have – let’s put you on the stand, shall we?
Does Bella not get married simply so Edward will finally turn her into a vampire? Mind you, I haven’t read the last two books, but by the end of New Moon it seems like she wants nothing more than to be turned. And of course, Edward’s supposedly perfect, Victorian-era scruples restrain him from having sex until after marriage. And, of course, she no longer feels pain – only ecstasy during the very G-rated sex. Never mind her bruises – turtlenecks and sunglasses are in style, anyway.
Now, I have a friend named Isabelle. What do I call her by? Her full name. What does she like to be called? Izzy. While you would love to believe that Meyers is simply in love with that name, you cannot dispute that nicknaming her “Bella” is not very…helpful in dispelling the accusations.
Aren’t you getting just a bit defensive, dear? Does this touch, after all, on your deepest hopes and dreams that you would be this protective of the series? It does mine – it blatantly insults my world view with images of beautiful, sparkling vampires. I will stand up for what I believe in, and I am frankly proud of it. I’m sure you are, too, but I feel only shame that someone of my gender would be so biased.
Because believe me, I thought that the book would be good.
I was wrong.
Person opinion, I can’t bash you for that, just like you think you can bash others. Sure you brought up good points, but still, don’t you think people can tell the fine line? Just because you’re some writer for Blast, doesn’t mean you’re all high and mighty. I understand the points, but I myself as a reader can tell what is what. I would think alot of the girls my age would so agree. I agree with Chloe. It’s just RUDE to go off on some tirade, and it’s just RUDE to rant about someone who is with out a doubt a way better writer than you are, than you ever will be. At least she is going some where besides writing for a magazine. She’s getting OUT THERE.
IT’S NOT OVER YET!
Meyer is re-writing the series from Edward’s point of view. Brilliant review, though.
This is one of the most hilariously over-the-top comment threads I have ever read. Thank you, Twilight fans, for bringing some prime-quality entertainment!
Great review by the OP, by the way.
Kellan Rice:
What the fuck are you thinking?! You have not only insulted the greater population of young readers world wide, but you have also shown yourself as a stupid ass snobby old bitch, who just goes around giving people a hard time. The only good thing that has came of this is the reasuring fact that only the smartest of young girls would take an interest in these books. Unlike you, you pitiful, disgusting excuse of a human being.
I hope this ruins your career you stupid asshole.
Miranda Caro.
Dedicated Twilighter.
This review made me so frustrated! This is a fantasy romance novel! So please do not ruin it for the rest of us by trying to rationalize it with comparisons of “typical teenage love” or “normal life.” The girls who read these novels and enjoy them probably still fantasize about the romantic Disney-like love story. Yes, this is not “grown-up” behavior, but some of us like to escape from a life where most girls get their hearts broken by insensitive men. They want to get cozy, read a book, and imagine such a strong love. I’m sure you have an image of your “perfect guy.”
While I went through a break-up with my ex-boyfriend, this provided therapy equal to that of sitting with my girlfriends eating icecream and watching “The Notebook” or “Titanic.” These movies reflect the same nature of this kind of book and did well in the box offices for a reason. We do not read it to copy Bella’s every move and idea in order to apply them to our personal lives, but to play pretend in our own hearts. Sorry if that conflicts with your logical way of life.
In addition, the book was NOT wriiten to highlight Bella’s personal beliefs and actions; it was about love. Today, every single little word, phrase, sentence is disected and analyzed by it’s level of sexism, racism, etc. Why is it necessary to chop down something that someone else finds wonderful. Putting down the girls that read these books doesn’t make you sound like a feminist hero.
If you don’t like the books, fine. However, the craze reflects that most girls enjoy them. Be happy that people are picking up books to read. I’m pretty sure A Vindication of the Rights of Woman does not apeal to a twelve-year-old who rarely reads.
Leave it be.
JB, I have to agree – none of these fans are smart enough or care enough to look at the comments made. Miranda, for example, ignores the fact that profanity is immature, that quite a few of the “smartest young girls” cannot type for their lives, and that really, she’s just another stupid RFG.
I’ve given up reason. I’ve realized there are very few fangirls who will listen to reason, and am resigned to watch the world go to hell.
This is the worst article I have ever read!! I love the series and so do a lot of other people. And who are you to say all of this? YOU aren’t as succesful as Stephenie, she has thousands of loyal fans-including me- that hate articles like this.
First of all I want to say that I’ve read all the books, and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I also consider myself to be somewhat of a feminist.
I understand your point of view and I don’t entirely disagree (I was also put off by both Jacob and Edward in Eclipse), however, overall, I don’t find the books sexist. I think that Bella is a “normal” girl who has been thrown into a fantastical world. She isn’t weak because she is female, she’s weak because she is human. So, yes, there are times when she needs to be rescued. But there are also times when she is the rescuer (end of New Moon anyone?). She is fearless, strong willed and frequently speaks her mind. Are these not also strong qualities for young women to look up to?
There are also other strong female characters to look up to as well. Alice, for example, is one of the most crucial characters in the series, and to the Cullen family. She is tiny and very “feminine” but also lethal and not to mention incredibly intelligent!
I also believe that the books need to be examined as a whole. You go so in depth in commenting on the first three books where Bella is human, but breeze over the book where she is the MOST powerful character in the book! She saves her loved ones (no matter how anti-climactic you found it), without the need to be rescued by anyone.
Oh dear God.
Damn, I’ve been wrong! I must go find my perfect guy! Let me abandon my boyfriend and search for man who SPARKLES!
Perfect is subjective.
So, I shall swear once again.
Fuck perfect.
I love the Twilight Saga, I’ve read all the books at least twice and I think they’re amazing. And it is just fiction, you people shouldn’t analyze it so much. The book is made so you can forget life for a few hours and not worry about things. Fine, you don’t think it’s good…why do you have to write this? Why would you take the TIME to write this?! And all the haters who keep reposting on here, why are you here?!? You should focus on the positive things in life. Don’t spend time hating.
Miranda:
Thank you for further reinforcing the notion that Twilight appeals to the immature masses. Your review is living proof. The internet is a big place, and you’re going to run into people who have different opinions than you do. Get over it.
Sincerely,
Stretch
Frequently Disgusted By Humanity
Hal – thanks for being a semi-reasonable fan.
I still hate Bella. Perhaps I’m very wrong for not having read the entire series, but really – do you think Edward would have been killed? Aros was far too happy about him, and besides – two other vampires were there who could have easily dragged him away from making a scene.
That, and her utter lack of understanding anything infuriates me. Forget that Jacob was your best friend for who knows how long. Ignore his feelings – He should be overjoyed by your reunion. Very naive, no?
And have you by any chance heard about Mary Sues? She was bad throughout the first three, and in the fourth, she is overcome and eaten alive by Sueism.
Fuck you. Fuck you. You know what you are in my mind right now? You’re a fuckin’ dino…A fuckin’ old ass white lady who reads a book and says to herself..” Oh my! This is so sexist-,” you know what…FUCK YOU BITCH! NO ONE GIVES A FLYIN’ FUCK!!! BITCH!! Old ass white bitch! ugh! GOTOHELLLLL!!!!!!
Sincerely,
KISS MY ASS!
I don’t hate. I reason. I think. I have a brain. Stories are told because there is something to learn, to understand. Clearly, the television is not escapist enough for you – but that will change once the movie comes out, I bet.
Lmfao, wow, the comments here have given me quite the headache. There seems to be a lot of delusional and close-minded hatred going around.
People, chill. There is such a thing as “different opinions” and, in the same way that you’re allowed to bitch about this article, Kellen Rice can bitch about the series if she feels like it. Get over it. As you’ve so eloquently put, it’s just “a book”.
The excuses being thrown around are so overdone and irrelevant. Stop saying “BUT IT’S FICTION!!111″. Fiction has to work on a certain logic, otherwise, it’s just a piece of convenient self-indulgence, like I THINK (see, an opinion. Are we making any progress?) Twilight is.
Shame on you. Heathus’ tut-tut can be heard from up above.
“This article was a waste of time. If you didn’t like the book, why are you bitching about it online?!”
lol Are you serious? Let me rephrase that for you:
“You think this article is a waste of time. If you don’t like the article, why are you bitching about it online?!”
I LOVE TWILIGHT!!!
1) it’s called FICTION!!
2) in some sense it based sorta true. we all go through problems with sometimes choosing who we love. and who loves us!
3) it also shows how edward and bella balance each other out.
she’s this girl who is always falling, and he’s always there to catch her.
4)about jacob. DUH! i mean, he wouldn’t rape the girl. IT”S A KISS!!
he did that because after she’d kiss him, she realized she had a special place in her heart for him too!
5) it’s a book that will still keep you up at night reading, because it’s totally different! a VAMPIRE, she makes it sort of a dark gothica item, and uses it for a good part! that way more people can enjoy it. LOTS of people love romantics! and sometimes you need cheesy shcmeezy in some ways to comfort you.
overall it’s a very goood book! it may be a little over the top, but that’s why AGAIN i say, IT’S FICTION!
Shut up, haters! If you HATE Twilight so much, why the hell are you here? And reviewer–get a life. How long did it take you to write an article bashing America’s new favorite book series? Time that you could have HAVING A LIFE. That’s right.
Stephenie’s books are not misogynistic. Bella has proved personality strength over and over; so what if she was a zombie when Edward left? What would you feel like if the soulmate of your existence LEFT? Right, you probably wouldn’t know. That’s what Stephenie is trying to portray. She gives teenage aspiring writers and readers what they want. Yeah, let’s see you write a 4 million dollar worldwide bestselling book series. Oh, what? You can’t? Shocker. So before you go around destroying people’s reputations, take a look in the mirror, hypocrite!
Me again. I read ALL of the replies… and from other’s responses… It IS a FITIONAL BOOK. That is like setting your life guidlines by trying to get into Hogwarts, or trying to find elves or fairy’s. People LIKE reading something that is some what realistic so that they can think of ways THEIR lives can be better, NOT have vampires. If you make a living by trashing books that people like, and is a best seller, than man, you need to do a life-check. Meyer didn’t even plan on publishing the book, her SISTER did it for her. She wrote from the heart on a world that would be perfect, not for the money to try to destroy it. And, again on the sexist thing, sure, Bella could be more brave, but she went to a vampire to die to save her family, sure, it’s a little extreme, but it showed that she had courage to help her loved ones. How is showing courage to save your loved ones a bad message? It isn’t. And to the writer that said I was being overly-defensive, I am, and so should anyone that calls themselves a Twilighter, because in my opinion, you should stand up for what you believe is right. And how is Edward waiting for Marriage until they have sex a bad thing? It shows girls to wait, not to give in to what everyone else is doing. Trying to turn those things into a bad message is like trying to slam a revolcing door, stupid, pointless, and it shows that you like to waste you time. So go ahead, right what you want, because, guess what? How good does it make you look to try to trash something teens love? What message does that send? “Don’t read what you want, if other people trash it, then it’s crap, don’t be yourself?” You said Meyer was sending bad messages? Look at yourself, don’t point dirty fingers at clean hands.
Signing now, and probably will right more,
Paige Selbert
Dedicated Twilighter
Spell correction *revolving door*
Not a response.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH HAL!!! ROCK ON
Really, you suck, i mean, leave us alone, we LOVE Stephenie Meyer, and her story, and nothing is wrong with Bella, she is a normal, do you understand? NORMAL seventeen years old girl, she is not a “super bad girl” or something like that, why a teenager must be rebeld and stupid? You dont like Twilight, just because its a success, read it again, read it like another book, and then, tell me what do you think, i be waiting for your answer….
Ismael, a REALLY teenager from Uruguay who LOVES Bella and her Story
Kellen Rice, you are my hero. I was appalled by these books too — thank you for this bulls-eye of a review.
Another spell check, sorry, I was mad.
*your* in “you time”
Let me make a challenge.
Who here can give me a calm, compelling reason to think Twilight is a well-written novel? Before you all rush to scream at me, read these rebuttals:
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
I’m far too tired of the repetition.
Can I have your children?
Thank G-d someone has written the truth about this series in print form (well, as ‘print form’ as the Internet can be). These books are horrible. The writing is atrocious, the characters are ridiculous (another quibble I had with the book is that Edward and Bella just suddenly declare their love with no real reason behind their affections. WTF?), and you are absolutely correct that the messages they send is horrifying and not fitting for young girls today. I wonder if perhaps Ms. Meyer’s Mormon religion influenced her writings?
And to all those who are SCREAMING that they know the book is fictional and thus they will not actually take any lessons from it: that’s wonderful. Unfortunately, that argument doesn’t address the issue of the AWFUL writing in the books. Put this crap down and go read some Jane Austen.
Ismael, you remind me of something….
Oh yes.
LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE!!!
Yuki, a REALLY teenager from the US who loathes and despises this story.
((What does that even mean? a really teenager?))
Sorry I re-read my comment.. meant I completely disagree with Yuki and agree with Kris .. I was typing to fast out of frusteration for this stupid article!!
Wonderful. I wonder if you actually read my comments. Clearly, you’re frustrated, and friends don’t let friends argue angry.
P.S. Im agree with Twilight_LOVER, its a FICTION!!! BUY A LIFE AND THEN, STOP BOTHER US!
I wonder why haters like you spend their time throwing shit to others just to make them feel bad, you are such a sad person, dont hate, less for stupid causes like a kind of book, I mean.. who the fuck cares what kind of book it is, people read to it, and like it or not. get to it.
You and all fucking haters better shut up. And if you wanna hate go to the hell. This is right the place for haters.
Who really suck in not a good way is Kellen Rice. You really don’t know write articles…this article is just a shitt.
Ah yes, fiction excuses everything.
Did I lose my life again? I’ll have to eat a faerie.
Once again, Ismael, repeat after me:
LEAVE BRITTANY MEYER ALONE!
I think that each person is crazy who doen’t like the twilight sieres and there the best books every. And no offence but the articale is really dumb.
Ok, just for you…
LEAVE BRITTANY MEYER ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course. They kicked me out of hell for hating too much, don’t you know?
Ah, well, HTML clearly doesn’t work here.
And we’re all entitled to our opinions, dearest JL. If I want to hate, I will hate. And I am perfectly entitled to my hatred.
Of course, you’re entitled to your ranting, but it’s not particularly compelling with the constant “Fuck”s and misspellings and such. Very mature for you, though, so kudos
How ironic. You’re so annoyed at the haters you’re throwing around ad hominem attacks and telling them to go to hell while they’re using logic and examples from the books to back up their claims. Isn’t that just a little hypocritical?
Yuki… I read the messages, and I have a question… how is the “fiction fact” and excuse? Tell me how, and I do NOT want the question danced around, is a fiction book supposed to set someone’s standards for life? Tell me how it isn’t different than “Did I lose my life again? I’ll have to eat a fairy” Fair’y are the little kids version, but it is the same meaning. Little kids don’t know better, but teenager’s do. If they don’t blame the people raising them, not a writer of a fantastic and best-selling book series. Answer the question please.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
Oh yes, the irony. I’ve stated that, but though they are able to wade through five books and 2000+ pages of utter bathos, they cannot take the time to read my commentary on their actions.
I’m betting the next few posts will include something of the usual.
I’ve read all four books and I have to say I dont hate them. You cant even compare them to Harry Potter, so I”m not going to get into that.
The fact that this is “fiction’ does not mean Myers can write whatever she likes and we can just look past it, literature and “fiction” is supposed to show the human condition in some way, so when Myers makes Bella the damsel in distress, shes basically saying most teenage girls are this way.
I myslef have falling for Edward, and Im not really ashamed to say that. Edward is an idealize form of a boyfriend and his realtionship with Bella is the ultimate version of true love, so I never got mad over New Moon, I mean if my true love left Id be just as bad.
Geart review, and I agree with most, but at the same time is a pretty addictive guilty pleasure.
ok, honestly, i thought this was a dumb article. I found nothing wrong with the Twilight series. So Bella is clumsy? So Edward is a vegetarian? So what! And thinly written? This is one of her first books ever written! I applaud Stephenie Meyer for this book. I loved it. Anyone who agrees with me say TWILIGHT SAGA FOREVER!
I’m reposting the link provided up there because I’ve fallen in love with everything in it.
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
And Arietta, those “claims from the books to back them up,” as you said, did you even read them? How is a guy waiting until marriage a bad thing? How is that a claim that proves it’s a bad book? How is your life having a happy ending a bad book? I rest my case.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
Again to Roxanna..
There is absolutely no reason to HATE Stephenie Meyer .. that’s what I’m trying to get at .. So what if you don’t like the book .. Does that give you a reason to hate an author ? No ? You can hate the book without having to bash and put the book down for fans out there .. Stephenie is a well respected author that a lot of people look up to .. It’s stupid that haters like you automatically “hate” stephenie because she made a book that you don’t like.. When has that ever been a good enough reason to ever hate someone?
Never.
If the haters don’t like the book then that’s fine, but why should you guys care so much about what the fans have to say about the book .. Go on with your lives and hate the book .. that doesn’t mean you have to comment on every little thing that us fans comment about .. If you guys seriously hated the book, then why even bother reading all 4 like this reviewer did .. That’s just stupid .. If you hated the book then there shouldn’t have been a reason for you to keep on reading the books correct?
As for you comparing Meyer’s success to this reviewer.. there really is no comparison simply because Stephenie is the success here .. This article is getting major attention from fans of the books who read her review and want to stick up for the book .. As have many people already have ..
So i will once again conclude my comment with the simple fact that, Stephenie Meyer is a successful author ..
And anyone who hates her or any author for that matter is seriously just an immature person who finds a reason to hate anyone just because they did something that they didn’t like.
Seriously some of the haters say us fans need to grow up, but perhaps they should look in the mirror..
&& This will be my last comment i ever make on this topic ever again, because none of us fans need to prove anything to the haters.. The books are great, the author is great, and if they can’t see that, then that’s not our problem it’s theirs.
This is the most idiotic thing I think I’ve read, just let people craze over whatever they feel the need to. Its stupid to kill a bunch of teenagers buzz.
Oh, you have it so wrong, The kids who read this stuff know its not real, Personally I havent read Breaking dawn yet but I beleve that you are wrong… She is an awsome writer and has an awsome imagination.
Do a favor to me and all of the Twilight fans out there. Stop messing with the books.
Well, i must say something, i really like Twilight, but, and there is always a BUt, I HATE some books, like, philip pullman´s GOLDEN COMPASS, its the worse book i even read before, and the movie sucks!!…..ahh..i feel better now..
Kris and Chelsea worded it nearly perfectly, it is THEIR choice if they like the book or not. Why try to take that away from them? Yuki, answer that too, if you even have an answer.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
so as i was reading this article…..i must say my jaw started dropping after every other line. and not in a good way mind you. the only thing that sucks in here is you and your lameass article. and all the stupid people who agree with this. i started laughing, but i was FUMING at the same time. i couldnt disagree with you more. these books are FICTIONAL. meaning NOT REALLLL. which it seems as though it is something you clearly dont understand. these books give some of us an escape from reality. and theyre DIFFERENT. this is something that isn’t infested with sex, drugs, alchohol etc. like everything else is these days. sure she writes them having sex in the 4th book but is she being graphic? is she violating bellas character in any way? NOOOO. as for the vampire/human baby. if you really paid attention, you could kinda see it coming. grownig at an alarmingly fast rate and craving blood. but when you said “theres clearly something wrong with that” i broke into a fit of giggles. AGAIN…ITS NOT REALLLL. i mean seriously how much dumber can you all get?! it seems that this concept is not getting through to your overly thick head. shes not publishing these stories because she wants all love struck teenage girls out there to make “suicide attempts” when their boyfriends leave them. thats just how the story goes. and it makes sense. as for bella falling apart when edward leaves her, that shows how much she loved him. he is her first real love. how could you not expect someone to fall apart like that when theyre in that situation?! and edward even says at the very end of the story when they reunite that he didnt mean it when he said he didnt love her. he did all this because he loves her and wants he to have a normal human life. but then it goes to show you that they cant live without eachother. but what irks me the most is where your getting all this femenizing crap from. i dont understand this. this is not degrading women in any way what so ever. this is just the way BELLA SWAN is described. shes described as clumsy and basicaly a danger-magnet. but are all the females in the story described like that? NO. look at rosalie, esme, alice, renee. renee first and foremost is described as a normal person. she is not being degraded in any way. and the cullen women are described as all vampires are in the story. strikingly beautiful, strong and fast. so unless you think that is being negetive towards women, i see no problem in that. i just think of you as a very VERY close minded person. and i think every Twihard fan would think the same seeing as i am one of those. no doubt the most devoted and loyal of them would probably want to gauge your eyes out and smash your computer. which admitedly i was pretty close to doing that as i was reading this lame and horribly written article that makes no sense what so ever. if you didnt like the first twilight book, i dont even know why you bothered reading the other three. that was just a waste of money and the waste of a perfectly good amazingly written series. which i think just goes to show that you have nothing else better to do that to bash on books which you think are “giving us teenage girls a bad message.” LAMEEEE. as for all you other people who agree with this article, i feel exactly the same way about you. close minded, rude and stupid. but as those are your opinions i cant do anything about it. but i do suggest that you do go get lives of your own and leave Meyer and her work ALONE. now as for speaking like a truely devoted Twilighter. after twilight, there are three movies yet to come. and midnight sun. so the supposed “pathetic mayhem” is not over yet. not even cloooseee. if youve opened up your eyes and even taken them off your computer screen for two seconds youll see how big this has become in a short amount of time. so meaning there are ALOTTT more people who disagree with you more than those who agree. so id like to see what other stupid and pointless things you have to write about them when they come out. and ill just laaaaaugh laugh laugh laaaaugh. LMAO. thats what ill do. yet i still dont know why i even bothered wasting my time reading this. one reply that annoyed me was from some chick named claudia who said that they have an unheatly realationship and there are people out there who have that type of edward/bella relationship. THEY ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS YOU DUMBASSES. there are not under any circumstances any relationships out there where a guy is a vampire and falls in love with the new human girl. sure they dont have a NORMAL relationship but its not unhealthly. bella still wants to have her human experiences and so does edward but the fact of him being a vampire is the only barrier. so i dont see any “unheathlyness” in that. there is SOOOOOOOOOOO much more that i want to say, belive me. but im not wasting all my time and energy on something as stupid as this. even if i am a hardcore twilight fan. but i will say that you are a hipocrite. if supossedly the twilight series is “horribly written” [when it clearly isnt] you should relook at your article cuz its not much better. so i dont know what you were on when you wrote this but it clearly shows that you were on something. it REEKS stupidity and its written all over the place. including most of the reviews. so next time you want to know what is the deal with all the hysteria going on around you about either a book or a movie…dont read it or go see it cuz i can tell you most likey wont like and will pull another “sexist” card out. which will lead to another repeat of this. and youll just be a waste of space. so hasta la vista writter. and good luck cuz youll DEFFINETLY need it :] especially if the rest of the twilight fans get a hold of this. they will most likey make sure yoll never write something like this again. and i speak for all of them when i write this. even though im not cussing every other word and writng in all caps i was about after reading this, but im exercising self control no this and again i dont think i need to be wasting all my energy or someones lame opinion that clearly doesnt matter what so ever. thank you for your time :] so peace outttt.
That reminds me: has anyone answered why Bella loves Edward? I’ve seen the word “love” thrown around a lot since Yuki asked, but I didn’t notice if anyone answered.
How is fiction fact?
You skipped your psychology course. Do you know that even adults will bow to the will of those “superior” than themselves? Do you know that tests have been made and applied and found true, that children will copy acts of aggression? Did you know that adults cave under peer pressure?
I am not saying that all people will go “OMG, I MUST FIND AN EDWARD”, I am saying that the morals applied in these books, behind the vampirism, behind the twu wuv, are utterly sickening. It’s fine that Edward is “protective” and restrains Bella from going anywhere – because she wants to see Jacob. Go look on loveisnotabuse.com . It’s fine because males aren’t supposed to be able to cook and fend for themselves. It’s fine to be so utterly, painfully hurt that your “soul mate” leaves you. It’s fine that as long as someone is hot, then it’s perfectly FINE to love them at the cost of your life and safety. Go onto Yahoo Answers. Argue with me that they represent the bottom of society – but they’re still there. There are still women and girls who cry about their boyfriend’s abuse, asking not what to do to stop it, but HOW TO GET THEM BACK. How to subject themselves to MORE abuse. Society already sucks, do you think I’m happy hearing that it’s going to suck more? Do you not realize that NO female in that book is really dominant? Do you not realize that the ONLY think Bella has done so far is to run into Edward’s arms? Do you not realize that Rosalie and Alice both have unreliable gifts, unlike Jasper and Edward? What is Esme, exactly, but a prop to be a “mom” ? Where is Renee? Where is the strong female, where is the person who knows what is good for her and can go after it? Why doesn’t Meyer explain immortality better? If humans are SO insignificant, why the hell do the vampires care if they feed on them or not? Read the first chapter of Midnight Sun – Edward’s thoughts simple reek of CONTEMPT for humans. There is a conflict of logic and morals here, and Meyer doesn’t bother to expound on it!
And my God, the faerie eating thing is a joke about Zelda. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t assume something stupid.
Exuse me but,twilight sags are the best books in the world!!!!
I can’t even look at any other book besides The Twilight Saga!!!!!
This article is stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:^)
Knows somebody why the people fall in love? Bella loves Edward and Edward loves Bella, its simple.
The writer of this article needs to get a life. Seriously. This book has given joy to many young woman across the world including myself! So what if it’s a twist on a normal teenage relationship that could be seen as unhealthy to some idionic feminist bullshitters. It gets young girls away from stuffing their noses in magazines and focusing on sex and unhealthy self-image personas. Twlight gives hope and joy to girls all over so get off our backs and let us enjoy our books. If you dont like it then don’t fuckin read it!!!
And no one has answered my question, don’t forget.
I am not interfering with their enjoyment of the book, that is an unintended side effect. I am trying to point out the fact that this book is not necessarily the utter best thing since sliced bread. I am trying to say that they could, after all, open their eyes and think for a moment. I am trying to say that there are other, better books out there, and that being satisfied with this pointless crap is very, very sad.
It is, after all, my choice to speak. They can simply stop talking to me, but I choose to speak my values.
Thanks for this review. It was well-done and fairly spot-on addressing the problems inherent in this series of books.
The reviews from the professionals have been fairly scathing of this book, and I thank you for laying out plainly why it’s been receiving such criticism.
One more question on the sexist topic, because that really peeved me, in Breaking Dawn, they had Kate, Bella, Alice, Renesmee, Jane, Zafrina, the girl that could changed how you felt about people, and the girl that was ALWAYS protecting THE GUY by the name of Aro. How many did the guys have? Aro, Edward, Jasper, Benjamin, Marcus, Eleazar, and Alec. Almost THE SAME, in fact, the girls had one more, so… how is that making women to look completely defenseless? It isn’t. I once again rest my case on that topic.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
First, I just want to clarify my previous comment. My statement about Ms. Meyer’s religion influencing her work was actually a genuine question and not, as it may have seemed, a condemnation of the religion or its values. I did not place that question in the correct place.
Second, I notice that many of those who are commenting in attempts to refute the allegation that Ms. Meyer’s writing is atrocious cannot spell, punctuate, or correctly form a basic English sentence. This particular phrase amused me:
“Who really suck in not a good way is Kellen Rice. You really don’t know write articles…this article is just a shitt.”.
I would be willing to read an informed defense of the books, but I will not read anything that is not legible. Also, please stop shouting (writing in all caps), it’s not polite. Finally, I don’t understand why people are attacking the writer of the article. This is her opinion. You can respectfully disagree with someone’s opinion without disparaging their character.
Grr…can i answer in Spanish?
MIREN, CREPUSCULO ES LA MEJOR SERIE DE LIBROS QUE HE LEIDO ULTIMAMENTE, OBVIAMENTE DESPUES DE HARRY POTTER, PERO ENTIENDAN, NO HAY NADA MALO DETRAS DE LA HISTORIA ENTRE BELLA Y EDWARD, BELLA ES UNA MUJER PERFECTA, AUTOSUFICIENTE, Y TOTALMENTE NORMAL, SOLO QUE ESTA RODEADA POR COSAS QUE LA SUPERAN, COSAS SOBRENATURALES, Y ESO LA HACE INDEFENZA, TAMBIEN ES CIERTO QUE BELLA SE MUERE SI EDWARD LA ABANDONA, PERO TAMBIEN ES AL REVÉS, EDWARD NO AGUANTA SIN BELLA, ES RECIPROCO, ES UN AMOR PERFECTO. SOLO ESO.
Ahh, i fell better now, again.
I am 23 and a mom of 2 and l Loved the series ‘Twilight’ and will see the movie in Nov. I am not as obsesses over it like many young girls out there right now.
Thats just it thou, they are young girls. Thats what they do, they obsess over something for a period of time and then eventually get over it. I am positive EVERYBODY has when they were younger.
I don’t think it was right to write an article like this when many of the fans are young girls, who are you to break their spirit.
Because it’s peeving me that you don’t bother answering my single question.
And that I’ve said over and over that I haven’t read anything past New moon, because all the fangirls are stealing the books. So no, I can’t answer your question.
And because, you know, I really care enough about spanish that I’m going to bother translating and answering that. I’m assuming it’s more insults.
Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, I will dismiss the bashing as you said ruinging it was an unintended side effect, I do not believe it myself, but I cannot prove it wrong. BUT on the case of Edward stopping Bella from seeing Jacob, you say restraining like he grabs her by the arms and yanks her back, AND he did it to try to protect her. Emily Young is the perfect example why. And you know what? I think that might be her purpose in the book, to show it IS dangerous and he IS doing it to protect her, NOT to be possesive. And I’m sorry I wasn’t aware that protecting someone from being mauled was bring in an abusive replationship, I guess I was misenformed.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
For the person who asked why Bella loved Edward…
Because he is a mysterious greek god that MUST be super intelligent and just generally know A LOT after 108 years in the world. You wouldn’t know that for sure, though, since they don’t have any type of conversation other than discussing who loves who more and how Bella’s in danger in the current situation.
Who am I to care if you are a mother? What credentials does that give you? You’re an adult, so you’re right? When does Bella ever listen to Charlie? Shouldn’t I get a better say in this because I am, after all, in the intended age group?
I am a young girl whose spirit is going to be broken by the sheer idiocy of the world. Clearly, you have little opinion of your children – they’re just kids, they’ll get over it. Have fun when they’re teens.
CWKC, People are attacking the attacker. We are only retuaning the favor she so graciously bestowed upon Stephenie Meyer.
Spelling error again
*returning*
OMG It’s a review!!!! Get OVER IT!!!!!!!111!!! If you don’t like it, don’t REAED IT OMG! GET A LIFE YOU LOOSERS!!!2221one! UR just bitter because ur minddelsess fanz of mindeless garbage! D:
Yeah, that’s what half of you sound like. Really.
Loads of pretention like woah!
The books are shit.
Kellen didn’t like them.
Deal with it.
Shut the fuck up.
Weirdos.
Very nice, the condescending attitude. Perhaps Meyer could use you as a model for Edward?
No, I am more concerned about the fact that he takes the engine out of her truck, etc. Do you honestly think Meyer was ever going to let anything happen to special Bella? Her brainchild? Had Edward not been there, Jacob would not have been nearly so angry – and don’t forget, Sam lost it because he was alone, without a pack. Jacob, of course, because he can’t possibly HURT someone, has a safety net.
Whereas Edward could just kill her. Oh wait, twu wuv. I forget.
And Yuki, as of your response to the mother, I AM in the age group that it was intended to be read by also, so, how can you dismiss MY ACTUAL facts and reasoning, when I in fact actually ddidn’t twist waiting until marriage until it was a bad thing. That is twisting my morals, and I do not respect or appreciate ANYONE who EVER tries to do that, and I am starting to consider you under that group. I am trying to respect your opinion as much as I can at this point, but, I have my limits.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
Haha, well, not at all, ha ha, ok Yuki, read what you want to read, i love Roald Dahl´s books, if you want, and that is an adult writter. Its awesome!
Good luck!
P.S. Nunca quise ofenderte….es mas, en el fondo, me estas cayendo bien, tienes mi direccion de correo si quieres conversar tanto en ingles como en español, espero que algun dia podamos hacerlo, en serio, realmente me reà mucho con la discusión que armaste!
Paige: ‘And Arietta, those “claims from the books to back them up,†as you said, did you even read them? How is a guy waiting until marriage a bad thing?’
Huh? I never claimed it was a bad thing and I haven’t seen any posts claiming that, though I skimmed most of the earlier ones since there were so many.
‘How is your life having a happy ending a bad book? I rest my case.’
It doesn’t mean a book will be bad, though overall whether an ending is happy or depressing means absolutely nothing. It’s the content that matters, and in the case of Breaking Dawn everything ended up too perfect. Choosing Edward over Jacob should have had some consequences for Bella, but it didn’t. She shouldn’t have been able to have a child, but she did. She skipped over the newborn vampire stage and was able to control herself around humans. Nessie grows up quickly, so Bella and Edward don’t have to go through all of the painful stages of raising a child. No one dies because Bella uses her shield to protect others. Oh, and she becomes super hot, which takes away one of the very few “flaws” she actually had.
A happier ending might have fit had it been done better, but in the case of Breaking Dawn something obviously went wrong, especially when considering the reactions of some of the fans.
@ Jennifer: I don’t see how your point has any bearing in this context…who says Bella is the only character looking for love? Obviously Edward is as well, and he says as much when he tells her that she saved him from a pointless existence. She may not have physically rescued him, but she certainly did emotionally and mentally.
And I saw pseudo-intellectual because you’re obviously not taking everything into account. You’re picking and choosing what you want to believe.
Yuki i TOTALLY agree with you. i would have written that in my last post but i had clearly already written waayyyy too much. so thank you for speaking for the rest of us :]
creds to you.
you adults automatically assume your right just cuz your the elders and you have kids and what not. but whn it comes to something like this, we can honestly say your NOT right.
and FYI, this generation is completely different from when you guys were teenagers.
meaning we understand more than you.
so good luck to you all when your kid has a massive obsession with twilight and you completely disagree.
see what happens then.
P.S. to all the very poor typists and apparent 5 year olds posting comments to this piece:
Criticism of literary work is not direct criticism of the author, but rather a critique of their body of work. “Your book sucked a fat one” is not equivalent to “You’re an awful fatty and I hate you”. This is one of the things you learn in college English classes– criticism is absolutely required for any writer to become good at what they do, and those to seek avoid it become bad writers.
Professional authors and reviewers alike have found things amiss and lacking in ‘Breaking Dawn’. That’s not being mean, that’s being observant. You may like the book and lot and you may have found it enjoyable, but that in no way negates the fact that it is a flawed and poorly structured book. If it makes you feel any better, I loved James Clavell’s novel ‘Shogun’ which was a very well-selling novel in the 70’s, but was widely panned and today gets regularly ripped apart. And yet, amazingly, I don’t flip out and get butthurt when people critique it. And neither does James Clavell.
Remember: Literary critique /=/ personal insult.
Thank you.
Yuki, Meyer let her have a child that almost killed her, Emily didn’t die, so yes, I believe it could have happened if it would have proven a point (Which it WOULD have) for the book.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
I would like to comment that you didn’t read my thoughts on that one.
I never said that waiting until marriage is a bad thing. I said that the only reason Bella wants to get married is because Edward would then turn her into a vampire. And, while I haven’t read Eclipse or Breaking Dawn, again, I don’t think they had much of a sex drive throughout the storyline, so I don’t see how this matters. I’m waiting until marriage, so what’s your point? Your morals? My morals are being attacked here, by this story, and you complain about yours. Very nice hypocrisy.
Why not let her complain to me herself?
Under the group of people you don’t respect or appreciate. Shocking? Not so much. I could really care less about your groups, I’m more concerned about the morals being ranted on about. I’m holding back plenty, too, but of course, *threat threat* I have my limits.
This is a wonderful article, but the title needs some work. I think you’ve made some pretty good points here, actually, even though I’m a Twilight fan.
But then again, I only read the books because they’re so mind-blowing cheesy and predictable. It’s like the literary equivalent of a chick flick!
*reads review, growls*
Oh please. I love Twilight! And get a life, stop being such a jerk to Stephenie Meyer, sheesh! These aren’t Anne Rice books people.
And just because you think most girls are crazy for Edward and Jacob doesn’t mean that we ALL are.
I know this is just your opinion of the book, but still. Go pick on a book your small brain capacity can handle, and not Twilight, an fasinating love story between a vampire and a mortal by a new fiction author.
If Twilight doesn’t satisfy you, why don’t you go read The Host? A lot of people I know are reading that and loving it, and I’m one of them.
….And then proceeds, Paige, to allow her to completely skip over the newborn-vampire stage, etc. What purpose does Nessie serve, exactly? To be the “child” for the family? Never mind the confusing biological and psychological implications for the child, what is she there for?
So Bella ends up almost dying, and of course Edward bites her and she gets healed.
And once again, I haven’t read the book, but this just seems like another pathos-inducing plot device.
Yuki, you are defending the article that said it was bad that Edward didn’t do what Bella wanted and Bella should have gotten more respect… which if I translate how you and the author of the article have been, rougly translates to “your defending people haveing sex as soon as one partner says they should” If you want me to word the facts how you and the author do, then I will. If not, then don’t twist things around. And, wording it how you two fabulous *sarcasm* writers do, that would be saying that you do NOT have that as a moral. Lying, or Twisting words? You are doing either one oer the other, or possibly both, so please, inform me as to which one it is.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter.
OK. First off, This book may be setting feminism back but there ARE relationships like that where the WOMAN is the one that wants to have sex and the MAN has to say no. You have no right saying that is not true. It makes you just as much a sexist as anyone else.
As for Bella not caring that Edward is a vampire she doesn’t care that your precious Jacob is a Werewolf. And if it weren’t for Edward there wouldn’t be a Bella/Jacob relationship at all.
Also, you bring up a valid point about Bella losing her mind when Edward left. However, if you have ever been in love, truely in love like Meyers portrays this couple, you would know that that is how you feel. Any person that has lost someone close to them knows that pain.
Finally, in the last book the birth of Bella’s baby is a creative and new way of relating the love between Bella and Edward. In the book Edward is willing for Bella to have Jacobs baby if it keeps her safe. There is nothing wrong with that.
And people that spend this much time hating on a book have some really huge problems that they need to take care of.
Having a child that the entire end of the plot is about is a “pathos-ENducing plot device?” Wow, like I said, I will start wording how you do if you keep it up.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
Yes, Bella should have gotten more respect. But once again, I did not say she should be having sex. Hell, I wish she didn’t, because I loathe and detest her character and don’t really want to know what her daughter is like. Otherwise – what about going to prom? The birthday fiasco? Him leaving (which just makes things utterly angsty)? Him not allowing her to see the werewolves – not even on neutral ground, where they can be at relative peace?
I’m actually a huge twilight fan, but i agree with a lot of your points. I love the books because i don’t scrutinize or look too hard at the content. I am a “surface” twilight reader. When you really begin to disect the message Twilight sends…it’s not so great.
“And get a life, stop being such a jerk to Stephenie Meyer, sheesh!”
I REPEAT: CRITICISM OF A LITERARY WORK IS NOT CRITICISM OF THE PERSON WHO WROTE IT. “YOUR BOOKS SUCKS” DOES NOT EQUAL “YOU ARE A BAD PERSON AND YOU FAIL AT LIFE AND I HATE YOU”.
You can love a book all you want and love to read it, but that does not make it a great book or even a good book. Criticism of how a book is constructed is VITAL for writers to learn where they are making mistakes. I bet you lot would be an absolute joy in any writing class. “Hey, your story is OOC here and your plot is kind of weak, and you need more action here. Also, a few of your characters aren’t very believeable.” “OMG Y RU OPRESIN ME U R A JERK GROW UP LOLZ”
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL, AMIRITE
I’m so so so sorry to dut this debate short Yuki, but I will admit that you have your points, and you must be blind to not see I definately have mine too, I must go, I have to get in the shower, because I DO have a life, and I have school in the morning. Good luck to all of the Die Hard Twilight Fans! Don’t let anyone crush what you believe, as much as I hate to say it, that same goes for you critics, Goodnight everyone.
Paige,
Dedicated Twilighter
Spelling Error
*dut should be cut*
Night everyone!
Have a nice day tomarrow!
….Okay, what? enducing is not a word, Paige. I wrote induce.
What kind of cattiness is this? Aren’t you the one twisting words around now?
And oh my aching ovaries, I could care less about either Edward and Jacob. And so it’s fine that the baby, who is half-vampire and killable, is given to Jacob when Bella was so clearly protected.
And goodness, I don’t care about how she reacted either, other than to say that she completely overreacted to what amounts to a lustful obsession. Why does she love Edward? No one at ALL has answered my question.
pauli-
“these books are FICTIONAL. meaning NOT REALLLL.”
Yes, most of us realize that. But just because a book is “fictional” doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be logical, consistent or well-researched. In fact “fictional” books need just that because otherwise we can’t relate to them. I hate the “it’s fiction” argument as a rationale for bad writing.
“this is something that isn’t infested with sex, drugs, alchohol etc. like everything else is these days.”
You mean like those crazy Harry Potter books? Oh yeah, those were absolutely filled with filth.
“as for bella falling apart when edward leaves her, that shows how much she loved him. he is her first real love. how could you not expect someone to fall apart like that when theyre in that situation?!”
Erm…most girls don’t turn into living zombies when they break up with their boyfriends. I hope not, anyway. I hope most girls are complete women on their own, strong enough to live after a couple days of ice cream and chick flicks and wallowing.
“he did all this because he loves her and wants he to have a normal human life. ”
Clearly he doesn’t mean it because he came back with her and stayed. Remember Angel? Yeah, he loved Buffy, and that was real love. He loved her so much he left so she COULD have all those stupid human things like having a soul and growing old and going to college and having children.
“THEY ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS YOU DUMBASSES. there are not under any circumstances any relationships out there where a guy is a vampire and falls in love with the new human girl.”
YOU’RE NOT GETTING THE POINT. Nobody said there are vampires in real life. The point is that there are mentally abusive and controlling relationships in real life.
“especially if the rest of the twilight fans get a hold of this. they will most likey make sure yoll never write something like this again. and i speak for all of them when i write this. ”
I’m…not sure how the “rest of the twilight fans” will make sure of this. Do they control the Internets?
Ironic that you were bashing the reviewer for reading something and spending time on something she didn’t enjoy, when you just did the exact same thing with this review.
I leave you with the iconic words of the Washington Post review of Breaking Dawn:
Reader, I hurled.
Oy vey. Well, that was a great warm – up for writing my essay.
I think people are just avoiding the question now. No one’s answered it, so very soon I shall pronounce it a fact that Bella and Edward are just a couple of obsessed kids.
I’m…not sure how the “rest of the twilight fans†will make sure of this. Do they control the Internets?—Quoteth the Cookie
Yes. Yes they do. They still weren’t able to prevent your post that’s full of win though. There is hope for us all.
Well hi. I’m a 16 year old girl. I don’t like being labeled “impressionable” . I happen to love the twilght series, simply because its enjoyable to read. But its fiction.I know that. And it’s not fair to generalize the entire twilight fanbase as a bunch of crazed teenage girls willing to model their lives after the twilight saga, especially Bella. Of course Bella’s not going to be my role model just because I read the book.
I love twilight for what it is, but I understand and respect that some people don’t. And I’m not bashing them for what they like and don’t like. >.<
I think so many people enjoy these books, especially younger audiences, is because Bella is feeling the way most teenage girls feel. We’ve all felt at some point “not good enough” or “plain” or even “unattractive.” Also, how many teenager girls do you know have a distorted self-image? So maybe they relate to Bella just a tiny little bit. And many teenager girls would love to have the best looking guy at school fall in love with her and then she finds out he is a good person on top of it all…even if, in this case, he is a vampire.
And it is a book of fantasy…I think to read a book about vampires, you have to know that not everything is going to go straight along the lines of what you learned in health class, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, when do you draw the line of what is fantasy and what is just too far? Vampires and werewolves..ok, vampires procreating with a human, gasp! How dare she go that far!
And maybe I read the books differently, but you could obviously tell that there was tension between Bella and Edward when he was being crazy obsessive in Eclipse. In fact, doesn’t he admit to it in the book because it is coming between them? So, he apologizes and wants her to know he is ok with her seeing Jacob. And then he doesn’t even get angry when she asks Jacob to kiss her.
Another quick note, yes it is geared more towards teenage girls. I noticed, you were very quick to attack sections of the book you thought were unhealthy for young girls to be reading, but didn’t even bother to commend others. Like the fact that Edward wanted to wait until marriage for sex, or the fact that Bella did fight for her right to give birth to her child…after all, I am sure you are pro-choice, correct? Seems slightly hypocritical to me.
So I guess what I would say..if you hated Twilight…don’t continue to read the rest of the series. You won’t like the other books so don’t waste your time. However, many loved the books and I am definitely one of them. So give the millions of fans and Stephenie Meyer a little credit. Let us enjoy Twilight without tainting it.
This is only his point of veiw even though there is a big hype about is book is you haveve to be into it, not down grade it, and think of it on a high level and think about every little detail. It’s just a fun fantasy book for who ever wants to read it just because it got famous doesnt mean anyone has the right to put down an authors work. I say if you havent yet read it pick it up and see how you like it if you dont then oh well move on with your life instead of making fun of good work and people who enjoy it.
If young girls are looking to books for their role models in life (and love), then they are stupid. Twilight is a fun and exciting read, what a book should be, in my opinion. On another note, yes they do have an unhealthy relationship if you are playing by our rules. However, he is a vampire, hence a different world then ours. I’ve always viewed their love as stronger than something we can feel, that is why Bella is so dependent.
And on a side note, I think that anything that gets young people reading is a plus. Anybody who is old enough to read this book is old enough to think for themselves and form educated conclusions.
Also a Dedicated Twilighter.
Here comes the second wave. Please refer back to the previous arguments, I’m off doing homework and do not feel like wasting any more time trying to convince you people that the choice may be correct, but the circumstances surrounding them aren’t exactly ideal. Night-night.
First, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! I do agree with you on many of the points, and think that Meye could have changed alot of the elements in these books and used a lot more subtle wording in some places. I do agree that her writting wilts under the works of many other fiction writters, but despite these facts I did enjoy the books somewhat. They were a mindless pleasure, and I don’t plan to base my life on the themes abd attitudes in these books. But unfortunately, not all young minds are so formed. Meyer should be more careful with what she is distrubuting to some of her readers, because I know quite a few that are rather young.
It’s just a fun fantasy book for who ever wants to read it just because it got famous doesnt mean anyone has the right to put down an authors work.–Katharine
Actually, people do have the right to put down someone’s work.
Your grammar sucks.
If you read the book and then just completely bash it thats not fair.
Also do you really think i care about my grammer im not an english major here.
Ah I shouldn’t have read any comments!
This is just for Yuki in response to why Bella loves Edward.
You are entitled to your opinion, but I thought I’d answer your question anyway. She was entrigued by him by his looks in the beginning. She got to know him because he cared enough to want to keep her safe. She grew to love him because he was a good person (or vampire) who didn’t want to harm people. He would rather endure pain (the “thirst”) than harm a human being. She says he is self-less, giving and caring. Out of everything in the world, he wants her to be happy and safe.
Anyway, most of that is from what she’s said in the book. I believe it was in Eclipse when she explained why she loved him to Jacob. Some of it was just what I noticed while reading. I have no idea where that conversation started, but I thought I’d just answer the question.
intrigued not entrigued!
It seems you’ve put a lot of time in this essay-esque written piece, but I must say that I completely disagree.
Your arguements lack real meaning & evidence when it comes to the feminist ideas in these books & the obsession of their love and passion for eachother.
If you believe that these books set a bad precident for teenagers who read them, then why should us teenagers be forced to read just about anything written by Shakespeare, etc…? His ideas and story themes are less than stellar, and when compared to Stephenie Meyer’s pieces seem a bit more rash to say the least.
Everyone is free to have their own opinion, including the author. She didn’t force anyone to read her book, and if you disagree with her story, then that’s your virtue. But to insult the fans is passe. If you’re unhappy with the way females are being protrayed in this modern era, why not actually get up and do something about it rather than trashing a book? If you think you have better ideas for story plots, then why not write a book? I think to put your time into writing this piece was a waste, and could be better spent.
But then again, that’s just my opinion.
Yuki – If I remember correctly, she is in love with him because of his ‘godlike’ good looks. Whereas he is in love with her because she smells good.
Yep! Sounds like true love to me!
If only the creepy obsessed fans could see how wrong this series, or at least Breaking Dawn is.
Have any of you ever heard of reading between the lines? Or finding the implicit meanings behind sentences and phrases? Rather than just reading the explicit and forming ignorant responses and opinions.
I disagree with you completely on this. I for one loved the Twilight saga.
My God people, here we go again with putting down books. Remember the whole instance with Harry Potter about it being against religions and crap.
Just leave them alone. If you don’t like it, then sorry you don’t but others love them.
These books are just fiction and gives people something to escape to so it has nothing to do with feminism and shit.
I for one think you people are going WAY overboard with this.
Just leave your rude remarks and opinions to yourself.
-Heather-
If you read the book and then just completely bash it thats not fair.– Katharine
How is it not fair? Kellen didn’t like the books. She is allowed to state why she didn’t like the books. On her own forum.
You are the visitor her bashing her opinion, not the other way around.
Also do you really think i care about my grammer im not an english major here.– Katharine
Only if you want to be taken seriously. Right now, it’s impossible to take you remotely seriously.
“If young girls are looking to books for their role models in life (and love), then they are stupid. Twilight is a fun and exciting read, what a book should be, in my opinion. On another note, yes they do have an unhealthy relationship if you are playing by our rules. However, he is a vampire, hence a different world then ours. I’ve always viewed their love as stronger than something we can feel, that is why Bella is so dependent.”
Edward being a vampire shouldn’t change the nature of a healthy relationship, though. Just as Harry Potter being a wizard didn’t change his basic human nature.
“I think to read a book about vampires, you have to know that not everything is going to go straight along the lines of what you learned in health class, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, when do you draw the line of what is fantasy and what is just too far? Vampires and werewolves..ok, vampires procreating with a human, gasp! How dare she go that far!”
No, but you have to follow the rules you create for your own world and be logical within those rules. Stephenie Meyer created rules for her own world and then violated them. Worse, when asked to explain, she skated over the question every time because she clearly hadn’t thought it out. She even claimed she was misquoted — by her biggest fans! Didn’t that piss off the writers of the Lexicon?
As an example, referring back to Angel, in that world a vampire also sired a child to a human mother (Angel and Darla). But there wasn’t some huge outcry (well, except from people who hated Conner) about how Joss violated the rules of his world. Joss deliberately flaunted the rules in his world, which is why his fantasy stories made sense.
cookie-
ok so basically, i just laughed when i read your comment. like literally. you clearly sound like some uptight mother who is constantly breathing down her kids necks watchng their every move. yes i know these are fictional characters. so that means that mostly everything else in the story is fictional. so its kinda stupid how theyre bashing on bellas pregnancy and the way she had the baby and what not. its clearly something you people dont understand.
and i not even gonna reply to the rest of your comments. cuz theyre just stupid.
but as for the bash on harry potter. that is also a touchy subject for me because i am also a major harry potter fan. it was my first obession but now twilight is right along there with it.
where at all, in any seven of those books does is theer any reference to sex drugs or alchohol?
id like to see you find one. then say something like to me that those “crazy” harry potter books are full of filth.
and as for me spending time on this when i didnt enjoy it when this dumass writter did the same thing.
i didnt read for entire books, THEN write somestupid review on it.
this is something that actually interested me because i wanted to see what they had to say. despite the fact that i didnt like it. loathed it more like it.
but the writter just wanted to basically get a good laugh and critise them cuz they had nothing better to do.
so how about all of you critise somethingthat your abnormally small brains can handle. something within your league.
and i noticed how most of you that review this are adults. and you are the ones that have all this negetive shit to say. so thats basically saying STAY AWAY FROM THESE BOOKS. because its about a TEENAGE romance. and FIRST LOVE. that ship has CLEARLY sailed for you guys so i sugest you go and do something better with yourselves than go crazy over something thats supposedly sending us teenage girls bad message. and i really dont get where your getting all this abusive relationship bullshit from. he is neither mentally nor physically abusing her in any way what so ever. seeing as i was just reading a certain passge from eclipse last night, it was the part where bella is “kidnapped” to spend the weekend with alice while edward is out hunting. sure shes mad at first. but the minute she sees him she forgets about it. and he even said he was “prepared for the wrath that would put grizzly’s to shame.” she didnt even lash out on him one bit. and if you have noticed even one it, he lightens up a bit towards the middle of ecplise. he doesnt mind if bella spends time with jacob. as long as he knows what shes doing or where she is he doesnt really care, as along as he knows that shes SAFE. which she is. its called being protective fyi. so the day that this is considered “being abused” weather its mentally or physically is the day osama bin laden will be u.s president. [SIKE!!]
As an example, referring back to Angel, in that world a vampire also sired a child to a human mother (Angel and Darla). But there wasn’t some huge outcry (well, except from people who hated Conner) about how Joss violated the rules of his world. Joss deliberately flaunted the rules in his world, which is why his fantasy stories made sense.—Cookie
Don’t forget that it was stated in canon that it was impossible for two vampires to concieve. It was then explained as a mystical pregnancy through prophecy. That higher beings were involved. Conner was merely a vessel to help facilitate the birth of Jasmine.
Smeyer gave absolutely no logical explaination within her own canon to the existance of Renesmee.
This is why her world is an epic failure compared to that of Joss’s.
First off, let me just say to you, I am so sorry that you have obviously not experienced true love. Although, i have to admit, you might be lucky because heartbreak is a dreadful thing and can actually last for a while- hence the term ‘true love.’
Second off, I’m all for feminism, but just because a girl allows a man to take care of her doesn’t mean she’s going against the progress women have made over the years. If a guy takes care of a girl, he’s not some over-baring, over-protective monster that has no respect for the female race, as you seem to be implying Edward is. He could, in fact, just be something called a gentleman. I know, I know, they’re rare…but they exist! I’ve seen them! Shocking, I know, but true none the less. And did it ever occur to you that part of feminism is the right a woman has to decide weather she lets a man take care of her or not? Because that’s part of it, my friend.
Third off you, the individual that wrote this article, need to get your facts straight. There are numerous things that you miss-stated, there-by giving the wrong impression of the saga. Do you honestly think it is fair for those who are to daft to think for themselves- those lazy people that will only take your word for it and not discover their own opinion? My point is, say what you’d like because we do have free speech but at the very least, get your facts straight. I mean, did you even reference the books or just your warped memory bank?
Fourth, and my final comment for now, (I know, you’re glad I’m done but you didn’t have to read everything I wrote, so don’t get pissed at me cause you’re reading what I wrote. Nobody’s forcing you to continue.) if you wonder over to your local book store and look at the section where Twilight is, obviously it’s in the young adult’s section, but if you look at the sub-section, it’s under FANTASY! That implies that the people and events in the book are not only fiction but that said events and people could never happen or exist. I leave you with a stunningly loud…DUH!
Dani appears to be under the impression that “young adults” are nimrods who couldn’t possibly desire or appreciate well-written books that, while based in fantasy, hold some sort of relateable Earthbound logic.
I’m a fan of the books, but I also agree with you. Mostly because I just take it for what it is; fluffy vampire books that don’t take me a few hours to read like most do. I will admit that it took me a few read throughs to realize what the other fans weren’t realizing; the books weren’t great because of the relationship where Edward pretty much praises the ground Bella walks on, but disgusting because Bella never stands up for herself. Luckly, I’m old enough to know better than to idolize Bella.
I think that the hard-core fans who are so ignorant to what you are saying are simply blinded by the relationship they think is (1) possible and (2) healthy. All the 13 year olds want that now.
I agree 100% with Dani.
It’s true that some fans of the series take their apreciation to other levels that seem quite bizare. But people who don’t like the books are expressing their hate in equally bizare ways.
It is infact, just a fictional book. Nothing has to be scientific about it, nothing has to make sense, & nothing needs to be judged as harshly as people are taking it.
& I’ll leave you with the fact that either ways, Stephenie Meyer is popular, and she’s getting both sides talking about her books. Either ways, she wins.
“Don’t give yourselves brain hemorages.”
To Dani,
i agree with everything you just said :] 100%
you are one of the few who are actually making sense around here. kudos to you my friend.
TWILIGHT FOREVER!!!
“like literally. you clearly sound like some uptight mother who is constantly breathing down her kids necks watchng their every move.”
Yep, you got it in one. I chain my kid into his room and don’t let him leave. Ever.
“and i not even gonna reply to the rest of your comments. cuz theyre just stupid”
Wow, that’s mature. So instead of having a reasonable debate you’ll just insult me and be done with it.
“i didnt read for entire books, THEN write somestupid review on it.”
No, you just read an entire review and then wrote a stupid review on it. And you’re continuing to write about it. Big difference, right?
“so thats basically saying STAY AWAY FROM THESE BOOKS. because its about a TEENAGE romance. ”
Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware there were rules about what books we were allowed to read. I’ll keep that in mind in the future.
“and if you have noticed even one it, he lightens up a bit towards the middle of ecplise. he doesnt mind if bella spends time with jacob. ”
Wow, that’s so nice of him to give Bella permission to see her friend! That Edward, so gracious and gentlemanly with the breaking of the car. I wish I had a boyfriend just like him.
Pah. Comment as I take a break from my essay:
We’re forced to analyze the Shakespeare plays. We have to go through them, discuss why something happens, why it’s wrong, etc. We learn about ideas of basic human failings and such – hell, there’s the theory that Romeo and Juliet was not a true romance but rather a satire on “young love”. We’re clearly not doing this for Twilight, and I hope whichever teacher assigns that book takes a devil’s advocate stance on it. It might makes some people think, for once.
As for the rest of it, as I said, quit saying the same thing and go check back. I would love to give suggestions to young readers – they just never ask for them, and when I say something like “Ender’s Game” or “On a Pale Horse”, they yawn and say “Boring, no romance. I don’t want to read it.” So don’t bug me for not trying.
And what else…hmm. Oh yes, the gentleman issue. Love is not impossible. I am, in fact, an advocate of love…just not the love that’s without meaning, that’s portrayed in Meyer’s series. Goodness, he hates her at first. I guess this is where Pride and Prejudice come in….but instead of finding out facts about him and coming to the realization that he’s a decent person, she just BAM falls in love. WTF? I can’t imagine suddenly loving someone who practically snubbed me. It’s not particularly realistic, but if you want it to be that way, good luck to you.
And more P&P essay.
TWILIGHT FOREVER!!!—Pauli
Or until another weird Mormon housewife writes another weird series.
Oh, just as a footnote: I’m not even going to go into the abusive part of the relationship. I’m tired of explaining mental and emotional abuse, and besides – to you he can do no wrong. So I’ll leave that to Cookie, who seems to be competent in fending off the RFGs.
Oh, just a little factoid here since everyone is being so anal, Edward never took the entire engine out of Bella’s truck. Page 62 of Eclipse states that he was twirling a black object around in his hands. That’s not an entire engine.
Ok, everyone resume their bitching.
And Moomoo is amusing.
Bah, the point is the same – he essentially cripples her.
HAVE YOU WOMEN EVER BEEN IN LOVE? OBVIOUSLY NOT. BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE BEEN IN LOVE, YOU WOULD SHUT YOUR MOUTHS ABOUT THE TWILIGHT SAGA. HAVE YOU EVER MET A GUY WHO SPUN YOUR WORLD AND SWEPT YOU OFF YOUR FEET? HAVE YOU EVER MET A GUY WHO COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT? HAVE YOU MET YOUR SOULMATE? HAVE YOU MET YOUR SOUL’S TRUE HALF? OBVIOUSLY NOT! BECAUSE THIS SERIES IS CENTERED AROUND ROMANCE. IT’S ABOUT A GIRL WHO HAD FOUND TRUE LOVE AND HAS COMPLETELY LOST HERSELF BECAUSE SHE FOUND THE MAN OF HER DREAMS. SO OBVIOUSLY WITH ALL YOUR OPINIONS, I GATHER THAT YOU DON’T WANT WOMEN TO FALL IN LOVE. BECAUSE IT’S ANTI-FEMINIST…..RIGHT?
To the people really upset that this review is negative on a series they love, get over it.
Real life is not a walk in the park – there will be hardships, there will be negativity, and *gasp* there will be people with different opinions than yours.
When you meet someone with a different opinion, you cannot be rude and tell them to “die” or that “they suck” or are “immature” and things like that. If you want to get your point across in a manner that people will actually listen to you, you need to be civil about it and not threaten people. The way many of you are defending the series is just disgusting and makes me more cynical of the human race than I already am. Just because you love something does not mean everyone else has to, also – and vice versa.
Chill out, this writer did not like the series. Is it that big of a deal? When you are an author such as Meyer, you have to expect people to like your books and others not to. You will get praise and criticism. That is how the world works and if you cannot get that, than I pity you.
Throwing incoherent insults are not productive and will not change anyone’s opinion. And guess what, people are entitled to their own opinions.
In conclusion, if someone has a different view than yours…please refrain from bashing, more like flaming, them. If you have a decent argument and want to discuss your views, do it in a mature manner. There is no need for:
OMGZZz!!11! Ur such a bitch cuz u dun like dis book!11!!
When you type like that, people assume you are like that in real life and that you are not very intelligent.
Yes Ashely, we are bunch of dried-up bitter hags who’ve never been in love. We write our vitriol from our old Macs in our trailers surrounded by 150 cats just to ruin your day.
And we cannot appreciate the depth of the capslock. Thanks for enlightening us.
ok seriously like what is there to debate about this?
its a book series about a TEENAGE ROMANCE where a human girl just so happens to fall in in love with a vampire. and yes there actually is a difference between reading a measley little 5 paragraph review vs. reading 4 entire novels if you havent noticed. and did bella have to actually ASK permission to see him? NO. she knew he wouldnt like it, but he even said it was because of his prejudice towards the wolves. and did he get over it? YES. does he trust jacob enough to watch over bella? YES.
so youd actually notice that if your abysmally small minds actually paid attention to the finer details of the books instead of critqing him and fussing over how its being sexist towards women and it being an abusive relationship. so please do us all a favor and get your facts striaght.
kthnx.
Yes, yes I have. I have found an amazing man who I don’t think I could live without, who I am incredibly happy with even over a year later, who is really the only one who can calm me down at time. Who’s the only one who can, ah, start me up. If I was to be so cliche as to call him my soul mate and other half, that’s fine, I will. He is what I am not – patient, kind, concerned about others…but he is also much softer than me. He doesn’t have the same will power that I do. He can be far too nice – in fact, you’d rather want to deal with him.
The fact is, I am too strong, or stubborn, if you will, to simply lose myself just because of one other person. I will, and have, changed because of him, but I will not reconsider fulfilling my life – I want to go to college, to land a good job, and to do what I want to…with him.
So yes, that makes sense, Ashley. I don’t want women to fall in love…or rather, over-obsessed lust.
Oh my God, they tell me first to see the big picture, then to look at the minuscule details. Why don’t you just go to the site that’s been listed three or four times and read the arguments so we don’t have to bother about you?
Actually, you know what? I’m going to quit responding to repeated tripe – if there’s something new, I’ll bother, I guess. I’m bored anyway.
To Lauren,
thank you for saying that actually.
i just refered back to that page and its true. thats exactly what it says :] so for all of you uptight idiots that are being so annal about this…the fact is right there on page 62 in black and white. so how about you all make sure your right about something before you open your mouths [or in this case touch your fingers to the keyboard] BEFORE you start fussing over that ONE LITTLE DEATIL.
Annal. Hm. We are being like books? The annals of the city, the records of the city? Oh, the irony.
I’ll go away now, I’ve complained enough. That was just too full of win not to comment to, though.
ï‚§ Dear Writer,
ï‚§ I think that you underestimate the teenagers today, I see them under a different light.
Teenagers today are well read, travel, they work, get involved in so many activities, music, art, they are independent and know what they want.
I had the opportunity to live abroad: China, Korea, Mexico, Thailand, Japan, USA. I can say that this bright young women and men are not uninformed nor uneducated. (I want to mention that I read the twilight Saga in other languages too)
Do they know the difference between a fictional character from a book with vampires and werewolf from a real life situation?….. let me think.
I dare to say yes, a positive yes. you will always come across some exceptions, not the rule, but that can be applied to adults too.
Are teenagers inexperience, awkward, undecide, odd, overbearing, overexcited, trying to find their place?… yes
But who is not? I have seen tons of teens with a lot of common sense and more maturity than some adults.
Am I impressed by all these young women and men today.. YOU BET!
I am worried about the twilight Saga influence on the teenagers today? A definitely, clear, NO!
I do not underestimate them for a second
Wait, wait, wait…First the critics are thinking about the book in too much depth and then they need to go back and look at the details?
Debate: You’re doing it wrong.
i read all 4 books and i loved them. a person cannot please everyone in life. everyone is entitled to their own opinions and i respect what people have to say. just wanted to put that out there.
YOU SUCK… and not in a good way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just cause you’re some harry potter obsessed FREAK doesn’t mean that you can go around sayin that anything that’s better than HP is bad. Just cause you’re all jealous that you can’t get a man even half as decent, kind, caring, smart, sensitive, compassionate, strong, handsome…… (you get my point) to even LOOK at you; doesn’t mean you can go around dissing the books. They’re AMAZING and Stephenie Meyer’s writing is briliant. You try writing something near as good and tell me how that works out for you. I’ve read the series multiple times and I’m still not bored of them. On top of that’ they’re all bestsellers. How Bout That?!?!?!?!?! so you can take that review and shove it up your ass. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To A Zuniga,
you are my hero. seriously. you actually understand that we are teenagers are different these days. wether its a good different or a bad different. but a lto of kids have gotten into reading more now. and i know a good handful of people who said that THIS saga is what got them into reading more. you understand us more than half the people in here who are blowing this completely out of proportion and think if this series as a negetive influence to society and the minds of teengers. WHICH ITS NOT!
so i admire you for saying that :]
i truely do.
kudos to you :]
Thank you for an insightful review. I completely agree.
Why is everyone so negative? You say that us twilighters swarm if you insult Twilight, yet you do so… so completely lightly.
Stephenie Meyer did nothing wrong, stop insulting her! She’s a great author! She accomplished so much, and for you to just dumb her and her writing down like that… thats just plain rude. And wow, yeah, I get that you all have your own opinions, and I respect that. It doesnt mean I have to like it. As you can tell from my name, I am completely and happily Twilight Obsessed. I love the books, like completely loved them. Edward is a great guy, and he’s not abusive. Is it so bad to want whats best for the person you love most? At the most his behavior is overprotective. Is that so wrong? He really really cares about and loves her. As for those of you who complain about little action, try reading all the books… I’ve talked to people who liked the second or third books better, and you may just find the series good.
And how did Edward mentally abuse her? He only wants whats best for her! He loves her, and she wants to be with him. She CHOOSES him. So stop complaining.
In my opinion, I thought that the Twilight books were pretty good. I personally love all of the books that she has written (including The Host). Not the type of books to go looking into if you want a lesson on grammer, but none the less they are better then some of the other books out there on the shelves. These books are fiction and are really only ment for the reader’s enjoyment – not something that you should take seriously, and apply to or wrap your life around. Some of the things people have to say on here are absolutely ridiculous and quite mind boggling. I’d love to see them try what Stephenie Meyer has accomplished…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Oh wait, was that inappropriate? Well, inappropriate Yuki is inappropriate.
Anyway, I do love how you assume we all love HP. I actually like the HP series, but they’re not my favorite. The Dark Tower books, now, those are GOOD. Better than ANY crap Meyer can come up with, and the vampires there are real vampires. Eddie-poo doesn’t come close.
Oh jeez, we can go around dissing the books, because it’s called free speech. That’s why you can diss us. However, I’d like to make the comment that Edward is fictional, and if he’s the one we’re measuring to, I can easily find hundreds who are better than him…because he’s FICTIONAL. He’s not really funny or worth talking to, for one, and I don’t see where smart even comes into play. He never displays smart except when Meyer says “Oh, by the way, Edward is smart.” Sensitive? Yes, he leaves Bella to die for *blank* months, and he’s sensitive. He’s moodswingy. And decent, I dunno. He’s a big bundle of contradictions.
Anyway. How’s your imaginary boyfriend doing? My real, flesh and blood boyfriend is at work right now, while I’ve done my homework and am laughing at you. He’s kind, caring, smart, sensitive, compassionate, strong, handsome, funny, amazing, mature, patient, loving, etc, etc, etc. He doesn’t sparkle in the sunlight, but he’ll make do.
And um…so were the HP books. What’s your point?
Briana, Pauli, and Zuniga…the Holy Triumvirate of all that is wrong with the Twilight fandom.
It was only a duo but the sheer wackiness of Briana has made me reconsider and make it a trio.
Every evil team needs a bimbo.
“yes there actually is a difference between reading a measley little 5 paragraph review vs. reading 4 entire novels if you havent noticed. ”
The principle is the same. You are still reading and discussing something you hate, the exact same thing you accuse others of doing.
He broke one part of her car, he broke the whole engine…what difference does it make? The fact remains he made it so she couldn’t drive to see Jacob.
“does he trust jacob enough to watch over bella? YES.”
Do you even read what you type? Do you realize how infantile this makes Bella sound? She needs someone to “watch over” her? Argh. This is why this series and its fans make me so angry.
“Just cause you’re all jealous that you can’t get a man even half as decent, kind, caring, smart, sensitive, compassionate, strong, handsome…… (you get my point) to even LOOK at you; doesn’t mean you can go around dissing the books. ”
Oooh, yeah, I’m so jealous of a fictional character and her fictional car-breaking boyfriend. My real non car-breaking husband just can’t match up. But you know what? I CAN STILL DISS THE BOOKS. And thus I have a will to live.
I think the reason girls 12-17 years of age haven’t realized what’s wrong with these books is the fact that they’re more interested in the romance than the way it’s written. They really just don’t care about anything else when they’re reading about a perfect boy.
HappilyTwilightObsessed: Criticizing the books is not insulting Stephenie Meyer. Even if there are a few people who are, most of the comments focus on the books themselves. Stephenie Meyer wrote a bestselling novel, as so many fans point out, which means that the books are in the public eye. Of course they’re going to attract the attention of people who don’t like them.
Dear writer,
I do not agree with your opinion piece, we (my teens and I), really had a great time with the twilight Saga, If we want good exmples or role models, then we will go and look at the institution of our choice or the individual for a role model. We won’t be looking in fictional vampire,werewolf book.
After Harry Potter, none got on their brooms or practice witchcraft
I have to start out by saying that I’m a romantic. I readily accept this, despite the fact I find it a rather pathetic aspect of my personality.
However, a man deciding what is “best” for you and basically stalking you constantly is not romantic what-so-ever. What ever happened to trust is the foundation of a healthy relationship? I just don’t think that Meyer should give the notion to tweens and teens that that type of relationship is normal or romantic (as it is seen in Bella’s eyes).
Nor is it okay for the author to encourage complete mental breakdowns just because the boy you’re “In love with” just left. I am fifteen and I can tell you that a majority my peers do not have any concept about what love is because they’re all “in love with” the Jonas Brothers -aka a bunch of guys they’ve never met. I’m pretty sure that if I told a girl who has read the Twilight series and “loves” the Jonas Brothers that none of them would ever date her, she would have a hissy fit and attempt to go all catatonic like Bella did. (However, I don’t believe that they would be able to last as long in a zombie state because they tend to be like crows attracted to shiny objects.) Just because kids our age are impressionable. No one can deny it.
Anyway, I just think that teen girls would be better off reading the Women’s Mystique before they get their hands on a copy of Twilight.
It really was a spot on review and I thank you for putting your ideas out there.
Why is it so wrong to dislike this series?
Are people not entitled to their own opinions anymore?
Is there really a need to say people who do not buy into the books are anti-love?
Is it necessary to gain up on people because they do not think like you?
Have teenagers really changed that much if most of the posts are by teenagers are completely immature?
Anyone care to answer these? :]
first things first
hi i am 17 years olf i started reading twilight when i was 16 and ever since i breathed the first line of twilight i could put the books down. Yes i agree with some of the statistic you have placed but NO BODY CARES you are reading way too much into this book if anything i think you are a little jealous because your little article that got you 25 seconds of fame will be collecting webs in the back of your personal library will meyer is making mega millions. secondly have you ever heard of the term FANTISY because that what this book is it about fantisy getting lost in a romance filled with mystical characters. I cant belive your really going to sit here and type rubbish about this book you might as well go ahead and pee on WALT DISNEY GRAVE FOR CREATING ALL THOSE CLASSICAL MOVIES THAT MAKE QUITE THE IMPRESION ON AGES 5 AND OTHER THAT FARYTAILS ARE REAL AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FIND A CASTLE SIT IN IT AND PRINCE CHARMING WILL FIND YOU AND YOULL HAVE A HAPPILY EVER AFTER QUESS WHAT I GREW UP ON that and i loved it and still to this day are you going to tell me that all those master pieces should be boycotted becasue of the horriable SEXIST MESSAGE OH GIVE ME A FRIGGIN BREAK if anything you should be kissing the feet of meyers for putting ur teens into grown up books so they wont be ditsy fools. SO mabye its because i am young you say well i have learnt morve vocabulary words reading these books that i have learnt during all my years of school .this book isw not trying to hit the bases of real life its trying to take you into an adventure an oddessy leave your norm and take you out of were you dont want to be. Now you have oped my eyes to the things that i didnt see i wont disgard that but you people are reading away to but into it why do you always have to crtisize the one thing the us teens hold dear not someone said the reason they are commenting bad on the book is because their a bad message and it is the best seller but let me ask you what audience has made it the best seller TEENS YOU OLD BITTYS this book was not designed for you if it was then you can wirte you crude review but this book was said to be the best seeler of teen novels better thann harry potter and to tell you the truth why would you rather have your teens reading about a nerdy little kid that practices witchcraft at least twilight has romance i swear that book has no surpises or the movies i could predict the movie right now :PEOPle WANT TO KILL HARRY POTTER the end and off the right the next BORING book.
look lady i wrote all of that to say this why are you being a buzz kill if you dont like the book stop reading it dont go to see the movie and dont be mad at stephine because she has a husdand that inspires all her love and romance in the book and your stuck with your VIBRATOR
Peaacce
Signed Twilightfan
first things first
hi i am 17 years olf i started reading twilight when i was 16 and ever since i breathed the first line of twilight i could put the books down. Yes i agree with some of the statistic you have placed but NO BODY CARES you are reading way too much into this book if anything i think you are a little jealous because your little article that got you 25 seconds of fame will be collecting webs in the back of your personal library will meyer is making mega millions. secondly have you ever heard of the term FANTISY because that what this book is it about fantisy getting lost in a romance filled with mystical characters. I cant belive your really going to sit here and type rubbish about this book you might as well go ahead and pee on WALT DISNEY GRAVE FOR CREATING ALL THOSE CLASSICAL MOVIES THAT MAKE QUITE THE IMPRESION ON AGES 5 AND OTHER THAT FARYTAILS ARE REAL AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FIND A CASTLE SIT IN IT AND PRINCE CHARMING WILL FIND YOU AND YOULL HAVE A HAPPILY EVER AFTER QUESS WHAT I GREW UP ON that and i loved it and still to this day are you going to tell me that all those master pieces should be boycotted becasue of the horriable SEXIST MESSAGE OH GIVE ME A FRIGGIN BREAK if anything you should be kissing the feet of meyers for putting ur teens into grown up books so they wont be ditsy fools. SO mabye its because i am young you say well i have learnt morve vocabulary words reading these books that i have learnt during all my years of school .this book isw not trying to hit the bases of real life its trying to take you into an adventure an oddessy leave your norm and take you out of were you dont want to be. Now you have oped my eyes to the things that i didnt see i wont disgard that but you people are reading away to but into it why do you always have to crtisize the one thing the us teens hold dear not someone said the reason they are commenting bad on the book is because their a bad message and it is the best seller but let me ask you what audience has made it the best seller TEENS YOU OLD BITTYS this book was not designed for you if it was then you can wirte you crude review but this book was said to be the best seeler of teen novels better thann harry potter and to tell you the truth why would you rather have your teens reading about a nerdy little kid that practices witchcraft at least twilight has romance i swear that book has no surpises or the movies i could predict the movie right now :PEOPle WANT TO KILL HARRY POTTER they dont someone saves him one person dies the end and off the right the next BORING book.
look lady i wrote all of that to say this why are you being a buzz kill if you dont like the book stop reading it dont go to see the movie and dont be mad at stephine because she has a husdand that inspires all her love and romance in the book and your stuck with your VIBRATOR
Peaacce
Signed Twilightfan
Oh, forget it. Even adults are utterly stupid. I’m seventeen – so I guess that makes me an abnormality in this world.
You’ve written that already. And we’ve all replied to how a piece of work affects you no matter what you say. It doesn’t matter if you say OMG I WANT TO BE LIKE BELLA or she’s just a character, the BOOK affects you.
YOU SUCK… and not in a good way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just cause you’re some harry potter obsessed FREAK doesn’t mean that you can go around sayin that anything that’s better than HP is bad, even though you’re all jealous that you can’t get a man even half as decent, kind, caring, smart, sensitive, compassionate, strong, handsome…… (you get my point) to even LOOK at you; doesn’t mean you should go around dissing the books.
This series is AMAZING and Stephenie Meyer’s writing is briliant. You try writing something near as good and tell me how that works out for you. I’ve read the series multiple times and I’m still not bored of them. On top of that’ they’re all bestsellers. How Bout That?!?!?!?!?! HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bella is the hero who saves just about everyone in Breaking Dawn. She also saves Edward in New Moon. So I see no sexism in these books. It’s pretty clear that you skimmed from the knowledge you have.
Obviously you don’t understand the concept of true love…… actually love stronger then that. At least it’s not a perfect relationship. It’s more realistic that he left.
I do agree with you that Jacob Black is a complete pervert. He has problems….. no wait…. he is a problem. He freakin makes out with Bella when she’s engaged. I mean who would go to such lengths as to threaten with suicide for a kiss. He just hurts her more. (proof that Edward loves her the most)
The rest of your “views” on this series are completely wrong…… a result of jealousy no doubt. I am very sorry that your mental problems have driven you to such heights as to write a bad “review” about this series.
TWILIGHT NOW… AND FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 : p
YOU SUCK… and not in a good way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just cause you’re some harry potter obsessed FREAK doesn’t mean that you can go around sayin that anything that’s better than HP is bad, even though you’re all jealous that you can’t get a man even half as decent, kind, caring, smart, sensitive, compassionate, strong, handsome…… (you get my point) to even LOOK at you; doesn’t mean you should go around dissing the books.
This series is AMAZING and Stephenie Meyer’s writing is briliant. You try writing something near as good and tell me how that works out for you. I’ve read the series multiple times and I’m still not bored of them. On top of that’ they’re all bestsellers. How Bout That?!?!?!?!?! HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bella is the hero who saves just about everyone in Breaking Dawn. She also saves Edward in New Moon. So I see no sexism in these books. It’s pretty clear that you skimmed from the knowledge you have.
Obviously you don’t understand the concept of true love…… actually love stronger then that. At least it’s not a perfect relationship. It’s more realistic that he left.
I do agree with you that Jacob Black is a complete pervert. He has problems….. no wait…. he is a problem. He freakin makes out with Bella when she’s engaged. I mean who would go to such lengths as to threaten with suicide for a kiss. He just hurts her more. (proof that Edward loves her the most)
The rest of your “views” on this series are completely wrong…… a result of jealousy no doubt. I am very sorry that your mental problems have driven you to such heights as to write a bad “review” about this series.
TWILIGHT NOW… AND FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : p
Also, kodos to Dani
I agree 100%
Woah. Batten down the hatches, eh?
So I decided to wade through all these mewling idiots and their hilarious (yet extremely depressing) statements so that I could comment.
But really, does no one understand what feminism is? We tried, Gloria Steinem, we REALLY tried.
Great review! Granted, I eat negative reviews of Twilight up like party favours, but usually I find they mainly focus upon the dreadful writing (which I fully endorse), but you’ve covered so much more than that. You’ve cited pretty much everything that makes this series so horrific.
I find it interesting when people compare this series to Harry Potter, or even laud it as being far superior. JK Rowling is not the greatest writer to walk the earth. That being said, she is a master of characterization and plot. Stephenie Meyer, in thousands of pages, manages to create two main characters that are devoid of personality (although you see some promise in secondary characters like Jacob or Alice), while JK Rowling can flesh out a character’s nature in a paragraph. Rowling weaves intricate, complex, imaginative plots and thus doesn’t particularly NEED to be an excellent writer. “Twilight,” on top of the atrocious writing, consists of chapter upon chapter of Edward-lovin’, and then a smattering of conflict at the end. Even though both are “fantasy,” there is a world of difference between them.
I’ll wrap up my rant into a neat little package: Thank you for this review. THANK YOU.
p.s. Fun internet tip: All you Twilighters… lay off the goddamn excessive punctuation, you aren’t helping your case.
Why is it so wrong to dislike this series?
Because the fangirls hate it when you break their daydreams of EDWARD. They think this was the best thing ever because they want their own shining knight on a white horse. So when you start complaining about the morals and the characters, they automatically start screaming because you are pushing their buttons labeled – Love, Obsession, Escapist Fantasy
Are people not entitled to their own opinions anymore?
Not by what they’re screaming. They don’t have the patience or the courtesy to read what you have to say and debate it – instead, they must be right, so you’re wrong and a horrible baby-eater rapist. Or something.
Is there really a need to say people who do not buy into the books are anti-love?
Read above – you are ruining their “love”, so you are anti-love. Isn’t this wonderful?
Is it necessary to gain up on people because they do not think like you?
Gain up? Oh, gang up? Yes, because most Twilighter’s arguments are incoherent screams of rage about minuscule and irritating details. Or else how we miss the whole point. One or the other.
Have teenagers really changed that much if most of the posts are by teenagers are completely immature?
God, I hope not. I’m seventeen, and I fear for my life that the way things are going, we’re all going to hell in a handbasket. You can look up my posts for a breath of sanity, if you’d like, but if you’re for Twilight, I don’t need more angst.
Joni.marie (twilight lover): Your own words can apply to you as well. If you don’t like this review then why did you spend so much time attacking the author and Harry Potter?
You can have and post your opinion, but I don’t think it is fair to bash other people, such as fans, and the author. Stephenie Meyer never planned to be a big time writer, her books started with a dream. So, she started writing, for herself. Then she was encouraged to publish it and share it with others. Her main focus wasn’t to make this perfectly written series that teaches people good morals. She simply had a story in her head, and she wrote it down. She is a true story teller. For me, I could read the books and escape to another world of love, drama, and conflict, which is, in my opinion, something only a good book could do. Again, every book is going to have those who do not enjoy it, even hate it. However, I do not think it’s fair to call the creator, or their creation, names.
And as for the subject of how the books portray sexist ideas, I disagree. Humans are not perfect, and neither are the human characters in Steph’s book. The book is in Bella’s perspective, and just like many other girls, she explains herself as what she sees herself as: clumsy and ordinary. Aren’t we all our hardest critic? And her insecurities do not make her any less of a person, neither does benefitting from the strength and care of the Cullen family. What about the other female characters? If Meyer was trying to make females look weak and only depend on men, wouldn’t all females in the book be portayed that way? Rosalie is female, but she showed just as much strength as the rest of the men, right? We did not get to hear much from Esme as I would have liked, but that was what her character in Stephanie’s head was: motherly and caring. I think the whole “sexist” idea was construed. The real differences were shown between human, werewolves, and vampires, not between men and women.
And remember, this book is fictional, so why need to focus on the facts such as how Bella could conceive a child with Edward? Does it really matter how it happened? Of course, it would be interesting to know.. but that small fact should not take away the experience of the book.
There are books made for the story, and books that are made to initiate greater thinking. There are people who like one more than the other, or enjoy both. Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think it is incredibly rude to explain what they feel in the way a lot of people have about the Twilight Saga.. People can say they feel the books teach bad morals to young readers, but the books also teach good ones too, right? I think any book you can find something wrong with, but let us all be reasonable and not try to blow things out of proportion.
Wow. That’s the first thing I have to say. Twilight is one of my favorite books. I have a question for you: Do you honestly think that Stephenie Meyer’s intentions were to make the book for any girl to go out and try to find a vampire boyfriend…or a werewolf secret lover….I DON’T THINK SO!!!! Some people do make a point in saying that some things were wrong like how Bella fell for Jacob while being madly in love with Edward. But I want to let you know that, that’s what makes the Twilight Saga, The Twilight Saga. Everyone wants something to just one day take them into a fantasy world where they KNOW that is fiction, but they just want to escape the hectic life of today. I mean Stephenie Meyer loves her books, she’s proud of them, and people have NO RIGHT to put her and her books down because they don’t like them! I don’t give a shit if you don’t like them, and I don’t give a shit if you do like them. But I know that I like them, and that they take me away into a world where I can escape (even if for only 2 chapters). The Twilight Saga is something that Stephenie Meyer created for herself, and for the people who want to escape into the Twilight world with her. So you have your opinion and I have mine. Twilighters do need to know that if your boyfriend breaks up with you, then there is no reason to commit suicide. The world is different today, the world is not perfect, and girls and women know how to stand up for themselves. You can bash Twilight all you want, and you should stand up for Twilight all you can, but Twilight was NOT meant to have girls create a fantasy world for themselves, that they can’t live in. I do love the Twilight Saga, but I can also keep a reality check. Bella found her love (Edward…duh!), and she found another guy who makes her oh so happy, but she know that her love is stronger for Edward. If you say that you’ve never been in that serious, I bet you have had at least one relationship where you loved the guy so deeply that you would be willing to do anything for him. Who gives a crap if Jacob KISSED HER TWICE UNWILLINGLY! It’s what made the book the book. She kissed him right back, and it developed more draw to the book. I am sure that everyone has been in some situation like that, and if not, then you probably will be.
Okay, enough with the freaking lecture. I just think that Stephenie Meyer wrote this knowing that not everybody’s going to like it. But she did write it for the people who do want to read it.
-Twilight/Reality Check
(I am Cecilia’s cousin who commented b4. Read her comment that was placed around 9am August 19 for some true Twi-Hard commenting)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s to make up for the lack of exclamation points in my comment !
I read Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. They are not great writing by any standard, but they have a certain quality that made me demand more and more. But eventually that quality was not enough to make me love the books, flaws and all. It’s a series that has gone downhill with each book, and the news regarding Breaking Dawn suggests that the fourth book was the final slip into the crevasse for the series.
I agree with your review, and I am sorry that, like so many others who “dare” to give criticism on the series, you are being swarmed by die-hard devotees who seem unable to recognise that opinions can go both ways.
And to Joni.marie. Again kudos
…Reading these comments makes me weep for humanity D=
OKAY, PEOPLE, LET’S GET SOME THINGS STRAIGHT:
A book being fantasy does not make it okay for abusive relationships to be portrayed as ~tru wub~.
Nobody is ‘reading too much into it’. Analyzing the message a book sends isn’t a bad thing.
And being able to spell, use grammar, and capitalize correctly would probably help your arguments, guys. I’m thirteen years old and I’m more coherent than you.
“I mean Stephenie Meyer loves her books, she’s proud of them, and people have NO RIGHT to put her and her books down because they don’t like them! ”
I can put her books down all I want. I can criticize them all I want. CAN YOU STOP ME? I think not.
Joni.marie,
You complained about how predictable the HP series were when the Twilight Saga is much worse.
I predicted pretty much everything that happened in every book, even the stupid pregnancy which doesn’t even make sense at all.
If you’ve even read the HP books you would know that there is a lot more substance to the characters and a PLOT in one book than the entire Twilight series.
Well, if anything, this book has made me turn femenist. And this is from a guy who holds a rather traditional point of view on the female role in society.
Everything is good in moderation.
Arietta ,
i see what you are saying giving me a “doce of my own medicine”
but the real reason i decided to comment was not beacsue i was searching for people who didnt like the book so i could write a killer come back line NO. i was looking for more updats at some FAN sites and it just so happend that this review was on a FAN site. i dont think it was right for the writer to shove that in the FANS faces.
and by the way I am not talking to anyone except the writer of the article everyone has their own opinion if you don’t like twilight it’s ok but don’t go around posting it everywhere like nobody is going to see it because you know you want people to read it . I personally think that is immature of the writer if you have an opinions write it in a respectful manner and hopefully you will get respectful feedback. I see myself as a mature 17 and I believe I have responded in a respectful manner more than I intoned since I was rather POED at the article. I hold nothing against people with opinions.
GO LDK!
Anyway.
Bella is a Mary Sue. Go look that up, put her through some litmus tests, and guess what? She is a prime example of bad characterization. And in BD, she ends up losing any flaws she had, so she becomes Super Sue.
The world is coming to an end.
Joni.marie: It’s “dose of my own medicine” and nevermind that punctuation and capital letters are weeping.
This review appears to be on a magazine, not a FAN site as you so eloquently put. Calm your horses.
Joni.marie-
“I see myself as a mature 17 and I believe I have responded in a respectful manner more than I intoned since I was rather POED at the article. ”
Yeah, I’d describe this passage as “mature” and “respectful”:
“look lady i wrote all of that to say this why are you being a buzz kill if you dont like the book stop reading it dont go to see the movie and dont be mad at stephine because she has a husdand that inspires all her love and romance in the book and your stuck with your VIBRATOR”
LMFAO. ok so basically whatever you are saying is making no sense. nor do i care. but i still find it pretty funny.
Joni.marie.
you read my mind :] im on the same boat as you.
the whole disney thing made me laugh cuz its true.fairtales like that arent real and neither is this, yet people decide to bash on this because its again “supposedly” being sexist towrds women.
which even after reading it a million times stillmakes me laugh.
basicaly all you think this is just giving us false hope that there are guys EXACTLYA LIKE HIM OUT THERE. but it might surprise you to know that there ARE gentlemen out there…*gasp!* shocking i know..but its true believe it or not. yea they dont sparkle, they dont have super strength or run impossibly fast and dont have marble hard bodies.
sure im 15 and just like any other girl wishing that they had a BF like him. but it doesnt mean that we’re gonna necessarily sprinkle glitter on our boyfriends, make them stand out in the cold all day or put amber colored contacts in their eyes.
the rest of you are just being complete killjoys.
id LOVE to see you come up with something as phenomenal as this a sell 1.3 million books in one day. what goes through your minds and makes you all think of things as stupid as this and agree with this writter, i will never know nor do i care in the least.
and yes people are still entitled to their own opinions but there is a dfference between just not liking a book or something because it either didnt interest you and making some lame assumptions that arent even true. that doesnt necessarily mean you need to right a stupid blog about how much you hated it and it wanted to make you hurl or what not. [infact i hope half the people in here puke their guts out and die.]
and another thing, dont bring harry potter into these even though i am a huuuuge fan. it was my first obession but now twilight is right along there with it.
but it has nothing to do with this. although i still dont get how someone can think that they are “filth” and they think that theyre infested with drugs, sex and alchohol. even though i have TONZZ more to say on this matter, i will argue no further. because unfortunetly i have school in the morning. so all of you haters can just go choke and die. and i will forever be laughing at the sheer idiocy and ignorance of some people in here. your all so close minded basically. thats i i have to say for the time being.
so peace out bitches :]
Joni.marie,
Oh, alright then. Then I’d appreciate you not posting everywhere about how much you love Twilight, since you shouldn’t be shoving it in our faces! How dare you force us to see a differing opinion from our own? So rude. I mean, it’s like, totally okay if you like Twilight, as long as I don’t have to see it.
I love this article.
Fuck all the crazy, Twatlighters. Everyone here is talking about how everyone has a right to their own opinion but fuck that. These books sucked. Bella is a horrible human being and should be ashamed of herself, Edward is an obsessive freak with bi-polar disorder and SMeyers can’t write for her life.
Shut up. I’m not going to argue. All your crazy Twilight kids are wrong and I really hope you realize one day that you’re an embarrassment to the female gender.
Your stupid you idiot.
To Yuki:
You make me smile.
At least there are still some teens out there who do not have to define their lives around making everyone miserable who does not share their views.
No, I do not like Twilight – the sage terrifies me. It glorifies abuse, suicide, being dependant, and all that great stuff. And it scares me that people cannot accept that not everyone is going to love a book that they love and flip when someone criticizes it.
Thank you for being mature, at least. And thanks for pointing out my typo, I forgot to change that. :]
pauli,
“that doesnt necessarily mean you need to right a stupid blog about how much you hated it and it wanted to make you hurl or what not. [infact i hope half the people in here puke their guts out and die.]”
So…You’re entitled to state your opinions, but the author of the article isn’t? Okay then, thanks for clearing that up.
Yuki what in the would are you blabberin about i everybody that i kn ow who has read this book doesnt even like bella we love the story line of hedr lust for danger but who seriously looks up to bella no one so stop putting that stupid little cliche out there that just because you like the book you have to love every single aspect of it and that every girl that reads it is going to go searching worldwide for a vampire that will abuse her. when i read that book i would not even have thought about that crap : abuse sexual harrasment ppfft.
what i saw was a guy or vampire that would do anything to keep his love safe and he reaslized he was the danger all along ure he took some extreme tips like the engine but he didnt know jacob hes a werewolfe duh? edwards not gona want her to go to him there natural enimes but wait dont i remember in the book endward making amature decision to still let bella see him on yea.. bring on the critisizim edward out of control . i admit breaking dawn was kind of a flop but dont tell me that ever single piece of tge other books are bad try telling that to millions of other readers
Jodie: which one of us?
Pauli, I would like to point out that stalking your girlfriend is not something a gentelman would do.
Also gentlemen do not like to date girls that tell people to choke and die. They prefer women who can formulate a real comeback that actually has a valid point to it.
“when i read that book i would not even have thought about that crap : abuse sexual harrasment ppfft.”
That’s because you obviously don’t get what exactly abuse is. Controlling every aspect of somebody’s life, going so far as to have your sister kidnap her and keep her from seeing one of her friends? Bad. Watching somebody sleep every night before you’ve even really ever spoken to them? Yeah, that’s creepy. Oh, and co-dependency, ie., going catatonic when your highschool boyfriend leaves you? That’s bad too.
Joni.marie you said:
“what i saw was a guy or vampire that would do anything to keep his love safe and he reaslized he was the danger all along ure he took some extreme tips like the engine but he didnt know jacob hes a werewolfe duh? edwards not gona want her to go to him there natural enimes…”
First of all, Edward knows that she is just as safe with the wolves as she is with his family. Both of them in reality pose a threat, but never would actually hurt Bella.
Secondly, vampires are humans natural enemies and werewolves are there to protect people from them. So that’s just proving that Edward is a hypocrite by putting his family around Bella.
Gah! I meant “saga”.
Anyways, to pauli:
How is Edward a gentleman?
And you can sell as many books as you want and still be a terrible writer. Find a topic that sells well and you can have people eating out of your hands.
LDK: Codependency isn’t ALL that bad, but you know. Everything in moderation.
Hell, as somebody who exclusively dates for the sake of finding a mate I frankly find Bella and Edward’s relationship a disgusting twisted abomination of everything such a relationship could and can be.
Kris:
First off, I don’t think I mentioned hating Stephenie, but it is true that woman knows how to piss me off. Not just because of her writing, but because of the patronizing way she likes to treat her fans. “Rob Effect” anyone? Meyer’s views in life seem to be clearly reflected in her books, she’s not the kind of author that can detach herself from that. She interrupts the questions she receives, she dances around giving answers, and then she promotes her new guide book out this winter. As an author, I can’t respect her. As a person, she just plainly annoys me.
I don’t think it’s fair to say I can hate the book but can’t bash the fans, because you don’t know where I’m coming from. I get a lot of hate from the fans on a daily basis for things I made yet never forced them to look at. They still find themselves compelled to go out of their way and repeat the nonsense in many of the above posts. So at this stage in my Twilight-hating, I do feel that I can bash the fans, as the fans have bashed me. Human nature, so sue me. “It’s stupid that haters like you automatically “hate†stephenie because she made a book that you don’t like.. ” Know what else is stupid? That you’e making random assumptions. When did I say, “Gah I hate this book, THEREFORE I HATE THE AUTHOR WITH A PASSION!” Hm? No, it’s not a good reason to hate someone, and it isn’t mine, so why are we discussing this? Right, because you’re jumping to conclusions.
We don’t care about what the fans have to say, honestly. We like giving our opinion, and then guess what? Things happen exactly the way they have for this article. The fangirls come screaming in their opinion, and I’d listen to them if it was devoid of ad hominem attacks, but for a good majority of the time, it’s not. Why, WHY do you guys think that we stand there, tell ourselves, “I HATE THESE BOOKS, I AM GOING TO START READING THEM NOW!” Many of us read them and THEN hated them. I for one, refused to get past BD after I saw the first two chapters. I was told to read it, even though I already hated the series, for laughs, but even then it was hard to laugh at something so ridiculous. Think about it, and stop having this idea that we’re all malicious harpies with the intent of causing people to get angry over what we say. Clearly you have a biased view.
Yes, and so what? The writer is also getting attention for people who believe the same thing. I’m not actually saying that Stephenie Meyer and the writer’s success are equal, but I’m currently wondering why you chose to ignore all that I said about Breaking Dawn’s failure.
“And anyone who hates her or any author for that matter is seriously just an immature person who finds a reason to hate anyone just because they did something that they didn’t like.” And there go your biased views again. Fantastic. It’s funny, yet again to me, that the haters tend to be more tolerant of differing opinions than the lovers. We say you need to grow up, because most of you fans, unlike us haters, can only jump into a conversation with “FUCK YOU BITCH I LOVE EDWARD!” Or did you not notice how juvenile those defending the books have been?
Leaving this article alone is what you should have done the minute you set eyes on it, if you weren’t prepared to defend your books in a mature, unbiased way. So thank you for leaving. Ta-ta!
cookie-
lmfao yaa what i should of said is i was being respectful until that part i am not ashamed of writing that thats how i feel and it was pretty fun getting it off my chest so ya ive wasted enough time on here twlight rules!!! haterz fall back Peacce!!
These books are mindless and Bella is nothing more than an Mary-Sue. Go read a GOOD book, not this icing covered turd.
God.
Everyone keeps on saying “WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TO STEPHENIE MEYER????????????????”
She is not being mean to Stephanie Meyer, she is talking about the FICTIONAL world that she has created and the FICTIONAL characters. So please consider that everyone who says this is “JUST FICTION.”
Criticizing a novel does not equate to insulting the author. And since Smeyer writes for herself and writes “her story, her way”, then quite honestly, she shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks.
Really, we’re not calling her a “Fat cow and shitty writer,” we’re saying that this particular piece was not to our taste.
Testmoose:
I mostly meant the whole going catatonic thing. She acted like she had absolutely nothing to live for before she started hanging out with Jacob.
LDK: point made, my apologies. There’s a vague hope in me that eventually the tweens that take these books to heart will attempt to emulate the characters and end up decreasing the gene pool in some interesting way. The Darwin awards need more entries. Trufax(c).
Right on MC!
It’s rare that someone who doesn’t like Twilight will start Stephenie Meyer as AN INDIVIDUAL.
Her writing style and ability, but we don’t attack her as a person.
go shave your armpits and vaginas. stop trying to push your so-called ‘feminist’, hypocritical views when most of you are slowly setting back women millions of years yourselves, just by opening your mouth’s thinking you have a correct view about how women or girls are poorly represented. stop crying about the lack of a strong female represenintation in FICTIONAL, FANTASY novel.
i can safely say these books were put out to ENTERTAIN, not inspire.
The most interesting thing is your critique would fit any number of romance books being published for adults as we speak.
I’m still not sure of the appeal of the Billionaire Greek Adonis who blackmails some woman into marry him, but it sells very well. *shrugs* Apparently so does a vampire who sparkles and another TSTL heroine.
I can’t say I’m overly shocked.
Oh, as for the spanish- Apparently IsmA believes that Bella and Edward are true lovers and that the reason she is seen as weak is because she is surrounded by the supernatural. In other words, the same argument we’ve all heard before.
Also, to whomever she was referring it to, she really likes you and hopes that you two can write to each other because you really made her laugh.
Just translatin’ for your benefit.
I’m going to admit, up front, to having enjoyed the first book. It was like crack, or a really poorly written, poorly acted, underfunded Lifetime movie on a Saturday afternoon when I was putting off my homework. I mean, no one was developed as a character, the plot shows up at the very end, and on top of that it a story about Twu Luv. What kind of girl doesn’t need a fluff piece at the end of a bad day?
But on top of all this, people need to take a step back and remember, Twilight is Not a Religion. That is to say, people are allowed to disagree (especially if you’re going to disagree in a such a well written and thought out article. Total kudos to you for sharing a valid opinion. I enjoyed reading it and will share it with my friends if only to make good conversation–I am friends with some Twihards and it’s fun watching them string together an agrument that consists of more than “because they love eachother!”)
Writing is objective: true. I can’t stand Hemmingway or Dun or the elder Bronte sister. But that’s in context of style and diction and phrase. When I say Meyers is a bad writer, I mean it in that there are a lot of errors in her writing and it would have helped her to edit more carefully. On top of that, I think her prose can rightly be called purple and her use of adjectives leaves much to be desired (after four books “Adonis” and “dazzling” stop looking like words). I feel that Meyers hurt her own story because while human girl loves vampire isn’t the most original it’s always interesting to people (hell, works so well Buffy did it twice). But Meyer shot her own story in the foot by breaking two very important rules of story telling.
1. Show not tell.
Bella and Edward are constantly saying how much they love eachother, how they’ve waiting their entire lives for the other, how they are One True Loves. But why? Meyers never shows the readers why they should love eachother. Edward is drawn to Bella because she smells tasty (like flowers, no less). Bella likes Edward because he’s easy on the eyes. And sparkles. And looks seventeen but acts like her father. Or something. Even Lifetime Movies give me more ( tell me how she takes her omlets Edward without coming off as a stalker and maybe with can talk. But not before we have a length conversation about that particular habit. Because watching someone sleep night after night? Only cool is you’re in a hospital and one of you is terminally ill. And if you yourself need sleep. Just saying).
2. Know Why Things Happen.
Let me tell you a story. I wrote a short story once for a program I was in. The assignment was to write a very short story that still managed to tell a completel story. I wrote one and it ended in off screen character death. In feed back the teacher asked me how the now dead character died. I replied “I’m not sure.” and he went off about how it’s important to a story that the person writing it knows what’s going down even off screen. Meyers herself has said that she isn’t always sure how things to down inside her ‘verse (see: Werewolve paternity drama). I think this kind of shrug of the shoulder attidude she has about her writing definately shows in the novels.
Now, onto the subject of Bella.
As a character, the girl is a complete Mary Sue. Women in Twilight are basically cardboard cut outs (not that the guys should get too proud since, everyone in Twilight is pretty much a cut out). But what got me going ‘huh’ in regards to the Feminist argument was women’s behavior in BD. Everyone, from Bella to Rose to Esme, loses their nut at the possibility of a baby. The Baby Craze in BD is pretty disturbing because its such an obvious risk to Bella’s health. It would not have been too much to have at least had Alice (who is oddly mute on a the baby subject) step up and say “Maybe babymaking isn’t the end all.”
And yes as a mole model, Bella is the last one girls should have. Bella is selfish, self-involved, misleading, and deluded. Meyers tries so hard to sell her as a plain nobody but all the guys in town want her and it seems like every evil thing wants to munch on her. Her klutziness is meant to make her real but it really just plays up her Mary Sueness. It makes you wonder how Bella could ever have been trusted to walk outside alone if the girl can’t take two steps without causing some kind of life threatening choas (not to say that klutziness shouldn’t and can’t be used as a character trait. Not to bring Harry Potter into this but Nymphadora Tonks is a woman who isn’t always graceful, true, but she holds her own in conflicts).
Bella’s personal traits aside, the manner in which she lets other character treat her like a infant seriously brings to question her abilities to look after herself. Edward is constantly telling Bella what to do when her life’s in danger and never does Bella actually really get a say in how things happen. Bella constantly complains about how Edward has Alice babysit her while he’s away but she never really does anything to stop that. Why didn’t she just hang out with nondescript friends from school or just tell Charlie that no, she’s not sleeping over at the Cullens this weekend. Jacob, who starts off as a great kid, funny and snarky and cool, turns into a jerk who basically sexually harasses Bella. Because that’s what it is when someone forces a kiss on you after you clearly say no (and the fact that there’s even ground to defend Jacob on shows another Bella trait that I praticularly hated: she leads Jacob on time and again, because it hurts her too much to let him go in peace). Bella’s more than happy letting other people make decisions for her and than angsting about them.
Now that brings me to the thing that gets me the most. The Romance.
It’s not healthy people. It’s just not. You don’t need to be Dr. Phil to get that Edward/Bella Sparkly Love is just not cool. The complete obsessive nature of it, the self inflicted angst, the sickening self flattery (Bella is constantly going on about how amazed she is that Edward could ever love and Edward pretty much does the same).
Is it too much to ask that at least one person, if not Bella herself, at least once in all four books, just stopped and went : “Um, maybe you and Edward aren’t that great together” without some other motive other than get Bella out an unheathly relationship. Because after all the times she got injured, no one ever did pull her aside and ask “is someone hurting you?”
“To claim this is unhealthy is to claim that books such as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Romeo and Juliet, where in that case the two lovers committed suicide, should not be read by teenagers either for fear that they get the “wrong†message. ”
Yeah, none of those relationships are healthy. Healthcliff and Cathy are terrible, they destory eachother because they’re both too greedy to want anything outside their own happiness (not even happiness for eachother, just themselves). Mr. Rodchester locked his first wife up in his attic in total isolation, and then treats Jane like dirt and then lies to her about the first wife. The best thing Jane ever did was leave (of course she goes back because Rodchester goes blind and true love and blah, but still, FIRST WIFE IN ATTIC). As to Romeo and Juliet, well, I few them as a warning tale to what unthoughtout rushed decisions can lead to.
I’ve read those books on my own and in class and that’s pretty much all I can say about them. I read them all pretty young on my own and reached my decisions about where I stood on the relationships presented. Which was great because in class, my teacher was going on about how Heathcliff and Cathy were raw elementals and yeah, they were raw, but it doesn’t make their actions forgiveable.
So yes, Meyers has written popular books, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to like them. And one should ever be so disrespected by “true fans” for having a dissenting opinion.
Marie,
Wow very mature, I have a question how are we setting back women “millions of years?” We are expressing our opinions, something that women have fought for for ages.
Yes, books are meant to entertain, but they also have underlying themes. Although you may not realize it subliminal messages tend to be the strongest. And what a bunch of girls are reading is that they have to wait for their knight in sparkling armor to come around and save them and make every descision for them.
How’s that for sending women back “millions of years?”
Oh. My. God. I love you–you have just renewed my faith in humanity. Words right out of my mouth, you said everything I ever wanted to say about the series
Jesus Christ, this made my day
Marie, how are expressing views setting back women? We are not saying that one way of thinking is right, we want people to give coherent arguments and discussions yet, sadly, the opposition has been weak and immature.
Is that the only argument you have? That it is fictional and fantasy?
Also, yes it is meant for entertainment but does that mean that it does not have an affect on people? Why do you think there are “Do Not Attempt” warnings on commercials that seem to be common sense? Because people are easily affect by what they read, see, and hear.
hi……i think you just need a good lay and shut the fuck up already. save your neo-nazi feminist bullshit for your fucked up spawn. your quite disturbed no matter WHAT free speech you may have to write such a horse shit review. its a fuckin book series get over it, and forget you read it. wow! what a concept. i jus solved your problem you ass-clown. shove it =)
Amen, Rigby!
Ruin, way to have a vaild argument.
Free speech gives us the right to express our concerns and dislike for something as does it give us the right to express our like for something.
Kellen Rice is allowed to dislike something and tell why. She brings up points that I think more people should be worried about – glorifying suicidal tendencies over a break up, hinting that emotionally/mentally abusive boyfriends are romantics, showing that women cannot be anything other than what their man is.
Why is she not allowed to critic something? You can express your enjoyment over the series, why cannot others have a different view?
Personally, I could careless that people like Twilight…I am just concerned that young, teenage girls are reading these and, whether they will admit it or not, are being affected by the subcontext.
lyk, zomg!!11!!1! hw dure u show ur opinon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its so mean to stephanie!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thes book r just for FUN nd lyk, ur thinkin 2 much about dem!!!!!!!!!!! bela and edwurd r in tru luv and if u disagreee u hat luv!!!!!!!!!! how dure u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dn’t go an anylaze dese books, their FANTAISY u ideots, FANTAIASY. duh, that meens their not REAL nd stuf. so lyk, they dont have lyk a mesage cuz theyr FANTAIAIASY. nd just cuz evry1 lubs bela doeznt make her bad, its not hur falt!!!!!!!!!!!!!! u meenies, stephanie mite reed dis and cry and how wuld u fell den?????!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!??!?!?!?!?!?????????? u dunt no whut ur talkin about, nuthin culd evur be rong wit Twilight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! u meenies need to go dii, meenies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow, i leave for almost two hours, & this is still going on.
two words: explicit & implicit.
look them up & apply it.
people have opinions, & now its time to get over that.
move on, it’s just a book !
DUUUUUUUUUDE this post is awesome, spot on.
F*ck the mindless fangirlzzzzz btw.
Twilight sucks donkeys testicles
its all just a matter of opinion. i don’t find anything seriously wrong about Meyers books ‘cept maybe the writing. it feels like fan-fiction sometimes but thats fine. i’m reading it for the story and the characters anyway. it’s a fun read. i think people wont enjoy it as much if they keep comparing it to other books. its best to just appreciate it for what it is. there are younger readers who think these books are gold but don’t worry about that they’ll grow out of it. As for the feminist argument i personally don’t find anything anti-feminist about it. i actually think Bella is a very strong character maybe not physically but emotionally and mentally. i dont see Bella to be intended as a role model. people like her because she is very relate-able and normal in her way of thinking. insecurities and all. girls can identify with that. you’ve made some valid points though i personally don’t agree with them. its totally fine. you can’t really expect everyone to like it. we are all different after all.
Well, aren’t you special? Who made you the Literary God? I guess if you are LOOKING for something to bitch about, then, sure you can find controversy in just about anything. But gimme a break….these books are just for fun. If you think all the Twilight fans have been so soiled by enjoying these books and are going to run amok looking for vampire boyfriends of their own, you might as well start hunting the tree for yer lynch party, Aunt Bee.
First of all, great review. I really loved it, a little rude, but i’ll live with it. It is true, that very few people realized it was a poor written novel. Excuse me, novels. I also completely agree with Bella’s pothetic “damsel in distress” act being insulting. I, myself, read the saga, but i must admit, i loved the books. I cannot deny anything you said, because it is true. So i have simply come to the conclusion that stephenie meyer is a magician, and she put a spell on the books. Great theory, is it not?
Thank You For Reading,
Angelica Hernandez
What about Lois Lane and all the other females that are rescued by superheros? Why are they accepted in storylines? Why aren’t you picking on that? That isn’t insulting in the least…
While I understand the feeling behind this article, I have to politely disagree with a few points.
To begin with, the whole fan-base aspect of the books disgust me as well. Things like that are why I am particularly proud that I’ve never read a single Harry Potter… just to be someone who HASN’T. The entire screaming-girl “target” audience of these books has put me off of reading them for years, it was just this spring that I picked the first one up.
Having said that, I enjoyed the book itself enough to buy the rest of them as well and do not have the disdain you seem to for the entire plot line. While it is shallow at points, it has its realism to it (as real as anything with vampires and ‘werewolves’/shapeshifters). I can’t comment off your gender or age here, but as someone who was a girl Bella’s age not THAT long ago (I’m 21 now) I can say that the emotions are pretty genuine while things happen. Just because it’s not your IDEAL reaction from females, calling it anti-feminist is way, way over the top. Maybe Meyer wasn’t trying to make a point or encourage things this way or that. Maybe she was just describing how it tends to feel?
If you’d read how Twilight began, it was just a random dream Meyer had.. she wasn’t TRYING to influence the entire young female population with this.. just following her own subconscious story line. I’ll give you that, after it got so huge, she could have “used her powers for good” but I think a sudden change in Bella’s personality would have been less true to storywriting than her so-called, according to you, bad writing would to begin with.
I had a boyfriend all through high school.. I still love him to this day the way Bella does Edward (or vice versa, in your feminist rant, you never seem to mention that Edward’s character is exactly the same in his clinging love, despite personality differences) even though every drama that could have happened did happen (cheating, jail, heroin, affairs, friendships, near-marriages, love triangles and rectantangles) and we haven’t been together for quite a while. But Bella’s reaction when Edward left- it was real. I can’t remember what filled my time or feeling more than numb & nothing & all that for a good 6 months after the relationship ended, when I was 17 as well, myself. It’s just a reaction. Sure, it’s BAD, but Meyer depicted it really well to be honest. Blank. Zombie-like. Etc etc. Also, when Edward removed her engine.. you’ll notice later that she got herself down to see Jacob anyway so she must have some sense of independence and self.
In general, while your article does point out that the whole population isn’t Twilight crazed, and the fans can be pretty blind – just like any obsession, it’s not necessary to be so down-grading to a new author who has done so well. She dreamed a story and wrote it. That’s it. And a lot of people enjoy it because of the emotions in it, for most readers it requires you to fill in part of those emotions by “being in the story” almost. It’s interesting to try to describe. But starting a feminist revolution over the book is completely ridiculous and was not worth such a long babble of downgrading, low quality words that seem better apt to rile twilight-ers than actually get a point across. “Reader, I hurled” Puh-lease..
Haha, SMeyer’s Defense Brigade steps in with no trepidation!!! (I bet they had to go look up “trepidation” in the dictionary) “Leave Stephen1e al0ne zomg!!!”
Seriously, this is a great article but in all honesty I don’t care much about the obvious anti-feminist undertones of the series, even though I do realize they’re pretty serious. Bottomline is, these books are nothing but shoddy storytelling, from a strictly literary point of view (socio-cultural implications aside, that is), they’re trash. Meyer can’t write to save her life. Twilight doesn’t deserve a tenth of the attention it gets. And now they made a friggin MOVIE for chrissakes. I can already see the queues of screaming-fit-to-faint fangurlz outside the threatres, reaching out to the horizon. “Edward Cullen is so hawt!!!” Gimme a break. I’ve seen the trailers by the way, the film-making is almost as stiff and devoid of soul as the writing in the books, woo-de-woop!!!
It’s okay if people enjoy these books for what they are (we all have a soft spot for junk somewhere in our saccharine-hungry hearts) but to claim this is some of the best literature ever produced is BLASPHEMY. I’m sick of hearing this Meyer chick being compared with JK Rowling too. It’s ridiculous.
Eh well, I guess something had to fill the mindless-garbage-lite-teenybopper-fiction open in the market. Too bad the hype sucks some of the more intelligent readers in as well. These things work in funny ways you see, it’s like watching a train wreck…you know its awful and you should look away, but you can’t, and you almost secretly enjoy it too. “This book is so bad [turns page] I wonder if it can get worse [turns page] Oh what d’you know, it just did, now I wonder if she can keep up this level till the end [turns page] Holy sheeet she just sunk even lower [applauds]”
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is….thanks for pointing out Twilight sucks, I agree.
Lauren you hit it right on the nail!
I saw somebody compared “Twilight” to “Romeo and Juliet:”. That was utterly stupid and irrelevant. The setting of the stories are totally two different things. First basic thing, were Edward and Bella forbidden to see each other due to their family conflicts?! Nope, they were free to see each other. I bet even if Bella’s family knew about Edward’s secret, they could have done nothing to prevent the two from eloping with each other (anihoo, Edwards can always squish them like bugs if he wants to lol *cough*). So in Romeo and Juliet’s case, their desperation is fairly rational and understandable (sounds funny, doesn’t it lolz). However, the book doesn’t dwell on their suicidal act but insists on a fact that hatred never does anything good for anyone. As far as I comprehend, the whole thing is a tragic romance, not some chick lit’s love story in which you throw away your family for a guy you barely know.
I was really disturbed when Bella said something along the line “I have my own life to live” towards the issue whether she should be vamped or not. Anyone who has a bit of moral thought just don’t ditch your parents without a second thought for some dashing guys. Bella’s answer came out so fast and careless that it disgusted me. The thing between Bella and Edwards is not love like many people have praised, it’s infatuation.
Feminist or not, I think Twilight is a really poor piece with shallow characters. And sorry if you think my English is choppy. My first language isn’t English, but I read enough to tell a good book from a bad one.
um, dude, if you dont like the book..dont read it
everyone has there own opinion..so calm yourself…
and read a different book…
I respectfully disagree with you.
The character of Bella is not at all always a damsel in distress . In Twilight the first book Bella falls in love and is swept away in it , But is that all you see? She also chooses to move in with her distant father in a whole new town just so her mother is not inconvenienced. Not to mention her willingness to give up her own life – which happens in all four books. She is unselfish and in love.
Many of the best and most acclaimed novels tend to follow Similar story lines in which love claims all,such as romeo and juliet and their tragic ending , Is that not good literature?
The Reason many readers love this book is manly because this story gives them an escape. It is true, not all relationships are like this, however it is Fiction and therefore an escape from reality.
Goodness gracious, to those of you defending Twilight with no sense of vocabulary at ALL, you are obviously in no position to be arguing with the article’s poster. It’s no wonder people with such poor grammar enjoy reading Meyer’s books. Birds of the same feather..
Now I’m not saying I’m defending the article, per se (although I do agree with most of these points), but if you’re going to stick up for Meyer/Twilight/Edward/Bella, at least make good representatives of yourselves.
Obviously people will have different opinions. What is a book without controversy? The point is to stir ideas and questions, getting the audience to think. But frankly, if your going to write an article about the Twilight saga be prepared to face the consequences. There are legions of twilight fans (like myself) that are ready and willing to debate our beloved book series. If you don’t like the books, don’t waste your time reading them. Re-read Harry Potter again. Or wait until November for the next movie- oopps sorry that must hurt. I mean wait until July. But in the mean time why don’t you rag on a series with a smaller and less devoted fan base. And also, stop picking on Stephanie Meyer. She is a household mom that decided to start writing. She’s obviously doing something right. Kellan.. sorry dear, but I don’t think your writing has yet to reach her level of success. But keep trying!
Honestly, I stopped reading Twilight after Edward’s and Bella’s first conversation, when he was all like, “You hide it well, BUT YOU’RE SUFFERING THE MOST OF ANYONE, AREN’T YOU?”
…yes. Moving to a small town where it rains a lot. TRUE SUFFERING, THAT.
Oh, and Twilight fans? Chill the fuck out, will you. I know it’s shocking, but out in the real world, there are lots of people! And they have lots of different opinions! And some of them may even not agree with you! Yelling at them all CAPS-LIKE WITH LOTS OF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111one isn’t going to change their opinion. It will, however, make you look like idiots.
this “article” sucks…AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY”
hey it’s my opinion right?
first of all, stephenie meyer did not write to became the next “Jk rowling” twilght was her first dang book, she had no experience and it wasn’t even meant to be published.
i didn’t need to read the rest to see that this article was a piece of shit.
but why didn’t you stop reading from book 1kellen? (
you could’ve saved some time, don’t you think?
but i guess you have nothing else to entertain youself with.
anyway, my point is, if you didn’t like the book(s) just say didn’t , WE DON’T CARE WHY!
i happen not to like the harry potter, but i won’t right and essay and waste my time!
all of you children should know it’s FICTION and it’s meant entertain.
DO NOT BOTHER TO RIGHT ME BACK, CUZ I WILL NOT WASTE MY VALUABLE TIME TO READ WHAT YOU THINK.
okay, first of all i LOVE the twilight saga. They are the absolute best books i have ever read in my entire life!!!! second, I understand what you mean by all this sexism stuff, but Stephenie Meyer doen’t make Bella seem weak… to me, Bella was strong! and in truth, humans are clumsy compared to these vampires that have lived for so long. They have experience and a lot more maturity. Third, I agree that Jacob did turn into an asshole in New Moon, but he only did this because he was frustrated with the fact that he couldn’t tell his best friend that he was a warewolf. I mean, wouldn’t you be frustrated if you couldn’t tell YOUR best friend something very important that happened in your life?!?!? Forth, i agree that Jacob forcefully kissing bella was freakin dumb, but think about it, he’s a teenager. Look at most teenagers in the world. If there’s a girl they like, and she’s taken, they would sometimes try to get the girl for themselves. Also, he loves Bella too. And get over that because he eventually fall in love w/ her baby!!! I know, i was mad when that happened too, but they’re warewolves, imprinting is something they can’t control. Fifth, from my point of view, i was happy when Bella and Edward finally had sex. I mean i was so happy, that they decided to do that after they got married, i’m all for that. And that one part of your article where you mention that edward and bella have “sickly-sweet self-indulgance”… i got so mad because think about it, most people who are get married and are virgins want to have sex, i mean its only natural. so why are you calling it that? i thought it was sweet.
also, edward is overprotective on bella because he loves her so much. he even says that if she dies, then there would be no reason for him to be in this world. He even almost goes through w/ it in New Moon. i dont know about you, but i think that that is true love. i mean its only natural that you would want to protect the one you love right?
also, in twilight when bella gets lost and those guys from the bar try to hurt her, Edward saves her!. i know your think well that just characterises her as the damsel in distress, but in mean people in our would get raped. and they night have been in the same situation as bella. so before you go critisizing this AMAZING saga, think about how much of it is based of things that can actually happen in the real world. Also think about the situation these characters are in. I just think that you didnt think this all the way through. You just started insulting this saga before taking it in. I recommend you watch interviews w/ Stephenie Meyer and look at these book from her perspective.
To sum this whole thing up:
I DONT AGREE W/ YOUR ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I THINK THAT YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so think about what i just wrote.
I see your point, but I still love the books. I disagree with some of the points, too. I’m sorry if this sound foolish but, as one of the -how did you phrase it?- “tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls”, I’d like to speak my opinion.
First and foremost, I’d like to defend my fellow teenagers. I am thirteen years old, and I’m proud to say that I am not “tragically impressionable”. I may be impressionable in some subjects, but I’m not going to take some fiction book to heart. Despite what most adults seem to think, we’re not ALL idiots. We don’t always make the same mistakes that the former generation did, so please, back off.
I think that this whole issue is a matter of perspective. Some people insist on seeing the the good in things, while others insist on seeing the bad. For instance, when Edward was overly protective, I saw it as extremely annoying, but nonetheless what he thought was right. Of course, you ignored the fact that, later, he stops trying to keep Bella away and just tries to make her both happy and safe.
Maybe it’s just me, but those are two of the top things I like to be.
Anyway, next point. I really wish that you’d notice that, even though Bella gets saved a lot, in the end, she saves EVERYONE. She had the strength and self control to do what needed to be done. I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of saying like, “You don’t know how strong a woman is until she’s put in a horrible circumstance.” Well, Bella shows how powerful she can be. Quite encouraging to impressionable teenagers, no?
And I suppose that, from a certain point of view, this book is anti-feminist. Maybe. But…it’s Bella’s choice (really SM’s, but you get my point). And isn’t being a feminist all about pro-choice? You can’t be so one-sided with that kind of thing. You can’t say, “You’re pro-choice as long as you choose this way.”
That would defeat the whole purpose of pro-choice.
Oh, and your sarcasm at the beginning about Bella’s “plainness”?
Well, that’s how Bella sees herself. It’s from Bella’s point of view, so you’ll always hear what SHE thinks about other people or herself. She says that Edward Cullen is “Adonis-like”, but that’s her own opinion. Perhaps you’d say that Bella’s show of low self-esteem is a bad example for young girls. Well, perhaps, but really, what girl has never felt that way about herself? It always happens at one point or another. And then you grow confidence, and then it happens again. In my limited experience and oh-so-short life, I have never met a girl that hasn’t -at some point- had a problem with self-esteem or seeing themselves clearly. So Bella is rather average, really, if not quieter or less athletic than other girls. She really can’t help it if she’s clumsy.
This whole controversy is so frustrating to see, because, in the end, it all comes down to how people perceive things. Opinions are always good, but there’s always another side, another opinion. It’s sad, because a lot of people refuse to see both sides. And that never helps with anything.
Oh. One last thing, and this isn’t related to the article itself. I just wanted to say, another title might be better. It’s not a bad title really, but it’s overused and the pun is getting really old. They’ve already used it for the exact opposite, “Twilight Suck – In All The Right Ways”.
I know that was your point, but I still think you should consider changing it.
Thank you! Your review is helping me recover my faith in humanity. More specifically the female gender. Seriously, what went wrong? How could we have raised a whole generation of brain dead girls whose main goal in life is to obsess over an abusive man?
with all due respect, I disagree. This offends lots of twilighters, and i guess i’m one of them. AND i came across a comment on here, that i just had to laugh. OKay, thanks to stephANIE who totally voiced my opinion. rofl. andd this other comment that made me laugh. by amanda :
um, dude, if you dont like the book..dont read it
everyone has there own opinion..so calm yourself…
and read a different book…
HAHA. and more quotes that i laughed at.
this “article” Sucks and not in a good way… HAHA. wow. stephANIE, your amazing. okay, i hate people that make fun of twilighters. EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN OPINIONS. and another quote from stephANIE that I will use here.
DO NOT BOTHER TO RIGHT ME BACK, CUZ I WILL NOT WASTE MY VALUABLE TIME TO READ WHAT YOU THINK.
okay, and this is ridiculous. the fact that this KELLEN RICE person read ALL FOUR BOOKS . HAHAHA. It makes me laugh. honestly, i’m don’t blame her. TWILIGHT is amazing. And maybe she was forced to write this. (ROFL, jk jk) but why would you read all four books? this article makes me laugh, knowing that there is only a fraction A TINY fraction that agrees. HAH. honestly woman, look at the ratios of twilighters vs non twilighters before u go ahead and write this stuff. LOOK IT UP ON GOOGLE if you have to. cus right now. out of all the ppl that have read twilight so far, the TINIEST fraction hates the series. SO HAH! read ur ratios, and compare. and be prepared to make enimies and lose fans if you decide to totally disgrace Twilighters, twihards and fanpires. right now, i’m not mad anymore. just really amused.
Gah. I’m terrible. Sorry for taking up three posts. Just one last thing.
All of the reactions or actions that you’ve commented on….They’re human. There are really two ways that an impression could be left on us teenagers. One, we can see it like you yourself saw it, extremely anti-feminist and beyond sexist, or two, we could look at this, say that this is how most humans react, and try to avoid it. Really, we can’t avoid being human, and these type of things will happen to me or anyone else eventually, but that’s okay. This book also shows that you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and be ready for something else that comes your way. This book isn’t offensive at all, in my opinion. It shows that, even though life can be a royal pain in the ass, you can still survive – even without being superhuman.
I agree with Caitlin Completely
Also, why waste your time writing an article if you don’t care about the book, or in this case want to bash it.
Its seems most adults think were all completely stupid,everyone has their own Opinion so you shouldn’t write articles that is all about bashing a book that a million people love
o and to make one point clear, i might have misspelled some words and thats only because i was so mad while writing my comment!!!!!!!!!
so ppl who think that the ppl that are defending twilight have bad grammar, sorry to tell you this but SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!!!!!!!
I GET STRAIGHT A’S, GET HIGH TEST SCORES, I’M IN G.A.T.E., AND I HAVE HONORS CLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
these books haven’t done anything to lower my GPA or to make me stop telling the difference between reality and fantisy.
so stop steriotyping that all twilight readers are dumbasses!!!!!!!!!!
look at yourselves!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM DISGUSTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >=[
Arunken. Stop trying to speak for all of us. I hate, just HATE, when someone tries to group everyone together like we’re ALL affected like that.
Oh, and I have to agree with BD as well. Caps aren’t needed for everything, even if you are a Twilight fan like myself. It makes you look pretty idiotic. I know I used caps for two of the words in here, but that’s because I want to put emphasis on them. Unfortunately there’s no italics for commenting, or else I would have used those. Sigh.
Well, I think this is very well written. I think that it is your opinion and nothing more. You made great point about why in your opinion this series didn’t meet the standards you thought they should. It was a good piece and I respect your opinions.
However, I’ve read all four of the books. I agree with the fact that SM is a beginner, and her book is not as thorough, deep, or perfected (grammar or context) as it could have been. But I personally believe that it was an enjoyable stories. I read them and adore the series. It might not be the best but I loved every one of the books. I mean it’s an abnormal story of a Vampire, A Human, And A Werewolf (or Shape Shifter). It’s really not meant to be a map of how Preteens or Teenagers should expect their romantic relationships. I am 18 years old and I wouldn’t want to copy a relationship like this. It’s meant to entertain the mind and nothing more. I was personally enamored by the idea of Edward, his old style quality and his overprotective nature. At times in the books he did go completely overboard but I think that was part of his “charm”. I think he was supposed to seem obsessive about Bella. It was meant to be an outlandish and hardly believable romance. It was meant to be a romance that could not exist in real life (I mean, considering there are no vampires, or werewolves running around in real life). SM made many errors in the books and as with most literature there could have been much improvement. But overall I believe these books are a fantasy that I enjoyed while it lasted. I plan to read Midnight Sun, I liked the chapter she released.
I don’t think that the series is beyond reproach but I do think that it’s a good read and personally it put a smile on my face.
Okay, I loved your review, first of all. I think you hit the nail on the head with it.
And just before some crazy Twilight fans come screaming at me. I actually like Twilight. New Moon’s alright and Eclipse sort of sucks. I haven’t read Breaking Dawn, so I won’t comment on that.
Yes, there are many horrible books out there. I must say though, if you want to compare it to others: Yes, the writing does quite suck. But that didn’t stop me from reading it, did it?
Yes, I know, its FICTION, but Twilight lovers, do YOU realize its FICTION? All I ever hear is Edward is so hot, I wis Edward was mine, I wish I had someone like Edward. You do realize he does not EXIST and he NEVER will.
Now that I’m done that little point: From what I’ve read, all Twilighters get very upset when you bash something they like. I’m sorry, but I don’t feel the same way about your book. That’s my opinion; and you’re allowed to have yours. But don’t bash someone’s review or article saying that it sucks because it voices their OPINION of something YOU happen to like and they don’t. Because then you are doing the exact thing that you don’t want the review to do. Now really, what of you think of that?
*stands up and cheers loudly* I think this is the best article in the entire world. And also, written much better than any of the Twilight books.
Twilighter4Life, do you think we’re impressed just because you start ranting on about how oh-so smart you are? Your actions don’t match your claims. So what if you’re in honors? I’m in college at a great university, you don’t see me trying to tell people that because of this I’m smart. You do have terrible grammar and constant spelling mistakes and that does reflect on your intelligence whether you like it or not. I can be furious and still manage a coherent sentence, so that’s not an excuse either. Do you think you’re getting your point across by typing out a million exclamation points per comment? All it does is make us feel annoyed with you. In other words: Rebuttals, ur doin’ it rong.
Ugh. Okay, I can’t stand it anymore. All you Twilight fans looking at this? Listen up. When you all do those idiotic posts where you’re trying to prove a point, but decide it’s not necessary to use proper spelling or grammar? Yeah, those.
Well stop.
Frankly, it’s embarrassing. You’re proving the point that us “fangirls” are all mindless idiots that will follow any story as long as it has a hot hero that swoops in and saves the heroin. Thanks a lot. That’s why we get so stereotyped, see? It doesn’t help to use such disgusting speech when trying to prove a point. At all.
Not meant to offend. I’m a Twilight fan myself. But really, stop. Now.
anyone who thinks that twilight is quote “cheesy” needs a life they have no taist in the artistic ability of stephany and unless you can come up with a story over 7 thousand pages that never end in suspence i sugest you keep your ugly trap shut becuse as a writer i cant tell you how dificult it is to write and if anyone who is 1 not a teenager who ever had a life 2 has no taist in good liturature and 3 cant understand the love between two people needs to get a grip if the book was as bad as you all think why did it sell so well and is now being made into a movie and is antisapated by thousands of thousands of people and no its not just girls or teenagers its fathers and mothers grandpairents and good friends so please nexed time you want to bite the hand that feeds you think nexed time and you might get that promotion you always wanted for one telling the truth and not something a demorcrat would do
I chortle in your general direction.
So what if the story doesn’t set good examples for young girls?!
Look at the mighty Shakespeare and some of his story lines! Murder, jelousy, hate, treason, lies, tyrany, horror, gore, suicide, and even allusion of drug use… It’s much, much worse!
And yet , nearly every high shool in America teachers his texts to their children. Ok, so his plays have a varying degree of morality , but when it comes down to it they are mostly horrific – look at Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth ect… HOW ARE THOSE OK?
Meyer tells of dream, a dream which subconsciously manifested into a much loved tale. It may not be he pinacle of childrens literature, but if it helps to encourage them to pick up a book, and broaded their imaginations -open up to the exploratory world of the fantastic – then how can you justify squandering such progress. They love it beause its irrational and its fantasy, it doesnt need to be justifie and made sense of morality wise. It, like many great shakespearean plays embodies the wonders of fantasy, whether realism remains prominant or not – its effectve and entracing. Such a comparison may not be right in terms of quality of prose, but in terms of the beatuiful and inifinate nature of fantasy, it is one of a kind.
I love you for writing this Yuki! Very well thought out argument.
Just reading these comments solidified my belief that Twilight fans are bat-shit INSANE. Meyer has truly created an army of brainwashed fangirls. All the more reason to speak out against these books. The fans don’t even let you have your own opinion! On your OWN BLOG! Since when did Twilight become the Holy Bible?!
oh and arunken Edward isent abusive
you would know that if you read the book
dum ass
Laura: Hahaha, I must agree on what you said especially the part about Twilight becoming the Holy Bible.
kindra: I don’t mean to be rude, but since you’re going to call some a “dum ass” – learn how to spell, it’s dumb, not dum.
Ah, Kesslyn, thank you. You made me giggle. Not…in the bad way. In that sort of relieving way that reminds me that, in the end, this whole thing won’t affect my opinion. Thank you so much. The whole Shakespeare thing is a good point.
But apparently Shakespeare’s writing itself saves it from all storyline criticism or how it affects impressionable teenagers.
Though I do love reading Shakespeare. Taming of the Shrew is my favorite.
Steph, you obviously have only see one side of the Twilight fandom. I do wish that Edward was real, it’d be cool, but I’ve never freaked out like that. Some of us are quite intelligent and like Twilight. You might not think that’s possible…but behold! Perfect spelling and -I’m pretty sure- perfect grammar in every one of my posts. Tah-dah!
Kindra, “as a writer”? What, like, on fanfiction.net or something? Considering the way your typed your comment (by the way, I don’t think your beloved author’s name has a “y” in it…) you don’t come off as a writer to me. Also, as I’ve said to many fangirls before you, quantity does not equal quality. The rest of your comment is utter nonsense, so I won’t even bother.
Hahaha…Twilight Holy Bible….I’ve heard that one before. Again, we’re not all insane, but thanks for acknowledging the small percentage that’s perfectly sane and still in love with the books. Thanks so much.
On another subject…I kind of like hanging around here, responding to any post that strikes my fancy. I like hearing other people’s opinions, even though I disagree with a lot of them here. I like stating my opinion on points I disagree with. It gives me something to do with my thoughts.
Laura,
i have to disagree w/ you on this. i am personally a twilight fan. and i for sure can tell you that i’m not insane. also, i dont believe that Twilight has become the Holy Bible. i mean, i’m Catholic and well trying to say that a fictional book has taken the place of the Bible is well, in your own words “bat-shit INSANE”. Twilight fans are not ignorant enough to actually believe that this is real. They just want to get away from this hecktic world of ours and go to a happy place. This romance is a very happy place and, even though he’s not real, the tought that an author can come up with a perfect person like Edward is, well, great!
“Look at the mighty Shakespeare and some of his story lines! Murder, jelousy, hate, treason, lies, tyrany, horror, gore, suicide, and even allusion of drug use… It’s much, much worse!”
The difference is that Shakespeare could write. And write well. And he was excellent at plot, and dialogue. And he wrote about murder and jealousy and lies but those are very HUMAN themes. And his writing felt so real that hundreds of years later his works still resonate, and we use his phrases in everyday life. Stephenie Meyer is none of those things, and her works are none of those things.
Please let’s never compare Stephenie Meyer and Shakespeare again.
Caitlyn: I have no doubt that you’re intelligent, I have read quite alot of your posts -and you’re right, not a single word mispelled and your grammar is perfect. And, actually, I have seen a different side to the fandom. One that are not as annoying and let people have their own opinions – like you, Caitlyn, and thank you for not screaming at me and saying that I shouldn’t have my own opinion.
I know people who are on both sides of the fandom – and some of them are very intelligent. It just bothers me that some fans don’t let people who are not fans have opinions.
Thank you so much for putting these thoughts down so concicely. I am really excited to send this to my friends who have read the books, especially those who identify Bella as their *hero*.
It’s impossible to believe that Stephenie Meyer, as a woman and mother, could write such blatantly misogynistic storylines that her own daughters could read and be influenced by. Later I realized she has boys and probably couldn’t care less.
it doesent mater whether you have perfect gramer or not (thats what narraters are for) anyways i dident see a large sighn that said if you want to get your point a crost that you had to be the perfect speller honestly i read the books and loved it stephany is an awsome writer with a creative and amasing mind that i could never compare to so if you want to diss the books or stephany think is this arguing going anyware we get it all girls boys pairents students grandparents who like twilight are the stupidest people on the planet ya ya ya bla bla bla unless you have prof of this acusation and are willing to apologise to my great grandmother i sugest you just end this before it gets even more nasy
sorry “NASTY”
UNLESS YOU KNOW STEPHANY MEYER PERSONALY, DONT JUDE HER, OR HER FAIMLY. WHAT HAS HER BOOKS DONE TO HARM ANYONE?
kindra: I’m not suggesting that Twilight fans are the stupidest people in the world. That’s reserved for people who think others can’t have opinions if it clashes with their own. No, you don’t have to have perfect grammar or spelling, but if you’re going to insult someone, don’t be afraid to be insulted back.
It’s just opinions.
Oh yay! I’m glad you know people from both sides. It just seems like everyone here that doesn’t like Twilight only pays attention to the…less…um…intelligent…fans. It’s like we on the other side have to hop up and down while screaming to be noticed, but we’re still trying to be polite.
Difficult thing to pull off. Hehehe…
And no problem about the screaming thing. You know, about a year ago, I probably would have done that. Amazing, how much humans can change. Anyway, I learned proper internet etiquette, and I’m much better for it.
Cookie: As much as some of you “haters” would scream at me for this, New Moon is, in fact, loosely related to Romeo And Juliet. The ending, at least. One refuses to live without the other, etc. So one is supposedly dead, and the other tries to kill themselves, but in this version, the person that was supposedly dead gets to the other one in time. I hope that made sense. Please don’t beat me.
Caitlyn: I think its eaier to pay attention to the less intelligent ones because they make very easy targets by putting every other word in capital letters and using ten thousand exclamation points. I don’t care if you love it, hate it, or don’t give a damn – I just want to have my opinion out there.
I just realized I spelled your name wrong: very sorry about that.
Roxana you dont know me or my writing what if im a poet or a short story novlest you pay people to fix your mistakes but sometimes i get so angry at the posts writen telling me im a crased bible cursing girl upsessed with a boy who doesent exsist that i dont have time to go back and put in commas or little dots that tell you when to stop you would think people could figure that out for themselfs so please dont juge me or my writing in fact three of my short horrar storys are being published right now so suck on that
Liz: I don’t really understand how Twilight and its sequels are misogynistic. As far as I know, the definition of misogynistic is as follows: “Having or showing a hatred or distrust of women.”
I don’t believe Stephenie ever expresses that in the Twilight Saga. Perhaps you mean that she makes women seem weak, like Bella, but that’s a bit unfair. In the end, she saves literally everyone from being completely massacred. Plus she has the strength to go through all of this mythical creature insanity and survive. Please, tell me how that shows Bella is portrayed as completely weak.
Wow, real mature people.
Steph: I see your point. I have to agree with that one. They certainly are eyesores.
And no problem about the name, it’s happened a million times, and much more grotesquely than simply replacing an “i” with a “y”.
Um, kindra, you seem to be under the impression you’re scaring anyone.
My point on your grammar is that clearly you were trying to show us your supposed credentials because you’re a “writer” yet you don’t make me believe that with the way you write. No, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but I can’t understand half of what you wrote. It may make sense in your mind, but to me it’s hardly coherent. Also, don’t bring personal nonsense into this, I really don’t care about your grandmother and whether or not she likes the books. The people who hate these books are also mothers and grandmother’s and father’s and so on, so again, your point doesn’t really do much for me.
Get as nasty as you want, anything you say won’t phase me unless you’re mature about what you’re saying. I’ve been out in the real world, I can handle the heat, and I’ve heard all the bashing that you rabid fangirls can do. It all ends up as “bla bla bla” in the end. So if you want to try and intimidate me, then go ahead, give me your best shot.
I can die happy now. My last comment got quoted on fandom_wank.
@Kesslyn
See, Shakespeare could actually write. As someone who has taught Romeo and Juliet before, I can tell you it is completely different. When those characters made bad decisions, there were consequences. You cannot say the same for Bella. I sincerely hope that Meyer’s readers go on to read great, or even just good, literature so they can look back on their time with Meyer’s books with a sharper mind and realize that it is pure tripe that never should have been published.
The fact that Meyer constantly compares her books and her characters’ situations to those of great literature is an embarrassment. The author is not supposed to make the comparisons for goodness’s sake! That’s supposed to be left up to the readers and the critics. In that case, many readers have chosen to compare it to bad fan fiction. Just because Catherine, Heathcliff, Romeo, and Juliet are mentioned in the books, does not mean she’s even close to the same level. If that were so, as someone at f_w said, Bella and Edward would be dead.
The only thing that makes me cry more than Twilight is how stupid and brainwashed Twilight fans are. Jesus, grow some gonads and/or a spine, ladies, unless of course you WANT to be like Miss Bella and never make any decision for yourselves and be completely controlled by a man.
Bella is nothing more than a brainless piece of meat that men fight over, and you think that’s ROMANTIC? You have a messed-up understanding of romance. It’s like boyfriends who hit women “because they love them.” It’s abuse and to portray it as love is nothing short of sick.
Your great-grandmothers who picketed for the vote are rolling in their graves.
kindra, I don’t really care about your stories. Publish them, good for you. I don’t care. I feel great in knowing that I’m at least marginally more mature on you just because I don’t say, “suck on that” after showing pride in my accomplishments.
The “I’m angry so I wont bother with punctuation” excuse is getting old. I get angry too, not now really, but in various other moments, and my writing doesn’t go off the wall with mistakes. No, people won’t be able to understand what you’re saying BECAUSE you’re making mistakes. We can’t all read your mind, you know. And I didn’t ask you to be a poet, I was merely suggesting that I can’t take you seriously when you’re claiming to be a writer yet you can’t complete a sentence without some error or another.
I may not like these books much, but I can say one thing: at least they got people to read. A bunch of my friends who only read when they have to know pick up these books because of the hype. I’m not saying that its th best book to pick up, but hey, if it gets you reading, I’m kinda happy.
wow, its a FICTIONAL BOOK.
i cant fucking imagine a NORMAL
teenage girl or anyone for that matter reading a
“feminist book about normal relationships with realistic guys
in an average world.” without probably killing herself
after the first chapter from boredom. who would read that?!
and after somehow reading all of your article,
it totally proves how much you DONT understand
any of the characters in the twilight series no matter
how much your pompous self thinks it does.
to start, guys are intrigued by bella because shes
something new to the town, not beautiful.
and teenage girls dont LIVE by this book, and we
dont expect guys to be like or anywhere close to edward.
havent you ever heard of “a girl can dream”?
and if anyone does live by it, then they were clearly
messed up BEFORE twilight ever came out.
im a 15 year old girl, and i admit that im a totally
obsessed twilight fan. but i also know that i have
a life and friends and BOYFRIENDS and i dont
expect any of them to be like edward or jacob.
some girls may be impressionable, but worry
about gossip girl or the real world before you worry
about a FICTIONAL BOOK ABOUT FUCKING MYTHICAL
CREATURES. we know they aren’t real. we know we
aren’t bella swan. we’re not stupid, so stop trying
to shelter us.
-rachael:)
unless we are willing to tell this face to face (dout it) we should all learn to be accepting of opinions some hate the book thats fine but dont go off on telling those who do like it that they should get lifes and find real men (or woman) and not to love a fictional caricter as for those who like the book lets all try to see there point before judgeing them we can speak as adults and honestly its just a book (this goes for everone) if we are woryed about what people are reading we realy need to re think things for look at TV and not to mention three year olds can look up porno on the computer with no problem obviously we all need to re think things
Twilight Hater: Your great-grandmothers who picketed for the vote are rolling in their graves.
Best line ever.
“Cookie: As much as some of you “haters†would scream at me for this, New Moon is, in fact, loosely related to Romeo And Juliet. The ending, at least. One refuses to live without the other, etc. So one is supposedly dead, and the other tries to kill themselves, but in this version, the person that was supposedly dead gets to the other one in time. I hope that made sense. Please don’t beat me.”
I won’t beat you. I’ll just point out how stupid this plotline was. Edward was going to commit suicide by sparkling all over the place. At a street festival. Now, tell me what you would think if you saw a person sparkling all over the place at a festival. Would you think “OH MY GOD IT’S A VAMPIRE RUN FOR YOUR LIFE,” or would you think, “Hey, look, someone overdid it on the body glitter. Let’s buy cannolis!”
I imagine the Volturi would have the same thought process and would let Edward make a fool of himself without creating a fuss.
It’s not that hard to copy a Romeo and Juliet plot — hell, it’s only been done a trillion billion times. I just wish Stephenie Meyer would stop comparing her characters and her stories to better characters and stories. Like I read an interview where she compared Edward to Rochester and Romeo and Blythe. Bitch, please.
Rachael: I don’t know if part of that was directed at me or not (the worrying about a character because I mentioned that in an earlier post), but I know not everyone believes they are real and yes, a girl can dream. I just said that because I’ve met quite a few people, who were saying things like “I love Edward” and “Edward belongs to me” and that really creeped me out. Sorry if I offended you.
“Edward was going to commit suicide by sparkling all over the place. At a street festival. Now, tell me what you would think if you saw a person sparkling all over the place at a festival. Would you think “OH MY GOD IT’S A VAMPIRE RUN FOR YOUR LIFE,†or would you think, “Hey, look, someone overdid it on the body glitter. Let’s buy cannolis!†”
Cookie: You crack me up!
Oh, and yes, I DO think all crazy Twilight fans are dumbasses. I like the term “Twitards” or “Twitwits,” myself. I love pointing and laughing at their assertions that Twilight is somehow worth the paper it’s printed on. Trees died for this, people, that’s sad.
…and why are you even here? Go make your man a sammich and get to work popping out babies for him, if you’re so anti-feminist. Oh, and take off those shoes too, and get in the kitchen. Women aren’t supposed to have opinions of their own, they’re supposed to believe whatever their man says! Know your place, wenches!
LOL, this is the funniest thing ever. I can’t believe people take it seriously.
Besides, Spike would whoop Eddiepuss’ butt in a heartbeat.
Kindra. PLEASE stop now. You’re embarassing me, a twilight fan. Nobody can take you seriously with what you say and how you present it.. spelling and punctuation show that you are some-what intelligent.
Cookie: Yeah, alright, whatever. He was going to die, the Volturri were going to take him out. That’s the only reason two of them showed up/
But I’m not going to get into a book debate with you.
Kindra: Yes, please, stop. You may not care about proper spelling, or grammar, or even acting like a real writer, but I care. It’s embarrassing. Honestly, did every fan just ignore my post earlier?
You all acting so ridiculous isn’t helping us prove a point, it’s proving that we’re all oh-so-idiotic. Please stop.
try reading……… those dots never are real puntuation fine dont take me seriously
but i know that when i sleap tonight that i can sleap peacfully knowing that i put my opinion in this twilight hater post
i never tryed to get angry but after all the bashing we all need to relise something WHAT IS ALL THIS ARGUING GOING TO LEAD TO? AND I AM AN INTELIGENT GIRL PLEASE DONT JUGE ME BY SOME LITTLE POST I DONT DO IT TO YOU
Twilight Hater, would you at least be polite? It’s not that hard, you know. And thanks for calling me brainwashed and stupid for liking a book. Really, really nice of you.
Anyway, I think you’re looking at the book in the wrong light. Bella is not brainless and I’ve never perceived the relationship as being abusive, for reasons that I stated in my very first post here, which is basically an essay.
I realize that this will never stop the argument, but really? If everyone could just let everyone else have their own damn opinions, maybe you wouldn’t have to argue and judge others.
we all need lifes if we are on this bord arguing about a silly book
at 11:00 at night =)
it just makes me smile
bite me: You’re right (it’s actually 2:00 AM where I am). But I think its funny to read all these posts.
I completely agree with this review. This people who are saying “this book is fiction!” are also the ones spending hours discussing how it’s possible that vampire sperm works and dreaming of Edward Cullen. I think it’s awful that she thinks the perfect man has no flaws – isn’t that what true love is? Loving someone despite their flaws? Ugh… I could write 1000 pages about how Twilight shouldn’t even be considered literature, but it’s all been said here.
Oh, but that’s impossible Steph, because if it were, this whole thing wouldn’t exist. The essay against the Twilight Saga wouldn’t have been posted. We’d all go about our merrily polite ways, rarely speaking so as to not offend each other.
It’s never going to happen as long as people refuse to see the numerous sides of the situation.
Oh well. It is kind of fun here, though. It’s just one huge debate between people with strong opinions. It’s like when an unstoppable force meets and unmovable object. No one’s ever going to budge.
look some one understood what i was saying =)
Im going to bed
i have a life in the morning
mabie we all should do the same
you dont have to
im not your mother
but it would be more mature
(this is kindra if you dident know)
good night
“i cant fucking imagine a NORMAL
teenage girl or anyone for that matter reading a
“feminist book about normal relationships with realistic guys
in an average world.†without probably killing herself
after the first chapter from boredom. who would read that?!”
Um… have you never read any Jane Austen?
Yeah, I guess I know that, Caitlin (hey, I gout your name right this time). And I am having a very good time arguing. No one should ever budge on their opinions. But they should be acceptable of others opinions. Not just be “you’re wrong”. And that goes for both sides, because YOUR opinion cannot be wrong.
Jessi: Edward Cullen is a man with no flaws in Bella’s mind. She loves him enough to not even acknowledge his flaws. However, from the view of the reader, you can obviously point out he has flaws just like everybody else. If you have read the first chapter of Midnight Sun you might know that.
Agreed.
I’ve been a fan of Twiligt for some time now, but even I can admit that the series is nothing more than pure self indulgence. And by playing on the erotic fantasies of millions of teenage girls it became the literary equivalent to well, crack.
There was no lesson taught. There was no moral to the story.
Yet we ate it up like candy. And even though we all knew in the back of our minds that it was unhealthy…we still felt that it was worth the cavities.
Now I’m not so sure about that.
42 things that will make your parents go crazy
1. Follow them around the house everywhere…
2. Moo when they say your name…
3. Run into walls…
4. Say that wearing clothes is against your religion…
5. Stand over them at four in the morning with a huge grin on your
face and say, good morning sunshine…
6. Pluck someone’s hair out and yell, ‘DNA’…
7. Wear a sticker that says, ‘I’m a retard’…
8. Have 20 imaginary friends that you talk to all the time…
9. In public yell, ‘No Mom/Dad, I will not make out with you!!’…
Someone at fandom_wank is taking shots for everytime someone exclaims “It’s just fiction!” Please, for their liver’s sake, stop.
I’d hate to see some of these Twihards in a college literature class. All that analysis and thinking!
Fine, you don’t want to think? Go read about sparkles and dazzling and leave the thinking to those of us who weren’t dazzled.
Thanks for writing the article by the way.
It is TRUFAX!
Hallelujah. Thank you. I’ve seen the light. *really isn’t being sarcastic*
Your opinion can’t be wrong. No one’s opinion can ever be wrong. That’s why it’s an opinion. Thanks for saying that. Maybe someone will pay attention to it other than me. I hope they do.
On that note, I’m going to bed. I need to sleep before my head explodes from too much debating. I think I’ll look at this site often now, though. It’s been awfully fun.
G’night, Steph, and thanks for being the only sensible person in here, and for getting my name right.
10. read twilight
I loved how in the last book of twilight, bella grew up and became a woman at last
mabie thats a moral of the story
grow up
Thanks, Caitlin, for telling me I’m sensible and for being the only one to talk to me and not screaming at me when I didn’t share everyone’s views. And thank you for being the other sensible person to talk to.
Night everybody.
Thank you so much for this! Somebody had to point out that it’s more than ridiculously bad… It’s a misogynistic, dangerous, painful load of bull.
What the HELL? YOU ARE FUCKING CRAZY. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL ALL THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THESE BOOKS THAT ITS WRONG? THE BOOKS ARE ABOUT LOVE…. HONEY YOU MUST NOT HAVE ALOT OF LOVE IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU HAD TO TELL THEM TO PRETTY MUCH GIVE UP ON ALL ROMANCE? WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT YET FOUND LOVE? GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS? WE READ THESE BOOKS TO FILL OUR LIFE WITH THE HAPPINESS THAT EDWARD AND BELLA SHARE. YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE TWILIGHTERS! YOU MA HATE TWILIGHT BUT PEOPLE WILL HATE YOU! AND IF YOU CAN LIVE WITH THAT FINE BUT NEVER MAKE ANYONE WHO LIKES OR LOVES SOMETHING FEEL BAD FOR IT! YOU ARE JUST A BITCH! SO FUCK YOU!
Okay everybody, it’s been a great debate, now let’s all get together for a group hug-
Nah, I’m just fucking with ya, I’m off to sleep guys. I will say one last thing though: You’ve all put a smile on my face.
Hmmm.. Kellen Rice wrote this STUPID article right?I only have two words for you.. FUCK OFF! I mean, why read the whole Twilight Saga if you don’t like it at all?you could have just stopped at the end of the first book if you had been horrified by just opening the book itself?But instead, you read it for the benefit of insulting the writer and fans of the book!.If you don’t like the book, then just SHUT UP!
And also, the book falls into the genre of love and romance. What do you expect? that there are no “THINGS” like that?SHEESH!Get a life dude!
I totally agree with this article. Oh, and I hope that all of the children of Twilight Moms are jumping out of windows as I write this. Then maybe they will have something better to do with their time.
This whole comment chain seems to have gone in a vastly different direction than when I posted earlier, which was mainly due to boredom at work. As someone who enjoys the stories but isn’t a die-hard, blind, deaf, and dumb to literature, a lot of these screaming caps lock fans who clearly have keyboard problems (Guys, your exclamation point button is sticking a lot.. you should get that fixed) are truly embarassing me for it. It goes back to my first statement here of really hating fan-bases.
I appreciate the intelligent people here debating on BOTH sides though. It’s nice that there can be a genuine exchange of ideas but it all truly seems off topic almost to me. Not because it isn’t the idea of the article, but the article itself has faded into the background now. For the best though. I respect the opinions of those here who don’t like Twilight and are discussing it maturely, expressing valid points without being crude and obnoxious like Kellen Rice here. Vulgar, insulting language will get no one anywhere on either end of the spectrum.
I almost think the ‘author’ here just wanted to spark the less restrained fans for fun so they could get their kicks out of the occasional (I hope just occasional and not frequent) idiotic “screaming” responses. But really, the tone of this article was no better than any of those- It was just as low-grade but with moderately better grammar.
Kudos to the more mature here but it looks like some are getting quite personal and too serious…
i am a twilight fan. you are right that the books indeed a lack of writing quality but meyer is aware that she is not the best writer but a very good storyteller. i also agree with the jacob part. he assaulted her and that’s what she does- accewpt the kiss.
at the same time, it’s not that bella is a degrading factor of feminism. just because she is madly in love and all her actions confirm it doesn’t mean that she can’t stand her ground. sometimes, pride in being who you are is shown through the love that you can give. there is nothing is wrong with that.
Hi. A shout out to the people over at Fandom Wank.
You guys make me laugh. Thank you thank you thank you. And I must agree, some of the Twilight fans are absolutely beyond ridiculous. So I don’t talk to those ones. I do like the books, and I’m sure some of you will think me completely stupid for just that reason, but whatever. I’m so happy we could provide you all with some fun-filled family entertainment. Hahaha…
Good night.
If you want to see how horable of a writer stephany is, dont read “the host”. that might start up a new argument page, with more swearing, and fighting. yay =)
And also.. EDWARD CULLEN serves as an inspiration, not an “OBSESSION” to all the young girls out there. Maybe YOU didn’t get the chance to fall in love at all and that’s why you’re critizicing the fans and the book itself?
lets be nice Joan, there is no use for rudeness like that. it is, infact just a book. and dont tell me, you dont get stresed sometimes, and need a break. books, for some people, are just that, a break. so please, keep your hate filled words to yourself, or leave. thank you
WTF!! ARE YOU ON DRUGS???!!! TWILIGHT IS SO GOOD! YOU SUCK!
twilight is a wonderful stress relever, it worked for me. mabie, we should find those things that make us feal better. for me, its reading. for others, it might be biteing anothers head off. but, we all have our ways. =)
Omg its fiction people so stop dumping on my book and like a thousand other peoples book the twilight series ROCKS. It was awesome while it lasted and if is wasnt such a good book then its would not have sold 1.5 million copies in the same day the book came out and like i said before the book is fiction she can write what ever she wants.
I love twilight and cant wait to see the moie !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i want to see the movie so bad as well! i totaly agree with you Krystal
Personally, I am a Twilight fan…er…well I mean I was a fan before Breaking Dawn, that is. I really enjoyed the Twilight series. The books were of the kind that kept me up reading late into the night. Of course I couldn’t wait for Breaking Dawn. I got it promptly at 12:01 and didn’t put it down till I was finished. Then I was in shock because I couldn’t believe Stephanie would write that kind of crap. That one book kinda ruined the whole series for me. Before, I actually liked the characters so I could ignore their flaws. Now that Steph has succeeded in causing me to hate my once beloved characters, I can’t ignore the faults of the books any longer. If only she hadn’t made BD such an abomination, I could still enjoy the series like I used to. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to bring myself to read them again now. As it is, I’m done with the Twilight books and most likely with Steph too.
Kacie you should try “the host” its better in writing sence
You cannot please everyone, so they say. While I enjoy the series and had a hard time putting down the books (finished each one in a day,almost done with BD), I agree that there are definitely some plot points that dragged or didn’t quite flow. Sometimes I would find myself so irritated with Bella for her swooning and thoughtlessness, but it is after all just a story.
Books are a way for people to escape and to pretend for a moment that they are in another time and place. For people to get so upset and trash the author for writing something that she imagined is wrong. Personal cencorship is a great thing. If you don’t like it, don’t read it, but don’t call others idiots for enjoying something that they want to.
I think the author of this article needs to give more credit to todays young girls. Most young girls are not going to fashion their lives after some character in a book, it’s all about fantasy and escapism. I think most young girls know the difference between reality and fantasy. We all live in the real world and there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting lost in a fantasy world created to entertain. After all that is what is so great about books.
Butterscotch, I love your mind, and totaly agree with you. the twilight books are like any book,
its good reading to some, and boring for others.
but we have a choice, to put it down and say no or keep reading
like for me, in the second book .
i wanted to end it right there,
becuse bella was a winy little girl, and i hated how it draged.
but i kept reading,
and when i ended the series,
i was glad i dident stop.
To READ:
Actually, I have read ‘The Host’ and I did like it a lot. It’s just that I used to think that whatever Stephanie wrote would be good. Except then Breaking Dawn came out and it was just so horrible. I believe she’s writing a sequal to ‘The Host’ which I might read. That’s why I said “most likely” done with Steph. She’s lost my trust as a reader so I’m not going to go buying all of her books, like I used to (I’ll use my library instead). I was mostly talking about the Twilight movie and ‘Midnight Sun’ that I seriously doubt I’ll read/watch.
Breaking Dawn was..
Well..
Uhm..
LOL. Ü
All of you who agree with the girl that wrote this stupid thing are just dumb. If you havent read the books then back off! To some people these books show that there is such a thing as true love. It gives people who are young something to look forward to in life. I’m not saying that this person shouldn’t be able to say what she wants to say but, really? Don’t bash someone who is an amazing writer and is going somewhere when in fact you might not be. Bella Swan is an amazing role model to girls who have issues with finding love. We need encouragement to look for something that is real in fact. Yes, this book is fictional. But is that what books are about taking you somewhere that teaches us something? Lessons? Bella is strong and can stand on her own. Edward protects Bella because she is his one and only true love. This story shows women that we should never give up on our dreams and hope of finding love. If you didn’t like the books them why did you keep reading them? You could have just put it down, but no you didn’t you kept reading just so you could go on the internet and write something that is in your opinion. Haven’t you ever heard the saying. “If you have noting nice to say then say nothing at all” Maybe you should have thought twice before you wrote this artical and started all the bashing of other people! Sorry but you really shouldn’t have said anything. I am a true Twilighter and so is my mom! We love these books and they at least tell us to never give up no matter what you look live or who you are. Unlike this person who wrote this artical.
First and foremost…twilight haters
i understand that you are placing your opinions and such but here is mine…
it seems to me that most of you are older women…im 17 and i’d just like to point out that i dont believe this book is ment for you
Meyer didnt want to write an anti-feminist book. she had a dream and wrote a book that many young females enjoyed. if you think that this book is corrupting our mind, i think you need to place your hatred and waste your time on more important issues that require your energy. i also believe that it is our choice on whether or not this book is right for us or whether it is deteriorating our intelligence. not the choice of other people who only see things for what they are and dont believe in things other than what exists before them.
hold on im not done…
i like it
thats all that matters to me
To: Just a girl.
I couldn’t agree with you more. It is up to us if we want to read and like the Twilight saga.
Lol.
Ashley, I have read the books, unfortunately. I actually did enjoy the first three for the fluff that they are and let the issues I had with them slide b/c I hoped the last book would fix it somehow. However, BD was a complete disaster. I have actually read fanfictions, both E/B and J/B, that would have made better endings to the series and were much better written. I honestly think that halfway through the editing process, her editors just gave up at trying to save the failure that it is.
@ “just a girl” : Actually, SMeyer has stated that she wrote the books for people her age and that it’s something she would want to read. Why a grown woman would want to read a book where the sex scenes are fade to black and the guy eats his wife’s uterus is beyond me.
Molly –
Hi there.
I was not comparing Meyer to Shakespeare at all. In no way is that sensible. I’m a literature student at Curtin University Australia and I love my Shakespeare. I’m just trying to say that its hypocritical to ‘bag’ Meyer’s themes in relation to their effect on teenagers and their frame of mind when they are subject to similar horrific elements in texts that they are asked to study… No matter what Shakepeare may be implying by though their construction – they are still present.
I agree with your last comment. The refferences are a slap in the face of the authors work and our own ability to draw parrelles without them being made blatantly obvious. Althogh, hopefully it will inspire readers to pick up a Shakespeare play or Bronte/Austen book instead.
you tell the twilight fans that we should respect you and that you are entitled to your own opinion but it doesnt seem asthough you understand our point of veiw or want to understand it. remeber that this book is aimed at teenage girls and it wasnt ment for an analytical overview on its non existant anti-feminism. to you, we girls are supposed to be intelligent and independant but we should find our independance from the role models that are generally presented to us such as Britney Spears and Vanessa Anne Hudgens. what has Bella done?…oh sorry, she fell in love. wow when were people so objective to a girl falling head over heals in love? can someone explain to me why that seems so wrong?
these books interested me and opened my mind to many things including the normalcy for making mistakes and focusing on things other than looks.
i also think that you put too much expectationson teenage girls…we’re still young. we want to have fun and live our lives and believe that there is someone out there for us and there is nothing wrong with that. there is nothing wrong with dreaming and wanting things and not being so damn mature and realistic all the time.
the anti- twilghters also seem to put hate on us for loving these books so much but then say that everyone has there own opinions…fair enough. we have our opinions and love the book. and if the fact that we love books that are about teenage normalcy, love, anielation, friendship, passion and vampires is wrong, then so be it.
i want to also add that im an extremely independant woman. im in my last year of highschool and plan on going to uni and finding a job. im without a man and i know i dont need one for success. the books have not caused me to change my mind in any way at all but they have made me feel like im not the only girl out there who has hopes and believes strongly in love and the power of connection between two people.
and hell yeah i’d love a guy like edward but i also understand that no one is perfect and i dont want perfection. what the twilight has taught me about love though is a good thing…i might not get an edward but im not going to settle for a guy that doesnt treat me right. edward treats bella asthough she is the most important person in the world and thats what i want..to be respected and treated the way that i deserve. to feel like i mean something to someone. is there anything wrong with that? or should i just settle for any guy or non at all and proceed to be a true feminist like the rest of you. you fight for the power of women but make asses out of men to get what you want (oh yes…thats the right way to go about it..Go feminism!!!*sarcasm). you encourage feminism but forget about equality…anyway, im not going to get into this.
i think i speak for the rest of the twilighters when i say that we’d appreciate it if you dont try to make us seem like imature, unintellectual conformists because we love a book. and we’d especially appreciate it if you dont diss an extremely talented and hardworking author just because of your dislike (hint to Rice)
and after going through most of the comments, i still dont see why you are all so upset about our devotion to twilight for crying out loud…We’re reading!!!sorry its not shakespeare but we get enough of that at school thankyou very much.
your critisism is much appreciated but maybe next time you should not read books that are ment for teenagers if your mid aged and have an anti-feminist opinion. and if you are a teenager and hate it, well then good for you too but dont try to make yourself look so beyond fantasies and love and try to appear all intelligent and crap compared to the rest of us.
the Twilight series are books about a seventeen year old girl who loves a vampire. i am unashamed to say that i love it and will continuously squeal if i hear anything remotely related to it.
So you have complete right to state your opinion but dont expect the rest of us to be quiet about something we love.
time for informal anguage…
Twilight and Stephanie Meyer ROCK!!!!
…i am a seventeen year old girl after all.
To: Ashley
Sweetheart, how old are you?
Because I’m telling you right now from experience… Stephenie Meyer’s books are NOT how true love works. People who LOVE you don’t try to keep you away from your friends, by any means at their disposal. People who LOVE you don’t try to manipulate you into doing things you don’t believe in.
Love is about partnership, about respect and equality. Yes passion and physical attraction are part of love, but love can’t survive on sex or on how closely one’s partner might resemble Adonis. Because unlike Bella and Edward, the rest of us are all going to get OLD and WRINKLY and UGLY. And believe you me, when youth and beauty have faded, what is your relationship going to survive on if all it was ever founded on was the physical aspect? Because I’ve read every single one of the Twilight books and I can tell you this, Bella doesn’t seem to notice much else about Edward besides his supposedly devastating gorgeousness. So explain to me how that’s love? Because the last time I checked that’s what we call lust not love.
I also don’t appreciate being called “dumb” by someone who then goes on to say we’re all entitled to our own opinion, or that you imply that I’m not going anywhere in my life. This is a discussion about the Twilight books, not the people who read them, so please stop making such generalized remarks about those of us who were dissatisfied with Breaking Dawn. Stephenie Meyer caught a lucky break when she found a publisher for Twilight. That does not make her any more or less motivated than the rest of us in terms of our life goals. Luck has a great deal to do with life, and sometimes it just takes longer to get somewhere in life if you don’t run into the right lucky break. So until you’ve actually gone out and experienced that process, please don’t attempt to judge the rest of us.
I agree that women need to be encouraged to keep looking for love. It’s not an easy thing to find and it’s not something where you should just settle for alright. Personally though I don’t think that Bella is a solid example of the search for love because she constantly degrades herself, especially concerning her own self-worth. And in all honesty, confidence and a positive sense of self are more likely to lead you into the path of love than Bella’s habit of insisting she is unworthy of Edward’s love. And with the current state of affairs in the world, young women already have far too many channels of influence telling them how inadequate they are mentally, physically, etc. You want a real role model about the quest for love, go read Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennett has a far better sense of her own value and intelligence than Bella.
I don’t hate the Twilight books, but I think there are many other books out there with much better examples of romantic heroines for the girls of today. So please remember that before you go around disrespecting people for expressing their opinion. As memory serves the 1st Amendment grants me that right. It also gives you the right to disagree, but please do so in respectful way.
we understand that there are other books!!!
were only young and were going to read more…
we just like these ones..should we be sorry?
im not going to be
Thanks for the stand on the Stephanie Meyer book series. It’s something that, I would imagine, is probably only enjoyed by masochists. It also seems to explain why there’s a high incidence of reported (and underreported) abuse cases in the United States. The author’s values, of course, reflecting the values of society at large, and the statistics on domestic and sexual abuse cases only serving to confirm the trend.
I, for one, have to admit that I was unable to slog through a preview of a book written from Edward’s perspective, and have not read the Bella-oriented aspect of the book series. Given the way that the character seems desperate to assert control a ‘weaker’ member of his clan in the prologue, no doubt his attraction to Bella is an element of control.
This is an abuser, and he’s being touted as the perfect romantic beau. It’s horrifyingly absurd. The heroine is emotionally conflicted, young and the product of a society that devalues women and places them in a vulnerable state of isolation, objectification and panic.
What does this so-called 107-year-old-man do? Preys on her by making her the object of his fascination and justifies his stalking and abuse of her by pointing out her carelessness and lack of self-esteem and self-control.
What does Bella do? She’s completely passive, enamored with Edward, and unable to live without him, apparently, or completely defy him or take his unhealthy erotomania seriously. (Perhaps because of her own unhealthy erotomania and apparent case of Borderline Personality Disorder.)
While it’s very in keeping with vampire mythos, particularly that of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Braham Stoker’s Dracula, neither works are anywhere near woman-friendly after deconstruction.
The only thing that separates the two is that Stoker never suggested that the relationship between Count Dracula and his most prominent victim, Mina, was in any way equal or true love.
The fact that there are so many young girls with a poor concept of feminism or poor self esteem reading and consuming this idealized tripe and failing to see the fey and unhealthy aspects of such behaviour is truly disheartening to anyone who has survived domestic abuse or an unhealthy relationship.
Feminism, the way I’ve always understood it, wasn’t Valerie Solanas, but control over one’s body, destiny, and personality. To see that eroded the way it is in these books and commentary defending this property is enough to make me want to stock all libraries with ample copies of ‘The Feminine Mystique’ until someone realizes the point.
Just a girl:
Read whatever you want. I still read the ridiculous Princess Diaries Books cause they make me laugh. But if someone happens to not agree with you (and you being the general public) about your like of something, don’t call them dumb, or stupid or other things like that.
It won’t make anyone respect your opinion anymore if you go around calling people names and not respecting their opinion.
My point about the reading other books is that Twilight is not the be all end all of romance novels that some people seem to believe it is, and that while I hope everyone of you out there finds someone to love you for exactly who you are, that love is not a simple matter of “and then they lived happily ever after.” Things happen, and life will take you in different directions. Someone I loved very much died in October. Does that mean I’m never going to find love again? I very much hope not. But my point is that men like Edward don’t exist, so don’t go looking for something you’re not going to find.
Eibhlin…did actually read my entire comment
first..i most definately did not call you dumn
second i cant understand you
im sorry about your loss and i havent said that love wont exist again
and i do believe in a happy ever after..not perfection but happiness, yes
and if u read my comment you’d no that i understand edward doesnt exist
I’m not trying to be disrespectful. What I’m saying is that the person who wrote this shouldn’t have made the people who like the Twilight saga sound like idiots. That to me isn’t fair. And I think that books are for people to get out of reality. I was going through a really bad time. I read the books and it helped me because I felt the passion between Edward and Bella. I’m not saying that it is the truest love because I know it isn’t. But it doesn’t mean they don’t love eachother. I think this artical is unfair to the people who like the books. Not everyone has to like it. But please at least have some restect for the people who do because some people need books like these to help them though hard times in life. Sometimes reality isn’t the best place for people like me. That’s why I like it. I feel out of place and different like I don’t belong. So sometimes I need to get OUT of reality for a while.
Ashley
i totally agree with you and you seem like a beautiful person
i think what people dont understand is this book means something to us but it doesnt mean we dont have our own minds
just a girl:
My very first comment was directed at Ashley who very much did called anyone who agreed with the author of this article in anyway dumb and stupid.
Secondly you’ll notice that when I said you I meant the general public. I find you personally to be one of the more intelligent people on this board, but many of the Twilight fans I’ve encountered who still support Stephenie Meyer suffer from the delusion that they can find their very own shiney edward. So my comments about reading other books and not being deluded about love were directed at them not you. Since you made the comment “we understand that there are other books…” I was simply expanding on my statement about reading other books.
Many of the young women here complaining about the author of this article don’t seem to understand that situations like Edward and Bella’s, even without the whole vampire aspect, are very rare. 99% of the population does not find “the one” when they are 18. My comments about love and it’s difficulties are for them.
Kirsten on August 19th, 2008 11:32 pm And also.. EDWARD CULLEN serves as an inspiration, not an “OBSESSION†to all the young girls out there. Maybe YOU didn’t get the chance to fall in love at all and that’s why you’re critizicing the fans and the book itself?
While you’re probably a child, and savaging your opinion is pointless, I’d like to point out that obsessing over a young man is infatuation, and the infatuation stage usually ends around a month or two into the relationship, for people who don’t have clinical and/or personality disorders.
Getting the “chance” to fall in love is pretty much setting yourself up for discontentment, seeing as how impatiently throwing yourself into a relationship and clinging to said person in spite of dysfunction or abuse is a good way to invite trauma into your life, or traumatize your children should you, God forbid, decide to get pregnant in order to ‘bring you closer together’.
A man who locks you in your house or physically dismantles your car isn’t an inspiration. Please, come back from Candyland and actually think about what you’d do if you were in that position.
Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying that it’s just fantasy or claiming that the fellow is perfect and would never hurt you is pretty boorish and reckless if it’s something you believe you’d allow in your personal life.
If you’re reading this past your formative years and don’t actually deem it as ideal, can dissect the portrayal of this filk as ideal from what would actually be ideal in real life, then there isn’t too much harm, because you’ll likely either drop the book in disgust or shrug it off as fantasy.
On the other hand, this is potentially dangerous for little girls around the ages of ten and fourteen. They’re in their formative years, when their impressions and personalities really start to cement, in a society where parents give children media to shut them up, not to discuss it intellectually.
It’s dangerous, to say the least. A good parent could handle it well, a bad parent (or in this case, an unobservent one) is setting a child up for lifelong unhappiness or a potentially abusive relationship.
eibhlin
i understand your opinion but dont understand how that could be so wrong…
we are teenagers and though i am all for intelligence and independance i also understand that we are only human and sometimes need to hope for something better and something good…of course we are all going to go through difficulties thats life and its inevitable but we cant help but be the way we are. i dont think theres anything wrong with hoping
Ashley
I am VERY much aware of the need to be out of reality. It sucks. A lot of the time. As you may have read i lost someone very dear to me recently. I pretty much HATE reality at this point. So I get where you are coming from. And good for you that Twilight makes you feel better. But I known from experience you can’t escape forever. It just creates bigger problems down the road.
So here’s a helpful hint for the future. Most of the people out there in the world, really don’t care about what’s fair. And they will say things that will hurt you. Frequently.
But if you hurt them right back, it won’t change anything.
Yes, the author of this article was a little harsh in her critique. But just because other people agreed that Breaking Dawn was not a good book, doesn’t mean you can call them dumb for not hating on the author. Being mean and petty doesn’t help the situation.
Just a girl
I think that just because we love the books doesn’t mean that we should be treated like a bunch of little children. I didn’t mean to call ANYONE dumb and stupid. I am very, very sorry about that. But I still think that we are able to dream that we will find the one that was meant for us. I know because I see it everyday. My mom and dad. Yeah the get mad and have flaws but who doesn’t? They still love eachother! So why not dream and have hopes? Thank you for saying I sound like a beautiful person just a girl. I am glad to say the same for you too. I too hope that I can find someone who treats me equal. Respectful and kind. Yes I know that there is a person like that for you and to never settle for less. No one is perfect. But that doesn’t mean you should give up.
tree…
you to talk as though these books are sending us subliminal mind messages…if something were to currupt our minds, the media would have already done this
you look at twilight and see bad messages but you have to remember that we dont see it the way you do…we see love and protection
ashley
lol..i never said anythingabout giving up and NEVER will
i thing you should go for what you want and always have hope
Eibhlin
You don’t think I know that people will say things. I have gone through my whole life being called things and I always took it and never faught back. But this time I was to fight for something I believe in. I know I can’t get away forever. I know. I am very sorry for you loss. But I am in the prosess of lossing 2 people I love very dearly. So yes I do know that life isn’t fair.
just a girl.
I feel the same way about you. We should always follow our dreams. I think that it is good that we stand for what we believe in.
ashley
in a world where people doubt us all the time…i believe we should
GO TWILIGHT
LOL
Haha. I know what you mean just a girl! I love Twilight!
Just a Girl:
I’m not hating on hope. I’m a firm believer in hope. But I think hope also needs to be tempered with a little bit of realistic knowledge.
You can sit around hoping all you want that Mr. or Ms. Right will come along someday and sweep you off your feet, but most likely, he’s not going to notice you unless you put yourself out there. There be a LONG line of toads you will have to kiss before you find Prince Charming. Doesn’t mean Prince Charming isn’t out there. It just means that you can’t think ok, only have to kiss one toad that that’s it. It also means that you have to have real expectations for your Prince Charming. People aren’t perfect, so don’t set out looking for perfection. But by all means keep hoping and keep looking. Just don’t expect it to be easy.
me 2 lol
some people said some really mean things
i guess its their opinion but they say it like the book as ant-feminist and anti all this crap
they dont see it the way we do…*shrugs*
Just a girl.
I think we should go…. We don’t need to be told that we shouldn’t love something. I mean whats the point of staying on here and have them write to us saying what they think and then fight back. Honestly I’m tired of it. It’s a waste of energy. And we love Twilight ans thats all that matters.
Just a girl I know what you mean they don’t see it the way we do.
Ashley
I’m not trying to imply that you don’t know that life isn’t fair. But you’re not the only one whose life isn’t peaches and cream.
I could lay out the long litany of really shitty things that have happened to me in my life but it’s not worth it. Because it doesn’t matter. Because shitty things will continue to happen until the day I die. That’s life. But it’s the beautiful brief moments in between all the crap that make it worth while.
And while you might not believe me I do believe in love. And I do believe that’s it’s something that you should fight for and hope for and search for with all of your heart and soul. I’ve been stomped on and torn apart by lvoe so many times I probably shouldn’t still believe in it. But you know what. I do! Somewhere out there someone is waiting for me. But I’m not going to be another statistic in the climbing divorce rate because I had unrealistic expectations of that person. Because I want I cute old peolpe hand holding walking through the park after 50 + years of marriage love and I’m not going to jeopardize that with ideas of perfection and fairy book tale endings.
Okay, I realise that this is probably going completely fly over your head, but this is really pissing me off.
Feminism is the belief that women deserve the same rights and status (political, social, economic, etc.) as men. It is not what you seem to think it means. It is in no way a dirty word.
By declaring yourself anti-feminist and expressing disgust at the idea of feminism just to defend your precious book, you are definitively saying that you believe that women should be submissive to men. You are ignoring the work and sacrifices of the women who came before you in securing the rights that you are so rashly discarding. In case you didn’t know, the rights that women have today that they were denied a hundred years ago is the right to vote, the right to own land, the right to an equal pay and the capacity to leave an abusive relationship. In Australia, it was legal for a man to rape his wife until 1981. This was not a case of Australia being any less backwards in women’s rights than the rest of the world, since they gave women the vote 18 years before the US.
Incidentally, feminism also allows you the luxury of using a public forum to defend your book. So read it. Enjoy it. Just don’t bash feminism because someone is being critical of “Twilight”. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. Sorry, but that’s the way the real world works.
I don’t understand why this has turned into an advocation for feminism all of a sudden. All Meyer has done is show how love and passion can be all-consuming, and how it brings meaning into one’s life. Both Edward and Bella truly love each other. Their perception of love is hardly something others can understand. So who are you to try and dissect their every encounter? Meyer has done a great job creating very three-dimensional characters that are flawed, yet perfect, in that way. There is no intended message that Stephenie wants to send out. All she is doing is describing Bella’s state of mind when she loses the love of her life. She’s not trying to tell girls that it’s okay to turn into a zombie for months for losing your boyfriend, for goodness’ sake! This is just Bella, a fictional character, a hopeless romantic, and if you’re strong enough, you won’t start imitating her just because you think what she does is right. Like I said, Bella is a flawed character, like everyone, so she makes mistakes too. What matters is that she managed to find her ‘perfect piece of forever’ eventually. So HOW she does that ultimately is not up to you to judge.
Wait, Bella didn’t really decide to suicide by jumping off the cliff. She just wanted to get away from the heart ache and do something fun. She just wanted to try it. HELLO.
Wait, Bella didn’t really decide to suicide by jumping off the cliff. She just wanted to get away from the heart ache and do something fun. She just wanted to try it. HELLO. Who ever wrote this is probably just Jealous of how Ahh-Mazing Stephenie Meyer writes.!! YOU KNOW, ITS BAD TO BE JEALOUS. HAHA. :]=
I love you.
And to certain people I see in the comments: stop attacking Kellen – just because she thinks Twilight isn’t the “OMGZ BEST BOOK EVARZ!!111″ doesn’t mean you have the right to throw attacks or tell her to keep it to herself. Everyone has the right to an opinion.
LiKe ZOMG i ffucking hates you twilight is SO FUCKING GREAT!! GO DIE IN A FIRE!!!!!
ahahahahahahahaha just kidding
i started to read, and couldn’t take the crap that was spewing out from the pages
1 of the 10 book I could never finish (and I’m a book worm, i’ve read TONS of books XD )
Twi-hards or w/e you’re called spam away, show us your nerd rage
you .
suck .
`nuff said .
Good gawd. Calm yourselves down people. It’s only a book, after all. No need for bloodshed, in this case, erhm.. Uhm.. Never mind.
We all have our different point of views, different perspectives on how we look at things, and that’s what makes all of us exceptional and unique to each other. This article or whatever you call it, only tells us about how Twilight sucks, then suddenly people react and is now talking about feminism and stuff?
Seriously guys, I’m sure that we are all matured enough to know what’s right and wrong. So lets cut the crap and end this. I am a Twilighter myself, but this is going too far.
To be honest, I don’t give a shit about all those adults out there telling teens that we’re crazy, rabid, fangirls.
You can’t understand our minds. We’ve got different ones to you guys.
Twilight helped me through a part of my life ALOT, and it probably helped alot of girls too. At the time I had two parents going through a divorce, my little sisters, 9 & 10, were so depressed it was unbelivable. And out of no where my mum dies in a car crash. Do you have ANY idea how that feels? The closest person to you in the world, just gone? I was so upset. And i couldn’t do anything to help it except read. Music didn’t help. Going out didn’t help.
So then i got into reading and the only book I really, really liked, was Twilight. Its probably the conection beetween the characters and the reader. Its so real.
So, say as you may, you’re opinion on Twilight is not gonna the way million of fangirls and twilightguys see it today.
You’ve made some valid points in your review, but I believe in making a review, you’re supposed to state at least SOME good points and then the negative ones.
1. The fact that ‘Plain Jane Bella’ gets noticed by the IT guy in school actually gives SOME hope to other ‘Plain Janes’ out there.
2. When she decided to move to Charlies, she did this to give her mom space to bond with her new husband (if I’m not mistaken). Teenage girls nowadays just don’t do that. It’s very rare. Isn’t that somewhat of a good example?
3. I do not think she acted like a brat about the gifts. She did appreciate them once she knew that they had gotten them for her already. She just didn’t want to be spent on. She DID NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MONEY as some girls nowadays would probably have done. She didn’t even want to replace her tincan of a truck for goodness’ sake. I’m not materialistic, but jeez, I would’ve taken even a nice 2nd of something.
And now for the bad points:
1. Breaking Dawn. Honestly, I am a Twilight fan, but it did not live up to my expectations. Just my opinion.
I have a bunch of other negative points about the book but I don’t think I could put them into words as well as some others.
Your opinion is just as valuable as ours. The book is meant for the YA audience after all and I’d like to think that not all young adults nowadays are complete airheads. Yes, I think some of them idolize Bella for the wrong reasons, but I’d like to think that deep down, somewhere in that squealing-“OME”-head, they know that not all of it’s good and that there should be certain boundaries to fantasy novels- be it subconscious or not. Stephenie Meyer isn’t the greatest author in the world. That differs from person to person.
Cat:
Did I mention I’m only seventeen? So if you’re referring to me as an ADULT, well then you’re wrong. If you’re not, then just ignore this post. And yes, I understand what you’ve been through, my mother died right in front of me. So, no need to be a drama queen or something. No offense. Ü
Congratulations Kellen…you are a Rock Star! I have never read the books but your review is very well written and makes a thinking woman proud.
Maureen:
You haven’t read the books but yet you agree with the review?
That’s like..
ROFL.
First of all to everyone commenting here, it would be so much better if you actually read the books before you comment so you know what you are talking about… Then again it doesn’t make sense to what I am going to say now.
I simply just do not with anything in my body understand why anyone would read all the books if they disliked the first one.
Thats all I have to say really, also I agree with Tarah on August 18th, 2008 9:21 am
Very good review–I haven’t read another which has mentioned any of the points you made, and I’m glad you’ve made them.
@ Lacy
“Bella was a mature 17 years old. She cooked, cleaned, basically took care of herself, and had never been in a relationship. (Name a seventeen year old like that today.)”
Uh…yeah. Right here.
I can also mention my sister too.
My mom doesn’t cook. We cook.
My mom doesn’t wash the dishes, clean the clothes, or clean the house because she gets up a 2 in the morning (yes she does) to go to work in Washington (we live in Baltimore).
We do. We keep the house in shape.
And we also have jobs and we pay for our own things.
Bella is nothing special.
And I haven’t been in a relationship either.
Nicole: What I’m saying is even the best loves have flaws. I love my boyfriend more than anything, and a reason for that is because I love him despite his flaws and he loves me despite my flaws as well. It’s an important part of a mature love and again shows just how immature Bella really is. I understand the book is from her POV and she sees him as flawless… but I don’t think flawless equals true love and I think it’s just lazy characterization.
“What does this say to readers, bearing in mind that the target audience is the tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls? That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them? That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.”
I’m a 15 year old girl to be honest I love the books, but i havn’t got it into my head that if my boyfriend leaves me i should “fall apart at the seams for months.” I just have fun reading the books. (“tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls”?! We do have a mind of our own)
You’re acting like just because people like the Twilight series that they are going to copy eveything Bella does and want her life (i.e. want a guy like Edward Cullen and have unrealistic expectations about relationships etc etc) but the truth is we just enjoy reading the book! What’s the problem wih that?!
I also don’t understand why you are going on about how Bella couldn’t really get pregnant when its a story about Vampires who never die, have super strength, super speed and Werewolves. Don’t you get the fact that its a FICTIONAL book!?!?
k. im 13, blonde, blue eyed, 5’7″, avarage weight, and wear abercrombie.
i love twilight. not because of edward, or because it offers an escape.
i cant describe it. its almost exactly like my social life, besides the vampire werewolf and half baby thing, but stephenie takes the real world into it.
seriously, u r such a FEMINIST. yes, i no wat that is. im not ignorant of how the relationship is abusing, but hes trying to protect her, and thats the sweetest thing anyone can do. i take it that some man totally left u because u have no heart for happy endings. bella is an independant woman. she cooks and cleans and takes care of her self and charlie. just because she is clutzy and falls and nearly kills herself alot doesnt mean shes a damsel. heck, i fall in front of cars lk every day. usually, whoever is there at the moment saves me. in this series, the person there is usually edward because he LOVES her.
any ways, about the five guys. stephenie tells us about that on her website if u werent lazy enough to check it out.
also, for all the twilight fans who think breaking dawn ruined it, it was a new book, were bella changed. wat is wrong with change?? its STEPHENIES mind, not yours. if u dont like it, write your own series.
to the author of this article.
i respect you for coming out and stating your oppinion, but u have to read between the lines. yes i have read pride and Prejudice and romeo and juliet. i have to say, this series is much much more relatible.
democratic feminist. bahhh
Honestly, I liked the first 3, but i never loooooved Edward the way every one else did because he was so scarily protective. But you pointed out all the bad things, the things that bugged me, so thank you for that.
For all those people telling those of us who don’t like the book to stop reading it, need to shut their traps. Whether we like it or not this series is part of America’s pop culture. Therefore, if we wish to read a series despite how terrible they are, it’s understandable. It’s like when you go to see a movie even though you know it’s going to be bad because otherwise while other people are talking about it you have to sit in a corner with no opinion on the topic.
I agree. This book was horrible to say the least. I have many, many issues with it, most of which are wonderfully documented by another’s “petition” at http://www.petitiononline.com/BDFailed/petition.html.
Everyone, please sign it to send SM and Little Brown a message.
I just cannot understand how people can gush over this waste of paper. If I were SM, I would hide my head in the sand and never publish another book again. I’m embarrassed for her.
What the hell???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Twilight is one of my favorte series! Yes, there are faults, but you exaggerated yourself all the way to Pluto, dumbass!
Okay, well I guess I agree with you on SOME points. But honestly I love the books and you pointed out the bad things in Twilight that aren’t right and healthy. I am not going to say thanks for this essay/review because I am a true Twilight fan but at least you weren’t afraid to speak out against the Twilight fans. I admire that you have the guts because I would never be able to do that!
O.K. the whole feminist thing is just dragging on too long.
Twilight is a fictional book.
The characters in Twilight are fictional.
Im not saying its above criticism (its not. please continue fighting, its really quite funny) but please! The whole issue with “is it antifeminism?” is actually kindof sexist itself. Do you really believe that we girls are so hairbrained that we’ll live our lives out depending on what a fictional book says? If you do, then you’re the sexist one, not the book.
As a teenage girl who has yet to read Twilight, the books certainly seem to be centered around a very… fluffy/shallow plot to say the least. Four books, based on Bella’s obsession with Edward alone?
Most of the girls in my school are nuts over the books, so that piqued my curiosity to do a little research on Twilight. Unfortunately, one thing I noticed here today, is how… immature the fans of Twilight responded to the negative remarks of the books. ABUSE OF CAPS MUCH?!!!!!!!!!!!?!??!?!!111 Please, learn to be more mature and respond appropriately. That’ll help people think that you’re not a walking talking Edward-obsessed fangirl who goes crazy when anyone disses him.
Dear Kellen, this is the best, most thought out and articulate criticism of the Twilight series ever written so far and I applaud you for it. And you actually READ ALL of the books, a fact that enriched your text and covered one of the main complaints Twi-tards make whenever anyone says anything critical about their “pwecious” Twilight. Your success is evidenced by the immature personal attacks, a clear sign of defeat and lack of valuable counter-points. Your criticism is firmly founded and the Twitards are only making fools of themselves, for the delight of all the sane people around the world in need of good laughs.
Keep up the good work, you are amazing!
Honestly, Rice said all the things I was trying not to focus on as I devoured the first three books. Thankfully Breaking Dawn came out and after turning the final page I felt a sense of liberation. Now, after falling into that literary black hole of fail, I can finally crawl out and admit that everything you said in your review is made of true.
Thanks, Kellen Rice, for sharing your insightful opinion.
And on the whole BD thing, if you didnt like it how is it SM fault that it didnt suit youre tastes? Dont blame her just because the book was “stupid” or “a waste of paper.” If you hated it that much just forget she wrote a fourth book, and sell BD the next chance you get.
Also, if you want to, please continue to trash the books. If the twihards (like me) dont like the comments (not like me; i love the comments, they’re histerical,) than dont read them. And dont start the arguement “if we didnt read them how will we know that they were bad?” (i saw that one, it was a good argument for the issue.) Im saying if you didnt like the first comments, why do you continue to read the others if you know you’ll just end up arguing over whos right and whos wrong?
and (sorry i forgot to put this in) dont trash Stephanie Meyer or the Twilight fans out there. The books are one thing, they arent alive, but the people behind the books are another. People can actually mind it if youre rude to them.
So by all means continue trashing the books, you’re doing a great job! Very funny.
But dont trash the people.
And Twilight lovers, this goes both ways! You don’t trash Kellen Rice. She (it is a women right? So sorry if Im wrong) is a person too and she has a right to voice her opinion. If she really saw the books like that than she has every right to say it. Also, she did write a very good article. I’m not saying I agreed with it, but she obviously knew the books (once again Im not saying I agree with her so dont start fighting me, but she did know what she was talking about in the manner that she read the books, thought they were awful, and then she wrote about it.) I did’nt read the entire article so im dont know if she said “Don’t read this! It sucks!” If she did than I have to say that she does not have the right to tell people if they should read it or not. The same goes for the oppisite side; just because you read it and loved it doesnt mean the entire world will agree with you. You can recommend the book, but dont say ” read this! its awsome!” because thats youre only youre oppinion and you cant force that onto others.
Liz — what does the fact that you’re blonde and blue-eyed and wear abercrombie have to do with anything?
Ok I have to say my personal opinion is that I do not agree with the article and I am a devote Stephenie Meyer fan. I am in love with these book. In general, I love it when a book or movie can give me a feeling so deep and stay with me. It gives me my passion for my relationship. That is why I love the Twilight saga. I agree that it is terribly written. I thought that through the first book. But it gives me that extra boost of passion in my life.
Again I do not agree with this article, but its my opinion. I was and probably still am the “OMG your so mean, leave Stephenie alone! Its just a fictional book” blah blah blah kinda person. Anyway, I figure its ok though for these articles to come out. Our 10-18 yr olds can actually learn about feminism. I sure as hell know that they are not teaching it in school and if they are the girls are just day dreaming about how cute “bobby” in row 5 is and how cute his butt looks in the jeans hes wearing that day. Or I hope the coach of w.e sport im playing is in a good mood so we dont have to run as much. If schools are teaching feminism, its probably a 1 day topic and 1 question about what year it started maybe a bonus question about a rally or something. I can tell you from my experience either my school didnt teach it or I was too busy day dreaming. Seriously I cant remember it ever being on a history test. What ever I know is from reading peoples comments about this book and their views about feminism.
I feel my view on feminism is its the freedom of womens choice. Its whether a woman wants to be strong at male status or be the house wife or give up everything to be with the one you love. If i was in a situation that Bella is in that I get to become a vampire/Immortale being and it ment that I would have to give up my family/bearing a child/friends. Id take it. If i got to spend the rest of enternity with the person I love the most then Im all for it.
I am all for these debats, but keep in mind that its not a horrible thing, and every girl has their own opinion and if they choose to love the book even with all the facts in from on them then so be it. Remember for the “femnazi” mothers its your choice as a women/mother to let your daughters read this series and have them develope their own personal opinion about it.
Its women’s rights and choice.
OK. Now that I got my anger out of my system, here is my opinion on your article and the books. Bella is not some weak little girl. She knows what she wants. She knows she loves Edward, and she’s willing to make sacrifices. Yes, Stephenie Meyer is a poor writer, but her story should not be criticized for that. While some of us “stupid fangirls” fantasize about Edward and/ or Jacob, we accept that it is highly unlikely. Though there are faults not only with the story, but also the characters, Edward is not abusive, and Jacob’s behavior is from his grief. As to Bella’s faults, as Edward is constantly saying, Bella is NOT plain. That’s how she sees herself. And if that is not the case, than maybe you should read the first chapter of Midnight Sun, in which Edward reveals that the guys are fantasizing over Bella because she is something new and shiny. With Bella’s canatonic behavior in New Moon, I’m pretty certain that when she woke up and heard her father, Charlie, and Edward’s sister, Alice, talking about her, she says her grief was because not only had she lost Edward, but she’d lost a family (the Cullens) and an entire future. That’s like waking up and finding your family has died. Of course it will take time to heal the wounds. Meanwhile, your supposed problem with certain feministic qualities. Yes, Bella could be more independent, but you’ve honestly never seen someone brighten up when they’re in the presence of loved ones. Her actual character is caring and loving. So, I will be repititive, and say that though there were faults, you have blown them out of proportion.
Jan,
The thing is, many of us who have major issues with Breaking Dawn were sucked into Twilight, thoroughly enjoyed it despite any shortcomings. I saw more reading through Eclipse, but Breaking Dawn had more literary issues than the first three combined.
It wasn’t simply that we just disliked the ending. The bad grammer, passivity, plot holes, Deux ex machina, lack of research were all just too much to ignore. I know many of us “haters” were looking forward to Breaking Dawn and really wanted to be please with it. And we were horribly disappointed. That is Stephenie Meyer’s fault.
First and foremost, the books present a female heroine who can hardly take a step without needing some boy to rescue her.
It’s not that she can hardly take a step without needing some boy to rescue her. She can hardly take a step without needed some one>/i> to rescue her. She is a complete klutz.
In fact, the books represent sexist views in almost every way-from the fact that Bella gives up her ambitions and plans for college to get married to Edward, the fact that she is portrayed as a modern Eve, begging the noble, moral gentleman for sex while he desires to preserve their virtue, the fact that their relationship is dangerously unhealthy, and finally to the fact that nearly every single female character in the book is a hopelessly negative caricature.
First of all, we were never really told what Bella wanted to do with her life, so how can we possibly know that she gives up her ambitions to get married? Yes, she decides to get married, but I’m saying how do we know she’s giving up her ambitions? Just because she never really saw herself getting married before Edward? I don’t think that’s giving up ambitions. I think that’s making a decision of what you want in life. And not every single character in the book is a hopelessly negative caricature. Only 2 (Jessica and Lauren) are, and you really don’t see Jessica’s negativity until New moon.
The series does not improve with subsequent books, either. In New Moon, Bella enters a self-described “zombie†state when Edward leaves her. In fact, the author oh-so-cleverly inserts blank pages with the months’ names as a poorly conceived plot device for showing the depths of her heroine’s pain and also to avoid having to write the “hard stuff.†Bella turns near-suicidal; she purposely puts herself in harm’s way-going so far as to jump off a cliff-to hear her lover’s imagined voice in her head.
I know that when I was 17, when my boyfriend of 9 months and I broke up, I was a zombie for quite a few months. That’s how you get when you lose someone who you think is the love of your life and that you can’t live without. And she’s not near-suicidal. Yes, she puts herself in danger to hear Edwards voice, but it’s not because she’s suicidal. It’s because she’s near-insane, if anything.
What does this say to readers, bearing in mind that the target audience is the tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls? That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them? That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.
That’s not what she’s trying to tell girls to do if they are put in this situation. That’s what she’s saying happens to most girls when they are put in this situation. She’s not trying to condone this type of behavior. She’s just a good observer of what happens in real-life situations as a 12-17 year old girl.
The sole bright spot of New Moon is the lovable Jacob Black, a member of the nearby La Push reservation and newly-turned werewolf. It is in Bella’s scenes with Jacob that readers see a glimpse of actual personality, and the burgeoning romance is certainly much more true to real-life teen romances than the lofty ideals of the star cross’d lovers Edward and Bella. But add another half-forgotten plot into the mix and Edward and Bella are reunited, with Jacob left by the wayside like a kicked puppy. Pun intended.
And through the rest of the entire series.. Jake tries to convince Bella in every way imaginable, including kissing her without her permission, to leave Edward and to love himself more. I understand that Jake is a 16 year old boy, with 16 year old boy feelings, but seriously, if you so-say love</i. this girl like you so-say you do, then you would want what makes her happy, for her, not want what makes you happy for her. As a friend of mine put it, Edward may be preserved as a 17 year old boy forever, but he’s lived the years of an old man. Therefore he has the wisdom of an old man. That is why it is so easy for Edward to be so selfless and say that “If you choose him, I wont stop you.” Because if she’d choose Jake, then Edward would know that is what she truly wants and Edward (no matter how in love with Bella he is) wants for Bella what Bella wants the most. Whether it be himself, or Jake.
Eclipse. It is in this tome that Edward and Bella’s relationship takes a decidedly worse turn. Edward goes so far as to remove Bella’s engine from her car to prevent her from seeing her friend, Jacob, and even has his vampire ‘sister’ kidnap her from a weekend. Bella is a little peeved at this, sure, but she writes off Edward’s atrocious behavior with the terrifying “he’s just a little overprotective†and “he does it because he loves meâ€. Reader, I actually felt a little sick while reading this, despite these so-called good intentions (they’re always leading to hell, remember). Not only does Meyer give her two characters an obviously unhealthy-even abusive-relationship, but she romanticizes and idealizes it, and not only with Bella and Edward, but with Bella and Jacob as well.
Yes Edward does do those things, and it is because he feel that Jake is dangerous to Bella. And yes, he feels that he himself is a danger to Bella as well, but he knows that he can control himself around her. He has been around for a long time, and practicing control for a long time. Jake hasn’t been around but 16 years, and has only been practicing control for a few months. Therefore he isn’t as in control over himself as Edward, which is why Edward is fearful for Bella around Jake. And Edward admits later on that there was slight jealously there as well, and that’s when he decides that Bella is grown up enough to know what is dangerous to her, and that’s when he gives in to letting her see her friend. It was never about trying to control her.
Please, Meyer says, never mind the fact that all the vampires’ body fluids are replaced with their ‘venom’ or that sperm dies after three days, much less a century. Even more fantastically, the vampire/human spawn grows at an alarming rate, so fast in fact that Bella feels it “nudging†her at approximately two weeks of gestation.
She said that the body freezes and that saliva and blood turn into venom. Never says that the sperm does. And if the body is frozen, that means that the sperm doesn’t die. Does anyone know what happens when you freeze a living being? It stays alive, until it is thawed out. Which is apparently what happens with his sperm. It was frozen until they did the niddy griddy and then it thawed out. And this “baby” isn’t a normal baby. It’s half immortal, so OF COURSE Bella wont have a normal pregnancy.
Now, I’ve never been pregnant but I did take health class back in high school and I’m pretty sure that there’s something wrong with that picture.
Um, if you want to go about it that way, there are no such things as vampires and werewolves (shape shifters) either. So using your high-school knowledge isn’t a good way to go about dissing this book.
Bella becomes a super-special vampire with super-special powers and she wins the not-conflict of the not-climax. And don’t forget her nifty ability to go hunting in a forest in a cocktail dress and heels.
If you actually paid attention to the book, you’d know that she (despite how plain she thought she was) was always super-special. That’s why Edward couldn’t read her mind, and why Jane couldn’t mind torture her. Because she always had a very good shield up, even as a human. You learn that from Elazar (did I spell his name right??). And she tore her cocktail dress to shreds (she didn’t want to wear it in the first place. Alice dressed her). And she took off her heels once she got out the house.
Thankfully, the ‘Twilight’ series is over. Not as great is the fact that millions of girls are reading this sexist tripe without a care in the world, obsessing over the “perfect†Edward Cullen and the “hot†Jacob Black, pretending to be Bella Swan and ignoring the unhealthiness of the relationship just as successfully as the character does.
Obviously, you have read, quite too deeply into this series. Which is what the girls that you so much refer to, do not do. This is not a series to be read deeply into. It’s a love story. Plain and simple. Of course we see Edward as this perfect hero. BELLA IS IN LOVE WITH HIM, AND THE SERIES IS IN BELLA’S POV!! Wait until Midnight Sun is out. That’ll be in Edward’s POV and then we can see how unperfect Edward really is.
All of this makes me really angry.
But I’m not talking about the article. Kellen has an opinion and wishes to express it. Like it has been said COUNTLESS times on here, everyone has a right to their own opinion, you can’t please everyone, not every person is going to love this series, etc. etc.
As a fan of Twilight (and not because I’m in love with Edward or because I think it is the most wonderfully written series ever), I’m really sad and angry to see OTHER fans acting the way they are on here. Did my Twilight love take a little hit when I read this article? Yes, because it makes you realize there ARE flaws within the story. But I didn’t read them to find some series that would dramatically change my life. They’re entertainment and they entertained me. Case closed. The series is over now and it was good while it lasted.
But all you other Twilight fans really do need to relax and sit back and realize what you’re saying. Calling someone else “stupid” for not liking Twilight proves the fact that your own intelligence isn’t very high on the list either.
I do love Twilight, but it’s kind of embarassing to admit that when there are other Twilight fans on here making complete fools of themselves.
So, to all you Twilight haters, I respect you. You are all making legitimate arguments and bringing up good points. I have enough maturity to admit that.
Well, i’m a 15 year old that reads this series, and falls in love with Edward Cullen
i mean, most of us have never experienced “real love” or whatever before, and then you come across this book that describes this super amazing vampire that is oh-so-hot, freaking irresistable. But hey, we know where to draw the line between reality and fantasy. Sorry to disappoint, but 15 year olds are really not as stupid as you think.
Gosh, we all have our opinions as to whether we like a book or not, and i respect yours when you say you hate it to the core. But it’s really too much when you say stuff like “i don’t understand why people gush over this piece of rubbish”. This is not meant to be directed at the author, but rather all of you who’re guilty of it. Since WE respect YOUR opinion about you hating the book, can’t YOU respect OURS? Just ’cause you see nothing good about Twilight doesn’t mean everyone should see things your way. Lol to tell the truth, you’re acting like a spoilt brat. (“Oh you sucker! I don’t WANT to friend you anymore! C’mon people, let’s ALL not be friends with THAT LOSER!”)
I hope you get my point, ’cause i know i’m pretty incoherent right now. Annoyance can do that to you sometimes.
Twifans –
Your opinions would be taken far more seriously if you didn’t throw tantrums like this. Oh horrors, someone disliked a book you enjoyed. SCREAM.
Settle, guys.
@ liz i totally agree with u i really loved all the books and don´t see why it should be against feminism im really clutzy too and well im always happy if someone comes and helps me that doesn´t mean im less independent i just fall often… and that bella cooks for her dad and cleans the house etc. doesn´t make her less independent it´s not like her father tells her to cook she decides to do it and it´s like this with other things too ..she doesn´t feel bad when edwards gone ´couse he tells her to feel bad or cause she can´t do stuff alone shes just unhappy cause she loves him and well he´s unhappy too so theirs no difference between them in that point and that´s what feminism is about , isn´t it? And when edward doesnt wan´t her to go to jacob she doesn´t listen to him and goes to jacob cause he´s not can´t tell her what to do ..and well edward apologizes for that later ..so what´s the point ?……and i really don´t think i got less independent from reading twilight … im a 14 ,blond ,blue-eyed 5.3 and average wheight so im pretty much like the average girl and i really think that im emancipated because i don´t see where a man or a boy is more worth than me and i really don´t see that message in any of stephenie meyers books ..it´s only about love and love isn´t against feminism
u also said that the whole prehnancy thing wasn´t realistic..um did u realize it´s a fantasy book?
and i don´t understand why that many people compare it to harry potter while i actually like harry potter but the story are really very different..
and i don´t see where it´s bad written ..i really like how it´s written
and if u hate the book that much u have been stupid enough to spend ur money on it ….HA HA
To nathalia
You just repeting then same things that the hate group in amazon.com created:gossiping,personal attacts to the author,low class comments, and vulgarity.
can you come up with some real comments by yourself, No I am not signing any pettion. When were call to be the spoke person of any of us.
That is why I don’t visit amazon .com anymore. amazon.com used to be a nice place to talk about the books. Not anymore
In reply to zubon:
If you read through all the comments you would see that not all the Twilight fans are “throwing tantrums”. So please don’t group all the Twilight fans together. Just because some get annoyed doesn’t mean we all do.
Its not all Twifans that are throwing the tempertantrums. Its also the “femnazi’s” ( I really like that term, and the definition for that in my opinion is a woman/person that its the only way of life and that all women should be as strong as a man if not stronger, which is not the case in the real world) freaking out b.c it may corrupt their teen daughters/siblings w.e you call it. I belive they are underestimating our teens thinking abilities. You are underestimating them, you dont believe that they are strong and have their own free will. Well damn sure do. Thats why poor Kickboxer is so annoyed. You are putting their intelligence down. Young girls and boys for that matter are more influenced by their parents views and teachings than a simple book. If you teach them right from wrong then they will understand and think that Twilight is a simple fictional book that is their for their entertainment, just like a movie, they can love it or hate it. But please give our younger readers a little more credit than you really are. Also If you are so worried that our younger crowd is sooooooooooo misinformed then please call up your local schools and ask to hold a program or seminar on things that they should know and learn.
Im a little annoyed now if you couldnt tell on my emphasised words. Im jusy about 22 so im right out of the range of our teens. But dont get confused by my “tempertantrum”, I love these debates because they are educational.
Everyone has their own opinion, and this woman has hers. She did make some good points. But she needs to know that Stephenie Meyer wasn’t trying to say anything RIce said up there. Stephenie Meyer’s books started as a dream, and now they are out there for who ever want to read them, to enjoy them. If you hate them, you can hate them. If you love them, then you can love them. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is so freaking retarded for everybody to be like “twilighters are dumbasses” and for twilighters to say “non-twilighters are dumbasses” no one cares that much! It was just a critic opinion. I don’t know if everyone knows this but that’s her job. Just because Rice says that doesn’t mean that Twilighters have to be like “your such a dumbass!” Just like the damn books on your own term. I do like them and I already said something above. In my comment above, I didn’t take sides either. But you honestly gotta be kidding me.
Just get on with your day.
*hmph*
-Twilight/Reality Check
I’ve got a few comments on your review. First:
> In fact, the author oh-so-cleverly inserts blank pages with the months’ names as a poorly conceived plot device for showing the depths of her heroine’s pain and also to avoid having to write the “hard stuff.†> Even more fantastically, the vampire/human spawn grows at an alarming rate, so fast in fact that Bella feels it “nudging†her at approximately two weeks of gestation. Now, I’ve never been pregnant but I did take health class back in high school and I’m pretty sure that there’s something wrong with that picture. <>> And don’t forget her nifty ability to go hunting in a forest in a cocktail dress and heels. <<< She took off the heels.. she was barefooted
the writer of this article, needs a reality check. its not a book thats infuencing woman to have sexist views. look at TV, there is more horable things on the telivishon, and on the computer, then that book. that book anly had the love between two people which is stronger than anything, and honestly, if thease fictional people were real, would they want us to think there love was based on sexisom. stephany never ment for the love between two people to be looked at with such discust. the only ones who think that this book is sexist, probably never had a date when they were younger, and never felt the way all tenagers do with tenage love.
NO ONE CARES WHAT THE HELL YOU LOOK LIKE!
NO ONE CARES IF YOUR A CLUTZ!
RICE IS TALKING ABOUT THE BOOK NOT YOU!
BELLA’S CLUTZINESS HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH HER LOVE FOR EDWARD!
IT’S JUST SOMETHING ELSE IN THE BOOK TO MAKE THEM A LITTLE BETTER!
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!
I completely agree with Sarah Marie on both of her posts.
all thease posts, are just what the writer of this article wanted. lkets think about this, is it worth it?
One more thing. This is to Kellen Rice. Why do you care if she went hunting in heels. There is worse stuff on the internet or even the streets. This book is not sexist. There’s no such thing as Vampires or Werewolves. Sorry Twilighters. Twilighters love Edward because of how nice and sweet and loving he is. All it does is set some girls’ standards a little higher so that they probably wont go for anyone less that what they want.
I know that I probably sound hypocrytical but I just think that Kellen Rice is crazy, yet so are the Twilighters. I am a twilighter to I am mad at her, but I know that she has her own opinion.
I am done. I have a life besides talking against everybody so goodbye!
I have to admit that I do agree with some things you said. I do admit that SM’s books aren’t the greatest books out there… but despite that I still like them. I’m not one of those girls that are like ‘OMG EDWARD!!!!!1 HE’S SO HAWT! AND HE SPARKLES!!!’ Yeah those people annoy me. They think Edward is absolutely perfect, but he’s not. And I saw that. Edward’s not even my favorite character, neither is Bella. I’m a Jasper fangirl. He’s far more intriguing than Edward ever was.
But anyway… yeah. People just need to get lives y’know? Some people get so damn offended if someone doesn’t like these books. But why should you care if someone else says it sucks. If you like it, whatever.
Rachael:
wow, its a FICTIONAL BOOK.
i cant fucking imagine a NORMAL
teenage girl or anyone for that matter reading a
“feminist book about normal relationships with realistic guys
in an average world.†without probably killing herself
after the first chapter from boredom. who would read that?!
WHO? I say WHO would read that? It’s an entire genre, you massive asshat called CHIC-LIT. So you’re saying books like Georgia Nicolson, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Princess Diaries, and television shows like The OC and Sex and the City, all series with feminist characters with “normal” relationships in an average world. Now seeing as all these best sellers and hit television series have not spawned mass suicides, therein lies your answer: A LOT OF PEOPLE.
Im a twihard and im loving the debates on this. Its educational and entertaining. But its people like the “femnazi’s” who push this subject too hard that make us scream “Who the F*ck Cares Its just a Fictional Book! No One Cares!” But really we do care but we are getting tired of our opinions being ignored and thrown to the side like they dont care. So as we are screaming that all we are saying is that “Your opinion no longer matter because your blowing things way out of proportion, You femnazi!”
(ahaha sorry for using “femnazi” so much its just what some of the crazy feminists are. And yes, I do use the term Nazi very care free because it implys something bad, in my opinion. I used it in high school for a teacher that pushed us really hard in gym when the others teachers were more care free . I called her a gymnazi. There are also religionnazi’s too. Its not defined as a person killing a minority race/religion, its a person forcing their views on another. Sorry if I offended but its my opinion)
Ok, so actually I do agree with you on so many points… This books is sexist… You quote earlier in your article Jane Austen’s work. And it is so not comparable to Twilight. Twilight is a book that everyone would have forgotten in 200 years… But for the moment, it is a success because sometimes, people do not want to read great literature but only some books (and not literarture works) just to have fun.
Obviously, this book should not be a guide as P&P or other books used to be. (but even if I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter, it’s not a literrary work but only something you read to have fun, as all the Agatha Christie’s work used to be considered as).
The only thing which can be annoying is that the main targets of theses books are young girls who haven’t known love yet and they must be really disappointed to realize that not everyone is an Edward… that someone would not wait for their wedding to have sex with her, etc.
Well, what I’m trying to say, in a very difficult way, (because of my lack of English…) is that I’m 22… My favourite books are Pride and Prejudice, L’étranger, les liaisons dangereuses, 1984 and Wuthering Heights: I’m a French student in litterature and I REALLY ENJOYED MYSELF reading theses books! Gosh, obviously, I often said “come on!!!!!!” while reading this book because some things were just to cheesy (in particular in Breaking Dawn), but what people have really to consider while reading this opus is that: some works are just for eternity and some others are just for the decade, a fashion phenomenon.. And Twilight belongs to the second category.
This is just what I think, but I do understand people who HATED this saga…
ok frist of all, Stephenie Meyer had a dream, and started wrighting down her dream and before she new it she had written a hole story. she didnt even want to publish the book at first and the person who pushed her to do it was her sister. she didnt wright the book for anyone but herself. and it ended being a world wide phenomenon. why would you waist your time hating somthing so much. that makes no since, if you dont like it move on and read your harry potter book! i like twilight more that harry potter and you dont see me throwwing a hissy fit pointing out every little thing that is wrong with jk rowling. show some respect. honestly you read the book with closed eyes. the books i a wonderfull love story. and if thats not your style, thats cool. love stories arnt ment for everyone. but i think that you should just take a chill pill and respect everything as it is, twilights not going anywhere any time soon so just suck it up and go on with life!!!
have any of you seen meet the spartens,
what do they por-tray woman as in that movie? sluts! is that what we want our children growing up thinking is aproriate?
we should stop bashing a book about teenage love.
and look at the things the media is sending out,
they send an immage that is both unheathly, and sexist.
just thoght i would let you all know
READ you need to shut the hell up
Natalie
I do agree that Breaking Dawn (to me and you and a lot of other people) was incredibly disappointing. It did have many more spelling and grammatical errors than the first 3 books, but that still doesnt give anyone the right to trash real people like Stephanie Meyer. And some people did like the book, one of my best friends, after finishing it, decided that she loved it. I agree when you say its SM’s fault for disapointing us, but by changing the characters, not for not knowing that we would’nt like Breaking Dawn; like i said, some people liked it. She really could have tried harder to make BD fit in with the series and not change the characters so much, but it was her choice and she did it.
Im sticking by my opinion ealier when i say that its not her fault for not knowing that we would not like breaking dawn, though, because some people actually liked it. Personally, I think i could have been a good book, (- the errors) but it just didnt fit.
i agree with you Jan
i loved BD! bella became stonger, more indepentednt.
she grew into a woman, and that, for me, made me happy. becuse, compared to the second book, where she is quite wimpy, i liked her beter in the last book.
honestly i hope another book comes out
i want to see nesse more
Hate,
dont pop in, and tell a person making good points to “shut the hell up”. Read is makeing some very good points twards the so called
“sexist book”.
you dident even make a point. do you hate the book?
or do you just want to be a jerk?
what the hell is this? obviously, when they wrote this they weren’t clear on what they were saying. this person has read all four books all the way through. if they were so “horrifying” to them, they wouldn’t have read all four books! seriously, and after all it is just a book. why does it hurt other people to have my friends and i fangirling around the city? were not hurting you! Jeeze, this person obviously has way too much time on their hands if they choose to write an article on this and not something actually important. get a life.
Dear Writer,
In your opinion piece you mention that your are a graduate of the Harry Potter craze. Hey, no fancy titles!
I see that you actually approve of Harry Potter. I believe that you will be very happy to know that after Harry Potter , me and my family decided to acquire a nimbus 2000 because we want to patrol our neighborhood, but they are hard come by. Do you know where we can find one?
My 2 teens are into witchcraft . As female roles we are having a hard time deciding between moaning Myrtle, we like her because she moans all day and then dives into the toilet. The other one is Bellatrix the lunatic murderer that escaped prison.
Maybe we will go with the muggle girl, Hermione, I think it was very smart of her to leave the normal world to attend a witch school in were she is hated because she is muggle born. Anyway I like her because she is the know it all.
For recreation we are to practicing quidditch, it’s hard to get used to, because of all the broken limbs and unconscious teens after the game, but hey, we enjoy it!
I forgot to mention, we love Harry Potter!
A Zuniga’s got a point there. How come HP can be celebrated for it’s unrealisticness (i know that’s probably not a word) and yet us Twilighters can’t celebrate another book that we love equally, if not more or less.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this! It points out exactly why I hate these books.
And Twilight fans? Jesus, calm down! Are you going to flip out every time someone criticizes a book you like? You need to learn that not everyone likes what you like, and deal with it.
thank you ivy someone with a strong personality finaly showed up
oh and A Zuniga you made me lagh thanks =)
To Becky: It’s not only that she (or he) insulted a book we enjoy, but she also insulted us for our preferences. So that point kind of turns to moot.
Lisa is right
if we are ging to critcise good books
lets start with the faimous stephen king
read his book cujo, and animal cematary
a little boy stabed his mother to death, and gouged out her eyes. then went after his father. in cujo the sex goes on and on and on he describes how it feals, whats going thru there minds, not to menton the woman hits a dog over the head with a batt, and a man uranates, all over his lovers bed, to send a message to her husbend, after she dumped him. its descusting. so if you want to say that a girl in love is a stupid discusting excuse for a book and the writer sucks too, then hold out your hands, becuse i have plenty of books, that would make you turn away, and throw up from discust.
Mari said: “Wait, Bella didn’t really decide to suicide by jumping off the cliff. She just wanted to get away from the heart ache and do something fun. She just wanted to try it. HELLO. Who ever wrote this is probably just Jealous of how Ahh-Mazing Stephenie Meyer writes.!! YOU KNOW, ITS BAD TO BE JEALOUS. HAHA. :]=”
Once she was in the water she decided that death wouldn’t be so bad. She didn’t even try to fight to save her life. If it wasn’t for Jacob, she would have drowned.
I guess I’m just in the minority because as an aspiring author I would rather be penniless than write a book that even fans say isn’t written well. It’s my wish to write something that affects people in a profound way and, sure, it can be entertaining, but it should be more than that because writing is an art. I KNOW we need fluff books like Twilight because sometimes you just don’t want to have to think while you read, but I think a lot of people’s issue is that these books are bestsellers, too many teenage girls declare they’re the best books ever, and they’re being pushed in school libraries.
Harry Potter isn’t the Catcher in the Rye, but it had such a strong message – the metaphors of purebloods/muggles, the fight for good vs. evil, the power of love, etc. JKR had a huge audience and used her books to spread a good message. With a big audience as well, I really with Stephenie Meyer had tried to do that. Books are for fun, but they’re also supposed to make you think about what you read afterwards, and unfortunately I don’t have nice things to say about the series. I wished I liked it, I really do, but there’s just not enough substance for me. There may be for you, but that’s my opinion.
love bugg: the difference between Stephen King books is they’re not YA. Stephenie Meyer knows her target audience is teenage girls. I know grown women read it, but the majority of the fans are definitely teenagers. Stephen King wrote those books for adults, they were marketed for adults, and adults are the majority of fans who read them.
Mia-
“She said that the body freezes and that saliva and blood turn into venom. Never says that the sperm does. And if the body is frozen, that means that the sperm doesn’t die. Does anyone know what happens when you freeze a living being? It stays alive, until it is thawed out. Which is apparently what happens with his sperm. It was frozen until they did the niddy griddy and then it thawed out.”
Okay, so explain this to me:
How did Edward get it up if he doesn’t have any blood?
Wouldn’t the venom have killed the sperm?
What about semen? She didn’t explain anything about semen.
You’re telling me that in 100-plus years Edward has never had an ejaculation?
OH BUT WAIT YOUNG GIRLS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO THINK ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM SETH MEYER SAID SO.
If vampires are strong enough to hit a baseball so hard that it makes a thunder like noise (which would destroy the ball AND bat, btw, so it’s completely implausible), and are able to rip trees out of the ground, then Edward wouldn’t just have bruised Bella during sex. He would have KILLED HER.
Wow… I must say that I’m quite impressed with the way this discussing turned out…. and I think that everyone just needs to turn it down a notch! I think we should all be happy that kids out there are actually picking up a book and reading. I would give anything for my younger brother to as interested as books as I am!
I am a twilight fan. I, too, reason, think and have a brain as Yuki puts it. I realize that the twilight series may not be the best piece of literature out there but it did what it needed to do for me; which was provide me with something to read.
I think that, though this article may be a bit harsh, it provided some valid points. Coming from a overly overprotective family (brothers and male cousins(can’t even talk to a guy in a club without them pouncing on him)), I spotted Edward’s somewhat extreme protective nature towards Bella. Personally, I would not have reacted the way she did in this situation but I realized that Bella is blinded by her “love” for Edward.
After reading the first book, I found Bella to be a complete wuss and didn’t really take to her character that well. I do, however, agree that I could somewhat relate to her when it comes to self-image. I think most girls her age have issues with their image and how they perceive themselves to be. This book is in Bella POV, so obviously, she will downgrade how she views herself. She lacks a lot of selfconfidence. So it’s no surprise that when she turns into a vampire, she views herself to be extremely beautiful because she thinks that to be a vampire is to be what she isn’t in her human form: strong and beautiful. (Did that make any sense?…)
As for Edward, I’ll admit that I did fall for his character. I found his chivalry and devotion to Bella beautiful (I’m a hopeless romantic >.<) and refreshing. I absolutely do not think that Edward is the perfect boyfriend(neither does Stephenie Meyer for that matter) nor would I want someone to be protective in that fashion. I think that what attracts most girls to him, is that, in Bellas POV, he is described to be selfless, caring and genuinely concerned with Bella. I also think that that is why Bella loves him; for the reason aforementioned.
Concerning the sexism, feminism: personally, I think that everyone has made valuable arguments about it and since I didn’t read into the book that deeply, I’m not going to say anything about it.
The whole pregnancy thing baffles me as well… I remember thinking WTF? while reading it. It was very predictable though. The delivery part was pretty disturbing as well… I’m studying to be a nurse and reading the delivery methods made me cringe but I tried not to think anything of it because it is just a book after all…
Although this article was sore on the eyes, I have something called respect: that this person has their own opinion and I will not take it to heart. This article does not change how I feel about this series. Nor should some of the views of the pro-twilight people affect those of the anti-twilight people.
Even with all the flaws this book has, I found it to be very enjoyable and very addictive. I will go see the movie and pray that it’ll be a success.
On a final note, I would appreciate, as some of the twilight fans have already mentioned, to not generalize all of the pro-twilighters. I’m nothing like some of those “twi-hards” and would prefer to not be classified under anything except a “reader”. Thank you.
Francesca
excatly! but adults read twilight, and teenagers read stephan king.
if everone is so worryed about what our kids are geting from books, shouldent we look at seting an age limmit for all books, just like movies? you cant read sertan books, if your under age,
or over age. wouldent that make things (like this) run more smothly?
I think this age thing is a bit unrelated to the point, but let me say something on it. The intended age group already knows all that stuff. I am barely a teenager and I’ve known this stuff for at least 2 years. So, honestly, this book has no huge effect. Us teenagers know what we want and a book isn’t going to sway us that heavily.
I just want to say that I had a lot of fun writing this response to Mrs. Rice. I love the twilight Saga my two teens introduce me to it and Im very glad they did. I want to mention that I have the books in 4 other languages along with the audiobooks, and read them too.
I like HP too
Lmao, bitter much? I think even you know as the author of this article that you’re totally nit picking.
1) Plain – so at school you’ve never seen a guy interested in someone you’ve perceived as plain before? Think of Edwards history, his upbringing, is he going to be interested in a overexcitable uneducated bimbo? Not all guys like one type of girl, heck there’d be a lack of profit in the wedding industry if all guys were searching for the same type of girl.
2) It’d be a predictable and Dracula style ending if he weren’t veggie. Makes it a bit different, you’d be complaining more if he weren’t veggie.
3) Maybe Edward acts like a noble gentlemen because he grew up in an era where they were still around, duh.
4) In New Moon if the pages with the months weren’t there you’d be complaining of the extent you had to read about Bella moping. I actually feel its an innovative technique, we know what happens in that time therefore it would be a waste of Stephenies time to write it. Plus it saves paper, sorry to hear you like to waste paper. Go and watch an inconvenient truth.
5) The love of your life leaves you, what do you do? Go become a Shiny Happy Person dancing with the fairies? Reality check!!
6) Different people bring out different sides of your personality, cos guess what? everyone is different! I experience it with my friends and so do they.
7) People change! The books explain well why Jacob has a good reason for being a grumpy guts, and hey you’ve read them so you know.
And I can’t be bothered to carry on, your article is a disgrace, if you don’t like them, why read them all?? You seem to be anti vampires and I don’t understand why you’re reading these books. I really don’t feel that all of your reasons are valid, and some of them are really quite harsh. I do have some agreement in Breaking Dawn, but gee wizz you went OTT with the criticism for others!
Every book has flaws, there is always room for improvement, But I think Stephenie has written a very captivating series without having to resort to sex, drugs, guns and foul language.
PS. Cocktail dress rips as you know
Hey, i dont think you should diss the writer for speaking their mind, its just what all of you are doing. i couldnt care less if they didnt like the book or did, other peoples opinions shouldnt matter if you dont want them to. i liked the books, but i agree with ivy, we’re not hurting people, and i like the point someone made about how its just a book, so stop analzing it. i dont think this person should have made such a big deal about their view on the book, if they want stuff to analyze try telling people about politics and war, and all the hardships people in different countries are going though. if this person really thinks a book is the only thing on people minds then you have another think coming.
I dont think harry potter and the twilight series have anything to do with each other. i think everyone should stop abusing the right of freedom of speech and making it difficult for writers t go out. this is the internet, so if you have something to say, dont make yopurself look like an ignorant little speck of dust, and do yourr thinking politly. k?
twas just a book, get a life or move on with the one youve got.
BRAVO!!!! With each book I read a part of me wondered why! Thank you for opening my eyes and hopefully the eyes of others as well.
btw- i thnk its great that the youth of today are reading. if you wwant everybody to become computer freaks like a bunch of you, and not learn anything then be my guest and rip literature right out of our hands.
hahaha Reading these comments makes me lol.
This review makes some good points, many of which I agree with. Are the Twilight books bad for young girls to be reading? Who can say? But Bella certainly is not the best role model.
Speaking as a girl who does not fall into the 12-17 yr. old category, I can honestly say that I liked the first three Twilight books. Am I embarrassed to admit it? Quite. But there is a certain charm about the vampires. After the first book, it gets old, and I tend to forget what was so charming about Edward to begin with (Not to mention he’s kind of creepy). Bella’s ramblings get quite annoying as well. This is why the second book in the series is my personal favorite. Edward disappears, and Bella, when she’s around Jacob, is a lot more reasonable. And even though Bella runs right back into her cold dead lover’s arms at the end of the book, I must say that Jacob’s character kept me from putting the books down altogether. Yes, he does turn into quite the jerk in Eclipse, but he is still in every way better for Bella than Edward is. That’s why I believed Ms. Meyer wasn’t completely delusional until she wrote Breaking Dawn.
As for her writing skills, it’s easy to ignore the fact that they’re pretty much non-existent when one gets caught up in the story, but I must say that I prefer JKR’s writing to hers. And JKR is a children’s author, whereas Ms. Meyer claims to write for adults, not young adults. Hmm.
Some people are completely over reacting here. I love the Twilight series but i just have to say that its just a book. People who read the book know that it was not written to give us an account of what true love is like, or about feminism. It is a FICTIONAL teenage vampire romance book written so that people can enjoy reading it just like any other teenage fiction. Yes some of the stuff that happens in the book is impossible (like what cookie said about the baseball bat and the ball breaking – but isn’t that why its a fictional book? half the stuff that happens is impossible, i mean its about Vampires, so why doesn’t every one just forget all the little technical things and accept the fact that the book has been written and published and we can’t change the book. Neither can we change people’s opinions)
i love the book its fabulas, it made me think, that even thogh the world is going thru hell right now, there is still some resonable good reading out, there thats clean, and at times rather funny. i dont care about how much you hate it, or like it, but to satisfy myself, im going to re-read the antire series, becuse i loved it that much.
I know, love bugg, but I meant those aren’t the target audiences. Stephen King wouldn’t say he’s written an adult book and then solely make it a picture book of fairies, now would he? Censorship of books is NOT okay. Putting an age limit on a book would be a complete nightmare.
If Twilight inspires kids to read more, I’ll be happy with that. I just hope they move on to some even better works and can keep reading their whole lives for enjoyment.
READ – I have no idea what your comment says.
How hilarious that most of the well-written and intelligent comments are made by those who didn’t like Twilight, and the ones that have no grammar, punctuation, or structure are mostly writing by TwiHards.
Just because it’s fiction doesn’t mean we have complaints about it. It’s called logic and rules and Meyer never used it or them.
Would you care if a dinosaur popped out of nowhere in Star Wars?
No. That would be illogical because George Lucas never mentioned dinosaurs before and never laid groundwork for a dinosaur to appear randomly.
Fiction has set up rules that a writer makes and if the writer destroys his or her own canon of rules then the entire thing is wrong.
But I guess that doesn’t matter because it’s fiction anyway. *rolls eyes*
And one more thing: for everyone who disagrees with this article and has voiced their opinions:
You do realize that you are all basically saying the same things over and over? Reading your comments just gets redundant. And you do realize that most of you cannot back up your opinions or present a valid argument? Saying OME THIS ARTICLE SUCKS does not prove anything. So before you go on a rant about why the Twilight series is amazing and this article is stupid, think about what you’re saying. Don’t just assume that Kellen does not have a legit opinion simply because this review was a negative one. Try to be open-minded. Oh, and you might want to work on your grammar.
Once again…
Most people did not like the book the first time they read it. Some people continued to read having faith (read: faith) that the story would get better and the characters would mature. They didn’t.
Personally, I read Twilight and stopped halfway through New Moon because I couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped, but some people like to finish a series when they begin it and some people had more faith an continued reading. And some people like the first two and decided that they didn’t like them after Eclipse.
There are plenty of reasons why people who didn’t like them continued to read them.
Remember: we have to read them to not like them.
And some people noticed Ed’s abusive behavior the first time (read: first time) they read the book. They noticed the grammatical errors, the lack of plot, how boring it was, and everything else the first time they read it.
The people who read the book are not “bashing” the series because it’s popular. Like Kellen Rice, people find faults in the book and are truly concerned about the rabid fans that are waiting for their Ed to show up. There are smart readers who love the book and then there are people who have a hard time separating fiction from fantasy.
you suck
I’m a guy, and in my opinion Twilight is one of the best literary accomplishments in this century, let alone the entire history of the world. Twilight and Stephenie Meyer should be praised and not battered like some childish fantasy.
Rethink your inferior, blasphemous, undermining, naive opinions about Twilight.
@ Bob
I find that funny how you say that it’s not some childish fantasy when it was in fact a dream that Meyer wrote down.
If you think this is the greatest book in this century then that shows you haven’t many books.
I hate when I do that
Correction:
“Shows you haven’t (read) many books”.
And that’s just my personal opinion of what you said.
its not twilight that sucks its you…
YOU ARE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! THERE IS NOTHING BAD WITH TWILIGHT. IT IS THE BEST BOOK THERE IS OUT THERE YOU PSYCHO. I HAVE READ MANY MANY BOOKS AND NONE OF THEM CAN COMPARE TO TWILIGHT. IT IS A SIMPLE BUT GRAPPLING ROMANCE BETWEEN A FORBIDDEN LOVE. WHY IS THAT SO BAD?????!!!!!!!! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BELLA AND NOTHING WRONG WITH THE SERIES. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN HAVE THE NERVE TO PUBLISH THIS IN A MAGAZING YOU CRAZY EGO-FREAK??!!
you should go to hell for this!
Grrrr… to all twilight fans, I don’t know how many more times this needs to be said, please stop putting the rest of us twilight fans to shame by saying useless comments…
We call all try to be MATURE and have a CIVILIZED discussion without having to swear, insult and degrade the next person!
I meant “we CAN all try…”
What’s so “forbidden” about their relationship anyway?
No one is pulling them apart . There are no rules or laws claiming that they can’t be together. No one said that vampires couldn’t date humans. It would just be difficult…like an actual relationship. You know, like the ones humans go through everyday. *gasp*
And frankly it doesn’t look forbidden either. They’re always together mumbling how much they love each other.
I hate you. I get that it makes Bella seem incompetent and that she is annoying, but the books are amazing. I agree with Tiffany. and Sarah. and Jeanine. these books are really good. did you think of the amount of effort Stephenie put into these books. and if they are so horrible, why are the books all top bestsellers. the movie is one of the most anticipated. there are twilight posters, t shirts, and all kinds of stuff. You obviously haven’t read very many good books because you can’t tell how amazing this series it.
@ Jeanine:
Everyone is alowed to have his or her opinion,
but I don’t think that it’s right to bash other people’s opinions.
If Bob likes the book, & you don’t, those are opinions.
The way everyone is taking everything so personally is pretty insane.
It’s just a book !
I can’t stress that enough, because bashing at eachother isn’t going to get us anywhere really.
Stephenie Meyer has still won, either ways, she’s getting people to talk and check out her book.
Why is it so hard to move on and accept the fact that there are those who like the book and those who don’t?
Thank you so much! You published everything I thought about the series myself! i read them because my 13 year old sister read them and i was appalled. even more so at the legions of facebook fangirls. this series is horrifying on so many levels that has absoultely nothing to do with vampirism.
Thank you for putting this out here!
just cuz no outside forces are pulling them apart doesnt mean that the love isn’t forbidden.
Jeanine – tell me this, Why in the movie Underworld that the vampires bleed? Their suppose to be immortal and immortals dont bleed. So why cant vampires be able to impregnate humans. They are called Incubus’ please do you research.
I really want to hear from all the 18 and under crowd. B.c alot of these intellectual comments are coming from more mature experienced adults/overprotective mothers(yup i said it!). And you write about what is good for the YA group and pretty much down grade their intellegence. (Thats the message that your sending out. Maybe you should read your writing a little better) And I mean that by alot are saying that the books are no good and are teaching the girls a wrong message but how do you know that these girls are receiving this message the way you think they are. That they dont understand that its fiction and not to take it seriously. Thats pretty much calling them stupid right there. How bout the girls who never heard of the book but their in love with a musican (lets say Brittney Spears for example) . They are completely obsessed with her and have posters all over their room and has a huge infactuation with her. This YA is now obsessing over a famous person that they may never meet, but are absolutely in love. Do not say its not the same thing b.c it is but Twilight is a book not a musician
You are the childs real role model not a character in a book. The people they see every day are the role models and have more effect than anything. You have more say over how they become than a book or a star.
THIS IS ANNOYING. So is rice. this is messed. k? CHILL OUT> WHY THE HELL DID U FREAKIN READ ALL FOUR BOOKS RETARD?!?! if u don’t like the first one, calm down, and read something else. not read ALL THE BOOKS> psh.
I said that it was my opinion.
And Emma,
Why can’t you move on?
Every question you ask me you should ask yourself.
Who said immortals don’t bleed?
@Theresa: I’m below eighteen, and I personally don’t like the books.
Also, immortal doesn’t mean you can’t bleed. It just means you can’t die.
Also, an incubus is a male demon that impregnates women. They’re different from vampires.
@twilighter: If we said we didn’t like the books and stopped reading them, most people say, “Well, you can’t have a proper opinion on it!” It’s very annoying.
But you were talking about rules. Obviously rules are not always followed in the creative world. Regardless if its movie or book, thinkgs would be boring if all rules were followed
Personally, I’ve seen Underworld and Underworld 2.
I like (read: like) them for what they are. They have flaws and I’m willing to admit that. I enjoy them for the storyline and the action.
And frankly because they have a better story than Twilight.
People think the book is flawless when it’s not. Ed is not perfect. He has some serious flaws that he needs to work on, but he’s “perfect” because Bella thinks he is. Some readers know that Ed isn’t perfect. Some don’t.
If it was flawless (which is impossible) then it would be love by all. But it’s not.
But that’s my personal opinion. Right?
@ Theresa
No. I’m talking about the rules a writer (read: writer) sets up in his or her fictional world.
Like Meyer’s rules that say that vampires sparkle in the sunlight or they have venom. Or that they can only be destroyed by ripping them apart and burning them.
Those are rules that she had set up.
I’m not talking about reality.
@ Victoria good for you I didnt say everyone needed to like them. I think the question I was trying to ask was lost. Do all teens and tweens have no intellegence that as soon as they read the book their going to think that bella and edwards relationship is the only thing out there and you have to be bellas personality (sorry Im not going into all the faults of the book) . Thats what my arguments are stemming from. This author of the article gave her opinion but her message is saying that teenagers that love this book are getting the about stated message.
Message to aspiring authors, write me something good and I will read it. Dont bash another author for their writing, I can a sure you that it will hurt when articles like this start coming out about your writting. And your book better more well written than Stephenie’s, because your the educated/practiced one.
This author of the article gave her opinion but her message is saying that teenagers that love this book are getting the (above)stated message.
sorry
But in the real world (the one we are living in now) you will always always always have someone who will love your work, like your work, and someone who will hate/dislike your work. That’s the way of life.
Everyone has an opinion.
I found the article intriguing. I admittedly enjoyed the first book in the way I enjoy eating junk food – it’s terrible for you but as you’re eating it you’re kinda happy. I think her writing style probably lowered my IQ by about 10% but I did like reading it at the time…
I then tried reading her other books, and they just progressively got worse. I fought my way through New Moon after hearing the next book got better, but even then got disappointed. I couldn’t even finish Breaking Dawn – hearing OVER and OVER how SUPER GIGA AWESOME a vampire Bella was just killed a part of me inside.
She honestly doesn’t understand how to write properly. At times she’ll explain a feeling or a joke to the point where she just demolishes the entire point of writing it, she REALLY could use a thesaurus, and zombies were GROSSLY underrepresented in the book. On top of that, there just wasn’t much spectacle to keep you involved in reading – it seemed like she’d spend hundreds of pages to get to the climax that weren’t needed, when she could have written a tighter, more condensed book that would have a greater impact…
Then there’s the terrible themes you mentioned of anti-feminism – using the damsel-in-distress theme is nice once or twice, but honestly, you can’t write an entire series based on doing the same thing OVER and OVER and OVER again, it really gets boring.
To the rabid fans who are falling all over themselves to insult the author for bringing up a few points by throwing exclamation marks and capslock everywhere, I’ve gotta say, you should read a few more books. Half the reason the books disgusted me were because I just finished reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay, both of whom can actually write AND write in the fantasy genre. Their characters actually seem realistic, their writing styles are more captivating than vomit-inducing and they actually deserve their fame. In comparison, SMeyer writes like a crack addicted five-year-old writing herself into her Jean Luc Picard/Elrond fanfiction.
@ Malon
Even though I didn’t like the book (thought it was boring), I actually began to take pointers from her writing.
I thought I needed to add a ton of adverbs, state everything (including emotions), repeat conversations over and over again, etc.
No, seriously. I did.
Then I took a Fiction writing class in college.
Very interesting point of views on the series, I guess I can understand some of them. But no need to bash the hell out of Meyer and her books, I think she did a phenominal job on the series. Everyone has their own opinion on things I guess but oh well this article sucked anyways!
OH MY GOD!
YOU suck not Twilight!! >:(
If you had a brain you’d be writing about things that REALLY matter rather than “Twilght suck blady blaa blaa!”
GROW UP BEFORE YOU WRITE A NEXT ARTICLE!
Write about something WORTHWHILE to read next time because this UTTER rubbish!
True Twerd: How is criticizing the books bashing Meyer? Her books are popular and she is a well-known author, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are people who dislike the books and wish to write about it.
Ok opinion thing understood but the author of this article is talking about the messages that Stephenie’s book is giving off. Did anyone think to look into her writing? Her message is that shes calling (and not just her all other people who bring this subject up and are against twilight because of its messages to teens and younger) any one under 18 stupid. That your not going to understand that the book is fictional. No one is seeing that because you agree with her(them) so your not looking into it like I am. Thats why alot of twilighters are against these articles because they like the book and arent looking into it.
I just have to add more.
When you write, you need to expect that there will be people who love your books and people who hate your books. Most books usually get reviews that praise, and reviews that criticize. Meyer has been quite lucky in this department, and has rarely gotten mainstream reviews that criticize. NOTHING is perfect, and that includes books. Negative reviews show the flaws of books, thus showing what the author needs to improve on. In Meyer’s case, it’s characterization. People need to realize that she does need improvement, but they can’t seem to face the truth (See: comments on this article). I can understand if you like it, but just because someone points out flaws they see doesn’t mean they are necessarily wrong. Opinions can’t be wrong.
@ Rachael: Actually, I have a group of friends who worship the Twilight books and pretend that they are in their own coven. One of them even leaves an empty spot next to her in class for her imaginary boyfriend, Edward Cullen. Thankfully, YOU may not be like this, but this article is not pointing a finger at particular fans like you. Sadly, there are people like this, though.
I myself was a fan of the first book. The premise was interesting and, like Malon, I read it merely as I would eat junk food. And because I hate to leave finished series of books unread, I read New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.
Breaking Dawn was a let-down. There’s no other way to put it. I dutifully followed the storyline set up in the previous three books, but continuity was lost with Breaking Dawn. And it wasn’t a very interesting read — I had to force myself to finish Book III so that I could see if the book was salvaged. It was not.
@ Haha: It’s quite sad, isn’t it?
*goes back to reading Wuthering Heights*
Yes, there IS a need to bash her books, and if I want to I will, goddammit!!!
“If you don’t like it don’t even comment on it like….what’s the point like…..”
The freakin POINT is to raise awareness about this garbage and / or to help form a critical mind in the readers. YES!!! Now that’s a novel idea, a critical mind! Which basically means you don’t just take everything pop culture feeds you without checking what the hell it is first. If you have good, reasoned-out arguments to back up your love for this series and you have expressed them here, I respect you. If you just babble on and on about how Stephenie Meyer’s poop probably sparkles and therefore she is worthy of undying, unrelenting devotion, then you might as well get lost in a cloud of your own dumb farts. People have a right to express their opinion about stuff, regardless of it being negative or positive, and yelling “SHUT UP SHUT UP IM A TWIHARDDDD MAKE IT STOPPPP” at the top of your lungs won’t do anything to change that (it will, however, provide evidence to your stupidity and it is somewhat amusing, so perhaps you should keep doing it anyway)
Feedback is great, even if it’s not supportive, as long as it is intelligent and well thought out. Too bad SM will probably look the other way (attracted no doubt by something ***shiny***) and keep writing her nonsense just as if no backlash had ever occured. It must be nice to live in merry la la land. Good for her.
@Victoria – you completely right! I realized only a few chapters in that her writing was not so great but it was her creativity, i think, that got me hooked. I read the host and thats better written, its weak in some spots but its still better written. But its just her creativity/imagination that draws me in. I loved the Host and it made me ball at the end. She has potential to be a greater writer she needs classes.
I think though if your going to talk about the messages that a book is giving off and then give a review about those messages, that you should cover that your not giving off the wrong message. Like I stated about I got the message from the negative reviews, that Teens and Tweens are stupid and have no brains for what is right and wrong.
What are you talking about??? I read this book and I like it, ok? What’s your problem with Stephenie Meyer?? maybe people don’t like it but I do and it’s not nice to write something like that. REALLY What’s your problem?
I have to say, I can see the entire truth behind this article, even though I’m a HUGE Twilighter.
The problem is though, once you’re hooked on the series, you can’t stop. It’s like an addiction. With all addictions, peer pressure starts. Other non-Twilighter’s are forced to read the books, see the movie, gawk at the hot actors, and they soon catch on. And if they don’t there then the Twilight version of “chicken”. It’s a craze.
Frankly, I love the Twilight books. They may not have the best plot, or the best grammar, or the best writing, but they DO have the best characters.
Bravo, I enjoyed reading your article.
I love how people are unleashing the power of the capslock trying to get their point across.
Which, by the way, I have a hard time reading.
I was actually one of the people who enjoyed the first two books, not obsessed, but it was a good read once in a while.
But my enjoyment came to a screeching halt when Breaking Dawn came out.
It was just… no, just no. Not something I would ever want to pick up again. I was actually one of the people who returned my copy.
I skipped Bella’s whole narrative and went straight to Jacob’s. Because frankly, he has way more personality than she does.
I felt that the only person who evolved and grew as a character was Leah Clearwater.
In fact, the whole Clearwater family FTW.
Stephenie has completely and utterly changed my mind about the series.
@Unknown
The article isn’t on whether or not you like the book, or how much the author hates Meyer. It’s about how it shouldn’t exactly be getting critical praise when some of the ideas it pushes are not ones that women today should really be falling in love with…
Really, people take these kinds of articles waaaay too personally. :\
Hiya. I’ve read the Twilight series, and I love them, although when I read deeper, I did pick out most of the things you have said. I’ve not read Breaking Dawn, so I can’t comment on that, but I do think lots in the books is awful, but also, they are extremely good books. I am in two minds about these books. In a more personal view, I think the way Meyer presented Edward and Bella in the latter chapters of Eclipse was not nice at all. Your article was good, but biased. I think it would be better to go about it with an open mind, and see both sides. I am not sticking up for either side, but I do agree with both. In some ways the books are awful, with the way they portray the characters, but they are also good stories if you do not read too much into them. Thank you for the article, it was very entertaining (even if I did skip the Breaking Dawn part).
@Theresa: Yes, that’s true what you said. It could probably be worded better. To say my age group isn’t completely impressionable isn’t correct, though. Where I live, teens may not be crazy about Twilight, but they are crazy about other things. Most of the kids in my school listen to rap, and they walk around all day trying to act gangster’s. I can’t say that it’s all because they listen to rap, but that does have a big part in it.
Theresa: I disagree. I don’t think that the author is calling anyone under eighteen stupid. Rather, she’s saying that children under eighteen are impressionable, which is true. If it wasn’t then there would be no need to worry about things like peer pressure.
As far as being unable to understand that the book is fictional, no one is saying that everyone who reads this will automatically go into a zombie-like state because they aren’t dating a hot vampire. All of the fans that I’ve seen do know that it’s just a book. However, that doesn’t mean that people can’t be influenced by it.
Look at the people who want a boyfriend like Edward. Sure they’re not saying that they love him, but they are saying that they want to date someone like him. There are other fans who say that they love Edward, compare their husbands to Edward, etc. Even if it’s not a huge influence, some teenagers and adults do pick up things from these books, which doesn’t mean that they’re stupid. It just means that like most humans, things can have an impression on them.
“It’s about how it shouldn’t exactly be getting critical praise when some of the ideas it pushes are not ones that women today should really be falling in love with”
@Malone this is an article of a “femnazi”( please see in previous comments of what a femnazi is). Its pushing some one eles’s idea of feminist views on some one eles. Its saying that its not ok to be self concious, that its not ok to have a b’f that will protect you. That its not ok to be weak. Shit if I know im going up against something that I know is stronger than me (like in the real world lets say a lion or a bear) I would really love it that there is a knight in shining armor there to save me, save my life. What I agree on for feminism is that its women’s rights and women’s choices. So let stephenie tell her story and put her views into her writing. Its Bella’s rights to make her own choices. And those were to leave friends and family behind (which really didnt happen) and to not go to college and not be a mother (which didnt happen) but she will be with the one she loves
I am so glad that each author has a different style of writing. some I like, some I don’t. If SM wants to writer like S. king of JKR, then we will hear hell. anyway there is no way that SM can win.
Maybe she is inexperience and knew at this, most people that accomplish anything, very few are prefect the fist time.
So I say go SM, keep on writing beacause I will buy your books
At “just a girl”, I’m 19, I was 18 when I read the books, and I hated them. Please don’t generalize. You’re going on about some of us not wanting to understand the other side of the argument, yet we happen to be the more tolerant ones of opposing views, and you do the same in refusing to listen to what we have to say. Develop a little more self-awareness, thanks.
@Arietta – so for the women who compare that their husbands are like Edward. (im assuming that these are the people who like the books) They are complementing their hubby. Saying they have their edward and believe they get their happy ending. Thats a bad impression.
People are influenced by everything and anything. There is not one exact thing that can be responsible. My friend had multiple abusive relationships that are way worse than the one described in Twilight, but these were before the books existed so what was responsible for that influence? Its not just these books. They do have a large influence but its not as big as what you get from being around your family and friends. And if your that impressionable you may want to analyze your self and what you want. My boss’s daughter is 30 and cant hold a relationship b.c all the guys she likes are jerks but her preference is chiseled abs and arms. Georgous modelish type guys. What wrong with wanting a guy with Edward qualities?
@Theresa: Um. It seems like you’re trying to push your views on me, does that make you a “feminazi” too or a “twinazi”, because seriously, if that is what is going to make you feel superior to someone who has a valid point then you might want to reevaluate what you’re trying to write here.
Despite the fact that I agree with the article doesn’t necessarily mean I am a feminist either, but there are parts of Twilight which do push the women’s movement back – not the bra-burning movement but the movement that suggested women have the right to make decisions for themselves and are just as strong, smart and brave as men are. You’re making excuses for an author who implies that a woman can’t make a choice for herself as far as her friendships go, who pushes the idea that a woman should always rely on a man when she’s in danger or needs help, and for an author that seems to think that being without one certain man can push you to suicide and hearing voices in your mind. Edward’s lack of reaction to the last part is what is the most disturbing to me through the entire series – she confesses that she tried to kill herself despite Edward’s disembodied voice telling her that it isn’t a good idea, and he barely lifts an eyebrow. That is NOT healthy.
Look, I am far from being a feminist, and actually the male-dominated workplace in my chosen career of engineering is what will probably help me find a job in the first place, but the book pushes VERY unhealthy ideas that impressionable people may take to heart. It isn’t right.
Most of the stuff you mentioned bothered me a lot, whoever wrote this article. I didn’t notice the sexism as much as I noticed that Bella and Edward are way too perfect, Stephenie Meyer contradicts herself too much and that, in Breaking Dawn, characters drop out of the book as soon as they’ve done their jobs. The books were too long, as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love long books, but they had an average of 450 pages of romance, with tons of filler in between, and 150 pages of action. That’s not a good balance, especially since the enemies seemed to be tossed in as an afterthought. Heck, in New Moon there WAS no enemy! All we heard was “Blah blah blah oh no, Victoria’s coming, blah blah blah!” and she didn’t show up until Eclipse. Twilight was the best book, and in my opinion she shouldn’t have made it a series, just ended it at that. I think that Stephenie Meyer is a talented author, she just tried to do too much at once.
Oh for the love of all that is holy.
Let me start this out by saying that I’m 22 and I liked the Twilight series (read: LIKED). I powered through all 4 books in about 2 weeks and enjoyed them for what they were. They are by no means perfect, and by the time I finished the next person to use the word “dazzle” was going to die a fiery death.
Now.
To Kellen – I respect your honest opinion, but I think you over analyze a little bit. Perhaps it’s just your personality and how you see things. Either way, I agree with some of your points but not all of them.
To all my little Twilight fangirls – Firstly, your precious “red and black bible” is a BOOK. Repeat: book. Edward is not perfect. He has jealousy, anger, and control issues. He is portrayed as perfect because that is how Bella sees him. Real boys do not sparkle in the sun and you will probably never meet a guy who will literally jump in front of a speeding car and shoulder it out of the way to save you. If you do, please call me. Secondly, it is very hard for anyone to take you seriously when you talk in all caps with absolutely horrid grammar and curse at anyone who doesn’t agree with you. There is a reason it is called an opinion, dear children. You will meet people with lots of these things called opinions, and most of them will not agree with you. Suck it up and move on. Lastly, just because someone does not like “the book,” it does not mean they are attacking Ms. Meyer personally.
There are also a few anti-Twilighters out there being just as rude. Let’s keep it civil, shall we?
And to Yuki – An attention-deficit response to one of your comments that made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to cry:
“And wuv, twu wuv, is what bwings us twugevar twuday.”
As well, Arietta isn’t talking about people who’re married – by that age they probably won’t be so heavily impacted by the messages the book sends out. She’s talking about the people who are young enough that this book will impact their actions – the book might cause a girl in an abusive relationship to think that every time she doesn’t get hurt is proof that her boyfriend loves her, the way Bella does with Edward for example; it can have harmful impacts on young people that will take it as inspiration, but in the worst possible way.
@raina
I am totally virtual high fiving you so hard right now.
SO HARD
@Malon
Thanks!
*high five*
I’m baaaaaaaack.
Anyway.
So the argument has moved from the “OMFGBBQ YOUR ALL STOOPID” to “OMFGBBQ YOUR ALL NAZIS” Wonderful, my Deutsch beloved will enjoy the conversation tonight.
Has anyone yet realized that feminism, while it can be defined as a female’s freedom to choose what she wants to do, doesn’t work as a term that broadly defined? If I chose to live with an abusive boyfriend and be his whining, simpering love-slave, then am I being a feminist? I should hope not.
Feminism is a term that deserves respect, and is respect. Taken from dictionary.com
3. estimation, reverence, homage, honor. Respect, esteem, veneration imply recognition of personal qualities by approbation, deference, and more or less affection. Respect is commonly the result of admiration and approbation, together with deference:
When does he honor her? Or defer to her, other than for her monster child (which, really, I claim to be a hideous plot device that is simply there to make a nice family and finally force Edward to change Bella, who DOESN’T go through the stages of vampirism)? He simply expects that she needs to be saved.
If that is being a Feminazi, then Heil, feminism!
wow, i love how we’regrouped into 12 year olds that don’t know how to spell.
You people need to stop the stereotypes.
The people that read twilight are not all 12 year olds. In fact, there are many, many twilighters that are over the age of 20.
there must be a good reason for the massive fanbase. Oh wait, that’s right, BECAUSE THE BOOK IS NOT CRAP.
thousands of people have read the twilight series and loved it. Just because you don’t like the books, it doesn’t mean you have to insult the author and everyone who supports it.
get the hell over it.
Raina – Thanks, I guess? I don’t usually check back too far, so I wasn’t aware of that comment – I do need to sleep and go to school and do my chores, my job, and hang out with my boyfriend – disproving the theory that I have no life.
A rational Twilight fan! Hallelujah!
Malon – “There are other fans who say that they love Edward, compare their husbands to Edward, etc.”
Please read more carefully. In all honesty shame on the family and friends that wont step in. I stepped into 5 of my best friends relationships before she became aware and I told her word for word of what to look for in her current relationship and she went by all my advice. but really shame on shame on the family/friends if they cant find a way to help her. The people around you are more powerful than a book.
Hahaha
It’s a quote from Princess Bride.
I scanned through some of the comments today before I wrote mine and happened upon that one.
And there are many, many anti-Twilighters who are under 20. Your point? For that matter, the Pokemon series had a huge fanbase. And so did DBZ and Sailor Moon. Once again, you would say they sucked – and after two weeks of “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” from Goku’s mouth, you’d be right.
So how is this so different from the four books of “OMG HE’S HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWT” ?
Dear Writer,
In your opinion piece you mention that your are a graduate of the Harry Potter craze. Hey, no fancy titles!
I see that you actually approve of Harry Potter. I believe that you will be very happy to know that after Harry Potter , me and my family decided to acquire a nimbus 2000 because we want to patrol our neighborhood, but they are hard come by. Do you know where we can find one?
My 2 teens are into witchcraft . As female roles we are having a hard time deciding between moaning Myrtle, we like her because she moans all day and then dives into the toilet. The other one is Bellatrix the lunatic murderer that escaped prison.
Maybe we will go with the muggle girl, Hermione, I think it was very smart of her to leave the normal world to attend a witch school in were she is hated because she is muggle born. Anyway I like her because she is the know it all.
For recreation we are to practicing quidditch, it’s hard to get used to, because of all the broken limbs and unconscious teens after the game, but hey, we enjoy it!
forgot to mention I love Harry Potter
TWILIGHT ROCKS THIS WORLD! ! ! This book is a fantasy novel and NOT some feminist, political book about sexism. PERIOD.
TWILIGHT
ROCKS
MY
WORLD
!!!
By the way, Theresa, I’m 17. Just thought you’d like to know that there’s someone rational under voting age.
Zuniga, I think we’ve explained time and again that it’s not that people are going to IMITATE the books, it’s that they ARE going to be impacted by them, and the books have very many negative themes. It’s like the whole modeling industry business – they’ve set BMI limits on the models so they a) don’t die, and b) don’t distort children’s body-images any more than they already do.
So clearly, if you are the mother of two girls (which I think you said you were), you’re no longer subscribing to Parenting Magazine.
Theresa: I agree that the Twilight books aren’t the only thing that can have an impression, but the books are influencing teenagers. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with wanting to have a partner like Edward, there’s still a fair amount of sexist ideas present in the book. Like you said, everything can influence a person, so shouldn’t an author who has the ability to help make an impression on millions of girls try to put more positive messages in her work and not use the same sexist ideas that a lot of people are working to get rid of?
First of all, all you people that have time to trash Stephenie Meyer really need a new hobby. And then, you are probally there thinking but if she has time to support Stephenie Meyer then doesn’t she need a new hobby? Cleary, I just want to say that she wrote the things that happened for a reason. As she wrote in her bio on her website, the charcters wrote their stories themselves, obibuosly not in a literal sense but in a fanatsy’s way of mind. Jake doesn’t force Bella to kiss him. No one can force anyone to do anything. She makes the choice to kiss him. And in that chapter she says she blurts it out without thinking about what she said. Edward helps with the C-Section (he doesn’t bite her open with his teeth, Renesmee does) because she is going to die, he saves her. Stephenie wrote that scene the way she did because wouldn’t you like to know what was going on instead of…”As we waited downstairs we heard a loud ripping noise and one heartbeat….blah blah blah?” Of course not, NO! And Renesmee breaks the ribs and the pelvis way before she was born, which typically happens in humans as well. You are complaining about how this story is not like real life, well of cousre not it is FICTION!! In some ways it is real, it shows that everyone feels insercure about themselves at times. About the whole marriage thing, that really does happen in real life, some people choose to get married instead of going to collage. Maybe one day when Bella is 107 years old and she pretends to graduate high school again, she’ll go to collage, after all she has forever to go. I am a Jacob fan, because he lets Bella be Bella, he heals her up in the second book, he really helps her. He doesn’t keep a lot of secrets from her, he is open and honset. He is her sun. When Bella is around him, she is more careless, and more like your typical teen. Around Edward she is more serious, which is good to. I am on Team Edward, because in the last book there is no more Team Jacob. If there was I would be on both. And Bella never tries to commit sucicide. She was cliff divving for recreratinal purposes, and she then remembered how she triggers the voices and jumps off. Only then, when she is in the water does she want to die. Yes, Bella can take a step without a boy coming to the rescue. She rides a motorcycle doesnt she? Not very well, I will admit. But she drives, she is independant. Yes, she does want to have sex, but there are a lot of girls who do. How many pregant teens do you know? Heard about? This is very life-like in many ways. I could go on and on. I am a fellow Twilighter myself, but I just want to be there to support Steohenie Meyer. Bella+Edward Jacob+Renesmee
P.S. (If you didn’t like the books, then read something else. If you wanted to find out why they were so good ask a friend, after all you did say that EVERYONE reads them.)
Oh, and I should have put this in my last post, but by there being “nothing necessarily wrong with wanting to have a partner like Edward,” I mean his good qualities. I’ve seen some people mention that Edward getting angry is hot, that his possessiveness is perfectly fine, etc. and it’s kind of scary.
It was an interesting approach to the adored series, and as an aspiring writer myself, i can appreciate this. However, I don’t agree with your perspective. I’ve read the series, and I do enjoy it. I can see the point of your concerns, such as the sexist views. But-and I’ve heard Stephenie Meyers mention this in many interviews-there is another perspective of the way the main character, Bella, has been portrayed. It isn’t the five boys that are just saving her, just tagging her along. You said you’ve read the series, and it’s clearly mentioned that it’s Bella Swan who’s tagging along those five boys. Is that not proposing the power that an average seventeen year old girl has, rather than the opposing idea? And you mentioned several times how everything was so unrealistic. Like the fact that Bella Swan could feel her baby in the first two weeks of having conceived the child. Or that-after becoming an immortal vampire-she could hunt in a cocktail dress and high heels. The thing to keep in mind is that the story is fictional. Just as Harry Potter.
If there can be wizards who twirl wands and come back from the dead because their souls are ripped from their enemies, why can’t we have vampires who happen to fall in love with humans?
what crap is this? he calls himself a literary studant yet can not spell the word ‘time’ correctly as last time i checked it had an ‘i’ in it rather than an ‘o’. And from the sound of your knowledge of the human anatomy you most likely failed Biology in high school.
Also i do not think it is entirely neccessary to say that all 12 to 17 year old girls are and I quote are “tragically impressionable” as many of us have minds of our own (which I’m sure is especially surprising to you) and you say that this book series is sexist, well the fact that you think that we are all the same to me shows that you are hardly very feministically minded yourself, you hypocrite.
Furthermore you have obviously been alone for a very long time and have become cynical about the whole idea of “love” but please do not try and convince these “impressionable” young people that they too should have these negative opinions of it… let them make up their own minds. Bella is not a damsel in distress that needs saving all of the time. She is a character that Stephenie Meyer says is very clumsy and so finds herself in these predicaments where Edward saves her as if he didnt there would be no story after the car accident as the main character would be dead and you would be complaining about that. Also if Edward did nothing to save Bella from the vampires I’m sure that you would be saying things about him not caring enough about her to save her… so I’m sure you will neva be satisfied.
And of course you think that this book is poorly written if you read the crap Jane Austen writes, I mean I couldnt understand a word of it, but maybe thats just because I’m from a modern era.
Thankyou for your time reading this
Okay, fair enough you don’t like the books.
But ever heard of keeping your opinions to yourself as some of us do like them and its rude to criticise them so fiercely
Honestly, keep your jealousy to yourself
wow…i knew that some people hated the twilight series…but you make it sound like the mosst TERRIBLE book series in the entire universe!! I, personally, LOVE the series, though I was disappointed in Breaking Dawn. *sighs* for every hundred twilighters there is one twi-hater. Oh well. I guess the people who hate this series are the ones who are close minded and like their stories thick and twisty-plotted, like Harry Potter.
Of course SMeyer will never be the next Jk Rowling! Their books are TOTALLY DIFFERENT! QUIT COMPARING HER TO JK!!
I AM A TWILIGHTER AND I LOVE THE TWILIGHT SERIES!
I can see how you feel, though, not being able to get into the groove of the book. But for those who can, LOVE it. Is it so terribly bad to have a boyfriend who watches out for you, and to have a best friend who has a sarcastic attitude? And is it so wrong that things ended up well, and everyone got what they wanted in the end? It may be a little unrealistic there, but is it so bad for the characters to have a good life in the end?
WHY DID U READ THEM ALL THEN?? IF U DON’T LIKE THE FIRST, DON’T READ THE REST!!
**^^__twilighter forever!!__^^**
yuki : What do you mean by Impacted?, and I’m sorry but the article is talking about womens role models. If you forgive me but I can knit pick tons classics with really bad messages.
I’m going to jump in one more time before I take off here…
I agree with Arietta.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to find a guy who loves you as much as Edward loves Bella. Edward has enough admirable qualities to warrant wanting to find a guy like him. But keep it realistic.
And it scares me if you get turned on when he’s angry, controlling, and being completely unreasonable. That is not going to lead anywhere good.
All the worlds being mentioned here (Twilight, HP, DBZ, etc) are fictional and should remain such. Visit and enjoy, but come back to the real world before you end up delusional.
And for the love of God, stop with the wining! “Stop comparing SM to JKR! It’s not fair! Waaa!” *rolls eyes* I am so sick of hearing people whine. They both write books that lie somewhere on the border of fiction and fantasy and share a large portion of their fanbases. It’s going to happen. Accept it.
@ Ciara:
Jealousy? What jealousy? No one wants to write like Mrs. Meyer. No one wants to write with sentence fragments. No one wants to confuse the words “except” and “accept” (which Ms. Meyer did).
Ms. Rice is allowed her opinion. You don’t want to hear her opinion? Fine. Keep yours to yourself as well.
Honestly, Ms. Meyer needs some criticism. From what I can tell in interviews, she expects to continue as a writer. Even good writers need criticism and she is coddled by her editors and her advisors. Seriously, her brother, Seth, refuses to forward critical emails because Ms. Meyer “does not want to hear them.” No one wants to hear criticism, but it’s unprofessional to ignore it.
@Abby:
Women do not break their pelvises during childbirth. Pelvises are hard to break and it takes car accidents, natural disasters, or severe trauma. Ribs can occasionally be broken by overly pushy (literally) medical professionals, but pelvises are not.
@ Rozza:
“what crap is this? he calls himself a literary studant yet can not spell the word ‘time’ correctly as last time i checked it had an ‘i’ in it rather than an ‘o’.”
It’s “tome”, you dumbass:
1: a volume forming part of a larger work
2: book; especially : a large or scholarly book
Vocabulary: YOU FAIL.
For those of you who are arguing that people aren’t impressionable:
You’re idiots. If people weren’t impressionable, then advertising and peer pressure and so on and so forth WOULDN’T WORK.
Not only that, but just by freaking out over this article’s content and going absolutely apeshit just PROVES the point that yes, that age group is impressionable to the point that Twilight turns them in to blubbering, raving Twi-fans making death threats against the writer of an editorial. Are you fucking kidding me?
….Oh my aching ovaries. I wish you fans would take the time you spend screaming at us and look back and see that you all scream the same things. It ceases being a debate and becomes a complete bitch-fest, sorry for my bit of swearing.
Have you heard of the freedom of speech? I can say what I like, and it’s just as rude for you to assume that we’re so jealous of a soppy love novel with 2D characters, a barely-there plot, and several negative themes that yes, CAN influence girls.
And, besides the witch-craft drivel of an argument, what was wrong with Harry Potter? At least Rowling didn’t constantly break the rules of her own universe, which Meyers does – she states one thing about vampires, and then makes Bella just so utterly special that the girl, bereft of logic and intelligence, manages to do the exact opposite. I keep repeating over and over and over that we’re not all about to suddenly think that we’re wizards or vampires or whatever, but we will be influenced by the themes presented in the book. ESPECIALLY if we don’t have an unbiased person to help us compare and contrast the series to other books. Because God forbid that Meyer has any competition to her beloved Twilight.
I hate to break it to all of you, but I’m a seventeen year old girl, with a boyfriend, who, DESPITE being “distracted” by her boyfriend, has managed to ace AP studies, college courses, and etc. Clumsiness is not an issue – the fact that the clumsiness is just there so she can get her butt saved is.
The reason for the five boys tagging along? Because Bella’s pretty clearly a self-insertion. What author is going to have herself tagging along as a main character? She gets saved by two special boys because, guess what, Meyer is a female and she wants the shining knight in armor. Call me cynical, but I haven’t seen many of those lately. Hell, I’d rather not have one of those – realistically, knights and ladies lived in a very patriarchal society.
I don’t even like Jane Austen, but I HAVE read Pride and Prejudice, and modern or not, it kicks Twilight into outer space. We have a strong (especially for the time period) female character, a naive one, a weak one, etc. We are given a main character, in Elizabeth, who does not accept Collins’s proposal, nor Darcy’s, because she does not feel they will treat her as an equal nor have shown respect toward her. So she can’t go off and kick Collins’s face in, because that would simply be stupid and unrealistic, but you do realize her strength.
Whereas Bella still confuses me as to why she has such an Electra complex – it’s creepy as hell. Sure, Edward can save her, but she could stand up for herself now and then. If she doesn’t want to go to prom, then don’t press her into going. If she wants to see Jacob, quit whining about the danger (because she could just as easily get mugged or raped in the street) and let them see each other, in a neutral territory if necessary.
And as for his stupid over protectiveness, I’d like to give an example. If I wanted to take a walk, does my boyfriend have the right to tell me no? It’s relatively safe in my neighborhood, nothing’s ever happened to me, but oh my, a year ago a girl got kidnapped! Oh no! So he takes away all my shoes and binds my legs together. What the hell? Do you see the point here? He might mean well, but the road TO hell is paved with those good intentions.
@ Cara:
You call us close-minded? Look at your comrades. Right. Saying, “get the hell over it” and “go fuck yourself” are not signs of being intolerant. Neither is “Screw You Twilight is awesome” (as “Jess” put it so beautifully). Right.
Before you post, please read the other comments. Maybe then people will actually listen to your insults because they won’t be contradicted.
@ Yuki:
I agree. Bella seems to have an Electra complex. The fact that Chalire, her father, smells so delicious and that Edward is constantly compared to a father figure who “watches over his daughter” is quite disturbing.
I meant Charlie, not “Chalire”. I shouldn’t type so fast,
And for the HUNDREDTH TIME, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOU REARS AND PAY ATTENTION: (Caps rape time, everyone!)
WE ARE ALLOWED OUR OPINIONS, IT’S CALLED FREE SPEECH. WE’RE ALLOWED TO BE MORBIDLY CURIOUS, WE’RE EVEN ALLOWED TO READ THEM BECAUSE, GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE FREE WILLS. WE WANT A GOOD LAUGH, WE WANT A GOOD DEBATE, WE REALIZE THAT HER WORK IS CRAP AND WE WANT TO WARN THE WORLD. OTHERWISE, QUIT WHINING ABOUT US WHINING AND REALIZE THAT WE’VE EXPLAINED PLENTY OF TIMES.
/capslock
Sorry. I think that’s the only way to get their attention.
And of course you think that this book is poorly written if you read the crap Jane Austen writes, I mean I couldnt understand a word of it, but maybe thats just because I’m from a modern era.–Rozza
Or you couldn’t understand Jane Austen’s books because you fail at written English?
Just a hunch.
This series rocks.
havnt you taken in mind it might not be your type of book?
you might be reading into the book a little to much?
because reading that i never thought of any of the things you came up with about the book
there is no need to bash the books
i dont like certain books but i dont go and write something like that??
seriously you didnt need to read the next 3 books after twilight
stop bashing the books please, youll get yourself a stupid amount of hate mail
And of course you think that this book is poorly written if you read the crap Jane Austen writes, I mean I couldnt understand a word of it, but maybe thats just because I’m from a modern era.–Rozza
I would announce that to the world if I were you, you fucking imbecile.
No foul lenguage is needed.
Oh my, I’m so scared. Thank you for the warning, Emily, but you realize that a) I’m used to reading into a book, b) I’m not afraid of hate mail after the insanity of this comment thread, and c) I just explained why we have the right to read and bash the books.
If you don’t like it, then don’t read the article. Heck, go back and read the series again – I’m sure you won’t have another thought about any negative themes.
@ Emily:
Perhaps she read all of the books, thought about them, and then decided she didn’t like them? Or she simply wanted to be well prepared to answer her “stupid amount of hate mail?”
Just a thought.
Oh wait, Emily didn’t bother with the incredibly amount of debate. Sorry, I’m not the author – but I’m betting she’d say the exact same thing.
I think we can be a little more imaginative in the way we express ourselves.
I’m not sure if anyone really realizes that Bella is a fictional character, and if we had every character match up to our worlds politically correct view points in order to represent everyone in the best possible light then we would not have any diversification in our characters or their stories. And I’m not sure that we can say she is weak, some of the things Bella does shows more composer and patience and strength than others would have, but we are talking about the fact that she associates with not just “regular” boys but Vampires and Werewolves with a realm of rules and dangers that as humans we need protecting. People have wrapped themselves around the reasoning to things in a FICTIONAL story……if Edward takes Bella to prom and sweeps her off her feet while dancing so be it, Bella took her time to take Edward back into her heart and was timid on the issue of him leaving and it was nice to see Edward, a perfect vampire, make a mistake in leaving Bella it made him almost human and that was great. I enjoyed a great story and I don’t feel like belittling others whether an author or a fictional character to put myself higher. It’s interesting how much time was taken to look “deeper” into these meanings of the Twilight saga and its quite strange, but to each his own I guess. My point being that you can’t but standards or a box around art, and writing is an art and an expression with which we can create what we want how we want it and to try and reason with that is to beat your own head against a wall, so enjoy the time you spend with the wall.
…….I love me some hypocrisy.
Zuniga, have you read most of the fan’s comments? The ones chock full of swearing? Yeah, I think it’s a bit sad that you yell at us…although, to be fair, I haven’t checked to see if you yelled at them. Otherwise, don’t complain about our low swear count – I just don’t feel like coming up with blabber.
@ A Zuniga:
You know, I’ve been lurking since this article was posted and frankly, you’ve been pissing me off with your idiocy from the beginning.
Re-posting the same comment over and over again with slight rephrasing? It’s fucking spam, and it’s dumbass spam at that. You keep saying how “you have faith in kids” and “you give them more credit than that” and how “you and your two kids read and enjoy the series”, as though being a out-of-her-mind Twi-mom is something to brag about. PEOPLE ARE IMPRESSIONABLE. The idea that you think they’re not means you’ve just bought into the utter farce of “everyone’s a special snowflake” and the idea that mediocrity is NOT the rule. So frankly, while I’ve laughed at all the other crazed twelve year olds’ posts, I am more disgusted by yours. At least they have the potential to grow and learn. You? You’re an adult, and you’re revealing yourself to be as big of a self-deluding idiot as they rest of them.
So no foul language? How about we revise that rule to no fucking stupidity.
Hey, um. if you really didnt like the book from the beginning then why didn’t you stop reading.. others like it, so who do you think really cares if you dont like it. You can like other books and not like this kind. WHO CARES! And how is bella swan a bad role model? ITS A FICTIONAL BOOK FOR HEAVENS SAKE!
get a life.
You have no idea how pissed I am right now. My hands are shaking, I’m probably beet red, and I’m trying real hard to keep things in perspective. Yes, you’re entitled to your opinion, and I respect that. But you are blowing things WAY out of proportions. Stephenie Meyer is a good mormon mom, so I’m fairly certain she wouldn’t have put sexist views and such in a series of books she would be letting her children read. Sure, maybe you didn’t like the books, people. But it looks to me like you’re just trying to find ways to make SM look like a total b*. It also looks like you refuse to admit that any books might have become more popular than your precious Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, etc.
Sure, I like Harry Potter as much as the next girl, but honestly, people.
And I wouldn’t be upset if a series of books earned its way to being a million times more popular than the Twilight series, because there would obviously be a good reason behind it other than the weak excuse of “tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls.” Please. Do you mean to say that thousands of girls world-wide are spontaneously becoming bubble-headed morons? I think not.
And maybe the fandom is annoying to you as a Twilight hater, but maybe everyone else is just proud to have found something they really love, to be a part of something big.
Besides, not everyone looks at it they way you so harshly describe. Some of us honestly critique what we don’t like, and say we like what we like. We’re not all mysteriously being brainwashed into loving every little thing about the series.
Also, if the fans of Twilight really didn’t have lives, explain why they still go to school, hang with friends, read other books, and live their lives like anyone else would.
So what I’m trying to say is that your all wasting your time trying to be as contrary as possible. Grow up, get a life, and piss off.
what crap is this? he calls himself a literary studant yet can not spell the word ‘time’ correctly as last time i checked it had an ‘i’ in it rather than an ‘o’.
————–
Try using a dictionary before you make yourself look like an idiot:
Main Entry: tome
Pronunciation: \ˈtÅm\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin tomus, from Greek tomos section, roll of papyrus, tome, from temnein to cut; akin to Middle Irish tamnaid he lops, Polish ciąć to cut, and perhaps to Latin tondēre to shear
Date: 1519
1: a volume forming part of a larger work
2: book; especially : a large or scholarly book
@ Ashley:
Can you please tell this to the other Twilighters? Especially those who worship Edward and hope to be like Bella? Because from what I’ve experienced with Twilighters, this message is lost.
Couldn’t agree more. I read the first two out of curiosity. It was about eight chapters into the third that I stopped for fear of brain damage. It’s the atrocious style and, as you say, purple prose that makes me object to these books on the grounds that prolonged reading of them dangerous to one’s grasp of grammar and style. I’ve read what happens, thought, and about “Breaking Dawn” and I was seriously disturbed by some of what was happening.
Something I found hilarious when I finished “Twilight” — I had recalled this line from earlier in the book: Bella was asked what she was writing an English paper about and replied, “Whether Shakespeare’s treatment of the female characters is misogynistic.” Priceless.
The Twilight Fandom is like the Westboro Baptist Church but with 4 times more batshit.
So, despite what an incredible amount of artists, from visual to musical to dramatic to literate, say, you insist on believing that no, it’s nothing but a story. So what do you say when someone analyzes the Mona Lisa? No, it’s just a painting, quit thinking about it.
Most art has a message behind it, whether it is because of its history, its artist, or something instilled in the piece itself. A lot of literature is social commentary, especially YA pieces, but Meyer fails at even this.
Right. I’ll be going to sleep with my copy of Fahrenheit 451, because we’re clearly becoming a society of nonthinkers. Can’t wait for the next election – let’s all vote for the prettiest candidate!
@ MooMoo
“The Twilight Fandom is like the Westboro Baptist Church but with 4 times more batshit.”
You just made my day. Also, you rock. Your posts have been fuckin’ awesome.
When my friends came to me, telling me to read the Twilight series, i gave in and read the first two books. i never really told them it was dark and disturbing but on the upside, the book had vampires/vampire-related stuff in it(im a big fan of fantasy) and the plot was pretty interesting. As my friends talked about how awesome the book was, i was pretty much like -_-. Eclipse then came out and i tried to get the book but it wasnt available since EVERY teenager in my school was reading it. i just lost interest in the book completely. to make it worse, breaking dawn came out and they threw in a party for its release; i didnt bother to come. now that i read your review, i dont even want to read the 3rd book anymore.
on the other hand, i really love the characters of Edward and Jacob but Bella, she just needs to die in my opinion.
@ MooMoo:
Can you visit that site, please?
Ah, I agree with the person who posted just before me. She has a point. If you didn’t like the first one, why keep reading? That could mean one of two things.
1. You didn’t hate it as much as you say you did.
2. You are so pessimistic that you simply HAD to keep reading so you could find more to complain about.
Hello !
i`m an official twilighter and i love this book, so i can`t understand how they can say this things i think that it is stupid. TWILIGHT ISN`T STUPID AND MACHIST. IT IS A VERY INTERESTING BOOK AND A LOT OF PEOPLE LOVE IT AND THEY KNOW IT.
This incredible saga isn´t cheesy is fantastic.
i understand you, but i think that it`s a fantastic story because this things are irreal , sinceratly i think that you have to understand we,
well, think that and i belive that girls know that edward isn`t perfect and i hate jacob, so i don`t like the “HOT JACOB”
byee,
>_> Or, she didn’t realize her hatred until she finished? Analysis in an afterthought can turn people off.
I agree with Kitty.
No one was really forced to read twilight.
So if you did and didn’t like it, you shouldn’t complain since you chose to continue.
Maybe you should bash yourself for making the mistake?
Cada cual con sus gustos.
Sé feliz y deja de pretender hacer ‘artÃculos’, ya que para eso es necesario ser un poco más imparcial.
PodrÃa decir que parece que el artÃculo lo halla escrito una amargada a la que su novio acaba de dejar.
Un beso!
@ Kitty:
“You have no idea how pissed I am right now. My hands are shaking, I’m probably beet red, and I’m trying real hard to keep things in perspective.â€
LOL.
“Yes, you’re entitled to your opinion, and I respect that. But you are blowing things WAY out of proportions. Stephenie Meyer is a good mormon mom, so I’m fairly certain she wouldn’t have put sexist views and such in a series of books she would be letting her children read.â€
I’m sure she didn’t put them in there intentionally, but the fact that they’re there shows how much of an idiot she is. Believe it or not, messages can be there regardless of whether the author intends them.
“Sure, maybe you didn’t like the books, people. But it looks to me like you’re just trying to find ways to make SM look like a total b*.â€
No, she does that all by herself.
“It also looks like you refuse to admit that any books might have become more popular than your precious Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, etc.â€
LOL. The idea that Twilight is more popular than Harry Potter or Pride and Prejudice is hilarious. Harry Potter has sold billions of copies more than Twilight, made billions in the box office, and the same is true of Pride and Prejudice. You’re an idiot.
““tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls.†Please. Do you mean to say that thousands of girls world-wide are spontaneously becoming bubble-headed morons? I think not.â€
Not spontaneously, no.
“So what I’m trying to say is that your all wasting your time trying to be as contrary as possible. Grow up, get a life, and piss off.â€
You’re being contrary by disagreeing with the article. So why don’t you piss off. See how that sounds stupid?
“Or, she didn’t realize her hatred until she finished? Analysis in an afterthought can turn people off.”
& what is she a mindless zombie while she’s reading the book? Unable to form coherant thoughts and opinions during her read?
Have you ever heard of the “Train wreck effect” ? It’s where even though you don’t want to look, you do anyway because it’s just human nature to want to see something disgusting and sickening. That’s probably why we read it.
And I’m not even going to grace “A girl” because she’s barely able to use spell check.
Kitty: “Please. Do you mean to say that thousands of girls world-wide are spontaneously becoming bubble-headed morons? I think not.”
No one is saying that thousands of girls are becoming morons, but teenagers and humans in general are impressionable. If they weren’t then advertising wouldn’t be effective, elementary kids would’t need an entire class on how to say no to drugs, and there wouldn’t be dozens of people comparing their husbands to Edward.
Obviously Twilight isn’t going to make some teenagers become a zombie like Bella, but that doesn’t mean that the sexist ideas (which are most definitely there even if Meyer didn’t mean for them to be) won’t influence teens.
READ
I love BD, i wish that bella didnt change quite so much tho, that sort of sucked.
Maybe SM will write another book from Nessies perspective.
I understand that all art has a message, I’m just saying that when we look at it we don’t all get the same message. I thank you for reading so shallow into what I wrote. You seem to want us all to look only through your eyes and get upset when others possible see something different. I don’t think girls should b wrapped up in looking for an Edward or searching for the perfect boy or being a damsel in distress, but thank goodness they are reading! That might sound crazy but I am glad that what they are interested in is a book no matter what the female character is because I absolutely do not enjoy the role models some girls pick that are only pop-culture on the surface bubble gum kind of girls, but again to each his own.
What I’m interested in Yuki is what you would have done differently? What would you change that would keep the integrity of the story but would be “great” in your eyes. I used to dabble in writing just for fun and when I read these stories (all the books) I doubted my ability to come up with something that made the audience feel like Twilight did, granted I’m sure I doubted that ability from way before Twilight. It just seems like such a great task, but I’m interested in your view point. I hope that your response would not be an at your throat kind of response but something honest and calm and true. I would appreciate seeing what things you would change and how it would effect the story.
Fabulous review. I couldn’t agree more. The first couple were mildly enough entertaining bits of fluff, but this last was one was a horror, and not in a good way. Pure garbage…garbage that doesn’t even make sense.
Just as Stephenie Meyer, it seems that the majority of her fans fail in writing a grammatically correct paragraph free of spelling errors. I could eat a box of Alphabet cereal and crap a better book.
Love the review, it was right on. Why criticize the Twilight Series? The answer: To warn others to stay away of course…and because it certainly doesn’t deserve to be compared to Harry Potter…or any other well written novel for that matter.
If Stephenie wrote these novels for herself, why couldn’t she keep them to herself? I had to immediately read THREE books to get rid of the foul taste Twilight left in my mouth.
“Just as Stephenie Meyer, it seems that the majority of her fans fail in writing a grammatically correct paragraph free of spelling errors. I could eat a box of Alphabet cereal and crap a better book. ”
..And when was the last time you sold over a million books?
@ Grace:
..And when was the last time you sold over a million books?
When was the last time you said something intelligent?
Don’t you idiots realize that CRITIQUE is part of the process? Should everyone who gives a movie a bad review first have to go and make a BETTER movie before being allowed to give their opinion?
Here’s something else to ponder, why are so many people worried about these books but shows that are just as available to the same target market of the Twilight series are sometimes questionable in their content. I’ve never seen shows like Gossip Girl but wow it seems like so much for young girls, and its sad that girls imitate these characters. I just wanted to through a wider issue into the mix rather than just circling one subject. Just wanted to get some thoughts.
..And when was the last time you sold over a million books?– Grace
Cassie Edwards has sold millions of books. Nuff said.
Priscila: LOL
And to my mind, I really wished something different would have happened in BD.
I mean, why does it have to be Bella who comes to Edward and not the contrary? If they are able to have a baby even though, normally Edward’s sperm should be focilized (how do you spell this word????), why could not Edward be human again?
And finally, I don’t even understand why people have to force themself to read a book that they don’t even like?
I mean, if you do not like something, why read it? To critize it later? I didn’t like Larg’s trilogy and didn’t finish the 1st book! Do I say the entire book and all the people who read it are lame? No…
It’s just about respect: R-E-S-P-E-C-T (lol)…
everyone should be allowed to like what they like…
But they should not force the others to like anyway and should accept critics about it!
“When was the last time you said something intelligent?”
The question still didn’t get answered did it? Critique is part of the process, yes, but you’ll also have to accept that people do like the series and will continue to like it.
And as for what I commented on before, she thought she could write a better book. So why not write one? Isn’t it a better use of time than critiquing a book and saying you could do better?
I guess it just seems like we could all give intelligent critiques instead of saying simple statements like “she’s an idiot”. If we are here to discuss this in a formal way where maybe everyone doesn’t see eye to eye but at the very least they see more than whats in front of them and what’s on others minds. But again feelings and emotion and passions make us human so I guess trying is worth a shot.
“Cassie Edwards has sold millions of books. Nuff said.”
Oh, I didn’t realize I was speaking to THE Cassie Edwards.
The internet isn’t a great medium for conversation, dearie. Half of the stuff I write doesn’t even get a comment, either because no one can read, ah, deeply enough, or else is too interested in themselves to think that someone else may have an answer.
And no, I don’t expect everyone to see out of my eyes, but I do expect decent debate, so I thank you for your non-rabid answer.
I do recall someone posting an interesting re-write of Twilight online…let’s see…Hmm. Darn.
If you wanted to keep the integrity of the story, all you would need to do is to keep Edward with Bella. And of course, have a jealous Jacob off to one side, and that’s really it. I would have included the other characters more, or else deleted them, and I would have been much more realistic in their romance. For the love of all that’s holy, the only reason why they like each other is because Bella smells good and Edward is pretty. And then they get married, which of course just has to be eternal. I would have gone the route of Neil Gaiman and had her grow old and die instead of being so caught up in being young – the fact that Tristan grew old and died, leaving Yvaine alone is the sort of ending that is tragic but natural. It doesn’t always need to be “YAY DISNEY ENDING!!!” There’s a plethora of themes I would have added or taken away.
Any other questions? *still searching for that story….*
Grace: A lot of people can write a better book than Stephenie Meyer, but if they don’t have the marketing or hype she got then it will still sell poorly. Sales are not an indicator of how good a book is.
Oh, I didn’t realize I was speaking to THE Cassie Edwards.– Grace
WTF? Do you comprehend anything before you press “submit”? At all?
Good grief. No wonder you think these books are great.
Ah, here we are.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4451871/1/Daylight.
Anyway, the reason why we’re not protesting Gossip Girl is because a) we don’t hear about it as much, b) televisions, at least, have parental controls, while Twilight does not, a c) I, at least, haven’t seen it, nor have I heard people going “OMG, GOSSIP GIRLS IS SOOOO AWESOME!!!”
I suppose it should be protested, but I don’t know where to begin on that one.
@ Ashley:
I think Twilight, Gossip Girl, and similar themes are just getting too far. I remember watching “Idol Gives Back” on American Idol this year and Miley Cyrus, who is two years younger than I am, did a very ostentatious routine. Why? Why couldn’t she just get on stage and sing like any of the other performers?
I think things like Twilight have made girls get in touch with their sexual sides too quickly. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if the girls understand the consequences of such actions, but unfortunately, many do not. TV and Twilight glorify such things. Bella gets married and pregnant at 18 and her life does not become terrible–it becomes BETTER. Really? I know a girl in my high school who became pregnant at 14. Her life is a struggle–she just does not enough time in a day to devote to her child and to her education! What kind of message are we sending?
Arietta,
sales can be a good indicator of how good a book is. And I’ll agree that even I don’t like everything about the Twilight series. But there is a hype, and she is selling. Part of the reason she is selling is because people do like the series. She gains new fans every single day because they see and find something that they like about it. I agree that there is no harm with books being critiqued, but it doesn’t need to become personal by insulting the fans. Just like fans shouldn’t be insulting people who don’t like the series.
An’t the Gossip Girl books as famous as Twilight?
Because these ones would really need some parental control!
Thanks, that was actually interesting. Although at the end of books I get a little depressed if things end badly especially in the case of immortality. But I mean that’s just my personality, at the end though I was glad to see Bella’s strength and I liked their daughter’s character. I find that interesting though. I didn’t think we got enough of her other human friend characters although its plain to see she doesn’t really connect with that world. Actually to be honest after awhile Jacob got on my nerves with all his push in your face I love you stuff, but I guess that’s one way to see it. I was glad to see that in BD love played an important role and that in the end it came down to Bella’s strength to save all the others. But again that’s one way to look at it. I’m glad we could get something interesting out of this whole thing.
*sorry if there are typing errors, I try to type faster and end up missing something but by the time I post I’m like 6 post behind lol so it’s not that I’m not intelligent enough to type correctly its just that I’m trying to respond in a timely manner. Thanks.
Yuki —
How many times do we have to hear about your boyfriend? Damn, too bad he doesn’t sparkle because then he’d be perfect too, huh?
Moomoo:
I didn’t say that I thought the books were great. In fact, I gave no opinion at all on what I personally liked about the books. I asked a specific question: When was the last time /you/ sold over a million books. I wasn’t asking about anyone else in general. Anyone can sit here and name authors who wrote books that sold plenty of copies. But I was refering to the person who thought she could do better.
paint_it_pink
a difference from you is that I am not lurking for anyone’s opinion
Do i believe what I wrote? you bet is my opinion! why are so mad? I am entitle to it. I am sad that you believe tha most teanagers are mediocrer, but that is your opinion and you are entitle to it.
Is obvios that you are not a very resonable person, when you are lurking for my comments, and directing foul language to me that becomes personal, very low class.
Yuki:
I doing things around the house while I type has fast as I can, but I when I mention foul i was including everyone. So I don’t know why you are calling hypocrit, and do refer to but sides. but no one from the twilight fans are lurkin for my comments.
@ Grace
Sales are also a measure of how influential a book is, too. Take Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for example.
Still want to use that argument, or are “girls really not that impressionable”?
i TOTALLY disagree.
i loved the twilight series and if you don’t like it that doesnt mean you have to bash it.
i’ve read a couple of books that i didnt like but i never went and blogged about it and said how completely terrible it was. some people like it. actually MOST people like it haha.
Paint it pink:
I’ll be completely honest with you and say that I have no idea what ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ is. Obviously, it must be a book. But I’ve never heard of it. So I can’t argue with you at all on that one.
@Grace
But you are the one whose determining the quality of a book by the amount of books being sold.
Just because Smeyer sold a million books doesn’t mean the books are good quality writing. It just means that a million people were duped into spending their money on rubbish.
I cited Cassie Edwards as another example of a terrible writer who sells millions of books.
ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING!!!!
how can yo do this worse comparation , its just a book OK
maybe you are celose or something for edward because he´s perfect an you aren´t but this isn´t real, its a beautiful history about love but its unreal, its a fantasy .
and yeah, maybe its a little creepy but just a little.
you definittly doesn´t understand the book
si tanto te gusta criticar criticate a ti mismo . me importa una mierda tu opinion por que igual me va a seguir gustando el libro y lo unico que lograste con esto es que alguna gente discrimine a los que les gustan estos libros
Ava – as many times are it takes to shut the people who are complaining about our loveless lives up. Because I am quite annoyed at the complete immaturity and idiocy of the people who are simply insulting all those who don’t care for the book, don’t like the disturbing themes in it, and who choose to speak up, I will tell them that yes, guess what, a twilight-hater does have a love life, and a very satisfying one, too.
If he sparkled, I’d ask him to give back the body glitter.
Oh dear God. Were you reading Twilight during history class, too, Grace? Shame. Shame, shame, shame.
I see this consistent comeback from the Twilighters commenting. It’s something along the lines of “When’s the last time you’ve sold millions of books?” Need I remind you that with the proper editor (which Stepehenie lacks), publicity, and an appealing “theme” almost any book can sell millions even as just being a hack story. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the book A Million Little Pieces. Ah yes, the Oprah novel that was written by some doped up alcoholic who got the right publicity for the wrong reason. Now, I’m not calling Stephenie Meyer an abuser of substances by comparing her to James Frey. So don’t even go there.
It’s not a valid point anyway, we aren’t arguing that the book didn’t sell millions nor are we saying that we can get a story published and sell as much. We’re simply arguing that a book that is so shallow and implies the wrong thing should not be the objects of young girls’ wild obsessions.
And I’m sure that there is some book out there that has sold millions of copies that you love to rant about especially if you’re forced to read them at school. I’m sure that people listen to you respectfully when you speak so you should do the same for us. We did not bash you or Stephenie Meyer, and if you have a problem with us critiquing a fictional story, then you are the one disturbed, not us.
People are open to their own opinions and the world would be dull if everyone simply agreed or didn’t express their ideas because they weren’t the most popular one.
I guess girls are being exposed to sex to early but its seems as though it gets to be an earlier and earlier age! Isn’t that just crazy! I was worried about having a crush on a boy when I was 12 but I was climbing trees and playing sports, now by the age of 12 girls are already interesting in having sex, its like Holy Moses! But to be in denial and think that it isn’t happening is worse, but one thing is at least Bella didn’t jump on the chance to be married, it took her some time to like the idea and at least she was married first. I mean that’s one way to look at it. These are just thoughts running through my head, please respond with any of yours. I’m pleased to have other opinions.
*hugs Yuki*
We needs more hugs around here amongst us “haterz”.
@ Grace
“Paint it pink:
I’ll be completely honest with you and say that I have no idea what ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ is. Obviously, it must be a book. But I’ve never heard of it. So I can’t argue with you at all on that one.”
Oh, God. No wonder you’re a Twilight fan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom's_Cabin
Grace: A book being well-liked doesn’t mean it’s good, either. Eragon and City of Bones are two other books that have sold well and have a lot of fans, but are not well-written by any means. For every poorly-written book on the bestsellers list there are hundreds that are written better and can’t get published because the subject matter isn’t right or publishers can’t publish that many new authors. This doesn’t somehow make their opinions invalid and asking whether someone has sold millions of books is ridiculous. Getting published isn’t easy and it’s not often that a book is hyped or marketed enough to sell that well.
Moomoo:
But what you aren’t understanding is that some people /did/ like the books. They chose to spend their money, and they didn’t see it as being duped. They found something they liked about it. So why should they be insulted because others don’t feel the same?
I know a lot of Twilight fans out there take things to the extreme, but I think that’s the case with just about any book. There will always be the extremists, the people who like something about it, the people who don’t like it, and the people who loathe it. It’s a part of the book process. No one should really need to insult others on a personal level. The book, sure, critique all you want, but fans and people who don’t like, really don’t need to be insulted.
Danielle, you deserve a cookie. And yay, I got a hug from MooMoo!
You both need to join here – click my name, I’m sure everyone will love you.
OK, if you didn’t like the first book then why did u read the second? No da it wasn’t realistic it is a vampire love story for pete’s sake! Bella Swan is not weak. She just hangs out with VAMPIRES so no da shes not going to be on top of the power list. Finally, not all the girls are not cool. Look at Rosalie, Esme, Alice, Bree, Jane, Kebi, Tia, Carmen, Maggie, Bella(at the end), Makenna,Charlotte, Sulpicia, and Athenodora! Oh, and if the book is so bad then why are millons of people on millons of twilight websties!?
“Oh dear God. Were you reading Twilight during history class, too, Grace? Shame. Shame, shame, shame.”
I live in Canada. We don’t learn the same things in history class. We focus on other things, that have more to do with us Canadians. I’m sure you don’t know everything about Canada just like I don’t know about every single theory that led up to the Civil War.
Book sold more than a million times?
Let me think about it? the Bible?
Oh anyway, what we ask about a novel is to be entertaining!
It doesn’t have to be the more intelligent thing ever written…
For exemple, Little House by Laura Ingalls … I don’t even know how many copies of these items were sold. Are they the most representative novels of the 1880’s? Certainly not! Do people like it? Of course! And the writting is not even that good! It’s more sexist that anything else! The fact that the book was a best seller should not be influantial and however, it is….
Thank you for this very truthful review!
It makes me sad whenever I see someone saying that Twilight is better than Harry Potter…or Pride and Prejudice. Can you believe that? Ugh. Jane Austen is x1000 better than Stephanie Meyer.
Arietta:
Exactly, being published isn’t easy. But somehow Stephenie Meyer did, which also speaks about her book as well. Little Brown Books obviously liked it enough to publish it. I agree, that books don’t have to be well written to sell. But believe it or not, some people do believe it was well written. And that’s their opinion, just like yours is that it isn’t.
So why should they insult the people who feel differently? Read the comments, if you’d like, Grace – note the amount of people screaming in fury at Rice’s piece. She’s simply making an opinion, and yet many can’t respect her enough to simply go “Nice article. I didn’t really agree with you on this point, but you are entitled to your opinion.” Instead, many – not all, but many- of them screamed “OMFGHEAIROPAER I HATE YOU SO MUCH YOU B***** U PROBLY LIVE IN A SAHCK GO DIE!”
They’re allowed their opinions, but honestly, I don’t have earlids to block out their squealing at school. So what am I supposed to do when the whine about free speech? Tell them that “OMGBBQ S KING WAS SOOOOOO MUCH BETTER SHUT UP U STOOPID B***!”
Yeah, I think not.
Sorry to say that, but I’m a foreigner, a Twilight fan and I KNOW Uncle Tom’s Cabin!
I even read it when I was 8!
So please do not say that all the Twilighters are dumbs because they’re not! Sometimes, the aim of a novel can just be recreative and it’s just for fun…
Like old ladies’ romance books!
Even though Twilight is more for teenagers!
Obviously, girls should not be trapped into this whole love-whataver happens-is-stronger -than-anything thing!
Right, Grace, I’ll let that slide then. For the US, though, we have to learn about Harriet Beecher Stowe and her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, about slavery. I’m sorry that I don’t live in Canada – and that I can’t tell that you do.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ARTICLE IS WRONG AND MAKES NO SENSE!!!!! Of course there relationship isn’t normal! I mean come on! He’s a vampire! and everyting that you claims isn’t realistic or doesn’t make sense is all explained in the book by Meyer! it really annoys me that you say this book is distugsting when there are hundreds of other books out there just like it! Stephenie meyer sells millions of her books and probably makes millions of dollars from them which is more than you will probably ever make in your life time!!! I could probably argue with you more but honestly i dont think its worth my time! All of your opinions are completely FALSE!
Yuki,
I agree with you there. Those are the people who give people who like Twilight a bad reputation. People assume that all people who like Twilight must be illiterate children who can’t back up a decent arguement. But that isn’t the case either, because, not to drag Harry Potter into this, but I’m sure every time a new book came out, there were fans that were very extreme with their opinions, whether good or bad too.
It. Is. Not. About. Specific. Minuscule. Details. And I guess it’s not worth your time to read the rebuttals in the comments, hunh? So here’s the gist: So he’s a vampire. THE BOOK, not EDWARD, THE BOOK, influences people. They are most likely NOT going to jump off a cliff, recreational purposes or not, but they are going to make decisions with this crap in their subconscious.
And no one cares about how much she sells. The bible makes billions. Harry Potter makes billions. Hell, even the Dark Tower series probably makes at least millions.
@ Zuniga:
First, you obviously don’t know what ‘lurk’ means. It means that I’ve been reading the comments, but haven’t responded until now.
Second, I never claimed you weren’t allowed to have an opinion–of course you are. I just said your opinion was stupid. Did you even read my comment? Do you know what I said?
Try responding to what I actually said this time.
“Right, Grace, I’ll let that slide then. For the US, though, we have to learn about Harriet Beecher Stowe and her book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, about slavery. I’m sorry that I don’t live in Canada – and that I can’t tell that you do.”
Thanks, that is exactly why I’m taking World History next year. I’m hoping I’ll learn more about things that don’t always center around Canada.
Sydnie,
Most of the article is dictated by a person’s opinion. No opinion can ever be wrong. You can disagree with them, but you have no right to say that they’re false.
Also, yes, of course a vampire dating a human is going to be different from a normal one, but that doesn’t give Edward the right to make every choice for Bella. It also doesn’t give him the right to basically stalk her.
Many tweens read this book and if they grow up with the notion that a guy you don’t know watching you while you sleep is a romantic image, well…let’s just say that the outcome isn’t favorable to them.
ok first of all these books were amazing and so is stephenie meyer!!! i mean what is wrong with all of you, if you all hate these books sooooo bad THEN DONT READ THEM!!! ughh! and please keep your comments to yourself because there about a million girls out there who would completely disagree with all of you! and for good reason to! and stephenie meyers books are VERY well writen!! and all of the points made in this article are not only false there so stupid its not worth my time to argue with!!!!!!!!!
this site makes me giggle sometimes, I can see the shape the circle of commentary we are all making and the only thing that changes is that there are more people involved. I guess I like the passion each side is representing, I think there are things that are popular in our culture and most of the time it isn’t flawless, but there is beauty in flaws sometimes, that’s why in epic stories each hero has a character flaw. I don’t have any friends that are interested in the books like I am so its nice to see what people are thinking about, I hope we can talk about new ideas on the books to or in the world in general that have a connection to the books.
We’ve noticed, Zoe, that there are plenty of people to argue with. However, since you haven’t backed even a single claim, I don’t think it’s worth my time to bother with your immature little rant.
@ MooMoo and Danielle:
We’d love to have you guys over at http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi. You guys are awesome.
Maybe if she releases Edwards side in Morning Sun (that’s the title right) we can get a more well rounded view of what it going on, with the idea of the stalking and overprotective view.
It’s Midnight Sun, and you should go read the first chapter. If you’d like a sporked version, head over to http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=831
And really, all you hear is “I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored”
Edward’s intentions are irrelevant. Acta non verba. Him stalking Bella and being controlling/domineering are not going to change based on how he himself sees those actions. They’re still abusive.
Sorry to say that Zoe, but even for a foreigner like me who does not speak very well English, I can see that the book wasn’t well written…
I thought to myself “er…. this mus be American way-of-writting… Much different from the English style”…
Gosh, I’m glad I found this site so that I can have the confirmation that the book is not well written.
Thanks to everyone!
paint_it_pink
why do i need to answer to you anything when is clear that you are a very unreasonable person.?
I Can at any time respond the the article, and that is what I didand will appreciate if you stop calling me names.
You’re very welcome, Julia. Where are you from?
And if you want some good books, I’m for the S King stuff, or Neil Gaiman, or Piers Anthony. All well written, and interesting too. No pretty vampires, though.
Ok first of all the Twilight series is N-O-T over because a new book is going to come out. And second of all this book ISN’T REAL.. and the author can do WHATEVER she wants in her book. ITS HER BOOK NOT YOURS. And I don’t get why you HAVE to write a stupid article about how you hate the series. If you wrote a book I hope someone does that to you. BECAUSE THIS IS JUST PLAIN FREAKIN’ WRONG!!! I <3 TWILIGHT! AND I DON’T CARE WHAT U SAY ABOUT IT!!
Its F-I-C-T-I-O-N!
its not supose to be realistic.
god, i loved all these books.
I mean, why shoud all books these days have to be so dead-on.?
these books are so intense are romantic.
who gives a shit abot “realism”
if u want to read a more realistic book, dont get one from the fiction section you damn door knob.
Thanks paint_it_pink and Yuki.
And Midnight Sun in my opinion will be even worse than Bella because I’m pretty sure half the book will be: *angst angst angst* She smells so good therefore I am in love with her! What a monster I am! At least she thinks I’m pretty and likes that I sparkle and stalk her!
@ Grace:
Grace, if you scroll up and read the majority of responses to this article as saying that Twilight is the best book, that the articles’ writer is “stupid, dumb, etc,” then you will see what I am talking about when I say that the MAJORITY of fans cannot form an error free message. Go ahead, take a look. I didn’t say ALL fans, just the MAJORITY. Paint it Pink, Moo Moo, and Arietta, you are RIGHT ON!
I work in the publishing industry, it’s not easy to get published and there are a TON of great writers trying to get their books out there and their writing is a hundred times better than S Meyer’s fantastical ramblings. Why aren’t they getting published? Sometimes the market isn’t ready for intellectual prose, sometimes it’s b/c the publishers are looking for a quick buck and care nothing for the actual art of writing. For that, I believe so mnay people are getting so heated by these “novels.” The writing is repetitive, full of errors…don’t believe me? Grab yourself a red pen and go through your books, I’m sure you’ll find the errors. It’s a total travesty that this woman can be called a bestselling author.
Danielle,
I’m am not saying her opinion of not liking the book is false i am talking about the points she made to the book trying to make the book sound stupid.
The points she makes that have to do with things in the book like how the baby grew so quickly are all explianed in the book, though she makes it seem as though it was out of the blue.
And if she really thought that the books were so disgusting and unhealthy then why did she read all four?!
*grinding teeth* Right. Because Meyer is very logical. Sydnie, the fact is, I’ve accepted that Meyer rarely bothers to apply logic to her characters – but I haven’t heard the reasoning behind why Bella managed to get pregnant, why Nessie, despite being HALF HUMAN, and logically should be aging at half the pace of a regular human, is suddenly all grown up, why Bella skipped being a newborn vampire, etc, etc, etc.
And why do we read them? Read my train-wreck comment.
It’s been interesting hearing all the sides to everyones opinion although some more hostile than others. I still enjoy the books and will re-read them which is something I never do. I guess there will alway be a battle against the damsel in distress and the independent woman, but I think even the independent woman wants some nice things from time to time and likes a guy treating her like a lady and something special. Each of us had a different point of view and its nice to see. Thanks for the insight and I will visit again, but for now its back to real life, that’s one thing about all this, life is waiting for us to live it I’m sure and bash or not bash a book too long. Bye.
well yuki, if my “little rant” wasn’t worth your time to argue with then why write a comment at all? It obviously got throught to you enough to respond. And for the record it would take far to much time to back all of my claims and why bother when some of you will just come up with some rediculous counter argument.
Ridiculous, yes, because you clearly don’t want to bother to even finish reading the comment. I’m alerting you to the fact that your rant is barely applicable anymore, and that most, if not all, of it has been disproved by the people here. Go look through the comments and quit complaining about how long it was take to back up your claims – you’re so angry that Twilight was dissed, yet you can’t prove why. Sounds like a sound argument to me.
Most good heroes have more than one character flaw. When writing a book you tend to want to make your characters as sympathetic as possible which SMeyer fails to do, especially with Edward.
I don’t care if he’s a vampire (*snicker*). Vampires were humans once, no matter how long ago and should have human psyches. Anne Rice, while playing up her characters vampireness, still explored their human sides, which in the end made her characters real for her readers. They grew as their immortal years went on. SMeyer’s vampires obviously weren’t influenced by the powerful moments in history as they should have been. That’s a lot of lost potential that could’ve made them more sympathetic. I mean how awesome would it have been for all the Cullen men to have been drafted into WWII while Esme, Alice and Rosalie were left to take up “men’s” jobs like the other women of the time did (if they had been more interested in mingling with people and hadn’t been rich)? Even as backstory that would’ve made the Cullens seem less like rich, smarmy brats that just have furniture breaking sex and attend high school.
I felt disconnected from all of them. If they’re supposed t be Bella’s future family shouldn’t I have felt more of an emotional connection to them? This is the first series I’ve felt emotionally disconnected from which was a disappointment after reading The Dark Tower Series.
You’re one of those people who thinks Disney is evil, aren’t you?
@AshleighJanePiercey
Please look up ‘realism’ in context to literature.
Don’t speak of what you don’t know, makes you sound stupid. I’m not calling you stupid, just that you sound stupid.
Sydnie,
I’m sorry, but I believe your exact words, “All of your opinions are completely FALSE!”
If you did not mean this you shouldn’t generalize.
Also, I have to agree. The rate of Nessie’s growth was never fully explained. It didn’t have to do with the chromosome count because the amount of chromosomes does not determine how quickly you will mature.
I believe that by reading all four she was giving a chance for Meyer to redeem herself. Not only that, but it would be frowned upon to write a review critiquing the entire series (or just a few of the books) without giving all the books a chance.
@ paint_it_pink
“I’m sure she didn’t put them in there intentionally, but the fact that they’re there shows how much of an idiot she is. Believe it or not, messages can be there regardless of whether the author intends them.”
If she’s such an idiot, why does the publishing company continue to publish her work? Does that make them idiots, too?
“No, she does that all by herself.”
So do you, quite frankly.
“LOL. The idea that Twilight is more popular than Harry Potter or Pride and Prejudice is hilarious. Harry Potter has sold billions of copies more than Twilight, made billions in the box office, and the same is true of Pride and Prejudice. You’re an idiot.”
You mean to say that Twilight hasn’t either? It’s sold a good number of copies, and I suppose we won’t know if Twilight will be more popular as a movie than HP was until it comes out November 21. Oh, and being called an idiot in no way intimidates me. I’m not a member of the debate club, I’m just defending a great series from unneccessary criticism. I’m not trying to look like a freakin’ genius.
“You’re being contrary by disagreeing with the article. So why don’t you piss off. See how that sounds stupid?”
So we’re all being contrary and we have nothing more to talk about. Why don’t we all just piss off?
Yes, I know I probably sound like an idiot getting all wrapped up in this debate, but I don’t really give a crap. It’s not like I care what a few people on the internet think of me as a person. I care about as much as you do, which by the looks of it means I don’t care at all, since I thoroughly beleive that you are a total moron.
@ Arietta
“No one is saying that thousands of girls are becoming morons, but teenagers and humans in general are impressionable. If they weren’t then advertising wouldn’t be effective, elementary kids would’t need an entire class on how to say no to drugs, and there wouldn’t be dozens of people comparing their husbands to Edward.”
We’re not talking about elementary kids, though, are we? And yes, I see your point. All that is indeed true, but I doubt that all adolescents are so impressionable that they are going to be influenced to the point of becoming total zombies by merely reading a series of books. Sure, some must be, at least a little, but not all.
“Obviously Twilight isn’t going to make some teenagers become a zombie like Bella, but that doesn’t mean that the sexist ideas (which are most definitely there even if Meyer didn’t mean for them to be) won’t influence teens.”
If every book ever written influenced teens in a way dramatic enough to cause this much worry and strife, then why don’t you get off your lazy butt and write yourself a nice book about why you shouldn’t have sexist ideas? That’ll fix the whole problem, won’t it? Don’t be stupid. I don’t see people starting to have any sexist ideas simply because they’ve read these books.
@ Grace:
“I agree with Kitty.
No one was really forced to read twilight.
So if you did and didn’t like it, you shouldn’t complain since you chose to continue.
Maybe you should bash yourself for making the mistake?”
Ah, thank you! Someone with some sense in them!
@Yuki
“Have you ever heard of the “Train wreck effect†? It’s where even though you don’t want to look, you do anyway because it’s just human nature to want to see something disgusting and sickening. That’s probably why we read it.”
Wow, that human nature comment explains why you’re all here in the first place! You want to see yourselves all being disgustingly, sickeningly wrong. Well, despite your human nature (god, I just love that dumba* comment!), you really should have better things to do than hanging out here being such pessimists!
When I don’t like a book, I give it a good chance, and then I put it down and GET ON WITH MY LIFE!!!! Wow, there’s a thought!
Yes. Yes it is. How could they possibly kill Bambi’s mother?
Corvin: I WUB YOU! Dark Tower FTW!
Spot on. Great review.
Yuki….
From Paris, France (the real Paris ^^)
Actually, normally I read only English novels, but I really wanted to read the end of the Twilight saga…
And to be honnest, I do really like Stephen King (I still suffer for the trauma, “It” caused me when I was young! lol).
As I said, I enjoyed the book but I really think it could be improved!
I mean, Meyer has a great idea but seems to don’t care about the real thoughts of her character! Everything could just be so much better if she took some time to describe what she thinks! We are not in her mind so, sometimes, we just miss some points!
But the thing that I dislike the most is that the story is just identified to Wuthering Heights’ characters… Hitcliffe and Catherine are so different!
And girls, please do not forget that at the begining Edward wanted to BITE Bella…
And finally, stop staying that’s the best romance story ever! It is not… If you want a great romance book, please read P&P… It’s the same storyline: a woman and a man who hate each other at first but then, she’s going to turn to be fascinated by Darcy!
This really worth to be read!
And for the fina word, this is a book people will remember in 200 years!
Andy,
Yes, there ARE sane Twilighters, I know this. However you have to admit that, unfortunately, the outspoken ones are the really crazy fans. Only insane fans would get so angry at somebody’s personal opinion. It’s not like the author posted this in a place where twilight fans hang out. They posted it on their own blog.
Was that Disney comment aimed at me? If so, no I don’t believe Disney is evil. Their movies have just gotten progressively worse since the Lion King, spiking every once in a while with movies like Finding Nemo.
You know the ‘assume’ saying right?
The reason why bella got pregnant, Yuki, is all explained by stephenie meyer in the book! If you were paying attention. The book clearly says that girl vampires bodys can not change because they are frozen in they’re state. But the boy vampires bodys dont have to change to have a child like a womens. and bella is HUMAN and can change to bear a child.
and bella skipped being a newborn vampire because stephenie meyer gives her special abilitys and powers. Its like part of her personality as a vampire and it even comments in the book that “it was like she was made for immortality”. REREAD THE BOOK!!! its all there.
Yeah, I’m such a sick person, very nice turnaround. Of course, it makes absolutely no sense, but thanks anyway. I agree completely with you, though – I am very, very sick. I’m the type of girl who envisions tearing out people’s bowels and showing them down their convulsing throats. I think about how it would look if I took a shotgun – sawed off, of course – to someone’s head. How their brains would spatter the walls in beautiful gray and white and red. How I could cut a neat line down their abdomens and pack it with salt, letting them scream to death as they dehydrate painfully.
I’m a big fan of SK, I think I’ve said several times. While the comment was meant about the way we just can’t tear our eyes off a scene of destruction, you’re absolutely right – I am sick enough to want that destruction.
*Sorry, I meant magazine blog lol.
Wow. That’s the first thing I have to say. Twilight is one of my favorite books. I have a question for you: Do you honestly think that Stephenie Meyer’s intentions were to make the book for any girl to go out and try to find a vampire boyfriend…or a werewolf secret lover….I DON’T THINK SO!!!! Some people do make a point in saying that some things were wrong like how Bella fell for Jacob while being madly in love with Edward. But I want to let you know that, that’s what makes the Twilight Saga, The Twilight Saga. Everyone wants something to just one day take them into a fantasy world where they KNOW that is fiction, but they just want to escape the hectic life of today. I mean Stephenie Meyer loves her books, she’s proud of them, and people have NO RIGHT to put her and her books down because they don’t like them! I don’t give a shit if you don’t like them, and I don’t give a shit if you do like them. But I know that I like them, and that they take me away into a world where I can escape (even if for only 2 chapters). The Twilight Saga is something that Stephenie Meyer created for herself, and for the people who want to escape into the Twilight world with her. So you have your opinion and I have mine. Twilighters do need to know that if your boyfriend breaks up with you, then there is no reason to commit suicide. The world is different today, the world is not perfect, and girls and women know how to stand up for themselves. You can bash Twilight all you want, and you should stand up for Twilight all you can, but Twilight was NOT meant to have girls create a fantasy world for themselves, that they can’t live in. I do love the Twilight Saga, but I can also keep a reality check. Bella found her love (Edward…duh!), and she found another guy who makes her oh so happy, but she know that her love is stronger for Edward. If you say that you’ve never been in that serious, I bet you have had at least one relationship where you loved the guy so deeply that you would be willing to do anything for him. Who gives a crap if Jacob KISSED HER TWICE UNWILLINGLY! It’s what made the book the book. She kissed him right back, and it developed more draw to the book. I am sure that everyone has been in some situation like that, and if not, then you probably will be.
Okay, enough with the freaking lecture. I just think that Stephenie Meyer wrote this knowing that not everybody’s going to like it. But she did write it for the people who do want to read it.
-Twilight/Reality Check
(I am Cecilia’s cousin who commented b4. Read her comment that was placed around 9am August 19 for some true Twi-Hard commenting)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s to make up for the lack of exclamation points in my comment !
Everyone has their own opinion, and this woman has hers. She did make some good points. But she needs to know that Stephenie Meyer wasn’t trying to say anything RIce said up there. Stephenie Meyer’s books started as a dream, and now they are out there for who ever want to read them, to enjoy them. If you hate them, you can hate them. If you love them, then you can love them. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is so freaking retarded for everybody to be like “twilighters are dumbasses†and for twilighters to say “non-twilighters are dumbasses†no one cares that much! It was just a critic opinion. I don’t know if everyone knows this but that’s her job. Just because Rice says that doesn’t mean that Twilighters have to be like “your such a dumbass!†Just like the damn books on your own term. I do like them and I already said something above. In my comment above, I didn’t take sides either. But you honestly gotta be kidding me.
Just get on with your day.
*hmph*
-Twilight/Reality Check
ok i just posted both of my comments from b4. now read them, and understand them!
Let it be known that I am a HUGE Twihard, but I still get excellent grades, am an honor student, have several great friends, and spend a max 2 hours a day on the computer. During THAT time, I spill my fandom out onto the internet, and when the time is up, I move on with life.
As a side-note, I don’t give a s*** what you think of me, so call me whatever you like.
I will not be offended by comments I receive on the internet. xD
So the males still get their wonderful procreating abilities, while a female can’t generate hers. Such a wonderful equality. And of course, Bella is supa speshul – she just gets her happy ending, minimal fuss. Mary Sue much? It still breaks the rules of her universe, and that’s just a stupid thing for Meyer to do.
What a great person. Whoo, let’s all cheer for her.
I’m a huge anti-twihard, yet I get awesome grades, am taking college classes in high school, have gotten top scores on my AP tests, have great friends, a boyfriend, several invitations to Harvard, volunteer, hold a job, and is getting read to actually go to college, unlike certain characters. So what does that say about me and my opinions?
Absolutely nothing.
Actually, none of the pregnancy thing makes sense. So let’s talk about Nessie, where do I start? Well actually, this would take quite a bit time to explain so if you really wanted to know I’d tell you.
For now though I’ll just touch on a few points.
1. The only fluid in vampire’s bodies is supposed to be venom. (If this entered Bella’s body it would kill all the blood in the area and her egg)
2. 23 chromosomes plus 25 chromosomes does not equel 24 chromosomes
3. Just because you share the same amount of chromosomes as another species does not make you more closely related.
But that’s just a small explanation as to why Nessie makes absolutely no sense.
Oh Sydnie please…
I so loved Twilight that I read the three others!
But do you really think the pregnant thing can be possible?
What is wong with people? Do everyone who’s married in high school has to have a baby so early even when it’s not even possible? (Meyer has defenitely watched ONE TREE HILL too often…) OMG! The women’s body are frozen but not the males’ one…? Even me, who was one of the first fans could not bear it!!! They made love twice and she gets to have a baby…!!!!
And furthermore, sorry to say that but, if female vampire are frozen inside, how can they have orgasm? This is something I really would like to know…. lol
Exactly, Yuki!
How come people look up to Bella and and not other stronger characters like Alice Maxwell from ‘Cell’? Christ, Alice is 2-3 years younger than Bella and she can kick her ass from Boston to Portland, OR and back. Probably Edward too, vampire or not.
@Sydnie
“The reason why bella got pregnant, Yuki, is all explained by stephenie meyer in the book! If you were paying attention. The book clearly says that girl vampires bodys can not change because they are frozen in they’re state. But the boy vampires bodys dont have to change to have a child like a womens. and bella is HUMAN and can change to bear a child.
and bella skipped being a newborn vampire because stephenie meyer gives her special abilitys and powers. Its like part of her personality as a vampire and it even comments in the book that “it was like she was made for immortalityâ€. REREAD THE BOOK!!! its all there.”
Exactly!
Sarah Marie,
I agree. So I’m leaving (bet that makes you all very happy), because this argument is freaking retarded.
There are NO SEXIST VEIWS or ANYTHING OF THE SORT in Twilight, people. You can waste your time saying so, but you’ll be online FOREVER arguing pointlessly. Bye now!
Thank you so much, Danielle. Unless Bella and Edward are really plants, which, under certain circumstances, can change chromosome numbers (but no animals have ever been found to do so by cross-breeding), then Nessie makes no sense.
Mind you, I think I’ve stated several times that I have NOT read BD.
And yeah, I still don’t understand the whole sperm bit. Do they have sperm, A, and B, if they do, then why do they generate it if they’re “frozen in time” ?
^^ Because they are too stupid to realize she’s a complet idiot. The fact that some of them actually wish they were Bella is a reflection of their intelligence.
actually they have to have sperm to procreate a baby, don’t they???
So if you haven’t read the novel, you may not know that Bella, as a vampire, as A LOT of sexual relations with Edward and she seems to enjoyr it! So, this must be orgasm… And how can she have this sensation if she’s frozen inside??????
Still don’t get that point
@ Sydnie:
Yes, but as a few people (including Yuki, I believe) have said earlier, the act of sexual intercourse is virtually impossible for Edward. According to Mrs. Meyer, vampires no longer have heartbeats. So, how is Edward able to “get it up”? Something needs to pump his bodily fluids (venom, in this case) into his little friend.
Nessie is just biologically not possible.
God help us if this book is still talked about 200 years from now. I highly doubt anyone will remember Stephenie Meyer in 5 years time…unless they are writing an essay on the biggest hacks in literature history.
I have read The Host, it’s a bit better…well, it’s not HORRIBLE. Reads like young adult fiction though, not as many grammar errors, but it was an interesting read. Trust me, I REALLY wanted to like this author and I REALLY wanted to like her series…I am a HUGE BTVS fan and thought that this would mimic a lot of the theme of BTVS….but no. Horribly written, horrible “plot”, with no substance…this isn’t what we should be pushing our teenagers to read. if anything, it’s a horrible example of writing…not even including the fact that Bella is a boring and plain girl…S Meyer so much as spells it out for us in the first chapter.
actually, it is not only about Edward
all the vampire seem to have a lot of sex!
and to enjoy it (cf. Carlisle & Esme, and Emmet & Rosalie)…
This is not criticism just wonders ^^
Kitty: “That’ll fix the whole problem, won’t it? Don’t be stupid. I don’t see people starting to have any sexist ideas simply because they’ve read these books.”
I didn’t mean that Meyer should have wrote a book where the message is “Sexism is bad! Don’t be sexist!” There’s nothing wrong with sexism in books if it’s handled well. The problem is that Meyer says that Bella is a strong protagonist and that the relationship between her and Edward is perfect.
I completely agree that the book itself is not going to have some major influence and make thousands of teenage girls start to think badly of their own gender, but that doesn’t change the fact that these books can have an influence on teens. You yourself admitted that some readers might be influenced, so why can’t the sexism in the books make an impression on them as well? There is still a fair amount of sexism in our society. Why does Meyer need to add to that, act like there’s nothing wrong, and even go out of her way to mention how ridiculous it is for someone to bring up the point of Bella being anti-feminist?
Anyway, my eyes are getting sore, so I’m leaving for now.
At this point, it ceases being a debate about what was said in the book and becomes a question of Meyer’s logic. She contradicts herself constantly – and yes, go ahead and excuse her because she “doesn’t think about it” – and breaks canon constantly. It’s annoying, and I’m not sure I want to read the rest of the books, even to be able to cite when and where something could not have happened to the fans.
i´m mexican
a mi me encanto twilight
se puede decir que soy unaa super fan
lo que usted dice es ilogico
yo como mujer y niña ya que olo tengo 14 añoss le puedo decir
que el libro no es malo al contrario
introduce amor a nosatras ya que la historia es apacioonante
y yo cuando lo lei nunca dije mom mi novio me dejo me arrojare de un acantilado
es logico que no me dejo lo quisee
pero ya que pe conciogo otro
pordios
a mi parecer la historia es grandiosa
asi que no es por ser grosera pero
jodanszzzzzzzzzEhh
fuck u
todos son una porqueria
todos los que firman son unos viejito
que como ya son grandes ya no sienten esa
magia que trae el libroo
I am cracking up right now. I think it is funny how you can bash something that is so big. This is causing a huge storm in the Twilight world, and I can say for all the Twilighters (including me), lots of them dislike you with a burning passion.
You read all four books. Why did you read them? Because you hated it, and it sucks like you say? I don’ t think you could. Someone who hates one book in a series, seriously doesn’t read the rest.
This is your opinion, and you generalize it. Not everyone agrees with you. I know millions of people who don’t. The fanbase is devoted, and we still stand by Stephenie.
For one, it is not feminist. Bella does safe Edward, cooks for her dad, takes care of her mom, and gets great grades in school. She just happens to be clumsy. I know I am. No one is perfect (though it seems like you think you are…) She also had found her true other half, and is head over heals. I think it shows how much she loves him.
Secondly, Jacob is not perverted. If you read between the lines, the only reason he needed Bella was because Nessie was in there. That was what was making Bella also be drawn to Jacob.
Thirdly, Nessie is adorable. She makes sense. 24 cromosomes is inbetween 23 and 25, so she has 24. The growth rate was sped up, because obviously, she isn’t human, and there had to be something to make it happen. Also when a person becomes a vampire, their body freezes in time. A male is pretty much the same in his teen years. So Edward, could have sperm in him to have the baby.
Kellen, I really hope you read this. Next time you write an article, I would make sure that it is a little more reseached. If you did, maybe you would see that this book is about ten times better than Harry Potter. Unlike Harry Potter, this book didn’t give me a headahce.
Why do women like you insist on being so negligent? Making up excuses for their sexist behaviour. Women like you are the reason there’s still sexism in the world today. The blame doesn’t fall on men anymore. This is the time in history where women finally have the chance to claim our equality – not superiority! – and then, the vast majority realizes that it was a lot easier the way things were or they blame it on men and even expect them to resolve this issue. Women as young as you are should not have such arcaic and degrading instincts, the ones that made Twilight appealing to you. Evidence of this is that you expressed that Twilight is “ten times better than Harry Potter”. If this went into a debate, which would be your arguments to support this? I have heard people arguing that Twilight is about “true” love and Harry Potter seems too childish and not as mature? Just in case you thought of that, Harry Potter, among many other things, is about TRUE love. The “love” you find in Twilight is not the real thing. It has been sold to everybody on novels, movies; when actually is just some very mundane promise of passion, sexual fantasy and physical attraction.
Just think about it, the series are about how women need men. If someone starts reading the book, and the description of Edward doesn’t fit the one of your “ideal man”, then there’s nothing else to read in the book. It is arguably inferior narrative.
There is no doubt that Stephenie Meyer’s work represents an involution with women, and it’s sickening to see how the series are glamourized by the girls of the next generation.
You can count yourself as just another sheep, which is probably why good literature causes you strain.
Well said, Buffie!
And to contribute to the biological inconsistencies:
Vampires are DEAD! If they are dead then they wouldn’t feel aroused and even if they did, they have no way of producing, say… a hard-on or wetness to be able to have sex.
*makes a general, bored motion at Nessie to go read the arguments* Well, we now know that you’re not a biology major.
Jessica,
se relaje.
es solomente uno libro. y personas pueden decir que le gustan sobre el libro.
(Sorry, my spanish is a little rusty)
Kitty-
“LOL. The idea that Twilight is more popular than Harry Potter or Pride and Prejudice is hilarious. Harry Potter has sold billions of copies more than Twilight, made billions in the box office, and the same is true of Pride and Prejudice. You’re an idiot.â€
“You mean to say that Twilight hasn’t either? It’s sold a good number of copies, and I suppose we won’t know if Twilight will be more popular as a movie than HP was until it comes out November 21.”
Harry Potter has sold 450-some million copies. Twilight has sold 10 million — which is nothing to sneeze at, of course, but it doesn’t come anywhere near HP. And I GUARANTEE you that Twilight will not be as popular as Harry Potter at the box office, either.
syndie-
“The points she makes that have to do with things in the book like how the baby grew so quickly are all explianed in the book,”
Why don’t you point out the passages where she explains it, then. And then we can see if they’re logical and make sense in Meyer’s world.
Remember — even though it’s FICTION, it’s still world-building, and everything has to make sense in the world as Stephenie Meyer has written it. It only has to be logical and consistent WITHIN HER WORLD.
My final word for this review.
Everyone has to learn criticism….
This is what is about in that article.
Everyone should learn to think twice.
Even if you loved something, doesn’t it means that you have to (don’t know the English expression: French is “prendre du recul” lol) rethink about it and distinguish what you like and what you disliked!
Twilighters, you are allowed to love the book even if some people hated it!
For my final word, I would just like to give you a simple exemple.
A British bestseller is “A year in the merde”, a book in which a British young man goes to France for a year… This is so cliché about the French way-of-life: French people appear as dumbies who are not even able to speak another language. Well, the fact is that I’m French, and I’ve never laughed as much as for this book. The word you need to know here is: self-criticism ! !!
@ Nessie:
*headdesk*
Read the other comments, please. Danielle and Yuki do a good job of explaining why Nessie cannot exist..
@ Nessie:
Good to know that you know your numbers (Cheers for paying attention in math class!) but a banana and an apple don’t make a banapple.
Nessie,
“She makes sense. 24 cromosomes is inbetween 23 and 25, so she has 24.”
That’s not how it works. Chromosomes come in pairs, okay? One from the mom, one from the dad. Bella doesn’t have those two extra chromosomes so those two extra chromosomes cannot become a pair.
Nessie has what we call monosomy. Actually, she has a double case of it. Most children with monosomy die. What do you think is going to happen when it occurs twice?
@ Danielle:
She turns into a mythical creature that may or may not exist, but may live in a lake in Scotland.
alright yuki if you want an eplanation to back up my claims you got one. For example lets look at her point about how bella got pregnant so quickly because of renesmes growth rate. It ridiculouse that she says its an unlikly scenario that she got pregnant so quick when Stephenie Meyer explains it in the book in fine black print! the child isn’t going to be normal, i mean she’s half vampire! And it is well what you could call normal for a half human, half vampire child to grow at half the speed of a normal human child. The book even brings in a character, Nahuel, who is also half vampire, half human to prove this point and show what will become of Renesme. I guess i just cant grasp how a person who hates these books soo much reads all four? hmm?
and FRANKLY all twilight fans(way more of us than dissers) are glad she “bowed out of twilight mania” if thats what you all call it, we dont hav room for her!
Danielle – Nessie is the ultra-special sparkle child. She can’t possibly die. It just wouldn’t be canon to Meyer’s happy land of sparklies.
And I’m ashamed of my age group. I learned this in Bio, freshman year, and they don’t know it. I guess they’re either younger or more ignorant than I thought.
Danielle
you just forgot to say that Meyer has meant it to be like this!
She really wanted Nessie to be special….
She’s extraordinnary and gonna make it despite this matter
Once again, I keep saying that I have NOT read BD. I don’t know where the hell any of the quotes you’re getting are from. I am MUCH more concerned about the logic behind her apparently very special birth, not the little…stories that Meyers uses to explain away those flaws.
And what? I think someone mentioned that Bella wasn’t supposed to be fertile during that time…because females are really only fertile for one week, tops, out of every month. I didn’t say anything about the pregnancy – but I feel incredibly bad for Bella’s body. She must have had to eat incredible amounts of food to support that sort of growth. But why she would have to drink any blood is beyond me – the only things in blood would also be going to the child through the umbilical cord.
Eh, logic fail.
Gasp!
One of my things didn’t post.
Thank you guys very much for the corrections
I wouldn’t want SMeyer to think that I felt her logic was wrong or anything.
(Yuki, I joined that message board site as confettiattack)
Oh we may havecertainly forgotten something….
The vampires’ sper cells is just stronger than the human’s one and goes straight to Bella’s ovules even though she’s not fertile at that moment…
Gosh, How stupid we are!!!!
@ Claire
Ouch that’s got to hurt, I guess Ed’s sperm were very set on reproducing.
dear …,
I am really quite bored and tired of having to rexplian to everyone why bella can get pregnant when it already explains it in the book. If you really read the book and paid attention you would know that its true and understand the whole reason why.
And by the way some of the comments you made make no sense and had us laughing the whole time we read! LOL!!!!!
@ Nessie:
It’s good that this article is causing a storm in the fandom. It might get some people to actually think about what they are reading instead of just guzzling it down like baby birds.
Discipline, darling, it’s all about discipline. ;D We read them because if we said we’ve only read the first book all you rabids would’ve bashed us for saying it sucks without reading all of them. It’s so we can legitimate opinions, but obviously the rabids are so dumb that they can’t see that.
OH, THE HYPOCRISY KILLS!
1.) Bella fails as a strong protagonist. If she were a strong protagonist, she wouldn’t need Edward and the Meyerpires to save her all the damn time. If she were smart and observant, half of her problems wouldn’t exist and would be replace with more believable problems.
Stop assuming, babe, makes you look like an ass.
2.) Okay, what if he and Bella HAD gotten together and had a were-baby with that exact egg? Would Jacob have imprinted on it then? That’s what this is implying and only serves to prove again that imprinting is disgusting.
3.) You shouldn’t talk about chromosomes since you have know idea how they work. Go take a decent a Biology class and you will learn that if two beings have different amounts of chromosomes can’t produce offspring.
I’m sorry, but Harry Potter actually has a good message and sympathetic characters so Twilight will always fall short of HP’s standards.
925 comments, ouch.
But you are very, very correct. The books are incredibly awful in every way. Ok, not every way — the cover designs are quite nice. And Breaking Dawn would make an effective doorstop. I think that’s about it.
@ Danielle
well, 107 years of virginity…
They were just waiting for that….
Well stop joking, this isn’t the point of the article… Well I guess so…
(it may be hard for people who read my comment to get that despite all the mistakes, the grammar, the impossible facts, I liked the book! Well, at least, I’m aware of that…)
Us? So now you have to gang up on us. Very brave.
It looks like you either failed biology or simply refuse to admit that you are wrong. I don’t give a shit (Oh no, 4th swear!) about the book. I am, once again, more concerned about Meyer’s breaking of her OWN canon illogically.
Sydnie,
The fact that you insist that the book still explains Nessie is quite funny in itself. Go ask a Biology teacher. It’s not possible.
If the chromosome thing isn’t enough, then…
Venom kills blood and other bodily fluids. Since Edward has no semen, he would use venom. (I’m not even going into how it’s not possible for him to have sex in the first place.) What is in a uterus that helps the egg stay in place? Oh yeah, blood and other tissues. In comes Edward’s venom; there goes the egg.
Those of you attempting to defend Meyer’s bad science by saying “it explains it all in the book” are just proving your own ignorance. Her attempts at scientific explanations are so incredibly ludicrous that I actually laughed out loud while reading them. Why don’t you get beyond 9th grade earth science (or whatever) before trying to speak coherently in terms of my very dear field of study? kthx.
Syndie
“I am really quite bored and tired of having to rexplian to everyone why bella can get pregnant when it already explains it in the book. If you really read the book and paid attention you would know that its true and understand the whole reason why.”
I read the book. I didn’t find an explanation. If you have one, please enlighten me. I’m begging you TO MAKE THIS BOOK MAKE SENSE to me.
” the child isn’t going to be normal, i mean she’s half vampire! And it is well what you could call normal for a half human, half vampire child to grow at half the speed of a normal human child. The book even brings in a character, Nahuel, who is also half vampire, half human to prove this point and show what will become of Renesme.”
That’s fine if she’s half-human, half-vampire. Let’s ignore all the stupid biological inconsistencies and concentrate on why the kid is getting big so fast. Seriously: Why? I can’t imagine a reason for it. If the kid is a half-vampire, and vamps don’t age or change, THEN SHOULDN’T HER GROWTH BE SLOWER, not accelerated?
hahahaahaha LOL i 100% agree with sydnie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zoe,
Mind me asking what kind of grade you got in biology or health then?
^^^ That doesn’t speak very highly of your intelligence.
Sydnie, I know quite well what Meyer said about Nessie. She didn’t explain it in biological terms, merely saying something along the lines of “She just exists,” in an INTERVIEW. No where in Breaking Dawn does it say how Nessie exists. It’s like asking someone, “Why?” and getting the response, “Because.”
@zoe I meant
I agree with everything you’ve addressed in your review. Ever since I read Twilight I was immediately disgusted with it. I don’t understand why it’s taken people until the fourth book to understand how horrible the series is.
What I really want to know is how can people read about Edward and Bella’s relationship and not realize how creepy it is? It’s not cute and it’s definitely not romantic. Their relationship is in no way healthy. They never develop as a couple. They haven’t progressed in any way since the first book. The only difference is that they now have a child. This is one of the main faults in Meyer’s writing. She never expands on characters. In the first book Bella was completely dependent on Edward and in the last book nothing has changed.
seriously guys!?!?
This is a fantasy, not real life!!!!!!!!!! So it doesn’t matter who failed biology or not because its not real, but if you’ve seen a vampire before and had the chance to study them in biology don’t be afraid to share your knowlegde!!!
I was clapping as I read your rant! I admit to enjoying the first two Twilight books simply because they were brainless entertainment but Bella as a heroine always made me feel as if feminism were being set back about two centuries. Eclipse really made me mad: at Edward, Jacob, Bella and Meyer. Since when is it acceptable to depict stalking, emotional blackmail and sexual assault as romantic? And Bella’s epiphany about loving Jacob, just not as much as Edward made me throw the book against the wall. Literally. I read Breaking Dawn for the sake of completion and I think it took awfulness to a whole new level. From a literary point of view I was horrified at the contradictions on almost every page. I was appalled by the blatent pro-life subtext (Bella declares she won’t harm the baby that’s literally beating her up from the inside out breaking her ribs, pelvis, and spine) and the whole notion of imprinting on a baby!
Oh, yet again. I am NOT SPEAKING ABOUT VAMPIRES AS AN ACTUAL SPECIES! (More caps rape!)
I AM TALKING ABOUT HOW MEYER SCREWS UP HER OWN UNIVERSE BY SAYING ONE THING AND THEN DOING SOMETHING ELSE COMPLETELY ILLOGICAL. SHE SAYS THAT THEY ARE FROZEN IN TIME – IN ESSENCE, SPERM WOULD NOT SWIM TO AN EGG, ESPECIALLY NOT ONE THAT ISN’T THERE SINCE BELLA WAS NOWHERE NEAR THE FERTILE TIME OF MONTH. SHE ALSO SAYS THAT THEY ONLY HAVE VENOM IN THEIR BODIES – WHICH WOULD DO ABSOLUTE CRAP BY KILLING THE LINING OF THE UTERUS. AND THEN THE ULTRA-FAST DEVELOPMENT MAKES NO SENSE BECAUSE NESSIE IS HALF-FLOOMIN’-HUMAN! SHE SHOULD BE GROWING SLOWER, IF THIS IS AT ALL LOGICAL!
Never mind the consequences that Bella’s body would have to deal with when the baby grows that fast. Incredible internal damage should have occurred, but nooo, not until Nessie eats her way out does anything get torn up.
Meyer has established a canon universe for her characters, and she could at the very least follow the rules for that universe!
Okay. Theresa, not even thirteen yet here. So here’s how I feel. I enjoy these books, not because of the grammar (and I am grammar crazy) but the story. I don’t think agree with the writer on the majority of the points. People have been saying Bella doesn’t make any choices for herself? As I stated earlier today, she makes the majority of her choices for herself. She wanted to become a vampire, and Edward was against it to. She continued her friendship with Jacob (Edward was not abusive!). Se kept Edward from killing Renesmee (when she was pregnant in Breaking Dawn). She needed help with carrying out several of her choices, but who doesn’t? Sorry if I wasted your time with my repetitive argument.
*Whoever argued about vampires having blood, in this book they don’t except for in the first year. Just wanted to verify that.
Oh, screw it. The irritation keeps coming. Why not take a moment to read this:
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
instead of that 2000+ page insanity.
That should clear you up some.
Lisa,
With respect, there isn’t much of a story.
Recap of Twilight:
Bella moves to Fork. Bella sees Edward. Bella finds out Edward’s a vampire. (This much we already knew). Bella obsesses about Edward for a couple hundred pages. Bella gets attacked by vampires. Edward stops said vampires.
Recap of New Moon:
Edward leaves Bella. Bella sulks for a couple hundred pages. Bella uses Jacob in order to hear Edward’s voice. Bella goes to Italy to step in front of Edward (hardly can call that saving).
Recap of Eclipse:
Edward refuses to let Bella see Jacob. Bella spazzes about being attacked by Victoria while admiring Edward. Vampires and werewolves join up to beat newborns. (Some where in there, Jacob forces himself upon Bella and she decides she loves him too). Bella and Edward get engaged.
Don’t even make me go into Breaking Dawn…
Now with respect to my previous post. Wouldn’t you want a more complex story line. Something with a better rising action? A book with an actual climax perhaps?
I would like to suggest to all the teen girls out there to read the Gemma Doyle Trilogy (First book is called a Great and Terrible Beauty). It is a fantasy novel. It is a also a love story. And despite the repressive times (for women that is) the character is more of an individual than Bella.
@ Lisa
No it’s not that she doesn’t make choices for herself. It’s that she’s SUPPOSED to be an intelligent character, but most of her decisions are as dumb as a child’s. Who decides to walk towards people in an alley who want to rape her? If she’s stupid enough to do that when she’s fully aware of her own physical restraints and without any means to protect herself, then she’s a character that’s too dumb to live. I normally don’t think the victims should be blamed in a rape case, but I make a very special exception in Bella’s case.
Not even gonna touch the abuse bit because it’s been done to death. Trust me, as someone older who has been in an abusive relationship, E/B IS an abusive relationship.
Okay, I am a little late in this discussion and I don’t want to get too involved since I never and will never read Meyer’s books. But, I just have to ask this question: Why do some of the rabid Twilight fans have to come on here and use ALL CAPS LIKE THIS??? Does that make you seem any smarter? That’s just annoying and makes you look like an uneducated little brat who just had her toy taken from her. If you don’t agree with this article then say that you don’t. There’s no reason to say this woman should shut up, she has the right to say whatever the hell she wants to without you coming on here and whinning like little bitches (excuse my language). Since some of you say that it’s just a book then why do you fans say you are in love with a fictional character? Now that is just stupid since it is, using some of your words, just fiction.
And, newsflash, this is the media. The moment Meyer decided to be published, that gave anyone the right to critize the books. Get over it and stop acting like this personally offends you. Though I do appreciate some of the calmer fans on here.
If Meyer can’t take a little critizism then she shouldn’t be an author. And to a few of you saying she is a good storyteller and she said she wasn’t a great writer…wow. Okay, in order to be an author, you need to be a good writer. That’s common sense. And taking words from my girlfriend that read this series, she still has a long way to go to be considered and amazingly, talented, great author compared to others before her that have written awesome vampire stories. Be more open-minded and don’t cuss out people that don’t fall in line with some stupid book you seem to love. Not everyone needs to like this stuff.
This is to all of you people who have no life and keep on trying to insist that renesmee or bellas child could never exist because it doesn’t make scientifical sense. Well news flash, its not real!! Like shelby said. Stephenie Meyer explains the exsistance of bellas child through scientifical terms with a twist to make sense with the circumsances. Of course it could never actually happen because vampires dont exist! But in the fictional world of twilight, yes, it works. and may i emphazize the term FICTIONAL world. seriosly people it’s not real!
and dont keep asking Zoe if she failed biology, instead you should be asking yourself if you’re insane enough to beleive that this could be real!
I love you in a platonic way, Matt. <3
i belive that u guys r attackin us with no logic at all!! ha ha ha i mean get real of course it doesnt make scientific sense stephenie meyer added real terms but there vampires it cant possiably make complete logical sense! WOW!
I love you too, quietcorvin!
Sydnie,
I don’t think youo quite understand. We don’t think that Twilight exsists or could ever happen (Despite what many fan girls would like). We are simply saying that even in the Twilight world it makes absolutely no sense. Just because it’s fantasy doesn’t mean the author can twist her world anyway she wants when she’s already set limits.
Danielle-
I admit, I am a hopeless romantic, and that’s what I mean by story. As to the Gemma Doyle trilogy, I have heard of it and I am considering reading it.
Quietcorvin-
Yeah. You have a point there. Not one of her brightest moments. (frowning at the memory here)
God, I can’t even get through with caps-raping. I keep telling you people that biology isn’t the point here so much as the canon. Meyer. Cannot. Conform. To. Her. OWN. Rules. It’s like having Tolkien plop down a big space ship in Middle Earth. It’s completely bizarre, makes no sense, and doesn’t work with the rules of Middle Earth.
Well, Meyer makes no sense and doesn’t conform to the rules she sets down for the Twilightverse. It. Has. NOTHING. To. Do. With. Biology.
@ Syndie
Ah, the last defense of a rabid.
Yes, we all realize that it isn’t real. We just demand that their be LOGIC (hard word, you might want to look it up) in the series like GOOD AUTHORS use. It’s fine to be creative in your made-up world but there has to be logic and consistency in that world. The author has to follow the rules the he/she established in previous books and not break them and the natural flow of the books to be able to have the ending he/she wants. Usually, to come up with believable science in a made-up world, you would have to at least research the part of science that you’re manipulating. Since SMeyer doesn’t do any research at all, she fails at giving a logical explanation.
ok yuki. i won’t use any caps. happy? she does follow her own rules. she has a scientific explanation. sorry if i’m completely wrong about the scientific explanation. i haven’t even started 8th grade yet, so i might be off there.
Sydnie-
“This is to all of you people who have no life and keep on trying to insist that renesmee or bellas child could never exist because it doesn’t make scientifical sense. Well news flash, its not real!! Like shelby said. Stephenie Meyer explains the exsistance of bellas child through scientifical terms with a twist to make sense with the circumsances. Of course it could never actually happen because vampires dont exist! But in the fictional world of twilight, yes, it works.”
It doesn’t work in the world of Twilight either, and that’s why it’s so problematic. The Twilight world still has to obey some kind of basic human rules that we all know to be true (like how babies are made). If Stephenie Meyer wanted to go against those basic human rules, she should have said so. But she didn’t. She said vamps can’t have babies — which makes sense, considering the venom and the freezing of the body. Then she deliberately broke her own rule and gave Edward and Bella a baby. Then she NEVER EXPLAINED how that happened, which is why everyone is all WTF.
…Oh my God, it still escapes you. Her scientific explanation holds no water, and you will know once you study genetics. And the sarcasm is not necessary – I’m just stating that even screaming in caps, I can’t get any logic through people’s heads.
You know why it won’t work? Because the chromosomes in the eggs and sperm have to match up. If there is an odd number, the unmatched chromosome usually causes a nasty and fatal mutation.
Okay. Thank you for your explanation and sorry for my prior sarcasm. I promise you that was not sarcastic.
Lisa,
I really do suggest that you read the series. Gemma is a great heroine. You might find that the relationship she deals with in her story is much deeper than what Edward and Bella have.
I’m going to confess before I dive in (late as I am) to the party that I have not read all the books yet. I’ve read summaries of all of them that haven’t contradicted each other, and I am currently, er, working my way through them so my opinion can be more educated. (Also so I can privately mock them – not because I hate or disrespect their readers, but because I do dislike the books as works of fiction and I tend to make fun of things I dislike. I find it as entertaining to me as reading them is to you.)
This is going to be a LONG essay, and I apologize in advance.
I completely understand the idea of a book being just a piece of fiction, that many people read for escapism and don’t think much about. I’m also not of the mind that fiction alone is going to influence how most people behave. I don’t think playing Grand Theft Auto will make me want to kill people, or even enjoy driving. I don’t think reading about any hot-button issue within fiction will change my mind one way or another – not unless the fiction is based on actual real-life unbiased research, as some fiction is. I do think that sometimes a person is too young to understand the difference between pretend and reality, but usually they’re not the age that Twilight targets, so that’s moot.
There are many men AND women who want to be cherished and protected, and many people who are focused on marriage and children to the exclusion of all else, even education (though I’m not one of them). One of my closest friends is similar: a girl who is very boy-crazy and can’t wait to get married and have many children. She is also a smart, strong-minded person with many other opinions and interests, and she’s getting an education, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that some people may not have this side to them and JUST want the marriage and babies. As long as that hasn’t been influenced by anyone else and is what they have truly decided they want all by themselves, that’s fine and dandy. If they get this and decide they’re not happy, they can always go do something else, but those desires themselves are not about to hurt a person.
I’ve been in a committed relationship with the same person for four years and once I have the money to do so we will move in together. I do believe that there’s one person in the world you are more compatible with than any other. I’m also a tremendous fan of Disney movies, though I find the women both more interesting and more likable than what I’ve read of Bella, but this is just my opinion. So I’m not a “feminazi shrew who needs to get laid” or whatever else.
Coming to the point: I spent a summer volunteering at a victim advocate center, mainly in the part of the center that gave information and safety tips to women in abusive relationships. These are specialists who have studied abusive behavior, and realized that abusers tend to follow certain patterns of manipulation. Edward’s actions, were they present in a real-life person, would ALL be warning signs of an abuser. In a safe and loving relationship, a man who disliked his partner’s choices or her choice in friends would not order her to do anything. He would not manipulate the situation so his partner was incapable of doing things he disliked. He’d say what he didn’t like, and why, and if there were a CLEAR and PRESENT danger in something like, for example, his partner abusing drugs he’d stage an intervention (‘intervention’ does not equal ‘kidnapping’, not by a long shot) or possibly leave his partner to show he’s not willing to be a party to this. What Edward does – ordering what she does, where she goes, who she sees – is at least somewhat (he admits) out of jealousy or his own desires, and if it were to occur in any real life relationship, what would probably happen next is him striking her because it just ‘made him so angry when she didn’t listen.’ Or berating her, until she felt miserable, for not doing as he commanded. ‘But I only do it because I love you,’ he’d continue, something that abusers frequently say, which is why Bella justifying his behavior with those exact words rather than confronting him directly is so frightening to the reviewer and some of the other commenters.
Making someone so dependent on their lover that the loss makes them suicidal, especially at a very young age, would NOT be a sign of a healthy real-life relationship either. It would mean that these two people are unable to act at ALL without each other around. And I shouldn’t have to say why that’s scary and dangerous. In real life, people fight or ‘take a break’ or have periods of time where it’s not all sunlight and roses. They have interests outside of their relationship with their significant others. I can tell you from PERSONAL experience that even when a FRIEND is counting on you and only you all the time, it drains you very quickly, and can lead to you becoming depressed and feeling trapped. Imagine that in a relationship.
Yes, it is absolutely a work of fiction. And because it’s a work of fiction, Stephanie Meyer is allowed to make Bella respond rather happily to the whole thing, and to make Edward sincere rather than someone who would actually hurt Bella. She can make Bella and Edward’s willingness to kill themselves a romantic thing, rather than a disturbing one. But unlike Grand Theft Auto, where you KNOW not to hit another car head-on or to run over a person and steal their money, so you’d never do those things in real life, people enter bad relationship choices all the time. They don’t know better and they don’t know the signs. I definitely don’t think all of Twilight’s readers are like that, or even most of them, but I do see plenty of devoted fans who want an Edward of their own, or a love like Edward and Bella’s, or think it’s unfortunate that their real-life boyfriends and husbands aren’t enough like Edward. And that’s why Twilight scares me – because there are tons of people, I’m sure, who are just reading an escapist fantasy book. But there are some people who see the fiction as an IDEAL, something to ASPIRE to. Who’s to say they wouldn’t then jump at a relationship that looks like it might offer them the same? And many real-life people who behave like Edward can get you hurt, miserable, or (if he becomes violent enough and you stay long enough) even KILLED.
If this is just a book to most of you, and we’re thinking too hard BECAUSE this is just a book, then treat it like just a book. Address these concerns, and why you do or don’t feel they’re valid, without screaming or shouting or flailing about it. I’d love to see a calm, point-by-point response to this that doesn’t insult me or other people who dislike the series. I have nothing but respect for the people who’ve already posted saying things like ‘yeah, I can see how this wouldn’t work in reality, but I like them for escapism anyway’ or whatever else. I’m just curious about hearing from the rest of you.
By the way, Cookie, she says that Bella’s body is able to change, therefore able to have a baby, and since guys’ bodies don’t change that much after puberty, it works for Edward too. But I can see now why that might not work.
@ Lisa
I’m sorry, but if you haven’t even taken freshman biology, how can you defend SMeyer’s “scientific” explanation? I’m just curious, as I think that it would be difficult to contribute to a conversation on a topic of which one has little to no knowledge.
Indi – I love you. Thank you for properly stating what I’ve been trying to, that it doesn’t matter what’s behind the love, that it’s not about Edward exclusively, that it matters what he says and does. The fans keep ranting on and on about how they know it’s a fiction, and I, at least, haven’t been able to get through.
Thank you, again, and I hope someone listens this time.
Please take a look:
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi
We’d love to have you there.
I’m a twilighter, but I am not going to insult you like many did, but it bothers me that some of the people that said that loved your review and critiziced all the twilighters who did insulting you for being “immature”, didn’t say anything about your inappropiate and title “twilight sucks and not in a good way”? that is just disrespectful.
You said “What’s worse is that so few seem to realize it.” So do you think we are stupid just because we don’t share your opinion? Maybe Twilight is not the best book ever, but I still like it, and it doesn’t mean that I’m going to follow Bella’s example and jump off a cliff if my boyfriend leaves me.
I don’t think Bella is an example, she is just a reflection of some teenage girls, I have to say that I am 18 years old, and somehow I do Identify with Bella, I mean, she IS just a regular teenage girl.
I don’t think Bella and Edward’s relationship is abusive, yes at the begginig of Eclipse Edward was to overprotective and didn’t let Bella see Jacob, but then he changed, and even took her to see Jacob himself, and didn’t get angry when Bella kissed Jacob, because he loved her so much that he was willing to give her up, I think that doesn’t sound abusive at all.
Besides, Edward didn’t make her become a vampire and leave everything behind, she made her own choice, you may think it was the wrong one, but was still hers.
(I’m sorry if there’s any spelling or grammar mistakes, but english is not my language)
Okay. I’m going to try to make this MY last comment, so that I can read all the others. Danielle, I will now most likely read the Gemma Doyle trilogy. Indi, you have very good opinions. And Ms. Rice does have some very good points, in addition to the ones I disagree with. I really wouldn’t know, because when I read I normally completely connect, and I can remember disliking only book I’ve ever read (Jacob Have I Loved). Okay, done now, unless I see something I really dislike.
OK. Now this is really my last comment. Quietcorvin, I was just saying that that’s how Stephenie Meyer explained it. That’s all. I just wanted to answer that for you. I’m just saying what comes to mind. Sorry. Not trying to sound rude or sarcastic there.
Karen,
You seem like a very level-headed and resonable person. While you might not base your life or relationships off the series, their are plenty of girls who do. They are so blinded by Edward and how glorified Bella makes their relationship seem that they might not even realize that jumping off a cliff isn’t a good reaction to their boyfriends dumping them.
Although, I do not agree with your views on Bella’s and Edward’s relationship, I also don’t feel the need to reiterate what this article has already said since you didn’t attack the article like it was the end of the world because it exsisted.
omg!
this artical is freaking stupid!
so what if all that stuff happened to bella!
i mean seriously! like there is really vampires out there!
i mean at least she is imagining what a vampires life would be like in her point of view! i mean the baby is a half vampire and a half human baby it OBVIOUSLY will grow different then i would if it was 100% human..so there could be a possibility that it would nudge after 2 weeks…i mean seriously live a little!!!
i personally think that stepenie meyer did a WONDERFUL job on her series and that im really sad that it’s over!!! The main thing that i learned from this book is there’s someone out there for like everyone and that person can be anyone! and i know that im not the only on that wants to have an edward cullen as a boyfriend/husband i mean seriously he loves her with all his heart [[metaphorically]] and he will do anything for her!!!
and the whole new moon thing i mean seriously with the new moon thing i will be honest i cried in the part where edward left bella and if someone did that to me[[that i knew was my other half]] i would seriously be sad beyond sad!!!! and i know that eveyone would be too!!!!!
**im a 14 year old girl who wants someone to love me jus like edward does!!
All of you guys keep saying you know this could never work in the real world or in the twilight fantasy world. Not true. sure it can’t have happen in the real world as we all know, but in the twilight fantasy world? You claim that bella cant have a baby because Stephanie Meyer made it so in the book vampires couldn’t have children. Well if you guys read the book you would know that bella is HUMAN, i repeat HUMAN! Even in the book it says that a relationship like Bella and Edwards has never been heard of, where a human and a vampire has been together. So they had no way of knowing what would happen which makes it possible under the circumstances because it has never been heard of before. It was like a new discovery i guess, that vampires and humans together could concieve a child.
I….I’m not sure if that was supposed to be sarcastic or if Twilight Lover really means that.
I rest my, and many others’, case.
This doesn’t affect fangirls? Sure. Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.
Twilight lover,
You should really rephrase your last words because you basically just said, “I want a guy to only love me because I smell good to him. I want him to stalk me day and night, especially while I’m sleeping. Not to mention, I would like it so that he doesn’t let me see my best friend. And when we break up, we’ll both kill ourselves because our lives are so miserable without each other.”
Dear, let me give you a hint, you’re the only one of the two that’s going to be jumping off that cliff.
I’m tired of telling you all repeatedly that Nessie doesn’t make sense in MEYER’S world.
And you need to pick a real fantasy book. I suggest you lay off the vampires and go for Lord of the Rings.
(That way you can watch the movie and gush over Legolas! Who is not at all abusive unlinke Edward.)
This article is amazing. It is so real too. So many girls are blinded by Edward Cullen’s amazingness that it’s sickening. Personally I think the books should be banned. Vampires don’t exist and girls such as Bella Swan would do well not to exst either.
Sydnie,
Edward is a vampire, I repeat, VAMPIRE. His venom would ruin that eggs chance of ever becoming fertilized because it would…oh I don’t know, kill it…
Wow, all this commentary on a simple book review! Astounding.
Okay, as a person with a B.A. in English (or perhaps simply as a person who didn’t fall asleep in my middle/high school English classes), can I just point out how funny it is to read, “your stupid” from some of you? Christ! If you’re going to try to demean someone and make them feel ridiculous, could you at least do it without making yourself look like an uneducated teenybopper? It’s “YOU’RE”, folks. There is an apostrophe in there. I know, I know–it’s a little shocking. Please, learn to spell and use grammar properly if you want us to read your tantrums and actually pause to consider their validity. When I read these responses, I just roll my eyes and continue to scroll down the page. Why should I take your literary critiques (yes, that would be a “que”, not a “k”, as I have also seen here) seriously when you haven’t even proved that you can pass remedial English?
Even in the book it says that a relationship like Bella and Edwards has never been heard of, where a human and a vampire has been together
Wait, what? Enlighten me as to where whatshisface came from? The OTHER half-vampire?
Girl,
While I’m pleased to hear that you agree with this article, I don’t believe in banning books.
I have to agree with Karen, I mean you are basicly saying all of the fans for the twilight series are stupid!! I mean they are a little over the top but i think that is the point of the genre FANTASY so i’m not going to be mean and say i hate Kellen Rice for writing this, she may have a few points but i mean not many girls are going to be stupid enough to jump of a cliff just ‘cus her boyfriend left her. I just think its disrespectful to write something like this you could have been a little more subtle they are one of the best series ever and she (stephenie meyer) has written another good book which may become a series called The Host and it too is a little over the top but as i said that is the point of a fantasy. This series (the twilight saga) was in no way ment to be real and make you think that all that happens in the book could be real.
@tess
I love you <3! Join us please? :3
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi
Just jumping in here, because I don’t really have time to read every single comment that was made since I left, but in all honesty, not every man would feel complimented by their women comparing them to Edward. In my case, my husband would take it as an insult, because he, like me, thinks that Edward is the worst kind of partner to have.
Isn’t it also a bit sad that some men can’t stand on their own, in their own greatness, but instead have to be constantly compared to a fictional character? A character that in fact is quite horrible and mostly suits women with the Electra complex (if this is not your case, then I apologize beforehand) because I do see lots of girls that don’t just love the idea of a protective boyfriend but rather one that treats them exactly as if they were their fathers. I don’t know about you guys, but that honestly doesn’t appeal to me.
Along with that, Edward IS abusive, because despite the fangirls always saying he keeps her from doing certain things because he wants to keep her safe, Edward in the book admits that it was a matter being prejudiced against werewolves. Of course, Bella doesn’t scorn him for this, because the minute they’re together she suddenly doesn’t care about all the times he overpowered her. She says she’ll visit Jacob if she wants to, he literally says he’ll stop her, she tries, he dismantles her engine. The next day or something, she makes a last minute decision and drives as fast as she can, saying things like, “I had no clue where the boundary line was, but I began to feel safer as I passed the first houses outside La Push.” Now tell me, how often do any of you connect the idea of safety to being AWAY from the person that you love and is supposed to love you the most? And his sister on top of that.
When she gets back, he’s angry, they argue, and then the next day he has his sister keep her hostage. Clearly he’s seen that she’s willing to go to extremes to be with someone she really cares about, but that means nothing to him, and we know that by his actions. Half the time girls will only allow this because of his pretty face, but do any of you honestly think this guy would be allowed to do any of this if he was butt ugly? In fact, each time that Bella chooses to forget why she was mad it’s because she sees his gorgeous face, those topaz eyes, and because she smells his heavenly breath.
So I’ll stand by my beliefs that claiming that your lover is like Edward is an insult to your lover, and that Bella is also a very weak character. You may not see it from reading it, but put yourselves in Bella position and really go back to all those times where her views are disregarded or laughed at. Go back to the scene where Jacob forces himself on her, but refuses to leave after she tells him to. Also, check out her father’s comment to Jacob when he finds out why Bella’s mad at Jacob. What was the line again? Oh yeah, “‘Good for you, kid,’ Charlie congratulated him.”
I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s sick that a father would react this way when a guy forces himself on his daughter, whether he preffered the guy over her current boyfriend or not.
Okay, know I said I would stop posting, but I have to get this off my chest. Do I like Bella’s character? Yes. Would I want to be Bella’s character? No. Would I want a guy exactly like Edward? No. Not a vampire. Or someone with such a quick temper. Would I want a guy exactly like Jacob? No. Not a werewolf. Would I want to meet any of the characters in real life? It’s fun to imagine, but (except perhaps for Alice Cullen) I would probably faint.
This book is great (in my opinion) but I don’t want this stuff. I’m not an idiotic impressionable fan girl. I love to read and I figured I couldn’t avoid reading Twilight anymore when I saw the Twilight poster. So I read the books and fell in love. But I am a straight- A, soccer playing, knitting, sewing, embroidering, t.v. watching, computer surfing, book reading 12 year old who happens to like a book.
That doesn’t mean I’m an idiot who would commit suicide, or do anything to hear a guy’s voice. I was just rereading earlier posts from today and I needed to say this. We teenagers are not that affected by literature, or at least not anyone I know. I hope.
….You say this. Do you deny the point of advertising, then? What about Twilight Lover a few posts back screaming “I WANT A BOYFRIEND JUST LIKE EDWARD!!!!!” ? Yeah, we all say “Commercials don’t affect me, they’re just trying to get the word out”. Which, in all honesty, just isn’t true. It costs too much money to advertise and not get revenue back, and I’m pretty sure there are psychological studies that confirm the impact of media on minds.
So while you say and believe that this is all true, and you probably aren’t going to do something this stupid, think back if and when you get a boyfriend that you have to make excuses like “He just wants to protect me” for.
Lisa,
You are most definately sweet to think that some twi-hards wouldn’t give their lives for “true love.”
Anyway keep reading, you’ll find better reading material I can promise you that.
Yuki- I think if anything the Twilight books remind me even more of tv shows and commercials, because they tend to focus on things that attract people the most: love, beauty, wealth, eternal life, etc. Beauty being the most obvious one… or perhaps love, I’m not sure.
To be quite honest this is getting old. I could explain this to you a million times and you still would not get it through you’re thick skulls. So i take my leave on the note that you are all idiots and do not understand the meaning of true, good fictional reading. And wouldn’t know a good book if it hit you in the face.
Ta Ta!
It was a well-written article, though I don’t agree with your opinion at all.
You say that it’s a bad example for 12-17 year olds, because of the lack of a strong relationship. Well, wouldn’t you be depressed for months and months if the one person who you loved so desperately left you? And this fictional book doesn’t say that a young woman should cry and cry for months if her boyfriend left her. Stephenie wrote what it was like when your only love left you for your sake, not theirs. I think it’s important for young women to understand what true love is like, and to feel the emotion of the pain when you find that someone you love. True love is not something easily written about. It’s hard to forget about what’s around you and put your heart and soul on paper. Stephenie made readers see and feel what an impossible, fictional relationship was like, and it changed so many lives. But everyone feels differently, and I respect your opinions, though I put myself in those books and saw what the reader wanted me to feel.
Bye Sydnie!
I hope you realize that it’s not opposite day :]
Why don’t you try reading some plays. I think they might be better choices for you. I would suggest The Importance of Being Ernest. But you probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy the good humor of Wilde mocking shallowness.
Isn’t that ironic. Well, at least she’s gone. I’m going to retreat for now as well, dearies – I’ve been getting by lately on energy drinks and a little sleep. G’night.
Ah, it’s so nice to scroll through these comments and have my worst suspicions about Twihards confirmed over and over and over again.
Stephanie should be so proud! She has an army of illiterate, hate-filled, brainless tweens out to DEFEND HER INTERNET HONOR OMG!1!!!
I have a few things to say to you Kellen or should I call you Ms.Rice? Would you think being called your first name by a stranger sucked (and not in a good way) too? Actually I think I’ll call you stupid.
So, Stupid, first of all I have read every single Twilight book! Everyone of those books has been wonderful (New Moon was a little iffy but I still liked it)! Haven’t you heard of fantasy? I mean I know the books are a little out there ,but if they weren’t what would happen? People wouldn’t buy them! thats what would happen! If Stephanie Meyer wrote a book about normal teen relationships do you think it would have sold? She had to write something that wasn’t realalistic. These books were written to seem like a normal life of a teenager… in the fictional world!
Hey! Did you know what this articale has made you? Well, Stupid, it has made you a target. Do you know how many Twilight fans there are. There might be haters but I think they are outnumbered by fans. I don’t care if there are more rude comments then nice/deffensive on here. That’s just because most Twilighters couldn’t stand to read past the first paragragh! (Anyways… I got of topic) You are now a target. I bet that Twilighters everywhere (and maybe even Stephanie) are going to hate you. You have become a hate target and they are goin to shoot their hate at you. I can’t say that you don’t diserve it, because you do!
Dear Stupid,
Did you know that your stupid? I just thought you should know.
Casey S,
Bella did not believe that Edward left her for her sake. She thought that it was because he didn’t love her anymore.
And also, we’ve since discovered that Edward is not her one true love. In fact if there was no Edward to worry about in the first place it would have been Jacob.
True love is not defined by smell or beauty as it is in Twilight. It is also not a relationship in which one person makes almost all of the descisions.
As for the whole putting yourself in the position, there are plenty of other books and movies and even TV shows that can make you feel the real love of people. It isn’t like this book is the only one that does so. Also, those other stories that I’m speaking of also have better plots, better characters, and better dialogue. You shouldn’t settle for Twilight.
Roxana:
“You may not see it from reading it, but put yourselves in Bella position and really go back to all those times where her views are disregarded or laughed at. Go back to the scene where Jacob forces himself on her, but refuses to leave after she tells him to. Also, check out her father’s comment to Jacob when he finds out why Bella’s mad at Jacob. What was the line again? Oh yeah, “‘Good for you, kid,’ Charlie congratulated him.—
I’d rather say that Bella is a ‘passive’ character rather than a weak one – a lot of the examples you cited are things people do even after she tries to stop or refuse them. Are real-life women who are assaulted ‘weak’ because they can’t do anything about it? I’d say her failing is not getting the hell away from these people, and in reality that’d be a sign of some tremendous insecurity. But that’s not true for Bella because, after all, “it’s fiction.”
That’s half the problem with that whole line of defense, too. Yes, it’s fiction, that’s why it works out well in the end – and I appreciate the idea of escapism, I really do. But unless we’re writing some very surreal fiction, I’m still going to expect people to behave like PEOPLE to some degree. If someone in a short story gets hit in the head, they’re going to go ‘ouch’ and be angry or bewildered or some other emotion that could conceivably happen. Even in a cartoon, where the reactions aren’t realistic, they’re at least going to happen in the same vein – they’ll just get an exaggerated lump instead of a concussion, but it’s still someone getting hurt rather than being delighted and start dancing a jig. That’s what makes characters relateable. So when something happens in Twilight that would normally cause a lot of conflict, and instead it turns out fine and dandy and it’s a sign of true love, then of course some people are going to think it’s terrible. And if that unrealistic message is the kind of thing that gets people hurt if they don’t understand the reality of it, of course some people are going to be really, really ANGRY.
Emily, just because something is fantasy doesn’t mean you can use its genre to excuse the fact that the author regularly ignores the rules of her own universe and that the book is chock full of ignorant messages.
@ Casey S.
It’s not healthy to be depressed for that long. I repeat: IT. IS. NOT. HEALTHY. Understand? ‘True love’ or not, there are ways to cope with depression and shock that don’t involve becoming a zombie. Bella should have talked to someone about it, gone to therapy, binged on romance movies and ice cream, or SOMETHING to GET OVER IT.
NO, don’t even say anything about the ‘true love’. You can still get over it. I understand the hurt more than you know and I have no sympathy for those teens that sit and bitch and cry and do nothing about it. It’s stupid not to try and pick yourself up. It’s weak and self-deprecating.
@ Emily
Please refrain form calling someone “stupid”. Kellen Rice (that’s her name if you forgot) wrote a essay because she was concerned about the themes in these books.
And I find it scary that since Meyer wrote “without thinking about it” that these problems we found in the book are being overlooked.
Would you love a book that had blatant racism in it? Would it matter to you if there was no thought to it and the racism just happened to be on the pages? Do you think people would be offended by it (like Rice is)? I think you would.
@ Emily:
Calling Ms. Rice “stupid” just makes you seem stupid and immature. Grow up.
@ Casey S.:
But, Bella was not just depressed. She became suicidal. According to Dictionary.com, suicidal means:
1. pertaining to, involving, or suggesting suicide.
2. tending or leading to suicide.
3. foolishly or rashly dangerous
Foolishly or rashly dangerous. Is throwing one’s self off a cliff in order to hear one’s “true love’s” voice suicidal? Yes. Young women do need to feel pain at least once in their life, but they should not react to it as Bella did. My
Narwhal, that comment at 6:06 (?) was out of line. We’re not idiots. We’re fans. Emily, please let go of the anger and see that there is a little sense, though very little. Calling others stupid doesn’t help. I know because in my first comment today I called the writer a dumbass. And now, I will be up bright and early tomorrow morning to read more comments and contribute some actual points. But before I leave, Harry Potter, Twilight, and Pride and Prejudice are seperate books which can be enjoyed or disliked, not to be compared with each other. Please.
*Someone said earlier they couldn’t understand Austen. See if you can get one of the Oxford(?) copies. They have cliffnotes and such to help you better understand, and I’ve read both P&P and Emma. Amazing books!
Out of line? These ridiculous comments are out of line. The people foaming at the mouth are both fans AND idiots.
Indi- What bothers me about moments like those particularly is that Bella doesn’t say anything about it but mutter around a bit. Then, some time passes, and she’s the usual happy-go-lucky girl she was before anything happened. What happens in that scene next involves Charlie getting in between Edward and Jacob, defending Jacob. Then Edward and Jacob go outside and talk as though Bella wasn’t there, but rather as if they were two dogs fighting over a bone. If this was a story of true love, Edward would never feel threatened by Jacob, and if Bella weren’t so week minded, she’d have spoken up about what SHE felt about the whole situation. Her own father backs up the guy that offended her, and she says nothing. I’m not saying she’s weak in that she doesn’t go and take a crowbar to their faces, I’m saying she’s weak in that she says nothing about the way they’re disregarding how she might feel about the whole thing, and sooner or later, she’s totally okay with it. It teaches the men around her that she can be messed with and no consequences will come of it, and it teaches a lot of girls that it’s always better to forgive and forget than to make yourself heard.
And I don’t want to hear anyone telling me that no girl takes this series to heart. Maybe a majority don’t, but some do. I’ve only just found out about a ridiculous story that involved a fangirl keying someone’s car over Twilight. Anyone care to tell me on how that’s not a case of a teen girl taking these books way too seriously?
I agree with quietcorvin.
Like someone once said “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
Bella chose (read: chose) to mope around and become a zombie. People move on because they have to. They have to for their family and friends. Yes, it’s going to hurt like crazy, but you can’t spiral out of control. Humans don’t do that. And humans don’t “forget” their loved ones like Ed has always said. For someone that’s been around humans for a century, he sure doesn’t know a lot about them.
omg u guys r crazy!!! twilight is the best, and so is stephenie, so what if ya’ll don’t like it, you don’t need to be trying to get people to not like it, what if other people started something like this about ur favorite book, it wouldn’t feel so great would it???? so ya’ll just need to stop
So is generalizing us, and calling us idiots. We have brains. You’re telling me that if your favorite book was criticized, you wouldn’t be a bit peeved? If so, than forgive my annoyance.
Emily : First off, it’s “article” not “articale.” Secondly, do you think the author of this little article really cares about the army of rabid teenage girls she has offended? If you meant to sound intimidating or ominous, you missed the mark completely. More than anything, your threat about the die-hard Twilight fans just came across silly. Ooooh, no! A bunch of internet fans are going to hate on the writer?!?! OMG, ITZ TEH END OF THE WORLD!l!!h!h!gh!!!!!!!
I think the author is fairly amused at the amount of responses she has gained from this piece. If she isn’t, she definitely should be. You guys are freaking hysterical.
Yes, Brooke. What a brilliant idea! EVERYBODY, LISTEN UP! WE’RE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE AN OPINION OR CRITICIZE THE BOOKS IN ANY WAY BECAUSE WE MIGHT HURT PEOPLE’S FEELINGS!
wow, there has been an all day continuing discussion, that’s amazing! But I find it hilarious that we are still applying logic to a story that is fiction, did we forget we are reasoning with vampires vs. humans? Doesn’t anyone remember being a kid and making up stories and nothing really had to be logical or relate to the “real” world. I wonder where some people’s imagination has gone to, why struggle with those details so much? It’s not like they were banging throughout the entire book, they didn’t have sex until the last book. I find the little details in the book interesting rather than yelling something along the lines of “How can that happen”, or “This isn’t real life” because it is not real life, its a fictional story meant for us to use as an escape. Judge the book as a whole or in that mindset, but picking at the annoying details is like being stuck in a sea of 3 year olds all asking “Why?” “But Why?” over and over again. I don’t mind if your view point is about the book, but to ask fans of the book to explain small details using real world answers is ridiculous and then just use those answers and throw them in their face. I’m sure it takes a lot of guts to release a book and have the whole world speculate it, but I’m glad she did. I hope she will continue to release books with a great story because people who enjoy imaginative things will be able to have a great fictional story to be apart of.
Lisa- Actually, I think Pride and Prejudice being compared to Twilight should be allowed, simply because Meyer herself said that the latter was inspired by the former. Harry Potter though, is only compared for it’s fame, so I agree that those two should be kept separately.
Remember folks: Jealousy is not a sign on love!
Sorry.
Jealousy is not a sign (of) love.
If you do not like Twilight simply not what you read.
Everyone has their opinion, yes, but not an opinion that has nothing to do with the matter.
These saying nonsense, Handsome
Oh, and I’m sorry for my bad English, but neither was not going to write here, not worth =)
i mean seriously, guys, you don’t need to ruin a book for every one else just because u don’t like it or u don’t like a part of it
Lisa, if someone criticized my favorite book, I might be curious about their decisions and debate with them a bit, but we have hundreds of comments here from people typing in call caps, making death threats, insisting that criticism of this craptacular series is “not allowed”, calling people feminazis, calling anyone who doesn’t agree with them every name in the book, etc.
And who the hell are you to talk about being out of line? You spazzed and called the author of this article a dumbass because you simply can’t come to terms with the fact (yes, fact) that this series is dreadful.
You’ve got a point Roxana. My bad.
Ashley, for the last time, JUST BECAUSE A BOOK IS FANTASY/FICTION does not mean it’s excusable to ignore the laws of the universe the author has created, and it sure as hell doesn’t excuse poor characterization and blatantly sexist/pro-pedophilic themes.
Brooke, are we really ruining these books for you? Can you honestly say that this article has now made you not want to read the books ever again?
what it doesn’t excuse Narwhal is your unkind approach to my comment. If you want people to stop using all caps then I would appreciate it if you extended that same courtesy.
I regret calling the author a dumbass. It was out of a bad temper. That Stephenie Meyer has poor grammar is a fact, but the series is a matter of opinion. As to death threats, that is out of line. Honest to goodness. And now I am seriously out of here.
Brooke,
You need to chill out. People are open to express their opinions and debate them. No one should be able to change your opinion just because theirs is different. If they do change your opinion then it wasn’t really that strong in the first place.
If someone had a differing opinion on a book I seriously enjoyed, I would want to know why. If I found their idea ridiculous, I’d ignore it and get on with my life, unless I felt compelled to correct them, which I don’t, because I believe people are allowed to have their opinions. It’s already happened to me with Harry Potter, and I ignored the article speaking against it, (no, not another one about the evils of witchcraft, it was actually one on feminism) because I didn’t agree with the ideas at all, but the writer clearly believed in what she said, so I knew it would be ridiculous to try and debate with her. That’s what half of the commenters here should have done. Not the ones who started a healthy debate, but the ones who came in with “NO UR STOOPID I HATE U BITCH UR UGLY!” I just can’t respect people like that, especially since I get it personally sent my way on a daily basis for the past month all because of these books. In fact I was just recently told that I shouldn’t waste my time with Twilight and should instead check my baby’s diaper and take care of my man. Where they even got the idea I had a baby, I have no idea.
@ Lisa
Actually, you shouldn’t be so angry. I went to see the Dark Knight and I loved it (loved it).
My father didn’t. He told me why he didn’t and I told him why I loved it.
I didn’t go into a hissy fit over the movie.
And if he had some problems with the movie, I would try to explain in the best way that I could.
But in the end, that’s his opinion.
I asked a simple question a while ago “what’s the basis of Ed and Bella’s love?” It’s a truly simple question, but no one has answered it.
“He’s mysterious” is not an answer. Everyone is mysterious. Do you see me falling in love with them?
“He and Bella belong together” Why? Do they act like they’re one person? Nope. Have the time they’re arguing over the same exact thing. Every book. The same thing. And I’ve only read Twilight and half of New Moon. I couldn’t stand it so yeah. I did stop.
Basically, Ed is hot and Bella smells good.
Why don’t you just ask the author yourself? I doubt she ever said that it was entirely impossible for a human to get pregnant, it never made such a comment in the book I believe (I trust you will correct me if I’m wrong by giving me the quote and the page number of the book if it is stated) Did she ever talk about how they couldn’t have sex? Did she excuse it all together? Bella became a vampire by choice, and I think that’s the difference between her outcome and the others. She had a bond towards others being human and it affected the way she reacted when she is a vampire. These are my own understandings of the book and the reasoning behind all these question being answered in the realm of the world in which the author has created.
“but the series is a matter of opinion”
Not so. By objective measurements of good/poor writing, Meyer fails on virtually every level. Her characterization is poor. Her writing style is poor. Her grammar (as you mentioned) is poor. Her pacing is poor. Her plots (or lack thereof) are poor. She blatantly ignores the rules that she herself set up for her universe. And as for the message of her series? It is full of things that are downright sickening to think about. Pediphilic child grooming? Emotional abuse?
What shocks me most about this series isn’t the craziness of many of its fans, it is the fact that it has any fans to begin with.
Roxana – And it comes back to me having not finished the books again. XD Sorry about that. It sounded like she was at least verbal enough to say ‘no’, or even to mumble and then go do what she wanted later, in some of these cases. We don’t even get that, I guess. -___-
Doesn’t Charlie find out what happened and eventually imply ‘hey you know how to deck someone *without* hurting your fist, right?’ Not because I’m defending the fact that he sided with Jacob to begin with, just because from what I’ve read of Charlie I really like him. What’s so disappointing about Meyer is that she sometimes writes people and relationships that DO feel real, or at least plausible, and these very interesting people take a backseat to the sparkly special people. It’s hard to even figure out how that happens.
Jeanine: I’d say jealousy is something to be avoided, but it’s natural to some degree in most people – it just is NEVER an excuse to hurt or control someone, or to make them feel bad for their choices.
How is this ruining the book for you?
If you love it, you shouldn’t let anyone “ruin” your love.
This is one article (only one) that points out flaws.
Instead of learning from what was said, people ignore it and bash the writer. Clearly, she was concerned about this series because a lot of teenagers, young adults, and adults were reading it.
You must have a serious short fuse if you let one article ruffle your feathers.
Oh, and she DID make comments about how vampires cannot, under any circumstance, reproduce:
“Can vampires have babies? What happens when a woman is pregnant and gets changed?
No. In the Twilight universe, a vampire’s only bodily fluid is its venom; this replaces the saliva and other fluids. Thus, vampires have no sperm, so they cannot make vampire babies. When a human is changed into a vampire, they are essentially “frozen” and thus will stay same way forever. If a pregnant woman is changed, she will remain pregnant forever, no matter what stage her pregnancy was in, two days or eight months, and the baby will never be born.”
Funny thing? The Twilight Lexicon hauled ass to delete this information off of their website because they didn’t want people knowing how badly Meyer contradicted herself.
Well Narwhal, when you create SUPA AWESOME vampires that like GLITTER in the sunlight and are PWAFECT in every way so they have no flaws, the brainless even some with brains get attached.
Here is a screencap from the Lexicon, of a quote from Meyer herself, that shoots her 4th book in the foot entirely:
http://i37.tinypic.com/21mg877.png
They’ve been editing like mad to cover up how she basically ignored the rules she set herself.
Yeah, Danielle. And I guess that because OMG ITZ FANTASY!1!! you can create rules and break them. Even though the key to creating great fantasy is following your own canon.
@ Indi
I suppose, but if you truly love someone you’ll want them to be happy. I was just taught that jealousy isn’t a sign of love. You’re not okay with them being with someone else. To me, it also shows a sign of lack of trust.
I can understand at the beginning of a relationship, but not after they’ve been together for a while.
Maybe I’m viewing this a different way than you are. Please let me know.
Ashley-
“Why don’t you just ask the author yourself?”
People HAVE asked her, but she has skated over the question, given non-answers and claimed she was misquoted by her biggest fans (the writers of the Lexicon). Nice. Classy.
why are other people perfect for each other? Why can’t there be an attraction? Maybe her blood is like a metaphor for lust. Edward at first has lust for her, but he seems intrigued by her several times in the books, she is the one person that he can’t see her inner most thoughts, she is special. Hasn’t anyone ever thought that someone else was special? Edward did dazzle her with his looks I’m sure but it seems that Edward is willing to put himself in second place sometimes in what he wants to make Bella happy. He does this with her friendship between Jacob and Bella and several times does things that I found shocking because of how selfless they are, he saw her beauty when she couldn’t see it at all. Later on her “blood” becomes kind of an after thought with Edward and Bella is the forefront, building a love is like that. Well this is a ramble of sorts but please let me hear what you think or what questions you have, because to me this is why Bella and Edward belong together, because they will do anything for that person’s happiness, love is selfless and they display that.
Ashley, do you think Meyer would ever listen to anyone who doesn’t like that book? She doesn’t even fully respond to the question her own fans ask of her. In fact, she’s gotten to the point of interrupting before the question is asked, and now she’s even more prone to promote her guide book instead of acknowledging a question she could easily answer then and there. Did you see about the online petition from a fan asking for Meyer to be more respectful to her fans and not avoid their questions? This was sent to Meyer’s brother, and he answered like a complete jerk.
The way she handled herself as a vampire doesn’t make sense no matter which was you sliced it. You say she had a bond with other humans? So? Were not all vampires once human? I also think it’s ridiculous that in all the years vampires seem to exist in these books (and looking at the volturri, they’ve been around a long time) that Bella is the first to make the choice to become a vampire. What about all the assistants besides Gianna that the Volturri have gone through? Did they kill all of them in the end? Weren’t we told that Bella was stubborn and that’s why she could handle it, yet weren’t we also told that Rosalie was stubborn, and it’s Edward also clearly stubborn? She tells us that Bella had an idea of what was coming, in regards to thirst and hunger, but then don’t vampires know what’s coming after the first few times of dealing with it? What of the ones that go live in places that aren’t inhabited by humans, and then later come back to society? Would they not know what’s coming? Wouldn’t they have enough time to prepare and then have no problem with it whatsoever? It just doesn’t make sense, even within this fictional world.
I respect your opinions and I guess when you think about it, when so many people have read a book, there are going to be a lot of people who think it’s a load of crap, but I just want to say that I think it isn’t really putting down girls. It would be different if Edward didn’t have superpowers, but HELLO HE DOES, so of course he’s stronger than Bella and in case you didn’t notice, when Bella becomes a vampire, she’s stronger than Edward and Emmett. The story could’ve easily been the other way around with a guy as the weak human, but it’s kind of a story in a girl’s topic of interest, and I for one like hearing stories told from a girl’s point of view. Anyway, please don’t hate me for stating my opinion (which is that I love Twilight) because I don’t hate you for stating yours.
Indi- I’m not sure about him doing that, though of course even if he did it doesn’t excuse his initial reaction. I did like Charlie throughout the books, but I hated him at that point for that one remark. It was enough to sicken me whenever I came across him in the books.
Yeah, Meyer has a habit of giving nonsensical answers, refusing to answer questions at all, mocking fans who ask her questions she doesn’t like, and deleting any and all criticism she has the power to.
On the Nessie topic, it makes no sense what so ever. Meyer has said clearly that it’s not possible. But she dug herself into a hole and couldn’t find a way out so she created Nessie as a plot device. Plain and fricking simple.
One of the major accomplishments of the women’s liberation movement is that women now have options. We can do what we want, work where we want, have the sort of relationships we want. We are no longer forced into any particular lifestyle, or job, or level of respect. We have options.
This option includes being a stay-at-home mother, or making sacrifices for a relationship with a man. Funny how this options is often forgotten. Bella is not forced to give up college for Edward, or her mortality, or any of the other things she does that are perceived as anti-feminist. If she has no other options, then yes, it would be anti-feminist. However, what Bella does is look at her options (which are plentiful, thanks to the feminists of the past), and decide what is best for her, what she wants out of life, as all women do– whether they chose to have a family or not, what job they want, who they want to be with (if anyone).
And that is the beauty of feminism.
Also, vampires should have to pee. I’m sorry that it sounds random but it’s been bugging me. What you drink does not go into your blood stream it is filtered by your kidneys and what you need goes to your blood stream,
It just goes to show how little respect she has for her fans. There are other glaring inconsistencies that she just refuses to acknowledge.
For the whole lot of you claiming that you could care less, you sure as hell comment a lot on here.
Well, a lot of them are too busy oogling at Edward to notice or care what kind of messages the book is sending.
Wow…this is a more heated debate than any I’ve ever seen in HP fandom. I’ve only read each book once, and I borrowed them, I didn’t buy them, so I don’t want to argue on any specific points since they would be from memory, not the books themselves.
As someone who loved the Twilight books, I am embarrassed by the other fans who are retorting to personal attacks or are unable to accept different opinions. However, I see just as many non-fans engaging in similar behavior, so let’s call it even and not make generalizations about people who are pro or anti Twilight.
Since many antis seem to have strong opinions about the pros, let me (briefly) introduce myself. Senior at a prestigious college, very well-read, juggled a job and internship this summer, about to pursue my PhD, and an active feminist (of the liberal, not radical school of thought).
I consider Twilight to be escapist fiction. It’s so engaging that with each book, I read it all in one sitting. Maybe the exciting parts aren’t until later in the books, but I don’t think the parts leading up to the action are thus devoid of plot.
I like the characters, and I don’t think Edward and Bella are Gary and Mary Stus. Bella thinking she’s plain and suddenly having all the boys like her? Meyer said that was based on her own personal experience, so obviously not an unrealistic situation. She’s clumsy and almost socially awkward, so not perfect. Edward is noble to a fault, plus has trouble accepting that Bella doesn’t want him or his family to spend lots of money on her.
As a feminist, I was not offended by this book. Yeah, Bella needs a lot of rescuing, but that’s because she’s a human in a superhuman world. I let my best guy friend walk me to my car when I leave the library at 1am not because I’m some helpless stereotype, but because I’m small and he’s big, and I’m not stupid. I don’t want to be up against someone bigger and stronger by myself, and in the same way, Bella needs Edward (or Jacob) when she’s up against someone bigger and stronger.
Bella’s depression when Edward left was understandable as well. Annoying, I will admit, but she was in love with him. Not “in love” as most girls in high school think, but truly, deeply, irrevocably in love with him. She also loved his family as her own. She lost both all at once and without warning. I don’t believe her depression makes her weak. Depression is brought on by a lot of things, even having a baby, which is supposed to be joyous. Losing almost all your loved ones at once would be traumatizing.
I concede that the book has some plot and character problems. I hate Bella losing her “normal” friends in BD, although she does agonize over this enough that it makes sense. The whole biology behind the pregnancy thing is a little complex, but I still liked that plot twist. I thought Leah should’ve imprinted, to tie up loose ends.
As far as the comparisons to Harry Potter, go, I have several comments. One, HP has been around so much longer than Twilight that judging sheer numbers of books sold is pointless. Also, there are more HP books that Twilight books, so again, it’s a moot comparison. I agree that JKR is a superior writer, but as any diehard fan knows, she’s made several of her own plot errors. Wand order, anyone? The very complicated and only sorta makes sense explanation of the owner of the Elder Wand? “Oh, dear, maths”? Both Fleur and Tonks can be accused of being Mary Sues, by the standards held to Bella.
Impressionable high school girls? Yeah, I agree they can be, but I really don’t think that every artist out there has to make her art squeaky clean and PC so as to not inadvertently negatively affect a reader. It is in the young adult genre, but it the author’s job to attract her audience, not educate, shape, or mold her audience. For every critique on Twilight that could harm an impressionable girl, I could find several more books with the same or worse problem. I also think we should applaud Meyer, as we do JKR, for getting kids to read in the first place. Books like Twilight and HP spark an interest in reading that often leads to more reading.
My final comment is to the pros. Stop making us look bad. Twilight fans get a bad rap by girls who make stupid comments. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even if they disagree with us. Also, people are allowed to read books they don’t like, including entire series of books they don’t like. It’s called trying to better oneself. I try tomatoes once a year, a vegetable (fruit) I hate, because maybe my tastes will change. With book series, often the books get better (often they get worse), so if a series is highly recommended, it makes perfect sense to try the whole thing even if one dislikes the first book. Please, just think before you write.
Sincerely,
a Twilight fan
Danielle, asking Meyer to explain the scientifics of the Meyerpires is cringe-worthy at worst, and laughable at best. She just makes things up, contradicts herself every other interview, and sometimes uses words she obviously doesn’t know the definition of. Some authors who aren’t science-minded create systems of magic that explain these things and don’t require a scientific background to justify, but Meyer?
Her policy is “Quick! Make something up! They’re fangirls, they’ll swallow it.”
BTW, according to Meyer’s original stance on vampires, pregnancy, and staying in the same condition once turned? Bella should be vastly overweight with broken ribs, a broken spine, and her stomach torn open. But if that happened she wouldn’t be super beautiful and able to hunt wearing a cocktail dress and heels!
So you’re saying at the beginning of their relationship it was lust?
(I’m not trying to take this out of context)
Lust is not love.
We were told that their relationship is “true love”
To me, true love is two people becoming one. They react together. They finish each other’s sentences. They are like one person.
Ed didn’t think that Bella loved him in New Moon and he left and thought that she would get over it. That’s great communication there.
And they argue almost every conversation if they’re not talking about how much they love each other. Bella never says “I love it when he makes one of those dry comments” or “He knew that I would need my jacket so he went back and got it”
All we hear is Bella descriping Ed for the fifteenth time.
If he cared about her and didn’t want to hurt her then he would’ve left her alone in the first place. But then we wouldn’t have the Twilight series now would we?
And I understand that Ed thinks she’s “special”, but does he truly believe that she has more on her mind than any other teenage girl? He talks about humans as if they are an inferior to them and now he’s change his mind because he’s getting a fuzzy signal from Bella?
Um…Ed. Humans have to do that all the time. That’s nothing special to us. And still, if he couldn’t hear her thoughts they could’ve have a normal building relationship (like normal people), but instead we get two weeks of agnst, a few generic questions, then instant love.
And watching her as she sleeps is getting to know her?
Sorry if this is all over the place.
Okay. Sorry. Got to ask something to all the Twilight HATERS. If it had been written by someone more experienced, with no Nessie, and changes to the characters, do you think you could have liked Twilight? What changes? What writer?
To Narwhal and the guy who saw Dark Knight with his father: I don’t know exactly why I like this book, or why I think Bella and Edward are so perfect for each other. Sorry.
I didn’t respond because you liked the book. I could care less.
I responded because you were getting upset over one person’s opinion of a fantasy dream turned into a book.
Astrid —
I agree with you 100%. You made some excellent points.
Astrid, this is in response to your comment that Fleur and Tonks are Mary Sues by the standards held to Bella:
Bella is loved by every character in the book, and when a character doesn’t like her, they are villified by Meyer. Fleur? Was downright loathed by quite a few people in the books. Remember how she got on Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley’s nerves? She was also portrayed as snooty and obnoxious (Yule Ball feast, anyone?) until she redeemed herself by loving Bill despite his disfigurement at the hands of Fenrir Grayback.
Tonks was not an attractive girl. Harry, at one point, comments that she was hyper to the point of being a little annoying. Yes, she’s a Metamorphmagus, but that ability hardly vaults her into Mary Sue-dom. And, if you read Deathly Hallows, she dies in the end. Obviously, she wasn’t granted Bella’s SUE-per powers.
So yeah, no comparison there, really. Bella’s faux humility about her looks is just that: fake, fake, fake. Her clumsiness is never used as an actual fault. It’s always meant to be an, ‘Oh! How CUTE!’ type of thing. In the end, she doesn’t make any sacrifices at all. She gets everything she wants, never suffers as a new vampire, can have a child, and basically gets to have her cake and eat it, too.
Ashley, how do you mean for us to see the blood thing as a metaphor for lust? I see it as plain hunger, and I doubt Meyer intended for their to be any metaphors since she often tells us that there are no meanings in her books.
Bella isn’t special, she’s strange. He couldn’t read her thoughts, so that meant that she cut into his boredom, but after he knew about all her thoughts from what she told him, why did he not then get bored? She doesn’t have anything special to say, but because we’re talking about Meyer’s writing here, he still stays, even though he has no more reason to keep himself from snapping her neck beyond trying to not kill people. She’s as vapid as she felt Jessica was. There’s nothing actually special about her personality. Nothing to love. She had no passions, just angst about how life is so unfair to her. Why is she beautiful in his eyes, besides her looks? She isn’t selfless, as people like to say she is, she just dedicates a lot of time to two men, Jacob and Edward, and is willing to hurt herself for them, not for people in general, therefore they are the exception to the rule. These two people don’t actually share hobbies, they don’t share passions, all they talk about is “I love you more!” , “No, I love YOU more!” Do they both enjoy watching movies together and critiquing them? Do they enjoy cooking together (for the sake of the argument, but yes, I’m aware Edward doesn’t eat food), do they perhaps enjoy astronomy or something? We get one mention of both of them liking Claire De Lune, and then I think they might have watched on movie together.
Astrid,
You have some wonderful points. However, I’m afraid that saying that the antis and the Twilighters are even in their immaturity is not a valid assumption (from my view). There is a site called twlightsucks.com. And these peopl have their own section dedicated to hate mail. Now here’s my question for you, where’s the hate mail page on the Twilight fan sites? Let me tell you that it does not exsist. This is because antis are not as melodramatic or as easily upset as some Twilighters. Those Twilighters take any little critique of the book and immediately make it an attack on them or Stephenie Meyer. They then proceed to flip out, overuse the caps key, and swear like a sailor.
I’m not sure that you understand the concept of a Mary Sue. A Mary Sue is when an author in essence makes themselves the character in the book. Have you ever heard Meyer describe Bella? It sounds very much like herself. And those little similarities in their lives are not random, I can promise you that. Also Bella’s clumsiness is only found adorable to the male sex. It doesn’t hinder her personality and when she’s a vampire that problem is solved anyway. A Gary Stu is the authors dream lover. Let’s take a look at Edward. Described as perfect in every way. No apparent weakness besides Bella’s blood *rolls eyes*. Sounds like Meyer thinks a lot of her little Edward.
And not once in BD do I recall Bella crying over the “friends” that she made in Forks and so easily dismissed as shadows. She didn’t even really yhtink that much about her mother. It seems Charlie is the only one that really mattered.
“Got to ask something to all the Twilight HATERS. If it had been written by someone more experienced, with no Nessie, and changes to the characters, do you think you could have liked Twilight? What changes? What writer?”
So you are asking that if a good writer had taken the plot of “normal girl meets vampire boy”, would I have enjoyed it?
Yes. In fact, I’ve read a couple of books with that device that have been enjoyable. The bare-bones concept of this book isn’t a bad one. The execution of that concept? Dreadful.
@ Roxana
But Ed watched Food Network to learn how to cook…*rolls eyes*
As if watching something will automatically bless you with skills.
That stuff only happens on shows like Heroes.
Narwhal,
Yeah, I think you’re totally right about how SMeyer handles interviews. If the questions get any more than skin deep, she flips and starts spewing out foods.
I’ve always been wondering about that. Bella should not be all fixed and pretty. I mean SMeyer would prolly claim that the venom has some magical healing powers, but that would be contridictory because then it wouldn’t kill the people, now would it?
Atrocious book. Excellent review. Breaking Dawn isn’t fit to shred into filler for a hamster cage.
This book was even badly edited. The spelling and grammar and continuity errors should have been corrected, and it might have been readable. It would still have been squicky and had a boring ending, but it might have been readable.
I laughed when Charlie’s pancakes turned into cereal.
Danielle? This is Meyer we’re talking about. I think it’s safe to assume that her ideas on what should happen change from one interview to the next, or change depending on what she feels like doing in her series. She wants Bella to have a baby? BAM! Magical vampire semen that defies her own set rules for the Twi-verse!
@ Danielle
Yeah. If vampires are predators, what would be the use of their venom “healing” their prey? That doesn’t make sense.
I, personally, am a big fan of the series.
I know, some of the points you made are very true (and I realized this long ago). But there were a couple of points you made that I think are very versatile. Could be taken into better lighting, if you will.
I think the series should have ended at the first book. It was cute and romantic in a kid-ish way and I could have easily stopped there.
Book Two? A decline in interest.
Book Three? An even bigger decline.
Book Four? Bombed. It wasn’t good, what-so-ever.
But hey, for some reason, I still love them.
“However, what Bella does is look at her options (which are plentiful, thanks to the feminists of the past), and decide what is best for her, what she wants out of life, as all women do– whether they chose to have a family or not, what job they want, who they want to be with (if anyone).”
Sure, but Bella never wanted anything BUT Edward. She didn’t care about her other options. And that’s the biggest problem. She was allegedly a good student and claimed she loved to read (though I tend to not believe her since she cracked about two books throughout the entire series). But she barely gave a thought to college or her future. It was all Edward, Edward, Edward. THAT’S IT.
It wouldn’t have even been so bad, though, if the other women in the books had had any ambition beyond babies and marriage. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to be married and having babies and being a stay at home mom. Hell, I’d LOVE to be a stay at home mom. But Rosalie, Esme, Leah — all of these women go on as if having babies is the most important thing a woman will do, ever, and like their lives will be incomplete without children. I only wish Meyer had taken a character like Leah and given her a more empowered approach to not having children — like, “I won’t have kids, but that’s okay. I can still be a complete human being (or werewolf) without them.” Because that would have sent a stronger feminist message than anything.
MRST
“I laughed when Charlie’s pancakes turned into cereal”
I laughed too because that’s signs of bad writing and bad editing. It’s in the book, folks. Explain that.
Narwhal,
You are exactly right. I shouldn’t try to make sense of what goes on in her head before she does.
Jeanine,
I meant that as a jibe at how SMeyer’s explanations fall short. Obviously the venom doesn’t have healing properties, because it turns people into vampires (aka kills them). It’s just that she has no reason as to why Bella’s in one beautiful peice as a vampire unless she was going to try to sell off the whole healing thing.
Danielle,
I do not have an exact definition of Mary Sues and Gary Stus in my mind, but my ideas towards them come from the Mary Sue litmus test, which quantifies much more than self-insertion or dream lover. I would never consider Hermione a Mary Sue, but she is a self-insertion of JKR.
As far as fandom goes, I have barely scratched the surface. I only read the books this past month, for the sole reason that I had to work the midnight release party for BD at the bookstore. My opinion on pros and antis is based on reading the above comments.
@ Danielle
Yeah. I was agreeing with you. I was just stating how it made no sense too.
I’ll disagree entirely on the maturity levels between the Antis and the Twilight lovers. I say this from daily experiences with them. I get around 10 comments a day from youtube videos that I made and you can bet that 80% goe exactly like this, “OMG GET A LIFE I HATE U BITCH!” In fact, want to see one that was posted through all three of my videos and twice on one?
“wow you bitch have so much time to kill .
did you even check your child’s diaper at least once today? I bet not.
“cause if you are not in you tube , you watching tv you big time ball breaker.
go get a job or clean you house
bookseller my ass
go take care of your man , you lazy bitch ”
You NEVER get behavior like that from an Anti out of nowhere. When we resort to cusswords it’s because we’ve been debating for hours and we’re frustrated with how thick some people are.
At the question of liking this series had it been handled by a better author- I’m not sure what author I’d like for it, but yes, I think I’d have enjoyed it just because I’m a sucker for fantasy novels. A better author, however, wouldn’t have kept in anti-feminist bits like Meyer did, a better author would acknowledge their fans’ questions instead of avoiding them, a better author would use grammar correctly, a better author would have developed their characters better and put that in place of all the purple prose and descriptions of Edward’s topaz eyes. So in the end, were this written by a better author, it would not have been the same series at all, because in my eyes, the horrible writing is part of the whole thing. Unfortunately.
Jeanine,
Sorry, I don’t compute tones of voices well over the computer >.<
Astrid,
I suppose that the definition of the Mary Sue has changed and absorbed more meanings of the years. I think I read somewhere that on the litmus test Bella got like a 45 or a 50 and Edward had like a 73.
Oh, I see what you mean…
You don’t want to delve into the deeper depths of the Twilight fandom, it can get pretty scary.
@Roxana
I completely agree. Most of us are asking questions about the series fan love so much and when we do we get yelled at (I am not referring to all of the fans).
I would like to know why do simple questions warrant so much hate?
If I said I hated bananas, should I get yelled at? Should my car get keyed by a banana lover (this actually happened to an anti)? Should I be referred to as a femal dog because I do not prefer that fruit.
The answer is no. And neither should we get bashed for not liking a book.
Sorry. Corrections.
“femal” to female
“fan” to fans
I getting seriously tired.
I think most people here are underestimating the power of 12-16 year old girls, I fit into that category and I have read all 4 books. I do not believe that a immortal Vampire is going to come one day and sweep me off my feet. But parts of these books are great examples of unwavering acceptance of different types of people, which is more than the writer of this article has managed to portray.
It’s honestly sad to hear a review from someone who doesn’t get the jist of what Twilight is really about. But then I brighten up because I remember – Oh wait, only people lacking brain stems could ever think this book is less than amazing!
I feel genuinely sorry for your narrow-minded self. I think I could honestly respect you if you had said why you didn’t like the books and maybe put some solid evidence behind your criticism, but you just went, “Bella sucks” this and “Edward’s overrated” that.
Twilight isn’t supposed to be a how-to guide for how to live your life, it’s story, MORON. So whether Meyer is or isn’t saying that girls should mope for months over an ex-boyfriend is purely your own opinion. It’s an amazing series, not just read by “12-15″ year old girls, but by parents, teachers, and everyone inbetween. This article was simply your opinion, your biased, unknowleagable opinion.
Shouldn’t writers try to put some fact behind why they feel this way? All you did was whine about how you thought that this could never happen, or they love each other too much, or blah blah blah.
Go back to the wierd, feminist, boyfriend-less book club you crawled out of and leave Twilight to someone who has an ounce of imagination.
go shoot yourself in the foot
Jeanine,
You are completely right. We should be able to express our opinions without generating so much heat. People get worked up over the smallest things, such as a book series. I mean, honestly, why is this website even here? Why is this such a big deal? Do you really have to piss off all of the fans (and you knew it would piss them off) just for your own perks? I would love to live in a world where we could all live harmoniously but that world doesn’t exist. So why not keep things positive? Look for the best in everything? Hate is a waste of energy and time. As well as hatred will just waste you away. Let the fans continue to enjoy a book that they absolutely adore and you can keep your negative opinion to yourself. I mean, you mentioned the book being suggestive of pro-suicide. 12 year olds are too young to understand that analysis and 17 year olds are too old to take this fictional book and seriously apply it to their own lives. Besides, even if they do, it’s just a fad. It will pass in no time.
Please do not call me a moron.
We are not narrow minded. We have questions about the series.
Just like people have questions about religions.
Would you yell at someone for believing something else?
Would you call them a “moron” because they have a different mindset than you?
No.
We are open to explanations (not opinions) about the book.
Just like people would be open to learn about a different religion. There are many religions and many faiths.
Saying one and only one religion should be believed is stripping a person’s free will away from them.
@ teamJACOB
“Oh wait, only people lacking brain stems could ever think this book is less than amazing!”
I must lack a brain stem, then. Dammit.
“This article was simply your opinion, your biased, unknowleagable opinion.”
Well, yeah. It’s an opinion. But it’s pretty knowledgeable — she’s read all four books. What more knowledge does she need? How Vampire Venom Magically Enables Young Women To Get Pregnant?
“Shouldn’t writers try to put some fact behind why they feel this way?”
She did. Did you not read the piece? She quoted words and phrases from the book and then explained why it sucks.
I’m losing my faith in humanity. Someone restore it, quick.
BITCH
it not really nice to insult a thing that CLEARLY alot of people like …. it sortof of rude.
haha and according to the person above.. I dont have a brain stem
hmmmmm well that is freakin impossible because i am alive right now BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
wow you guys all need a life
teamJACOB,
Please go back and read my comment, just a few ahead of yours. I love Twilight, and I’m also on Team Jacob…mmm, he’s hot…but comments such as yours make all Twilight fans look like silly 12 year old girls. You might be older, but your abrasive comments would suggest otherwise.
I’m not hating. I’m asking questions.
I don’t have a negative opinion (and opinions don’t matter anyway)
I have concerns and questions.
And I never, never, never, never mentioned pro-suicide.
Suicide is a cop out.
Why do you point me out when fans are sending out so much more hate to people who don’t like the series?
I was a serious fan of the first three Twilight books. I was so excited for the fourth one that I actually went to the midnight release. And then…..I read it. It forced me to take a look at the first three and realize that they are some of the worst pieces of literature I have ever read.
I couldn’t have said it better. You described the books perfectly.
Kudos.
…*facepalm*
I do not understand people. At all.
The basis of any debate that should currently be happening is: do you agree with Kellen, why or why not?
Now don’t get me wrong, there were a few really well written comments up there, but I basically just read an entire page of bullshit.
Most of it is an argument between the Twilighters and the anti-Twilighters over who is right. And sorry Twilighters, but you fail epically. Not because Twilight is crap necessarily, you make your own opinion on that. But most of the people representing you are little 12-year-old girls throwing hissy fits because there are actually people out there who aren’t fawning over Edward and worshiping their precious Stephenie.
I bet most of you wouldn’t know good literature if Edward Cullen smacked you over the head with it.
So I’m going ignore the ridiculous comments on here and refer your guys to the Wikipedia for the Mary Sue explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
Oh, but I will make a comment on something else: For anyone that says that teens around 17 will be smart enough to know that these books don’t apply to real life, take a look at this: http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=939 and then tell me what you think about just how much these books affect people. Also, the comments above, all the insane flaming also serve as examples. The only reason Rice’s car hasn’t been keyed is because these people don’t know where she lives.
I’m sorry, but I have to go. It’s 10:00 where I live and I have to get up at 4:45.
So good night and I’ll see you tomorrow.
And hopefully I’ll have some answers.
Agree to disagree then.
12 year old? Hm, I don’t think so.
She basically was talking just about how much she hated every single thing about the book (practically) but using big words and making it all feminist.
I’m sure if Stephenie Meyer read this, her first reaction would be throwing her hands up and going, “Woah woah WOAH, I want you to read into what I’m saying, but don’t go so far as to say that I’m against women and Bella is a weak little do-nothing who has to rely on the boys throughout the series.”
It’s what I’m thinking.
I agree everyone has to have their own opinion.
Everyone agrees on that.
I have read some Anti-Twilight reviews that I can definitely see eye-to-eye with, and this one is just… BAD in so many ways.
@ Cookie:
I think many people forget that the characters in the book are, well, vampires. Esme, Alice, and Rosalie (and eventually Bella) have all of eternity to do what they want. They can go to college, they can get multiple PhDs, whatever. Edward himself, and Carlisle of course, have both gone to medical school several times. In terms of education, their limits are boundless.
But, the caveat for Bella: if she puts changing herself off to go to college, the age gap between her and Edward continues to grow. She has no intention of forsaking college all together; she’s just putting it off, so that she and Edward can remain on the same level for the rest of their existence. (And it’s not like she never considers college; it is definitely in her plans, until she meets Edward and decides that being with him forever is more important than doing things in the normal order. To say she never considers anything else isn’t fair to her character. It isn’t until the very end of Eclipse that she finally decides. She says she knows, but it’s obvious in how she acts that she isn’t completely sure. Eclipse is when she actually makes that choice, to become a vampire and be with Edward forever).
So, in terms of Rosalie and Esme, and their desire for children… that is essentially the one thing they cannot have. Though there are limits to how they live their existence, being a mother (and not just to a ragtag group of teenage vampires) is the one thing they cannot, will never, have. That’s why they focus on that so much. That’s why they act like it’s the “be all and end all’ of life. They have every other opportunity in the world; this is really one of the only things denied them.
Maybe you’re right, that Leah should be more accepting of her infertile state. And I think that she probably will be, one day. But that sort of thing, I imagine, takes a while to accept. If I were in her place, I wouldn’t be okay with it within a matter of months.
Jeanine,
My comment wasn’t specifically pointed to you at all. You took it all the wrong way. It was a general comment. I think everyone in here is getting way too worked up about this. Really, this is very, very stupid and immature of all of you. The article, yes I felt it was immature to criticize a book just for perks, readers, and a huge debate. But I think it was even more immature for all of the Twilight fans to come here and fuel the fire.
You keep mentioning how you don’t yell at someone for liking something different than yourself. How, if I were Christian and you were Jewish, we should be able to appreciate each other. That comment chained to this article makes you a hypocrite. You are telling people that it is wrong to like this book. That it’s awful. Are you going to tell me, just because your Jewish, that being Christian is wrong?
Everyone, author and readers alike, should just keep their hurtful opinions to themselves. You are all TRYING to dig under each other’s nails, and for what? Winning the never ending debate about one of the millions of great book series out there? It’s plain stupid.
The brain stem thing was METAPHOR, aiightt?
Since you all are just so darn SMART, I thought you’d be quick at figuring that one out.
Guess not.
And quit being so hypocritical and catty.
You just preached about she can have her own opinion, and then turn around and tell me I mine is wrong?
teamJACOB
You’re right. We shouldn’t read into it.
Giving tweens the idea that a boy sitting outside your window while you sleeping, listening in on your conversations, and/or ripping out part of your engine is romantic is PERFECTLY fine.
I’m sure the pedofiles will be pleased.
team Jacob, WHY is it bad? You don’t explain why, you just seem bothered with feminism being mentioned. Also, Stephenie Meyer would not response like that, she’d say that her feelings are hurt and that people aren’t reading her books right. That’s called victimizing yourself, not behaving like an author with any sense.
And when I said all those things, it was dierected at the WRITER, obviously.
Get it togther, and QUICK, people.
Danielle, the pedophiles will be more pleased about the Claire and Nessie imprinting bits. It’s totes okay for you to be into kids now, so long as you claim that it’s mystical and therefore true love.
team Jacob: “Get it togther, and QUICK, people.” What does that even mean? What would be having it together, in your eyes? That we agree with you or something?
Oh, and brain stem comment wasn’t a metaphor. It was an insult. Learn your literary terms better. That way maybe one day you’ll be able to write a better book than SMeyer, maybe one with a plot.
Roxana,
You’re right I totally forgot about that!
You know how Hollywood had their baby craze thing?
Well I guess now it will be a pedophile craze. Michael Jackson will be pleased to hear he’s in style again!
Roxana, I just waited like twenty minutes telling you why I thought it was bad.
I’m not wasting twenty more retyping it.
Ohh, puhh-leaasee.
Do you notice that the book is FICTION?
Yeah, if a human guy were doing it, it’d be creepy.
But we are talking mythical creatures here.
And if you interpret the things he did as being a “pedophile” these obviously aren’t the books for you, and you’re better off going and looking in the historical fiction section, or something else for people without a romantic bone in their body.
Danielle and Roxana,
I think she explains the whole imprinting thing very well. With a baby, first it’s a protective father-like love. Then it becomes a brotherly, good friendship love. When they’re both the right age, only then is it a romantic love. Pedophilia has more to do with twisted lust.
And, no.
Getting it together would mean something like realizing that if you hate the book this much to waste time on telling people why and how much you hate it, go read something else and stop bitching about it.
Yeah?
teamJACOB
How many girls right now want an “Edward?”
Yup, I’m not even being sarcastic when they wouldn’t think that it would be creepy. They’d probably go. “OMGSH! HES JUST LIKE EDWARD LOOKING OUT FOR ME LIKE THAT!!! LUV!”
When you say mythical creature, it makes me think of unicorns…
Alright then, because historical fiction isn’t at all romantic! *cough*gonewiththewind*cough*
Astrid, EXACTLY.
So obviously you DIDN’T read them thoroughly, or you’d know that.
Astrid,
You’re right. However, I just believe that you know if people wanted to exploit it in the direction of pedophilia it would be totally possible…not that anyone sane would try to pass of imprinting in really life lol.
Oh, you know what I mean.
Quit trying to find loopholes in what I’m saying already.
I did say “or something like that”.
Yes. I’m pretty sure I did.
teamJACOB
Please, I used to be a fan of the books. I read the first three several times…and each time I read them they got worse because I wouldn’t notice more and more flaws.
Um, so what if anyone does want an Edward?
Does that suddenly make the books a bad read?
I feel bad for anyone who feels that way.
teamJACOB
Poking loopholes and dismantling the others arguments is how you have an interesting debate. I love a good debate and that’s why I’m here. So please, dismantle the arguments reasonably. It’ll be fun, I promise.
I still don’t get how there can be a “flaw” in a book?
You mean, you didn’t like it?
If that’s what you mean, then just say it, right?
Seriously? This is ridiculous. I agree with Cassie.
And yes, “I want an Edward” is something that is very popular right now, but as Cassie said, it was a fad, it will pass. There have been so many stupid fads like that that I can’t even imagine why people would bother getting so worked up about every single one of them? Why waste your time like that? Don’t you have something more productive to be doing?
No, it means that despite what people keep saying there ARE people out there who are willing to base at least part of their life on this book. This of course makes them well…idiots…but it’s still the tiniest bit sad.
Besides, that’s not what makes it a bad book. The lack of plot, poor grammar and narration does. The underlying tones of the novel is just another add-on.
Um, Kaitlen,same could be said of you.
If you don’t care, why are you here?
if you don’t like it, GET OUT.
teamJacob: No, that’s not getting it together, because I didn’t run up into your face to tell you how much I hate it, you came here, remember? If you’re passionate enough to defend your books then I’m passionate enough to work against abusive and anti-feminist ideas. This isn’t hating for the sake of hating, like you seem to think it is.
“The book is fiction” has already been established as not being a real argument, seeing as how the best of fiction books have very solid foundations in reality. Or would you rather read a book that has to do with unicorns that come from Mars and thoroughly enjoy playing hockey? Even then, fiction or not, it sends a message, and girls are obviously, seriously obsessing over it. I’m sure you’ve just chosen to blind yourself to that. You’re a living example, considering you’ve shown up here with negative, instead of mature, comments towards the Anti-Twilighters.
Astrid: Is that not more like the Electra complex then? You grew up with this man, he treats you like a father or a brother, and therefore you will harbor those family type feelings, yet suddenly one day you’ll want to have sex with him. Does that not come off as weird to you at all? It may not start off romantically, but it’s going to be that way eventually, and that’s weird.
Kaitlen,
I’m here to just have fun. I like debating topics. I already did my homework and I’m talking to serveral friends online right now, so I’m good for now.
teamJACOB,
Hey, I was here to defend you. I am a fan of the books. But you OBVIOUSLY have this debate under control, so please, continue.
And I am here because I am studying the different types of people. Human nature, in a way. This is very productive to me.
Danielle,
No offense, but do you even know what you are typing?
Or are you just fitting words together to see if they come out intelligent sounding?
No plot?
Bad grammar?
Even an anti-twilighter has to be able to rise above the fact that these are untrue.
Let’s just say you didn’t like the grammar, and you didn’t care for the plot.
It sounds a tiny bit more intelligent.
YOU are the imagination-less idiot who tricks yourself into believing that there are people who don’t try to live their lives in the spirit of a character from a book they love, or a movie they saw, or what have you.
If your life is that pathetic (and by saying that, you’ve proved it is) then maybe you’re just better off not picking up a book ever again.
“I think many people forget that the characters in the book are, well, vampires.”
Maybe, but that could be because these characters are hardly vampires. They are impervious to sunlight (except it makes them sparkle), crosses, garlic. They don’t have fangs and these particular vamps don’t feed on humans and feel guilt if they do. Can you even feel guilt if you have no soul?
“But, the caveat for Bella: if she puts changing herself off to go to college, the age gap between her and Edward continues to grow.”
Oh, no, she’ll look 22 as opposed to 18. Mentally Edward should be 107 years old and he’s with a 17-year-old girl. Who should have the bigger problem?
“She has no intention of forsaking college all together; she’s just putting it off, so that she and Edward can remain on the same level for the rest of their existence. (And it’s not like she never considers college; it is definitely in her plans, until she meets Edward and decides that being with him forever is more important than doing things in the normal order. To say she never considers anything else isn’t fair to her character. It isn’t until the very end of Eclipse that she finally decides. She says she knows, but it’s obvious in how she acts that she isn’t completely sure. Eclipse is when she actually makes that choice, to become a vampire and be with Edward forever).”
Maybe, but she never acts like college or a career are important things for her. She spends maybe two scenes really thinking about college. Edward fills out her college application to Dartmouth. And did anyone really think she would choose NOT to become a vampire? It was like the “choice” between Edward and Jacob — did anyone think she would choose Jacob?
“So, in terms of Rosalie and Esme, and their desire for children… that is essentially the one thing they cannot have. Though there are limits to how they live their existence, being a mother (and not just to a ragtag group of teenage vampires) is the one thing they cannot, will never, have. That’s why they focus on that so much. That’s why they act like it’s the “be all and end all’ of life. They have every other opportunity in the world; this is really one of the only things denied them.”
And you would think after so many years they would have come to terms with it. Edward allegedly has two Ph.Ds (though he sure doesn’t act like it), so what have Rosalie and Esme done? I honestly don’t remember. Like I said I only wish *one* female character would have expressed a differing opinion about having children.
Danielle,
Well, as long as your homework is finished…. lol
Nope, I’m out.
I’ll leave you guys to wallow in your dislike for anti-feminist, abusive, pedophilish books, and I’ll go read some of my favorites
Bye
Haha, team Jacob, you’re allowing your anger over this article clearly get to you. It’s to the point that you bitched at someone that was on your side. Wow.
Think, for once, that perhaps your opinion isn’t the right one. Perhaps, like mine, it;s just one side of the coin, just another opinion.
And wait- did you not say that you’ve read other articles bashing the books that you could see eye-to-eye with? Then why say that you don’t see any flaws in the books? That must not have been you, surely I’m misremembering….
Misremembering?
Is that a word?
teamJACOB,
If I am just randomly putting words together to make a question for an answer, then I learned it from SMeyer.
Besides, that is totally false that antis feel like SMeyer has good grammar. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people complain about how she needs a publisher. Besides, even my friends who worship Twilight, agree that SMeyer desperately needs to take a few writing classes.
And do tell me, what is the plot of Twilight? Where’s the rising action? The falling action?
“YOU are the imagination-less idiot who tricks yourself into believing that there are people who don’t try to live their lives in the spirit of a character from a book they love, or a movie they saw, or what have you”
I’ll assume that you mean DO.
Well…
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=770&page=4
Here’s a quote from imdb written by a fan:
Ever since i read twilight i changed my opinions and feelings about things soo much.
– i really could care less what i wear now. yeah, sometimes i like to dress up but plain stuff is fine with me. and i used to obsess over shopping. but idk, maybe hearing about how someone as wonderful as Edward [and like, every other guy in the book] can fall for someone who dresses as plainly and carelessly as Bella has made me care less. not sure really..
– i always thought tan skin was a must have. that anyone who was pale was just.. idk. not at their highest potential i guess…
my opinion changed on that as well.
– i thought blue eyes were the most gorgeous and green eyes were second best. i always thought brown eyes were plain and boring.. and now i want them really bad lol.
– the way i picture love is so much different to me now
– my standards are definitley highered for my “perfect guy” haha
– if I would have heard the name “Edward” before i wouldve thought it was “gross” cuz its so old.. but now whenever i hear it my heart speeds up. like today, our first day of school, we found out we have a new kid named Edward. I about fell out of my seat with excitement. but then i was informed hes not attractive at all =\
well, none of my friends have read these books and they definitley dont think the way i do. theyre obsessed with their hair, makeup, and clothes being perfect. they have to have everything perfectly matching and in order. everything has to be from Hollister, Abercrombie, Forever 21, Victorias Secret, or sometimes Aeropostale. They make fun of people who dont have a million outfits. Its really annoying. =\
And if my life is so pathetic then maybe I should pick up more books so I can “escape” you know?
“No plot?
Bad grammar?
Even an anti-twilighter has to be able to rise above the fact that these are untrue.”
XD Oh God, the stuff this person says totally cracks me up. In truth, it is the fans of the books that – if they admit to any faults in the books at all- will admit that they are poorly written. Hahaha, that’s the first time I heard something as delusional as that. *keeps laughing* This is a nice night, thank you guys.
Oh, teamJACOB left?
Sad. I compile that just for her…
@Astrid-
“I think she explains the whole imprinting thing very well. With a baby, first it’s a protective father-like love. Then it becomes a brotherly, good friendship love. When they’re both the right age, only then is it a romantic love. Pedophilia has more to do with twisted lust.”
Imagine you were a parent. Imagine your daughter had an older-brother figure who played with your small child, baby-sat and took care of her. Imagine he patted her on the head and took her to Chuck E. Cheese and taught her to ride a two-wheeler and aw, isn’t that cute. Now imagine 12 years later, your baby girl is starting to date and the guy who’s taking her out? Yeah, it’s the older brother figure. Your daughter is 16, he’s 26. What would your reaction be? Would you not lock your daughter in her room and forbid her to leave until the other guy moved to a different country?
Aside from that, just the image of a teenage boy “imprinting” on a baby and then taking care of her until she’s “of age” — sound a bit cultlike to anyone? *Shudders*
At least I didn’t do much more than copy and paste.
“Misremembering?
Is that a word?”
You completely disregarded everything I said. Is that because you can’t argue against my points? Oh- and yes, it’s a word, as in “to remember incorrectly”. Jeez, for someone who can spot great plots and awesome grammar from a mile away, you sure aren’t great at telling when a word is real or not.
Roxana,
I’ve seen in relationships around me, with my friends, the way a familial love between two close friends can grow into a romantic love. In high school, I described my best guy friend as like a brother to me. My sophomore year of high school, we kissed (that was lust, not love, but we’re not really here to talk about me…). So no, I don’t think it’s weird for love to change in context.
Cookie,
The vampires themselves don’t agree on whether or not they have souls. So, yeah, I think they can feel guilt. Also, fantasy authors frequently change around the “rules” of mythical creatures because they don’t really exist. I’ve read many interpretations on vampires, werewolves, etc. Meyer is not the first to make them impervious to sunlight, as long as it isn’t direct sunlight nor is she first to make garlic harmless.
Roxana,
That’s what happens when people can’t form a coherant thought. They pick something that is beside the point to focus on. *shrugs* Defense mechanism, I suppose.
” if I would have heard the name “Edward†before i wouldve thought it was “gross†cuz its so old.. but now whenever i hear it my heart speeds up. like today, our first day of school, we found out we have a new kid named Edward. I about fell out of my seat with excitement. but then i was informed hes not attractive at all =\”
Oh Jesus, now THAT really sucks.
One might say that it’s good that she’s not obsessed over clothes and matching and what not, but it’s really not an opinion based on how she feels about herself alone. She’s trying to be Bella, quite clearly, and if this story had been from Rosalie’s view, she’d probably be dying her hair blond right now. These books don’t teach girls to have confidence in being plain, they just teach them a new method of getting that man they feel they definitely need in their life.
I got my husband for being really funny- or at least partly because of that. I think I’ll stick to my own methods for, well, anything in life. They seem to be working quite well, methinks.
Cookie,
Most people don’t think Remus/Tonks is weird, but it’s kinda the same thing. Also, werewolves don’t age physically, which makes it different, imho.
Maybe SMeyer made Bella look like herself for a reason! It must be because then all the little ones she brainwashed like that girl will all look like her! A bunch of mini Smeyers!
Astrid- weird thing here is that the love for these girls starts off the minute they meet. For Nessie, it’s since birth, and for Claire, since she was two, and the whole time these men are waiting for them to come of age so that they can finally make-out. The cases that you speak of, are these older people falling in love with toddlers and just waiting for them to get old enough to declare their romantic feelings? I can see two kids growing up together, going to school together, and eventually finding that they love each other- because they are of the same age and can develop feelings towards each other early on. In the case of imprinting though, romantic feelings won’t be there until the right time comes along, and before that they’ll be like fathers to them. They won’t be those friends that are going through the same experiences, going to the same schools, dealing with the same people. Quil will be doing whatever he does with his time while Claire lives her life as a normal girl and they won’t have any growing bonds, they’ll just wind up with each other.
“That’s what happens when people can’t form a coherent thought. They pick something that is beside the point to focus on. *shrugs* Defense mechanism, I suppose.”
This is exactly why I’m here. teamJACOB feels like she had been threatened because by criticizing her interests, you are criticizing her. So she’s defending herself to the best of her ability.
I have grown up with adults who constantly criticize my interests but I have learned to accept everyones opinion, and instead of getting worked up and angry, I find it interesting. I’ll ask them WHY they think I’m so very wrong, and in some cases, my opinions have been changed. And that’s what life is about. Learning and accepting. This is the way you find yourself. Otherwise, you are an annoying 12 year old who rants about how spectacular a teens fiction book is when you should be asking what books interest the other person. Maybe you’ll find common ground, change your opinion, or find a new interest?
My thoughts on life, ladies and gentlemen. (:
Kaitlen,
Correction. I started by critiquing the book. Then she made it into an attack on the people speaking. And although, I did respond, which wouldn’t exactly be the best thing to do. I resorted to it much later and not in an attempt to defend my views.
She should not feel that she is being criticized just because her interests are. People are allowed to have their own opinion. True? You even said yourself that you have learned to accept other. Therefore, she must learn how to deal with it on her own as well.
Oh wow, I feel like my last post was rather redudant for some reason. :] oh well.
Anyway, I’m going to call it a night folks. Thanks for keeping me entertained and allowing to practice my debating skills :D. It was fun. Perhaps I’ll be back tomorrow if it’s worth it.
Good night!
You made my heart sing, you really did. I am so glad that someone wrote a patient rebuttal to this whole crazy mess of a craze.
I was never able to bring myself to read these books even though I really wanted to see if there was something that was understandably grabbing the attention of so many readers… but now reading your article? I will never even check the book out from a library or read it if it was sent to my doorstop with a gold ribbon on it. (You get what I mean. Getting a copy of Twilight in a gold ribbon on your doorstep would be weird enough…)
You’ve saved me a whole chunk of hours I can spend on reading something better! Thank you!
Kaitlen, I agree with you on that. It is very true that the Anti-Twilighters tend to accept differing opinions more than the fangirls do, unfortunately… or fortunately, however way you want to look at it. You’re actually the kind of person we’d welcome on the TwilightSucks.com forums, because you seem willing to go into healthy debate rather than pressing down on your caps lock key like your life depended on it. If you’d like more articles on why people don’t like these books, I’d suggest you go there. A lot of the people there write more eloquently than I’m ever capable of doing,
“Most people don’t think Remus/Tonks is weird, but it’s kinda the same thing. Also, werewolves don’t age physically, which makes it different, imho.”
Remus/Tonks is not the same thing. 1. Tonks is not a baby. 2. Remus CHOSE to love her.
How does it make it different because werewolves don’t age? Does it make it any less creepy that a 16-year-old boy has already decided that this 3-year-old girl is going to be his wife in the future?
“Also, fantasy authors frequently change around the “rules†of mythical creatures because they don’t really exist. I’ve read many interpretations on vampires, werewolves, etc. Meyer is not the first to make them impervious to sunlight, as long as it isn’t direct sunlight nor is she first to make garlic harmless.”
I have no problem with fantasy authors putting their own spin on creatures like vamps. No problem at all. I find it interesting when writers put their own creative touches on myths. But Meyer’s vamps are hardly vamps at all — why’d she even make them vampires? We keep hearing how Edward and the other Cullens are such a danger to Bella — nope, I don’t see it. They are completely unscary. Meyer rendered her vampires completely (and please forgive the pun) toothless.
Roxana,
I think this might just be a difference of opinion. Being perfectly suited for each other at a future point in time, even if at the moment they’re different ages, doesn’t bother me. The idea reminds me of a HP fanfic in which Snape and Hermione get together in heaven, because that’s the only opportunity most true soul mates have to be together, since age and circumstance separate them on Earth. I see imprinting as a chance to be with THE one, the perfect match, even if it means waiting awhile.
Ahh … you’ve wrapped it up in a nice package! This is exactly how I feel about the series. I tried reading the first book. I got to chapter 2 before I was so disgusted with it that I could not continue. Many of my friends are CRAZY about the series … but what really gets to me is they SEEM to be aware that the writing is terrible, the characterization is terrible and the overall message it sends to young girls is not a good one.
I find the term ‘feminism’ to be inappropriate here, because a lot of people don’t know what the term really means. Even people who are ‘devoted’ feminists give women who have chosen to be wives and mothers nasty looks and tell them they’re just giving in to the pressure of the ‘male machine’.
However, that’s not the point of this.
I actually felt that books 5,6 and 7 of the Harry Potter series resembled Twilight a little because they seemed to lack continuity and editing … but that’s also not the point.
The point is that this series is popular and is influencing young women in a negative way. If you want to make the ‘fiction is just that — fiction’ argument then please realize that just because you’re smart enough to realize this, a large portion of the targeted age range has trouble distinguishing between the two.
Like it or not, that time in girls’ lives is often a troubled one. There’s a lot of mixed messages coming in from all angles and sometimes sorting them out is a terrible ordeal. In this case, fantasy is the only constant, and in a way – the only reality.
A good friend of mine is in a horribly abusive relationship, both mental and physical. Her excuses for her boyfriend are the same as Bella’s, word for word. Last year, he took the battery out of her car to keep her from going out on a Friday night. She didn’t find that disturbing, she thought it was “cute because that meant he wanted to spend more time with her”. That particular parallel made me shudder.
There’s nothing wrong with a girl that wants to be loved, cherished an protected. There is something wrong when that love, chershing and protectiveness crosses the line from sweet to obsessive. Another friend of mine’s sister took an entire bottle of Tylenol PM because her boyfriend broke up with her. She didn’t die, but her liver is damaged beyond repair and she’ll require a transplant by the time she turns 30. Scarily enough, she’s a huge fan of Twilight. I can’t say that’s what “inspired” her suicide attempt, but the thought of being without her one true love made life not worth living anymore. Nevermind that she’s a junior in high school, her life is over because her first love doesn’t love her anymore.
I think I’m going to pen a book with my ass and see if I can get it on the best seller list. I’ll have doormat/no-character female lead that is in love with a magic turd that grants wishes. It’ll be a bestseller before Christmas.
I know you started by critiquing the book, but the book is her interest. And just because I, myself, have learned to accept other people’s views, doesn’t mean everyone else has. teamJACOB is at fault for criticizing people, personally. By insulting other’s intelligence and such but that’s how most people are. I like to spread my opinion on life and I thought this was a perfect opportunity, and that’s the only reason I’m here.
First of all, about the Bella going to college thing — Stephenie Meyer said in a recent interview that Bella does indeed go to college after Breaking Dawn. Actually, she goes many times because she has the rest of eternity to do so. So that whole argument is a moot point.
Secondly, do you honestly think that what was said in this article hasn’t already been said way too many times before? We already know people think the writing sucks, we already know that people think the books are anti-feminist, and we already know that people are convinced the books are corrupting our minds. The fact that we have the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality shows that we are far more mature than anyone gives us credit for.
As an obvious fan of the books, do I get excited when I hear the name Edward? Yes. But does that mean that I believe a woman needs a man in order to survive? NO! Do I accept suicidal depression as a reasonable response to breaking up with a boyfriend? NO! Do I believe in vampires? NO! But, according to anti-Twilighters, I am an abomination. I have managed to remain normal despite reading and loving the Twilight saga. What a surprise!
You seem to have embarked on a crusade of sorts to save the Twilighters from the evil wrath of Stephenie Meyer. According to you, we apparently do not realize that our minds, bodies, and lives are slowly being stripped away from us because we read books for the sheer joy of reading.
I pity you. I’m sorry that you will never have the ability to read a love story, or any story for that matter, and understand the simplicity of escapism that it provides.
You don’t have to like the books. Nothing is loved by everyone. But for goodness sake, don’t tell us not to like them, too.
Meh, perhaps I’m particularly bothered that Imprinting is more like a forced version of love at first sight. I’m a huge fan of the kind of love that is built up with time- sharing hobbies and what not. Unless that’s exactly what these people are, except that there’s some mystical power going, “Hey, did you two know that both of you are really into race cars?” or something like that, but we never see any support for why exactly two people should love each other so besides them just being “meant to be”. It seems like such an easy way for things to just fall in your lap, as is often the case in Twilight. You know, I love to see the courting, the inside jokes and the stolen glances and stuff like that. With imprinting, you’re pretty much engaged the minute you two set eyes on each other.
Jared and Kim for example: Kim apparently really liked Jared so she was psyched when he fell for her, and good for her, that’s a nice thing to have. Jared, on the other hand, had classes with her and never even gave her a second though, but now that he turned into a werewolf and then saw her, suddenly he was in love, but why? What made her different from all the other times he saw her compared to when he saw her after he was a werewolf? Nothing but mystical forces, and that version of love totally sucks to me.
Emma,
You wrapped that up perfectly. My thoughts exactly. I was just way too lazy to type it all up. (:
Cookie,
With Remus and Tonks, a logical inference from canon is that he knew her as a young child. Sirius and Remus were the same age, and Andromeda was 5-6 years older than Sirius. Sirius and Andromeda were “best cousins” and both black sheep of the Black family (pun unintended…). Sirius and his best friends would most likely have known Andromeda’s family, including baby!Tonks.
And I do realize that Remus didn’t pick Tonks to be his wife when she was still in nappies, so no, it’s not exactly the same.
Sorry, kinda went off-topic here…
Wow. That was absolutely brilliant. I know that several others (and I mean several…) have said it before me, but I completely agree. Bella Swan is a sad excuse for a heroine. She seems to not have one redeeming quality. The entire series is focused on this apparently “plain” girl who is loved by everyone she meers (even when she’s a complete jerk to them) and who can’t go to bed by herself, let alone live her life. I have several friends who completely love this series and every time one of them brings it up, I feel it necessary to mention several of the points that you have so elloquently brought up. It also did not help matters that Meyer’s writing style leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike several of her contemporaries, she seems unable to create more than one plotline in her books and she seems to insist upon being the most predictable author I have ever read. Her books seem to almost follow a formula and when she tries for twists and turns, it ends up messy and confusing. But, on top of this are the slights at feminism that you have already talked about. I mean, honestly! One of the main messages of this book is not simply that love conquers all, but rather that you need love to survive. You need a man to survive. Also, the mere fact that Bella had to have a kid after sleeping with Edward pissed me off. Becuase if there wasn’t a reason for the sex, she’s just be a slut right? How sexist is that?! Anywho, I just thought I’d express my appretiation that someone wrote about the true nature of this series!
Thanks!
Emma- the college bit has more to do with Bella’s interest in it. We never see her actually care unless it all ties back to Edward. Of course she’d go to college eventually, she’s immortal after all, and now she doesn’t even have to deal with the blood lust.
We’ve already given points on fans that are obsesed with the books. So while you may be able to see the difference between fiction and reality, not everyone can. Just because the anti-opinion has been stated before doesn’t mean it can’t be stated again. The fangirl opinion has definitely been stated a million times over and over- are you telling any of them off for being repetitive? Don’t ignore us when we use words like “most” or “a lot” instead of “all” of the fans, because we do use those words out of respect for the small amount of sane fans- and yes I do believe there is only a small amount of them, for reasons I’ve already stated in the the above comments.
The “I pity you” comment is a bit low, don’t you think? It tends to start to group you in with the fangirls that love to get crazy when someone doesn’t like their books. So you didn’t like the article- is it affecting your life, your perception of things? Does it really bother you so much that someone stated their opinion, even though you see no problem in stating your pitying one?
@Emma-
“First of all, about the Bella going to college thing — Stephenie Meyer said in a recent interview that Bella does indeed go to college after Breaking Dawn. Actually, she goes many times because she has the rest of eternity to do so. So that whole argument is a moot point.”
Not a moot point. And the point is not that Bella didn’t go to college. I’m sure she did after a hundred years of staring and Edward and telling him how much she loved him. The point is that she hardly seemed to care about college or anything else about her future other than Edward.
Roxana,
Ahh, I think I see the root of our difference of opinion! I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I find the concept terribly romantic. Yes, it is used as an easy way out in bad writing, but I still love the idea of love at first sight. Jared imprinting on Kim? The only explanation I can think of is that becoming a werewolf helped him mature and see beyond physical appearances. *shrugs* But that’s only a so-so explanation.
“OMG THE BOOKS ARE FICTIONOUS”
In short, just because something is fantasy does not mean it is unrealistic. The object of writers is to make you believe the story they are telling; whether that story is a crime drama or Lord of the Rings is irrelevant. The point is that the author tries to immerse its reader so fully into the story that not only does the reader understand the complexities of the world they have created (like Trekkies translating the Bible into Klingon, for example) but can use the imagination to “believe” that that world exists. Realism does not mean that everything is exactly how it is in the real world; it means that the media (the book, the movie, the play) is so well-crafted that it seems real. Good writers make their readers believe.
How does the writer do this?
1) Create characters to whom readers can relate; characters who are complex and representative of three-dimensional people (and have complex, three-dimensional relationships);
2) Create a world with rules (and don’t contradict those rules);
3) Use reason and logic to determine the course of plot and character arc.
Over and over again Meyer contradicts herself and comes up with terrible explanations for the things that happen (e.g. her pathetic attempt to use science to explain the vampires and Nessie). Just because it’s fictional does not give her license to write up ridiculous shit that makes no sense.
Additionally, Meyer is depicting (rather, idealizing) a relationship between two characters. That relationship happens to be abusive and sexist; the fact that the boy is a vampire is irrelevant. It’s still abusive and sexist.
Astrid- just putting this out there, although we have differing opinions, I’m really glad that you’re not one of the rabid fangirls screaming at me without explaining why they don’t agree. Honestly, I do very much appreciate the way you’ve handled yourself here.
Emma,
I like your point on the whole issue of college. I know that in the books, she is rather focused on Edward and not college, but we do see her focused on homework several times and worried about Jacob not doing his. I think that it’s obvious Bella cares about her education; she just wants to wait until she has eternity to go to college. Anyway, I’m glad to hear that Meyer has confirmed she goes to college later on.
wow, I made dinner and there’s been so much talk and or yelling lol.
@ Roxanne
Sorry I wasn’t on to talk about my earlier comment, I had dinner to cook and my husband just got home so I had to help out with cooking and see how his day went but anyways,
I don’t think that Bella is necessarily boring, and she seems to put a brave face on and want to save those that she loves. I mean it seems she took care of her mother and acting like the adult (I know that from experience in my life) and now she cares for her father . I don’t think because she seems boring to someone that she shouldn’t be seen as important to Edward. (does that make sense?) She’s the one person Edward trust with knowing everything about him, they are both open and I think its kind of cute the whole asking questions about different things in their life and what’s on their minds. I like that.
I meant with the whole lust thing being that he at first seems interested with what’s on the surface (as in the case of lust) but it seems that when he holds those feelings back they really do seem to have an interest in each other and it seems to build. He cares about her to put her happiness first although he may seem really unhappy about it. I understand that, sometimes you give a little of yourself in order to make someone happy…that’s just love. I don’t fuss with the details of the book and that’s where I think that I can’t really see eye to eye with some people because I enjoy the relationship between Edward and Bella and it just seems that in the end all you need is love, and that’s all I really need to enjoy this book. Maybe simple but oh well.
While I do understand your point and respect your opinion, I think that some of your statements were rather irrelevant taken out of the context of the book series. Yes, you are correct in saying that Edward and Bella’s relationship is not healthy. But, honestly, this is because they are literally written to be so deeply in love that it HURTS. I know that sounds cheesy and perhaps I’m simply another teenage girl who is oblivious to the horrifying “insults to women,” but honestly, I’ve never believed that TRUE love can exist without pain. As much as it hurts, it’s the most ideal love possible. Stephenie Meyer described the ultimate love, the type of feeling that only a minuscule amount can even hope to have the opportunity to experience. And honestly, it is a BOOK, a means of escape, and it’s FANTASY at that. One of the most common reasons people state for reading fiction is to escape to another world where the imagination takes control and to experience a vast array of emotions and events before returning to reality. The painful love described in Twilight does this. It’s so far beyond the reaches of the tangible reality in which we live. Also, you mentioned how much Bella gives up in her quest to be with Edward, but it’s also true that she has had the same effect on him. Edward sacrifices so much (like fighting the vampire army and his relationship with his family- at the beginning anyway) to be with her because he feels the same impossible, painful love for her. It’s unhealthy but so far beyond the bounds of real life that I find it impossible to mix up the two worlds, as you implied teenage girls would bring any sort of message from this. The author herself has said that the series has no message, it’s just an entertaining story.
Roxana,
Thanks! I happily acknowledge the same maturity and respectfulness in you and Cookie.
Well, friends, it’s been a fun and long debate, but if I’m going to be on time for my internship tomorrow, it’s time for me to bid y’all adieu.
Ashley, I think my issue with this might have more to do with Meyer’s bad writing skills. We hear of her taking care of her mother, but we never see it, so it comes off more as Meyer trying to make Bella look more mature than she really is. I can’t see a woman who’s had the responsibility behave the way she does throughout the series. While I didn’t have to take care of my parents too much, I did take care of my siblings, even though I am the youngest of four, and because of that my friends see me as the motherly type, and I do very much look forward to having children of my own to take care of, I’m very family oriented.
I’m not saying that Bella has to be like me, but it’s a natural thing for her to show this caring quality in other parts of her life, yet she doesn’t. The only time I see her get protective or caring is when Jacob’s in pain, and that’s more out of guilt because she knows she caused it. Then there’s Nessie, which doesn’t make sense because she’s a teen who just got pregnant by her vampire boyfriend, not a month has passed and the baby is already kicking, and her first instinct is to go “Aww, I’ll name it little nudger!” So yeah, I see that as Meyer’s bad writing. She has a lot of bad “Tell Don’t Show” habits, and then she has unnatural reactions from her characters. Human beings do have certain patterns that they think in, it’s why we can learn to predict the people we’re close to. In fact, a lot of the fans felt that in BD these characters were insanely unlike themselves, and that’s because they felt that they knew the characters enough to guess their thought and behavior patterns.
Back to Bella and Edward specifically though, there’s a lot of tell-don’t-show going on. Bella mentions that Edward asked her a lot of stuff at one point, but I don’t think we actually know of the conversation’s specific contents. Also, that one moment doesn’t count for much because you don’t just learn to love a person by one session of personal storytelling. It develops over time, and I hardly see that in the books. If anything, Jacob and Bella’s relationship made more sense because they just bonded a lot, because “I love you more!’, “No, I love YOU more!” was taken out of the way and they had room to talk and laugh and do things they enjoyed together. It just makes more sense to me that way, otherwise I can’t see it as true love if I don’t feel that the characters really know each other, or love each other. To me, it’s like they’re in love with the idea of love, and since both give the pretense of love to each other, they stick with one another.
Okay, I’m definitely sleeping now. Goodnight, ladies and gents.
About Edward and his ‘lil swimmers:
At this point I honestly don’t really care about the venom/semen thing (it’s just another example of Meyer’s contradictions and general idiocy), but if you really WANT to apply logic to Meyer-land, here are some facts you may consider:
1. Sperm dies within three days, in or out of the body.
2. Edward’s body was supposedly ‘frozen’ in time; that indicates that his sperm were still human (rendering Nessie’s existence as a half-vamp even more inexplicable).
Side note: there is NO reason for the number of chromosomes to change when someone becomes a vampire. Chromosomes exist to tell the cells how to live and function, and to replicate in growth. Vampires’ bodies don’t change; Meyer references this by saying that their hair will never grow, etc. etc. (which takes proteins, which takes DNA). Vampires don’t grow. Their bodies don’t change. Why the fuck would the number of their chromosomes change?
3. If Edward’s innards are frozen, then there is no movement. That means no blood rushing to engorge the penis and no sperm and seminal fluid flowing to create semen. That means that IF Edward can perform sex, he would experience a dry ejaculation and therefore, his partner would not come into contact with any sperm (viable or not).
4. Meyer fails at biology.
Ahhhh, yes. Though I myself am guilty of being a part of this fangirl craze, you have so many good points.
Frankly, when Breaking Dawn was released, I didn’t give a damn.
okay to make one point clear; Twilight fans are not retards!
hey, everyone makes typing mistakes, that’s why there’s a backspace key.
everyone can admit on having used that key almost all the time that they’ve typed.( yes, including the anti-twilight people)
nobody’s perfect!
Twilight fans are not ignorant enough to think that Vampires and Warewolves exist.
Also, as some people use caps. to emphasize a word or phrase, teens use exclamation points, caps., etc. to emphasize what they believe in and to show their emotion.
I have to admit that that’s what i do. (but not all the time)
so stop trash talking Twilight fans!
we are not retards!
O, and also, Twilight fans love and look up to Edward because that is what young girls want as a boyfriend; someone who protects, loves, cares for their girl like no one else exsists.
Come on! you have to admit that you would want a guy like that.
Jeez, I step away for a little while and…
On jealousy: I fully believe that if you love someone you want them to be happy and trust them with that other person, absolutely. I think I more meant if the person you loved was actively with someone else, not in a Jacob/Bella/Edward love triangle situation. In a situation like that, though, I think sometimes you might not mistrust your partner, but you WOULD be insecure about yourself. You feel like the other person has more to offer, but you obviously wish your lover was with you because hey, when they’re not, it HURTS. The possessive ‘my territory, no touch’ sort of jealousy is in no way respectful to the person you’re with though, I agree, and has nothing to do with love.
What’s sad about the scene with Charlie is that I think there are a lot of dads who might act like this in reality, thinking it’s only a kiss…and not realize that even ‘just a kiss’ might make a girl feel genuinely violated if they didn’t want the person. A lot of what I feel is sexism in Twilight isn’t just Bella’s behavior, it’s the behavior of the men around her, and how that behavior is held up as okay – NOT because she likes it or doesn’t mind, but because it’s just seen as a normal thing to do. That works out great until you realize that in reality, there are plenty of people who believe such things are fine and dandy and carry them out, resulting in girls who feel hurt, but also feel they can’t complain because there’s something ‘wrong’ with them being bothered.
Emma: I really, really don’t remember anyone saying that fans of Twilight who treat it as escapism but understand what would be offensive about it IRL have anything wrong with them. I personally don’t understand how most of these things I’m reading about in Twilight could be considered sexy rather than either annoying or creepy, but hey, people fantasize about all kinds of things that should never happen in reality. But can you see, just from some of the comments here, how some girls take it a step WAY beyond that? Frankly, the vitriol from some of the people defending this series really scares me. If it’s just a book, why is it so very very personal if a person dislikes it? Why is one negative review a ‘crusade’ in some way? Why can’t we use slightly rude language in discussing something we dislike, as long as we’re not directly insulting the people who do like it, but most of the comments from Twifans can send out insults that are way beyond the pale?
We don’t want people to dislike escapist literature. And I think you’re a little naive if you seem to think we’ve never read a story in our lives that we’ve liked and escaped into. Hell, Twilight is seriously nothing original. There have been fantasy romance novels for a long time, including ones that feature vampires, and I can’t think of anything original about Meyer’s vampires except for the sparkly skin. But we’re not about to talk about other romance novels, because the readers of those novels read them strictly AS escapism. The readers don’t become so very rabid or insistent that they’re the best stories ever written. They certainly don’t use that escapist idea of romance as an ideal they should follow in reality – and I’m well aware that you probably don’t, but there are a number of Twilight fans who DO.
Lisa: you asked “If it had been written by someone more experienced, with no Nessie, and changes to the characters, do you think you could have liked Twilight? What changes? What writer?”
I can think of a ton of things that would make the series better, just from the little I’ve read so far. And it’s another huge post, so I’ll put it up next…
What I’d change in Twilight, if I were rewriting it:
Firstly, I dislike Bella. A lot. She spends absolutely ALL of what I’ve read so far complaining – about where she lives, about how her father bought her a car but EW it’s probably OLD, about how she has to share a bathroom with one other person, about how she’s already read everything in her class, about how it’s so hard to be liked by a ton of guys at once even though she never actually formally refuses them at all. It’s a tremendous character flaw, but I get the feeling that it’s written to read like a normal teenager who we’re supposed to like and relate to. I’d balance that out – either it’s meant to be a part of her personality and she grows as a person through the series, or it’s toned down enough so she’s a typical teen who can be difficult sometimes but isn’t completely intolerable (in my opinion) to read. She’d take the time to get to know her classmates so she’d have friends and interests outside Edward, maybe even the conflict of keeping her life secret from them once everything starts.
Then, Edward. Sudden, intense attractions are something that happens to teens all the time, but I’d have Bella falling for Edward for more reasons than that. They’d have a lot more time talking together than he did, and while she’d still be afraid of him (because that kind of attraction IS scary) she’d be drawn to not just his looks but also WHO he is anyway. They’d discover they have things in common, they’d talk about her life, she’d see him do acts of kindness to other students or get to know his family members at the lunch table. Maybe the idea of outcasts could be played up: Bella feels like an outcast as the new girl, and then she sees the Cullens, who are unfairly treated like REAL outcasts because they’re aloof and arouse jealousy. This could be part of the character growth that I mentioned earlier.
Edward saving her from the car would be revised to something else that demonstrates his strength and speed. Maybe a situation where HE would get injured if he were a normal person, but since he’s not, he’s fine. This isn’t because I think that him saving her is OMG terrible and misogynistic in of itself, but because she’s getting saved regularly throughout the series and it’s only so effective, seriously. Besides, I think it’s possible to have a heroine who is vulnerable around the hero and feels more complete once they’re together without making her CONSTANTLY tripping all over herself and subject to freak accidents. I’d relate to that sort of heroine much better myself. I’ve felt like the odd girl out before, I’ve felt a lot more complete in my life when I have friendships and a lover who all understand me, but fainting or tripping over my own feet, not so much. One sort of problem is the kind that most people have, the other sort of problem is the kind that only some people have, am I making sense with that?
Bella finds out through some other way that Edward’s possibly a vampire. Jacob can still be involved, but this scene made no sense to me because 1) why would he risk telling her something that important? he’d JUST met her, 2) this is getting really serious here, and I’m white so I can’t exactly speak for Native people, but I really doubt that a Native American would happily tell that kind of story in such a stereotypical way. I mean, actually using the term ‘pale-faces’? Seriously? Either Meyer didn’t realize how offensive that is, or (this is more likely) Jacob was using the term ironically to someone he had (again) JUST ME. I don’t think that’s something a person of color would just randomly do. For all he knows, she buys into those stereotypes. I don’t think most people of any minority would hang a lampshade on that for a complete stranger.
As far as writing style, Meyer needs to CUT DOWN. There was literally a chapter where ONE thing of importance happened (she researches vampires) and 300 unimportant things are described on top of it. She booted up the computer. She made cereal. She washed the cereal when she was done. She went driving. She came back. She tried to read a book and fell asleep (irony!). It was all completely unnecessary, and if she was trying to build suspense then she failed for me, at least.
…So that’s what I can think of that’d make the series more realistic and interesting to me (and you asked for my opinion, I’m fully aware it might make the series much less appealing for you) in just the first EIGHT CHAPTERS. Seriously, it’s not the vampires, it’s not the escapism, it’s not the romance. I own the first two books of L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries, which are similar in a lot of ways, and I opened them up recently to compare. I felt more suspense in a few pages than I felt reading Twilight in half a book. I wouldn’t call TVD the best work of fiction ever either, but to me it was more enjoyable. This type of plot is definitely workable into something better than I feel it is.
What a great article! It’s funny that you referenced Byron and Mary Wollstonecraft, because he and her daughter were such chums. With that out of the way . . .
Yes! You are so right. The Twilight ‘Saga’ (where’s Freja and Odin, may I ask?) is lacking a good heroine:
– Bella is said to read a lot. How many books does she read over the series? Yeah, like four. (And she had already read them, which doesn’t count . . . which means she has read 0 books over the series.)
-Bella always cooks and cleans for her father, who doesn’t like to point out that he has probably been doing this for himself for over ten years and is just fine without her, but hey, if she’s willing, he’s willing. And would you please clean out the bathroom, Bells, the showerhead’s getting a bit rusty. Thanks.
*It’s not a bad thing to cook and clean for your parents, but it’s as if it never occurred to Bella that she may not need to do it all the time. Also, personality-plot-hole-thing: If Bella is so clumsy, wouldn’t she nick herself way too many times, or drop ingredients? Yet it never is mentioned . . . hmmm . . .*
-Bella is unselfish. Riight. Yes, she moves to Phoenix to Forks for her mother. While whingeing about it non stop.
-Here’s the big one: Bella is independent, she saved Edward in New Moon! Yeah, and right after she got threatened by the Volturi and Edward had to save her . . . again.
-Bella does not even think about the consequences of her actions. She cliff dives, only to find . . . she’s sinking? In water? Dude, how can that be! -_____-
Another thing is that Meyer lightly skirts over the issue of Bella’s humanity. It’s as if she’s saying it’s okay to give up being human, being what makes you, well, you, as long as it’s for a guy. And a hot one at that. If he isn’t hot, then that’s just a waste. Remember girls: If your potential boyfriend doesn’t express interest in watching you sleep and making creepy comments such as saying he would die if you were to break up, and, most of all, he’s not hot (eep!), forget it. It shan’t last.
Bella is not a good role model. A good role model is Polly Whittacker from the book Fire and Hemlock (and if you have not read it yet, you shall be denied entrance to Valhalla, so decrees Odin).
First off, I have to say upfront that I’ve not read this series and I don’t really intend to. With that out of the way, here’s what I’m seeing evidenced by a lot of people in this comment thread:
Critical failure to, well, read critically, and a disturbing lack of awareness.
It’s one thing to enjoy something while being aware of/in spite of its flaws, but to claim that this series is omg PERFECT and the bestest evaaaar = no. Nothing’s perfect (and having that pointed out isn’t a personal attack, as has been stated time and time again); debating these flaws and differences of opinion and views is what makes literary criticism interesting.
I think people can be given a pass on this one if only because it’s a skill that takes time to develop — not saying that all younger readers can’t read critically, but drawing from experience, the ability to read and think critically about what one is reading does grow over time, with exposure to more and more literature.
Yes, this point is somewhat negated when one is reading just for escapism and not to deconstruct every little detail and nuance of a book. However, breaking your own rules destroys immersion.
Seriously. If you have to stop reading and boggle over a contradiction to the author’s own canon by the author, there goes the immersion and thus the escapism.
I’ve enjoyed books that make sense only up ’til about ten seconds after I’ve put them down, but until then, they made sense within their own contexts because they didn’t break their own established rules of canon. I’ll admit that those books weren’t the greatest examples of logic or common sense, but that’s a hallmark of good storytelling: the ability to make the reader suspend his or her disbelief until that point. I could accept the things that made me boggle later on at that time because they were explained within the context of the narrative (and with an explanation that wasn’t ‘just because!’). If events in a narrative inspire so much ‘wtf’ so as to throw the reader out of the story because it’s not explained by the rules of the world that the author’s built, you have a problem.
So. Crappy writing leads to a book that’s not a very good one for escapism, and there goes that argument.
Also, one last thing: having an open mind /= automatically liking the Twilight Saga.
Firstly, I think everyone’s making a big fuss out of nothing. For heavens sakes! Its just a freaking book. There’s bound to be people who hates it and who loves it.
so who cares?
Personally, I enjoyed twilight. I agree that the writing isn’t very good, but the storyline is enjoyable. Twilight is a book meant to be read for leisure and not for literature. She just so happens to write a book that appeals to the bigger mass. So I don’t understand why is everyone going about criticizing Meyers.
How Can You Say That???????!!!!!!!
It’s the best saga of the world!!
I’m sure you don’t read it anymore!!
I’m French and You are in the wrong!
Twilight saga is super!! Stephenie Meyer it’s the best author.
And you are the worst magazine!
I think the one thing we need to remember is that books a written for a lot of different reasons. Mrs. Meyer’s books don’t have a moral or a message; but that is the book she wrote. She wasn’t trying to ensnare in young readers, she wasn’t trying to make a role model or a heroine, she was simply writing. Granted that everyone is entitled to their own point of view, so I am going to add mine.
The style of this book is completely different to the majority of the literate world. I do not think Mrs. Meyer should be compared to JK Rowling or any other author’s. Her stories are just different, and most imporatantly: just stories. I feel like a lot of people are forgetting that. A lot of people are also forgetting that girls aren’t easily brainwashed. If they like a book, it does not mean they are all going to waste away there lives pretending to be vampires or ware wolves or teenage mothers. You have to give us some credit here! Okay, some readers are being ridiculous, but you can hardly blame the book for that – its more the readers themselves. One thing Mrs. Meyer’s books have done is introduced a lot of girls to reading. A few of my friends who would never pick up a book are now beginning to understand why I love it so much.
So i don’t think the books are all negative, I agree that the fourth book was a tad ridiculous and definitely not for those of us who are more literate, but it’s just a style of writing… it may be ridiculous, but it still is a style that a majority can connect with.
I’m a french reader and you’re wrong. This saga is great and for “impressionable 12-17 year old girls”, we’re not stupid ! This is a book not a reality ! We are not going to commit suicide so that Edward comes back or others… It is anything. You said anything because I am 12 years old and me can say to you that teenager is not so stupid. And I think that it is not your opinion which is going to bring down the choffre of sale of this book. It is too late and if this likes in people why right away to make thing of evil some? Because the readers prefer reading this series in your pathetic magazine ? They’re wright because you are pitiable one journalist and because you even do not deserve this name. You are a missed journalist. You understand nothing in literature and even less in the fantastic worlds whatever they are.
Er, I hope you guys realize that some of your more hysterical posts have been posted on the hugely popular Ohnotheydidnt livejournal community and that uh…everyone is laughing at you. Can I recommend just using Mozilla’s spell check? It’s free and will make us stop laughing at you, even if it’s just a little.
I am throwing my hand in the ring here and say Twilight is a train wreck. A glorious 40 car pile- up flaming down the Brooklyn Bridge right before Godzilla rampages across tp take down the Big Apple, and that is why people eat it up with a spoon.
The books are self absorbed, self-centered melodramas that feed into secret fantasies of teenage girls– the breathless overwrought courtship, the darkly devoted suitors, suffering without sacrifice, and the blazing happily ever after that dazzles like a Vegas strip show,
Bella is a vicarious passport, for the readers, for the author obviously. She is a self stamped vehicle for teenage illicit fantasies and morality and sexual fantasies do not make the most comfortable bed partners frankly.
VC Andrews anyone?
I remember reading the Dollanganger Saga when I was younger and the hullabaloo around them, Abusive relationships and potential pedophilia? Incest, twincest, murder, Freudian affections and ballerinas– and that is canon.
Twilight is fine if you are careful of the context; that it is crack basically.
And Yuki.
Yuki, Yuki, Yuki I kept reading this tread for four hours because your brilliant repartee and reposts. I hope this doesn’t weird you out, but I Officially have a Girl Crush on you.
You are insightful, witty, and I sincerely hope you are a blogger or essayist online because I would love read more.
And Twilighters, learn from Kaitlen and Jane. Be civil and spell. Otherwise you look like spastic mouth breathers.
i love the twilight saga… they were really fun to read.. its just about being in love and vampires and werewolves added to make more interesting.. edward wasnt being abusive when he took her battery out and wouldnt let her see jacob he was tryin to protect her cuz young werewolves are dangerouse to be around. (which in the book is what happened to sams g/f he got angry and phased and attacked her) plus she had crazy vampire after her how is that abusive wanting to make sure she is ok? since it was only cuz she couldnt protect herself against a werewolf and a crazy vampire after her that he did it and we know they dont exist) … what i love about the books is the romance in it between bella and edward everything else is just a sideline.. its just a book.. and i wish i had someone that i loved that much and he loved me the same..
Twilight is a great saga.
And Stephenie Meyer is big one author!!
What you say is totally false!!
P.S.: it is you who is sucks!!!
I’m not sure whether you have read my previous post here, but I am a keen Twilighter, and I have a few points to say, regarding this topic. No offence intended to either side.
Everyone, has to remember, that Twilight is fiction and is written purely for enjoyment of the writer. Why is it such a crime that people like the books? I’m pretty certain that lots of people liked the HP series, and they wern’t put down because of it. In fact, they were urged on. Shouldn’t Twilighter’s be treated the same?
Besides, before I read Twilight, I wasn’t a big bookworm. In fact, I barely read, and I’m 14. People should be glad that young adults are reading, and are not out creating havoc. Shouldn’t that be a good thing? Plus, being a Twilighter is sociable, you can meet other people who share the same intrests as you. You can participate in debates just like this one, and share your opinion on what you feel is right.
I do agree that the series isn’t the best written. But like I said before, it’s an addiction. I feel that the bad aspects of the series are outnumbered by the good, espeically morals. Here is a quote I took from Nollie Marie’s Twilight paper…. (see website link)
“Like any story, there are those who loved Twilight and those who hated it. Those who disliked Twilight have their own opinions on how the book was written (which is not the reason for this article), and mostly about Bella’s character. They commented about her low self-esteem characterized by her feeling of unworthiness regarding her looks in comparison to Edward, her very “dependant†nature that needs to be constantly saved, her “desire†to become a vampire, and the age difference between herself and Edward.
Of course, there are many more morals such as her relationship with her father, her dislike for her classmates, and her “manipulation†of Jacob, but those things are fairly normal. Her relationship with her father is pretty normal between a father and a daughter, especially considering they are so much alike that they understand each other without speaking. As for Bella not liking others, this is high school— not kindergarten where everyone is supposed to like each other (besides, Bella says, “I did not relate well to people my age. Maybe the truth was that I did not relate well to people, period (Twilight, 10),†before she even started school at Forks so her dislike for her classmates is well justified. As for manipulation…Jacob manipulated her as well in Eclipse, the 3rd book in the saga, with the infamous kiss, so they are pretty much even on the manipulation field, and acting very much like teenagers—acting very much human. Bella did state afterwards that she felt guilty knowing that she used Jacob (127).”
Do you know what really sucks ?
This article. Who are for judge this author ?
Really, this article sucks !
Too much has happened overnight to address specific points/people so I’m just going to explain why I, for one, liked the series.
I actually dragged my heels for a long time before reading it. I don’t usually like fantasy, and even though I saw a bunch of people reading it, I never bothered. And then–and this is sort of silly, I admit–I saw a ton of “bumperstickers” on facebook about it. So I was like, “what the hell, I’ll read it.” On first read, I had some of the same concerns that many of you have… not about the anti-feminist thing, but rather about writing, plotting, characterization, etc. But the romance intrigued me, so I read the sequels, then I re-read the series.
The more I read it, the more I love it. I think that on the surface, on a single read, it is good, but nothing special. However, as I re-read it, think about it, I’ve appreciated how complex the characters are, and the subtle ways Meyers characterized them. The writing, though nothing fantastic, isn’t nearly as bad as many people make it out to be. Though Twilight is just about the only YA book I’ve read in the past 3 or 4 years, from my memory, Meyer is one of the better writers in that genre. Her style is certainly accessible, and there are admittedly some clunky sentences, but I consider her pretty far from the adjective “terrible.”
Now, about Bella. I have to say, that the critics who write about her often write their criticism to imply that anyone who can relate to her is probably mentally unstable. That people who read the series are weak/ambitionless/in denial/unintelligent. Because how could ANYONE who has any sense of self-worth actually LIKE this anti-feminist girl who doesn’t think she’s pretty?
Would I make the same choices she’s made? No. (Even Stephenie Meyer has said this repeatedly– sometimes she wants to slap Bella for the things she does. Though that might be paraphrasing it, a bit). And she’s probably not someone whose life choices anyone should emulate. But did anyone ever say that they were? Stephenie Meyer never, to my knowledge, insinuated that readers should look up to Bella as a role model. And I think that, for the most part, the people who read this book recognize that. A lot of the adults who read this book underestimate the impressionability of young teenage girls. A few may take it too far, but I think many see Bella as a character in a fantasy book, and that’s about it.
A lot of you have made a bunch of other criticisms of the book, too many to keep track of; however, I have to say that there are explanations and reasonings in the book, if you look close enough. Many of your problems with the book, in terms of plot holes or characters, are actually answered in the book.
Okay, i think I’m done. Sorry for the novel.
Okay, I like to post comments to stop several defences we antis constantly see being used. This time it’s the “I’m part of this age group and we are not impressionable.”
Alright, you specifically might not be. However, some people are. I’m part of this age group too. I know for a fact that there ARE people easily impressed on. Look at one of my more previous for an example of a girl who pretty much wanted to be Bella.
Also, when you immediately start getting defensive and flipping out, it proves to us that you are, in fact, affected by this. For example, I like the book series Uglies but am I going to bite somebody’s head off just because they say that they don’t like the series, or one of the characters? No, at very least, I ask them why and then we can have an interesting discussion. Am I going to go and purposely seek out people that don’t agree just so I cane HURT THERE EYES BY USIN TEH CAPS AND USIN POOR GRAMMER AND SPELLING?
So, just think before you post about how people aren’t affected. Are you currently angry, fuming, or evene (heaven save us) crying? If you answered yes to any of the above, calm down, then right.
Jane, I completely agree with you.
Wow, I totally meant write. How’s that from homophones?
@ Danielle
I’m not sure if you were talking about my post or not, but I did say at the start “No offence intended to either side.”
I do see where you are coming from, and I apologise on behalf of my fellow Twilighter’s. But let’s reverse this situation a little, let’s pretend that instead of Twilight being attacked, it’s your little sister, whom you love dearly. If she was getting bullied, would you approach the bully all calm and collected? Would you even let it slide and not care? Would you stand up for what you believe is right, or would you not stand up at all? Would you imediately see the flaws in your sister, understand why the bullies are being bullies and convert to a bully yourself?
Alex,
Twilight is a weak piece of literature in itself. The plot is shot. Her grammar is poor. Half the book is speant describing Edward.
And, no, this book isn’t just for the enjoyment of the author, because otherwise she wouldn’t have published it. The reason why Twilighters don’t get the same respect is because there are more than a handful of fans out there who are slobbering fanatics that give you all a bad name. Those same ones don’t calmly write a response like you.
Bella and Charlie do not have a normal relationship. Basically, SMeyer portrays it as: Bella swoops in to save her father -who she calls by his first name- to save him from his terrible cooking skills! Then, she proceed in pretty much coming a maid!
And, that thing about not relating to people her age well, is a hack excuse. She doesn’t try! She immediately writes off the characters as shallow. How would she know? Granted, SMeyer would know because she created them, but Bella is not SMeyer…well she shouldn’t be. Not only that, but if she looked for people to relate, she could find them.
And don’t try to compare Twilight to HP, it only hurts the saga more.
I didn’t compare Twilight to HP, I compared the fanbases.
Alex,
Fair enough, that’s true. I’m sorry for misreading that.
And my original post this day wasn’t specifically for anyway.
I was just skimming the comments and noticed a pattern.
I’m sorry, but I don’t see your metaphor. People should not be acting like a book is a member of your family. If they are, they are beyond affected. Also, this is just a debate. In a debate they shouldn’t get so upset over a debate.
We are also not trying to convert any Twilighters. We are simply pointing out the flaws of the story. It’s not like we’re screaming in the Twilighters’ ears, “REPENT OR DIE!”
Anyone*
My goodness, my brain is on hiatus today.
mira soi una chica española de 14 años y no me voi a molestar en traducir esto para que lo entiendas si quieres traducelo para darte cuenta de que eres una rara!
no te das cuenta de a cuantas personas les gusta esta saga!
quizas stephenie meyer no sea una buena escritora(que lo dudo mucho)porque yo no entiendo mucho de literatura, pero como una sola mujer puede acernos enamorar de esa manera de un personaje literario eso si que es inexplicable!edward es el ser mas marabilloso del mundo y no es ni machista ni nada por el estilo…lo que te pasa a ti es que nunca nadie lo va a dar todo por ti como lo da edward por bella y eso te jode jaja
y si no te gusta el libro simplemente di “no me a gustado” y no empieces a criticar como una amargada!
respeta la opinion de los demas .ten un poco de RESPETO Y EDUCACION ,sobre todo para la gente que nos gusta la saga!
fuck you!
That’s fine. Don’t worry about it.
No, I wasn’t trying to portray that picture. What I meant was you woudln’t act or calm and collected defending something you think is the right opinion. You would try and get the other side (or opposition) to understand your opinion by shouting and using loop holes. That’s just what some human’s do. Also, it wouldn’t matter that your sister had flaws, because you loved her so much. You would stand up for her, doing everything you had too to stop the bullies. Wouldn’t you?
Us Twilighter’s were given our name for a reason. We love Twilight. Maybe not everyone the same amount. But because we do, we are able to see past the flaws, and enjoy the books for what they are.
I understand what youy are trying to do, and I respect that. I too are not trying to convert hater’s to Twilighter’s, I’m just simply voicing my opinion. Besides, you can’t quite literally scream into our ears, because you are looking into a computer screen.
Thank you.
stupid everyone reads what he wants. namely that you read your shits!
if not t like it does not read the saga that point and nobody forces you, but because they do not have this rubbish!
commented as a girl Stephenie Meyer may not be the best writer in the world but esque do not understand because you have so much mania!
MLO that you care that people read! that if you look past century!
I das nausea! left in peace to the people
the saga of twilight is great. a true love story that you would like to have!
kellen rice puta!
Thank you. Thank you. I wrote a likeminded review on my own blog a while back:
http://fricknits.typepad.com/fricknits/2008/06/10-things-i-hate-about-twilight.html
Enjoy! And sheesh. Bless ya for reading all of them. One was enough for me.
Okay. I’m back. I thought of something when I was reading earlier today. People have said that Stephenie Meyer was feminist. If this conclusion has been drawn due to Bella’s behavior after Edward left (which actually I don’t think it was), Edward was just as depressed, as shown on Stephenie Meyer’s website in the New Moon extras. Other than that, so far today, the only other thing I have to say is: People, if you’re going to see that Twilighters are being immature and stupid, call them 3 year olds, not 12 year old. Please.
Wow, I must say I am shocked by how far this argument has gone. What I’m very shocked at, however, is that all of the Twilight fans have no basis in their argument, and instead fall back on poor grammar, capital lettering to show everyone that they’re “angry” and mindless defences on how the books are “so great and you’re just jealous because you don’t have that love.”
So let’s take a step back. Bella and Edward do not exist. They will never exist and so they cannot be technically hurt by any insults. Get over it. I read Twilight when it first came out, and I liked it. It was a sweet book with a charming male character and it made a nice, escapist romance. If the books had ended with Twilight, it would have made a nice book.
However, subsequent novels should have escalated in plot and character development, and they did not. In fact, the books catered to very little conflict and the characters had little personality. Just because the book is a “Young adult, escapist romance” doesn’t mean it is not subject to literary criticism. What marks the difference between a mediocre book and a great book is the proper use of literary forms. For example: The Uglies series by Scott Westerfield is an amazing young adult series with a steady plotline, intrigue and an interesting concept.
Breaking Dawn should not have been published as it was. Anyone with a bit of intelligence can see that. There was absolutely no conflict. Bella and Edward get married and all is happy. Bella gets Edward to have sex with her and it’s all great and romantic. Bella gets pregnant with vampire child, but decides to keep it. Vampire child (or half vampire child, for those of you immature enough to slam a lack of detail) breaks her ribs and nearly kills her but the baby comes out fine and within pages Bella is fine and a vampire. Bella has no problems being a vampire, and is in fact amazing and beautiful and so it the child. Volturi come but when they meet the child they agree that she is special and everyone lives happily ever after.
Some people want to read a happy book like this, but there are some people who crave a well-written book with a real conflict and characters. People (and the children posting on this board, especially) need to realize that literary criticism exists, will always exist and is integral to writers in order for them to improve their writing. Just because myself or others don’t think that the Twilight series were the best written books doesn’t mean that everyone who likes them is stupid. Just because a valid point was made that Bella completely lets Edward control her life (with much proof to support it) doesn’t mean that becoming a stay-at-home mother is a bad thing.
The point being made is that Bella is not a great role model for younger girls- NOT that anyone who is a home-maker is. Immediately taking a point like that personally is just ridiculous. It’s very easy to see if you just take off your protective sunglasses that if Edward weren’t an incredibly handsome and dashing vampire, he’d be an overbearing boyfriend. The point is that there are a lot of girls out there who take these books very seriously and their views of the perfect man may be altered by these books. Does this mean the books are terrible and you’re stupid for reading them? No, so grow up and be intelligent if you’re going to participate in an argument, instead of insulting people and writing in all caps and exclamation marks.
I think this article speaks for itself when the majority of people defending the book yell and scream about how unfair it is for the perfect Edward and Bella that some people see past the facade. Also, it’s not unfair for Stephenie Meyer that her books are being critiqued. That’s what being a writer is all about, unfortunately, so don’t take the criticisms to heart. They’re not pointed at you, unlike the blatant bashing of so-called “heartless feminists” who understand what an argument is about.
Greetings, fellow Twilighters and cursed Twilight-hater abominations (JK. :D) I am here to discuss that there is entirely nothing wrong with that very STUPID article of Kellen Rice. :]
She is merely voicing out her very STUPID opinion about the book. No harm done to anyone, right? Just saying. xD
And now, about abusive and overprotective Edward, Stephenie is merely stating and exaggerating how much a person can go as far for the one he/she loves. So, stop critizicing the so-called “fictional character”, and the author herself.
“Jeanine,
My comment wasn’t specifically pointed to you at all. You took it all the wrong way. It was a general comment. I think everyone in here is getting way too worked up about this. Really, this is very, very stupid and immature of all of you. The article, yes I felt it was immature to criticize a book just for perks, readers, and a huge debate. But I think it was even more immature for all of the Twilight fans to come here and fuel the fire.
You keep mentioning how you don’t yell at someone for liking something different than yourself. How, if I were Christian and you were Jewish, we should be able to appreciate each other. That comment chained to this article makes you a hypocrite. You are telling people that it is wrong to like this book. That it’s awful. Are you going to tell me, just because your Jewish, that being Christian is wrong?
Everyone, author and readers alike, should just keep their hurtful opinions to themselves. You are all TRYING to dig under each other’s nails, and for what? Winning the never ending debate about one of the millions of great book series out there? It’s plain stupid.”
Once again, please do not call me “stupid”. I never called you stupid. And my post wasn’t specifically pointed to you either. You must’ve took it the wrong way. Have you been reading what I have writing (it’s an honest question)?
And apparently you misinterpreted my post. I was saying that people believe in different things and have opinions and questions like people do with different religions. Should someone not ask another person why they go to church on Sunday or pray three times a day? Should we not be curious?
And people should not tell people that we should not have an opinion. Every single person is different and will have a different opinion. I never said that.
You’re making it out to think that I’m telling people that it’s wrong not to like the book? I never said that. Actually I said “I could care less” in another post.
People are concerned and are asking questions.
What I am concerned about is the questions that I have about the series. You continue to avoid them and attack me (calling me stupid). Actually, someone wrote me and I wrote them back, but they never returned (but I haven’t read all the posts).
Anyway, if you have any questions or concerns about my post, please write back.
Hello
I have only barely read all the comments on this
There are many
so clearly. CLEARLY ALOT OF PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THIS SERIES/SAGA
I am quite annoyed- not because you bashed this precious series- heavens no, but because you think you have the divine right to be shouting all your views off- as it’s always said- everyone is entitled to their opinions.. and all that.. but you Ms Kellen or whatever the heck your name is, Think you are the most IMPORTANT PERSON EVER
I’d like to see you Write a series like the twilight series- it may not be an Austen or Bronte Novel- but it’s modern, and it’s FANTASY, and might i remind you FICTION? and i’d like to see you get on the top of the best Seller list. go on, I DAREYOU
hehe, because this article may have a few ( if not only one) valid point- it is still totally unfair to say that ‘Twilight sucks and not in a good way’ YOU KNOW WHAT SUCKS?
you!
and you can call me a sad fan, or that all i’m doing is writing in capslock, but I just had to say that to you.
I’m a mother of three, i’m 39, and I read Twilight in 2006.
I Throughly Enjoyed the books- as did my Eldest Daughter- who was the one to recommend the books to me..
Bella Swan may not be the perfect Herione, But she is very relatable to Teen girls theese days- she is insecure at the begining, she is caring, and she is brave- BECAUSE, of everything she does.
Bella&Edward’s Relationship- i have to correct you, Ms Rice- the writer of the ghaustly Blog post- is the most sweeping, intense, Beautiful, Raw loves of all. They live and die for one another, and it is very very interesting, compelling to millons and millons of boys&Girls, mothers and grandmothers ALL AROUND THE GLOBE.
you CLEARLY ARE A HARRY POTTER FAN.
can i ask you this? REALISTIC?
Brooms? magic? Kids and teens love fantasy.. and the Twilight series TOPS HAPPY SNOTTER ANY DAY!
mwhaha. haha. I don’t know. i Just think that the series, Meyer has created is an Easy read- but it’s so powerful that people love it as much as they do- The characters are so HUMAN, vampire or werewolf- they are caring, compassionate, and lovely people- and it is a truly dramatic read- and the world of Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Even Breaking Dawn- have Enchanted MILLONS.
( note the MILLIONS)
NEVER COMPARE THE SERIES TO HP, because the two are SO DIFFERENT, the only Simarlity they have is : POPULAR, MONEY MAKERS.
I really don’t have much else to say, this article disgusted me.
You must be really sad, and you don’t really have much Love in your life.. There was NO NEED to insult Twilighter’s, fans, readers who love the series- even if you DID NOT.
because, that my friend, is just plain IMMATURE.
” What does this say to readers, bearing in mind that the target audience is the tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls? That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them? That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.”
UMM. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO YOU.
If you really READ the book, you’d see that Bella&Edward’s Bond is SO STRONG, that she really cannot Live without him
Sure, it is very intense, and sometime farfetched- but
TRUE LOVE exsists, and New Moon was loosely related to Romeo&Juliet ( might i remind you?)
New moon was gripping, moving, and raw. It really was truely wonderful, and it rang true- you could feel what Bella felt. each word. Meyer captured that Wonderfully, and while it may not be a very positive Image to be giving Young readers- it is true.
and I’m sure anyone out there who has lost their soulmates, would feel the same.
Lastly. TWILIGHT IS EVERYWHERE, most people Love it- men, women, Kids, and Teens.,
You do Not. I do not want to bash or send Hate comments- even if this was a little harsh- I just simply found your article too self Absorbed, and down right insulting to young girls.
Twilight moms are out there too, and twilight Guys too.
some of us may have commented back such unclever comments such as ” SHUT THE FUCK UP TWILIGHT RULES”
but only because you think your opinion will change the views of millions.
You should really think hard about what you say- because there are A LOT of us, and only ONE OF YOU
PEACE OUT
All of you have likely heard the disappointing news from Warner Brothers: Half-Blood Prince’s release is being pushed back to July 2009.
Lots of people are speculating what the real cause of the delay is, and MTV has a theory about Twilight playing a role:
“There’s no way that ‘Harry Potter’ was worried about ‘Twilight,’ but ‘Twilight’ has got to be feeling very good right now,†Bock said, projecting that the vampire movie could do somewhere around $70-100 million. “Maybe it won’t be as big as ‘Harry Potter,’ but if a company like Summit Entertainment pulls off $100 million, that’s quite a coup. Things are looking really bright for ‘Twilight’ right now.â€
Oh, and thank you Indi for responding to my jealousy comment. Yeah, I do agree with you in that sense.
YOU SUCK
HAHAHAHAHAHA
yes
i am an immature, brainless, Impressinate, tragic Young Twilighter, and of course, I dream about vampires, and want Werewolf friends, and follow every god dammend thing Bella Swan does, even if she trips, and cries, and moans alot.
SHUT THE FUCK UP WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE?
WE ARE JUST FANS, NOT FLAMING IDIOTS.
WE LOVE THE SERIES,
SHUT UP AND GET A LIFE
BOO
YOU WHORE
LMAO
I’m sorry, its just your blog really did SUCK, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY
You have no VALID points at all, you just seem to be a sad HP fan.
bahaha, and that i think, is the lowest of the low.
Twilight may not be wonderfully written, but it is somewhat REAL, and Teens can relate TO IT. ALRIGHT?
and NOOO, teen girls DO NOT, go around longing for love like that, they just LOVE reading about it. geesh.
and I happen to think that true love is out there.
But of course, Nothing as deep as Bella&Edward’s.
I don’t think you should be so insulting to Meyer, or her work, she deserved to get all the success she got- she’s making girls, guys, and moms really happy and excited all over the world- where is the harm in that?
a little bit of fiction and fantasy is GOOD for people, nobody said it had to be perfect, or all about Feminism..
Bella is a REALISTIC girl, and she is ,(was) Human.. and I don’t think you should be saying she is weak, or pitiful, Because you know that is not true.
Also, about Edward being agressive and Over-protective- You don’t seem to understand the series AT ALL, so what are you even talking about? HAVE YOU READ THEM PROPERLY?
there is hidden meanings, and Plot threads- and i really REALLY don’t know where you got all that SO CALLED meyer quotes from, because, SHE NEVER SAID SUCH A THING.
BAHA
YOU should say sorry to everyone- even if they are not twilight fans, because your article is horrible.
i know you are probably not bothered about the insults, but you really should not try and make it sound like you are the only one int the world out there.
<3 twilight will LIVE ON, FOREVER
Bye now
I think it’s funny that people say how unfathomably unrealistic the Twilight series is. ITS A STORY ABOUT VAMPIRES FOR GODS SAKE!
How realistic do you want it to be? It’s fiction, just chill out and enjoy it. Lose yourself in something otherworldly. Isn’t that what fiction is all about?
this article sucks person-
Okay. I get your feelings. I had them yesterday when I first read this article. But please don’t cuss and yell. The cusses keep on echoing in my head, and they get annoying.
Courtney:
HELLO! Earth to Courtney! Are the vampires the main gist of the story?? Like DUH!! And It’s realistic because WE (Twilighters) as educated people, unlike YOU, realizes and understands the only thing that Meyer wants to share, that true love is out there, and comes to us in such unexpected ways. And WE (Twilighters again. xD) as humans, unlike YOU, who probably came from another planet or something, can relate well to the story, therefore making it quite realistic.
Oh my God! This article is my bible!
Seriously. “Twilight” my arse, try “Twilight Zone”! That pansy crap P.O.s me such frickin’ much! Every. Character. Lives (and sucks)!
Bella is Edward’s self-induced sex-slave (which Edward attempts to rent out like the sucky movis their making of this series), Edward is a creepy stalker who watches random girls sleep for fun. Jacob is a spontaneously-combusting angst-coated rapist.
All the other vampires have serious mental problems. The humans have fastly decling mental facilities so shallow even a amoeba couldn’t drown in them. The vampire concept is so unresearched I could puke! Sunlight (almost) always has a negative effect on them, ranging from loss of powers to death. These “Meyerpires” have super everything except self-control, true vampires kill by choice. Query: Can Bella’s engagement ring run around and stalk people? Edward can, and their reportably made of the same stuff. Yeah Bella, he is a rock/statue/Venus de milo/Michaelangelo/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle/whatever, maybe if you hug him enough, his DNA will be magicaly altered and his cell structure will miraculasly be able to move, despite being pure concrete. Twilight Death Count: James, Laurant, Henry (plot device) Clearwater, Victoria, Bree (only a character for three minutes), Irina (she sucked anyway). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Death Count: 17 characters, 20 Gringots workers, 5-10 nameless characters, 50-80 Hogwarts massacre.
Twilight Series:6
Harry Potter 7:approximatly 100
A real literary artist has the guts to kill at least one important character.
B.T.W. Twilight fans, the Mr.Men books have more plot that those romancy-pansy-sexist-shallow-snotrags you call books!
WOOH CHLOE!!!!
let me crawl inside your body and see how many bones i can break then, lady.
IT’S A FICTIONAL BOOK! in case you didnt get that part from the back cover of twilight where it first mentions the word “vampire”. it’s SM’s book, she can do whatever she wants with it.
and sexist? WTH? how on earth is this sexist?! it’s a frickin’ romance novel. there’s SUPPOSED to be a girl who gets swept off her feet, by a protective, loving, and sexy hunk of a boyfriend.
also, why the hell would you spend this much time on a series of books that you hate? honestly, find a book you DO like and give that a good review for us, instead of wasting your time here.
I have to agree with what someone had said before, this article was a bit pathetic. Starting a story like this just so you can host this massive big debate?
I’m not trying to defend Twilighter’s, or defend the people who don’t like Twilight, because everyone has a right to their opinion.
But, Twilight is fictional, and creates an unrealistic, flawfilled world to escape too. You don’t need to be super smart, or super pretty, or super anything to be able to enjoy Twilight. Unrealistic worlds have flaws in them, it’s just life. It’s hard to create a new “world” that doesn’t have flaws. It’s just not happening. Some people, are able to see past those flaws. Perfection isn’t important, it’s whether you can enjoy the books for what they are. I for one, know that Twilight isn’t perfect, so I’m not going to say it is. There are many flaws. Some people take the book at face level, and others decide to overcome the obstacle. Everybody has a right to their own opinion. They shouldn’t need to be judged.
Chloe said: “Like DUH!! And It’s realistic because WE (Twilighters) as educated people, unlike YOU, realizes and understands the only thing that Meyer wants to share, that true love is out there, and comes to us in such unexpected ways. And WE (Twilighters again. xD) as humans, unlike YOU, who probably came from another planet or something, can relate well to the story, therefore making it quite realistic.”
This paragraph illustrates perfectly how (un)educated you are. Anyone with any education would know that literary criticism is valid, and just because you are in love with a fictional character (Edward) doesn’t mean that other people can’t have an opinion. If you wanted to prove your intelligence, you could present real ideas explaining why you think Twilight is a great book, instead of bashing people on this forum. This article is well written and precise, and it isn’t insulting you as a person. All of these posts with caps and swearing and going off about how “ways Coolz twilight is and Harry Potter sucks” are so idiotic. Excusable for children who don’t realize yet how naive they are, but some from grown women with children? I would be embarrassed.
Okay this is maybe one of my last post, while I do find all the points of view really really interesting though. I enjoy civil debates.
Okay so, I do like the book Twilight. Sometimes I wished Bella could run without finding something to trip over yes, but I find it funny when she describes Bella in gym class. I know people who would totally hurt themselves with a badminton racket it just makes her character real in a sense. But here are some reasons I understand Bella other than her whinnying. First off, I think most of the school is attracted to the Cullen family since the whole beauty thing runs in line with the Vampire thing, but she’s the only one able to actually connect with them. There are several pages where Edward spends several days asking her questions, about her mom, where she used to live, why she liked certain things, how things smelled, and about movies and music. It reminded me of when my husband and I first started dating in high school, it’s a way that people that age get to know each other. I do enjoy their relationship and in some way I have the same one with my husband except for the whole vampire thing of course lol. But I understand how some people can think its not a healthy relationship because there should be interest outside of each other but I see a lot of relationships in people around me that I don’t understand but they seem to have love either way.
What I don’t get are people want more information on background stuff, like more of them talking and more of her human friends, or various other things but I guess that wasn’t the main focus of the story and it seems that the story is long enough with out extras. Cause people complain that there’s not enough and then that there’s too much. Anyways.
Bella and depression. I spent my high school years with friends and being a very busy bee but my husband and I had a serious relationship and then came college. He left to go to school in Colorado,and I thought I could handle it but I was devastated. The life I had known had left, and worse yet he went to a military academy so it made it harder to have contact given he didn’t have a cell phone the first year (against the rules). I can relate to Bella and the way she feels, friends were a chore and food lost its appeal, I was like a zombie trying to put on a good face so my parents wouldn’t worry but I was trying to cope. So I understand how Bella feels there, but Edward left her because he felt she would be better off. He still loved her but he felt like an endangerment to her life and thought that she didn’t love him as much and could easily keep going (last pages of BD are amazing to me, maybe read those) So I can see that he loves her enough to let her go, although he didn’t understand that their lives are intertwined and its difficult to unwind something like that. But there’s a reason I personally connect with the story, I’ve felt that pain in my heart.
Here’s another random thing, um personally I am newly married and terrified of having a child. I am older than Bella’s character by a few years, like 5 or 6 years. But I am just unsure and of course I want to wait to have children but I’m scared I’ll do something wrong that I wont be a good mother, that I’ll be too wrapped up in the changes to my body. So reading BD I was like Whoah! My fear staring me right in the face, but the elegance and patience that Bella’s character showed really warmed me. Her ability to care for her child and the hope she kept for her situation made me like her. She was acting like a mother from the beginning. Although it didn’t make me want to run out and have a child, it made me less worried about what I would do and just focus on how much I would love my child. Random but interesting to me.
It was nice to see that the main character was a brunette too. I’ve grown up always thinking it was blonds that took the main stage always, and brunettes are the serious ones (and so far that’s partly true with the serious part) I liked the change of view point. I think if we look around at the youth today many girls are walking around with insecurities and doubting themselves, even though there’s no reason. I think Bella represents the voice of girls who think to little of themselves and think that great things are a fluke and not meant to be real in their lives. It’s sad but its true, I used to be a coach and I saw it all the time with the young girls in my group. But her confidence builds and I like that, she realizes she has put boundaries on her strength like so many do and breaks them. That’s something I enjoy and really liked.
As far as Edward goes, he’s a vampire and I’m sure his reactions to things are different on some level but it was nice to see human emotions inside of him. He may be 107 but he’s still seems 17. He does overprotect but I think Bella doesn’t see or want to see some dangers, and so he does seem to always be looking out for her best interest. I can’t explain why I like Edward’s character, I can understand where everyone is coming from about Edwards behavior but I’m re-reading Twilight and more of his behavior is making sense really, not in a human way but just in general. Edward reminds me a little of my husband, always being able to do what it takes to make me happy and all while wearing a smile. There’s just a connection between him and Bella’s character that reminded me of the relationship with my husband, I mean I still get those butterflies in my stomach and I miss him when he goes, but he’s more the clumsy one so I’m a little like Edward in that regard lol.
But what I’m saying is, anti-Twilighters, I understand where you come from in the literary analysis of the book, and maybe the more I read I will see the grammatical errors and the complaints you have, but for me that isn’t something I’m worried about, like maybe most twilighters (I can’t believe I’m a grown woman and just bulked myself under the title Twilighters…..oh my) but the story intrigues me and while I may not fall entirely for the characters the point is I do find myself falling. I do find myself enjoying the characters and that’s some gravitational pull that I can’t put a ton of logic through. You can ask me question after question on why I think this way or what more I think about something but I’m not sure I can explain it. At least not to your standing, and I’m sorry that makes for a crappy debate huh. But I will say that I will try, always civil to see your side and to express mine. Thanks for reading.
The twilight saga as the power,keep all kinds of people reading. Ms Rice herself said it in the opinion piece and i think that is a great acomplishment. I think is funny how many really dislike the books but can stop talking about. Ah! That is great.
Please give 12-17 year old girls more credit than that. Bella is a fictional character that is left by the love of her life so yes she does enter into a “zombie†state, but that does not send the message out to young girls that they should “fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them”. Just because a character in a book acts a certain way doesn’t mean the girls who read the book will act that way too.
You have bad taste. Twilight roxs! What are your idea of good books then?
Are you believe dear editors of this pathetic article, that your article is more clever than the series of Stéphénie Meyer? Prefer to you that teenager turn into a moron in front of the television rather than of ameliorate their vocabulary by reading pounds which deserve their reputation?
Stephenie makes dream a lot of people but you with your stupid article you doesn’t make that ! Maybe are you jealous ? This serie hide a reality but it’s not the one you think it is.
Okay… personally I like the series and although i found some parts weird or disturbing, keep in mind it IS fantasy. The key word in there is FANTASY. Not real. Completely made up. Anything goes. Get my point?
Bash it if you want, you’re intitled too, but even if you do hate it, you have to admit the story had it’s moments (how ever rare you think they may be).
Last, I also go crazy over details… even the smallest ones. So sorry to say, she did not go hunting in a cocktail dress AND heels. She took off the heels.
This was a wonderful and honest review. The only way you can like Breaking Dawn (Breaking Dawn, not Twilight, which I did like) is if you simply do not not care that the storyline connecting the scenes that do make a lot of sense is badly written and edited. You have to let SM get away with the bad, verbiose writing and a lot of contunity mistakes. Honestly, I think she had several great dreams, which she wrote down and then just strung together with a lot of crap.
Or, of course, you could just have been motivated beforehand, possibly by all of the time and money you’d invested in the first three books, which I repeat, I do concede were better than the last, to decide ahead of time that the book was going to be wonderful . In that case you must either swear like a drunken sailor in Shanghai when someone is critical now, or stick your fingers in your ears and hum to avoid listening when anyone talks about the many errors.
My God, it had over a thousand five star reviews on Barnes and Noble before anyone had ever read it. So obviously some people were determined to like it no matter how it was done. Poor them. They were conned.
Well… I guess fictional would be a better word than fantasy…
@# This Article SUCKS AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY! x 1000
You called the writer of this piece “IMMATURE”. But in one of your successive posts you write:
“BOO YOU WHORE. LMAO.”
And you are 39. Is this a failed attempt at sarcasm? And you called Harry Potter “HAPPY SNOTTER”? Are you, five?
Happy? A series beginning with double homicide, followed by a years of attempted murder, death of several main (GOOD) characters, resulting in an all out war and genocide of an ethnic group. And in Twilight…er…Bella gets chased after by James, she er…goes to Italy and talks things out with the Volturi, stands still while her vampire friends annihilate each other (however, only the bad guys die), and then has a staring contest with the bad guys. All the while, hundreds and hundreds of pages are dedicated to describing her love and devotion and the amazingness of her glittery boyfriend who has anger issues.
And to every other HP-Hating Twilighter who says “UGh HARRY POTTER SUX LYK SO MUCH.” I’d like to hear your reasoning towards that other than it’s held a monopoly on the YA readership. Ever
Wow… I’m a twilighter, or I used to be, and after read this I can’t believe that actually I was reading those books, I’m only 16 years years old and I think that you’re totally right!! That book it’s so anti-feminist and the fack that Breaking Dawn sends a lovely message of getting married and get pregnant when you’re only 18… God I’m so terrified to think that someone gives up to her ambitions just for a guy… that’s insane!!
Yeah, the books are so great for girls of my age when you dream about finding an Edward Cullen but when I read: “He’s a little overprotective†it give me the chills, come on girls: wake up!!
Ok…so i see where your coming from and i will not argue with the fact that not everyone is required to enjoy every book. No author can write something that will please everyone. Instead they try their best to reach the hearts of a few people who will enjoy their piece of work. In Steph Meyer’s case, thousande upon millions of people have enjoyed her series (me included) wich says somehting in itself dont you think? When you read a book you are in no way required to fall in love with the characters, setting, writing style, or even setting. And you most definitly do not have to agree with the “message” being put out. So it is fine and i accept that you dont.
Reading the book myself, i found it fantastic! As a girl, I liked the romance aspect. I also enjoyed every other part down to the last period. I honestly didnt even see sexism or feminism, or whatever else you mentioned in you crazy little rant, and even if Steph was trying to send something out there im sure it wouldnt be that. She Mormin for crying out loud!
Althoug, i can see where you are comming from, in SOME of you points. For example, Jacob being kicked aside like a puppy. Or, Bella falling into a depressed stage for so long after Edward left her. I too was not particularly found of these parts. But who am I to judge something I was never asked to? As far as I know Steph did not put the book out so I could read it. NO! She allowed others to read her story for there enjoyment. No one was asked to make comments or critisize. So you dont like it eh? THATS FAN-FUKING-TASTIC! No one asked for your opinion so stop being so rude to the author and fans of this book.
I’m a 20 year old english major and I completely disagree with your article. I, as so many others, saw this book on shelves for a few years before I actually picked it up. I was reccommended this book by a professor that teaches a course on fantasy novels, and only then did I find it worthy of my time. Bella may not be the typical heroine like the traditional Harry Potter that you are used to, but she is still a heroine. Many people read the novel and think that Edward is really the hero, but he is not. Her character has so much depth and you obviously do not have enough depth to see it.
With very few exceptions The pro-twilight fans posting here have confirmed my suspicions that a distinct lack of judgment and critical thinking skills are required to laud these poorly written, somewhat misogynistic works. I am tempted to believe that the majority of the pro- responses are actually anti fans posting in order to make the fans look like illiterate empty brained twits. If that’s the case: rock on. You are very funny. If that is not the case, well, as gender and as a species we are in trouble. The collective IQ is definitely dropping. I foresee a future were a film such as “Idiocracy” is not only plausible but almost inescapable.
PS: Why are “fans” bringing up Mrs. Meyer’s religion? If you are trying to insinuate she could not possibly have a misogynistic background because of her religion; you need to read up on this church’s doctrines.
En fin, comprendo y leo a la perfección al inglés, pero no me voy a molestar en escribir en TU lengua amigo, porque no te lo mereces. Si sabes español, me entenderás.
Eres une irrespetuoso, tu opiniónme da pena. Es una historia PRECIOSA para entretenimiento! y punto!
I could have saved you writing this piece with one statement: Meyer is Mormon.
That’s probably the best thing I’ve ever heard/read.
” Her character has so much depth and you obviously do not have enough depth to see it.”
Good one.
But, seriously, someone has to draw the line on the teeny boppers posting here. The only people blatantly insulting people on this board are the so-called Twilight fans, calling everyone who’s made their own opinion about a book stupid.
No one is saying that Stephenie Meyer is the worst writer in the world. She obviously has talant or she wouldn’t be published.
No one is saying that the books are completely awful and anyone who reads them is stupid, either. We’ve all read them, but if you read a book and sit there screaming that it’s awesome no matter what then you’re not really saying anything about it.
Twilight was a good book. It was enjoyable and romantic and was paced well enough that it kept a reader interested. The rest of the series, however, went downhill, and no one who has read the books seriously can deny that. Especially in the case of Breaking Dawn. I think that what people are not understanding is that the series had a lot of potential that Breaking Dawn shut down.
Bella was an alright character to begin with. Deep? I don’t particularly think so. There is nothing particular about her that makes her an amazing character, especially in the later books. She becomes really self-centered and obsessed with the idea of becoming a vampire merely to be with the love of her life. However, it is the fact that she is completely willing (with barely a second thought) to leave her entire family and have them believe she is dead just to have what she wants. Really, just so she can be with Edward forever and still look pretty.
I could quote mutliple paragraphs from the books where she states this exact fact. Would you feel so wonderful if you found out that your only daughter had feigned death just so she could be with her boyfriend? Now, this is not to say that hundreds of girls out there are going to go and do this, they obviously won’t, but it’s the thought in principle.
Choices should come with consequence, and every choice Bella makes turns out hunky dory, which is unrealistic. The first book left me with a sense of satisfaction, but the last book left me feeling disgusted. That doesn’t mean that I think Stephenie Meyer sucks or the books suck, but just that they could have been better, which is true.
And everybody please stop with the “Poor Stephenie Meyer, stop insulting her.” No one is insulting her. She’s a writer, and she knows that her books are going to be critiqued, which all books should be. She’s got it in her to be a fantastic writer, which anyone who’s read The Host knows. So seriously, all you Twilight fans are just embarrassing yourselves and the author with your biased and uneducated comments. Instead of just yelling at people about your opinions (which only makes you look stupid), add some real thought into this.
Why do you think that Bella is a good character? Use examples. Why is her love for Edward justifiable in hurting her family?
If you back yourself up with some evidence, then maybe someone somewhere will take you seriously. As it is, this is becoming a joke.
Educated-
I don’t know why I love the books. I just do. It’s inexplicable.
to everybody else on this site,
Stop comparing Twilight and Harry Potter. They are both seperate (and, in MY opinion, very good) books.
this is the most amazing article ever! I’m so sick of the stupid girls at my school and even my own friend! talking about this book like its some holy book. There was no plot and the entire story! How the hell can they make a movie!
Thank you you beautiful person for making this.
Kelly:
The plot is Bella and Edward’s love. You don’t need action every second to show that. It’s also about the danger when they are constantly together, at least in the first book, and somewhat in the second and third books.
@Aly-
“Okay… personally I like the series and although i found some parts weird or disturbing, keep in mind it IS fantasy. The key word in there is FANTASY. Not real. Completely made up. Anything goes. Get my point?”
Anything goes, sure, as long as it makes sense and is consistent/logical in Meyer’s world. Bella’s pregnancy and the explanation didn’t make sense and were not logical or consistent with the world of Twilight that Meyer HERSELF had created.
What’s the point of creating a fantasy world and creating intricate rules for it if you’re not going to follow those rules or follow the logic of that world?
@Jamie-
” I honestly didnt even see sexism or feminism, or whatever else you mentioned in you crazy little rant, and even if Steph was trying to send something out there im sure it wouldnt be that. She Mormin for crying out loud”
Okay, so WTF does being Mormon have anything to do with anything? I don’t care if Stephenie is Mormon, that has nothing to do with the antifeminism in the book. Unless you’re implying that the Mormon religion is antifeminist.
http://www.ew.com/ew/video/exclusives?lineupId=1155151521&videoId=1717903074
I visited this site and its an interview with Stehpenie Meyer, maybe some people will find answers. I like her either way, she seems like such an interesting woman. Anyways I figured you’d want both sides of the story to make a decision so here’s your chance. Thanks!
I think you all have forgotten that it’s a fictional book and shouldn’t be taken seriously. I read all 4 and enjoyed them. There are always going to be critics and fans no matter the topic. Like the old saying goes…”Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one!”. It’s your choice to listen to someone’s verbal diarrhea.
Catalana- you writing in spanish is another way to hide yourself from getting your points criticized, and you didn’t even make points to begin with. I know exactly what you said, and you’re no more original than any of the other whiny girls that came running in here with the same crap, just in english.
UhOh. Saying that the book is fiction doesn’t mean anything. Pride and Prejudice is fiction, and is still subject to criticism. Calling it Fantasy doesn’t mean anything either. Take Lord of the Rings, for example.
The fact is, the ability to criticize and make judgements is one of the great things that makes us human. We should embrace it and embrace our opinions. Also, just because someone has a different opinion than yours does not make it “verbal diarrhea”. Everyone’s opinion on here is valid, however it’s those with real points and arguments who will make a difference in the end.
I am not a teenager, but I still very much enjoyed the Twilight series. However, I also very much agreed with this review of the series.
In the era of Harry Potter and fantasy (Narnia, Terry Brooks, Lord of the Rings, VC Andrews) nothing is to be taken seriously, that’s why it is called fantasy. But never before have any book(s) in this genre been so broken down or critized as the Twilight Series.
Stephenie Meyer was clearly writing for herself and nothing more than that. It just so happens to be that she also reached out to a wider audience. The story of Bella and Edward is endearing and I’m sure that more than a few of us have “fantazied” of finding a love like that, but also know not to expect to find anything that equals it.
I also grew up in the Mormon faith (but have sinced left the church) and there are a few facets within the Twilight Series that mirror the belief structure of those who practice the religion. However, I do not fault Stephenie for that. Anyone who is completely engrossed within a particular set of ideals is only going to know how to express those ideals and nothing more.
I liked the Twilight series, would I place it in my top 5? Probably not. And after I’m done reading the series and place the books on my bookshelf, and after the hype dies down, I’m sure that I will just move onto the next thing.
Why are we fighting over this! These are books, people! FICTIONAL BOOKS! If we fight over the opinions of books, and how great or horrid they are then what hope do we ever have of solving any type of global conflict? I for one enjoyed the books, it was a STORY of a HUMAN girl, thrown into a SUPERNATURAL setting. I highly think any of us can kill a vampire-IF THEY WERE REAL-it has nothing to do with gender! Smeyers could have made the vampire a girl, and the human a boy. Then you would complain the boy was too weak, and needed to be more masculine-NAH…that ain’t gender typing?
I said I ENJOYED them, but am I a foaming at the mouth twilighter? HECK NO! It was a book! The same critics damned Harry Potter for promoting witchcraft! After we all finished the 7th book, did we all join the Wican community? No. Geez….these are BOOKS. FICTION. Can you say it with me? FIC-TION. Meant to be entertaining. Frankly, I think it’s great that Bella the plain jane gets the amazing Edward Cullen. Too many movies and books showcase the nerdy dude scoring the hott girl, but never the other way around! Yes! she IS the damsel in distress, but I would be to if I were being chased by a vampire! Duh!? As for Bella cooking, it specifically says that Charlie (her dad) isn’t good at cooking! I would cook to, if that meant my house wouldn’t burn down! And what are Alice and Rosaline? They are vampires too! What is Leah? A werewolf! I guess all I’m trying to say is that we had a witch hunt with Harry Potter, now it’s a debate with gender roles in Twilight. I just think that these critics are jealous that they haven’t written anything that caused fangirls and fanboys to scream at the mere mention of it.
For all the fans calling out that it is only fiction.
Why are you getting all upset because someone doesn’t like your favorite book?
And stooping to personal attacks in bad grammar and overlove of the caps lock key is an automatic fail.
Instead of responding to the actually criticism, all I can hear is ‘well, you’re just a Stupid Head.’
Seriously, Chloe and other Twighters, you need all the help you can get– do not go into the argument unarmed.
I’m pretty tired of the fiction argument by now. It’s been done and argued a million times over. If you don’t take the time to listen to our explanations for arguing over fiction, then why do you bother to come here and…. argue over fiction?
Light13192,
Not once has a anti complained about Bella not being able to kill a vampire. This isn’t Buffy. It’s for other reasons that have been clearly drawn out before (so I’m not going to repeat) that makes this book anti-feminism.
I think I’ve screamed the answer so many times that it’s not funny.
By the way, hello Roxana, Riana, Danielle. I’m back
We are AWARE that it is fiction. I don’t remember who right now, but someone posted a very compelling argument about how the underlying morals actually form a very disturbing base for any fan-girl. We don’t care that Edward and Bella are an interspecies couple – we care that there are literally fan girls who are foaming at the mouth about them. Heck, someone got slapped, and someone else got their car vandalized for DARING to say that the Twilight series wasn’t good. And don’t forget about all the ones who scream “I”M MRS. EDWARD CULLEN!!!”
Do you understand, yet? I read Stephen King, but it’s so obvious that I will never do any of that stuff that I don’t worry about it. Who goes insane and puts a shotgun in their mouth? Who, out of anger, has set people on fire with their minds? Who is designing a strange and scary world where things without names will eat you and leave your body to be labeled “Heart Attack Victim”? But people have trouble with relationships, and the morals in Twilight are only going to make them more confused, because now they think a normal relationship is based on OMG HE”S HAWT and OMG SHE SMELLS GOOD. I’m being dramatic here, but there are plenty of scary little details – like the stalking, the emotional abuse, etc.
Que vergüenza, madre mÃa.
No sé si fue que se leyó el libro de pasada, se lo contó un amigo o simplemente lo vió mientras estaba en el baño preocupado por su extreñimiento.
De verdad, QUE TRISTE.
“and finally to the fact that nearly every single female character in the book is a hopelessly negative caricature.”
Aquà no sé a quién demonios se refiere, porque si quitamos a Lauren (y a Jessica), no sé quién más puede ser.
Si señor, te has leÃdo el libro de maravilla
“What does this say to readers, bearing in mind that the target audience is the tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls? That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them? That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.”
Si si, mucho machismo en el libro ¿y esto que es?
Claro, esque las “niñas” leemos un libro e imitamos, claramente, lo que hace el personaje.
Hay que joderse, de verdad.
No solo lo considero machismo, si no que, además, considero que me están llamando idiota (soy menor de edad, tengo más de doce y menos de diecisiete).
Se nos está llamando “noviodependientes” e inferiores, porque considera que nos puede afectar que nuestro novio nos deje, pero claro, si la novia deja al chico, ahà no ha pasado nada, ¿verdad?
“It is in Bella’s scenes with Jacob that readers see a glimpse of actual personality, and the burgeoning romance is certainly much more true to real-life teen romances than the lofty ideals of the star cross’d lovers Edward and Bella.”
Anda, y yo creÃa que habÃa leÃdo la mayor tonterÃa, pero, ¡no!
Aquà hay una más grande todavÃa, enhorabuena
¿Alguien se ha enterado que Crepúsculo es un LIBRO catalogado como ROMÃNTICO PARANORMAL?
Recalco lo de paranormal, porque me parece que a alguien se le ha olvidado que es UNA HISTORIA FICTICIA.
No creo que haya nadie lo suficientemente idiota como para ir a Volterra y buscar vampiros o, yo que sé, ponerse delante de un coche para ver si el guapo del Instituto la salva.
Aquà se muestra, una vez más, que se nos considera débiles y estúpidas, capaces de trastornarnos por UN LIBRO.
Respecto a Eclipse y Amanecer no voy a decir nada, porque ahà los libros tienen sus PROS y sus CONTRAS. No voy a detallar lo que me gusta o no, yo venÃa a comentar la crÃtica más patética y poco profesional que he leÃdo en MUCHO TIEMPO.
Habrá gente que se lo ha leÃdo y pena me da si son adolescentes, de verdad, porque se demuestra que nos comen el coco diciendo que a nuestra edad no valemos nada porque “estamos con las hormonas alteradas”.
Eso si que lo encuentro yo deprimente y humillante.
“Thankfully, the ‘Twilight’ series is over. Not as great is the fact that millions of girls are reading this sexist tripe without a care in the world, obsessing over the “perfect†Edward Cullen and the “hot†Jacob Black, pretending to be Bella Swan and ignoring the unhealthiness of the relationship just as successfully as the character does. What happened that two hundred years after feminist hero Elizabeth Bennet is put down on the page, we get one of the most awful excuses for a female literary hero that I’ve ever seen?”
Repito que se parece olvidar que ES UN JODIDO LIBRO (y perdón por mi vocabulario, pero de verdad que estoy muy quemada con esto).
¿Tiene mensaje subliminal, acaso? ¿Ahora existe el hipnotismo por leer PALABRAS?
Y se vuelve a traer el tema de “millones de niñas están leyendo un libro machista”
¿Machista?
Pues hay que fastidarse. Creo que te has leÃdo el libro del revés y hacia atrás, porque no has conseguido ver nada de lo que quiere decir la historia por lo menos en los primeros dos libros.
Y repito, y vueeelvo a repetir.
Es un libro, ¿por qué no haces esa misma crÃtica de Drácula por ejemplo?
Si CREPÚSCULO ES MACHISTA, entonces Drácula no sé lo que es.
Nadie se pone a criticar Drácula, ¿verdad? ¿y por que no?
A mà el libro me gustó mucho, pero al parecer, si consideras que el Stephenie Meyer refleja machismo en sus obras, ¿qué me dices de Bram Stoker, considerando a las mujeres como meros “atractivos para la seducción”?
Esta crÃtica no se le puede llamar crÃtica.
Si uno se aburre en casa, siempre puede jugar a la Game Boy, que no solo la crearon para los niños, si no para matar el tiempo
Me considero una persona feminista hasta la médula, y desprecio cualquier mÃnimo de machismo.
ESTA SAGA NO TIENE MACHISMO POR NINGÚN LADO, POR NINGUNO.
Más bien es tu comentario, el que me ha hecho llorar, porque aún por encima que criticas una saga justo en los puntos “imposibles de criticar”, tienes la cara de acusar de machismo cuando lo único que has escrito han sido, constantemente, insultos hacia las lectoras y hacia las mujeres en general.
La peor crÃtica, tanto en inglés como en castellano de la saga de Crepúsculo, y eso que he leÃdo miles.
Lo peor de todo es que mujeres están de acuerdo con lo que has escrito, ¡y yo creÃa que ya lo habÃa visto todo!
well, maybe my opinion isn’t
the best one, but I have to say:
yes, I read the 3 twilight books
(i don’t have the other)
yes, I like it
yes, I’ ve read all Jane Austen books
yes, I like them too
but… that doesn’t say that
I put them in the same place.
let’s face it. She wrote the books to
won some money (she has written 4
books in, what, 3 years?) with teenagers
and that doesn’t mean you have to put it
in a place with Jane Austen, or the Brönte
sisters, or even the Harry Potter series.
and, besides, in English Literature
class we are just starting with “Pride and
Prejudice”… and, lets face it, a class about
Meyer’s books just doesn’t fit.
P.S. i know my grammar isn’t
the best, and im sorry about it, I’m
a 20 years old Chilean student of Linguistics
and Literature and Thilight DOESN’T changed
my life.
English please, because as unracist as I am, I really don’t care to try to decipher all that just to hear the same “OMFG YOUR A STOOPID BIOTCH!”
As it seems like you’re saying. You can clearly read the English, why not go ahead and make yourself understandable?
Princes Darker,
I have to agree with Yuki please speak English.
Since, it’s been a long day, I only bothered to read part of your entry because I didn’t feel like translating the rest.
I read the part about Dracula. Bram Stoker lived in a different time than us. Not only that, but he was a male. It wasn’t really expected of him to look at women any other way.
Also, Bella is supposed to be the heroine of Twilight and all she does is whine and complain and talk about Edward.
Of course people have criticized Dracula, it’s been around for more than a hundred years. This article was written because of the disturbing undertones to Twilight and the fact that the fans don’t seem to care.
I liked these books, but Breaking Dawn hit hard (in a very bad way) and this article hit harder. This series is a piece of crap. Thank you for this article which I completely agree with.
And Stephenie talking about all this Rob Effect CRAP and such is a moronic attempt by Stephenie Meyer to preserve her ego.
Okay, so I’ve read quite a few of the comments and everyone has a lot of good points, but in a way, I think you are all kind of stupid because IT’S JUST A FICTION BOOK SERIES! Even though the books are entertaining and I can see why it’s easy to get hooked on them, there’s absolutely no reason to worship Stephenie Meyer and get all worked up over one article and a few comments. But there’s also no reason to go around saying the book sucks, people who think otherwise are stupid and believe that girls are totally going to want to be just like Bella and love someone in a way that’s just as unhealthy as Bella does. After I say this, I’m not going to even return to this site, because are our lives really pathetic enough to get all obsessive over a book series in either a positive or negative way. People who are against the article, respect other people’s opinions, okay? People who are with the article, just be glad that teenagers are reading SOMETHING and not staring at the TV all day. Everyone, argue about something more useful and get a life!
Apparently the person who blogged this to tell how horrid the books are was taking it personal. I believe Stephenie Meyer is a great story teller and I found nothing in them to depict women in a sexist way. This is about a teenage girl who is passionate about the people she cares about. I was once a teenage girl my self and know how caught up I got with my first boyfriend, nothing else mattered as long as I was with him. I can relate in many ways with Bella, does that make me weak? Just becase I didn’t stomp my foot and scream out doesn’t make me less of a woman. Stephenie wrote with emotions, she wasn’t trying for a nobel peace prize in Enlgish Lit. Just like the Author of the Harry Potter books got flak for her books (which I never got into), she will unfornately get the same ignorant rants…just my opinion.
my name is Virginia and I am of Belgium. I wanted to say to you that your article is vraiement STUPID. it is not a criticism which you have write but an article fills with nastiness.
each has an opinion on one books, but even if they think it is poor, they cannot take down an author as you make it! you should be ashamed of you. it is necessary to exaggerate and to respect the others.
I am me the same author and if they made an article on my novels as hushed up the whizz made for Stephenie Meyer, I shall lodge a complaint and would go to the court for purpose difflamatoire and I hope definitely that she will arrive at you!
One thing before I eat dinner (it’s 7:00 here so don’t call me crazy). Can you think of any books that don’t have a fault or two which can possibly be criticized unrelentingly? Just wondering.
Seriously, stop with the it is only fiction argument.
Anyone taking a freshman English class understands that any story has a plot, themes, and other literary devices that involve actual thinking.
Even Dr. Seuss.
Twilight has some every disturbing themes; the fact that most Twilighters do not or will not get them speaks to the impressionable nature of the audience.
And UhOh, Twilight is about a girl is passionate about one person.
Singular.
Edward and that is about it. Bella is self absorbed, selfish, and spectacularly in love in grand tradition of all melodramatic teenagers. It is a fun escape, but a suffocating reality. Do you really think that Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet are meant to be intrusive?
They end in death, but the their obsessive nature destroys them and leaves nothing but ruin in its wake.
There is nothing to Edward and Bella but their passion. No small joys, no silliness, no annoyances, no sense of play or purpose– they exist in a vacuum. Parents, friends, ambitions, or anything else falls away to their self absorb romance.
And Yuki said hi to me.
I am glad you are back.
Roxana– I saw your comment on Fandom Wank and complete agree.
And Twilighters just admit your books are crack and love them anyway. It works for the rest of us.
*hides her Anita Blake books*
Lisa,
You can find faults in everything. However, in well-written literature, those faults are tend to be small and very few. Twilight doesn’t even have a plot. You know there’s a problem when that’s the case.
Riana,
I was just noticing that about Bella and Edward. I don’t recall them really joking. They just talk about how much they love each other and once in while they’ll joke about loving each other.
Oh, My, Gosh!!!
I’m so agree with you! at first I read the book, I like it, i wasn’t that bad, it was just to spend my time waiting for the release of the deathly hallows.
Then I read New Moon and the eclipse…. it was just fine, i did never pay attention to the under messages, you know, I Just was distractting my self.
then Breaking Dawn comes and i just coudln’t believe it! i know i have to read the signals somewhere!!! that book just sucks! so i re read the books!!! and i jus want to vomit. the fact that the book was one hundred porcent writed with adjetives (to edward of course) was totally annoying.
I never like Edward and, when he left i was hopping he never come back… i just not understands bella’s mind… i cant believe everything that she just give up to be with a vampire.
Finally, i cant believe that Meyer is still being compared with Rowling… its just anoying and offensive, Harry Potter iluminates, gives strong and shows the importance of loyalty, family and unity without loosing yourself or your own dreams in the process. the charcters are so great planned that you just think they are real, and you believe it, and even if Harry and Co are wizards, you feel like you are like them, that you share with them everything… and honestly, who wants to be bella? you really give up for everything just to be with a boy? Family ist important to me, and i just keep seeing one fact: that bella has her parents alive, she has a future and she doesn’t have anything – besides an overprotective, much prettier that her, controlling and abussve vampire boyfriend who just continusly put her in danger – to go ahead and look for her future, and compare that the fact that Harry – my beloved harry – doesn’t have anything like a family, but he mananges to create one, he doesn’t have a near future that just belongs to him and he just make everything that is in his hands to get one, and he just left the woman he loves, who is a really strong character, for the good reason, so tell me, what is more mature, complining and get something that its not good for you or figthing and, not only don’t lose yourself in the way, but save the world.
And people just keep comparing Bella to Hermione ¬.¬ really, dont offend Hermione, she is a real woman.
go out there an bougth some real books.
and sorry if my english sucks a little it isn’t my native language
What did I say on Fandom Wank? I say a lot there, >.>
Princes Darker- Whether you like to believe it or not, young girls are impressionable, and I don’t think it’s sexist of anyone to say that. Would you like me to even things out by saying that young boys tend to be assholes who prefer to look cool in front of their friends by disrespecting women? Sure, there you go, it’s balanced now. If you don’t believe us, then go look around at all the pro-Twilight websites. You don’t think they’re wasting their time because you agree with them. Have you seen the way these girls obsess over the books? Just take a look at the comments above you and your own- clearly the series means way too much to you.
No one critiques Dracula because it’s not selling by the millions to young girls in modern day. Dracula was written a while back, where feminists weren’t nearly as outspoken about books, but were instead focused on the possibilities they gained throughout the years. We have more liberties now, and therefore can sit down to take a look at smaller details, such as books.
If you think it’s ridiculous that we’re criticizing fiction, then why are you here? And how do you think your point will get across when from the looks of it, I’m the only one who understand a word you’re typing? All you showed me is that you have an ignorant, biased view. If works like Dracula bother you so much, as someone who claims to be a feminist, then why do you not write some article or another about how much you dislike it? Right, because it’s not what’s “in” at the moment, and tons of us would rather focus on what’s getting into girl’s head NOW not what might’ve gotten into their heads in the past.
So either write in english so that everyone else has fair chance on debating with you, or get over it, because all you’re doing with writing in spanish is blocking yourself from criticism. Are you afraid of that or something?
Interesting, sharp article that elegantly explains why so many people don’t think Twilight Saga is a good read, or a good influence to youngsters.
And please, dear Twilight fans, you’re not helping yourself by posting immature comments like ‘i can’t hear nanananana’ and swearing at the writer of this post. It just makes us think, “Wow, see what the Twilight saga has made these girls into.” or. “See what kind of people reads the saga?”
And stop polarizing HP fans and Twilight fans in such a way as if those who dislike Twilight are only HP fans brooding over the delayed film. I believe many of us have read many other books and have sane minds enough to judge and to express our opinion. That’s why we can say that the saga is not good.
It doesn’t mean we denounce motherhood, housework such as cooking, or love. But there are many other healthy kinds of love and motherhood – absolutely not the Edward/Bella type.
And bad book is a bad one – escapist or not.
You want to know what other books are better reads than Twilight?
There are a lot of them out there, dear, if you just only open your minds and try to get and read them. I remember that in the 1980s and 1990s, there were a lot of many good books for youngsters (and I truly enjoyed as a teen) – the Babysitter Club, GirlTalk, and other series. They dealt with problems of youth (including love) but they didn’t portray female characters who were so weak and helpless for love. I wonder whether people still write that kind of books nowadays? (I have to admit that in the last few years, especially after I enter college, I spend more time reading fantasy – which is not exactly of the romantic type, science, and history.)
And remember, sales is not everything. What would you say if a book supporting holocaust or terrorism goes ‘best-seller’? Would you still say “It’s just a book!” or “Millions of people read it and that’s what matters”?
As for Meyer, I hope that she reads all the critics and doesn’t just stop at ”feeling hurt’ but also seriously tries to improve herself.
Who knows, one day she’ll become a wiser, better writer that denounces her own creation!
I commend you for getting through that tripe and making it out with enough brain cells kicking to write this review. I couldn’t finish the first book, and, looking at the various reviews and summaries that I’ve come across, I can’t say that I regret it.
Something Kellen wrote about Bella representing an Eve figure really clicked in my head and I just saw so clearly what I hated about BD: Bella does get to change into a vampire ONLY after she has gotten married, has sex, and dies from childbirth. I read this section with a lump of lead in my chest and this is why! The girl has to do everything she is “supposed” to do and in the morally correct order BEFORE she gets to do what she wants?! OR this could be read as the morally correct feminine order of things cause drastic, irreversible changes in women?! In this case, the act of marriage, sex, and childbirth changes a woman into somthing that Edward was trying to keep from happening all along. In other words, sex is once again fundamentally evil??? The pains of labor and childbirth as punishment??? The woman as temptress??? The story of Adam and Eve has caused irreprehensible damage to women through the centuries, and BD repeats this narrative once again for another generations of young women!!!!!
Man, did you have any idea the shitstorm of semi-literate crazy you would release when you wrote this review? My favorite part is the “OMG U SO STUPID HOW CUD U HATE THES BOOKS U R PROLLY UGLY IRL THEY R THE BEST BOOKS EVAR BELLA N EDWARD 4EVA!!!11!111!!!’ Because nothing gives your argument credibility like poor grammar, spelling and punctuation.
For the most part, though, I’m amused. I think about the melodramatic crapfests I read as a teenager (Christopher Pike, anyone?) and just hope that these girls will grow into liking decent literature someday as well.
SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP TALKING OUT YOUR GOD DAMN ASS TWILIGHT IS AMAZING AND YOU, WHOEVER YOU ARE WOULDN’T KNOW A GOOD BOOK IF IT BIT YOU IN THE ASS
Thank you so much for this article. I agree in every single way, and I wish to death more girls would realize this.
As to the Twilight fans on here, just two things. Well, three.
-Thank you, those who thoughtfully wrote out counterpoints to this article. Not only were they legible, but they were intelligent, and I honestly enjoyed reading them, even if I didn’t agree.
-Profanity really doesn’t help your case any. In fact, it really only helps the stereotype that Twilight fanatics are the basest of readers.
-And finally, please keep in mind that whole freedom of speech thing. You can gush all you want, but we can gripe all we want. Don’t tell us to shut up just because we don’t like the book, and we won’t tell you to shut up just because you do like the book. It’s a balance thing, see?
Again, brilliant article. Thank you ever so much.
-Medea (a heroine I actually admire)
A critiquing process and having feedback is part of being an author. SM didn’t create these books in a vaccum. If she did not want reviews, she should have kept writing for herself, and only showing it to her friends. If she can’t make a logical argument for why she did some of the things she did, she deserves criticism. If she can’t accept criticism, she’s in the wrong business. A review does not always have to be brown nosing or ass kissing to be a valid review.
This isn’t fan fic we’re taling about, where you pay nothing for it and it’s usually worth about that much. People paid money for this Breaking Dawn piece of crap. People are opinionated and if she can’t bear for her works to be commented on, then she shouldn’t have published them for public viewing.
We can’t say because the book turned out the way the author wanted it to, it’s a good book, because that would mean no book could ever be critiqued, because they are all what their authors wanted them to be. I’m not ready to say everything that gets written in perfect, because the author wanted it that way.
Hahahaha i think this is hysterical( no the artical but the comments.) First of all i want to know why people are comparing HP and the Twilight saga. There not even close to each other. Sure JK has more writing experiance and SM dosnt. But i mean give SM a break its her first time writing. another point the book is fictional, its not supposed to be realistic. But then again thats just my opion, im not trying to force anything on anyone. Yes i agree with what your saying and stuff but i mean come on. Saying stuff about that is just cruel, its someones dream to write a book like that .So what it isnt how you want it, its not supposed to be. Its just a book you dont have to get so into every detail about it. I read all 4 book, im 14 and well be 15 in Oct. i personally enjoyed the books, yes there were mistakes and yes i didnt agree with everything but everyone makes mistakes. If we didnt make mistakes we would never learn. Dont get me wrong im the biggest HP fan but i see nothing alike in these two books. My Opinion is this is funny how you guys get so worked over about a book. yes i know books and other things make an impression on people, but most people dont look that into a book. COme on people. Yes author i agree with some of your points. But the way you said it was a big turnoff. Your so negatvie about everything in this book. No wonder people are pissed of i dont blam them. I hope you find a book that makes you happy. I understand its your opinion, but i disagree with most of it.
there is something i don’t understand about some of you commenters; what don’t you like Breaking Dawn?
Personally, i loved it!
i thought it was the perfect ending!
what’s wrong with living happily ever after?
yes, the whole Bella getting pregnant thing was unexpected but i thought that it was something very interesting to put in the final book. Bella actually had a baby!
and also Jacob ended up being happy too!
i just need to know what was wrong with the 4th book?
i didn’t find anything wrong with it at all!
this is the worst that ibeen readed in all my lifeee!! the 4 books are fantastic! the history is totally beautifull and im so happy for found this way to scape of this worl for a few hours… stephenie meyer is a great writter and i love her books
twilight-mania 4 eva da best!
i truely believe that the writer of this article has no love in her life at all!
i still can’t understand why you people hat Twilight and Stephenie Meyer so much!
She’s new at this for crying out loud!
i’d like to see any of you try to write a book and make it a top seller!
Give her some credit!
oops i mean “hate”
Roxana– the amount of crazy being found here.
I will give Stephanie Meyers some credit; she really falls into the mindset of a teenager in the throes of infatuation well. If Bella had more of a backbone, Edward had a sense of humor, and everyone else a little more common sense, the books would be read to speed through.
She made up Alice, Manic Pixie Girl that she is, who is a hell a lot more entertaining than the main characters. She pretty much sets up to win the climax in the second and final books. And she tells Bella she would vamp her just to get the bloody drama over.
And Jacob is fun until the melodrama sucks out his soul.
Twilight could be so amazing down a certain road. I think I will stick to fanfiction.
@MC
I simply have no response, For i did not write! ” BOO YOU WHORE”
Someone else, simply used my tag name
Excuse me.
And yes, 39.
you have a problem?!!
I don’t think i am even bothered to respond.. this blog was just plain self absorbed- it’s fine to express your point.. but to think that said point is the most important? that is very childish.
And people- stop calling twlighters and fans stupid- maybe they arent trying to sound super brainiacs.. by using big words- because all you people responding are a bunch of fakes, and low lifes, who can’t appricate good stories.
I think this should be deleted, before it gets even more out of hand
and once again, i am sorry for my comment, but i did not say that one. MC accused me off.
=)
Hey, why don’t we conclude that this series is like Marmite, some people love it, some people hate it lol.
Yes it is just a series of books, but some of the people saying this and bashing the Twilight fans seem to forget that they’re getting a bit carried away in the heat of things too.
Also, a lot of you are saying that everyone is entitled to an opinion, which is right and I agree, but you are not letting a lot of people express their opinions with regards to this article or why they like this series.
I also think that comments expressing that people can’t type/spell/grammatise properly is out of order and a weak self-degrading insult. There are more important things in this world than this and arguing over books,
I do feel that this article is quite weak in its points, I think they are sometimes picking things that have already been explained in the book and elsewhere. But its fair enough if they don’t like them for whatever reason.
I think we all need to move on from this now, some of us are spending a lot of time arguing about this. There is always going to be someone who doesn’t like something someone else does, it makes life more interesting and challenging (and sometimes annoying lol but hey thats life).
Don’t bring your education into this, its quite pathetic to be honest, I say this mainly to the author of the article, who thinks that they are high and mighty because they study feminism. Opinion does not require an education.
I don’t think it is very fair to say all that about the writer, Her work may not be the most amazing thing out there- NOBODY SAID IT WAS
but it is enjoyable, Popular, and quite lovely..
and might i remind you- it is extreamly well known all over the world.
you’re points and opinions are all valid and you have every right to express them and vent.. but the way you say that every teenage girl is pitiful and impressinable.. is just DOWN RIGHT HORRIBLE.
no wonder you are getting cyber bashed by all the teen girls.
I don’t think that all the girls out there want to copy every little thing bella does. because NOBODY copies fictional characters!
they simply like her, and admire her ways.. and some can relete somethings to her, but to say that girls copy her every mannerism?
just SILLY
Stephenie meyer, is a young writer, who only wrote twilight- because it came to her in a dream, not years later- it’s being made a movie, and the fourth and final book was released ( and a let down, i agree) but New moon, and Eclipse were amazing. and i really enjoyed reading them, as a 23 year old GUY!!
Jacob, Edward, and all of the cullens are amazing characters- and Meyer writes them all wonderfully.
Bella is a little weak of a character- but who isnt flawed in someway?
plus she can be very very brave and wise- like knowing exactly what she wanted (Edward) all along.
The way you critise NEW MOON, is clear, you don’t like love stories.
and as For sayin Their Relationship is abbusive.. is one way of looking at it- the WRONG WAY.
It is protective, and perhaps overbearingly.. but that is because so many times Bella has faced death
i AM ALSO A HARRY POTTER FAN so i don’t KNOW WHY THE TWO FANDOMS HAVE TO HATE EACH OTHER.
THEY ARE BOTH JUST AS GOOD AS ONE ANOTHER.
I am not picking a fave., they are VASTLY DIFFERENT!!
Steve.
Roxana, Riana, Danielle, Yuki, Educated? and other Twilight haters :
Please stop trying to “wow” us all with your “perfect” grammar and everything (Or at least, I think that’s what you guys are trying to do). We are only humans, after all. We make mistakes in our everyday lives, including typing words with the wrong spelling and having bad grammar. You guys shouldn’t criticize people for that. We all know that you guys totally hate Twilight. There’s nothing wrong with that by the way, it’s just that it’s becoming completely annoying, on how you criticize other people voicing out their thoughts and opinions to the public. The same thing also goes to all the Twilighters posting in this crappy site. You’re just proving to everyone how immature you guys are (No offense.)
http://www.twilightsucks.com
BTW. This site is perfect for you guys. Ü
We know that those are books and not reality ! We are not stupid enough to think it could happen in real life so your review is quiete useless !
If you don’t recognize the talent of Meyer that is your right, but you don’t have to say all those things ! You cannot say it is digusting and everything !!
Maybe sometimes Bella does not seem aware of the danger and the situations she is in, but it is a fiction right ?
I’m a french 20 year old girl and i’m not ashamed to say that i love the twilight saga !
Feminism is the belief of equality for both women and men. There are so many issues that have to do with this, and one of the main issues is the women’s right to choose.
For example: one of the most controversial and current issues is abortion. As a young woman in today’s society, I personally, despite my religious or personal beliefs about the subject, believe that each women, as an individual, should have the opportunity to chose whether or not she would like an abortion. It’s the feminist way, pro-choice.
And isn’t that exactly what Bella did? She CHOSE to carry this baby, despite the fact that it was killing her from the inside out. It was her decision to NOT have an abortion, even though Edward tried so hard to get it out of her, and they had every means to do so. It was Bella’s choice.
Just a thought.
This is going to be my last post to this article, it just isn’t worth any more.
What I find so funny is that, you try to get at us for caring about the books, where as you Twilight haters are the ones writing this article. Your the ones that keep posting here, saying how many mistakes the books has, and never once realise the great things the series DOES also have. As for Twilighter’s, I agree, some take it a bit TOO far, and call the book perfect when it clearly isn’t. But that’s ok with me, because, I can see past the flaws and enjoy the book for what it really is, fiction. I mean, it’s a book about VAMPIRES. And vegetarian ones at that.
I think we should just leave this article, and I agree with what has been said before, Twilight is like marmite. Some people love it, some hate it and some are on Team Switzerland.
End of my little ramble there. I didn’t mean to offend anybody if I did.
Girl, you need to grow up, really.
I love all the book’s and can’t wait to see the movie. Go Stephenie, in Portugal we love you, gratz.
By the way i have 31 years old and recomend the book’s for everyone above 12 years old.
Just a question for the ones who do not like the Twilight saga.
If you hate these books so much, why do you waste time reading all of them ?
And also, why people waste so much time creating this kind of site http://www.twilightsucks.com ?
Even a fantasy, or fiction of any type, has to have a consistent framework, and some rules. You can’t just go running off the page pulling things out of the air that contradict other things you have said earlier.
Wow, the generalizations. First of all, I’m not a “Twilight hater” and that’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard yet. In fact, I loved Twilight when I first read it. I read it multiple times. The fact that I’m not screaming about how much I love the newer books doesn’t make me a “hater”. For anyone who has been to University, they will understand that critiquing literature is healthy and perfectly normal. I can even find points in books that I love dearly that aren’t great, but the reason I am even posting on this board is not because I have some vendetta against the books.
I’ll admit, I didn’t like Breaking Dawn. It was a waste of my time, but I’ve got a hundred other books in my collection that weren’t a waste so that’s fine for me.
The reason I’ve been posting here is to try to make some of you crazed fangirls realize that people have the rigtht to their own opinions, which many of you have blatantly disregarded. Calling people “stupid” just because they don’t like the books? Just because some people can’t see past numerous flaws does not mean they’re stupid or that they hate the books vehemently or the author. It simply means that some people are choosing to look at the book a different way, which really has nothing to do with you.
And writing with proper grammar is not an intimidation tactic, it’s the way most people write because it’s proper. What I see on this board is a lot of obsessed fans freaking out because people have seperate opinions. If someone says, “I like the Twilight novels because they represent an alternate universe that I wish I lived in”- which is usually the case, then fine, you’re justified in that. Also, if you didn’t like the novels because the characters are underdeveloped and the plotline is nonexistent, among other things, then fine, you’re justified in that as well.
Seriously, if your favourite food is spaghetti and someone writes a post saying they don’t like spaghetti, would you get into their face (figuratively) and scream that they’re stupid because they don’t like your cherished pasta?
I sure hope not.
Dear Narwhal, Jeanine and …
I don’t care if any of you don’t like my comment! Actually I don’t give a crap!
I used to be shy and I kept to myself. This article tuoghened me (I think). It made me able to speak up and voice my opinion.
I told one of my friends after I wrote that messege (she is also a Twilighter). Do you want to know what she said? She said good for you Emily.
I bet she knew how big a step that was for me. Even if you three don’t I’m happy she did.
You might think I’m writing this so you all will feel bad for me but I’m not. I really don’t care if people feel bad for me or not. Actually I’d rather they DIDN’T feel bad for me.
So go ahead and keep critisicing what I wrote. I don’t care if you do or don’t.
I have found that critisimsim in any form gets me going… and once I’m going I’m never going to stop. So go ahead a critcise. You all are just going to make it harder for yourselves!
-Emily
To Twilighters who say that Kellen Rice’s opinion sucked: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/092105/someone-with-a-different-opinion.gif
^ Call me immature for posting a cartoon, but I really couldn’t resist.
As for the article, I did enjoy reading it. I thought that some points were true and there were some I disagreed with, as always. Considering that everyone here must have something to say about someone’s opinion, I think I’ll just refrain from sharing. I’m not looking for a debate or argument.
Great article, Kellen Rice. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your opinion on the Twilight series.
“First and foremost, the books present a female heroine who can hardly take a step without needing some boy to rescue her.”
So Bella’s clumsy and gets into dangerous situations. If she didn’t then nothing much would happen in the story. Yes, Edward has to save her from danger, but if he didn’t then people would be complaining that he can’t love her that much, because he never rescues her, or something along those lines.
“In fact, the author oh-so-cleverly inserts blank pages with the months’ names as a poorly conceived plot device for showing the depths of her heroine’s pain and also to avoid having to write the “hard stuff.†”
Personally I think it was a good idea to insert blank pages with the months names, if Stephenie Meyer didn’t do this, then you would be complaining about how repeitive the story gets, with months of nothing happening except Bella being depressed.
“Tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls”
Please give teenage girls more credit than that! Just because something happens in a book doesn’t mean the teenage girls who read the books will go and do the same thing.
“It is in this tome that Edward and Bella’s relationship takes a decidedly worse turn. Edward goes so far as to remove Bella’s engine from her car to prevent her from seeing her friend, Jacob, and even has his vampire ‘sister’ kidnap her from a weekend”
Remember that Vampires and Werewolves are enemies. So it’s understandable that Edward goes overboard in trying to protect her from something he sees as dangerous.
“Please, Meyer says, never mind the fact that all the vampires’ body fluids are replaced with their ‘venom’ or that sperm dies after three days, much less a century”
Bearing in mind this is a fictional book, therefore a lot of the story is actually impossible
“Even more fantastically, the vampire/human spawn grows at an alarming rate, so fast in fact that Bella feels it “nudging†her at approximately two weeks of gestation.”
What do you expect? For Bella to have a normal pregnancy when she’s carrying a half-vampire half-human baby? I don’t think its surprising that her pregnancy isn’t normal.
“And don’t forget her nifty ability to go hunting in a forest in a cocktail dress and heels.”
She takes off the heels and rips the dress =)
Just because someone happens to disagree with your opinion, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. The whole point of an opinion is that everyone can have their own. And for the fans who are telling the haters not to take it so seriously, shouldn’t they be doing the same?
ok what the heck is your problem! I really don’t agree with you. it a freakin’ book!!!! you don’t have to go and make fun of it!! I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT YOU COULD WRITE A BOOK, SELL MILLIONS GAINING FANS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, HAVE IT MADE INTO A MOVIE AND HAVE ITEAMS MADE BASED ON YOUR BOOK!!!!!!!! YOU ARE SERIOUSLY WORSE THAN PAPARZZI SCUM!!! I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS!!!! YOU CANT DENY TWILIGHT IS A HUGE SUCCESS!!!! WHY CANT EVERYONE LEAVE STEPHENIE MEYER ALONE!!!!!!!
I personally think that twilight is not for everyone but it is FICTION! It is not true so it is out there for people to decide for them selves what they think of it not for some bitter old lady to immeadiately reject it. Take in the meaning from a different perspective and think about how it is a book with a good message. They love eachother enough that they would die for each other, or rather risk everything to save them. They have trouble along the way but they don’t give up. They love each other more than anything and that is the point. Think about this article ater the movies have as much success as the book and how all you anti-twilighters are wrong.
first of all i am 27 yrs old. i like harry potter… but i like twilight even more.. they are different kind of books and i dont see why everyone has to keep comparing them all the time. they are nothing alike. SM did a wonderful job for being her 1st time..and also im glad that no one but the bad guys die in these series. its a nice change of pace just wondering if anyone will die then be happy that no one actually does. and its not bellas choice to wear the dress that is all ALICE. thats how alice is and she is AWESOME!! give the kid smore credit im sure they are smart enough to know the difference between fistion and reality.. i tihnk it was smart to put the blank pages in the book it would be too boring reading about bellas pain and nothing happening. and also with edward removing her battery ..#1 werewolves and vampires do not get along its his natural instinct to keep her safe #2 he is not used to having all these emotions that bella makes him feel and he has to work thru and figure them all out #3 he realizes that she can be safe enough and that hes jealous and making her choose between them is wrong and bella will probly hurt herself more tryin to see jacob behind his back. he just wanted her to be safe. anyway for me a good book is one where u open it up and start reading and it takes u to a whole new world that u cant go to in the real world. its almost like playing dress up in ur moms clothes. u get to be someone else for awhile…
Sabrina wrote: ” Just a question for the ones who do not like the Twilight saga. If you hate these books so much, why do you waste time reading all of them ? And also, why people waste so much time creating this kind of site http://www.twilightsucks.com ?”
My Response: Because people like you exist. But seriously, if it’s not one thing it’s another, right? Some people complain that you can’t “hate” the book if you haven’t read it. Well a lot of us have and a lot of decided we either a) didn’t like it so much but found the series amusing not amazing b) We read and just hate it.
As far as reading the whole series? Well, most of us do it for the lulz. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I know I read the rest of the series from the library. If I was going to prove my point and know what I’m talking about, I’d have to read the books. And honestly, I’d rather not pay for it.
And why does TwilightSucks.Com exist? It exists because a lot of members in the fandom are insane Twi-Hards who take every form of criticism too personally. The idea of free speech is lost on the lot of you. Open your eyes! The Twilight Lexicon was hacked by ONE OF YOUR OWN MEMBERS not by an Anti or some hacker group against Meyer. And why? Because A LOT of Twilight fans are narrow-minded overzealous rabid fangirls/fanboys who are delusional.
The site exists as a haven and a place to talk about the epic failings of an overrated series. Most of the topics point out the problems and inconsistencies of the book. It’s our right to share our opinions and discuss it in our own place without being attacked for it. That’s why the site exists.
—————–
Emily wrote: “Dear Narwhal, Jeanine and …
I don’t care if any of you don’t like my comment! Actually I don’t give a crap! I used to be shy and I kept to myself. This article tuoghened me (I think). It made me able to speak up and voice my opinion.”
My response: Oh dear, you say you don’t care but you’ve decided to write this post? This is pathetic. And “tuoghened”?? I believe you’re trying to spell “toughened”. It’s sad, there’s a thing called spellcheck.
Emily wrote: “I told one of my friends after I wrote that messege (she is also a Twilighter). Do you want to know what she said? She said good for you Emily. I bet she knew how big a step that was for me. Even if you three don’t I’m happy she did. You might think I’m writing this so you all will feel bad for me but I’m not. I really don’t care if people feel bad for me or not. Actually I’d rather they DIDN’T feel bad for me. So go ahead and keep critisicing what I wrote. I don’t care if you do or don’t. I have found that critisimsim in any form gets me going… and once I’m going I’m never going to stop. So go ahead a critcise. You all are just going to make it harder for yourselves!”
My response: Really? That must be some friend. I guess she doesn’t believe in tough love. And “criticise” has a Z in it.
And criticizing keeps you going where? Clearly, in the wrong direction because that didn’t make any sense. So it motivates you to what? Write comments about how much you “don’t care” about people’s opinions but you’re going to write about them anyway? And you’re never going to stop? Yeeaah, complete sense.
————————–
The Great “It’s Fiction” Debate!
Personally, if this series reads like one freakishly long fan fiction.
People wonder why some of the “haters” take a piece of fiction so seriously? Well, some of us have families and the idea these books are being marked as a quality teen series to share amongst one another is manipulative. The reason why I hate the books so much and feel the need to voice my opinion is because these books are being treated like they’ve got some higher message. It doesn’t at all. It is what it is: a piece literary crap. Or in nicer terms, literary junk good that has no real value.
Emily wrote: “I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS!!!!”
… then why are you yelling?
[…] Twilight sucks… and not in good way […]
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
@ Tiamat you wrote “… then why are you yelling?”
Maybe its to try and get the point across.
@ Sofia
I don’t know about you, but usually when someone doesn’t care about something they show apathy, not anger, towards it. But that’s just me.
ALL U GUYS SUCK!!!!! THE SERIES ROCKS!!! WITHOUT ALL THAT STUFF, THE BOOKS WOULD BE A PILE OF SHIT!!!
DON’T LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE!!!!! read the book and u will be sooo amazed!
Okay so I’ve been listening to the arguments that have been thrown around about Twilight and so here we go with the best I can do:
I. Problem #1: Stephenie Meyer is a terrible writer
Well I’ve watched plenty of interviews where she states that this is her first book and she did admit that there are grammatical errors. So at least she isn’t lying or stating something false, she is owning up to it in public.
Problem #2: Stephenie Meyer and the morals in her story.
Again I’ve watched interviews where she states that she wasn’t writing a story for its morals but that she was just writing a story that she would be pleased with, she had already written most of the series by the time it came around to make the first book. She’s pleased that young girls like her book but she does say that she didn’t set out to make a young adult book, its just the audience that ended up liking her books the most. But she’s seems to enjoy her fans.
Problem #3: Stephenie Meyer refuses to answer her fans questions.
Again I saw an interview and she never wavers on her answers, she says that she doesn’t think its fair to answer on fans question and not another seeming as they are both passionate fans that want an answer. The great quantities of mail that have been coming in to her take up a lot of her time and she says that when it comes to spending my time writing letters or writing books, I’d prefer to write books.
Problem #4: Edward is so overprotective
I re-read Twilight and came across something interesting to share with you, I am searching for the right page and quote and actually I can’t find it but I know it’s there ( I will post with it) But basically Edward apologizes for being overprotective in the future because Alice saw some visitors and so until they are gone he is going to be a little overprotective and its not his style. (damn I will find that quote and now I’m mad I didn’t mark it) So it shows that unless there is danger this really isn’t Edwards style to be overprotective and when it comes to Bella and Jacobs relationship he worries about her but he lets her spend time with her friends (although werewolves, but still friends)
Problem #5: Bella can’t get preggers!
Well actually Stephenie Meyer only alluded to the fact that female vampires can not get pregnant because their body can’t change (like their hips spreading, and growing a belly, all those things that are natural for a human) and Edward does not have sperm, vampires have venom. That’s why when they wear contacts they have to change them after the venom dissolves them after a few hours. So Edward is stone after all if you get where I’m going and so he can have sex but he has venom instead of sperm, that’s why the baby is half human half vampire. Stephenie Meyer stated that there venom is very “versatile”. So there’s that part.
Problem #6: Bella is a crappy heroine:
Well Bella is a normal girl, she’s got complicated relationships, she in high school, yeah she’s clumsy, but she is bold. She comes up with the entire plan to defend her family and keep them safe when James the “tracker” is hunting her. She is bold in some ways, she does what she doesn’t want to in order to save the ones she loves. I once stated that she took care of her mom and someone said that we didn’t get enough of that in the book, but she lived with her mom for 17 years and the things her mom say like when she can’t find her pink top and has to write an email to Bella to know where it is. The fact that Bella gives up spending time with her mom so that she can be happy with her new husband Phil shows that others are her priority. How can she not be so strong in your eyes. At 17 that’s a lot to handle, not only balancing Vampire and Werewolf friends on top of that. And lets not forget some of the other characters who make up the female force, I like Alice and the family depends on her strength and her visions even the males in her family depend on that. Esme is the heart of this family, the mom, and a caring. People respect Esme’s thoughts. Rosalie, well Rosalie is strong because she’s angry but she doesn’t back down from that. Girls don’t always have to be happy to be amazing and her character is really strong, although it does annoy me sometimes but its interesting. At the end of BD Bella is the strongest character, Bella is the heroine. She finds her way and saves all the people she loves again, but with her strength this time. This echoes in a lot of girls lives, they underestimate how strong they are until push comes to shove.
Problem #7: Why do Edward and Bella love each other:
Well they found someone that they can trust with who they truly are,and that’s what we really want in a mate, someone we trust with our flaws. Someone who would do anything to see us happy. They spend several pages getting to know each other and all the questions over questions, Edward really wants to know more about her. They don’t have to play basketball together or do arts in crafts to be in love, love comes in all forms. But Edward and Bella are some very lucky individuals to have true love, where there hearts are connected more than anything. Now if you are against this kind of thing ever happening then you won’t be able to see it. You won’t be able to believe that this is possible so the story might not hold any value for you, and I’m sorry. I do believe in this, believing that some hearts are stronger connected than others and not that the others aren’t in love but its like finding a perfect match for you when you find true love.
These are some explanations and answers I’ve found. I hope that you can take some of this in, because I have been listening to plenty of your answers and I’m sorry that some Twilighters don’t express themselves in a really positive light but I hope that you can look past that and still be able to have a positive conversation. Thanks for reading.
Ashley-
You are amazing! I couldn’t figure out how to say how I felt. Thank you!
To whomever had an issue with some of us using “perfect grammar”- what was the point in that? Do you really think we were poking at small spelling errors and such? No, we were pointing out that some of the comments people were writing really were entirely incoherent. How are we supposed to make an argument against something we can’t even read? You say that we’re trying to show off and come off as smart, but you’re assuming that I don’t actually type this way whenever I talk to anyone online. Whether I’m typing out a comment in an article or I’m chatting with someone on AIM, this is how I type. My grammar isn’t perfect, nor ar all my punctuations, and I’m not trying to make it seem that way. This is how I type. This is how the others type. Forgive us for trying to use proper spelling as we go.
You should also remember that you’re talking to readers here. People who love the art of reading and writing- so how are we not going to write the way we do? Would you prefer that we dumb ourselves down and go “OMG lyk us guys dont even understad wat weer tring to say!!!” ? I’m sure everyone would love it if each comment was exactly like that. We’d get nowhere with this debate.
From the look of the way opinions are delivered in this debate, I would most definitely say that the way we write is a reflection of our intelligence. The ones who both love and hate Twilight have managed to stay in the game by both having acceptable spelling and grammar habits and by keeping themselves from screaming “I LOVE TWILIGHT U SUCK!” or “TWILIGHT SUCKS U GUYS ARE DUMB!” Immaturity and bad spelling seems to walk hand in hand here, and that’s truth, whether you think it’s rude or not of me to point it out.
I don’t appreciate being told that I’m “trying to ‘wow'” people with my grammar and spelling. This is the natural way that I type and talk, so deal with it.
I understand about the typing, I can’t even misspell things on purpose when I text message even if it would make the message shorter, it really gives me a headache to read those statements with words lyke in them or others that are spelled that way, I guess the younger generation has a different way of communicating.
Oh My goodness!
Steve, and ‘this article Sucks and not in a good way x1000″
and Rossanna- make perfect sense.
To be honest, the constant HP vs Twilight fandom war is just getting so so OLD.
I mean, the two are vastly different, and clearly each group- twilgiht fans, and Hp fans- are gonna be saying their series is ‘the best in the world’ .. why not just settle this? They are both very good, very popular, well known books, that have made ALOT of money all over the world, and are now major Motion Pictures too? ..
And as for you slating Vampires.. well that is just NOT ON.
The vampires in the Twilight series- are, In my opinion the best written, and more relatable than any other mythical creature out there- because all of the Cullens and the other Vampires- have human ways hidden deep.. and they have the ability to love.
which is what makes this series so POWERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL- Bella&Edward’s love is just so .. epic and otherworldly. guys&Girls love reading about it, and even MOMS..
and yeah.. It is beautiful and it’s the impossibilty to it all
And sorrrryy if my Grammer isnt Perfect and my spelling is terrible, i did not come on her to boast about how smart i am, or try and big up my fandom, or scream at you, MS KELLAN RICE- writer of this article, because you are intitled to your opinion- as is everyone else- but the way you said all your views- is just not FAIR, or right, and this article is not only PITIFUL, but it is so self absorbed.
what have you got against the twilight fans? and what is all this about anti-Feminism?
Sure, some of your points on that subject hit a nail.. But mostly- it felt like you were talking out your ARSE.( yes i used caplocks.. and a ‘bad’ word, ooh that must mean i’m a dumb fangirl.. ) And yes, i said ARSE, as opposed to ASS, because i am IRISH.
wooohoo, WOOT, go IRELAND!! =)
I kinda am off point now.. but you’re article is fair enough, it’s just LOOK AT ALL THE COMMENTS LADY.
is this what you wanted to start?
ugh. and stop you guys- the other ‘non fans’ calling the fans Immature and being so awful to one another.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SERIES, THAT IS FINE.
just STOP THIS FANDOM WAR.
UGH
I can’t stand it.
This is a BOOK, it is meant to be enjoyed, NOT CHEWED TO PIECES.
geesh.
I loved them all, bar Breaking Dawn- which was just a little too much for my liking.
and I am a Proud Twilighter.
But that does not mean I want to follow everything Bella does and says- WHO DOES THAT?
You don’t know what you are talking about Lady.
“What does this say to readers, bearing in mind that the target audience is the tragically impressionable 12-17 year old girls? That they should fall apart at the seams for months if their boyfriend leaves them? That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.”
TRAGICALLY IMPRESSIONABLE ? that is just over the line..
you don’t even KNOW ANY OF US. Oh. and there is not only 12-17yr olds reading this
WOMEN, MEN ETC. read it too. WOULD YOU DARE CALL THEM TRAGICALLY IMPRESSIONABLE?
Ugh. and that was not the message Ms. Meyer was trying to get across, In : New Moon.
If you actually read it, without being so terrible Crticial, You would really see the meaning in it.
This really bothered me, and what was worse, was to see all you other’s responses.. such as..
@ Dollywood, Zuiga..(cant even spell that sorry)
what the HECK?
Seriously. This was just arse.
ARsE
aside from the obvious and very serious feminist bent you’ve got, the series IS awful and I won’t touch it. My friend Amanda got the series just to see if it was as bad as I thought it was and she confirmed that YES, it was. It’s written like tween wrote it.
With that said, there’ nothing wrong with not going to college when you get married. Women did it in the past and continue to do it still if that is their choice. Doesn’t mean they’re pandering to “the man” or anything, just their choice to become a stay at home mom.
unfortunately, Bella seems to get mom status and then the baby’s a freak. >.> that’s…. ew.
Two words:
YOU SUCK!!!!!!
ABBY
I LOVE YOU
=)
hehe
Stephenie Meyer said that its not in Bella’s character to not go to college, she may not go to Dartmouth so she can stay closer to Charlie but she sees her character going to college, Belle isn’t the kind to say that she is done and just sit around all eternity. It’s really that Bella has all the time in the world to go to college, literally. She an get 15 degrees if she wants to, but Stephenie Meyer did say that she always planned for Bella to go to college.
It’s in an interview that I posted earlier on this page. You can look at it if you want.
First off, I will admit that your essay was written from an interesting perspective; it was actually enjoyable to read a review written by someone who doesn’t adore the series, but is against them. I personally have read these books, and I enjoy them because they are different from a lot of books I have read. I read a lot of romance, and I like the way that the Twilight series captures real love (especially in New Moon) and exposes it to girls so young, who might only read realistic fictions about teenagers and their short-term relationships (which are still good stories, like by Sarah Dessen).
Then, though you point out that there are no morals to follow in this story, I believe your wrong. Bella Swan-as you mentioned-is certainly not plain in any way. But isn’t that the point? The average seventeen-year-old girl, no matter how pretty to another’s eyes, sees her flaws more clearly than anyone else. By displaying Bella as a supposedly “plain” girl who captures the eyes of boys she meets for an unknown reason, Stephenie Meyers has insinuated that every girl has beauty inside them.
And for your sexist view of the book, it seems clear that Bella Swan, the girl, is tagging along the five boys, instead of vise-versa. She has got a hold on them, instead of just them on her.
Despite all I’ve said, I think that perhaps people are actually looking to deep into the story. For all we know, Meyers could have gone no deeper than a cute, entertaining love story with a twist. After all, it’s a fictional story, just as your beloved Harry Potter.
I’m a Twilighter and I’m kind of ashamed. I don’t feel this way because of the article, but because a lot of Twilighters are getting carried away and making fools of themselves. Please just shut up and stop embarrassing other fans of the book. If you can’t handle someone disagreeing with you about a fantasy book maturely, how the heck are you going to handle someone disagreeing with you about something more important in real life maturely? Okay, so the article has a couple flaws and was a tiny bit insulting, but just get over it and move on! You really aren’t helping by saying F*** U!!!
What is this World War 3, except with a bunch of teenage girls and no weapons? I think everything has pretty much been said by now, so stop arguing and let’s have some PEACE between the two groups. Who cares whether you like a popular book series or not???
ahahaha jesussss have you realize how many post had been sent??!scary!!! it took me five minutes to reach the “got something to say” space lol!
I disagree with every freakin word this stupid aticle has to say. First of all the person who wrote this article is an idiot!!!!! Stephenie Meyers wrote these books for people who aren’t over analiticle morons to read for their entertainment. She did not write these books to show you how to live your freaken life. I think that these books were great and entertaining. Bella is a regular teenage girl in her first real relationship. Edward is her soul mate so of course she is going to be a little crazy, disoriented, and a little absent minded(stupid). She is a human being who makes mistakes and makes wrong choices, but don’t we all? I think you should just get over yourself and stop insulting the peole who actually enjoy this series. It does not make anyone any better to sit and type an essay on how they hate a book, you have your opinions and everyone else has theirs that doesn’t mean everyone else is inferior. as i said this book is not a road map to your life it is just a book to entertain the masses with love story with an interesting twist. Edward and Bella’s relationship isn’t supposed to be real because one its not real, its make believe and two he is a freaking vampire, which by the way aren’t real either. this book is for entertainment not for real life comparison.
Hey!
Well i am a twilight fan,
i dont quite agree with, you
i dont consider twilight to be like pride and prejudice
ITS not like vampires really co-exist with us..
its a fantasy, its unreal, its a dream! that’s the beauty of the story… is just for you and your imagination,
a moment sometimes us girls need to dream for a bit.
i know a lot of teenage girls read the twilight series, but they ought to know that’s not real, its a story, an unreal love story that would never happen to them in that way, if they do.. its their fault.
Anyone can express themselves as they want, we’re free to do it,
After i read the 4 books i like them, i like the story, the characters, but im down to earth, i know im not meeting any edward anytime soon, or leaving my family, or being a mom in a month…
i just live my life as i please,
people should know that,,,
if they like the books, like them.. and go on with your lives
if you dont…. forget them. and go on with your lives too,,,}
thanks
I am appalled by the lack of maturity in you people. Whatever happened to agreeing to disagree or recognizing the hard work (however stupid YOU make think it is) that someone else put into their novel. I think if U dont like the books state your opinion and then LEAVE THE BOOK ALONE!!!! And what is this about sexist comments and Bella not being a independent women just a damsel in distress?!!! I am a twenty year old women who works 3 seprate jobs, take care of my elderly granmother, pay rent…etc…etc…..And these books, the WHOLE series spoke to me…and i am a INDEPENDENT woman BUT also That doesnt mean I DONT need HElp sometimes and a real women will admit that….furthermore……What is wrong with the man you love trying to save your virtue??!!! or your life?!!!! It is the overpowering emotion of love that most PEOPLE ….MEN AND WOMEN alike are lacking Nowadays…….Grrrrrrr Wutever!!!! Speak to the 1.3 MILLION people who bout the book!!!!!!!…….I AM A TRUE TWILIGHT FAN…!!!!! i LOVE THEM.
I just wanted to say that you are a very brave person to post this article at all. Someone should’ve told you that if it has anything to do with Twilight, the fans will find it.
Kassie (five comments above), we may have no weapons, but we out number you guys.
Also, Kellen (author), I want to see your oh-so-much better book that’s SO good that makes you think you can shamelessly critisize other books.
It’s true. We do obsess over the perfect Edward Cullen and hot Jacob Black (because he is hot). He can “sextually assult” me by kissing me whenever he wants.

But that was the only true thing you said.
Also, I wanted to say that I think it’s a little strange how you hated the first three books and then went out and bought the fourth almost right away.
“spawn”?!?!!!!!!!!! nice way to describe a baby
Sky- She doesn’t need to read other books to be able to criticize this one. You know what probably makes her think she can? The fact that she has the right to voice her own opinion. None of you seem to be understanding that at all.
Skye*
I love you.
I read the first two books. Twilight was just meh, and the fact that people compared that pansy-ass Edward to my fiancee pissed me off royally. New Moon’s saving grace was Jacob, but after the end of the book, I threw the borrowed copy back to its owner and refused to read any more. All the good characters in books these days change into something unlikable or die.
I think I’ll stick with LotR and Discworld. Nobby could kick Edward’s ass any day.
Anyone else think Meyer was just trying to create something as popular as Tolkien’s elves? Because…yeah. I’m seeing some parallels here.
I think its funny that some people have given a mature and clear response to lots of questions that are being offered and instead of continuing on to have a conversation about what you want to talk about you end up giving more attention to those who seem to use profanity and caps. You say you want a debate but you aren’t being part of one at all. It seems you are just adding fire to the flames.
cool, but i’m disagree.. twilight is awesome!, isn’t the best, but neither worst
Chloe.
All I am hearing is a six year old stamping her feet and screaming. If a writer can’t be bothered to try and actually argue their points in a respectful and legitimate manner, then they need to get the heck out of the forum and let the adults talk.
The majority of your side consisted of foul-mouthed, incoherent brats that sling personal attacks like mud instead of engaging in civilized discussion.
I ignore most of them like I deal with my three year old goddaughter. Don’t argue, don’t engage, just ignore her until stop whining and can come to the table as a big girl.
Twilight has several fan sites of its own. You can go there and squeal about how dazzling Edward is, but you are coming here to another person’s site and telling them to shut up and shut down. Follow your own advice– don’t like it, don’t read it. The problem with free speech, it applies to other people and not just you.
Seriously, most of you Twilighters need to put on your Big Girl britches and grow the heck up.
*sigh*
I’m kinda tired of seeing all of these reviews that bash the fanbase without taking into account that not all of the the Twi-hards are rabid crazy fangirls that are in love with Edward/Jacob/whoever who hate on anyone who doesn’t like the books.
I’m also tired of being embarrassed by the said rabid fangirls who DO hate on the Twilight bashers – which, coincidentally, only prove the basher’s point. -_______-
The plot and characters aren’t real. I don’t like Bella, and I didn’t like Edward until he was the “burning man” (in Breaking Dawn), where his pain actually seemed slightly more – for want of a better word – realistic. I’m not in love with him, though. I didn’t like him in the previous three books.
All of the characters have their problems. Mostly the main characters. I endear myself to the characters like Esme Cullen and Seth Clearwater. But all the characters have their good things about them, too. Bella IS able to stand on her own two feet in new moon when she’s around Jacob. Or maybe you were so focused on the parts when she wasn’t. I dunno.
As for Bella being a sad damsel in distress – who said you had to like the main character? I sure don’t. An insult to feminist views? Okaaaaay…fine…I actually kinda agree with that too…but not to such an extreme. I don’t get the big deal about it. The crazy rabid fangirls will come to their senses. They’re teenagers.they’ll grow out of it. But reviews like these only slow down the process. Either you are a teenager or once was one – and you know that telling them they’re wrong to think something only makes them think they’re right.
And, ya know what? I hate it when guys underestimate me or my galfriends, or anything like that. Just because Bella is unable to see the sexism of her vampire doesn’t mean she’s a bad person. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t like Edward.
And those fangirls I mentioned? These really crazy ones (not the ones who can actually see sense, and there are many – I am not referring to these) are short-sighted, and don’t see the flaws of Edward’s character. Therefore, they’re in love with his GOOD qualities (self-restraint…and…I’m not a fangirl. I know he has good qualities, i just don’t feel like searching for them…back when I was a brat I was too busy looking for reasons to hate the guy xD;;) instead of his bad.
The reason Twilight is so popular is because it’s so addicting. They’re not my favorite books, but I do find them enjoyable….and, as far as I can see, there’s nothing wrong with finding a book enjoyable.
I’m not trying to sway your dislike of the books. I am trying to show you that you’re not considering every single side of the issue. There are so many other points I could argue, but if this doesn’t convince you, I won’t bother.
Aaaaaand…what grammar problems? As far as I know, that’s how people TALK these days.
Ashley.
Most of those answers are bit actually a response– just a big ‘Nu Uhh’ with the occasionally ‘you’re interrogating this from the wrong perspective’.
And after the 100th badly spelled flame with TWILIGHT RULES in all caps, the post tend to blur together.
Oh. I forgot to say how awesome you are for being able to voice your opinion in such an articulate way, unlike some people I know.
No matter how much I disagree with it.
Sarah Cullen, Please look at the beginning of your post and then the end of your post and look up irony for me, okay?
And Carissa thank you for being sane and well written. It is alright if you like the books and it is alright if we dislike them. You might be new to fandom, but to steal a phrase ‘we eat our own.’ Look into Star Wars fans, anime fans, or any other well establish fanbase– when people are passionate, they will rip into their love like a dhampire out of its mother’s womb. Learning to deal with criticism and polarizing opinions with a certain level of detached civility and a thick skin is a must.
A lot of people can’t. And your fellow fans really can’t.
Going in to personal attacks, cussing, and Godwin territory is an automatic fail.
But ya’ll are coming here with this. Most of the opposition is not going to Twilight sites and flaming them– if they are, I will be the first to condemn them.
It is not right, it is rude, and uncalled for.
Like most of the posts here.
Macy– thanks for being like Carissa and proving sanity and civility exist on your side.
Carissa,
Often when people bash the rabid fan girls, they direct it at the people who totally flip out because others have a different opinion. However, it has come a stereotype for a reason. (Which is why I always try to use words like ‘most’ or ‘some’ when discussing fans.)
It’s interesting that you say that about Edward. Most fans (even the non-rabid ones) still talk about him like he’s a character with a real personality and feelings besides obsessive “love.”
I don’t like Esme because she’s constantly portrayed as just the mother. I’ve never seen a different side to her so I still feel she’s two-dimensional. I actually like Seth; he’s adorable and sweet. That’s the problem with Bella in New Moon. She’s only able to stand on her two feet when she’s WITH Jacob. When she’s without some kind of guy or another, she’s in pieces.
No one ever said you have to like the main protagonist. However, Bella should be a stronger character than she is because she’s SUPPOSED to be the heroine. As for the feminism part, sometimes things leave a lasting impression. If a girl starts reading the series when she’s twelve and keeps reading them into high school then she might become accustomed to the idea that that is how it is supposed to be. Some teens are more impressionable than others though. Also, we don’t tell them they’re wrong. We tell them our opinions on the topic and they assume that we’re saying they’re wrong.
Nothing wrong with enjoying books. Worshipping though, a different story. (Unless it’s like the Bible or the Torah or any other sacred text you believe in.)
We’re not talking about how people talk. We’re talking about how Meyer writes and randomly spews in extra words.
Sarah Cullen,
I agree with Riana.
(And I wonder if that’s your real last name or if you just fantasize about it being that.)
Katie,
Spawn is an appropriate term:
4. (used with a singular or plural verb) any person or thing regarded as offspring.
Riana –
Being angry and hateful and bashing and everything is tiring…both to be and to see. I was in the Danny Phantom fandom – still am – and the fan-wars were one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. True-fans, anti-fans, fangirls, all going at it, and some of us left in the dust going O_o?!
Now I’m seeing the same signs in the Twilight fandom, with all this Edward vs. Jacob controversy (I think SM brought that to an end in a VERY good way.) and now the Twi-Hards vs. Twi-Haters is all that’s left.
It6’s pathetic. Everyone goes though these things all over again, for no reason at all. Why? We all know it’s going to prove pointless in a few years.
Might as well just be calm and collected so as not to be embarrassed when we finally come to our senses.
Oh, and to the people who think that only the adults or have experience can be sane –
I’m a 14 year old girl who’s never been on a date or had a boyfriend. I’m living just fine.
And i forgot one point in my last review thingymabobber. SM was showing one of the most important values of her religion (LDS – we’re otherwise known as Mormons) by them not having sex until after they were married. And she did it with them being in character…which I thought was impressive.
I also apologize for any incorrections (looks like that’s not a word – oh well) in my spelling or grammar or whatnot – that is, if they’re because of typos. Otherwise, I don’t care…
Chloe,
We haven’t told the Twilighters to shut up. We’ve listened to them and responded to what they have to say. And using grammar is a good skill that everyone who wants a decent job should learn. It’s not like we’re jibing at small little spelling errors or minor grammatical issues (Those are human mistakes). ITS TEH PPLZ TAHT TYPE LIKE TIS AND WONT STOPP USIN THE CAPS OR (#*%&#% AT US AND CANT SEEM TO NEVER HAVE TAKEN AN ENGLISH CLASS IN THERE LYFE!!!!! That cause our annoyance with their typing.
Danielle –
All good points.
Seriously, thanks for pointing out and correcting some of the stuff I said (by which I mean teenagers assuming people are telling them they’re wrong)
And Edward DOES have a personality…Otherwise Stephanie Meyer wouldn’t bother writing Midnight Sun. I also believe that Esme will be shown to have more personality in that book as well…but I might be wrong…for all intents and purposes, she might just be a background character.
And yes, i really do like Seth. He’s awesome.
I never thought of her as the heroine….just as the character who’s point of view we were getting it from.
That…is a REALLY good point. =/ I don’t think SM would be solely responsible for that, though.
Kellen,
With your keen and obviously superior intellect, would you grace us with your critique of Spongebob Squarepants and its affect on todays youth. I mean, clearly this program makes fun of the ignorant and emotionally disadvantaged. And, talk about setting the feminist movement back….what about that squirrel that’s forced to wear a flower taped to her oxygen mask when outside of the “bubble” she’s forced to live in. It’s disgraceful and the creator should be shot.
Debates are fun and all, but you guys are so catty!
I am a Twilight fan, and I think it’s unfair to call anyone who defends the series immature or anything else you’ve called the girls trying to stand up for their favorite books.
I mean, of course you need to expect some heat when you go around calling something with a humongous fanbase anti-feminist, or abusive or whatever.
Know what I’m saying?
You’re always gonna get people who like it, love it and hate it, and we all just gotta get used to it and respect each other’s opinion.
PS:
Me,
That was HILARIOUS.
My thoughts exactly.
I love that most of you hear don’t like Twilight.
I’m seventeen, and I’d take some literate anti-twilighters over some bratty screaming 12-year-olds decked in glittery “I Heart Edward” shirts any freakin day of the week.
I LOVE that you guys don’t like Twilight.
More for me!
*here
PPS:
I am not the original teamJACOB.
I liked the name.
Carissa,
Thank you, you had some pretty valid points of your own as well. It’s nice to be able to have a civil discussion about this.
I might point out that Bella doesn’t have much of a personality either. In the beginning of Twilight we saw it a little bit. However, as soon as she and Edward “fall in love” it all goes out the door. Suddenly, everything is about Edward: describing him, admiring him, counting the seconds down until she sees him again, etc. (That last bit is more of a hyperbole).
Also, I can think of another reason for SMeyer to write Midnight Sun. One word: money. Let’s face it, every one of Edward’s adoring fans will immediately rush out to buy the book because it’s narrated by Edward -even the ones who despised BD. And I believe even background characters should have more than two dimensions. I don’t think SMeyer doesn’t understand the value of these characters because she neglets pretty much all of them.
Being the heroine of the story kind of goes along with narrating it. You expect this to be their story that they have an important role in it besides the “this happened to me” side of it. Especially in BD when they all praise her at the end. Yes, she did hold off Jane’s and Alec’s attacks. However, Alice was the one who really did all the work. I’m also pretty sure that the shield wouldn’t have made much of a difference considering how Alice showed up right when the Volturi had made their decision.
It’s not entirely her fault. It is her fault because she created such an unrealistic character such as Edward and never specifically points out any “personality” flaws. The rest of it is completely the fan girls. And that’s why I’m worried about their sanity.
teamJACOB,
You are much more respectful than the other one, but thanks for clarifying just in case.
I don’t believe that I’ve ever called them immature or that I recall anyone calling them immature, but I could be wrong. However, if that were the case, it wouldn’t be because they stood up for their beliefs. Rather, it is based on how they did it.
For instance, would you have responded in the manner if you did if we went LYKE OMGZ UR A TOTALL DUMMY FOR LIKING TWILIGHT IT TOTALLY SUX UR SOOOO WRONG!!!! instead of how we did?
To those people, we might be more catty, but to someone who formulates a good and respectful response, we are equally respectful (Man, I seem to be using that word a lot).
I respect their opinions and I fully am aware of the type of bizarre responses I might get. Pretty much all I’m really here for is a good debate which does come around sometimes.
Hahaha, I like your outlook on us. We appreciate having fans like you around to talk about.
But Edward has SO many personality flaws!
He breaks the law:
-speeding
-breaking and entering
-ditching school
-stealing cars
And he sometimes is too overprotective of Bella, and shelters her so much that sometimes it gets her in even MORE trouble.
I think the reason so many people think bella is two-dimensional is that they can’t relate to her.
And there’s nothing wrong with that!
It’s exactly the reason why so many people love it, is because they CAN relate, and their thoughts mirror hers, sorta like mine do.
Not because I want to be like her and I want an Edward of my own but because, for example, reading new Moon when i went through a bad break up just made me feel better. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but I think that’s okay.
I hope I’ve helped you see why the sane Twilighters love what they do the way they do.
To* not about. Sorry, I wouldn’t want you to think that we were going, “Oh, look at that Twilighter who talked to us like we were actual people! What is wrong with HER?” lol.
Danielle,
I’m not saying specifically called anyone immature. But it has been said, along with worse thingss.
I think the younger girls who read them solely for Edward give us all a bad name.
I really do like the writing, and I LOVED Jacob’s part in Breaking Dawn.
He’s such a crack-up, and he’s so adorable :]
teamJACOB,
Ah, yes, I do know what you mean. I have been guilty of that myself from time to time. However, I try to stay away without because I don’t want them to think that they were in the right when they spazzed out on the review.
I agree most certainly they do. They also are the ones who tend to be kind of scary (and rabid in some cases).
Well, I can’t agree that I liked the writing for the majority of the series. However, the Jacob part was a much needed breath of fresh air. I’ve always enjoyed his character (and believe it or not even as an anti I don’t feel that what he did in Eclipse was horribly wrong. But I still didn’t like him as much in that book as I did in New Moon). He’s a pretty good character. I would say the most believable of the series.
Carissa.
I have seen some fan wars waged on, but the issues of Twilight go a little beyond a shipping war. The article that inspired this thread is a critical look at worrisome issues in an insanely popular book for the teenage set.
It is a stance worth discussing– like the hook up culture in Gossip Girl.
The insanity will die down and be channeled in other venues in time, but in the mean time, civility and a thick skin is called for.
Being an adult is a much a state of mind as a consequence of age– you might be 14 but you’re acting more like an adult than a presumed 31 year old here.
You write coherently and respectfully without falling into attack mode because someone disagrees with you. I am grateful for that.
People do not need to engage in this debate if they don’t want to; the back button exists.
Meyers really could be an engaging writer for me if the train wrecks mention above did exist. I love Jacob, Alice, and Seth– which is why I will look to fanfiction for my fix instead of the canon.
Tasha.
Feminism is about choice– including accepting the consequences for them and not blindly cheering for the destructive ones. Like having a dhampire ripping thru your innards, breaking your ribs and spine, and then having everything be fine twelve hours later because the author can’t let her own world canon hurt her darlings.
Feminism =/= being totally dependent on a male for an identity and purpose.
Man, these fan wars kind of sound like fun.
Is this a fan war?
If so, cool. If not, still cool.
I don’t remember any warring in my days as a LOTR fan. But I was much younger then, maybe I just didn’t pay attention.
Me
If you can’t see the why (even if you think they are wrong) people could be upset by Twilight, then please refrain from reading any blog or essay or article analyzing the effects of various pop culture.
I might adore Dr. Horrible and think various blogs are mistaken in their analysis of it, but I still understand their stance even if I disagree with it.
I haven’t exactly been able to decide (or maybe just put into words) what I don’t like about how some people think. No offense, but I’m sort of talking about what you said, Riana, and some others.
You say the author decided to make all these horrible plot lines just because she wanted the money, or to not hurt her favorite characters.
But to a true fan… it’s like she was just the interpreter.
Of course Bella had to turn into a vampire.
It’s just what the story led up to, what had to happen.
I’ve met Stephenie Meyer, I’ve been to conventions.
I’ve heard her say that Bella frustrates her sometimes because of the decisions she makes, proving Stephenie Meyer doesn’t just make the decisions that will sell the most books.
Insanity? Yes, the best kind :]
Hmmm…I guess that’s one way to look at the books. I’m going to have to agree to disagree, though, b/c I just enjoy reading the books and actually don’t think the way you say all these girls are thinking. I’m pretty sure most of us know it’s just a book…nothing more. And if they don’t, then that’s their own fault. You can’t blame an author for writing something that was in their head…everyone does that and not everyone is going to like it, and that’s fine.
New people:
Please say whether you are directing your comment at the author or one of us.
If you say the wrong thing, people might get upset.
It’s just that sometimes, it’s hard to tell.
I didn’t realize that this was a huge discussion. My comment was to the author of the article. I’m tempted to read the comments, but there are way too many.
Are you serious?
What gives you the right to judge the “fictional” story written by Meyer. What is wrong with the damsal in distress situation? Meyer obviously has nothing against female rights, go read one of her articles. The reason she turns Bella into a vampire in the end, is to show that in the end even against Edwars wishes Bella got changed into the super vampire. GO GIRL!
and you have to realize this is FICTION! You have your dreams, and this was Meyers dream.
Haha, I know.
You’re in for it if you read them.
Some people get pretty nasty.
To Twilightsupporter, ITA!
To teamJacob, I read just a few and can already see there’s TONS to say, and ppl are getting nasty.
I’ve missed a lot. Ha.
Honestly, I loved the part when it talks about Bella just being so happy all the time, with her baby and her mann.
I missed Bella’s clumsiness, but she loved life so much after tha because she finally got her chance to be more than ordinary.
You know what might have been cool if she did it right?
If Edward turned human..
Hmm.
*ponder ponder*
Haha. I ponder that, too! But I don’t think that could happen. And I like Bella being a vampire w/Edward and Renesmee.
They have each other forever. 
I miss Bella’s clumliness, too. I was hoping she’d trip in her wedding dress just b/c it’s so Bella.
Oh well.
I was also happy to read about Bella being so happy w/Renesmee, although it took me a while to get used to her b/c the entire time I was thinking “Gah! You’re killing Bella!” BUT, I ended up liking her at the end, even though I was TOTALLY not expecting Bells to get pregnant and so soon after her wedding! I was also, and still am, confused on Renesmee’s gift/power/whatever you wanna call it. How is this useful to her?
Maybe it’s so she can like say stuff without others knowing, and she can make pictures in her head, too, so that’s more useful than just telling a story.
How cool would that be to just say something and give them a mental picture without anyone else even knowing an excahnge passed between you.
I think I’d prefer that one to Edward’s gift.
teamJACOB,
I know that SMeyer says that the characters in Twilight are like real people in her head (I try not to question this. lol), but don’t you think that she could take creative control and put the characters in different situations? I also believe that the hundreds of descriptions of Edward and other pretty people and things could be toned down.
I really wouldn’t like to discuss Nessie because I think that WAS SMeyer’s attempt to put a plot in. However, she broke her own canon and the way it ended up…well, can you blame us for thinking that she couldn’t bring herself to kill a character that we’ve known the entire time?
Killing character isn’t an easy thing to do, but when she builds up such a terrible image about the Volturi, we expect at least a little fighting.
I’d rather see Edward human than Bella a vampire. Because as a vampire, like you said the clumsiness and “plainness” are both gone. These were the two things that kind of made Bella a real character. With Edward as a human at least it would have been more interesting because it would bring up more problems.
But like you said, it would have to be done in the right way.
Laura,
You might be there for a while. lol. I haven’t even read all the stuff.
Anyway, I think you’ll see a lot of interesting points that antis brought up as you read, so I won’t be redundant and explain them now.
Twilightsupporter,
Free speech and free mind gives Rice the right to critique the book. The damsel in distress position gets old when the main protagonist is thrown into the position time and time again.
“The reason she turns Bella into a vampire in the end, is to show that in the end even against Edwars wishes Bella got changed into the super vampire. ”
I’m not sure where you were going with that, but alright.
@ Riana
It’s interesting when I go to the source and actually look up interviews mostly because I’m interested in the subject matter and when I post the answers I find its seems as if I’m NU-UH taking sides, well then you must have some terrible debates if someone’s answer in a civil way doesn’t fit your measure. I don’t understand how I can answer questions or state my opinion and you shoot it back in my face as stupid or like I’m a dumb 12 year old girl who is inexperienced, thats just rude. You want a debate and you want people to see it from your side but never do you yield to understand the other side. Thank you for telling me that my response was basically childish. I appreciate it, if people have questions and then don’t want to hear an answer then this will not be a successful debate.
Yeah, I get what you mean. I guess you wouldn’t really have to say a story, you could just be like “Oh, here, nevermind. I’ll just show you.”
Although I was thinking more of how it would protect her, y’know? Like Edward can read ppls mind’s, which is useful, and Alice can see what’s coming before it happens; also useful. IDK…I don’t see how she could protect herself if something were to happen, unless it’d be like that other girl’s gift (Sorry, can’t remember her name right now…it’s probably obvious, but my mind’s all blah…) and her memory will be in your mind while someone else attacks you…? IDK. >.<
I think I’d prefer Edward’s gift. I find myself saying “If only I could read their mind!”
Oh, btw, my last comment was to teamJACOB, I just didn’t realize others had already posted. Fast typers!
Danielle,
I agree w/what you said, to me and to teamJACOB. Haha. I think I got the comment teamJACOB made confused, but now understand what she meant. I missed Bella’s clumliness when she turned into a vampire, too, and her blushing! I was sad to see she no longer had that, so yeah, I think it’d be neat to have Edward as a human…to see how he would be w/o being so perfect.
Then again…I want them to live forever together…Ha. So indecisive. >.<
I am so confused. Are we still discussing the article or have we moved on to the actual books?? XD
Laura,
Yeah, and vampire Bella’s narration was ten times worse than human Bella’s narration. I got excited after reading Jacob’s part. I was thinking to myself, “Maybe SMeyer learned how to write decently!” Oh the dissapointment.
See, I don’t like immortality. Living longer than your friend’s kids and their kids’ kids etc. is disturbing. Everyone dies, so I don’t see what’s wrong with joining the club eventually. Besides, Nessie would make actual sense in Edward somehow managed to become human.
Carissa,
I’ll discuss whichever. As you guys can imagine, my comments on the book will be slightly less…well favorable than yours, so if a healthy debate is spurred from that, I’m all in.
I don’t like the whole vampire idea either…or at least being one. Then there’s the whole newborn thing, so you can’t even see your friends and family while they’re still living. What kind of life would THAT be? So conveniently for Bella, she didn’t have friends that were that close…I liked Angela, though.
I actually enjoyed vampire!Bella’s pov better than the original. She wasn’t all about comparing herself to Edward or feeling that she was incompetent. It’s understandable…kinda…but she did it so many times….and when she was a vampire, it was so much more dynamic. (There’s something wrong with that sentence. It’s bugging me, and I have no idea what it is. ><;;)
Danielle,
Nessie. Haha. I call her Renesmee! I’m w/Bella on the nickname, even though she caved in the end.
And I agree w/you on the narration. It was deff missing something afterwards.
So sad. I LOVED Jacob’s book, although I was not a big Jacob fan before and actually gasped when I saw there was a whole book dedicated to him! But it’s alright now. Ha. It was actually really great reading it from Jacob’s POV.
I guess now that you mention it, being immortal does have definite drawbacks, but for Bella it was something that there was just no questioning about. The one she loved was never going to die, and she was, so I guess she wanted to make sure she’d be with him all his life, too…although it’s really wierd now thinking that Charlie and Renee and all her friends are going to die, and she’s not. I don’t see how she’s going to deal w/that one… :/
Carissa:
I guess were mainly discussing the book.
Danielle:
Yeah.
Honestly I wouldn’t be crushed if Renesmee hadn’t existed.
I can’t even get attached to the name. I couldn’t picture her in my head either. And yeah! A fight would have been awesome. We never even got to see Bella test her new strength and stuff! Just her mind bubble thing. Which, I think, was pretty cool in how she described it.
I think the final confrontation should also not have been with the Volturi so much, if I’m really being honest.
They’re kinda old news, you know?
I was totally ready for some new adversaries, and we same old, same old.
Things I DID love:
-How Meyer did the sex parts. Tasteful but not leaving us with too little information.
-Jacob. I love how he acts. I gotta say, I squealed a little when he said he wanted to kill Edward at the beginning. :]
-How Bella’s reaction to Edward only got stronger after she changed. That was so cool.
I hate how they started calling Jasper, “Jazz”
Wtf? It sounded wierd coming from Edward.
Carissa,
I know. It’s like it would kill SMeyer if the book took over the span of a couple of years like it should have. I mean, sped up growth, no problems with being a vampire? Please. It’s just too convient and Mary-Sueish.
Well, Bella didn’t have any human friends because she immediately decided what they were like and doesn’t her opinion or try to.
I totally have to agree. “I stood up in two thirty-fourths of a second and turned my head sixth-fifths to the right in two nanoseconds.”
And instead of constantly talking about Edward. She talks about how lovely Nessie is. And then talks about how magical her voice sounds. Then she goes back to Edward and says how he’s evven prettier now.
(I think that sentence was fine)
However, I think she was more melodramatic which is why you think that way.
*Which may be why you feel that way.
Sorry, didn’t want to sound like an ass.
Carissa,
I liked Angela, too!
And it does suck about the whole newborn thing, but Bella didn’t have to deal w/that. I really wanted to see Bella as a newborn, though…I mean everyone else that turned into a vampire has this “newborn” stage, but Bella TOTALLY skips it. I think I remember Stephenie saying that she skips it b/c she was already expecting it, so I guess she already faught to control it before she was transformed…IDK.
Anywho, I do understand about how Bella wasn’t comparing herself to Edward and putting herself down once she was a vampire, but I kinda liked that she was unsure of herself before and always blushing and whatnot around everyone, and tripping, being embarassed…now that I’m typing this it sounds wierd, but it’s always been Bella, so it was different, even though it was still good, too…GAH. I’m confusing myself. >.<
Quoting would be really useful right about now!
teamJACOB,
The confrontation w/the Volturi went on FOREVER. I was hoping for some fighting, but I knew Stephenie wouldn’t hurt anyone since she loves everyone so much (And I have to say if she killed someone of, I’d be VERY upset along w/her!). It would’ve been cool to see them fight, though, and see the Cullens take over or somethin.’
Everything you loved I loved, btw, and I also hated that they called Jasper “Jazz.” Where’d that come from? And Rosalie turned to “Rose…?” I think “Jazz” bothers me, more.
To everyone: Do any of you think there was a lot less of Edward in this book? Like he was there…but not really “there?”
teamJACOB,
Nessie was simply an annoying plot device to tie up loose endings and give SMeyer her happy family that she’s been picturing. I still can’t get my mind around the fact that they actually let Bella name the kid that!
Yeah, the only time she does anything that didn’t have to do with her shield was beat Emmett at an arm-wrestingly competition and then beat up rocks.
I think it would have been fine to use the Volturi, if she hadn’t overused them already. I mean, there was so much hype about them in Eclipse and then they actually showed up…it just all seemd like a repeat.
The sex parts were tasteful in that it wasn’t like she was describing what they were doing. However, Bella was way too incredibly horny. It’s just that she talked about it almost constantly with Edward (who’s been talking about it with ALL the guys in the family). That’s just awkward an not needed.
The Jacob parts made the book a little decent. But the plot for it all…let me quote Edward, “She could have puppies if she wanted.”
*shakes head* And in the words of Dane Cook (diff topic): Too much.
Yeah seriously, I mean, Jazz? The antis are mocking that merciously. One anti spurred the nickname Jazz hands for him.
Laura,
I agree that it seemed like Edward was barely in this one.
And it seemed like he wasn’t that into Renesmee.
I mean, yeah, he loved her, but it’s like Bella and Jacob were her #1’s.
Who else died laughing when Jacob flipped the dog bowl at Rosalie’s head?
And I ADORE Seth.
He’s so cute, oh my gosh.
Second favorite werewolf.
Oh, yeah, I have a question:
When and why did leah first start disliking bella?
Was it because she was in league with the Cullens?
My memory is fuzzy.
HAHAHAHA jazz hands?
That’s hilarious :]
I didn’t know everyone hated new moon so much.
I mean, Jacob makes his debut in that one!
Well, sort of.
Who likes that song “Wolf Like Me” by TV On The radio?
It makes me sad ehearing it, in a good way, because it is just Jacob’s song.
It fits so perfectly.
That part with the dog bowl was good.
However…I think it was stupid that her response was “You got food in my hair!”
As if Rosalie wasn’t being shallow enough in the book *rolls eyes*. <—Note the lack of any other traits in Rosalie.
I have no idea. SMeyer doesn’t like Leah very much although in my opinion she is the strongest female character in the book. She probably just doesn’t like Bella because that’s how SMeyer judges people in her universe.
Here’s how it works:
Bella=center of Meyerdom
The less you like Bella, the more evil you are.
SMeyer already portrayed Leah as a bitch (as if it weren’t literal enough), so it automatically meant that she didn’t like Bella.
They hated New Moon because Edward wasn’t in it. -.- Plain and simple.
Jacob was such a good character in that book, but Bella was the complete opposite.
teamJACOB,
Now that you bring that up…my mind’s fuzzy, too. It just seems like she’s always hated her.
No wwait, I think it’s b/c Bella hurt Jacob and she had to hear about his whining and moaning for her all the time…I think. >.<
And ITA about Edward not really being into Renesmee. Maybe it has to do w/the fact that it’s in Bella’s POV and she, I guess, didn’t notice it too much…or maybe it’s b/c the baby almost killed his one and only true love…I have no idea, but it would’ve been nice to see more interaction w/ Renesmee & Edward. :/
I died laughing-and came back to life :P-when Jacob threw the dog bowl at Rosalie’s head! And all those blonde jokes! Ah, that Jacob. Haha.
I too, adore, Seth! He was so cute the entire time! Maybe we’ll see more of him if Stephenie ever decides to write in Leah’s POV, like she mentioned she may. IDK, though, I think it’d be neat to see it in someone else’s POV, like more Jacob perhaps? I bet that’d be hilarious! XD
I write slow compared to ya’ll. Or read slow. Whatever. Ha.
I have to say I was one of those who disliked “New Moon.” I didn’t hate it, I just thought it was really depressing since we’re reading how Bella’s feeling. Having Jacob in it wasn’t bad, although I didn’t like him at first b/c I knew he’d want to be w/Bella. Can you tell I’m more for Team Edward?
I’m Switzerland, now, actually.
I suppose we’ll see how Midnight Sun goes…Honestly though, from this thread about the leaked chapters…it sounds godawful.
Byyeee.
I like the nickname Jazz. The fact he has a nickname is just…he’s always so silent.
The fact that the person who induces fear into J. Jenks is nicknamed Jazz is effin hilarious to me….
Plus, I already like Jazz because Jazz Fenton is one of my favorite cartoon characters. XD It’s like an oxymoron…or…something.
And to Laura – The reason he seems to be less there, I think, is because Bella doesn’t compare herself to him nearly as much.
Danielle; I really liked that scene, where Edward was the burning man. I liked it a lot. And you’re right about the melodramatic thing. If it’s done in a different way, I really do like the cliche’s and overdoneness – as long as it’s done right.
But Edward as the Burning Man – that was one of my most favorite scenes…..
And Renesmee isn’t so bad, imo. I thought it was kinda cute how Renee and Esme came together so well. Carlie, however, cracked me up. And nessie XD
“You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?”
Lol.
Bye teamJACOB, thanks for being an interesting person to talk to and not mindless.
Laura,
Well, I think the whole fact that Bella pretty much died was pathetic, not romantic. I mean, I understand that she “loves” Edward, but that is ridiculous and an overreaction. And then she forgives him RIGHT AWAY. She isn’t even angry. It’s kind of pathetic.
Danielle,
Really…?
That’s upsetting…like REALLY upsetting. I was *hoping* “MS” would *maybe* be better…Boo.
g2g
Thanks, guys!
Carissa,
It was nice to see Edward squirm a little. But it was PATHETIC! I mean, have some freaking spine. So what if for once your wife doesn’t want to listen to you? It’s the one time she really doesn’t. I mean, I understand him worrying about her dying. However, if someone wants to be stupid and not listen to reason…well…they’re responsible for the outcome. It wasn’t like they didn’t have a plan. (Although, I believe that was before Bella drank the blood *rolls eyes*)
I found the Nessie thing a disaster especially when SMeyer tried to explain it. (Also, she’s been quoted before saying that vampire guys don’t have sperm.)
Anyway, I love Jazz too. The whole show is great. :]
Thanks to you too Carissa!
And Laura,
I can get you a link.
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=966&page=6
It’s on page six. (I feel you might want to read some of the comments first).
Danielle,
What i was getting at was that Meyer says she wanted Bella in the end to be one of the most powerful characters. And if I do say so myself she accomplished her goals. Not only was Bella able to reach her goal as becoming a vampire, she was even able to recover quickly unlike anyother newborn vampire before.
And as for freedom of speech thats fine, but she is trashing this book as if it is supposed to be realistic. If your worried about reading about a book that illustrates a negative and false point of view on the power of a women, what are you doing even picking up a book about a vampire. Sheesh. But again I know she has the right to, its just hard because when you connect with the book its hard to hear someone trashing it.
Danielle,
Yeah, I forgot about the whole forgiving him so quickly thing. Boo on that! It was pathetic I suppose, but I still felt bad for her since it’s not like she was really expecting him to leave…and when someone like that comes into your life you can’t just pretend they never existed. Oh well.
Oh wow, thanks Danielle! I may just download it, but probably won’t read it…:P IDK yet! But I’ll have it just in case. And I’ll surely read the comments first. Thanks again!
Also, although I’ve warmed up to Renesmee, I still feel the story could’ve gone a TOTALLY different way and it would’ve still been fine. IDK.
Twilightsupporter,
Here’s the thing though. Meyer got rid of all Bella’s flaws. All of them. What is supposed to be her flaw now? Caring too much? That’s not a realistic character that people can relate to. That’s a god-like figure for people to stand in awe of.
The whole, not going crazy as a newborn thing was simply a copout so that the storyline could move along without breaks or the Volturi coming when Bella was psycho.
Well, I wouldn’t call it trashing. It’s critiquing. I think everything should be critiqued for the good and the bad. And although the sexism undertones of the story aren’t the main focus of the book itself, it is something that people should at least consider not just ignore because they like the book. It’s been said time and time again that the teens are impressionable and then the rebuttal is “You don’t give them enough credit.” Followed by the, “Then how do you explain all the rabid fans?” So we got that out of the way.
Also, I think it’s important for people to read popular literature. Everyone should read the series themselves so they can participate in discussions like these.
And I know it’s hard to hear criticism about things you like. However, we must remember that we are not being criticized because we like and there are more sides than one.
(Sorry that last part sounds weird)
Laura,
I wasn’t expecting for her to pretend like he never existed. That’s what Edward wanted. I understand sulking around for a bit, crying your eyes out, eating constantly, etc. But that was just not a mentally stable reaction and proves that she centers too much of her life on Edward.
And your welcome.
I don’t think I’ll ever come to accept Nessie because technically (even in the Meyerverse) she should not exist.
Haha. I believe Stephenie explained that she never actually said that vampires only have posion or venom or whatever in their system, so that *technically* Renesmee (I have to admit I was just about to write Nessie :P) can exist, but it really still doesn’t make sense to me. I guess I’m overthinking things. It is what it is and she exists, even though a small part of me wishes she didn’t. Not saying I want the kid to die or anything, just wished Bella and Edward could’ve stayed married and had a longer time as a couple rather than parents longer than, say, 3 weeks! Oh well. :/
And I get what you’re saying about Bella’s universe being Edward. Sadly, though, I’ve had friends in the past acting the same way, and see that it is unhealthy, but, it has happened, so…I guess we just won’t be able to explain why Bella does what she does.
Actually, quite the contrary, there was an interview with her on lexicon in which she said that vampires have no sperm. However, once the book came out the lexicon people deleted the page. I know that somebody posted a screen cap of it somewhere on this page…
And besides there’s other things about Nessie’s biology that doesn’t work out.
Yeah, I totally agree. It sends the wrong message. Yay teen pregnancy! (But only if they’re married!)
Which is why we antis argue that Edward’s and Bella’s relationship isn’t healthy…well one of the reasons.
I believe it’s because she’s irrational
Haha. I completely agree. And yet I’ve wanted them together since the very beginning, so I guess I’m nuts.
At least everything worked out in the end…I guess. Haha. So wierd how everything happened so fast. The book deff felt rushed to me, but oh well. I’m hoping girls don’t look into these “messages” in the story. I think this is just how Stephenie saw it, but I don’t think she ever intended to put these messages in there or have this story have these types of messages in them…does that make sense?
But anyway, I didn’t know about the whole Lexicon interview. I’m sort of a newbie, I guess. Only started reading a little over a month ago. Ha. Now that you’ve stated that, I’m TOTALLY confused!! >.< Gahh…
I know what you mean. But as a writer, you shouldn’t impose your views on the characters because they’re your views. This is another example of Bella’s Mary Sueness. Meyer would never let an abortion occur, so Bella wouldn’t let it happen either.
It’s alright. I read Twilight when it first came out. I went through my major obsession stage when I read New Moon. Then Eclipse came and that’s when my interest fell and flaws appeared. And if I wasn’t completely anti by the time BD came out, then it definately made me one.
http://i37.tinypic.com/21mg877.png
There it is. You’ll need to zoom.
But anyway, sperm only live for three days. He can’t make anymore, so bye bye baby. Not only that, but wouldn’t the venom pretty much vampify Bella’s uterus? The egg would have been frozen like that if it even managed to stay in place.
I think there was another one too, but I don’t remember.
Whoah. That deff sounds like it’s coming from Stephenie, and now I’m a tad upset b/c she’s contradicting herself. Boo on that. I’m starting to think she did get ideas from fanfiction! I wish she’d just state a fact and keep it that way. B/c if she said this before, then why all of a sudden change it…? And thanks for that, too, btw! Now I understand a bit more.
Sperm only live for 3 days? So you mean he only has 3 days to produce a baby? Do you think guys are just frozen like that when they have sperm, since they all have sperm? But then again…I guess it would disappear since they don’t have any body fluid in them…Gah! Confused once again. This is rather annoying. And I agree w/the whole venom vampifying (nice word, btw. :P) Bella’s uterus, which confuses me more. And also, if Bella & Edward were to have babies, wouldn’t the baby just be a normal human baby since Bella is human and Edward has sperm…like a human…? Hmmmm…
Yes, just one of the many flaws with the little Loch Ness Monster. It is frustrating when authors can’t accept the fact that they put up boundries and they need to respect them. Sometimes they don’t want boundries at all.
Well, human guys are constantly making more, so they don’t have a problem. I just don’t know how SMeyer thought that this was explainable at all.
Thanks, I’m about to use it away. The only thing I can think as to how Edward would still have sperm if they were vampified too. But then here’s the thing, they can’t swim then. So they wouldn’t go anywhere.
I know what you’re thinking. But you forgot Meyer’s failed attempt at biology. “Humans have 23 chromosomes and vampires have 25.”
I have no idea how the venom adds two extra chromosomes but anyway… She continues to tell us that this means that Nessie has 24 chromosomes. This is totally wrong. She would have 25 chromosomes, but the last pairs would be incomplete. This causes serious problems in humans so she probably should have aborted naturally anyway.
It’s a head-scratcher. :\
Jumping back in here, because you guys comment a lot when I’m gone and I don’t really have the time to go through the ones I missed, as much as I’d like to.
A question for the Twilight fans- Would you agree at any point in time that a lot of the main characters of the stories come off as Mary Sues and Gary Stus? Edward, Bella, Jacob even. Do you agree or disagree?
Oh my goodness…it deff is!! I don’t think she realizes how confused ppl are. Haha. B/c I never really thought about it before until I went to a discussion about BD and ppl were like “WTH…?” Haha. It’s just so confusing since she says they can’t have babies, and yet we have Renesmee,,,hmm…
But anyway…I forget what else we were talking about before this whole ordeal came about. Ha. I think it was Bella being all mopey about Edward in “New Moon” (Which I am currently re-reading). The author of this article mentioned something about the pages with the month titles and how it was bad or whatever…I actually liked it, even though it makes Bella seem more depressed over Edward. But I felt it, her pain I mean. Which may be wierd, but I did. I connected to Bella in “Twlilght” and was pretty pissed at Edward for leaving.
Roxana,
You have my middle name.
But back to your question, haha: I have a question of my own (& sorry if this may be stupud, but, yeah…) Who are Mary-Sue & Gary Stuts? I’ve heard a number of references to Mary-Sue…
Aww, everyone left. Well, it was nice talkin’ to you Danielle!! Thanks for all your insight and information.
Have a good night!! You, too, Roxana!!
Laura- It’s kind of a complex description, since there are little details here and there that make a Mary Sue, but wikipedia has a pretty great entry on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THEY LOVE EACHOTHER?
every story doesnt have to star a STRONG woman.
not every woman wears the pants in the relationship.
bella needs someone. and that someone happens to be edward.
im sorry, if you hated this dark romance so much, why dont you make your own story see how many fans you’ll have.
wasnt alice an independent woman and stronger than jasper? and jane was another very strong woman. this isnt YOUR story. if you hate it so much STOP FUCKING READING IT. i encourage everyone to read the books and without biased opinions.
by the way, harry potter isnt a woman. arent you going to bother JK rowling about that? at least Meyer’s main character is a woman.
just because shes forgiving and loving doesnt make her a weak girl.
[…] sound rebukes from those who commented on my previous article (Twilight Sucks… And Not In A Good Way), like ‘Sydnie’ and ‘Kalo’, who wrote, “All of your opinions are completely FALSE!†and […]
If you guys are interested at all in seeing how I feel about these comments, feel free to go ahead and read my newest article right here: http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/23/twilight-a-follow-up-and-a-promise/
I love you, you know that? A lot of people have expressed the same thought, but I thought I’d just share with you my little, err…specific complaint, about Twilight, that I wrote in my blog.
It took every ounce of my strength, but I did actually manage to crawl my way through all three of the first books, so I have my opinions rooted in fact. That’s saying something. And when I looked on Wikipedia after Breaking Dawn was released, what did I see? That Bella 1) Begs Edward to bang her nightly even though it bruises her all over 2) Managed to get pregnant with a bloody baby (no pun intended) 3) Jacob imprints (a form of love even stronger than love…oh, well-said, Meyer) on said baby, and 4) Everything ends happily ever after with no consequences for Bella. Might I ask a question here? What part of Bella did Edward fall in love with, exactly?
Was it her overwhelmingly delectable scent? Or her burning ego? If I was a student at Forks and you asked me to describe Bella, it would be very damn difficult. Because you see, I can’t even go for the safety of “nice”, because she simply isn’t that. A nice person wouldn’t describe one admirer as a “puppy” and constantly ignores or uses another to her own agenda, wouldn’t think of her first friend at school as being jealous of her, and wouldn’t choose her only human real friend based on the fact that she kept quietly subservient. So you see, it’s an insult to be described as “nice” because it means people don’t even know you, but Meyer’s creation doesn’t deserve even that adjective. Edward doesn’t have anything wrong with him, of course. In fact, isn’t he like liquid sex? No. Hey girls, he doesn’t exist and never will. By the way, you don’t need to jump off a cliff following your ex-boyfriend’s voice if he breaks up with you. Say, “Good-bye and have a nice day.” What happened to good literature?
I was wondering, though. If vampires can’t ever be killed or die naturally, then overpopulation should be a problem by now, eh. At that rate (it’s exponential), shouldn’t all the humans have been either killed or converted after a few centuries?
But of course Meyer hasn’t had math beyond middle school. So I’ll excuse her for that.
On the second thought, she should have had English in college though. Never mind, bring in the execution squad.
DEAREST PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET!
To all the twilighters… shut-up! To all the anti-twilighters…shut-up! Just because someone doesn’t like this book does make them stupid. They are people with opinions. Just like the people with rabid devotion to this twi-saga. Nobody is stupid. Just opinionated. Why can’t any of you respect that? I posted a comment earlier, and it was a opinion, not a fact set in stone! C’mon, be for real! I said and I’ll say again, I enjoyed the books. But I am not, and I repeat am not a foaming at the mouth twilighter. I take it with a pinch of salt. And probably I’m going to be bashed for my OPINION…
Oh well…just shows how mature you all are…
Stephanie Meyers is still a millionaire…
What you say, isn’t going to change that…
It’s harsh, but that’s life…
So, the point you all are TRYING to prove isn’t going to effect sales (bad/good.) It just makes people unnessarily angry with you… and what’s the point in that?
I guess the thing I’m trying to say is you all are being silly. Not stupid. Just VERY immature… and I mean ALL of you…
GOOD NIGHT. AND GOOD LUCK.
Jeez, lol, we really ARE getting too worked up over this issue. Yep i agree this article’s a little too harsh on criticisms. I mean hey, bad points aside, a book HAS to have some positive sides to attract such a big audience, right? Admit it, the answer’s yes LOL. And yeah, not all Twilighters are stupid, gawking kids who absolutely adore Edward Cullen, so please don’t insult our intelligence like that. (This is to some of the comments that really speak of us like we’re literally dumbasses)
Chill out guys, ’cause THIS IS JUST A FREAKIN’ BOOK. Like it, continue reading it, and scream about it to ANOTHER Twilighter, not someone who’d get annoyed like hell with non-stop praise about Edward Cullen. Don’t like the book, whine to another anti-fan, instead of posting comments on public websites that insult other people’s intelligence and would obviously incur the wrath of some overenthusiastic Twihards
Ashley
When you come up with a coherent rebuttal that isn’t a flat refusal (he isn’t abusive, only protective) or an apology for Meyers’ lack (she was only writing for herself, it does need to have a plot), I will happily give you an actual debate.
Meyers breaks her own canon to give her darlings a happy ending against all biology and previous given evidence.
Other than a few people like Carissa and Danielle, I have yet to hear much a actual rebuttal instead of whining about haters and Mean Girls.
Kickboxer.
Have to bother to read the majority of posts from the people on your side? Dumbass is a rude if perfectly adept description to the name calling, cussing, threats in slipshod spelling and cap lock rage.
You should take your own advice and stop yelling at people about a fictional book in OUR public post. You are the ones coming here and insulting us– you don’t see most of the critics going to twilightfans or twilight moms and acting like foul mouth three year olds.
But according to Twilighter logic, only praise and accolades can exist for Meyers and be free speech. Any criticism, discussion, or actual thought is to be shouted down and told to shut up. Hypocrisy much?
Laura,
Sorry, I left in a rush yesterday and didn’t inform you. It was great to be able to talk to you.
Light13192,
I don’t quite recall what you said the first time around, but I remember responding to you.
Alright, we don’t bash people simply because of their opinions. Also, we don’t assume that every Twilighter is rabid. If you’ve noticed above, I’ve had several discussions with several Twilighters that were very fun to have.
I just looked up at what I responded to and I did not call you stupid or imply it in at all (If you took it that way, I’m sorry.)
And how am I upset that Meyer has a lot of money because of the series? I’m not jealous of her. Just because someone is succesful because of something I don’t like doesn’t mean that I hate them or anything.
I’m not trying to affect sales I’m trying to get an interesting discussion.
Well, thanks for calling me and everyone who has posted immature, I guess. Although I’m not sure why this is true. Expressing your opinions is very mature, it’s just the manner of which you do it in.
Ah, nice ending quote. You have got to love the rabidness of McCarthyism.
A debate comes from two sides of an opinion and since an opinion from me is seen as whining which I really don’t understand that view but nonetheless, people asked questions and it made me curious to find answers and I did find some but apparently since I’m not on your side or share your opinion then you find your intelligence far above mine that it would be a waste of your fingers to type in return only to let me know how whiny or one sided my view is, well isn’t that what an opinion is or what “brining something new to the table” is. I tried to just stay neutral and explain some answers from a twilighters view on some issues/questions you have. I don’t understand how others are allowed to put feelings behind there “feminism” or “Edward is stupid and protective” views but someone puts their feelings or understanding behind another theory and it’s uacceptable. If you weren’t into reading Nu-uh comments then you must refuse to read half of the post. And I never said Edward wasn’t abusive, just protective which leads me to how little you care about others opinions to barely read them. I’m upset about how many times I’ve said “I get what your saying” to people who have another opinion but in reply I get “can you not whine”, which leads me to say excuse me? So what I’m angry at is the lack of listening to others even if it doesn’t meet some standards that you’ve set that must be met before its taken as an actual opinion.
oh and yeah all that above from me is @ Riana
and as far as I understand it doesn’t seem like Meyer broke her canon, she never said that humans couldn’t have babies, she said female vampires which makes sense. She had already written all the books before hand and new the story plot so how could she go against her story line, thats again why she only said female vampires. And I don’t understand the hate for a happy ending of sorts. So its a happy ending, it’s the writers choice. Just like apparently if many people wrote a book around here it would lead to despair and tragedy. And that’s your choice. But you obviously are so set in stone I’m sure my head has a bruise on it from beating it on a wall that is your point of view….
Ashley,
Actually she originally had BD right after Twilight. Therefore it was a completely different story because that was before anything happened with Jacob. Therefore, the plot was different, and I can bet you that Nessie didn’t exist because she wasn’t needed as a plot device.
Also, the whole having a child thing makes absolutely no sense. Even if Edward somehow managed to have sperm, they would be frozen in the exact state they were when Edward became a vampire. Therefore, they wouldn’t be able to swim to fertilize Bella’s egg. Also, the venom -as I’ve said before- would have had escentially made Bella’s uterus a vampire (Weird lol) and therefore even if the egg was fertilized, it wouldn’t have been able to grow.
It’s not that we care that the ending of the story was happy. It’s just that this “battle” was anti-climatic. We get a couple hundred pages of all this worry and build up for the Volturi, and then they come and nothing happens.
(Man I used therefore twice in a row.)
I have to go now, but I’ll probably respond to you later if you post again, Ashley.
about two- three years ago my teenagers mention Twilight to me, I didn’t have an opportunity to read it until now, because of the many responsibilities I had at the time, but while talking to my children and their friends my first thought was they are going to have a hybrid baby just wait and see. So finally I read the books in June, and then I waited for BD. while waiting we come up with several endings, so when they had a baby it wasn’t a shock for me.
In my personal view I could see it happening from the beginning.
Now, about how that could be possible? I don’t want to get into a biology class because we will never end and that was no intention of the book. In other fictional books we accept things that are not possible. So is not a big deal to me.
Some examples are?
How does Frankenstein can actually keep all the blood circulating going to his head and body?. No idea, but I don’t need the biology lingo, because then it will take away all the fantasy/Fictional part from the book.
How does HP travels via the fire places? How can they transform the body or how they hold on to the broom going at incredible speed, and you see I can go on and on. So I guess for me I don’t need the all detail explanation, I just love to read the fantasy in it.
But ,I guess that is just me.
We made a bet, I got $20 dollars for it.
@ Danielle
no with a human the uterus wouldn’t take the venom. And here’s a crazy reason, just hear me out I guess. Why when someone has sex with someone that has aids are they tested rather than just given the 100% you’ve got it scenario. Well that’s because there is a really really really really really small chance that something like that got into the blood stream, and that’s why people who are HIV positive can have children with a 99% chance that the baby doesn’t have aids. This is just another reasoning type of thing I’m throwing out there.
and I’ve heard interviews where she says that she already had the name for Nessie already picked out and new the entire plot, I posted a link to the interview and can find it again if necessary.
I adore you Kellen Rice!
You’ve got it right on the spot what I’ve been saying myself all along. I come from a third world country and you have no idea how hard it has been for me all these years struggling to fight against sexism, but with just one book, all the hard work, even the 200 years you mentioned, have all been put to waste. And S. Meyer just had to follow it up with three more books of that same bullshit.
Bella’s whole life being about Edward, her acceptance of his abuse, doesnt that just tell children nowadays that their mothers being physically beaten by their fathers is something GOOD, since Bella LOVES it when she is being abused by her loved one?
And there is that whole thing about stereotyping too. I never got beyond the first book in my utter disgust, but from what I was able to read, S. Meyer has utterly destroyed what I have been advocating all these years–to break stereotypes and forge your own path. What is S. Meyer showing our children, but that you have to play the weak girl who always needs to be rescued by your “knight in shining armor.”
Our children never know better. They never see the bigger picture, when utter garbage is served up to them in the form of a heroine in love and a gorgeous, macho hero. How can they but fall for such a low trick?
How dare S. Meyer destroy the minds of our young ones? How dare she be so deceitful? She must know how it is to be a mother herself. Can she tell her child to her face that all female children must grow up to be stupid, weak-willed and accept abuse, and that all male children should grow up, force women to love them because of their looks and then abuse them?
You disgust me Stephenie Meyer.
along the way she mentioned the merchant of Venice which was a clue to understand that when it came down to it there would be a legal battle. This would be a battle of the brains and since they didn’t have any leverage until the very end they were prepared for a battle which makes sense. I mean wouldn’t it be boring if they just sat around waiting for Alice? I liked the way that vampires could be defeated on such a mental level, and they were daring in exposing the Vulteri (however you spell that) to their useless rules and their ruling by power rather than fairness. That could have severely back-fired (i.e. a few good men when jack nickleson on the stand and tom cruise interrogating…if you get what I mean).
Does every book have to follow the trends? Does every book have to be politically correct? I’m tired of sexism and I’m just plain tired.
To those who said, “if you hate it so much STOP F*CKING READING IT i encourage everyone to read the books and without biased opinions,” I actually did read it without planning to hate it. In fact, quite the contrary – I picked up the book expecting to love it since it was a bestseller and had such a large fanbase. But I was horrified by the writing.
Even an unbiased reader can end up strongly disliking the series. Many do, I expect.
And to Rice: Thank you for the piece.
Ashley,
You make a good point, but there is blood in the uterus in order to keep the egg in place. The venom would dry up the blood wouldn’t it? This would mean that the egg wouldn’t be able to stay in place and would simply come out.
You know what they say, don’t believe everything you hear. SMeyer has contridicted herself multiple times in interviews. How do you know that she wasn’t just saying that to debunk what people have been saying about Nessie?
They didn’t know that Alice was helping them out. They thought she was running because Aro wanted her gift more than anything. And, yes, there can be an intelluctual battle. However, SMeyer had built up how dangerous and ruthless the Volturi were. She had Bella preparing to die, and there wasn’t even a battle. It was completely anti-climactic.
As for the politically incorrect question, of course books don’t have to be politically correct. However, when this is a book directed at teen girls (who ARE impressionable, look at all the rabid fan girls) that has undertones such as that, it is slightly disturbing.
(But in all honesty, the sexism thing is getting old. I like debating other aspects about the book I don’t like :D.)
I didnt say all books have to be politically correct, but it should have been Meyer’s responsibility to adjust her succeeding books in proportion to the rapid growth of fans of the first book. Her knowledge of literature should have given her some idea of the devastating effects stereotyping and sexism in literature has on young minds.
You say you’re tired of sexism, well I’m tired too of trying to fight for it. But I will still go on because I will never accept people who validate abuse as good.
Come back to me when you’ve been cut up from the inside by a maniac, or when your mother just smiles after your father has beaten her to near blindness.
okay. GEESH. Just because YOU don’t like the twilight series does NOT mean others DON’T. OTHERS will get offended. It’s FICTIONAL, people. YOU can choose to like it or not. But, please. DO NOT BASH US TWILIGHTERS FOR BEING “stupid” and we will not do the same. Treat others how you want to be treated, isn’t that what they taught us in like kindergarten? and theres a word for this in the dictionary. its called an exaggeration.
Wow. I find it really funny that almost all of the people that LOVE Twilight can leave comments that are so insanely rude (last I checked, saying things like “*uck you” and “you’re stupid” are pretty childish and immature) and the people that actually dislike the series can write eloquent reasons why.
If that’s the kind of fans that Stephenie Meyer is proud to have, I’m glad I can’t be counted as one of them anymore.
Everyone should be able to express their opinion; free speech is why our country is great. Just because someone didn’t like the book series and wrote an article about it on-line doesn’t mean she’s telling everyone who likes them to no longer feel that way.
Ridiculous.
I didn’t liked it either. It’s just one of those “fast-read” books, read it, and throw it away. Its structure characteristics as a book are plain.
Very, very well written article. You summed up in this piece all of the irritation and dislike I have regarding this ridiculous piece of fiction. I’ve read some right stupid books before, but these are actually upsetting for a few reasons you listed. I have friends (aged 17-20) who have decided they want a B/E relationship and won’t settle for anything less. Disturbing.
I’m pretty old fashioned. Like…when I think of relationships between couples, I ultimately think of like…house, picket fence, dog and some kids. Like I have a hard time with the fact that one of my OTP couples (Robin and Barney from How I Met Your Mother) are anti-marriage because…I’m pretty into the whole marriage thing.
Having said that….the Twilight books kind of disgust me. I was all into them for a while, when I first heard of them and read the first one in a single day, read the second one in two days and then got to the third and it took me about a week and by the end of it I was just…unsure about it all.
Now, I don’t want anything to do with them. But I feel like I NEED to read Breaking Dawn and own a copy, if only to complete the set.
So for all those Twihards who say that the feminists need to just chill out or whatever. This is coming from someone who sees every relationship as ending in marriage and babies. BELLA AND EDWARD ARE CREEPY AND ABUSIVE.
And if I didn’t love Kristen Stewart so much I wouldn’t even bother waiting until someone pirates a copy of the movie onto Youtube to watch it. But because I love her, I will watch it (on Youtube, because there’s no way I’m paying money for it unless they completely fix the plot and characters)
Ok, listen here chicky-poo. Who do YOU think YOU are commenting so negatively on someone’s obvious masterpiece? YOU have NO RIGHT whatsoever to talk crap about her. I’d like to see YOU write something as good as the books she has wrote. And you know why their so good? No, obviously you don’t. THEY TELL A //STORY//! Do you know what a STORY is? It’s a made up construct to ENTERTAIN people! Just because she wrote this STORY certainly does not mean that she holds these view points to be truth. Who cares if her name is Bella SWAN? Who cares if she gets all the guys? She’s only “plain” because she doesn’t understand herself. She doesn’t KNOW herself like millions of REAL people out there don’t. SHE’S A TEENAGER FOR CRIPES SAKES! She’s not going to KNOW EVERYTHING about herself! JESUS CHRIST!
Were you EXPECTING her to face off BY HERSELF against a VAMPIRE? If you were, then you were sadly mistaken. I’d like to see Charlie go up against a vampire. Just because he’s not a “damsel in distress” doesn’t mean he could have taken James down. You’re kidding yourself.
Ok. So she gives up her ambitions to be with the person she loves. You’re saying this is wrong? I say this is realistic. So what if she did? There are people out there that do it. Are they wrong? You can’t say, can you? Of course not. Because it’s up to that person to decide what to do with their life. Give me a break.
“Every single female character in the book is a hopelessly negative caricature.” This one I really don’t get. Explain this to me. Please. I dare you.
And as for this “suicide attempt” you speak of. THAT’S a crock in itself as well. She did NOT attempt suicide. She wanted to jump, to get her adrenaline pumping because the first time she had an adrenaline rush she heard Edward’s voice. Did you not pay attention? Of course not. READ IT AGAIN! But DO bare in mind, THIS IS A STORY? And what do STORIES do again? They ENTERTAIN! If these teens are THAT impressionable then they should NOT read these books. These books chronicle BELLA’S life. They are NOT intended to tell the teens who read them what to do.
“Star cross’d lovers” indeed. You try and tell me you never felt so strongly for some one. Jacob was intended as an ESCAPE from the pain of losing Edward. She didn’t INTEND to fall in love with him. YOU LOVE WHO YOU LOVE. End of story. Edward came back and she went back to him because she loved HIM more than JACOB. Duh. Don’t tell me that there isn’t a single woman, or man for that matter, on the planet that hasn’t EVER gotten back together with an ex even when they had someone else at the time.
Ok. Maybe Edward and Jacob’s attempts are a little unorthodox. They may even seem abusive and petty and whatever other adjective you’d like to throw out there. But guess what? THAT’S REAL LIFE SISTER! This crap ACTUALLY happens! It’s called JEALOUSY. Heard of it? No? Oh really? Too bad =( Cuz now you have. I’m not saying what they did was RIGHT. They did what they did because they felt it was. She didn’t really realize she loved Jacob UNTIL that kiss. That kiss was the signal that finally woke her up. BECAUSE SHE STARTED TO ENJOY IT. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t enjoy it if a guy you liked kissed you. Because you would. Again, I must remind you she’s a teen. And being a teen means that she DOESN’T KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT HERSELF. Period. She’s the type of person who doesn’t realize how she feels because she doesn’t know how she really DOES feel. She’s not exactly emotional here. She doesn’t really let her emotions show. Not at first anyway. But she’s learning. And in Eclipse she FINALLY figures something out about herself. Thanks for casting away her epiphany. And as for Jacob becoming an “asshole.” Well, guys they don’t get all teary eyed and sad because a girl doesn’t prefer them over another guy, no. Guys for the past however many years have been taught that “boys don’t cry.” Boys have to be “macho” and deal with the pain. Well he IS dealing with the pain the way guys do. Get angry to cover up your true feelings. Enough said.
Ok. So. When exactly did she say that ALL fluids were replaced with venom? I don’t remember that part. And you know, who said he couldn’t have sperm still? Did she SAY that he went sterile after becoming a vampire? No. Does ANYONE know what happens when you become a vampire. No. VAMPIRES AREN’T REAL. You understand this, yes? So that means that a vampire can be WHATEVER we imagine. Whatever we imagine can happen to a vampire. Right? Of course. And as for her getting bigger and the baby developing rather quickly. HELLO!? VAMPIRE!? Do you NOT understand this! HE’S NOT HUMAN! DUH! And what did I say about vampires? They’re a made up construct, yes? Therefore, we have no proof of what happens when a human and a vampire mate, do we? No, not that I know of anyway. Show me a woman that has had a vampire baby and we’ll talk.
Ahem. Let me reiterate this point, if you will… VAMPIRES ARE MAKE BELIEVE. As such, we don’t know what happens when you become a vampire. So tell me then. How is it IMPOSSIBLE that she could go hunting in a dress and heels, hmm? The writer believes this to be possible and she has the right to. Because this is HER STORY. SHE wrote it. And she can write it ANY WAY SHE WANTS.
And to close my comment on this DISGUSTING and OUTRAGEOUSLY INSULTING review of the Stephenie Meyers ‘Twilight’ Saga, I would love to say I REALLY WISH you hadn’t read these books and committed this ATROCITY against her writing, which, may I again point out, WAS COMPLETE FICTION! A //STORY//! MAKE BELIEVE! Wrote to ENTERTAIN the masses. I DARE you to read her other book ‘The Host’ and I DARE you to write crap about that one. Because you have no RIGHT to say she can’t write a MAKE BELIEVE STORY to entertain people.
Thank you all and good day to you.
Oh and I’d also like to say:
Don’t delete this just because you’re angry that I criticized you as harshly as you did her. Because writing is all about CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM as you may. indeed, point out because of your article.
^^
The poet, Ashleigh Brilliant, was right!
I’m referring to his “Pot Shot” where he said, “It always helps to prove how right you are if you wave your arms and jump and scream!”
Pathetic Twi-twits!
@ Tom: LOL. I don’t believe in censorship. Criticize me all you like.
I think that Tom should PUBLISH an article. Looks like he has a lot of good things to say
A Zuniga
The problem about Meyers is she could have explain away her vampires away as magic. The explanation would have worked, but instead she tried to work a ‘realistic’ world view into her canon and was lazy in her world building.
Her biology is unworkable, laughable, and bizarre. Why does she need to mention the chromosome count of the vampires and werewolves? ‘Cause a visit to Wikipedia would prove Loch Nessie would be a miscarriage or severely deformed.
Meyers has shoddy world building skills– Rowling and Shelley don’t.
Ashley.
I am sorry but my eyes get blurry from reading your posts. Run on sentences tend to make context hard to follow.
The argument that Edward is only ‘protective’ of Bella and his manner is hardly a cause for alarm gives me pause.
He /disables/ her car so she can’t see her friends and has his sister /kidnap/ her– for her own good. Do you not see how creepy and controlling that is?
He doesn’t talk to Bella; he tells her what to do. She pouts and then accepts it. She has no autonomy when it comes her life, her choices, or her friends; frankly, she doesn’t want it and that is what is so disturbing for Meyers to write.
Tom.
Cut out the caffeine, serious you’re going to burst a blood vessel or something.
And Kellen, I don’t believe in crappy articles ^^
Riana.
There was no caffeine involved. Only my mind and skill. ;]
I completely disagree with you !
[…] ‘Twilight’ Sucks… And Not In A Good Way […]
Tom,
Thank goodness you restrained yourself from the caps key.
*Shrugs* I’ve seen worse use of it.
Anyway, I would just like to rebuttal your arguments a little.
First of all, she can criticize anything she would like to because she has freedom of speech. It’s the same right that allowed you to write your response.
Actually, Bella is supposed to be plain. In Midnight Sun Edward describes her as plain when he first sees her. It’s not like she has such humility that she doesn’t realize that she’s a goddess.
Yes, abuse happens in real life. Are you suggesting that it’s a good thing that women are subjected to that because the guys “are a little unorthodox” about their “love?”
I’m not even going into Nessie, even in SMeyer’s world she doesn’t work. Wow, but thanks for letting us know that vampires aren’t real. I’m pretty sure we weren’t quite clear on that one.
And I have to say that it’s kind of sad how emotional you are about these books. You even said that when guys are sad they cover up their pain with anger.
It’s going to be okay, Tom, it’s just a review.
I’ve heard diverging opinions about this series, but have never seen a writeup that explained the reader’s perspective using details from the book. After reading your article, I’m leaning towards the side of not liking these books. I’ve always been wary of series that take off like wildfire, as the Twilight series has. Half of everyone I know is reading it, which makes me want to not read it in the first place.
After what I’ve here, I sort of want to read the books, just to see how bad it gets. It sounds like the author read a little too much Anne Rice and Laurel K Hamilton.
Thanks for the great writeup!
nice article
and to all the twilight fans out there that are defending their book, i just want to let you know that most of you sound like this :
“OMGSH TWILIGHT IS THE BEST!!!!11!! STOP BASHING MY FAVOURITE BOOKKKK!!!oneone!!!”
note that i said most of you.
besides, the writer has the right to express their opinion.
you can read it if you want, but i won’t be.
and to the people who said that the writer was “over analyzing” and “thinking too hard”.
uh…it’s a fucking book review, what do you expect?
what people read reviews for IS an analysis of something, twats.
as for the whole feminist thing…
bella is a HORRIBLE role model for women everrywhere
and no, i’m not a lonely/sad girl that has no life.
i’m actually pretty girly and love shopping.
so it says something when someone as girly as me spots the COMPLETELY blatant misogyny in that book.
I am a Twilight fan. No I am not an obssed OMG its edward kind of girl. I like the books because they show girls that there is some one who will love them the way they are. Edward never wanted Bella to change. She decided that because she wanted to. Edward wanted her to be happy, BUT human. She could have choosen Jacob has easily as she choose Edward. She could have been happy with either. Like Jacob said in Eclipse, she never really tried to live without Edward. She tried to forget him but never tried living without him.
Rianna, stop criticizing what everyone else is writing in thier comments. You’re pissing me off.
Once again I would like to commet. I seriously think you have a very unresearched article here. I also think that you are just some crazed Harry Potter fan, wanting to bring something down that is about a trillion times better than it. Also… if you hated the first book, why did you continue reading them?
haha. nessie has some good points. why don’t you answer the questions we want you to answer instead of writing all this crap?
Nessie,
Reading the books IS research which is why she finished the series. And you really shouldn’t compare a Harry Potter to Twilight considering that that series has a much bigger fanbase and has sold millions of more copies than Twilight.
Olivia,
I try to answer any questions that are asked. Although, I’m not quite sure what you mean by the question. You wouldn’t have asked any questions if the article wasn’t written in the first place…so maybe I’m misunderstanding you.
* Yeah, I don’t know why that “a” is in front of Harry Potter.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one who thinks the entire Twilight series read like a poorly written Mary-Sue fanfic.
Danielle.
Yes. Thank you for your analysis.
I know about the freedom of speech thing, of course. But her article had offended me and, yes, I did got a little overboard. I apologize.
I do realize she was supposed to be perceived as plain. But I think that if she had more confidence in herself she wouldn’t think that way.
No, I’m not suggesting women should be subjected to it, I’m TELLING you that’s what happened to Bella in a more indirect and yet direct way. That was HER experience.
Yes, that’s what guys do when they’re sad( I never said guys are perfect, because no one is and even though I’m not completely absorbed in the guy mentality I’m not saying that I am either). It happens. But I wasn’t sad when I read this review-I was angry. I did not like how she drug such a good authors name and her work through the mud. I DID overreact a bit, I do admit. So there we go.
Comments are kinda being repetitive.
Just saying. xD
@ Tom –
Obviously Rice thinks that Meyer is a bad writer and that her books are badly written. Why does it bother you so much that she said so? It’s criticism, and it’s her opinion. Having a temper tantrum over that because you disagree is about as immature and childish as it gets.
You are totally RIGHT about Riana.
Your article has graced the wall of my dorm room.
Thank you.
Everyone that comments on this using exclamation marks in a rude way should chill. Okay, so maybe she was being critical but that’s what her opinion is. It’s an opinion article and personally I’m not a fan of the series. I actually hate the hold it has on all the girls I know who have read it. And yes I did generalize it to GIRLS kay? Sue me. All the girls I know who have read this book think that Edward Cullen is the perfect man and they all wish they could find a boyfriend like him. I’m sorry but get real. He’s just a character. I mean I don’t see girls going all ape-shit over Jesus in the bible and he did some fucking ridiculous things so why should this be any different? *Side note: I don’t believe in God so if anyone wants to kick my teeth in because I compared Jesus to a shitty character then bite me.
But really I think I summarized what I needed to say in my first few lines. It’s an opinion piece everyone’s entitled to their own so everybody needs to chill out.
i don’t follow ‘trends’ at all…yet i love the twilight saga. why must we define everything into sum kinda negative. this article means nothin to me, its an opinion, thats all, if the books sucked..they wouldn’t have sold so many copies.
ps. i’d love a boyfriend like edward cullen!! phoaaaar! hahahahahahahahahah, couldn’t resist, sorry. he captivates me in those books and it doesn’t bother me to say it. so…..humph!!!
Chloe, Nessie, and
Come up with an actual reasoned defense and rebuttal instead of cringing and whining about how mean I am.
Have yet to hear any comments to the actual merit of Meyer’s work from any of you.
Speak and act like intelligent adults and you will find people will stop speaking to you like naughty and slow witted children.
@ Riana
Word.
Riana,
How come you call it whining?Do you have any idea what whining means? Whining is something like “OMG, You are a meanie Riana! Go fuck yourself off. Blah blah blah.” and stuff like that. We are merely stating the very fact that YOU, yes YOU, are critizicing everyone about their thoughts and opinions. You are always trying to find loopholes, or any other stuff about their comments that can make you scrutinize them and make them feel dumb and stupid. Does calling people “naughty and slow witted children” make you or anyone an intelligent adult? PLEASE. Cut the crap.
“Speak and act like intelligent adults and you will find people [who] will stop speaking to you like naughty and slow witted children.”
And one more thing. Intelligent adults (like YOU) should check their grammar before posting, in order to avoid insults and criticism from other people.
Thanks You. xD
*chuckles*
@ Chloe –
What you call
“You are always trying to find loopholes, or any other stuff about their comments that can make you scrutinize them and make them feel dumb and stupid.”
is what intelligent adults call ‘discussion’ and ‘debate’. If people make comments that are logically unsound, incorrect, etc. it’s not mean or rude or whatever to call them out on it (like I’m doing now). Further, if the corrected person feels dumb and stupid, that’s not at fault of the person who corrected them.
Chloe.
Yes, whining because frankly I have yet to anything from any of you worth debating. You dislike the article, you think it is wrong– well suck it up and shore of your position with valid analysis instead of slurs.
I /am/ criticizing you and your position because you don’t have much of one. Want to get nothing but positive feedback? Go to one of your fansites. You come /here/ and disagree with the author of this article, but can’t handle someone scrutinizing your comments and need your feelings to handled with a kid gloves.
Grow up.
Other commentators like Carissa were able to disagree with the article and respond respectfully and intelligently.
The majority of you were not in that category.
And Chloe, critical comprehension but be a little beyond you at this point and time. You /will/ find people will stop speaking to you like naughty and slow witted child when you can understand the difference between simple future tense and a conditional phrase.
sparkle_motion I agreed wholeheartedly.
Chloe if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. And you start mudslinging, don’t be surprised if you get dirty.
Thank you so much for writing this. It reads like a professional review (I hope one day you’re a wildly successful writer in anything you do, whether it be journalism or writing a novel of your own) and I only wish that it could make its way into every high school newspaper in America. You’ve researched the book, analyzed it, in my opinion, perfectly and managed to start the internet equivalent of a riot! Kudos!
That being said, I’d also like to say that I agree wholeheartedly with you. The characters are blah, the writing is immature at best and the plot is practically non-existent. I tip my hat to you for being unafraid to make your views public and, more so, for tackling the subject with tongue in cheek humor that doesn’t fail to amuse.
And, lastly, to all of the commenters who’ve come to your page to rant and whine all at the same time (some link provided in a Twilight fan page, calling all fans to arms, perhaps?), the least you could do is present your opinion in a thoughtful, respectful and as grammatically as possible. For those of you who did, thank you for being mature. For those of you who didn’t, please, next time try opening a text book and at least making an attempt. Wading through your puerile griping and hating is enough to give anyone a headache.
So, again, thanks for writing something worth reading and, hopefully, some people will take what you’ve said to heart.
Whoops. Caught an error of my own and I think I ought to correct it before someone does so for me. It’s meant to read: “…present your opinion in a thoughtful, respectful and as grammatically as possible way.”
Sorry about the oversight.
I run really hot and cold with the Twilight Saga. At some points it would just bore me to tears and at other times I’d be really hooked.
But I must say, this article was very very very well written. I wouldn’t have the balls to state an opinion like that, therefore, I respect this article very much. I agree with author at some points and at other points I don’t.
Like the whole thing about how Bella just protrays the roll of the damsel in distress. I agree.
But about the whole vampire fictional dealio…not so much. It is fantasy. I must admit though, I’ve read better fictional vampire stories that were way more creative then in this series.
For example like Poppy Z. Brite’s Lost Souls. Much much better writing.
But like I said I ran very hot and cold for the series. I can deffinetly say that the books aren’t my absolute favorite and that…I’m not all that excited about the movie.
gemma:
“what is right isn’t always popular, what is popular isn’t always right”
just because it’s sold a lot of copies doesn’t mean it has litererary merit.
i mean, the jonas brothers are really popular and sell lots of CDs, but in the music world they’re considered crap.
and if that’s not enough of a rebuttal for you,
two words:
paris hilton.
she has no merit whatsoever, yet she’s famous.
you’re entitled to like it though, i have no problem with freewill, unlike some of the commenters on here.
viola,
i agree, just because it sells doesn’t mean its ‘right’ but no one these days can define what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ for that matter. so to say ‘the book sucked’ is infact just an opnion as is this well written article that i 100 percent do not agree with at all.
i understood the points trying to be made and i think some girls can be very over the top about the book but it happens to alot of teenagers if it were’nt twilight it would be something eles.
there is a lot worse a teenage girl could be doing out there than reading and idolizing a book in her bedroom…i’d take great comfort in knowing that if i had a daughter.
brilliant review. i read this while in tenth grade( the mania wasn’t so big back then) and i found myself wondering what hell i was reading? i got annoyed with Bella,she was so frail and stupid.the writing quality did not get any better through out the series…the supporting characters were nonexistent and all the main characters had no personalities.i usually avoid reading series(i.e Harry potter and anything Jane Austen wrote(it’s all the same!)) and i wish i had avoided this one. I,too threw eclipse in disgust, which is why i refuse to read the last installment. S.Meyers sucks as writer. again, spot on review!
@ cookie
ok so you clearly could not find anything wong with my comment so you chose some insignificant part of it that you could cut down. obviosly you could not find anything else to agree with and you had to settle for something that i honestly put in there as an extra…not a main point or argument at all.
nice
Anyone who says these are just books for bored teenagers or seem to think that teens don’t take these books seriously need to go on YouTube and search for Twilight.
These books have a huge impact on girls. There have been tales of girls who have been hit, down-talked, and even had their cars keyed just for saying they didn’t like the books!
Bella’s lack of self-esteem is appalling. She constantly is always by Edward, going “OMG. He loves me and he’s pretty. I’m ugly. But somebody pretty loves me. OMG yay.”
What does that teach girls? That men love pathetic, shallow wimps? That you’re only worth something when you have a boyfriend?
Even at their wedding in Breaking Dawn she’s all “Who’s that gorgeous girl next to Edward? She’s a vision.”
Bella doesn’t even stop to think that the girl is her. She’s convinced it’s someone else, because Bella has already gotten used to telling herself how ugly and plain she is.
Even despite when Bella finally has an “epiphany” at the end of New Moon and realizes Edward loves her, she still continues to freak out every book about how she’s just not good enough for him. The only time she actually gets over it is when she’s a vampire, because then she’s just as pretty as he is, and she finally feels like she’s worth something.
So what does that teach girls? Don’t change how you feel about yourself, change your species? That you’re only worth something if you’re pretty?
Bella is appallingly shallow. How can anyone say she’s a role model for girls, or that girls don’t take her seriously?
These YouTube videos are proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-87Etl0cjRU&NR=1
Just two, but there are more. Many hundreds more.
Girls are influenced by Bella, and it’s frightening. This book series does something to teens–and it isn’t something good.
Good review, and keep it up. Somebody needs to speak their mind, and I’m glad it was you.
i agree to the fact that tiwlight is a little bit….ya
but i dont think you can compare it to real life situations.
it is, after all, a ficton story right?
but other than that fact i think this review was awsome
I love this series! Kellan you spoke your mind! That is good. But you didn’t have to say Stephanie sucks! She should go fuck herself! Her book series sucks! Iam a whiney bitch! Blah,blah,blah!
You try writing a book then! And then see if it gets published then see if it gets good reveiws and lots of sales see it get turned into a movie and then right wven more sequels to that book! I would like to see that! I dare you.
OMIGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U GUYZ R FUKIN RETARTED!!!!!!!111!!11!!111!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ELEV!!!!ENTYONE!!!!!!!!!!!1! ITS JUST A ARTICLE ABOUTA BOOK!!1!!!!!!!!!!! IF U DONT LIKE IT GO SUMWHERE ELSE AN DONT REED IT!!!!!!!! THEIR R PLENTY OF PEOPLE WHO DO LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ID LIKE 2 SEE U RITE AS GOOD AND ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!
until you have SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U HAVE NO TASTE IN ARTICLES!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!! WERE ENTITLE 2 R OPINUNS!! UR JUST 2 SNOBBY ABOUT UR ARTICLES!!!!!!1111!!!! THIS IN A GREAT ONE AN IF YOU CANT SEE TAHT THEN UR JUST AS DUMB AS STUPID, HILLBILLY, EMMETT* WHOS DUMB AS A ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF U DONT LIKE THIS GO REED SUMTIHN ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*I don’t really think that. I was just refering to this quote: “Emmett is big and strong. He is from rural America. He has a happy-go-lucky personality, and is brutally honest in a good-natured way. None of the above makes him stupid. He gets straight A’s and has been to college several times.” It’s from the Twilight Lexicon Philosophy thing.
But really, to those of you who rage at the author of this piece or people with different opinions, did I not just manage to make myself look like a complete asshole/jerk/whatever the heck seems appropriate to you? We’re not all going to think on the same track. It’s better that way because a world with EVERYONE drooling over ANY book would be awful. Plus there’d be a lot of crashes since with only one track people going in opposite directions would just hit each other head on (Here’s to really bad jokes!). Or you might be like the Zax, an “Other Story” from The Sneetches and Other Stories. You’d get NOWHERE like that.
You like Twilight? That’s totally cool. Me, not so much? I hope you think that’s totally cool to.
I’m not a Twihard, but I do enjoy the series a bit, and guess what?
I’m a feminist.
This is Twilight bashing, just as extreme as Twiharding and as you are entitled to your opinion as everyone else is on here, I’m getting the bad feeling that this is a HUGE over-analysis.
How do I know? Just the fact that the name of the character, *Isabella* Swan was thought to be offensive by shortening it to her nickname and saying “get it? Beautiful Swan?” was part of it.

Again, you ARE entitled to your opinion, and in MY opinion this was really a nice generalized rant.
(/opinion.)
I cannot believe how angry can the Twihards get! This is like Harry/Hermione all over again: “You are wrong because you analise the books wrongly! Didn’t you see the movie, how Harry and Hermione look at each other? We are right, Rowling is not!” So they looked for someone who gave them exactly what they wanted: a Disney ending for a sorry excuse of a heroine.
What’s funnier is that you can actually sumarize any of their complains to articles like yours, and the result will always be: “UR WRONG FOR NOT LIKING TWILIGHT! FUCK YOU!”
It’s insulting when they try to compare it to Harry Potter…
i think we all have our opinions on the twilight saga.
i’m nott planning to say “omg you are sooooo wrong twilight is SOOOOOO AWESOMEE” <333
hhmm, well , i know that everyone has different opinions. twilight haters would dislike twilight lovers…but the thiing is, i think that we get the idea that there are people that hate the Twilight Saga, and people that love it.
just keep it to yourself…we don’t really need to know what you think . it’s a waste of your time and ours.
I’m probably not going to say anything here that hasn’t been said already, but thank you so much for putting this out here – it’s a comfort as well to see that a lot of other commenters feel the same way about this terrible, terrible series. My 13-year-old cousin is obsessed with it and so I decided to read it because I’d heard mixed reports…the writing is atrocious (girlfriend has an adjective problem), the codependent relationship is really creepy, and, whether the author realizes it or not, it’s the most anti-feminist thing I’ve seen in contemporary fiction in a long time. What I don’t get is how people can get hooked on it even when they admit it’s bad…because it’s not even compelling. Honestly, it’s just boring. “And then I had English, and then I had biology, and then I had gym class”. I don’t know why Bella is so eager to live forever when she clearly cannot even fill up a normal human lifespan with interesting stuff to do.
Well, after reading this review, I must say that my curiousity of this series has risen. It sounds so amazingly terrible, it just makes me want to read it even more. And, once I read at least one of the books (well, it’ll probably be more like once I TRY to read of these books), I can criticize it as well, unless, of course, I end up enjoying it, though there is a very slim chance of that happening. Also, another reason why I must read it, is to prove one of my friends wrong and one of them right.
Or maybe I won’t waste my time reading the books. Though, I do have too much time on my hands…I want to bash the book, too.
Oh, well. I think I shall give the Twilight series a fair chance and if I dislike it, I dislike it. If I like it, I shall be utterly surprised at my unintelligence.
That is all.
Awesome article by the way. It is very convincing. XD You’re bloody awesome, yeah.
–KSTB.
So i have NEVER read these books. Simply, because i’m too lazy. And i was GOING TO soon, because everyone simply says that “THEY’RE AMAZINNGGGG!!!!111onneeeone” Until i read this. THANK YOU for saving me the time and money. <3
The Twilight “Saga” has one benefit that I know of.
It inspired one of my good friends to start writing. He wanted to prove that not all modern fantasy literature was that damn bad.
I’m sorry, but i must disagree.
are you kidding me!!! I am 14 (at the so-called “impressionable” age) and i love these books. i dont find them sexist at all. I love Edward Cullen… ha i only wish some guy could be like him.
for everything you say, there is something to rebuke it
heres one. “Bella gives up her ambitions and plans for college to get married to Edward…” she didn’t want to go to college, she wanted to be a vampire. Edward didn’t make her. I applaud Stephanie Meyer for writing these books. Everyone that i have suggested these to, loves them! If they were SO sexist… no one would read them, and love them.
part of me just thinks you are jealous that you aren’t as good of a writer as Stephanie Meyer is.. HATA!! haha sorry. lol
thanks, pce.
People have their opinions.
Okay, so first and foremost, you have NO idea what you’re talking about. How can you even say that the books are no good. Are you like matally challenged? Like not to be rude, but have you ever heard, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”. And this is just disgusting, the books were AMAZING, the best I’ve ever read – read each of them about three times. And all of this crap about making teens believe that when their boyfriends leave they should become suicidal, that’s absolute CRAP! Like really, I think that you need to just read the book as a book, your not Doctor Phil here honey, it’s a Fantasy novel – not real life!
So, thanks, but no thanks.
Your review sucks.
Hahaha
Twilight sucks.
Thank you~
o_O
Are you fucking serious?? It’s a book! Calm down, it’s a place to let you mind wander and just to relax and enjoy some suspense and romance, and action and adventure. god dammit, why do you have to take it SO seriously? You’re going to die early if you keep worrying about shit like this. I personally love the books, and it’s assholes like you who ruin it for everyone.
Just relax! Enjoy the series, you’re tearing it apart like your grading someones school paper…
I personally think this sucks.. this, SUCKS. you’re taking the joy and fun right out of everything, by over analyzing this. you need to get a life…
sorry for bashing, or being rude, but I’ve seen WAY too much of this shit… it’s awful, time consuming, in a bad way, and a waste of energy. breathe, enjoy the book for what it is and stop being a feminazi.
I’M a girl, and even I’m not offended in any way. it’s people like you who are ruining everything for everyone. There are plenty of twilight fans out there, who love this book, purely because it’s fun to read, and you’re seriously writing this essay? I’m laughing so hard over here, cause I feel bad for you. How pathetic can you get.
Wonderfully said! I think you pinned down every reason I put down the books. It’s making me think I should pay more attention to what I read, whether trashy fiction to pass the time or literary classics.
Although I’ll agree that Twilight is no masterpiece, I don’t think it’s as maliciously anti feminist as you’ve indicated. Perhaps you have blown this book’s influence out of proportion slightly? It is certainly far fetched and rather transparent writing, but it is a little ridiculous to allege that it encourages abuse and suicide. I would also be surprised if it has any impact on the progress of gender equality.
However, I commend you on your passion for women’s rights and literature.
Ya know, a lot of people are missing the point. It’s not really that the Twilight Sage is such a poor portrayal of many different facets of real life, it’s that it’s a really poorly written piece of crap excuse for a book series.
I… I think I love you. That was amazing. Absolutely spot-on. Well done, well done.
I read the follow-up before this, and…. You are just amazing. I swear.
So, I have a friend who is a fan of the Twilight books.
She asked why some people dislike them, because she couldn’t see anything wrong with them.
Naturally, I go online in an attempt to find an answer for her. I come across this article, and it lists several excellent points.
I email the link and a few choice quotes to her.
Her response?
She writes a long rant about how she likes Twilight, and anyone who doesn’t (including me, apparently) should just back off. “It’s JUST A BOOK! WHY ARE YOU SO WORKED UP!?” she said.
I’m not going to go into specifics. The rant’s too long, and pretty much all of the (intelligent) Twilight fans have already said what she’s said.
But the point is, she ASKED why people dislike Twilight. I gave her reasons. She told me to shut-up and just let her enjoy the book. Does that sound unreasonable to anyone else? Or is it just me?
I mean, I know my friend can have a bit of a temper… but I didn’t expect this. Maybe I should have..? Either way, I wasn’t TRYING to make her angry. Just answer her question.
Anyway, I wrote her a long response explaining myself (just about as long as her rant, actually). I have yet to read a response from her.
And on related note, I find it rather ironic that she keeps warning me about abusive relationships. She tells me that if I ever get a boyfriend I’ve got to be careful, and if there’s even a HINT of abuse to get the heck out of there. And yet, SHE’S the one reading Twilight and believing in Bella and Edward’s “true love” nonsense.
Oh… fuck… if by some chance my friend reads this, I’m probably screwed…
Too late now, though.
OKAY
Numero uno;
THANK YOU for writing this article ;D Srsly, I’m glad people are’t just following trends and forming their own opinions instead.
Numero dos;
HOLY FUCK you people who are crying because someone has an opinion that differs slightly from yours….just SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY.
Wait…no. Keep going. It’s amusing to see you contradict yourselves.
”SHUT UP IT’S JUST BOOK DON’T GET SO WORKED UP OVER IT”
TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE PLEASE.
Thank you for the honest review! I personally hated Breaking Dawn, and it’s very refreshing to see someone write something about it that isn’t all fluff and rainbows and all that kind of crap.
I have to say though… fan girls (and boys, maybe, I’ve never met a boy who even liked Twilight) really need to listen to their own advice. It’s just a book, get over it? LOL, hey, at least the people who didn’t like the book aren’t typing ALL IN CAPS and swearing at anyone who has a different opinion than them about Breaking Dawn.
Stay AWAY from the bad reviews/articles/comments/whatever about Breaking Dawn then if they’re “ruining” the experience for you. No one’s forcing you to read them, and you only look like an idiot when you post a comment ranting and raving about how you thought such bad things shouldn’t be said. Some people should be more accepting of Free Speech, yes?
Okay, first of all, not all teenage girls are as impressionable as YOU seem to think. We do have minds of our own, and are not so easily influenced by a book.
Second of all, if you were looking for a book where the girl is a feminist, I’ve got news for you, they are few and far between! Personally, I like the concept of a guy helping me, I like the chivalry of it! It’s flattering!
Third, it’s not like any of us are going to be placed into a situation where we have abandonment issues, such as Bella has, with her family and very few so called friends! So she’s a bit anti-social, so what! I know there are plenty of days when I don’t wanna talk to people!
Another thing! If you fell madly in love with a guy, and all of a sudden he left you, YOU WOULD BE DEPRESSED!!! And don’t deny that!!! Sure, she has a bit of a dangerous way of deeling with things, but a lot of girls do! Where do you think the expression EMO came from?!?!?!
AND, she wasn’t hurting herself intentionally, she was being reckless and stupid to DEFY Edward, since he left, and broke his promise. Maybe she went a bit over the deep end, but when you finally find a silver lining, and it all of a sudden starts to storm, it ticks you off, am I right?! PLUS she’s accident prone, much like me! She wasn’t trying to kill herself, she just seemed to get hurt easily, MUCH LIKE MOST AWKWARD TEENS!
My final comment, of which you may not like, and may have heard before, is if you hate the book, author, and story so much, why did you continue to read, and not stop? Just so you could bash the author on a cheep website because you have no life of your own? That’s what people with no life do, they find a reason to criticize something that will draw away from the fact that they are pitiful. Why don’t you step outside for a bit, I bet you don’t get enough sun, pretty soon, you will be as pale as your ever so hated Cullens. SUCK ON THAT!
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME!!
That aside, I would like to point out that while I have never read the books myself, I find it highly amusing that there are people who find themselves personally insulted when a book is criticized, and have to resort to poor grammar, misspelled words, and a veritable flood of expletives in order to make a counterpoint. Another item, for those of you who give the advice, and I quote:
“…if you hate the book, author, and story so much, why did you continue to read, and not stop?”
perhaps following your own advice would be best. If there is something that offends you in someone’s writing, then stop reading it, book, article, or otherwise.
Having perched on my digital soapbox for far longer then intended, I leave with the following, disclaimer, if you will:
I have not read the books, BUT, I have read arguments from both sides about the books, mostly for my own personal amusement, since the bickering of mere mortals provides a distraction from my infinite boredom. All joking aside, I would like to say that I am an unbiased commenter, but that is not the case; I seriously dislike comments which rely on insults to the OP/previous poster’s intelligence.
Now that I have had my say, I bid you all a goodnight for some, and a good morning to others.
So long.
Thank you for being alive and writing this.
This is the most sane of anything I’ve read/heard about it for ages. My friends are all into it and say ‘it’s the best thing ever,’ and ‘look she’s reading it, and she never reads!’
I don’t see how it’s the best book or whatever that’s been out for however long. I read Twilight, it was okay. But not that great.
And thank you for warning me off the last books. Not that I was going to read them anyway.
Hmm that’s a lot of thank yous. But you deserve them all.
THANK YOU! My god, I am so freaking sick of the series. All my friends are like “MARRY ME EDWARD! WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER! I LOVE YOU!”
Not only are statements like those creepy, they’re downright pathetic because
1. Their so-called soulmate is F-I-C-T-I-O-N-A-L
2. He’s a sexist pig
and 3. He’s taken by the wimpy, half-witted bimbo, Bella.
Thanks for writing this very entertaining review. It’s nice to see that there are other teenagers in the world who care about how good the literature that they read is.
I haven’t read “Twilight”, but I have read a few paragraphs of it from a blog, and also flipped through it in a bookshop, and didn’t like it much. I know you can’t really base an opinion of a book on that but I just didn’t like the grammar and descriptions of the sections I’ve read.
As for the argument “If they weren’t any good no one would read them”, that’s the same argument that Coleridge used to defend Wordsworth’s work (he was popular in his time but also had his critics). Personally I think Wordsworth’s poems are awful, but you see, that’s just my opinion. There are plenty of things that are popular that are awful, and also plenty of things that are popular that you might just not like, for whatever reason. The great thing about living in a society where free speech is allowed is that you can have your own opinion, without others forcing you to believe theirs. Is nobody allowed to give a book a bad review just because you personally liked it? I’ve read bad reviews of books I really liked, and disagreed with the reviewer, but that doesn’t mean that they are “wrong” and shouldn’t have been allowed to write their opinion in their review. (Haha how many times can I use the words “review” and “opinion” in a paragraph?!)
And it’s also really nice to see that some of the Twilight fans can respect other people’s opinions and actually even poke a bit of harmless fun at a book they like. (Maybe this is more evident in the comments on the other article).
Well put. I’d like to agree on the cocktail dress and heels..
I’d also like to point out that she lost her cute, lovable klutzy-ness. I disliked Breaking Dawn Bella, but then again, I did always think she was somewhat of an idiot.
Seriously, if one is going to have vampires in a novel, please make it less obvious somehow, or make it like last year’s toast.
Hi people. Just suggesting to, those of you who think Edward is abusive or that Twilight is feminist, look at the recently leaked first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun and you’ll see that Edward’s apparently just as crazy for Bella as Bella is for him. He’s just overly protective. And do not say that I’m crazy and do not recognize abuse. I’m just saying that’s how I interpretted it.
I agree. I’ve read all four books at the request of my fifteen-year old sister and I too- as a woman,and a literature graduate- can’t believe she has actually paid money to read them. Clearly Meyer has written a thin and insipid plot with herself as the protagonist to indulge her vampire fetish. Which of course it’s perfectly fine to have… It just doesn’t make for good literature. Neither do several hundred pages of “I’m so ecstatically happy, my half vampire baby is so happy, my wonderful husband is so happy”. Dull, dull, dull. I also agree with your points about unhealthy and abusive relationships- controlling behaviour is not an element of love. Ever.
My God. You are awesome. Thanks for this.
Wow! I can’t believe you are only 19. That was a very well written, mature critique, and I agree with so much of what you had to say. Bravo!
While i agree that Mrs. Meyers is no Jane Austin. I think it’s once again the feminist big mouth ruining something that is meant to be fun and enjoyable. We have all been head over heels love. late on you wonder, “what the hell was I thinking., but needless to say you experienced it. I think you are not able to relate because you were or are not a female that has had the over whelming feeling of love. It’s a book for teens. It’s SCI FI / young adult literature. Do you really doubt the intelligence of today’s youth to think they are going to start throwing themselves off cliffs? The emotions and feelings Bella goes through while dramatic are feelings many young girls have experienced. I think your article is a bit harsh on top of the fact not written well. I believe you went in wanting to hate this book and so you did. Like most feminist you see the need and want of a man as something weak. Let me know when you write a book that gets this much publicity and fan following.
From what I have read of your review it seems like you went in wanting to dislike the books. You didn’t really give them a shot from the get-go, you didn’t take the time to really read them, you’re a perfect example of a devils advocate. You say the author wrote about an abusive boyfriend to a girl who gives girls a bad name, but did you ever stop to think that she wrote about every girls dream boy one who will take care of her no matter what her fault is, and a girl who needs to be taken care of instead of standing up for her self as “MODERN” women do. Do you fail to remember any Disney movie? How about Sleeping Beauty, or Belle in Beauty and the Beast, you have no opinions about them and their damsel in distress roles? No, because those were made to make people happy like twilight. You didn’t really understand the books either, which is clear from your review, a lot of parts from the book you used as a reference to further your point were incorrect, such as Jake only forcibly kissed Bella once (the second time she asked him too), you called this sexual assault which it is but it’s also real that’s what boys do, have you never been to a party, around an angry boyfriend they think that’s all it takes to get you back. I think you were unfair in writing this review in that it seems like you wanted the attention you would get from the review you gave rather then the hopes of writing an honest review. A true reader would not continue to not just read the squeal but the two books following the squeal, if the7y truly did not like the first book as much as you apparently had! My final note your mother must have been a real bitch to not teach if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. Just for the record if I believed for one second that this was your honest opinion I would not have wrote mine down.
at last! reason is appearing in this argument! don’t you think you all went a bit too far ladies? even if i agree on some points of the anti, i liked the books .no need to scream and sulk
peace and love shine on you, good night to you all and sorry for the mistakes ,i’m not english
I went in fully expecting to love this book. All my friends were raving about it. I thought that I had finally found a book I could read.
I was wrong.
I tolerated the first few chapters… I thought it would get better, and that my friends were probably raving about something later in the book.
I was wrong there, too.
Needless to say, I took out my red pen and corrected the very obvious errors in the book. I TOTALLY OVERLOOKED the fact that the Edward-Bella relationship was something which, in my opinion, near stalkerish, and I still had marks all over the pages. If you’re wondering, I bought the first book because I was sure I’d like it. After that, I skimmed over the next few in the library, but I didn’t see anything getting better.
Also, if you’ve taken debate, you’d know that you would have to read up on both sides in order to support your side and debase the other. That is exactly what she was doing. It has nothing to do with being educated or not; it’s supporting your opinion, and to be honest, the whole review was just an opinion. It’s YOUR choice whether you want to argue or not.
There is also no such thing as “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all,” since living in a world where people only say nice things to each other and release frustration by backstabbing and doing underhanded things is much worse than a world where people just say things to your face.
Also, this doesn’t have anything to do with feminism. If Edward and Bella’s roles were reversed, I think I would have hated the protagonist all the same. The only difference would be that people would probably think it’s worse if it’s Edward… it’s not. It really isn’t. If you have a weak protagonist, the character balance doesn’t work out unless the protagonist develops, and Bella doesn’t.
So I think that all the “feminists” in this conversation would be accused of being “weak females” if Edward was the weak one, am I right?
I could care less if Edward stayed the same, I want Bella to actually do something interesting. The whole point of a book is to keep its readers interested, and a weak protagonist who is so repetitive is not going to achieve that.
And on the point of not being well-written, if a comment had to be well-written to be taken notice of, I’m sure you could omit quite a few of the ones here. The point is, none of us are English professors (although I know some who are!), and we should not be held to their expectations when writing comments and reviews. If you were writing a book, then I would expect things to be better and hold you to different standards.
Not all teens are awkward. I am fourteen turning fifteen, and I have not attempted to put myself in a life-threatening situation just because most of my friends have moved away. If you’ve heard of MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators), there are two types as far as emotions go: Thinking and Feeling. Feeling people tend to be kinder and more emotional, and they can connect with people well. Thinking people tend to side with logic and try to suppress feelings. While most people are a mix of the two (yes, teenagers are people), it’s obvious that some of them lean more to one side than the other. So just think before you say that “all teenagers are emotional.” We’re not.
And while I’d say that most teenagers are not so impressionable, I think it’s just the fact that the book has so many bad messages and no plot to cover for it that turns so many people off. Sure, I’ve read my share of evil villainry, and I’m not exactly running around purifying uranium… but at least those books had a plot and a side which balanced the “evil” side out. In this book it’s just saying that it’s totally okay to have obsessive relationships, and then it only shows the short term. What about the long term? What if your dream boy in short term is not who you expected in the long term? None of these questions are addressed, and there is NO balance to the Edward-Bella relationship.
So I do dislike the books, and I just wanted to say that my opinion mostly adheres to the reviewer’s. The only part where it would differ is that “the book sets back feminism.” I don’t think it has that much of an impact, but I may be wrong.
As for all of you saying that “you can’t say your opinion is the only one, you’re so closed minded!”… aren’t you doing the same thing?
Me and my best friend are disgusted that anyone would think,let alone write an artical about their hatrid for this life-changing book.
Stephenie Meyer puts great effort into these beautiful master pieces. For you to come here and insult not only the characters in this book,but the devoted fans of twilight is repulsive! If Edward were real he would kick your…butt for insulting his wife,child,and other family and friends!
As Jacob would say quite often actually, “What the hell?”
Stephenie Meyer just announced today that she wasn’t going to write Midnight Sun because everyone loves the books so much that they were trying to get it early/share with other Twilight fans. What does that tell you? Hmm…that there are more Twilight saga fans than haters and you are making a complete idiot out of yourself!
I stand by all the fans out there one-hundred and ten percent! You shouldn’t have wrote this hideous, offensive artical!
I think that you are just jealous of Stephenie’s brilliant writing! So please don’t hesitate to write me back…wait you should apologize to the public and Stephenie Meyer first!
Think about what you’ve put upon yourself.
Sincerely,
Madison and Alexa
Madison and Alexa:
Grow the fuck up. She can say whatever she wants to. These books suck ass. Don’t you get that people have the right to express their own opinion? It’s your opinion that the books are good, and you can express that just like the author of this article can.
Also, learn to fucking spell, you retards. There’s two of you and neither of you can crack a dictionary to learn to spell “hatred” and “article” correctly?
One day you’ll learn what good literature is. Until then, do yourself a favor and don’t discuss things that you don’t understand.
Oh, and if Edward were real he’d probably kill himself out of a) boredom and b) because Bella is such an obnoxious fucking bitch.
bella is kinda a bitch
hav yew evah read the book?
well sorrryyy
for my awful spelling
i just hav friggin blonde moments all the time…and my hair’s brown!!! haaa ^_^
Twihaters are probably going to see my first line and totally ignore the rest of this, but please don’t- I’m not going to be childish and write with the maturity of an 11 year old girl…
I like the books because they interest me and yes they have their faults but i like them anyway
HOWEVER… i can agree with what this article in some ways. She is the opposite of a heroin that all of us need- she is your average damsel in distress almost 1930ish… it’s honestly like reading a rather good… ok rather ok fanfic. To be truthful some fanfics from fanfiction.net are better written than the book
yet some of the characters are somewhat redeeming even in the eyes of my twihater friends… Alice, Jasper, and Emmett…. Carlisle
Of course I’ve read the fucking books. Why would I profess to dislike them if I hadn’t? What kind of question is that? The notion that someone could only possibly dislike the series if they hadn’t read it, or that if they read it they would certainly love it is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Try reading some actual good literature for once, honestly.
my gf was obsessed with this “best seller” series, but a couple of days ago she realized that she was wrong xD
overrated book is overrated
[…] from a number of excellently scathing reviews. Twilight is the story of the so-called “average†new girl Bella Swan (Ha, ha, get it? […]
This is ridiculously and blatantly on-point; I used to absolutely love the three books, but then Breaking Dawn came out and I realized what horrible literature all four of them were. This review is brilliant and I agree one hundred percent with everything you’ve pointed out. All of the negative reviews to this are poorly constructed and just… blah. Brainwashed TwiHards are my arch enemy.
Thanks for the amazing review.
okay so listen. i didnt mind readin that entire article cause its pointless. you cant contradict someone about their writing they are just letting there imaginantion go. so you wanna relatate it to harry potter go ahead. but those two books are completely diverse topics. and both authors write so differently. yeah jk rowling has more talent as a writer with all the help she gets and yet twilight still kept my interest. im a harry potter fan through and through but this discussion was ludacris. coming from a 13 year old girl.
You are my hero. =D
I’m now going to quote this article at all of my friends to back up my own points.
Thank you so much for this article! I just finished reading “Twilight” at the behest friends and was seriously underwhelmed by the novel’s plot, characterization and style, or, more accurately, the distinct lack thereof. I was, however, seriously disturbed by the negative aspects of the story you’ve pointed out here, far more articulately than I could at the moment. I’ll be referring people to this article rather than trying to sputter my way through an angry explanation of why I disliked the book so much.
Thanks so much for writing this. It’s all so true, although I have to admit that I was taken by the first book for whatever reason. I’m glad that I’ve sold my copies again. I don’t want to have these books in my shelf and I’m glad that I didn’t buy the last one just to complete the series. Reading the series was a waste of time. It really was.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I wanted to try and read the books to just see it for myself but just gah. I have other books that make me wanna read them more and then i have like work and stuff. XD
I just hate that the damn series has these awesome covers because those are some seductive covers. I always think, why couldn’t the novel rock as much as the covers? XD.
But no, I haven’t spent a dime on this franchise and never will. lol. I borrowed the first book. lol.
Her turgid prose disgusts and horrifies me. The unrealistic “Mary Sue” Isabella character is sickening. The first 200 pages of “Twilight” were such excruciating, mindless drivel, I felt as if my brain was rotting. The weak symbolism and imagery are repetitive and mind numbing.
At its best, it is over-glorified fan-fiction. At its worst, it foreshadows the crumbling state of our younger generation’s literary interests.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I’m so glad I’m not alone in objecting to the mania this piece of trash has generated.
Even though I enjoy reading the books (if only because I enjoy reading almost any book), I completely agree with this article. I hate that she left Jacob (whom she actually has fun with) for the near-abusive Edward, who completely abandoned her for months, without a second thought.
Really, I enjoy this the same way I enjoy ‘chick lit'; I read it for fun and not much else.
If you would please take the time to get your head out of your ass, you will see that most Twilgiht haters don’t like it because it inspires false thoughts about love, and that vampires are horrifying because they are beautiful and quote on quote’ no nosferatu’ quote off quote. Well over the past 20- 30 years or so, vampires have turned from chalky distorted creeps to beautiful men and women who find the intimacy of being super strong, super fast and of course the sexuality of drinking someone’s blood. There are hundreds to thousands of movies and books putting that out there. This is pretty mild compared to books like the last vampire and pandora, and movies like the lost boys, blade, and underworld. Well there is one small problem that peole have missed about false inspiration: it is a FICTION book, with not real things, because it is fiction. This is probably one of the millions vampire books, this is the safest. There are no sex scenes, and if there was they do not go into deep detail, they don’t swear accept for the occasional ‘damn’ and ‘crap’. So maybe you need to actually pay attention to what your reading.
[…] some bitch at Blast Magazine decides that she has a right to say what she thinks: Twilight is the story of the so-called “average†new girl Bella Swan (Ha, ha, get it? […]
What the hell. You are wrong about the books. The Twilight series are not horrible! They are really good, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean the rest of the world does! You are just insulting Stephenie and all her millions of fans! Sure, I agree with you about Breaking Dawn. I hated it. But, it doesn’t mean that I hate the rest of the series! Just get your head out of your ass and get a life
Whoever wrote this article NEVER must have been in love in her life. b/c it’s a typical teenage girl move. AND for the i dont know how many times. its a DAMN FICTION BOOK!!! get OVER IT!! You are just twilight hater cause you wish you could be on NewYorks Best Sellers List. Stephanie gets my FULL props. I LOVVEE the book. And if your worried about teenage girls getting married after highschool and getting pregnant so soon. be a counselour. and if your so ‘worried’ about the birthing scene stop reading the book, im sure you’ve watched scary movies before like prom night and texas chainsaw, they’re WAY worse than someone having a vampire’s baby. And so what if bella and edward get it on!!?! everybody’s gonna do ONCE in their lifetime loser, and she just happened to do it before you… jealous much ?? And its NOT TRASH b/c if it was it wouldne be #1 bestseller would it? hmm i dont think so. and stop relating it harry freakin potter you must be a hater of her work too. Its called a love story dont read it if ya never experienced.
HATER
I tried to read Twilight. I went in with absolutely no expectations, having heard nothing whatsoever about it. And I made it to chapter fifteen before I had to throw the book out and walk away.
To the people who think the author is underestimating teenage girls – I have friends who, at eighteen, think that Edward is the absolute perfect man. Liking the book for being an escapist fantasy and realizing that Edward wouldn’t be desirable in reality is one thing, but thinking, as many commenters apparently do, that Twilight is the best book ever written and Edward is the best character and Bella is fantastic – that’s another thing altogether.
Don’t you see? In your fangirling over the books and the characters, you’re proving the author of this article right. I’m not saying that liking it makes you stupid, but seriously. See them for what they are.
That said, I agree with nearly every point of this review. I don’t actually think that Bella’s the worst protagonist ever – because, honestly, not all women are Action Girls and some people do genuinely want to be stay-at-home moms. I don’t like the way she fawns over Edward when she knows absolutely nothing about him (in fact, that’s why I couldn’t make it through the first book – what does she like about Edward besides the fact that he’s pretty? I’ve met pretty stalkers. Being cute doesn’t make them any less creepy), but she’s still a teenage girl. The truly sad part about it is that it’s the exact same tragedy as Romeo and Juliet without the Bard’s writing, and without the “tragedy” bit – Bella is ultimately just a young girl who’s caught up in the idea of love. If she’d been more mature or simply given it time, she should have (logically) grown out of it.
But then, these books aren’t Shakespeare. I’m not asking them to be, but if it’s going to be loved this way, it has to have something more than “escapist fantasy.” Are our lives really so bad that this many people need one? At least Harry Potter could claim realistic and likable characters as a selling point in addition to the fact that every 11 year old wants to go to Hogwarts. I understand that every 13 year old girl wants a beautiful man to love her unconditionally, but eventually, those girls grow up and realize that Prince Charming is not actually that great.
…Aaaand I’m not even sure where I’m going anymore. I just don’t understand how these books have become so popular. The prose is mediocre at best, the characters have little interaction before they decide that they’re in love, the main characters are rather blatant Mary Sues, and the plot takes so unbelievably long to show up (when I gave up at chapter fifteen, there was no sign of anything except Bella’s whining about Edward ignoring her).
So. Um. I agree with the writer of the article.
Hey De’Jorra, here’s some advice about love-
I’ve been in love with the same woman for quite a long time and our relationship was NEVER in any way shape or form similar to Bella and Edward’s.
As this author of this article has said, their relationship is toxic and obsessive. Bella falls in love with him almost instantly, and let me tell you that those kinds of relationships NEVER work out. Edward is super protective in Eclipse. There’s no trust at all between them until she becomes a perfect vampire.
As for this article, I loved it! Hilarious and true!
You spoke your mind, so can we.
Just a few points:
1. Obviously you are waaaay too biased.
2. It’s FICTION. Which means Stephanie Meyer can write about whatever the fuck she pleases. And she’s good at it. Which leads me to…
3. It’s a best-seller. It competes with Harry Potter. I’m surprised you didn’t bash Harry Potter and how wizards and witches are unrealistic and that J.K. Rowling didn’t do research about it first.
4. Edward uses deep words because he’s a vampire who’s lived for years, he’s old-fashion/traditional in some ways. That’s why he has a wide rage of vocabulary.
5. If it displeases you, then why write about it? How low can you get? You read the book, wasted a few good hours of your life for it when you already knew you’d hate it. Doesn’t that sound stupid? It’s like pointing a gun to your head and pulling the trigger, and then getting upset because the gun was loaded. I MEAN HELLO?! You already knew it’d suck so why go on with it? To have something to write about? You really, really, really need to grow up and do something more productive with your life.
That’s all.
Freedom of Speech.
Some debating tips for amusingly idiotic fangirls
1. Don’t use the word bias when it comes to discussing someone’s opinion of a fictional work. Bias doesn’t enter into such discussions unless the critic has a personal relationship with the author. Using the word bias only makes you sound ignorant.
2. Don’t use the defense that it’s a work of fiction. It also has no place in an argument where the fictional nature is universally acknowledged. A writer who breaks their own rules to give their avatar everything they want is an exhibitionistic daydreamer, not an author.
3. Don’t claim that these works aren’t influential, when Meyers’ fans attack critics like a pack of rabid monkeys, and claim this blogger has such overwhelming influence that she’s spoiling everyone’s fun.
4. Don’t try to argue that “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!”. Like unconditional love, this is meant for children. We’re not in a personal relationship with the author. We’re not even her editor, or a member of her writing class (though she should avail herself of both).
5. Don’t tell us that Stephanie has graciously shared her vision with the world. She’s charging people to read her narcissistic fantasies.
6. Don’t make the argument that it gets kids reading. Unless they were completely illiterate before (though judging by some of the responses here, maybe that’s possible), that’s nothing to be proud of. Video games are probably a great deal less damaging to teen girls than promoting a controlling/addictive relationship as “true love”.
I’d show this to a few of my friends to snap them out of it, but you know what they’d say? “YOU’RE STUPID, YOU HAVEN’T READ IT, I BET THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE ARTICLE ONLY PRETENDED TO READ IT, BLAH BLAH BLAH, WAH, WAH, WAH!”
Disgusting how ignorant some people can be when they see something they don’t agree with. I find the few passages of the books I’ve had read out loud to me to be slightly funny, but other than small comedic ability, this author is really not capable of anything resembling a good story.
The mark of a good review is the ability to make a person who disagrees with you laugh or empathize. I disagree with you on a few points, but on all the points I chuckled (no murmuring, I promise). I agree that the book is sexist in its heavy use of damsel-in-distress situations. Bella does, however, stick to her principles and fight for what she believes in (no matter how twisted/disturbing her beliefs might seem to you). The biggest problem with the Twilight series, besides the complete lack of creative writing style, is Stephenie Meyers’s unwillingness to hurt the characters she loves so much. Good characters with good characterization have flaws, are spontaneous – sometimes to their detriment, and make mistakes. The characters in Twilight are and do none of these. Instead, the characters are pathetically one-dimensional, way too “good,” and mostly boring. One of Meyers’s best talents is her ability to stuff so little into so many pages.
Her books present a weird phenomenon to my mind: I enjoy them to a certain degree (excluding the last book) while reading them, but after I’m done I feel so depressed that I spent hours reading them and what I’m left with is ultimately dissatisfaction. Like you, I finished the series because of a morbid curiosity to see the ending – which was anticlimactic and total fluff. I don’t regret reading the first book, but it just went downhill from there.
I think you place too much confidence in the series’ influence to think that it’ll create a widespread change in girls’ attitudes toward feminism (or other ideas). Despite the millions of copies sold and some fans’ adamant claims that they’ll never marry anyone but an Edward, most of that is exaggeration. Sometimes a number is just a number. For readers, the Twilight series is simply entertainment. It’s over now, so let’s just let it pass. After the movie(s), it’ll eventually pass. You can’t logically compare Uncle Tom’s Cabin to the Twilight series because the Twilight series will not stand the test of time.
I miss Harry Potter.
I totally agree with you.
And since you said that, i actually realize it.
I’m ashamed to say I bought all the books.
I’m ashamed to say I was a Twilight fan.
But thanks to you and one of my friends,
who is also in love with this review,
I can actually read better books.
Thanks for this review!
you’re totally wrong.
These books are very great, and those people Who says twilight is sucks don’t know anything about the readers and Stephenie Meyer. Look for other thing to write, because this article is ridiculous.
I have finally realized why my friend is such a big fan of the Twilight books. It is because… she IS Bella.
Well, minus the popular and stupid bits. And she has more personality than Bella. But still. She’s extremely clumsy like Bella, and has just about the same thinking pattern. (Even the same style writing as S Meyer!) And she’d love to have an ‘over protective’ guy.
I actually came to this realization when I saw a comic about Twilight.
I looked at the cartoon version of Bella and thought “she looks sort of familiar…”
1…2…3…
“OH. MY. GOD. MY BEST FRIEND IS BELLA.”
Looks just like her! No wonder she enjoys the series so much!
Her personality and looks have nothing to do with Twilight, though. That’s just honestly who she is.
She’s also a reasonable fan, and though she defends the books with a passion, she doesn’t go rabid on people.
And she agrees that the rabid fangirls need to get a life.
And that mothers should not be reading these books to their young daughters.
Also, I have to add this about a lot of these obsessed Twilight fans:
MMMMM DELICIOUS IRONY. TASTES LIKE… IRON?
STOP FLAMING TWILIGHT FOKING PREPZ!!@!111
Hey I got 3 words for you! WML meaning?? Whatever Major Loser! You think your so great well you SUCK a**hole@@!
I love this review, too true. But my MUM and my BEST FRIEND loves these books too much… I am workning on making them hate it (like I do) by showing this review and more. It’s starting to work, so thank you
And all you Twilight lovers who dislikes this review… Just proves her point. Please, everyone has the right to write down their opinions. Stop being mad at people not liking what you like, that’s just pathetic. I love reading bad reviews about things I like, it fun to read what different people think and not live in a close-minded world were everyone are just like you.
Geez…
Quoting from S.M here…..
“Is Bella an anti-feminist heroine?
When I hear or read theories about Bella being an anti-feminist character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else’s real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it’s a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I am. Also, she’s in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don’t think so.
In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can’t do something solely because she’s a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. “You can’t be an astronaut, because you’re a woman. You can’t be president because you’re a woman. You can’t run a company because you’re a woman.” All of those oppressive “can’t”s.
One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women’s choices. That feels backward to me. It’s as if you can’t choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can’t have in order to be a “real” feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.
Do I think eighteen is a good age at which to get married? Personally—as in, for the person I was at eighteen—no. However, Bella is constrained by fantastic circumstances that I never had to deal with. The person she loves is physically seventeen, and he’s not going to change. If she and he are going to be on a healthy relationship footing, she can’t age too far beyond him. Also, marriage is really an insignificant commitment compared to giving up your mortality, so it’s funny to me that some people are hung up on one and not the other. Is eighteen too young to give up your mortality? For me, any age is too young for that. For Bella, it was what she really wanted for her life, and it wasn’t a phase she was going to grow out of. So I don’t have issues with her choice. She’s a strong person who goes after what she wants with persistence and determination.”
The thing about Bella that makes her look anti-feminist is the fact that she lets Edward completely rule her life and she follows after him like a puppy. How does Bella define herself without him? Speaking as someone who has witnessed a Bella in a relationship, I can say that those never work out. You have to be a complete person yourself before you can enter into a fulfilling relationship.
Once Bella meets Edward, all of her plans go away. She may have chosen not to go to college anyway, but she had no reasoning other than “It’ll take me away from Edward.” That’s what I take issue with. In reality, basing your entire life off of one person is an extremely bad idea, and Bella never even thought about the rest of her life once Edward showed up – never even entertained the possibility that maybe she could live without him. It’s the fact that she poured her entire being into Edward that’s the feminism issue, not the choices she made.
Or at least, to me. I understand that not every girl wants to rule the world, but she never even considered a life of her own separate from him. Bella is like Nora Helmer – not considering that she may not be a whole person so long as she lets her significant other take complete care of her. Those relationships, in reality, never work. Almost any woman will get tired of being a pet eventually. I mean, I got tired of Bella being a pet and I didn’t even finish the first book! How could she live that way?
That’s the ultimate problem I have with Bella. She lets herself be Edward’s pet, doing anything to get closer to him, and that’s wrong. That’s a sign of a very bad relationship and someone like that needs to find out who she really is before she can expect a fulfilling, equal relationship. She will always be inferior to Edward – even as a vampire – so long as she lives only for him. At least, that’s my take on things.
Its just a book, a story, and if reading that story brings enjoyment to who evers reading its life..then whats so bad about it.
i personally do not enjoy the harry potter books but i do not go writing ill conceived articles, reading too much into what is essentionally just a ‘story’.
this article is nothin but an ‘opinion’ which, i agree were all entitled to so far as to say….
it is my opinion that the kelly rice’s article SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she reads a book saga thats about passion and forbidden romance and expects it to be a kick ass female heroine love story?? eh?…erm some girls in the book world are just average…they don’t stand up and wave their “Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” copies in the air, the book is a fantasy……why manipulate aspects of a fictional novel into a real life narrative??? odd. my advice is….stick to the feminist java and leave this story for the enjoyment of those that understand the difference.
Tara: What? No, seriously. What?
um… i hated Breaking Dawn, it seemed like bad Fanfic. i did luv the first 3 though.
Jacob and the werewolves are the only characters that actually have personalities, the vampires are always so dead and negative, they’re downright boring.
Bella leads Jacob on and on, and then to dump him like a used napkin to go back to stony, cold Edward. She is such a 2-timer.
then SM makes JAcob imprint on creepy, disturbing Nessie?! Breaking Dawn was a waste of paper, trees,and my time.
and im sick of people saying that “we” are not twilight fans, just because we didn’t luv BD.
i agrree with this article.
and u pple saying that we suck, why dont u just shut up! i cant beleive ur wasting ur time finding BD hating pages and to say for us to shut up! theres more of us, than u BD luvers on this page! i dont go looking for BD luving pages and say i hate it, because i have better than things to do! so u pple that say we dont know anything, why dont u go get a life!!!!!!!!!!!!
-insert name here-, ignore Tara. She’s been trolling the Harry Potter fandom for years.
As a big sister (age 23) constantly looking out for her little sisters (16, 14, and 11), I have read the books and done my “research” to keep up to date on what my girls are doing and what’s going on in their lives…we’re a pretty friggin’ close crew.
Here’s my thought: I don’t really care. I mean really–either way.
Or maybe it’s more accurate to say I appreciate BOTH views.
I enjoyed the read. The writing was mediocre, occasionally shoddy, but I’ve read much worse. I like my intense books with deep philisophical themes and life lessons; however, I work a heckuva lot and occasionally I want some mindless drivel that requires little or no thinking and is a simple “love” story with a little magic thrown in.
On the other hand, this article–while a little too vitrolic for my tastes–raising some interesting and NOT INVALID points.
Here’s my real beef…
I approve of my sisters reading the Twilight Series, because I know they are also reading Marcus Zusack’s “The Book Thief” and Jerry Spinelli’s “Maniac McGee.” Every Christmas they get a “real” book from me, and they read it, and we talk about, and they love those books. And when they read Twilight, we talk about that too, for all its pros and cons. I would agree with those who have likened it to Romeo & Juliet (which, btw, I can’t stand…pure and utter tripe…I have more patience for Twilight than R&J)–it has its redeeming moments, and its negatives.
But I digress. The point is–when do we stop TALKING about this? Why do we *dismiss* these arguments, either side, or yell and capslock things, or engage in insults? And why, in God’s name, aren’t we talking to our girls about this? If nothing else–if you can’t get one SCRAP of enjoyment out of these books–then control your temper long enough to make it educational to our youth.
“What would YOU do if your boyfriend left you? Do you think Bella handled this in a healthy way? How would you do it better? What do you like best about these relationships? What do you think is unhealthy? What would or wouldn’t you stand for in your romances? How can you be stronger than Bella (and by stronger, I mean not ONLY more self-sufficient, but also more generous and selfless in our behaviors)?”
Education and learning comes from processing. Growth comes from both good and bad experiences–and “good” and “bad” READS, if you even believe in such absolutes when it comes to literature.
Personally, I don’t.
I love Twilight, and the following three novels. You don’t like it, okay, but don’t make its reader’s out to be silly and not realising all the nitty gritty things like ‘oh no she’s a heroine and wants to remember Edward’s voice in her head’ obviously you spent way too long analysing the novel and coming up with these conclusions to even think of enjoying it. That’s all your opinion, other people – like myself – have extreme opposing opinions. Also; I like the way StephAnie – great literature student you are, you don’t even take enough time to notice to make sure you correctly spell an author’s – one of the main points in your essay – name right – Meyer uses poor word usage to create the personalities of the characters. I also like the way she expressed Bella’s heartache by leaving the pages blank with the month headings. The only reason I’m even on this site is to do some research for an assignment I’m doing PROMOTING Twilight. “I’m a nineteen year-old female literature student trying to understand the world one book, song, and idea at a time” – go out and understand intstead of posting judgemental essay’s on the internet.
HOI. ur such an ass. TWILIGHT IS AWESOME OK!
so what if u hate twilight , then keep it to urself la.
why do u have to tell the whole world?
its Stephanie meyer’s prob that ur not as good as her and as rich as her.
her books are AWESOME.
and u just suck.
loser shit face.
I completely agree with you there. I don’t understand why Twilight is so popular – seriously, even the Princess Diaries pwns Twilight’s pitiful arse.
The first book was the only one that was okay – and it didn’t even have a real plot until CHapter 17.
New Moon is atrocious. Ecipse just revealed Edward to be a complete mysogynist. Breaking Dawn… is seriously worse than the fanfics that have been written about Twilight.
Twilight dampens my faith in the future of literature.
I think we should just end this debate here. I’ve posted a few too many time on my part- and all it seems to do is spur on both sides. Personally I love Twilight. The writer of the article obviously doesn’t. I’m gonna leave this debate on moot point, like marmite, and I hope you guys do the same.
Thank you for helping me effectively waste 20 mins of my life defending something I like, although I have to say this now, I wish I hadn’t of bothered.
You can be right but there are different people, different minds, who like more realistic stories than fiction stories, you know.
In spite of that all, I agree with you, cause I don’t understand what kind of vampire is Edward to forget all his vampiric desires and not bite Bella for a long time?
I really don’t understand, I would rather read Anne Rice’s books.
¬¬ Stupid.
I realy don’t understand why Twilight is SO famous. The twilight’s vampires are realy boring in their own goodness and vegetarianism. They are not true vampires,I think a vampire should be sexy and bad,but I didn’t see any think about both. They look too humans,SMeyer realy doesn’t know how to do a vampire.
In her own imagination have names like “Beautiful Swan” WTF? Now if you want a animal like a hero,I think you should see the “Lion King” movie. Or if you want a boring romance,without sex,and this thinks,read Twilight! It’s “The Beauty and the Beast” teenager version. You have a 107 years old virgin vampire,and a female heroine with an animal name,look realy nice no?
I prefer to see Disney Movies,unless they are classics,if I want a true supernatural movie I could see thinks like “The ring” or a true vampire book like Anne Rice’s books.
I think your article have the true that the Twilight fans couldn’t see because they LOVE the boring and perfect Edward Cullen.
(If there are some english word or expression that’s not right I’m sorry,I tried my best to let this comment the must right possible)
Props to you.
I must admit, in my shallowest of times, the series was a guilty pleasure in the most boring summer of my life.
The fourth is utterly atrocious. You’ve already pointed out that in Meyer’s “world” vampire conception should be impossible. There’s also the unbelievably unclimactic and unrealistic- as far as her Volturi go considering character and morale- “climax.” Sure they fought those newborns, but Bella was crying and hooking up with Jacob for most of it.
And when Alice+Jasper “left the family…” If Bella is supposed to be as sweet and trusting as Meyer tries to portray her, how could she believe her best friend was coward enough to leave her family. Bella was trying to convince US to try to give us a nice surprise in her boring showdown with Volturi. I doubt anyone bought it for even a second.
There’s so much more I’d like to complain about… But my fingers are cramping and I’m getting worked up.
PS. Interesting inclusion of Elizabeth Bennett in comparison! I’ve been watching the 2005 Pride&Prejudice almost on a nightly basis lately… Perhaps to wash away the bad taste of Twilight in my mouth…
Ok, you are so stupid. Why did you read the books if you hated?
C’mon! If you didn’t like it’s your problem. If you can’t see what the books means, don’t talk nothing about this. Are you doing this because Twilight is overcoming Harry Potter? Because I think so. Can’t you understand Twilight and Harry Potter are diferent books? Can’t you see each person have an opinion?
And, just to end this, WHY DON’T YOU WRITE A BOOK? I wanna read – if I bear read. You can’t do better. You can’t be better than Stephenie Meyer. And if you think that you can, try. I wanna read. Sorry the mistakes, I don’t know English very well. Kiss, and you should think about this.
Apesar dos comentários totalmente excelentes da maioria dos fãs, os quais juro me fizeram rir por horas a fio, em minha humilde opinião, imaginei que ainda nos caberia um direito de resposta.
Porém, todos precisam saber o porquê estou dispondo de parte de meu tempo para tanto:
Em primeiro lugar a autora do artigo estereotipou os(as) fãs de Twilight como influenciáveis, classificou-nos em uma única faixa etária e nos descreveu basicamente como babuÃnos sem articulação alguma para argumentação. Ao que tudo indica, Kellen Rice é uma daquelas pessoas que precisa de respostas mastigadas, cuspidas em uma colher e enfiadas por sua goela abaixo, já que não conseguiu chegar a conclusões óbvias a muitas de suas dúvidas que usou como justificativa para se odiar a série. As criticas ao estilo literário da Meyer são, no mÃnimo, de fundamento duvidoso e acima de tudo, se quisesse que sua crÃtica fosse sustentável, a autora deveria ter feito uma extensa pesquisa na qual se basear, ao que tudo indica não foi isso que aconteceu.
Sim, eu li o artigo em Inglês e me surpreendi ao saber que foi escrito para a Blast Magazine, imaginei eu que deveria realmente haver um grande furo na obra da Meyer que eu deixara passar, já se espera que uma a revista como a Blast selecione o que vai ou não publicar, por ter um público alvo extremamente crÃtico e consciente. Após ler o artigo completo, eu estava em choque. Era ridÃculo, passei a me indagar se os editores da revista estavam perdendo o jeito, se publicaram isso só para causar furor, gerar indignação no fandom ou simplesmente para aumentar o número de exemplares vendidos.
Vamos começar pelo trocadilho insólito no tÃtulo… ‘Twilight’ Sucks… And Not In A Good Way, claro que em uma tradução para o Português perde-se o sentido geral, pois não usamos “chupar†no sentido aplicado no tÃtulo do artigo. Twilight “chupaâ€: chupar sangue (vampiros), sucks no sentido de ser ruim e o terceiro… Bem o terceiro, o modo o qual para a autora seria o bom, é melhor nem comentar, já que “Twilight foi escrito para garotas de 12-17 anos†e não queremos insinuar nada impróprio para elas como Stephenie Meyer vem fazendo com sua obra anti-feminista, não é Kellen? Os demais trocadilhos apresentados no texto são de fazer o pior dos comediantes parecer hilariante…
Passemos agora as crÃticas feitas à qualidade da escrita de Stephenie Meyer, sim ela critica a qualidade, enquanto justifica tais crÃticas alegando que o estilo literário é ruim. Qualquer um sabe que uma coisa é BEM diferente da outra. Caso Kellen Rice em sua resenha dissesse única e exclusivamente que não gostou do estilo literário, por ser narrado em primeira pessoa e de forma intimista, seria uma coisa, agora alegar que Meyer escreve mal é bem outra. Não encontrei qualquer erro de emprego ortográfico, gramatical e/ou incoerência em qualquer das obras, aliás, o emprego dos chamados phrasal verbs durante todos os livros da saga é impressionante.
Stephenie Meyer não foi a primeira nem será a última autora a admitir ser fã da série Harry Potter (acho que você deve ir caçar todos o que isso fizeram acompanhada por uma multidão enlouquecida segurando forcados e tochas. Gostar de Harry Potter e ser fã da Rowling agora torna você um mau escritor, cuidado com a bruxaria, escute meu conselho!).
Quanto a nossa protagonista Isabella Swan. Bem, eu imagino que Kellen nunca tenha ido viajar pra uma cidadezinha. Bella em Phoenix é só mais uma na multidão, em Forks ela é a grande novidade, geralmente em cidades assim não acontecem muitas coisas, então quando há algo de novo, toda a atenção se volta para isso. Imagine garotos adolescentes com seus hormônios no auge vendo uma garota nova, para completar ela não tem nada de bizonho que a torne descartável (sinto muito, mas é assim como a maioria dos garotos pensa – sim, eu perguntei antes de escrever tudo isso, ao menos alguém por aqui pesquisa…). SHAZAM! Temos a fórmula para o instantâneo sucesso de Bella (o que já era óbvio para todos menos para Dona Rice).
Oi, a Bella é desastrada, como mesmo assume. Não é porque em Forks é assim, onde ela é a novidade e todos querem chamar a atenção dela ao ajudá-la, que o mesmo não acontecia desde sempre, em Phoenix ela devia viver sofrendo pequenos acidentes, ah é, ela diz que vivia… (acho que alguém não prestou muita atenção ao ler o livro, tsc, tsc, tsc…).
Devo lembrá-la que os Cullen não são os primeiros a tentar sobreviver somente do sangue de animais? Acho que você não se lembra de Louis de Pointe du Lac, não é? Entrevista com Vampiro lhe soa mais familiar? Você também fez uma crÃtica ferrenha contra Anne Rice? Ele tinha repulsa por desrespeitar a vida humana e tentou sobreviver se alimentando do sangue de galinhas, ratos e outros animas… Aliás, foi a própria Anne Rice que começou a moldar esse tipo vampÃrico mais consciente, sofredor de seu infortúnio da imortalidade vista como uma maldição. Sinceramente, não que a Stephenie Meyer tenha a obrigação de seguir qualquer padrão já estabelecido para criar seus vampiros, a obra é dela e ela tem a liberdade de criar seus personagens fictÃcios como bem entender.
Ah, você já ouviu falar em amor incondicional? Eu sinceramente acho que não. E provavelmente também não é capaz de senti-lo por alguém, ou teria reconhecido os traços do sacrifÃcio todo implÃcito na relação Bella/Edward.
Vamos imaginar por um momento que sua mãe morreu, Kellen, talvez isso seja o mais próximo de amor incondicional que você deva sentir (não que eu tenha muitas esperanças). Em que estado emocional você entraria? Talvez se já tivesse também passado por um estresse pós-traumático que a levasse a uma depressão profunda você saberia (temo cada vez mais por você, imagino que não conheça sentimento algum querida…).
Posso resumir toda a reação do Jacob pelo fato de ele ser um ADOLESCENTE (isso quer dizer constantes mudanças comportamentais) encanado por alguém, totalmente cabeça dura, disposto a jogar sujo e não largar o osso? (isso sim é um trocadilho, reconheça um quando vê-lo!) Como se nunca cara algum na face da Terra jamais tivesse agido como ele…
Chegamos finalmente ao “garotas impressionaveis de 12 a 17 anos”. Oi, já ouviu falar do grupo Twilight Moms? Realmente você não tem idéia de quantas mães de famÃlia lêem/leram a saga e nem por isso deixam de viver sua vida. Nenhuma adolescente ou leitora de qualquer idade vai deixar de namorar ou viver porque Edward Cullen não é real, mas talvez passem a exigir um pouco mais de seus parceiros em seus próximos e atuais relacionamentos: mais dedicação, carinho, amor, delicadeza e respeito, amostras do que Edward demonstra por Bella. Sinceramente, isso é algo tão terrÃvel assim?
Ah sim, por ser uma personagem tão anti-feminista é que Isabella Swan enfrenta os preconceitos da sociedade atual e resolve se casar adolescente apesar de todos os comentários que vai gerar. Ela enfrenta os desafios da relação, mesmo podendo ter escolhido desistir diante da primeira dificuldade. A palavra chave é escolha. Bella as faz durante a saga toda (e eu que pensava que anti-feminismo significava a impossibilidade da mulher fazer escolhas. Não de acordo com Kellen Rice).
Meyer, como Mórmon, é religiosa e fez com que suas personagens seguissem alguns valores morais os quais considera corretos, tais como a castidade mantida até o casamento (como se ela fosse a única). Agora também é ruim casar-se virgem! Fazer esta escolha a torna anti-feminista, pratique sexo loucamente por aà que você vai se valorizar bem mais querida!
Chegamos a gravidez e posterior parto de Bella. Se Kellen Rice tivesse feito a mÃnima pesquisa sobre vampiros saberia da existência lendária dos incubus, vampiros que em relações sexuais com mulheres humanas engravidam-nas gerando crias mestiças. A gestação e parto, extremamente violentos, quase sempre resulta na morte da mãe humana, a menos que esta seja transformada em vampiro (vide Blade, Angel, etc, etc, etc…). Mais uma vez, mesmo que não existisse qualquer registro anterior, Stephenie Meyer teria o direito de desenvolver suas personagens fictÃcias como bem entendesse, mas aparentemente é preciso relembrar para que certas pessoas possam compreender.
Não acredito que farei isso, mas, já que comecei… Explicação pseudo-cientÃfica para algo descrito em um livro fictÃcio. Rice não se conforma com o crescimento acelerado de Renesmee. Pois bem, Nessie é meio humana, meio vampira. Vampiros e mestiços tem metabolismo acelerado para diversas coisas, incluindo a recuperação de “ferimentos”. No caso de Nessie, (Jacob também tem um surto de crescimento durante New Moon, parando seu desenvolvimento logo em seguida) ela pode muito bem ter nascido com sua glândula responsável pelo crescimento ativa, esta estimulada por seu lado vampÃrico fez com que seu crescimento fosse acelerado (lembrando que a época da vida em que mais rapidamente crescemos é na infância). Chegando ao ápice do desenvolvimento seu metabolismo vampÃrico desativou a devida gândula para impedir que o corpo se detereriorasse pelo envelhecimento. Eh bien, como diria o célebre Hercule Poirot, todas as respostas estão em nossas pequeninas células cinzentas (pense e tú chegaras à s respostas!).
Podem me dizer que a Meyer não pensou em tudo isso. Ao contrário, ela pensou sim, por isso ela é quem é, por isso vendeu milhões de exemplares de seus livros e atingiu o sucesso merecido. Enquanto por aà há quem tente crescer profissionalmente através do trabalho alheio (nada pessoal contra crÃticos).
Como dito no inÃcio desta crÃtica, tem gente que não sabe concluir nada sozinho, precisa de todas as explicações mastigadas, cuspidas em uma colher e enfiadas goela abaixo.
Para finalizar, que peso tem o The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, American Library Association, dentre outros ao reconhecerem o mérito da obra de Stephenie Meyer quando Kellen Ricce não concorda?
Felizmente esta crÃtica acabou. Agora cabe aos editores EDITAREM antes de publicar o que quer que seja.
“Quem criticará o crÃtico?”
*Não reproduza sem os devidos direitos autorais.
P.S.: Não estou com a mÃnima vontade para traduzir isto para Inglês, quem estiver disposto sinta-se a vontade. Meu objetivo com este artigo, porém, foi o de traduzir a indignação dos fãs de forma efetiva, para que estes não se desgastem em discussões intermináveis.
Wahahah XD Howard Allen O’Brien ( popularly known as Anne Rice) wins over Twilight….HANDS DOWN…
Meyer does use too much words…eventually I got bored….I didn’t want to burn it (because it wasted money) so I sold it off not caring if I only got it for a dollar whatever….as long as it’s out of my life…I’m happy…
PS> Dominique told me about breaking dawn…yesh, Bella sounds like a slut :D…
I love you.
I decided to read the twilight series, cuz it was SOOO popular, and everyone was like “if you like harry potter”(which i loveeee)”then you’ll definately like this.
i hated it.
seriously, I agree with EVRYTHING you said, those books are awful.
Why would you write such a thing? Either you live at home with your mom who has shoveled down your throat that falling in love is cliche and stupid or you have some thing against Stephanie Meyer or your some hobo that stumbled into a computer and decided to trash everything you see just so that you can corrupt someone’s non formed opinion. Or probably all three!
If you go into the world of Twilight exspecting Harry Potter then guess what? You will hate this series. Stephanie Meyer put a spin on a fairy tale and changed it into a modern day love story. I can see how you would hate this book. You see someone who has become very succesful in the past couple years and you envy them. So you feel as you must trash there work and there reputation. And if you think that Meyer is a sexist freak… look in the mirror. Sexticism goes both ways. You either trash the other or you find your self supirior and look down on all those who go back to Bible times, where man was given supiriority over woman. I’m not saying that woman are incapeable but are you saying that you would rather Bella save herself all the time? Then there would be no plot and you would rant maliciously about that. So go sink your teeth into the Wonderful World of Woman. Me? I will choose to live where true lover exsists and where we all need a protector.
a question asked to stephenie meyer on her official site…………………………..
“Is Bella an anti-feminist heroine?
When I hear or read theories about Bella being an anti-feminist character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else’s real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it’s a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I am. Also, she’s in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don’t think so.
In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can’t do something solely because she’s a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. “You can’t be an astronaut, because you’re a woman. You can’t be president because you’re a woman. You can’t run a company because you’re a woman.” All of those oppressive “can’t”s.
One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women’s choices. That feels backward to me. It’s as if you can’t choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can’t have in order to be a “real” feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.
Do I think eighteen is a good age at which to get married? Personally—as in, for the person I was at eighteen—no. However, Bella is constrained by fantastic circumstances that I never had to deal with. The person she loves is physically seventeen, and he’s not going to change. If she and he are going to be on a healthy relationship footing, she can’t age too far beyond him. Also, marriage is really an insignificant commitment compared to giving up your mortality, so it’s funny to me that some people are hung up on one and not the other. Is eighteen too young to give up your mortality? For me, any age is too young for that. For Bella, it was what she really wanted for her life, and it wasn’t a phase she was going to grow out of. So I don’t have issues with her choice. She’s a strong person who goes after what she wants with persistence and determination.”
here here……………………………………
Stop. This is coming to nothing, nobody’s gonna walk away from their PC looking at Twilight in a completely different POV after this. Why bother?
OMFG!!!!! ALL I HAD TO DO WAS TELL MY COUSINS THE STORY PLOT AND THEY LIKE IT. GUESS WHAT……THEY ARE GUYS!!!!! TEENAGE GUYSSSSSS. AVERAGE TEENAGERS! COME ON NOW THE READERS OF THE SERIES ARE NOT IDIOTS. WE REALIZE IT IS JUST FICTION, NOT REAL, US READERS HAVE BRAINS WE ARE MORE INTELLIGENT THAT YOU THINK WE ARE. I KNOW IM WASTING TIME WRITING YET ANOTHER COMMENT BUT IT IS JUST SO IRRITATING!!! IF YOU HAD WRITTEN THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT BASHING MEYER OR HER FANS THEN I WOULD SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU STATING YOUR OPINION. HOWEVER, AS IMMATURE AS YOU ARE IT SEEMS THAT BY BASHING THE BOOKS YOU HAD TO BASH THE FANS FOR EVEN LIKING IT. JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE ENJOY THE SERIES IT MAKES THEM NO DIFFERENT FROM THOSE WHO DONT. I FOR ONE LOVE THE SERIES BECAUSE IT PROVIDES THAT ESCAPE FROM REALITY THAT PEOPLE NEED SOMETIMES. HONESTLY YOUR ARTICLE WOULD PROBABLY NOT BOTHERED AS MANY PEOPLE AS IT DID IF YOU WOULD HAVE STUCK TO THE BOOKS AND NOT THE FANS. YET AGAIN WHO READS A BOOK THEY DONT LIKE, AND WHO GOES TO BUY THE LAST INSTALLMENT IF THEY DONT LIKE THE OTHER NOT ONE NOT TWO BUT THREE. YES THIS ARTICLE IS IMMATURE AND MORONIC. USE A BETTER WRITING STYLE AND GROW UP.
I love you.
Honestly, you just expressed everything I want to say about these horrid books in a calm, organized manner.
I love that all the people bashing “OMHG TWILGIT HATERZZZ!!!!!!111111111″ all sound the same….
God damn, all these pro-twilight comments make me so fucking scared for humanity…
I adore this essay. It’s very well written and concise, yet manages to explain everything I dislike about the series. Sometimes-and I’m not exaggerating when I say this-it genuinely makes me wonder about the intelligence of my age group. It’s a harsh comment, but I sometimes wonder why others don’t notice the ridiculous age gap between Edward and Bella, as well as the focus on appearance; it almost seems as though this somewhat paedophilic relationship is fine because Edward doesn’t look older, plus he’s HOT! It actually sickens me.
Anyway, thank you SO much for writing this. I’m really impressed, I hope that when I study literature I can write as well as you.
Wonderful review. I’m still reading Twilight as I promised a friend and it’s tough, I won’t be reading the others. I just can’t get over the lack in the writing, makes me squirm. Pray I make my way through the audiobook without driving off a bridge.
although i disagree with your praising of Austen(overrated) and Rowling(boring and very predictable), i do wholeheartedly agree that the Twilight series was a joke. btw, what are twilighter doing on a site that blatantly disses their beloved books?
I’m not a big fan, but those books brought fame to my brother, whose name is also Edward; he’s suddenly popular thanks to his name? How lame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a great article. Even though I don’t hate Twilight series (completely despise Breaking Dawn though) I can intelligently acknowledge all the faults in this series that you have pointed out. That is the problem with the emotional die hard twatlighters is that it is all or nothing with them. Even when you point out the inconsistencies, bad grammer, plot holes, and bad role models to them in plain English that even a 5 year old can understand they STILL don’t get it.
Why? Because they refuse to. Look, a dog could write a book and create some hot male characters that have all the traits that girls supposedly want and then give the lead heroine to someone who is described as normal and you have an instant sucess. SMeyer is a hack writer who knew how to sell millions.
The big problem I have with twat lighters and they can rarely debate anything about the series without stooping to insulting, using all CAPS, using text speech, or just plain acting dumb. Yep, I know I am being insulting when I say twathards. At least I can recognize that.
“I never intended to be a writer.” She says. Puh-lease. You trult are idiot if you believe that.
okay, so i’ve watched this ongoing debate and i agree with this article very much. i really think that the teens of today are effected by media influences, just how mtv started comparing the twilight series to being the next harry potter.
notice how all of a sudden everyone is picking up these books just from the comparison.
i’m a 16 yr. old and i have seen many girls at my school say they would do exactly what bella did if they were ever away from edward, which absolutley apalling.
fans say it’s true love just like romeo and juilet… no i’m sorry i don’t agree, for one i don’t believe romeo and juilet were inlove. they met one night and BAM they’re inlove BAM they’ve shared their first kiss in the same night BAM they’re talking about marriage BAM they commit sucide to be with eachother in what? the span of three weeks??
Just how with edward and bella, they saw eachother in school then edward acts like he hates her then he saves her then suddenly they’re inlove… all because edward can’t read her mind and bella can’t think of anything else but how he looked like he stepped out of a modeling catalogue…
yeah..true love… i really don’ t see it. and i understand that, but what i want to know is why do these girls want a guy who is a stalker and abusive?
and i picked this all up in the book series the first and last time i read it, the moment edward took the engine out of her truck
i was officialy scared of him and if i ever saw him walking towards me i would scream bloody murder and run the other way then get a restraining order against him.
if that doesn’t work i would change my name and move to another country.
that’s how much i think he is creepy. and bella? oh don’t get me started on her, or else this would end up being a long post so i’m done for now…
Ok, so I wanted to add another comment to this review because today I saw an icon regarding Bella and Edward’s first time having sex. You know how Bella came out of it completely battered and bruised? The icon blatently said that the poster would let Edward do anything of that sort if she could get him into bed. Which is appalling. Seriously, I know that writers like to get caught up in the story so they lose track of thought, but is it that hard to think about the implications of a piece of writing, especially one with as big a fan following as the Twilight series?
Again, great, well written review.
Once again, die hard Twilighters. It’s lame saying “If you don’t like the books why do you read them?” If we want to criticize something, we have to understand what we are criticizing.
And this article is criticism (take English class to know what is criticism, lift your nose from those cheap Smeyer novels), not mere attempt to bash Smeyer. Or you for that matter.
Once upon a time, a fairly young vampire (he had only been a vampire for a decade and a half) named Aro changed his young sister Didyme, who had just reached adulthood, into a vampire in order to add her to his growing coven. Aro always wanted power, and because he himself had a potent mind-reading gift, he hoped his biological sister would also be gifted in a way that would help him rise in the vampire world. It turned out that Didyme did have a gift; she carried with her an aura of happiness that affected everyone who came near her. Though it wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for, Aro pondered the best ways he could use this gift. Meanwhile, Aro’s most trusted partner, Marcus, fell in love with Didyme. This was not unusual; given the way she made people feel, lots of people fell in love with Didyme. The difference was that this time, Didyme fell in love herself. The two of them were tremendously happy. So happy, in fact that, after a while, they no longer cared that much about Aro’s plans for domination. After a few centuries, Didyme and Marcus discussed going their own way. Of course, Aro was well aware of their intentions. He was not happy about it, but he pretended to give his blessing. Then he waited for an opportunity to act, and when he knew he would never be found out, he murdered his sister. After all, Marcus’s gift was much more useful to him than hers had been. This is not to say that Aro did not truly love his sister; it’s just that a key part of his personality is the ability to destroy even what he loves in order to further his ambitions. Marcus never found out that Aro was responsible for Didyme’s death. He became an empty man. Aro used Chelsea’s gift to keep Marcus loyal to the Volturi, though not even Chelsea’s gift could make Marcus show any enthusiasm for it.
Thank you so much for making this review because I agree a million percent on it. I’m still reading the first book in the Twilight series and while my friends are swooning about it, I’m just looking at it like it’s a pile of rubbish. I mean come on! The entire book mostly is about Edward and Bella’s relationship and then with a few pages to spare, there’s violence. I’m all for romance books, but their relationship is overrated. Bella is so annoying throughtout the book, Edward is a little bit too creepy for me, and then I find their love disturbing on how much obsession they have for each other. I think this book shouldn’t have been focus around vampires because even though it is mentioned several times that Edward and his family are vampires, in true reality according to other vampire books, wouldn’t Edward or his family immediately sucked Bella’s blood because I don’t think animal blood would truely satisfy then at all. So overall, without reading the other three books, it’s lame and I’ll just stick to the Anne Rice books for an actual vampire romance book, thank you.
mmm.. this is mostly true but we weren’t thinking about the supposed implied messages while reading. That’s the real beauty of the series (not Edward&Bella’s twu wub as the movie posters and newspaper articles are promoting, I must say), that you forget about everything and relax. Once you finish the book, you want more, so you buy the next one. That’s Meyer’s secret recipe and the reason for Twilight’s success.
I don’t know if you read shoujo manga, but they’re really crappy-yup crappier than Twilight- in their portrayal of girls. Especially the erotic ones, like Mayu Shinjo’s stuff. From a logical point of view, they’re quite insulting to us girls (the sexual assaults are actual rapes, not just a stolen kiss like jake did with bella). but its not to be taken seriously, simple fantasy. if youre not intelligent enough to distinguish reality from fantasy, thats your problem, not the books fault.
to be true, I think I’ve seen worse than Bella both in real life and fiction, so I just enjoy it. Once you’ve seen pure rubbish, you simply lower your expectations on everything. That’s it.
On B/E—I agree. their relationship is just perfect on the surface but there’s no solid basis for it and the dynamics are all wrong. It’s unhealthy, co-dependent and highly idealized, not to mention boring as heck. When re-reading New Moon and Eclipse, I skip all the E/B scenes. Yawn.
Plus, I fail to see why many girls think it’s so “special†and “true love-ishâ€. When Jake takes Eddies place in the next book, she becomes just as clingy and pathetic over him as she was with Edward. She even uses the exact same words to describe her relationship with Jake than hers with Edward: “I needed him (Edward/Jacob, take a pick) like a drug.†So, her relationship with Edward isn’t really special, not even in its creepy co-dependence. Bella is needy with every man she falls “in love†with. Charlie was right. She needs therapy.
That doesn’t mean I don’t like Twilight. There are enough reasons to like it as there are to dislike it. And I don’t think Meyer meant for us to analyze it, you know?
Inverse effect there.
I think I love you.
o)_(o
I also commend you on your bravery! I could barely even handle an excerpt from the first book, let alone the entire series… *shudders* Just thinking about it makes me nauseous. I agree with, I think, everything you said about the series based on what I’ve heard about it. I don’t even care if it makes me a hypocrite; I refuse to read such… such… >.< I can’t even think of the word for it. Drivel comes to mind.
It’s cliched and wrong and, personally, I think of it as a very bad fan fiction. I hear about the series nearly everyday during school, even during my AP English 12 class. A few of the more courageous students want to put it on the AP curriculum. Seriously, what the hell? I can understand wanting to add the Harry Potter series; the last few books were decently written, I suppose, though not really what I wanted to read. It can actually be analyzed, at least. But Twilight? Pardon me, but I don’t find the thought of being forced to read it appealing in the slightest.
=_=
And don’t feel offended by those airheaded idiots posting their own disbanded weak defenses against your very well-placed attack. Why that series even became a bestseller, I shall never know… where did all the good critics go? *shakes head sadly* Hope you get this.
My friend and I seriously want to buy you tulips and declare our undying love for you! Oh, I wish I could hug you! This article really brightened our day!
And I’ve read it more than three times, so I should know…
^.^
I’m so happy to read your article. I attend high school surrounded everyday by girls who caring at least one of those books around! I was persuaded by a few friends of mine to read the book; I did like the cover so I figured why not. About 100 pages in I close the book and throw it to ground. I couldn’t believe I wasted about an hour or so of my life reading that excrement! Not to poke fun at any of the Twilight fans (I do know quite a few of them) or their opinions of the book, but that is simply not my cup of tea. (And I don’t care too much for Harry Potter after the third book.)
But, you have to give Meyer credit. She sure knows how to make a profit off of the teenaged female masses!
wikipedia.org
“First and foremost, the books present a female heroine who can hardly take a step without needing some boy to rescue her. In fact, the books represent sexist views in almost every way-from the fact that Bella gives up her ambitions and plans for college to get married to Edward, the fact that she is portrayed as a modern Eve, begging the noble, moral gentleman for sex while he desires to preserve their virtue, the fact that their relationship is dangerously unhealthy, and finally to the fact that nearly every single female character in the book is a hopelessly negative caricature.”
You’re forgetting that this is written by a HOUSEWIFE. The worse kind of woman there is.
geez. y can’t u suckers just get over it? let the teens like thier book for gawd’s sake. teens, don’t take it personally, this bitch has some attention seeking issues.
OMG!! exactly what i had inmind!
mindblowing article !!! and a definate read!!! Good joB!
I did not find it suitable for the 12 yr old young girls… sort of makes them fantasize im sure! but still not a very good job by meyer frm the first book itself!
Harry Potter WINS!
You hit the nail on the head, dear writer! THis is all 100% true!
Unfortunatly, this book, for insicure teens at least, is too much of an escape, and we’re too hypnotized… for a bit anyway.
I’m in the middle of thanking god that I’m a teen writer, because after a few weeks, I realized just how bad this series was and how the hopelessly romantic characters I wrote when I was 13 (Which I have fixed since I started high school so that they’re not NEARLY as bad now) had more depth.
Honestly, I have seen far more engaging, well written stories on fanfiction.net, fictionpress.com and deviantart. Stephenie Meyers gives teen writers everywhere a worse name than we already have gotten. And I thought it was enough of a pain to get accepted before…
I am a teenage girl. And I dissaprove Twilight and it’s fangirls/boys (read: fanGIRLS/BOYS) nearly as much as I dissaprove homophobes and bible-thumpers.
Your essay was wonderful my dear and bless you for taking the time and being brave enough to write it in spite of the semi-literate rants of these poor misguided Twihards, or whatever the hell they are.
That S Meyer’s “work” was published is a prime example of how low the publishing industry will go to make an easy buck. The really sad part is that it DOES make an easy buck, which goes a long way to skew my outlook on the basic intelligence of humanity.
Every point you made was concise and well evidenced. Your writing was clear and eloquent – unlike S Meyer.
Not only are you right on the money about the horrendous role models these books put forward but her take on relationships simply stupid and she glorifies outright stalking as way to illustrate deep and abiding love.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Meye’s ability to actually craft a logical, coherent story fails at every turn. Her characters are cardboard and pandering to adolescent fantasies. Her sentence structure is abysmal, she engages in random head-hopping and even though it’s written in first person, the narrator is somehow also omniscient and can tell you what other people are thinking and often describes the expression on her own face without the benefit of a mirror.
Meyer’s writing style makes Da Vinci Code look like Shakespeare and her editor should bitch-smacked. The example she sets for thousands, maybe even millions of teenagers is that the best way to get published is to suck.
HAHA SHE IS SUCH A JK-WANNABE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SM YOU BIG ASSHOLE, MARY SUE ALIAS BELLA AND GARY STU ALIAS EDWARD CAN GO TO HELL
OHH AND PLEASE TAKE SOME WRITING LESSONS RIGHT?
I HAVE 14 YEARS OLD AND I WRITE MUCH BETTER THAN YOU!!
TWILIGHT SUCK SUCK SUCK
TWILIGHT WILL NEVER BE HP RETARDED!!
HP ALL THE WAY, IT ROCKS MY WORLD
JK I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH YOU ARE PERFECT (OBVIOUSLY IN A GOOD WAY NOT LIKE STUPID BELLA HAHA) PLEASE CONTINUE THE HP BOOKS :'( I LOVE YOU!
TEAM HP
TEAM JK
TWILIGHT SUCK
SM SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KELLEN RICE..
MARRY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE MY HERO!
sana infect millions
“YOU JUST THINK TOO MUCH JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE ! ”
Seriously, you should…stop thinking. Just cease all brain function. That is a really wonderful life lesson that I have learned from the more, er, loyal fans of Twilight. Something else I learned is that the quality and worth of things can be determined by their popularity. Truly, hopefully you too will see the grave error in your ways, and hail this series as the second coming of Christ, BECAUSE I TOLD U 2 IN CAPS!!!!
Meyers coppied Bram Stoker from his book Dracula. His vampire brides having “honey sweet breath” in Dracual and in Twilight all the vampires have honey sweet breath.
I hate Twiligh.
You know “YOU THINK TOO MUCH JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!” will go down in time as the best Fangirl line ever. EVER.
LOL MC!
The fact that some people are CAPSLOCKING only makes it seem like they are nervous that the writer of this article may be correct after all. Silly deluded fangirls. Meyer may try to paint Bella as a mature, lovable protagonist.
It’s the opposite. Bella by the end of the third book is just so thrilled about getting into Edward’s freaking pants. Bella doesn’t care alot about her firends. She whine and loses her mind when Edward freaking leaves. She gets obsessed over his voice so much she would do dangerous things to hear it again (New Moon). Unanimously, 6o percent of the people I know hate Bella’s guts. 80 percent says she’s a weak character. Edward doesn’t fascinate me that much. If anything, his parental, controlling attitude creeps me out.
I don’t care if someone wants to go STFU and disagree because THIS is the real world. Bella is practically Meyer’s Mary Sue. I mean come on, “widow’s peak, brown hair, heart shaped face.” Oh yea, the last book…SUCKED ASS
Laters.
“YOU THINK TOO MUCH JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!â€
that’s the stupidest line anyone could have said. You want us to cease brain function? To the person way above, pick up some Stephen King or Mark Twain and start using your fucking brain for once. Plus, the QUality of BOOKs are NOT determined by their popularity!
No sé ingles… perdon! pero queria expresar mi opinion sin que los fanaticos se me echen encima y éste es un buen lugar.
Yo me compré el libro por una amiga que estaba obsesionada y me enganché pero no me parecio la gran cosa. HabÃa leido tantos halagos (especialmente en cuanto al protagonista masculino) y resulta que es una novela rosa más, y peor escrita.
Como dijeron allá arriba. No es que la pareja de Edward y Bella en concepto esté mal, pero me molesta ver que la escritora no supo escribir bien la historia. Hago un stop ahà para mirar bien, y no veo amor. Veo lujuria y es muy superficial el enamoramiento de ambos, no me parece suficiente para algo que esta vendido como “la mejor historia de amor jamás contada.†De modo que estoy decepcionada porque después de lo que habÃa oñdo decir del libro tenÃa otras expectativas.
Wow…Thanks for finally putting to words what all of us were thinking. I couldn’t even finish the first book, I was so disgusted with it.
I’ve grown up on vampire stories, most of the rather new, but any and all of them were a hundred times better than twilight.
Bella was an obvious Mary-Sue, as were most of the characters. She was too beautiful, everyone falling in love with her within half a second of seeing her, but…gasp…she was clumsy so that made her more realistic! And she had parent problems! YAY she a real hero now.
Please. I understand that this is supposed to pass for young adult fiction, but honestly! There are girls at my college who are swooning over these books. Has the world really sunk so literarily low that this trash fiction is now claimed to be the highest standards of writing? It’s absolutely pathetic.
Aside from the fact that i’ve read fanfiction that was written better and the majority of the characters had all the depth of a puddle, the plot line was awful as well. Girl meets vampire, they fall in love, vampire leaves her, she becomes suicidal, boy comes back and they fall in love only after he’s done manipulating her. It makes me upset that this is what girls now are basing their ideas and ideals off of, stuff that even the worst fan fiction author would scoff at.
SAVE THE VAMPIRES! BURN TWILIGHT!
And also…I just re-read the article and I don’t think anywhere in it she bashes the fans of the story, just the characters.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting a note that is far more realistic and eloquent than anything I have read by SM thus far! I whole-heartedly agree with your views on Bella. For a character who not only acts as the protagonist, but also as the narrator, one has to wonder why this average, clumsy, plain-looking girl has been afforded as much page space as she has.
The author’s biggest error, in my opinion, is that she has attempted to live vicariously through Bella, without ever giving the character a chance to grow as a person (or develop a personality for that matter). Bella is inadvertently revealed as a girl who is emotionally weak, superficial, needy, selfish, judgmental, whiny, dependent, irresponsible, immature…her list of virtues goes on and on. And yet, SM keeps reminding us that Bella is in fact intelligent (because she says so) and that she is mature and responsible (um, again, because she says so), and so forth.
I suppose that my biggest issue with the Twilight series (and I swear, I have NEVER gotten this angry over a work of fiction) is not the myriad of obvious character flaws that Bella exhibits, but rather that she never rises above them. I held out some hope that by the forth installment of the series Bella would 1) develop a sense of humour, if not somewhat of a personality, and 2) discover who she is as a person and realize that while she may love her *possessive, jealous, equally dull* boyfriend/husband, she is not an extension of him and she need not be dependent on his constant presence like a parasite!
Let me say that when I read fiction, I tend to take it more lightly than this, because as engrossing as the story may be, a book is just a book. The Twilight series, however, has left me wondering (and worrying slightly) why a book with so few merits could become a huge sensation. Bella exhibits the exact qualities that most responsible parents would NOT want to instill in their daughters. What makes the story-line infinitely worse is not only that Bella never defeats her (overlooked) vices, but also that she is richly rewarded for them, both literally and figuratively. I’m now 23 and can both honestly and humbly say that while I was in my teens (as are most of SM’s fans) I was far more impressionable and lovelorn. Loving with intensity is wonderful, but not when you have to sacrifice your identity for the experience. My emotions (not to mention my self-respect) took a real shit-kicking when I exhibited Bella’s traits, as they have with countless other women who unconsciously tried to apply the fairy-tale formula to their real lives. You all know how it looks: fragile, obedient, desperate, malleable woman + handsome, possessive (er, “lovingâ€), strong man = match made in Heaven…or Hell, take your pick.
So, in conclusion to my bitchy yet incredibly satisfying rant, I want to assure you (and any loyal readers who are most likely angered by my blunt comments) that I’m not a raging feminist, nor am I adverse to happy endings or works of fantasy. Fiction and fairy tales are a beautiful and therapeutic escape, and when a novel is well written it is easy to befriend the characters and become their silent cheerleaders. Unfortunately, SM offered us a protagonist who is even harder to identify with than any of the mythical creatures in the series. Bella’s feeble qualities at the beginning of the series only worsen over time, and behaviour patterns that may once have seemed understandable, or perhaps even charming, become utterly detestable. I’d call this story an epic farce if only it hadn’t been intended as an earnest love story. I sincerely hope that I don’t read of too many more protagonists who effectively taint otherwise-good books!
It is the easiest thing in the world to laugh at Twilight. It isn’t very well written, and the author is not afraid to indulge in her own fantasy fulfillment. And on the surface the female hero, Bella, is too feminine for some women to identify with. But there is a solid reason this book will be chosen over other, maybe better written, books, it is fun and it is honest.
The fiesty, argumentative romance that has the man chasing the woman for two hundred pages for no apparent reason, since she likes him anyway, is sickeningly overdone. Its refreshing to have the woman admit that she loves the man as soon as she feels it. They fall in love for the reason we all do; Chemistry.
Bella is strong and brave, She faces a killer to save her mom, and she wants to be a vampire despite Edwards strongest objection.
Bella never does unnecessary drama. She never says weird BS like ” I love you but I am afraid of you taking over my life!”. Who the heck can relate to that? When have you been upset because your man is too helpful, too wealthy, or too concerned about you?
And best of all she actually admits to wanting to be a vampire instead of hating the idea of eternal youth, but accidently almost dying and becoming a vampire anyway like a good girl is supposed to.
Like I say; The book is honest.
Huh? How do you know it is unrealistic for a vampire to sire a child or hunt in heels and a party dress? First of all they are mythical creatures whose existence is not based on physics, but metaphysics. Secondly they do not exist. The writer needs for her creations to hold true to whatever baseline she gives, and they do just that.
The book does not describe a perfect, shrink approved relationship, no one would read about that. But since you are big on reality, the relationship in the book is quite realistic. No one is saying that it is good to get depressed when the love of your life leaves. What is true is that you will. Not everyone believes in relationships with any man you are compatible with. Some people really do have soulmates without whom they can not be happy. There are good and bad points to such relationships. There is however nothing wrong with telling 12 year old girls that such relationships do exist, because they do. This review is completely subjective. Never once do you explain why you think as you do. I think it is quite realistic to fall in love like Edward or Bella. In fact more so then friends becoming romantic over time is very unusual in my experience. Maybe it is some feminist ideal you hold, but it certainly isn’t true for most couples. I am not saying it never happens, but it is rare.
I don’t agree with the person above (Manda). Bella would throw away her entire life all for her very first boyfriend? How long did they even take to know each other anyway? It felt too rushed. The plot of the story is also way overdone. Seriously, from the love triangles to the whole hate-love deal Meyer presents at the beginning. I’ve read countless vampie/beast novels and I found tidbits inside Twilight that could’ve easily been rewritten. Don’t forget Japanese manga and anime overdoes it to the extent it becomes plain boring.
Bella not being dramatic is something I didn’t get. Bella is the ultimate drama queen. She jumps off a cliff when Edward leaves, verge of insanity or suicide. She needed professional help, if she’s going to stay a dead shell for months ignoring her friends and having her father grow anxious over her like that. I would hate to have her as my daughter. She then clings like a parasite to Jacob as a substitute for her former boyfriend. When she meets Edward again, she is all too happy to see him, forgiving him instantly when I would have pissed at him for trying to kill himself. Maybe they are made for each other after all, two lovesick dramatic teens. That’s sickening.
A good girl is supposed to die and live for eternity as a blood sucking creature? What about the good girl who realizes that life is not all about enjoying yourself as a mythological goddess vampire? A girl who will aprreciate what she already has instead of treating everyone around her like dirt for her own short time pleasures. Meyer could have done a better job.
What gives you the idea that Bella gives up her life to be with Edward? She seems to know what she wants exactly. It was Edwards idea that she go to college and grow older and live an ordinary human life. She wanted to become a vampire. Instead of that she wanted to be a part of the coven as Edwards mate. And she got exactly what she wanted. That certainly isn’t a bad plan. It doesn’t mean she couldn’t go to school or have a career IF that was later her choice. I think what she wanted has plenty of merit. It may be a shallow choice, although I don’t think it is, but it is very very much her own choice and a very beneficial one to herself. She isn’t losing but gaining by that choice. What is she giving up? And please don’t give me cliche answers like “her sense of self” unless you can prove she gives up her sense of self by getting everything she asked for. Maybe you would have asked for something different from life, but that doesn’t mean she has to want what you want.
I never defended the writing style. Its a bit overdone.
But you need to explain yourelf better. Bella risks her life to save her mom. Bella takes care of her dad, and even is willing for her dad to hate her in order to have him safe. Bella sends herself away in order her mom be happy. How do you decide that she treats people like dirt? She is nice to everyone I can think of.
Edward never hates Bella. He is tempted be her and tried to keep away, then makes up his mind tht he doesn’t want to. A simple decision.
Bella doesn’t put herself in danger to be dramatic. She smply can’t live without Edward, it isn’t her choice. You might not like relationships like that, and that is OK. But they exist.
There are already millions of books about the hero and the heroine chasing each other and arguing and the guy chases the woman, and she wants to be independant. Do we need another one? Do you think that is the only “right” kind of relationship? Thats very closed minded. In any case there is lots of love at first sight. I can’t make you believe it exists, but it does.
I don’t think you understood what I said about the good girl wanting to be a vampire. My whole point is that good girls are NOT allowed to want that. In books they usually “accidently” become vampires to avoid them wanting it.
I am saying any sane person would want that. You can not keep yourself from your dreams to stay with your parents. That is crazy. I am saying it is refreshing Bella admits to wanting it. She obviously would never do anything to hurt anyone and makes precautions. I don’t understand why ou insist she shouldn’t want that. She certainly doesn’t do it for Edwrd but for herself. It is what she needs to be happy. She also needs him. There is nothing wrong with needing someone. Not in my book.
One more thing, Vanessa. Iam definitely not saying this as a bad judgement: If you really think that life for good girls is not about enjoying themselves as whatever they wish to be, and that you should be happy with what you have and not go looking for more, and you don’t believe in Love at first sight, then I am sorry. I hope you change your mind some day.
Hi, Mandy ; / heeehee
OK…so Bella is both too forgiving, and too agreeable, but she is too selfish, and too capable of treating everyone like dirt to get what she wants? LOL. I am sorry but does anyone else see the contradiction?
I resent that fact that to be an empowered female you must go to college & have a career. I don’t think Bella was particularly interested in going to college in the first place. It was just something that was expected of her by her parents & society so she was obligingly going to do it. What the heck is wrong with wanting to get married? There is no shame in that & it’s her choice. She has the power to make that choice for herself, even though society might look down on her & gossip! Frankly I wasn’t interested in going to college either. I did some just because it was expected of me as an AP student; but I resented the fact that I would be looked down upon if I didn’t supposedly fulfill my potential & become an engineer or something stupid & uninteresting like that! Dang it! I wanted an adventure, I wanted to get married, I wanted to do what I wanted & not be dictated to. So I did choose to get married & I got a job that interested me. I won’t be forcing my daughters to go to college just because society says you should. Also, as much as I love the works of Jane Austen I don’t necessarily subscribe to the notion that all “great works of literature†are anything great at all. A lot of it is stupid crappy writing that is totally uninteresting & pointless to read, but if you don’t agree then you are just considered not well-read enough to appreciate it. That’s another problem I have with college institutions; they claim to be some open-minded & thinking outside of the box, but heaven help you if you dare to disagree with their opinions. No I don’t think Bella wanted to go to college at all; it was just something to do, something that was expected of her. Shame on her that she wasn’t feminist enough to do what society expected of her. Be empowered & make your own choices & don’t be a mindless sheep of a feminist.
I don’t think that you really understand the world and events in the Twilight series. You only saw what you wanted to see. There are not many love stories where there is not a “damsel in distress” moment. Even adult authors use damsel in distress stories in their novels about love. Just because you don’t understand the Twilight series doesn’t mean that you have to bash it. And just because one character plays a damsel in distress does not mean that everyone who has read this book thinks that gender equality has been set back 200 years. You cannot possibly think that many of the teenagers that are reading these books are thinking about gender equality while reading. And just because you think that it’s been set back 200 years does not mean that EVERYONE thinks that.
This writer is a butt! I understand expressing your views, but this is WAY TOO MUCH!!!!!! This series is a compelling love story about two people who over come their personal problems. When I first heard that vampires were involved, I was a little worried. But now that I have read the series, I understand that it is just a great love story. No one looks at the fact that Bella was a bit eccentric, but they look at her dedication and hopefulness. It isn’t centered around vampires either. It is centered around two “people” that love each other compassionately. If you do not like the way this series is written, you should just move onn and not read it. It is a matter of personal opinion. My opinion is that it is a great story for all teens. If a few teens do not like it, that is their opinion. In this case, these teens should just keep their opinions to themselves. Also, when teenagers read this series, they are not looking to follow any examples. If a person is going to listen to EVERYTHING they hear in a book, then maybe they shouldn’t read this type of book. No one is REALLY about to go out and try cliff diving if they get dumped by their boyfriend or girlfriend. That is just the kind of person Bella is. She is melodramatic at heart. If YOU had been married to someone for 40 years, don’t you think you would still have feelings for them if they divorced you? Even though Bella has not been with Edward that long, that is almost where their bond is in a relationship standing. She was distraught. Most people in that situation would be, only different people handle it in different ways. This is also not fair to the series because theis person just doesn’t understand the series. If you don’t understand it, that’s one thing, but you shouldn’t slam it. This writer shoud be told exactly what this series is about, because apparently, they are not thinking the same as most people. Most people are realizing what this series is really about, love. This basher, in my personal opinion, should learn more about what Stephenie Meyer was intending with the Twilight series. Once you really do that, then yoiu can slam this series. But until then, SHUT UP!!!!!
duh mind your own business….!!
enough with the ” I love you” bs. You don’t know what your talking about. Your nineteen and you seriously need to open your eyes. Get over yourself and open your eyes to what the story is really about. Stop talking about this feminist bull shit. Stephenie meyer never had any intentions to make bella (women in general) have be negative character at all. You seriously need to be open minded and stop judging when your way off what the story truly resembles. Go back to school and take a literature class.
[…] my issues with this book (and the rest of the series) far better than I can in her blog, here. I’m still going to rant a bit though, because this book left me with such a sick feeling […]
[…] Kellen Rice […]
(In advance, sorry about the english)
I agree in many of your points, but to think that the actions or decisions that Bella did in the series can be made for every girl who read it is absurd. I read it and I don’t hate it, and I know that if my boyfriend dumps me I have to move on… not to kill myself.
This is only a story!!! That’s it! It’s romantic, like no many stories right now, it’s good! And the proof is that you ran to buy the last book of the series to the library… ha ha ha
i belive you are tottaly wrong twilight is about a FICTIONAL love story i loved the books because i love fictional books so you can say what you like but i agree with someone i forget who has commented that you are close minded twilight is fictional us girls and few boys can dream of a relationship like bella and edwards but we may not get one or may but minus the vampire its fictional get it threw your head fictional i dont know why you wasted your time writing that article because its a fictional book not real.
thats my point of veiw and i hope many others can agree with me please reply to my if you agree or disagree at exarox@hotmail.com
omg you are soooooooooooooooooooo stupid the twilight serise is amazing it is no sexist what book were you reading did u lose your ming or something. these books were alsome. and dont bash stephene meyer do u make 1 million dollors well she did off these books so hahaha
Check out all of this pointless discussion! True the book is fantasy, and doesn’t relate much to reality, but the sheer amount of conviniet plot armour turned me off this series.
Not only that, but regardless of fiction vs. reality you Haters and Twihards scream, the fact is Bella is the typical “Plain but not plain at all by design”. She is weak minded, clueless and selfless to point of ignorance and idiocy. She is without a doubt – stupid.
I can say that stories like these are just god awful, that are designed to target the teens desire for “true love” and a obviously shallow attempted at romantic conflict.
Stubbornly getting angry at this writer for her interpretation of the book is both pointless and arrogant.
To Alysa, Your views can also be interpretted as Bella being naive, stupid, selfish, hopelessly hopeful of love and immature.
This is fiction that is true, but any teenager who thinks that this is how you should be needs a pyschiatrist.
although i haven’t actually read the book, i’ve seen it loads of times in the bookstore and now…almost all the girls in our school are hunched over the friggin’ book! first impressions for me on this book is that it’s lame, and from the way they talk about it, it’s definitely lame.
i’d read books about vampires but not meyer’s. compare it with anne rice’s, it’s nothing. my point is, her giving a whole new definition of what vampires are is truly a ludicrous thing to do.
as for meyer’s accomplishments, it’s just like how rowling did it. it’s having an imagination of a 16-year-old in a body of a whatever-middle-ager.
Good call on the Twilight craze. You are my personal hero.
Urgh! Get over yourselves, seriously! It’s a book and I’m pretty sure we are not going to go back to those anti-feminist ways. Your stupid feminist rants are just making it harder for women as now we’ll all be catorgorised as psycho feminists who are too overwhelmed in the feminist movement to go on with anything else. Stephenie Meyer was just having a bit of fun and you honestly can not talk if you bothered to read it. You knew what was coming in the second, third and fourth installments and yet you still chose to read it. You should be utterly ashamed of yourself. You’re obssessed with womens rights and you need to take off your pathetic feminist hat when you read texts because it’s absurd and you’re ruining it for yourself. You’re never going to find a husband with those crazy views, but all the best to you. I hope you get into your ivy league school and become the next female president and continue to write, because although i hate what your saying, I some what enjoy retaliating which means you’ve probably done your purpose.
x o x o.
oh good lord, here we go again…..
can you fan girls think up a new line other than “it’s just Fiction!!!”
and my favorite ” Stop thinking so much”!!!!
well i’m sorry i didn’t know we couldn’t state how we saw this pathetic story!!!
i mean can someone please point out where this supposed love is????!!!
can you fangirls?? with your low self-esteem selves who can’t possibly try to see our views???
because notice, look at girls who actually love themselves, they look at bella as pathetic, they obviously see that it’s not alright to fall in love with a person you just met!!! that you’ll give up your whole life for one boy!!! especially if he left her he’s manupulative
because that’s how i saw it, these are girls that don’t love “every single” part of themselves!!! and it’s truly sad.
what so bella and edward are in love??? really???
because i saw obession, pure and simple
can bella tell us anything about edward other than “he’s perfect”
what’s his favorite color???
how did he live his life through the years????
listen to us Fangirls: YOU DON’T NEED A MAN TO BE COMPLETE!!!
well i know i don’t need to act like he’s the ‘only thing in my world’
because my mom and dad taught me that and i’m grateful but it seems you fangirls need to have a nice chat with your parents about relationships, because they can tell what true love is than a book that has pages upon pages about how hot a guy looks, i mean, can you honestly tell me what that story was about other than how ‘hot’ edward was because yall have a blurred vision of it, but i suppose you would, since you can’t see past edwards gay sparkelyness
and remember girls : “Real Men Don’t Sparkle”
You, my friend, WIN. EPICLY.
I actually love the irony of the Twitards. If you criticize it, they yell, “OMG SHUT UP IT’S JUST A BOOK DFJKHSJDFHKDSJ”, but they fangirl about Edward so much, we have to tell them, “It’s just a book. He’s not real.”
Twilight it not a saga. Smeyer fails. Shut up. Go masturbate to a picture of Rpattz.
To all the people who know me from LJ: ONTD_TWATLIGHT 4 LIFE BBS! TRUFAX
Special shoutout to my not-twat wifey, euphoricapathy!
well i actually read this review awhile ago and typed a response with my friend. But i have a few things I would like to add, and in general, would like you all to think about very deeply. Well for starters, I am a Twilighter myself, but I’m not gonna go all A-wall on u guys… i just would like to state that this is a book is something someone wrote. Stephenie Meyer wrote this for people to read, and no reason other. She wan’t trying to state things and be negative, which u guys are being. She was just tying to write a story that hopefull one person would enjoy, because that’s her job. And obviouly there were going to be some people who didn’t like the book. But for u guys to create a site just for that is awful. Imagine if I read Hamlet, a very famous book, and created a site about why it sucked. Thats disrespective because the author was a resprective being that i just said wrote a piece of crap. And u no wat? U guys are awful, because wat u r doing is trying to put people down. And all Stephenie did was write something for people to enjoy, and u sit here writing negative things about it because i believe u r jeaulous. Well u r a bitch.
So, I”m just sitting here trying to read some of these other people’s comments and I can’t make it through anymore, because, honestly, don’t angry fangirls have spellcheckers too. Seriously, there’s no point in bashing something like this, it makes no sense and only makes you seem like an illiterate fool.
By the way, talking in all caps doesn’t make your point any less feeble.
Go “whoever wrote this article’!
Go Away fangirls!
Damn. I forgot to make another point, someone up there said that Meyer wasn’t writing Midnight Sun because she already had enough fans. This is untrue,in reality it’s not being released because someone leaked it onto the internet when they weren’t supposed too.
oopsies. Looks like there’s not more food for hungry Twilight fans
Hmm..
This article made me re-think it over.
o.o
-blinks-
Wow.
You’re absolutely right!!
I mean.. as much as I LOVE this saga..
The plotting.. and the nonsense Bella says.. thinks..
I dunno.
There are times that I feel frustrated..
But then again.. Stephenie Meyer is an author.
She has her own view of things.
She has her own way to write a story.
It’s NON-FICTION
and very FANTASY-like.
I’m not saying you’re wrong. I actually agree with you.. 99.9% or.. alittle lower. o.o
ohh by the way considering you’re all looking at how sexes treat eachother in the book, i’m surprised that you haven’t picked up on the fact that your all calling them “fangirls”… A bit sexist wouldn’t you say. You’re assuming guys don’t read the books. You’re all a bunch of twats. X.
NEVER better said. I knew this book was a distaster and a worst thing to ever grace pages in this world, but I was never sure how to inform someone. When all else fails– I’ll send them your way. ;D
I love you.
I don’t know how much typing just giving the link saves me from…
And you’ve covered it better than I ever could.
~NOTE TO ALL WHO ARE CALLING HER A FAKE/ASSHOLE/Whatever.
Grow up.
Get over yourselves.
You’re not going to marry Edward.
You are not Bella.
Act your age.
>_>
Must I say more?
((If you even read these comments, and if you ever want to email me, feel free :D))
As someone who actually writes (as a hobby though), I can give my own educated opinion on the story that is th Twilight Series. I’ve heard about it from girls, read her website, looked through the books, etc. As a fellow writer, I understand the amount of work that goes into most books. However, she is a bad writer, not for the book content (more on that later), but has a veritable crapload, excuse my French, of grammatical mistakes. the overall quality leaves something to be desired. One of the first rules of fiction is to give a clear image in as few words as possible. This does NOT mean four adjectives for just about every single noun. I am writing my own vampire story independantly. It is about the devil knight, Gideon and his old friend Anne. I won’t bore you with plot details, but these are some excerpts
Character descriptions:
Anne-Under the cowl of the hood were two dull red eyes. The wind whipped off the cloak to reveal a young woman who appeared in her mid twenties with dark hair that hung loosely to her neck and curled up at the ends. She dressed plainly in a simple blue dress with slit thighs to allow freedom of movement and a mottled gray flak vest…it could be seen that her canines were elongated into fangs, bloody fangs
Gideon-In the dark depths of Hell, starving vampires were staring longingly toward the figure tormenting them. The devil wore a black trench coat slit at the bottom with an immaculate white long-sleeved dress shirt and pair of brown trousers completed its outfit. Moving on to the features of this tormentor, it had an unremarkable mop of neatly trimmed brown hair, its face was what others would refer as roughish, especially so with the scar running horizontally across its cheek. The eyes were as gray and featureless as an ocean.
Gideon pissed off when Anne is heavily injured-
In his hands, reality blurred and a new weapon appeared. It was a length of bladed chain with long links serving as grips on the end. The chains rattled as Gideon walked forward, spinning the chain in a circle around him. He said in a quiet, harsh voice,â€I don’t take kindly to those who attack myself or my friends.â€
A slightly romantic moment in it-
After asking other people for several hours, Gideon and Anne stood on the pier where the glow of lamps and streetlights highlighted the beauty of the night shy. Most respectable people had retired by this time. They sat gazing toward the stars on one of the wrought iron benches. The warm glow of streetlights hung around them in a pool of light. “How long until the flames of war must be stoked again? How long until the smoke is not of cooking food, but of the ashes of the slain?†said Gideon.
“War is sad and brutal. I’ve seen more death and destruction than anyone deserves to see,†said Anne said while watching the stars. Gideon pulled out a large piece of hardtack without any worms and began to eat it while breaking off bits to feed to the pigeons. For a while, the worries of the world seemed to slip away as the two sat on the bench watching the stars and enjoying each other’s company.
please attempt to say twilight beats that in any way.
PS I own my story, so don’t even attempt to pirate it.
Since it is published on the internet, it is automatically copywrited.
You are so right! Twilight is the suckiest form of prose (if you could call it that) there is! I only read the first book and some of New Moon… and I was disgusted. Bella is apparently “plain” enough to have all the male characters fall for her. If that was the way the world worked, instead of pretty girls being the target of liking, I would probably be very much popular with the guys!
And about Bella being in her “zombie” phase… when my first (and only) boyfriend broke up with me, I was unfazed!
Bella Swan, you are a Mary Sue. Admit it. I’m glad that hellspawn of a baby broke your bones and nearly killed you. HA!
Anyway, Kellen Rice, I love you. You are completely in your right mind. Live long!
Peace.
Wait… HOLY CRAP! Tara Gilesbie submitted a review?! Wow.
She likes Twilight? No surprise there…
She was the one that wrote that god-awful fanfic: My Immortal. -_-‘
Baka.
so much love in hating something. you do realise, by talking about it.. whatever
team edward!
hahah!!
its weird how i completely agree with pretty much everything here. (though not the biological possibilities of bella getting pregnant – i dont get why its being discussed at all, WHO CARES?!!.. vampires dont exist!! stop trying to make sense of it!)
The completely odd thing, though. Im in love with the series. They make sense to me.. not sure what way that might be. i mean yes, alls fake and faaar from reality. but i dont really.. CARE. Its so intense in terms of intimacy, love, even sex.. relationships.. some parts of it made sense to me. And im glad it did.. because it gave me much to think about, in a way i would have never thought possible on my own. but erm,
POINT being, its FUN.
I totally agree with the writer. I read the book because I heard from some people that it was the best series ever and the fact that it is often compared to Harry Potter.
Fans may say that the story is supposed to be unrealistic because it is about vampires. However, just because it has this element of fantasy does not mean it shouldn’t be taken in a realistic sense. Every event is too perfect. Charlie allows Bella to do whatever she wants, the dialogues have no interruption, Bella ends up attracting a million guys even though she is “plain” and has no interest in them.
Of course it’s frightening to think that people actually value it as a literary masterpiece. Some fans say that they’re analyzing the book in their English class. Seriously????
Oh and Twilight could not even stand a round with Harry Potter.
I enjoyed reading the story. It was a nice escape from reality. I don’t see why we need to over-analyze it.
The author of this review is a brilliant woman. She has written an honest review for possibly one of the worst books I’ve ever had the displeasure to read.
I first started Twilight because my friend would rave for hours about how magnificent it was. I thought, why not? Give it a try. Oh, how I wish I hadnt.
I reached page 286, and just completely stopped. The beginning was upsetting enough.
Bella is the most pathetic excuse for a female heroine I’ve ever experienced. She can barely walk on her own two feet. Every other second she would need Edward to come to her rescue. He even had to carry her to the nurse’s office.
I also dont see how nearly every male character in the book is in love with her when she is so plain and pale. If there’s nothing special about her, then why is she the center of all these boys’ worlds?
Bella also whines a lot. “Oh, it’s too green. Oh, Forks is such a stupid small town.” The least she can do is be thankful a town is so accepting of her. I would’ve kicked her ass out in the beginning of the book.
Another thing, Edward is an asshole. She’s annoying and irritating and is always yelling at her for one thing or another. If she isnt scared of him, why doesnt she yell back? I mean, have some respect for yourself! There is never a reason for someone to sit there and let someone degrade you, and not say anything back to them.
All this, and I didnt even finish the first book. I just couldnt stomach another page of that drivel.
It sickens me that people my age actually can sit there and read this to the end. Not only that, but to enjoy it. What I read here only made me hate the series (and Bella) worse.
While you make a few good points, you have failed to make me lose my love and interest in the Twilight series. While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, and may express it however you wish, I would just like to point out the fact that there is considerable fault in your claim that the Twilight series is sexist. If Meyer had written about an unfortunately clumsy boy, I find it hard to believe that you would have found that version sexist in any way. Women have fought for our rights and to be treated as equals to the male sex. The time for feminism is past. If we truly want to be equal, then we need to stop complaining about portrayals of womanhood that we would find acceptable if they were about males. If we do so, doesn’t that make US sexist? Lets not become the very thing we’re trying to provent, OK?
This article rocks!!!
KELLEN RICE YOU ARE MY HERO!!!! YOU GO!!! SCREW EVERYONE ELSE!!!
GODDAMN FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Anasazi said, “I enjoyed reading the story. It was a nice escape from reality.” However, I still can’t get over the fact that (Yes I know it is a fictional series) Bella got pregnant!!! COME ON! We all know how the male organ works… Does he have a 24/7 hard-on then? How come no one ever noticed? And his sperm was still good for procreation purposes???? Give me a break!!! Lol
Hiiii !!
I’ve read the ‘Twilight’ books. When I first read them, I thought they were completely amazing. For about two months, that’s what I thought. [Except for not the final book in the series. No. Even if you were an obsessed ‘Twilight’ fanmaniac you could see the horrid mess that was ‘Breaking Dawn.’] But then I read other books, with more depth, and much better description [Like, ‘The Host.’ Which is also by SM. So, I guess I haven’t completely given up on her.] And now I see the problem. I agree with about half of the stuff you have said here. I still like the first book in the series, though. I have a hard time letting things go, but I’m sure that will enventually pass. I must say, you are a very brave person. I hope none of the ‘Twilight’ obsessed people have chewed you out yet. Yikes. That would scare a person. =D
Isn’t it creepy that jacob falls in love with bella’s daughter?? I mean ewww, he used to love and kiss bella, for gods sake!
I totally agree with you and I love you for saying those things.
I personally think that Edward’s ok because sa dami ng mga barumbadong lalake sa mundo, maraming mga babae (ok kasama na ako doon) ang nangangarap ng sarili nilang Edward. But I’m not that irrational like a stupid 12 or 14 year old girl. For heaven’s sake, college na ako. Wala akong time na maging fangirl . And I’ve also done my share on reading lots of books. Meyer’s work is so mediocre. Itapat mo lang ang isang Paulo Coelho book or James Patterson man lang, talo na si Meyer. Look at how thin those books are! Yet they are so full of meaning. I still don’t know why young girls go ga-ga over mediocrity. Oh yeah, they are young, they don’t know any better. Meyer shouldn’t have forced something like this to them. Hannah Montana already did that. lol
THANK YOU!
Ok, so I have to admit I read Twilight and even after this I will continue to read Twilight because I’m cheesy that way but OMG I never made the connection about that abusive relationship thing and if you’ve read Dreamland by Sarah Dessen which is about an abusive relationship (and I’ll be honest I had no idea it was about that cause it totally freaked me out when he first hit her) and it is sort of smiliar.
P.S. I would like to mention that while I do like Twilight I never really did understand the whole reason behind why people were so obssessed with it.
I agree completely.How do Twihards no see that Edward is not perfect?He never will be.Edward is abusive and controlling.Bella is much,much too clumsy.That’s cute around 5.It stops being cute around 9.Bella also acts like a whiny child.I don’t get the appeal about these books.My friends obsess over them.One would even want to kill me is I had a anti-Twilight shirt.Does Meyer know what she has created?
2Twihards:Twilight sucks.Get over it.No one cares if you little Twihards go around telling us Twilight haters to go to hell.Trust me,many people don’t care that you wish us to die over a book.Many people just laugh.I find it amusing how you can worship this crappily written book.
@Kellen Rice:I agree with this article.Edward/Bella is a horrible relationship to look up to.Edward is too controlling and abusive.
[…] What is constructive criticism, and where does it overstep the boundary between “criticism” and “attack”? I’m interested because of this. […]
Ur seriously wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the twilight series is the best series ever!!!!!!!!!! how could anyone not like the book that made me so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! everyone i no who has read it has fell in love with the books!!!!!!!!!!!!!! u must be stupid not to like it as the onlypart of this thatis bad is that it ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
u mustcome to ur senses as this book has gotpeople who hate reading to read it!!!!!!!!!!!! thatis how could stephanie meyer is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Louise : )
I sincerely hope that your comment was a joke (please tell me it’s a joke, I have a hard time interpreting sarcasm when it’s on the computer). The FACT that quality of writing in Twilight is mediocre and that the characters are stereotypical and underdeveloped are valid reasons for being upset with the series. If you want to defend the books then that’s fine, but seriously, learn to freakin’ write a grammatically correct sentence with proper spelling. By going on an incoherent tirade to defend a NOVEL, all you are doing is perpetuating a negative assumption about young girls (you know, that we’re too emotional and feeble).
Hi! I’m louise’s friend.
How dare you speak to her like that!
If you don’t like the books or have social issues or something, there’s no reason to take it out on someone else.
Vegetable rights and peace!
hi
heres some sarcasm for you see if u can interpret this.
I love you and i hate twilight. NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Huh. Ever notice how in New Moon, she actually saved Edward for a change. Weird how you could get that wrong. She also saved the day in Breaking Dawn. Huh. Wonder how you missed that. Well, your awful plots of the four books are full of flaws. Also, Bella is only weak because she is human. Notice how incredibly strong Alice and Rosalie are. You know, with all of my sarcasm right now, this just leads up to one thing: FUCK YOU
I’m sorry, but i don’t agree with anything you say. At all. I loved all four books and there are plenty of us out there who also enjoyed the series. I can’t wait to read more of Stephenie meyers books. So Fuck you all.
Typical fan response. I can’t stand that book, and what makes it even worst is that there’s a movie. It makes me feel better to know that there are a few sane people left in the world.
Wil u r so coool!!!!
i loved the series!!!!!!!
hav u read the host it is a preety cool book but not as good as the twilight series…..
if u hav read it tel me wat u think!!
please??
thanx
xx
I think the twilight series are one of the best series i have ever read
All you people that say you hated are lying because most of you say you have read all 4 books if you hated it so much WHY did you read all of them
PLEASE EXPLAIN cause i am a bit confused
Cassified
i think it is really sad that you had to create your own website to say how much you hate the books
wow i havent even red the books but aniwaiz
if u guys think this series sucks so much good for u but u dont have to go and ruin the series for all us fans u guys are just a bunch of spiteful sad sacks who have no life
ANA u have no life jkz
u no i luv u!
also u are forever more my enemies and i will hunt down every single one of u and assassinate u when u least expect it the list now stands at
1) gabriella cilmi
2) ALL OF U NO LIFES
ana is mi smexi cheese
i luv u!
lol
ana smells
IF YOU DONT LOVE THESE BOOKS YOU ARE CRAZY. IM SORRY BUT I JUST THINK YOU ARE JEALOUS OF BELLA. HOW COULD YOU HATE THE BOOKS WITH SUCH AN ADONIS OF A CHARACTER.
I HATE THOSE WHO HATE THESE BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLEARLY YOU HAVE MENTAL CHALLENGES
mi asisnation list
1) ana
2)ana
3)ana
HIGH FIVE EMAN
ALSO IM ADDING JESS TO MY ASSASSINATION LIST AT HER WISH
ana u no u luv me im so damn loveable lol
go violet u r so right!
these books are cool and i am quite surprised by the fact that people h8 them……
by the way can someone explain to me why their relationship is abusive…
i dont know how it is!
thanx
xx
ana+jess=hectic chicks lol
besides ana
by the way wil i dont like u!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with the review, they are awful. Because of all of the hype I decided to buy the first three, and I enjoyed them… for all of three pages. As a self confessed Potter-Addict, I was looking for some way to finaly move on (okay, so a year is kind of a long time, but, yeah) and this was completely not it. I finished them and bought the last one through some kind of morbid curiosity (something along the lines of “well, it can’t really get WORSE”) But, if you enjoy them (though no-one but yourself knows why) by all means, read them. As for me, I need to listen to some Wizard Rock (not TwiRock)
Sorry for the waffley review – I needed to vent and this really was a good and accurate review :D:D
* I meant waffley comment, not review… Whoops maybe I have Bella rage (cloudy crimson vision indeed) lol
Wow. When a lot of people I knew were reading this book, I’m glad I never wasted my money on it! I was somewhat curious about the book series, because I had to find something else that was good now that Harry Potter was over. Thank you very, very much for writing this review and sparing me the agony of reading this crap! I can’t believe my roommate likes this series.
I have seen a website, where it asks people if they are on “Team Bella” or “Team Hermione”. It’s so disgusting that anyone would even compare them like that! Hermione is a close second of my favorite HP characters (Luna’s #1).
For a good teen vampire novel, I’d recommend Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. It’s not the best vampire book ever written, but it is interesting. But, I should warn you that the even numbered chapters have really gross descriptions of parasites.
u harry potter fans always takethingfs way too far. sure the books were OK mediocre if anything whereas twilight is on a whole other level. How can you even compare that crap with pices ofpure genius that may oneday even challange….dare i say it… yes i do…william shakespeare….. he created the ultimate love story and now stephanie meyer has taken alove story and turned it in to a fucking kickass epic of a book
You are both also nowon my list of people to assassinate youare at
4) the 2k’s who also happen to be harry potter fans
also xXx_jessikarr_xXx is my fully hectic babe ILY *mwah mwah*
I love Twilight. A LOT.
You made a lot of good points, though.
Like the damsel-in-distress? Way to take us back to being pathetic and always needing help.
And the ‘plain’ thing? With every guy after Bella? It pissed me off too. I mean, honestly. No girl gets that much attention. (Well,unless she has huge boobs)
And the hilarious thing is, Edward only even looked at her cause he thought she smelled good. HE WANTED TO EAT HER.
Great way to start a relationship, don’t you think?
And New Moon was awful. (Ironic, because I still love the series). I mean, to have a girl so dependent on her boyfriend? Back to the 1500s much? And you’re right about Jacob. He was the silver lining in New Moon.
And me, personally(like I said), I’m a Jacob fan. And the insane personality change in Eclipse was annoying. I don’t think of him as a bi-polar freak. (:
And Breaking Dawn was messed up. It was my favourite though. What the flip, I know. It’s like saying if you have sex with a corpse, you get a baby! And, I really doubt that anyone has sex that much. Except, well. Maybe a pimp. Or a whore. Which Bella totally is, since she made out with Jake and Edward.
And since you seemed to enjoy the four books so much, maybe you should drop by her website and read the 12 chapter preview of Midnight Sun.
Wait ’til you read that Bella was the only chick in High School not to wear make up. (That’s honestly, messed up.) Who doesn’t wear make up in high school?
And the entire Bella’s-more-mature than anyone? Ugh, she’s 17. Who’s 17 and doesn’t get drunk and hit on older college guys? Hell, even a lot of 35 year old women do that!
And despite the fact that I can find so many flaws in the Twilight Series (and agree with so many mistakes you found), I still manage to love it.
Clearly, there’s something wrong with me (:
[…] The “Twilight” spoof was fortunate to have been accepted by the Twilight community, because with one wrong interpretation of their beloved characters, Evil Iguana quickly could have become the victim of Twilighter rage. […]
Okay, this was a terrible review! Just because it may seem a little sexist, umm, hello? Stephenie Meyer is an AUTHOR who is FAMOUS who lived her dream. How UN-sexist can you get? And I’m a fan of the series even while being a fan of Harry Potter. And, just because Bella went into a depression, dosen’t mean all girls (or guys), are so retarded to actually DO that. I, for one, know that I’m soo much smarter than that, yet I still love the books. Haven’t you, you senile old woman, broke up with someone that made you feel upset for weeks? For Bella it was so much worse, just because he hurt her, and he hurt her BADLY. I for one am GLAD you’ve recievd so much negative commentary for this, because it’s a wonderful series, and well written, at that.
I think that this article is very well written. I read the first two books–and really liked them. However, after trying to think more into the plot, the stories lost their appeal.
I think that some of the reason fans of Twilight are convinced of it’s “amazingness” is because they aren’t well-read. Many teenage girls (I’m sixteen) have no idea what truly great writing is, and so this story ranks too high on too short of a list.
I’m not going to bash Stephanie Meyers. I don’t like her style, or her writing. But style (i.e., tone, voice, diction etc.) is completely subjective.
It is true that the book sets a bad precedent, not only in Bella’s relationship but in her selfish treatment of her school friends (and their representation as ditsy, empty girls) and her family.
As far as comparing Harry Potter to Twilight, I don’t think it should be done. Each work stands alone based upon its own merit. Harry Potter is an entirely different story, with entirely different characters and back story.
Bella’s plain-ness is, I think, more than anything a message to say that one doesn’t have to be spectacular to be loved. But five boys is going quite a bit overboard.
Overall, I wish more people would spend their time reading much deeper, better built and written stories. There are plenty of amazing ones out there, which will capture the heart exponentially more than Twilight ever could.
I agree with this article.
These books are amazing.
This review is crap.
nuff said.
only ppl without a life would take the time to write this.
I don’t understand why people can’t accept a story for what it is-a story. I am devoted Twilight fan, but I won’t get upset over someone else’s opinion. As for this article, as a reader I’m not looking for something to teach me a lesson, I get that from school textbooks thank you very much, so I’m tired of people accusing Stephenie Meyer over this feminist stuff. I hate any book taught in school because they’re all about feminism or some other sort of problem out there. I love the Twilight Saga because they’re simple stories. They’re not the ‘greatest’ literature out there, but they’ve gotten a lot of young readers into reading unlike the ‘great’ literature that is actually out there.
Also, how come we’re only accusing Stephenie Meyer on potentially destroying teenagers. How about every movie out there showing violence, sex, and drugs? Why let those slide by, but attack this?
I’m sorry you feel that way. I really am. I’m sorry you can’t appreciate a little fluff, designed to be silly and romantic and fun to read. Because that’s all Twilight is–it’s a fun read. So keep your bashing to yourself, and don’t ruin it for people that enjoy it. You don’t like it, don’t read it.
And seriously, it doesn’t encourage teen pregnancy or antifeminism or any of that stuff. I am a teenage girl, who read Twilight, and then went on with her life. I have no desire to get pregnant, and I still won’t let people walk all over me. Just because I like reading silly love stories doesn’t make me antifeminist. Steph wrote an amazing book, which some people like and some don’t. But you could say that about any piece of literature.
Ok so…I love Twilight, it’s just something that grabs reader and gets them obsessed, not all people react to it this way, you as an example, but the same is true for a lot of books an movies. Some have huge fanbases but others just don’t seem to latch on. Twilight is just one of those things that I will love for a long time, thanks for the not so great article. You will soon realize how huge and devoted this particular fanbase is.
Word to the author of this. I find it rather amusing, by the way, that the people who are offended by this review are the same ones resorting to personal attacks.
Just like you I also read the twilight series out of curiosity, and I found myself arguing with the books the entire time, along with a horrible storyline, comes Meyer’s inability to use a thesaurus as well. I read the 1st three books of the series and for some idiotic reason I bought the final installment, and found I could not get past that awful wedding scene. Meyer is clearly trying too hard to make Bella and Edward, the modern Romeo and Juliet couple, and it’s just disgusting, how she turned Bella into a mopey sappy ass-head. I guess what kept me reading was the character Jacob Black…that is until he turned into a bis ass as well. I also couldn’t stand how vague Meyer was about EVERYTHING…well except how much Bella and Edward loved each other. She kept emphasizing how “strong” vampires are, and I really couldn’t tell just how strong they were. I guess only Meyer can. This series is harmful. Harmful to vampire novels. Harmful to girls and women, and pretty much everyone in general. Great review, I agree with every point.
@ JaeHo2JaeMinLuvBoth
This book is not non-fiction.
It is ENTIRELY FICTIONAL
Very well written article, I must congratulate you. I am a “Twihard” and proud. I’m not here to bash on this as you are entitled to your opinion and I cannot change that. I would like to say however that I don’t think Bella’s character is anti-feminist. I think her character’s personality and story are just to show that most girls go through that obsessive kind of love at one point in their lives. Bella’s someone teenage girls can relate to.
And on another note, it keeps girls from drowning out their life issues with drugs, partying, and alcohol. Instead they read and are happy! :]
If you don’t like the books, great, 5 golden stars for you, you don’t like them. We all respect your opinions but put down the megaphone and move on. But clearly by the responses to the said “article” whether you love the Twilight series or hate it, it’s huge and has made an impact on you. Any piece of literature strong enough to draw such emotions from its readers should be praised not bashed.
again. hello
I respect the more moderate TwiHards who can just agree to respect another’s opinion, but seriously TYPING ONLY IN CAPS LOCK MAKES YOU LOOK NOT SO SMART.
Back to a series review. Today, i talked to my little sister about the summary of the twilight series. Bella, Jacob, Edward, the works. My sister is at the younger edge of the target demographic and she started laughing when i explained how Bella falls in love, was disgusted when I told her of the forced kiss and taking the car engine out, and thought it was hilarious how plot thin it was. When after telling her about some of the events in the relationship of Bella and Edward, she said, “Thats not right. Its just plain mean and evil.”
What especially good things did Mrs.Meyer do?
Character development-
Writing style(pitiful in my opinion, and I am younger than her)
Plot
etc.
Plus, I am a fan of vampires and am very annoyed at her sparkling in the sun vampires. If you want some good vampire stories, take it from the oiginal and read Brahm Stoker’s Dracula. If you want a character who can fulfill the angsty part, while remaining a strong character, I suggest the Honor Harrington series.
Remember kids, typing like this”OMG U R SUCH A STUPID H8ER!!!!!!!!!!” doesn’t make you seem smart, please put me on your assassination lists, at least I can type a complete sentence (and destroy your assassination attempt)
Wow. Finally, an article that shows in an intelligent manner why Twilight is not good literature.
I think Twilight along with the other bad influences (e.g., Family Guy, South Park), is causing teenagers to think that certain things are okay. Like an abusive boyfriend, sexism, etc. And like you said, it’s also not written very well. Meyer uses too much purple prose to the point of the book being nothing but mush. Her characters have no development or personality (Jacob did, until the whole Eclispe thing). Bella and Edward’s love is shallow too. Bella loves Edward because of his god-like beauty, there are barely any times when she mentions other good traits besides his beauty. Edward loves Bella because of her scent. And the fact that he can’t read her mind. If that’s not shallow, then I don’t know what shallow is. This is why I don’t understand why people hate Jacob so much. Besides the imprinting and the whole personality change, he had a personality. He took time to be friends with Bella, he took time to get to know her. Bravo to you Ms. Rice, for writing this article.
I’m not saying hate people who like Twilight. I have very good friends who love Twilight but they understand why I hate it and I understand why they like it. We all have opinions, and this is mine.
Okay. When I first read the books I loved all of them except for Breaking Dawn. For the most part I still like to read the books when I’m feeling nostalgic, but I think the person who wrote this makes a valid point about abusive/controlling relationships.
I found this article really interesting. Whilst I agree with most of the things you said, I can’t help but be entertained by the books. I enjoyed most of them (to a lesser extent Breaking Dawn.. the plot was ridiculous). I completely agree that Bella Swan(and HAHA I remember the moment I read that name I cringed) isn’t a very strong character. I still feel like she has no personality or a strong character even though I’ve been reading all 4 books.
I love Jacob, I thought he was great in eclipse as well.
Anyways, I’m guess I’m saying that I do agree with most of the things you have said. The book is not well written at all. If Edward Cullen was not a vampire, his character would be so bland (he’s a beautiful boy who is completely selfless.. honestly, that is a boring read.. characters need to have flaws).
I don’t know though.. it is so weird.. I love it but I hate it.. I’m 17 years old and love vampires. I thought it was cool. I don’t think it deserves so much hype and to compare it to Harry Potter is ridiculous.
I’m confused on my own opinions of the book because I know that a lot of the things your saying is true but I can’t lie and say that I didn’t enjoy the books.
I don’t anyone read all of this random rambling but I felt the need to type out how I felt
While I am a fan of the Twilight series, I actually find myself agreeing with this. I for one, cannot understand why people are so obsessed with these books. They’re semi-decent (if that) reading material, but I think the obsessiveness over them is incredibly unnecessary.
So, while I agree with many of your points, the books were at least interesting and held my attention for a little while. I, however, would never put them on a high pedestal up there with much better books aimed at the same age group. I can even list a few off the top of my head (not that I’d include them here). But certainly Tamora Pierce writes very strong and willful female characters.
Ha!
Hey guess what?
All us Twilight-lovers have something to say:
Fuck you.
If you didn’t like Twilight, why the hell would you go on to read the rest of the saga?
Goddamn idiot.
I hate people like you.
I agree. I dont know why everybody is so obsessed with these books. I read the first one and thought it was complete crap.
Really though, it’s just a book.. get over it. The book doesn’t give teen girls a role to play after their boyfriend’s break up with them, this is just how girls cope. Maybe growing up, you weren’t the “type” boys or for that matter anyone preferred.
Also, it’s not like people are reading this book for educational purposes. If that was the purpose, you would have strong points. Unfortunately you don’t.
Listen lady, you suck and so does your imagination
& It’s funny how you read the whole series! I’m glad you wasted your time and mine by reading & writing this. I’m still so very excited about the movie! Save your 10 bucks honey and buy yourself a little imagination!
& I bet you voted for Mccains ass. Hahahaha sorry he LOST loser.
I just wanted to leave a quick review, but then I saw the large amount of hate you’ve been recieving and I feel as though I should offer some support.
I was a fan of Twilight when I was younger because vampire books intrigue me, but after I read your articles(I love both by the way), I read the first book again. Now I see the grammatical errors and the faults and I must say that it’s a turn off.
The points you address are valid, or at least I feel so in my personal opinion, which is yet another thing I’ve noticed.
Everyone’s attacking you for expressing your OPINION. It’s just your opinion and you expressed it in a contructive way, providing humor and constructive criticism. You could have just flamed it and said “The bOOks f*cking suck-” and etc.
I respect everyone’s opinions, but using the excuse “It’s just a book” isn’t a valid argument. Even fiction has some standards. Just because a book is a best seller doesn’t mean it’s amazing(and this is based on other books I’ve read, not just the Twilight series).
Just one more thing before I go:
Valona, your comment:
“& I bet you voted for Mccains ass. Hahahaha sorry he LOST loser.”
was not only offensive, but also completely pointless. How someone votes has no standing on the fiction they read or their views of literature.
~WrathWings
Well done.
Now for sure I won’t read them.
Thank you!
i agree people have the right to there opion but its people like you that make writers want to stop writing. so from all my fellow twilighters we say FUCK YOU. why would u read a book not like it but read the rest of the series any way. I have met people who have read this book and it has saved their lives no lie. i think Stephenie Meyer is great just because you hate it doesn’t mean the rest of the world has to. im tired of people talking crap about the series it really piss me off. so go back to your pathetic life and leave us twilight lovers alone
oh and let’s not forget the fact that the hellchild conveniently stops aging at exactly the right age. the perfect age for jacob to make love to.
While I understand that the Twilight Saga does portray the female as a damsel in distress and puts women as inferior to men, the story is no more than fictional characters come to life in a novel.
Since you want to critique this novel for being too sexist…….I have a few words for you
Bella may have been made out to be the virtues heroine, by the end of BD..she is not dependent on Edward to save the day..it was her protective shield that saved the vampires from harm which allowed Edward to reason with Aro.she is the heroine that protected her family from near death……..
in response to your comment that the target audience for this novel is 12 -17 years old, don’t these Young Adults have parents, or guardian…who can teach their Young Adults about self respect and women’s equality..if a book is supposed to teach you value…..why don’t we let Young Adults grow up through reading….Young Adults need mentoring that’s why there are guardians …..a book does define who you are and you define who you are… ..
it’s a story…if it weren’t then we would have Young Adults thinking that vampires really exist and so does Santa Claus….it’s called imagination…..nothing more…….so stop reading into it….and look at for what it is……a great novel…
Wow Jordan, “fuck you”? Is that really all you can say? That’s all you Twilighters can come up with because you rarely have anything to say in your defense. Oh what’s that? It’s “Twu Luv?” It’s just a ficiton? It’s just a book? Then in that case Kellen Rice can say whatever she feels about the books she dislikes. My opinion is that it’s a mediocre book, part of a meidocre series.
Twilight, I wouldn’t even give a damn about it if it wasn’t freaking everywhere nowadays. Everyone I know says its overrated now. I agree entirely with them. Meyer’s vampires are also incredibly lame. No fangs? Sparles in the sun? What the hell are these creatures? The only thing that can associate them with vampires is “oh we drink blood. we drink ANIMAL blood”. It’s so ridiculous.
I totally agree with you. Finally someone sane! The book is trashy, but what can u expect from a mormon? The fact that the author doesn;t even try to explain or think of up of their “connection” makes the relationship already a fluke. Plus what would 107 year old man, see in a 17 year old girl (who frankly reminds me of one of those lame stereoptypical lifetime channel teenagers w/ real “issues” ) who never once in the book expresses her opinion about anything. All i heard from her was…”Oh Edward your so dreamy, so hot, so gorgeous….BLAH BLAH. U make me so horny.”
Wouldn;t somebody get used to him after like a year? And then i love how their relationship (all 200 pages) is based on his questions directed towards her like “what’s ur favorite color” and “what is ur favorite stone” Who gives a shit. If somebody asked me that, i would called them retarded. And this happens for the next 4 months in theri “relationship” I would die from lack of intellectual stimulation (corny, but true)
Some of these comments make me weep for the future of the human race.
Kids. Settle down.
(Great review, by the way.)
I have to say, you’re my idol.
Thank you for writing this.
Part of the reason that I hate the twi-hards is because of their inability to express themselves beyond obscenities.
Twilight fans. I respect you opinion-please respect mine. I hate this series–but I used to love it, once upon a time (until I saw the truth, became enlightened, if you will). If you are going to explain why Twilight is so good, please use textual evidence and logical evidence. And for the love of God, “plz don’t rite like dis…OMG Edward is sooooooo hot! OMEC!! fuck u haters!”. This only lessen the already low opinion I have of you. Note, I’m not saying all Twilight fans. In fact, I can agree with very valid arguments by logical fans–the above was directed only towards the idiotic, closed-minded twi-hards.
i think this article is outrageous. let the people like it. its fictional. its not like its reality or anything. besides i think harry potter is bogus. all of that magic crap? i do enjoy the movies but i just cant stand reading the books. sorry but i this you did poorly on this article. why waste your time writing about how much you hate this series anyways?
I can agree on this. To those who are saying this girl needs a life, well I’m sure she’s not the only one who has ranted about something they disagree, or not like. I do not like this book because I feel it DOES pass bad morals to young girls. Even my younger cousin was affected: After reading this book, she was doing everything Bella had done and was shocked to see that her boyfriend broke up with her and would not take her back. Apparently, she had developed OCD over him and it, not surprisingly, scared him.
I’m a teenager and my friends are all upset over how they don’t have a perfect boyfriend like Edward or Jacob. Truthfully, it’s pathetic. I once looked at series but gave up when Bella lost her personality. I did NOT read the rest of the series and instead had my once in love with the “saga” friend give me summaries.
I was shocked.
Why Meyer decided to make the romance as unrealistic as possible is beyond me.
I don’t hate people who like Twilight, but I don’t like the book.
If we “haters” can’t speak what we think, why can you “lovers?”
I swear to god, Caps lock should not have been invented for this reason. The Twilight fans want to burn our eyes out with it.
Seriously, I’m glad some one has actually read the books. I knew they were shit the second this phenomenon existed. I refused to read them, claiming Meyer is an amateur (she is, and a self-righteous pseudo intellectual, and not the awesome kind like myself) and can’t write a story to save her life.
Thank you so much for doing this. Good to see more smart people hating stupid literary trends.
If you all hate twilight so much how come you seem to know whats in all four books
If you hated it so much why didn’t you stop after the first one
I love twilight and am listening to the Soundtrack right now as i right this
I would like to know why you all hate it so much
Its a love story and vampire story all in one what could be better
Stephanie Meyer is a genius !!!
sigh. My younger sister is obsessed with Twilight, and though I did find the first one cute, I definitely catagorized it as “badly written.” I’m less worried about the feminist issues. I do find the set up interesting, and I have no issue with escapism. After all, if it’s getting younger girls to read like mad, what’s the issue? What bothers me about the series’ popularity is a) the fact that said readers have no idea of the low quality of the writing. You can challenge ANYTHING said in this thread other than that. Bad writing is bad writing. There is no craft, no skill, no flow to the books, and plot/character development is a joke. I enjoyed the books, like I said, but it was always painfully obvious as I was reading that if the story had been put in the hands of a more skilled writer, I would have been far more impressed. my other issue is b) readers have become so militant that they have turned into violent, abrasively clawing sirens. Let me reiterate: I enjoyed the books in a casual way (having picked them up out of curiosity), but I do object to the grand un-finale. Not once in the series were there real consequences or tragedies. Even Bella’s lonely period reversed itself (and at this point I toe the line, since I can’t help but see a feminist flag go up… her ludacris depression is not something I want to encourage) the moment Edward re-entered her life. In war, they don’t all make it out alive… I understand Meyer was trying to make a point (apparently with The Merchant of Venice in mind, which is a sad joke if you ask me), but it failed. I was hoping, like many, for a redeeming end, but there wasn’t one.
Oh, and to the comment about voting for McCain… how ridiculous are you? Don’t dally in politics/things you don’t understand. I am almost (almost) speechless at that statement. Someone takes a negative view of a badly written book and you accuse them of voting for McCain? Let’s not display our ignorance, children.
This disappointed reader voted for Obama.
Twilight sucks!
My sister and her friends all dressed up as Bella from twilight. It is really sad that everyone is getting caught up in this. And now there releasing a movie! I tell ya, the apocalypse is coming!
This comment section is pretty good evidence that Twilight is doing something horrible to its readership.
Good God.
First of all, may I say thank you for writing an intelligent criticism of these books. You’re one of the few brave souls who are willing to do this.
Also, may I just comment on the fact that out of a good 40 comments from fans of the books who are defending their beloved series, a good 4/5 of them had either a) spelling errors, b) grammatical errors, c) egregious use of exclamation points, d) use of chat-speak, e) abuse of caps lock, f) constant and random swearing, or g) all of the above. So what does that say about their intelligence and maturity levels? (I wouldn’t pull this card with any other fandom, except that it seems to be rampant in the Twilight fan community, which is more than a little scary.)
I agree 100% with this article, simply because it’s so true. I’ve also gone through the “ur just jelous!1!!!1!” thing with obsessive fans.
And, when I once told somebody that the books were a literary atrocity, she told me that they couldn’t be because “they use big words.” O_o
I can see your logic on a 19 year olds level… but this series has largely changed many peoples lives… meaning that they have a true sense that love from a gentlemen exists, considering that fact of the generation we live in now. Speaking as a 14 year old girl… it gives me hope that there is someone out there who I can love or who will love me.
Stephenie Meyer knows this as well…. haven’t you wanted to find that one person….???? It is a dream that alot of us have… and if we have the deterrmination to go look for that person…. it builds character and confidence.
Also, this series does have a personal impact on many people… including me. I basically went into a non- reading period.. till i read the Twilight saga, After that, I wanted to read other series of other generes…. so it can make a pretty big impact on people…
We all have a view on this… but mine is stated quite cleary…
But to the reviewer, if you thought the series sucked after reading at least two of the books, then why did you continue??? If craze is the answer… then you don’t have an accurate answer or you secrectly liked it …. its just a guess…
If you want to builid your imagination… then read the Twilight saga.
@ Latte: Yes I find it so romantic to think that some guys out their are over-controlling, abusive, or stalkers, NOT! True love is none of the things that SMyers shows in her book.
Goodness people. SM wrote this book for herself it just so happens that people all over the world fell in love with it.
So she had grammar imperfections mind you The human race is one big imperfection ergo grow up and realize nothing in this world is going to rise up to your standards. If you liked the saga or you didn’t that’s your opinion but don’t go around ragging on the fans.
Oh and Gwen the reason most of the fans have errors is A.) we have a life and can’t sit in front of the computer all day critiquing the work of others B.) They’re under the age of 13. or C.) all of the above. SO congratulations for calling little kids idiots I’m sure they appreciate that. Way to boost their self esteem.
100% disagree.
This review is totally bias. If you didn’t like the book, then that is your problem. You don’t have to write a hate review and ruin the series for any fan that reads this. The same applies to those who agree. Go back to Harry Potter if it was SO much better for you. I would rather read Twilight then your crap review.
Want to see some REAL bad writing? Pick up a pen, darling.
hey everyone-haters and lovers of the twilight series. Although i have no real interest in the twilight series, or for that matter any real opinion on the books, the comments that some of you left have inspired me to add my opinion too
I completly loved the review and i have to say that it (and the comments) were extremly entertaining.
To the people who are angry about this–you are kindof really hilarious. Its a REVIEW. the reviewer can write anything they want about the book whether they liked it or not–in this case, they didn’t like it (this isn’t a news report ‘darling’, its someone’s opinion. it is BIAS). The entire world can’t agree on every topic that comes up, so just take a chill pill, calm down, breath in, breath out. We’re all different and not all of us are going to enjoy reading about Bella and Edward… (also, if you are a hard core fan of the series, why did you read a review called “twilight sucks” if you don’t want to read twilight hate?? goodness…)
To the lovely author of this review–thanks so much for speaking your mind, even when alot of people don’t agree with you!! i really liked your writing style
oh, and i haven’t read a word of twilight or any of the other books, therefore i don’t ‘hate’ the books and i don’t love them either. Im just trying to respond to the foolishness that is going on these days…
THANK YOU. You have said all i could ever say about this series. Now i dont have to. thank you.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Like you, I gave these books a chance, and being one who enjoys indulging in a good read, I was appalled by the simplicity, and blatant garbage these books contained. Let me bring up something every good book should have that lovers of this series might not be familiar with…PLOT…and CHARACTER FLAW.
In addition, the obscenity-filled comments of those who actually enjoy this second rate trash, are all but hilarious. As someone mentioned in a previous post, the only reason fans of the series get so worked up, is the fact that they lack the ability to defend the book on any intellectual level whatsoever. It wouldn’t matter either way, the books have nothing positive running in their favor.
People enjoy them because they’re simply written, i.e. even those who hate to read can breeze through a 200+ page book in two days and feel intelligent. They’re not required to think about symbolism within the story, and formulate their own conclusions. It’s laid out before them in utter simplicity, and they can live their ‘secret dark fantasies’ while pretending to be their beloved, flawless Mary-Sue, Bella, and being wooed by the perfect, and equally flawless, immortal lover.
Personally, I suggest you pick up a book worth reading. Say Anne Rice? A beautiful Vampire novelist.
Feminist stuff aside, as I believe in equal rights, but I told my brother if he comes anywhere near a Twi-tard… I’m going to castrate him. This series is so sick on so many levels I do not have the ability to voice my horror. The scene of the birth of Renesmee was reminiscent of the movie Alien, and God help us all if someone doesn’t point out that Jacob Black in the fourth book has got the hots for a girl who will mentally be 6-7 years old.
I have personally met some of these twi-tards… and it seems their logic centers in their brain are fried, and they are running completely under emotion. (I’m one of those that believes both guys and girls both are emotional in their own ways.) You bring up something you don’t like in a calm, intellectual fashion, and you get a barrage of insanity that reminds me of some protesters of late from whatever fashionable issue is on board.
I went out and bought my brother a gun. If he sees me with an Edward Cullen… he knows what to do.
HEY X)
These Books r MAD!!!
Briarna is a hectic chick lolX)
HEY MAY
SPeak English!
please explain to me how twilight promotes abusive relationships…….
thanx
also despite weather or not u like twilight…… r u a vampire or werewolf fan?
Some people are clumsy, so what if she can’t walk across flat ground with out tripping, thats how some people are, its a human trait like blue eyes or red hair. Bella never expressed any views to go to college even before she met Edward so she didn’t give up her ambitions, and Edward has two medical degress so if he can go to college..twice, so can she. So what if Bella is a little egar to get it on, who wouldn’t be? Edward is hot!! and he was born in the 1900’s thats how alot of guys were back then, trying to perserve virtue, oh yeah and the fact that HE CAN CRUSH HER thats why he doesnt want to have sex. About the females in the book, how are they negative? Jesssica, normal teenage girl, i see nothing different in her then i do half the girls at my school. Angela is a great person, such a sweet girl. Lauren, well who doesnt have a bitch in thier school right? Alice shes super nice and loves fashion. Rosalie, well…shes tottaly concetied but still! some people are that way in the real world too.
New moon. When Edward leaves Bella its becasue he thinks its whats best for her, to take the vampires out of the picture. He doesnt know that shes going to go in to a “zombie state” which is how she handled it. Of course she was in pain. The man she fell in love with left her. Her heart broke. It happens. What do mean “avoid writing the hard stuff” ? do you want 50 pages of bella cried, bella cried, bella cried? NO. As for her jumping off the cliff, that was stupid, but its not like there was solid ground at the bottom, its water and other people do it all the time. She had a huge chance of survival. She was NOT suicidal.
It doest say anything to readers. If the girls reading it are stupid enough to believe in these things and be that impressionable than thier parents shouldn’t let them read, or watch tv, or leave the house. How you deal with heart break depends on the person and how deep your relationship was. No 12-17 girl is going to feel the love that Bella and Edward have, it is something different. So thier reaction will not be “oh my boyfriend of 3 weeks dumped me i loved him lets go jump off a cliff to hear his voice” if they do they deserve to be in a mental hospital.
I personally love jacob too. And when you say “true to real life teen romances” ITS A BOOK ABOUT VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES YOU TWIT! Its not true to reality it is a FICTION book. Deal with it. Edward and Jacob are different guys, they have different views on Bella, different views on love and different views on life alltogether. Jacob is not kicked to the side, in case you forget. Bella still wants to go visit him, she misses him, he is not kicked to the side like a puppy. and in the end Jacob, Edward, and Bella are all one big happy family.
About Edward not letting Bella to go see Jacob, that is totally rational. Would you let your girlfriend go hang out with a werewolf?? Edward has had almost 100 years to control himself. Jacob, however is a new born werewolf that cant control himself yet (look at Sams wife, he mauled her just becasue she was too close) so i think Edward is right at first to want to protect her, but he eventually realizes he wants bella to be happy becasue he does love her and sees that not beign with jacob makes her sad so he lets her go, multipule times!
OF COURSE Jacob is an asshole, he just found out hes a werewolf. i think i’d be a little pissed to if i went through a week long confusing painful transission that didnt let me be with the friends i loved. When he kisses her, thats just how jacob is as a 16 year old boy. It has nothing to do with everything else. Jacob is a drama king, he wasnt really going to kill him self for Bella. Even Edward sees through his plea. She does love him, he was her sun in the darkness. Who wouldnt love Jacob? Everybody has little fights now and again. But like i said it all works out in the end.
I think the different views points in Breaking Dawn was brilliant! It gave so much more insight. And again with the realisim thing, you want a real book go read the dictionary. This is fiction. I think waiting till after marriage to have sex is great point in this book for girls to read. Bella is a normal teenage girl, shes not a temptress, shes hormonal. Edward is a 107 year old virgin yes becasue he never found the right girl, thats the kind of guy i want, that waits till its right. Whats wrong with that?? ok ok so Bella gets pregnant, by a vampire, whos bodily fluids are dried up and 80 years old. Meyer doesnt have to explain it for the last time ITS FICTION. Baby vampires don’t exist, niether do dragons or hippogriffs. Yes it is fantasic that the baby grows fast, unless you want 9 months worth of pages in the book. When you say “I’ve never been pregnant but I did take health class back in high school and I’m pretty sure that there’s something wrong with that picture.” How wonderfully fabulous for you! You went to high shool! So did I! Big whoop and i also know the difference between make-beleive and fact. i also took geography and i know theres no school called hogwarts, and that theres no different world in the center of the earth and that people cant talk to dragons. so HA!
The baby is strong, but she does love bella and doesnt want to hurt her. In the legand of the incubus (vampire who impregnants women) all the babys are born by using thier own teeth. This isnt ‘a baby story’ on TLC, its a book about blood sucking killing machines, go read ‘my little pony’ if you want a nice and sweet perfect story. For people who like these kinds of books this is want we want to hear. Vampire baby chewing its way out?!? Yeah!! Thats some ingenious writing i say. Carlise is a doctor. I’m sure he knows the dangers of having a home birth, but women used to give birth in potato feilds in his time and not to inhuman babies either, and seeing as Bella is going to be inhuman herslef in a few days im sure INFECTION isnt at the top of thier list…duh. Bella is a special vampire, just like Edward, Alice, Jasper, Renesmee, and many other vampires in the seris. Of course they win, name a book where the good guys, the main characters over 4 books loose and die. No, it doesnt happen. Not in tv or movies either. She goes hunting in a dress and heels to show what a complete 180 shes made from her former clumsy self, becasue she can! I would go hunting in a dress and heels too! Why not be deadly and fashionable too
It’s not over, we still have Midnight Sun to look forward too, YAY! Those same millions of girls are obsessing over hollywood stars who cheat on thier wives with thier nannys so why dont you write 11 paragraph long arguments about them too. It’s the world we live in, Elizabeth Bennet, thats something todays culture is forced to read in school. I tottaly disagree that this book is sexist. Today women have more rights and do more things then they ever had. I’m sure the twilight saga is not going to set that all back 200 years. Stop being such a drama queen and leave the books alone
I could not disagree with this article more. I am not a Twi-tard, or whatever derogatory term you use to describe the fans of this series (which seems only to promote the stereotype that females are extremely critical of their peers), but I have read the series and am greatly enjoying them. First, I take issue with calling Bella the “heroine” of the series. I never saw her as such; I saw her merely as one of the protagonists. I do not think she was intending to be a role model to young girls everywhere. Admittedly, Bella does tend to be a weak character, but this is not without exception. For instance, I would argue that it takes extreme mental strength to develop a relationship with a known vampire and his family. Bella is aware that her life could end any minute, but actively chooses to take that risk. To me, that is strength. Also, throughout the series, Bella is put side-by-side with vampires, fictional beings known for their extreme strength, etc. When compared to this sort of being, how can she not appear a bit weak? This is a reflection not on her as a woman, but on her as a mortal being compared with supernatural beings. Additionally, there are portrayals of strong women in the book, such as Alice. And lastly, as much as we would like to see such a thing, female fictional characters cannot always be portrayed as strong, domineering people. While many, many women do exist, not all women are strong and domineering, nor do they wish to be such (which is not to say they do not have opinions of their or the strength to act on them). To portray all female characters as such would be unrealistic.
Second, Bella and Edward’s relationship can hardly be classified as abusive. Edward is overprotective, but his behavior stems from necessity and love. While he can come off as domineering, never does he treat Bella with anything but respect and consideration. Granted, Bella is rather obsessive, but to suggest that girls, just because they are between 12 and 17, cannot recognize irrational behavior when they see it, is insulting. I thought the point of this article was to empower women.
I also find it very interesting that the first book of this series has been around for several years,but is only now receiving critical attention, just because it is set for theatrical release. If it is offensive, shouldn’t it have been hailed as such since the beginning of the series?
As others have said (though they have been berated for it) this book is fiction. It is marketed for mass consumption, and is not meant to be taken as profound social commentary, like the work of Mary Wollstonecraft. There are so many other series directed at teens that do truly present questionable behavior, but because they are not being made into a movie, no one has said a word. Interesting that no one has climbed on their soapbox about those…
Ok. I’m an open minded person. Really, I am. So I’m not going to tell you you are wrong because everyone is entitled to their own opinion and here is mine. I believe that it actually shows women how great guys can be and it gives a good role model for the guys. And like my one friend who had to read it for a reading competition, he actually even agrees with that and so do many of the other people I know. I mean, some of my friends don’t like the series and it’s not like I’m going to fight with them either. And it also shows that if you are determined that you can control your wants. This is just my opinion and I respect all of yours as well.
[…] not a bond fan of this crappy twilight. Well, I hope this movie is good.. Here’s a link for supporting my reasons of why I don’t like the Twilight series… __________________ Credit […]
I’ve got a theory that these teen girl crazes aren’t based so much on the contents of the products, as on timing. Like there’s a constant rhythm of things girls of that age are obsessed with, but its punctuated every now and then with earth-shakers. Just from the last decade we’ve had the film “Titanic” and the band N’Sync.
And they are frequently, maybe even constantly, anti-feminist fantasies. “Titanic” is the lone exception I can think of, though I’m sure it had sexist aspects which escape me at the moment.
For my sister, who went through that period in the 80s, it was horses, the Monkees, and then the Beatles.
great review! twilight sucks! i hate it so much. it’s terribly written and i can’t wait for everyone to stop obsessing about it. about 90% of the girls in my grade are gonna see the movie. HA! i hope they all hate it and see how terrible it is.
Okay, can one of the Twi-fans type something without using “chatspeak”, profanity, executing horrendous grammatical errors, or calling one of the people who don’t support the book something awful? It doesn’t do anything for your argument, it makes you seem very immature and no one is going to take you seriously. Secondly, I don’t care if this is a fictional book, it affects real people. Meyer is setting a role model in her heroine of Bella, and may I say a poor one. There is no denying that the books we read influence our ideas and beliefs. May I point out that if it is a fictitious book and not such a “big deal” why are you people taking the time to read this article and respond with such contempt. Thirdly, please stop comparing Twilight to Pride and Prejudice. I don’t care if Stephanie Meyer “based one of the books” off of it, Elizabeth and Bella are both two very different individuals from different times and I cannot possibly believe that Bella, who choose to be with the first man she saw and fall in love with him right on the spot (or in the next month), can be compared to a girl who waited for the right man and for him to become what she deserved. Fourth, this entire thing about Edward being stuck in the past and following Victorian customs is ludicrous. If he truly cared about Bella the way he should he shouldn’t have slept with her at all. If he cared about crushing her and he loved her he wouldn’t have done it. He essentially bribed her, “I’ll sleep with you if you marry me?”, “I’ll make you a vampire if you marry me?” Bella, the weak character that she is gave in to him, despite her past and views about marriage she had previously she goes against them because he starts kissing her, which endangers her as well, might I point out. It is not a compromise, it’s a system of bribes that in no way reflect a healthy relationship. Fifth, here’s a point no one has brought up. What about the bad role model that Edward is setting for boys. “You must give in to your girlfriend in all matters. You must stalk her and control her life and her friends.” It is setting a weak male model, one who must concede forever to the females wishes and never do anything for his own happiness, and indeed Edward’s opinion are ignored in most matters, including those of Bella’s safety with him, and the only time he get’s any say is when he uses force, like forcibly kidnapping her. Bella constantly goes along with whatever she wants (there’s self sacrifice), even if it will hurt her and that is what Edward cares so obsessively about. She doesn’t care that it will hurt him to hurt her if the sleep together, she just knows she wants it and doesn’t care about him. The only way Edward gets anything done is if he forces Bella to do it, and that’s not right either. “Be subservient and unhappy, or be controlling and abusive and happy.” What sort of message is that to send to guys, or for that matter their girlfriends who are probably the ones telling them about the books.
[…] 19 11 2008 I read this one article on the Twilight series by a 19 year old by the name of Kellen Rice, and I has to write about it […]
I’m so happy that not only does one person agree with me that this series sucks, judging by the comments it seems like a ton of other people do too.
Thankfully I never had to read it myself, but my friends are obsessed with the infallible Edward Cullen and now dream to be with someone like him, and dealing with the constant talk about how great the series was annoyed me. Then I skimmed through the first book and read unrealistic things about overpriced sports cars and incredibly perfect attractive guys and it annoyed me even more.
Without getting into a rant, I simply thank you for being sane and viewing the series with disdain
why dont you goddamn feminists go shave your legs.
if you dont like the idea of women needing help, then DONT read the books or go out into the real world, because women should just stay in the kitchen and clean. Im a girl, and i think women usually do need a man to help them with things, and thats why we arent all lesbians.
its a good book, and a good love story. most love stories girls are helpless to a man anyway.
seriously, no man wants a girl whos all about womens right, so shut up and be happy you can vote.
OH MY GOD! That’s going in the blog..
http://prrag.com
This. is. awesome.
Finally, a voice of reason.
I read the first two books at the urging of a younger coworker (I’m 20, she was 18) and Wikipedia-d the other two. I liked the first one despite the poor writing quality (though it’s obvious the series was intended for a younger audience), but the plot moved way too fast and I think the characters (especially Bella, she is a terrible character) are rather superficial. The other books sound crappy. It wouldn’t bother me so much if the series didn’t have such a gigantic fanbase and now feature films. Nothing can just die gracefully anymore; we have to merchandize the hell out of everything.
But that’s just my opinion.
Thank you!
The Twilight series is amazing. It is loved because of the intense romance between them, the action, and the suspense. I kept wondering what was going to happen. I must say, I wanted SOMEONE to die in Breaking Dawn, but other than that, the series was fantastic. You are entitled to your opinion as much as us “Twilighters”. I think Stephenie Meyer is a genius. Harry Potter is total crap in comparison.
Seriously, the world doesn’t revolve around women. Unfortunately, most books do involve a man hero. This may SHOCK you feminists, but guys can be great. Like parents, they can care too much though. You learn to love their flaws.
mmm….I can understand that some of you don’t like the Twilight saga but my question is, why be so mean with someones work? It’s just a book and you might not like it but there’s nothing noble in being so cruel.
Would so like to read a book of yours just to see if you can write so better…I have this idea that if you talk about something in this ways that means that you know to do it better.
Just my opinion.
Helen
Here goes…. -_-,
>why dont you goddamn feminists go shave your legs.
This makes sense and makes me want to pay attention to the rest of the comment…
>if you dont like the idea of women needing help, then DONT read >the books or go out into the real world,
I thought the books were fiction and don’t have anything to do with the real world. Gosh darn I can’t seem to get any of this right can I..
>because women should just stay in the kitchen and clean.
As a man… I have to say that would be an exceptionally boring woman.
>Im a girl, and i think women
Being a girl doesn’t give you the right to comment on women.
Enjoy your dollhouse and easy-bake oven.
>usually do need a man to help them with things,
Aside from making babies, there’s really nothing a woman can’t do for herself nowadays.
>and thats why we arent all lesbians.
Les-bi-an (n)
1. A human female that is more capable at everything in life than a regular human female.
…Ya learn something new every day, doncha?
>its a good book,
The whole series is now a single book. Thank you for clearing that up for us.
>and a good love story.
Almost as deep and profound as those two for a dollar paperbacks you can get at Wal-Mart
>most love stories girls are helpless to a man anyway.
This wouldn’t have anything to do with the women reading them wishing they had someone to do all their jobs for them. Of course not. I wish I wasn’t educated or worth anything, it’s an awful pain in the ass.
>seriously, no man wants a girl whos all about womens right,
Yeah, it’s about equality. You have to support a woman’s left as well or she’ll just fall over all the time.
>so shut up and be happy you can vote.
But that word “suffrage” sounds oh, so unpleasant.
Ok seriously though, where are your parents, and do they know you get on the internet and litter it with your moronic thoughts, and why are they so irresponsible?
p.s.
At my above comment, if you have an objection or comment, feel free to IM me any time. AceOfBlanks@aol.com
I do enjoy a good debate.
I am on both sides, here. I really quite enjoyed the books, but saw all the flaws in it you mention here. I think the reason why I actually enjoyed them is because I was able to escape a little. But, the “plain” girl being liked by the awesomely handsome boy has been done so many times (I actuallly loved the way Cate Tiernan did it with her Sweep series) and you’re right, the books are fairly so-so.
I think for most of those fangirls out there it would be an “OMG THIS TOTALLY HANDSOME BOY COULD SUDDENLY FALL IN LOVE WITH ME BECAUSE I’M ACTUALLY SPECIAL.” Andif it makes them happy, I say let them be.
One more thing.
Stephenie Meyer = Bella, right? Does anyone else actually get that? MARY SUE. *dies* I thought it was so funny in an interview with Robert Pattinson where he actually said something about Twilight being her “sick, twisted, romanticised ultimate sexual fantasy.”
Cracked. Me. Up.
Amen to your writings, though. Way to go. *high fives*
I think the whole anti-feminist thing is because of her probable Mormon upbringing, and current Mormon lifestyle. :/ So, much as I hate it, I have to give her a little benefit-of-the-doubt. S’not ALL her fault. :’D
Also, Twilighters:
1. I’m very sure you wouldn’t know this, being as this is probably the only series you’ve ever read, but to review a book and point out just why it sucks so bad, you’re really required to read the whole thing, painful as it may (or may not) be for you.
2. I especially love how peaceful the majority of you all are, saying things like “Fuck you hater” and “derp my sassinashun listsssss 1ana 2 ana 3ana lololol.” Reminds me of Gandhi. <3
3. Yeah, I think we’re all probably jealous of SMeyer that we didn’t think of this scam before she did, even if it was an accident. It’s quite brilliant.
More I could point out, but would you really take heed?
im not a mormon, and i dont even have a religion. my parents didnt raise me to think of the way i do of women, i thought of them on my own.
and i would like to make a point about how people talk about how bella was a mess when edward left her and people are saying how a girl needs a women, it also says in the book how edward was just as bad and acually went to the lengh of almost killing himself. so clearly the book isnt about women being less than men, its about two people obsessed with eachother
a girl needs a man in the book to be sane*
So, we’re all entitled to our own opinions and obviously not everyone is going to like the same sorts of things and specifically, agree on Twilight. I have always consudered myself to be intelligent and strong and independent, but i’ve also been lost in love and infatuated and dreamy. does this make me an idiot or anti-feminist? While i can see why you’d draw conclusions the way you have (bella/edward’s obsessive “abusive” elationship) i just don’t see it that way. i see two people who are willing ot die for one another. not to compare the two b/c they’re worlds apart but was there ever this sort of backlash when romeo and juliet came out?
don’t you recall what a crazy, intense time the teen years were and what it was like to be head over heels for someone?
also, i don’t see what the big deal over meyer’s writing style is. i think it’s great. it flows. just my opinion. your artcle left a bad taste in my mouth; it was so angry. sorry you feel that way. :/
p.s sorry about the spelling/grammatical errors; should have proof read.
Thank you thank you thank you!!! I spent a good deal of my adolescence writing fanfiction, and as soon as I’d read just a few paragraphs from this novel, that is the brand I put on it. This is FANFICTION. FANFICTION STUPID GIRLS ARE WILLING TO *PURCHASE*.
I mean, come on, the overuse of gigantic words that no 16 year old would ever use outside of trying to look intelligent while writing things to make her look more knowledgeable. The doe-eyed quality of every girl that will ever read this, nevermind the fact that all of this shit is going on around her. The “plain Jane” and Gary Stu qualities that completely envelope the entire seires…
It hurts, it really does. And it’s not just that it’s fanfiction. It’s that it’s really BAD fanfiction written by a middle-aged woman. I’ve met women to pen a fanfic past age thirty, but they at least have a very good knowledge of their subject matter and write with a comprehensibility that both young and old enjoy it.
And wtf, all of these wambulances are crying out about how EVERYONE poo-poos on the feminists that bitch about any female heroine. No. We’re not bitching about every one of them, just the ones that don’t even fit into the mold. Fuck yeah, gimme Angelina or Hilary Swank or even Keira Freaking Knightley because those bitches get something DONE in their movies. They don’t wait for their white knight to come riding in on his equally *sparkling* steed. They don’t whine and moan about their *lover* of two weeks going away (for their own safety I believe I might add).
It is entirely possible to create a female character that is capable of not only walking without mortally wounding herself, but can get by on her damn own without being converted into a super-special vampiress (but then why would anyone have read these books? I mean, come on, plain Jane needs her oomph, right?)
I don’t like these books for several reasons, from lack-plot, to characters, to writing, to the death baby, to the crap cookie-cutter Mary Sue. And I’m not even a feminist. But I do know that many girls, who know my fanfiction authoring background, think I’m an elitist bitch hypocrite for not reading it. I’m sorry if I actually have taste.
What the hell all you damn bitches who dont like the series why? whats your reason do you reply ditto cuz u dont have one i bet half of u havent even read the whole series! again damn fucking ugly bitches and guess what you all suck Stephenie wrote her dream and its not her prob if u dont like it she didnt write it 4 all you assholes she wrote it for herself so what the fuck who damn cares ok its her dream not yours so just lay off asses! and one more thing you all suck so lay down and die! because no twi-heart will ever belive this!
TEAM JACOB! mind u i luv the book!
wow. best article ever. it makes me want to stab people’s eyes out when they talk about how much they love these books. obviously, these sorts of people have never delved too deeply into real literature. while these books might be good masturbation material, that’s all they are.
for an exquisitely written, well-research, character and plot driven vampire series, i recommend The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.
o and The Lost Boys could kick the Cullen’s asses!!
[…] have its review up by midnight with a second review to follow by our renown “Twilight” detractor, Kellen Rice. Blast is The Online […]
Props for trying to read that whole thing! I am surprised you did not mention the writing style much at all – the lack of connective words or poetic use of language, for example. From what I’ve seen of the book, the bumpy writing style of the Twilight series makes it really hard to follow the individual scenes. I can’t imagine sitting back and comfortably reading the entire book. It could be that I, by chance, have run across excerpts with an exceptional slip of writing skill which doesn’t appear elsewhere in the books, but that would surprise me. Usually, excerpts are chosen to be representative of the book, not to show the author’s worst screw-ups, after all. So – just saying I am surprised that after you forced yourself through the entire series you didn’t mention that.
I soooo agree with you! Okay so i heard about this new craze called Twilight butt i’m not the type of girl to fall into new ‘Fabs’ so i just wrote it off like it was nothing then it got bigger and Bigger so i went to a book store and saw like a whole shelf just for…Yeah you guessed i Twilight so i bought the first book and i read it yeah the girl was not so great so i was like what ever and kept reading i just thought it was soo sweet at first then i bought the 2nd book…Has i can recall i threw the book across the room. Butt my mom had bought me the book with her money that she worked for so i tried again, Ended up throwing it at my bed. Then i tried again….Yup you guessed it i threw..Again. I mean WHAT THE HELL who in there right mind get a paper cut in a house full of VAMPIRES? and what after your boy friend leaves you, You go all emo for like half a year and hurt your self so you can hear his voice in your head REALLY ARE YOU F*CKING CRAZY LADY?!
And her zombie time i was like F*ck man get your self together! and she just welcomes him back with open arms i mean i guess it was just then i told myself that there was no way in hell i’m buying the 3rd one And this there’s Jake he was sweet i liked him butt then when ed comes back you just throw him away like a kicked puppy DAMN that’s sooo selfish. And if my mom had read that book she would have told me to burn that sucker i don’t know what mom in her right mind would want there kids to read that shit! If i hear another girl say she wishes she was bella swan i swear i’m gunna beat some one! i couldn’t even think about wasting money and the 3 piece of shit so-called ‘Lovely’ book. Phew man that took me forever to rite if you read all that you are truly awesome!
I so agree, this hype is just a passing fad.
I personally haven’t read it but from what I’ve heard from actually credible sources it was poorly written, not poetic and a plethora of overused plot devices. after reading this review, I’m glad i didn’t read it. It was a creative idea, I’ll give her that, but it would have been much better of her to sell the idea and basic plot line to a GOOD writer.
Don’t forget that Renesme (I don’t know if I spelled that right) conveniently stops growing at around the age of 18. I don’t like the fact that ‘Bella can do no wrong’… When Jacob imprinted on the little spawn of the two idiots, Bella get’s mad, jump’s at Jacob (for no reason might I add. It wasn’t his fault he imprinted on her), breaks Seth’s arm and no one’s mad. Grr. And I really, really, really hate the fact that the entire Volturi came to visit the Cullen’s (in BD) and…….. nothing happened. I think the author’s just lazy. The ending to this book was even more disappointing than I thought it would be. Everything turned out to be so perfect it made me want to puke. It was kinda like…
Edward: Oh, Bella my love! Now everything is alright! Let us prance and dance in the flowers!
Bleeeeeeh.
I can’t really add much to this because you’ve said it all. I applaud you.
So, I only read the first chunk of comments, but I’d like to mention how hilarious it was that for a while, it was a few people civilly arguing about the book and the article. And it was nice, interesting to read. Then there was a rush of 13 year olds that just loved overusing exclamation marks and caps. Favourite is from TwilightFan, “IF IT’S JUST A BOOK WHY THEY HELL ARE YOU ON HERE YELLLING ? YEA …..” and last time I checked, unless I knew a person’s keyboard was broken, I kinda interpreted caps as yelling.
But other than that, I’d just like to mention that I think I love you. Agreed with everything in the article, without question. It was well written, too.
One good thing about the book:
It makes amateur writers everywhere think, “Hey, if THIS can get published, my books are shoo-ins!”
Thanks, Meyer.
Btw… You could probably take out all the description of Edward and his family and only have half the book left.
Just a thought… As a bookseller, and a reader of the first three (I skipped 20 pages every time Bella griped, then skipped another 20 if she was still griping on the third, but I didnt miss anything), and one with a mild interest in English…
Why are you even BOTHERING (not yelling, this would be in italics if I could) to analyze this from a literary standpoint? This isnt Bronte, Austin, or Shelley…Hell! This isnt even Puzo or Patterson! It’s Teen drivel!
I guess my point is… if you hate it so much… why the in-depth analysis? Isn’t that giving it more credit than is due? What happens if then we open the floodgates and start to analyze the Young 007 series, or the “Gossip Girls” or “Clique” series?
It’s all Teen crap, throw it in the garbage bin just the same.
With all that said, however, I do agree with just about everything said!
-Castx7
Excellent review of a series that is popular right now.
Whether people agree with your opinion or not, it’s rightful to say that TWILIGHT would not stand a second against a good literary analysis.
Too bad boyish good-looks are making it well like hot cakes. MArketing at it’s best. Which goes to show you:
Even if you read books. It doesn’t make you wise.
So, why do we who don’t like twilight just look away? because i’m a 19 year old girl and i can tell you from dealing with this age group that girl’s are getting the WRONG ideas about relationships. there are way too many girls i know who look at their ridiculous abusive boyfriend and say “he’s just over protective” and when I ask them about it, I’ve actually had people compare it to twilight! it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard and it’s disturbing that people are reading this trash and putting so much stake into it (pardon the pun). whatever happened to reading stories that actually provoked thought? BTW, vampires have no blood flow which means they can’t get an erection at all nor can they possibly have living sperm, sorry, there goes the whole last book.
just to be a bit harsh over the blatant stupidity of the plot itself, it’s like a book for 12 year olds that couldn’t handle reading Anne Rice so they wrote a light erotica to placate the readers.
Oh myyy, you are officially my favorite person in the whole world.
I simply cannot understand why people cannot see just how pathetic this series is?
I mean my best friend is obsessed with it and i cannot say anything cause everytime i do, she get’s mortally offended and we end up having a fight haha.
I just needed a place with like-minded people, who aren’t silly love-struck 18 year olds. i am 18 and no, i am not in love with a make-believe vampire. I don’t mind fantasy, it’s one of my favorite genre’s [HP<3<3] but god there is a way of handling that. a way that doesn’t inovolve ridiculous amature writing.
and i hate how the fact that shit like this has a hugee teenage girl fanbase makes our kind in general seem like mindless idiots.
stephanie meyer=ewwewweww.
Rice, did I mention you are my absolute favorite person in the world? Thank you for this article. Thank you for having a head. THANK YOU.
I am so sorry. For a review, it was a good article. I simply must state that this is one of my favorite books, next to Pride and Prejudice, which you revered. I do not see Edward as a obsessive or abusive character. He trys to allow Bella a normal human life, which she refuses out of love for him. It is almost a mixture of Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice with a fantasy-creature twist. I also think that Bella is not a disimpowered woman, but in fact a superhreo in her own right. Even this is expressed on the cover of her fourth book. It shows a pawn in the background and a queen up front. This represents Bella’s change in status pre and post-Edward. She went from a weak piece of the game to the most powerful one out there. As for the ending, I think that to each their own. For J.K. Rowling her ending, a mixture of pain, glory, relief, happiness, and sadness works for her story. Stephenie Meyer felt the need for a happier ending. Just because they lived happily ever after doesn’t mean critics need to turn into the Big Bad wolf and blow Twighlight down. On the matter of Jacob I think Bella’s choice was better becuase he had not actually “imprinted” on her and it could only end in heartbreak for Bella, just like Leah Clearwater. To those who feel it sets a bad example, girls acknowledge the fact they are reading fantasy by picking it up. Her “zombie” state was self enforced to keep off pain. Anyone who has gone through a bad breakup or divorce knows that this is sometimes an efficeint and safe way to handle emotion. He only left her because he thought it would make her safe and she could live a normal life. It was not overly sexual, compared to some other books I have read, supposingly for “Young Adults”. All in all, it really depends on whose side your on. I am now stepping in with the vampires. Good Day.
P.S. I only read this to see the other side and offer thoughtful and hopefully helpful insight.
This guy is so right. I’ve reas all the twilight series, but wasn’t like overly obbsessed with them. Now that i’ve read this, i realize what a good point this is. I mean people need to get back to reality. And plus, this was just a dream Stephanie Meyer had and it only took her alittle while to finish all four series, in where it took J.K. Rowling about 15 years to think about the plot about the amazing Harry Potter. If only everyone could see this and realize. I mean, i’m not against Twilight or anything, I enjoyed the books, but not that much to talk about it 24/7.
i agree! twilight,in my opinion,is the suckiest,plotless book i’ve ever read.all you twilight fans have absolutely no life and have nothing better to do than read poorly written,boring books like this.
Dear gods, thank you for this. The series has gone way too far… I mean, as pointless, mindless entertainment it can be enjoyed. But the way some people latch onto it like the holy Bible or something? The way some people obsess over it and proclaim it to be the best thing ever written? Ew. That’s just… go read some good literature, then you’ll understand what your missing.
(Though I’ll say I enjoyed The Host, by the same author, despite the fact that the main character was a huge Mary-Sue. Ah well. Mindless entertainment.)
Okay, Twitwats, I don’t get how caps lock and the abuse of exclimation marks prove that you’re so intellegent or that your beloved book has any value to society. I don’t see this book being considered a classic like say, Jane Austen or the Bronte’s works. It’s far from spectacular, it’s a horrible example of love (I don’t see Mr. Darcy being controlling at all). It’s of no value to the literary world and will quickly be forgotten once the fad has faded. Do us all a favour and go read something meaningful. If it’s insane romance you seek give Shakespeare a shot. At least he could write.
Wow. You guys need to chill out.
If you really can’t handle reading this article then JUST CLOSE
THE WINDOW and don’t comment on it because you know that you are just going to be told to shut up.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, yeah, but if you’re just going to whine and cry about it because you can’t handle not being agreed with you should just stick with Neopets or something.
So I just watched the movie, it was cheesy, of course. but still lovely and easy to get into like the books. Especially since Robert Pattinson played a good Edward.
Please think of the audience for the books, as I’m sure another twilight supporter has mentioned. They’re like airplane books, an “easy to get into” distraction. I don’t think most of the readers of twilight have any intentions of delving into the values espoused by the book, or the emotional states/gender role/what not of the characters.
If anything, perhaps Bella represents a new type of heroine. When Jane Austen and Bronte wrote their books it was the big thing for a female to be independent. Maybe the original stereotype is pushing back. Maybe it’s saying that a girl in a relationship doesn’t have to be a hypersensitive, empowered b**** who thinks that her boyfriend is controlling her life and tying her down. Edward wanted Bella to go to college but she had made up her own mind to not go….just because some people have phd’s that they stick up like shiny badges does not mean that they’ve had a more fulfilled, or accomplished life. In the end those things don’t mean anything. I think a lot of people would agree that the greatest things in life are the people they love, of course, I know Bella in a way forsakes her actual family forever, for edward, ….but isn’t that what most women actually end up doing…whether it be for a career in some far off place, or to get married and/but maybe not start a family of their own. That’s what happened and Bella chose the latter because going to college for a career would be mundane compared to living in the absence of time with Edward.
of course, really it’s all nonsense because fantasy/fiction/romance really shouldn’t be taken seriously
and I think really, in the end, what makes Bella choose Edward are the supernatural factors of the novel. If this was applied to real life and Edward was just an attractive, strong protective boy, then of course, it would be ridiculous
but come on, he’s a vampire, it’s not supposed to portray something like mr. darcy and elizabeth bennet, or jane eyre and Mr. Rochester
For what they are supposed to be young adult genre/ easy lovable reads/ fantasy romance, the twilight series do not suck in any way. The only reason they suck to all of you is that you are applying them to a world of literature that is actually meant to be thought provoking and deep.
Really, look at them for what they are. The only reason you are comparing these books to a literary league they CLEARLY not in is because they got so much hype and I guess it’s annoying for you to hear so many teenage girls talk about how they are amazing (when they say amazing, they do not mean writing style, foolproof plot conflict/climax) They mean enjoyable, lighthearted, and fun loving, as they most certainly are in my opinion.
Going back to the comparison because of hype. You wouldn’t compare the clique books or the princess diaries or gossip girl to novels like Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, so don’t compare the twilight series to these novels. THEY WOULD OBVIOUSLY NOT FIT YOUR STANDARDS BECAUSE THEY ARE YOUNG ADULT FANTASY ROMANCE FICTION. They would never possibly stand a chance to making it up to your expectations, so to do so is really and utterly useless because the type of people to read the novels won’t care about what you say. it won’t mean anything real to them. Of course they’ll be angry because you’re challenging Bella and Edwards eternal love and they’ll say stuff like “OMG BELLA AND EDWARD FOREVA YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS”
and of course you’ll get your “educated” type saying stuff like oh I totally agree Thank GOD someone has finally said something against that awful series.
The twilight series aren’t meant to live up to your gosh darn intellectual standards, so don’t act like they should
But I really did enjoy reading this article because most of the points are true if you were to put the twlight novels up to those standards
well, that was long, and I was really just looking for the movie review.
oh and I know you say the bella character is like a negative role model for us impressionable young teenage girls who are going to go follow our own edward cullen/what not and be damsels in distress
ALL of the twilight readers I know think that she is a stupid bitch. not just because she has two of the most easy to obsess over fictional characters hanging all over her
but because she’s just a dumbass who makes obviously bad decisions.
oh and really most of you haters up here obviously care too much
if you find an article like this, aren’t you just looking for some sort of validation of your views? well of course you are since you’re obviously so ticked off that anyone could like something just sooo dumb to you
seriously, the opposite of love is not hate (as most of you feel towards twilight) it is indifference, which you should be towards it
“william shakespeare….. he created the ultimate love story and now stephanie meyer has taken alove story and turned it in to a fucking kickass epic of a book”
How dare some kid on this page try to compare Miss Meyer with Shakespeare.
I don’t care if you read Romeo & Juliet in your ninth grade English class. Tell me, kid, have you ever read Othello? The most heart-wrenching love story I believe to ever be published? Most likely, not.
And I’d love to hear you compare Miss Meyer’s writing mechanics & style with that of Shakespeare’s.
I’m going to be frank: this is a horrible book.
Yes, it gets people into reading; yes, it’s relatively easy to read just to pass the time; yes, it was interesting the first time around if you weren’t really paying attention.
But, evidently, every point this article has made is completely correct. Edward had taken out the engine of Bella’s car so she couldn’t see Jacob. Bella was near suicidal when he left her and she indeed jumped off a cliff to hear Edward’s voice. She falls in love with Jacob in the middle of being kissed without her consent (as she’s only doing it because Jacob will commit suicide one way or the other if she doesn’t).
The entirety of the book was a purple prose, with a self-insert playing as the female protagonist. Not only does this sicken me, but said protagonist is basically a thinly-veiled Mary-Sue: she is clumsy, but she isn’t said to have any other flaw other than this. She is said to be “plain,” and yet she has at least five boys hounding her the second she gets to Forks. She is incredibly ungrateful: she doesn’t want to put up with her mother’s new husband and it’s obvious she doesn’t, so she moves to Forks; she also threatens to move out when Charlie says she isn’t allowed to see Edward anymore, after he let her stay with him, gave her a car, etc. She is an elitist (she deviated toward Edward & Co. instead of the people who extended their friendship). She also cannot go on for extensive amounts of time without being with Edward.
I understand how it is human nature to want to be loved, because everyone feels that type of thing. But, the thing is, would /you/ throw yourself off a cliff just to hear the voice of your significant other? Would /you/ fall in love with someone who forces kisses on you? Would /you/ love someone who stalks you just because they’re good looking? Or if you didn’t want your lover to see their friend, whom you hate, would you pull out parts of their car’s engine to prevent such a meet to happen?
Many of us here have enough sense not to follow this type of example, I know that. But what about the younger children reading this, the people as young as ten to twelve, or even a few years older than that? At thirteen, I would read something, see the main character doing it, and think to myself, “If they’re doing it, it can’t be that bad if I do.”
That’s the type of thing that the younger audiences are most likely thinking, because even the brightest ones think that. Twilight tells them that they can fall apart and have a meltdown because of a break-up, among things that do indeed set back feminism by a couple hundred years.
The characters are one-dimensional as well: in addition to being immortal (something everyone’s thought of at one point in their life) and frozen in the age they were bitten, they have inhuman senses, possess unflawed beauty, have powers like superspeed and superstrength, plus additional things like being able to see into the future or control emotions or read minds. The characters had so much potential, I could see it in the beginning of the entire series, but SMeyer completely blew it by making them as flat as a board. We know nothing about their flaws (should they even possess any), talents, passions, or anything about them as a person aside from the fact they all appear to have high sex drives.
I know that some people see the good in the series, while others fail to (such as myself), and I respect that opinion, but two things before I close this up:
A) Don’t bash us for our opinions, because they more or less are true. And,
B) I know you can see the goodness of Twilight; once upon a time, I did too. But when one-third of the people who have read it don’t find anything appealing about the Saga besides its forgotten potential, then it’s probably not that good of a book. All it takes for it to be as amazing as the media cracks it up to be, is a lot of money.
I’m a guy, out of sense of pure morbidity, and to understand my sisters, I read this.
I can’t understand such filth. In case anyone is wondering, REAL guys HATE girls like Bella. Except for perverts who like eye-candy. Guys actually do like personality (which Bella doesn’t have)As a guy, I found Bella to be ANNOYING. There were girls at my high school like her. Everyone hated them.
Edward is the most ridiculous caricature ever. In real life guys like Edward are socially outcast, considered vaguely gay by the rest of the guys and generally shunned.
What the hell is a 100+ vampire doing going to high school?
And the funniest part of the whole series is when Stephenie Meyer tries to insert basic science into the plot. She doesn’t even understand basic biology. She tries to claim vampires and werewolves somehow get extra chromosomes as a result of their condition. Anyone with a 9th grade education and a pulse should know thats obviously impossible.
Meyers is such an idiot.
Oh, and I live in Washington. Meyers has obviously NEVER been here.
These books have a strong theme of teen suicide. Teens are killing themselves over boyfriends and girlfriends at the age of 16 or 17?!?! Thats not a good idea to put on children’s heads in books that the genre is young adult. I think these books are for poor readers and women who want to escape reality.
I am appalled by my generation. “If you don’t like the books, why read it? Why analyze it? Why debate over it? IT’S FICTION.” Are you kidding me? Do you not understand why you attend literature classes and analyze the old as well as the new? Why should Twilight get special treatment and exemption from criticism when every other literary work out has the possibility of being analyzed?
Why do you guard, protect, and excuse everything that deals with this series? Admitting to in seeing mistakes, inconsistencies, or just not liking how the author did something does NOT make you a horrible fan. Have you never heard the term, “Constructive criticism” before?
All I can end with is that you aren’t doing Ms. Meyers any favors, nor are you a real fan if you make yourself blind to any flaws. Perfection itself is imperfection and It’s okay to use your brain when making an opinion,
It’s a series about vampires and werewolves that can predict the future and read peoples minds, and you’re worried about the fact that the vampire has semen…wow. Can’t anyone just learn to enjoy the simplicity of some things? It’s not like your criticisms gonna make Meyer be like “o my god. I was so wrong to write this. I should go back in time and kill myself so i don’t ever write this.” People wanna read it, let them. So what if they lose a couple hundred brain cells. More suckers to exploit. Plus, you have to admit that somewhere in the tiny crevices of your mind, you long for someone remotely like Edward. Someone surreal, powerful, and chivalrous. If you don’t you’re either a vampire, a robot, or a man. Bella only gave up college cus she didn’t need it: when you’re immortal, you kinda have a crapload of time to do that later. Plus, they have Alice who reads the future and Edward who can read minds: the perfect inside traders. And if they dont like the stock market, there’s always the whole super strong, super fast thing. All they have to do is rob a bank in Switzerland. And BTW, analyzing literatures pretty useless. The only time analyzing literature has ever helped me is when I talk to my high school freinds, which btw, is a gifted only highschool. Anyone else i talk to literature about is like: “what’s an innuendo? I’m only in spanish 1″. Back to the article. Put yourself in Edwards place. Would you want your girlfreind visiting your archnemesis race, a race of werewolves, one of which is obsessed with her, when the last time someone obsessed came around, he almost ate her, and the last time she was wiht the werewolf, she did a bunch of near suicidal things? I hope not. What’s a hundred year old doing in high school? A) because it provides a not suspcious cover story. B) when you’ve done the same material 4 million times and you were around for it’s creation, and C) so Bella and Edward can meet dumbass. I hope you realize, it fiction for a reason. You can have extra chromosomes, they just result in awkward, not as intelligent people. im guessing they’re all XXXXXX’s and XXXXXY’s And up there, Othello is definitely NOT the most heart-wrentching tale. It’s a pretty shitty love story acutally, as were Romeo and Juliet. 2 second Othello: YEA IM BLACK, AND IM KING. YEA. IMMA KILL MY WIFE CUS SHE BE SLEEPIN AROUND. O NO, SHE WASNT SLEEPIN AROUND….shit. Romeo and Juliet: Romeo: o Juliet, I’m so ridiculously horny. Juliet: Not until we’re married. Romeo: umm…sex or freedom…sex. Juliet, will you marry me? Juliet: sure.
Marry. kill people. Sex. Killing. Leaving town. plotting. Returning to town. R: O no juliet, you’re dead. even though you’re obviously breathing. I’m going to kill myself, even though ive known you for like, 2 weeks now. poison. Juliet: you didn’t leave me any poison fool? Let me make out with your dead body to see if i can die. Damn, nothing. let me take this convinient dagger and die. Montagues and Capulets: this is a tragedy. our strife over…over…GOD DAMN IT. NOONE REMEMBERS? um. wow. embarrassing. lets make some statues so noone realizes it.
Not really such great love. If you really want a great love story, watch Mahobattein or Veer Zaraa. Btw, I’m not a lover of Twilight. In fact, i just wrote a 2 second summary of it and i plan on posting it on fan fic as soon as my account isn’t consdered new anymore.
As for why there’s no feminism: because feminism’s not romantic
WOW. this article has opened my eyes. I read the books, and i guess i wasn’t very analytical, because i never really paid attantion to the undertones, and just sort of got a little zombified. with me leaving the dark side, meyer is losing male representaion. its true. I am a guy. and no, im not gay. ( not that theres anything wrong with that)
me again. as an ex-male reader of this series, id like to clarify something. im not against feminism and romance. im against stupid romance. in responce to what O K said, if you can like twilight but not romeo and juliet, your pretty stupid, or illiterate in literacy. case and point. u said that romeo and juliet was foolish because of how they commit suicide after knowing each other for two weeks…hmm…sound familiar? OH yeah! Bella jumped off a cliff and walked into the arms of rapists so she could pretend to hear edwards voice…Why not buy a fucking tape recorder??? and this was after ony two months. umm… romeo and juliet is a real romance, not a tale of teenage angst and emoness. pus, what did bella see in him. I mean ye, later she discovers hes dynamite in bed, but really. maybe it was something like this ‘Oh… its so romantic how he yearns to shred through my flesh and drink by blood as he tears through my jugular with his teeth…no, he’s never said a word to me, and trys to ignore me so he doen’t eat me, but i know i love, even though i no he’s a vampire…and wants to eat me..’ WHAT THE FUCK!?
and in othello, u described the character as jumping to conclusions and kiling his wife…when edward saw a vision of bella going for that ol’ swan dive off a cliff, he assumed she was dead, despite the fact that she was a quarter mile away from super powerful werewolves who could easily put an end to any hypothermia, and save her before she hits the ground…”o well. time to go kill myself. because im sure that in my immortal existance, ill never be able to forget this two month romance, in which we sealed our never-ending love with a couple of kisses…well, no they weren’t very passionate, and it couldn’t be much more than a 1/2 second breezy peck, or id feel an unbearable desire to tear her head off with my lips in mid kiss, and then drink from her open neck…mmm…tasty…(maybe ill go ravage her corpse, and then kill myself.)
seriously…and we dont need a pure virgin for a main character. give us someone with character, and flaws. like jacob, only not a total dick who not only sexually harrases u and forces u to kiss them, but then takes possession of a baby u would’ve died to deliver, if not for some handy vampire blood, and then compromises that “he’ll share” o, and the character of course they couldnt be a character from this book.
personally, if i ever accidentally step foot within 100 miles of forks, its not without silver bullets, steel stakes, a meat grinder, and a flamethrower. (in the theme of romance, the meat grinder is engraved with the phrase: Bella & Edward together forever. Only in a much more literal sense.)
I saw the movie last night, I knew ahead of time it would be mediocre at best but all my friends are insanely obsessed with the books, so I went. Oh dear, I laughed so hard I had to step out twice as to not annoy people around me. The movie is worse than the books, in the books Bella is portrayed as the feeble damsel in distress and in the movie she is dull and borderline bratty. And Rob Pattinson as Edward provided for a most amusing experience, he is a jerk in every seen, he has girl makeup on, and he is a terrible actor. So the books and movie really kept with the awful teen romance fluff theme but the movie was much worse than the books, oh…much worse…..Sadly there will be 3 more movies as well, and all this money will be pumped into a franchise that is at best “Sweet Valley High” with vampires.
Also, after reading some of these comments, and seeing comments like “team edward” and “Twihard” or even people wanting “vampire love” this is hilarious. I understand using a book for an escape but c’mon people, I know alot of you are too old to be calling yourself a “Twihard” go watch your local news or enroll in an adult reading class. These books sucked people in with a pretty standard old theme, vampire loves human, turmoil, she becomes vampire, blah blah……this story is rehashed, it makes me wonder if S.M loved Buffy too and this is like a fanfiction she rewrote to suit children.
Personally, I do like the Twilight series. Of course, I do agree that some of the part are really, extremly, seriusly corny and cheesy and some of the characters as Bella and Edward are some giant clichès!! But still, I don’t mind the books, I like them. But, I don’t mind people NOT liking them either. We are different and we are to have different oppinions, that’s it. And those Twilightfans who DON’T get that are really dumb. So, I don’t think that all twilightfans will deny this article to be true, only some really obsessed fangirls (who btw I’d really like to shoot because this is a FICTION for crying out loud!)
…i dont like twilight. i put that right at the end…so…not really an arguement
Btw. every intelligent literary critic has criticized romeo and juliet as being a story of lust rather than love. and they didn’t date for 2 months, it was more like a year. and he actually saved her from crazy vampires twice. and they did have passionate kisses, it just that after them, he wanted to rip her head off and suck her brains out of her throat. And he didn’t jump to conclusions, his sister did. she saw the freakin future, with bella jumping off a cliff, then called her house and heard someone say they were at a funeral. those 3 things kinda would give you the feeling that shes dead.
Thank you for writing this review. Even listening to people talk about it is a waste of my life. The books are so poorly writen and the movie is unimaginably bad. Unfortunately have to cope with the 14 year olds (thats how old i am) constantly talk about edward and pattison. If you read seventeen magazine, he tells that he is a loner, a bad kisser, and never gets asked out.
I began reading the first Twilight novel when it wasn’t popular and my initial reaction was that the character of Bella was not even remotely as “mature” as she supposedly is, Meyer’s writing was somewhat ostentatious and Edward was kind of the seemingly ideal man. When the hype surrounding the books increased, I read the next two and by this stage I was growing rather annoyed at Twilight as a whole because Meyer was absolutely contrived. Nonetheless, I followed the series to the final installment and that was when I completely lost respect for Meyer (not that there was much to begin with). She has no integrity as a writer, her characterisation is atrocious and the whole thing is just a fixation of Meyer who unfortunately wasn’t able to find her century old vampire lover and thus had to express her frustration through a series that is a waste of paper.
When I typed “Twilight sucks” into Google I didn’t expect much to turn up. Imagine my delight when I read this article which I found very entertaining and, more importantly, it’s nice to know that there are people who share my opinion of Meyer/Twilight. It disturbs me how much acclaim the books and now the movie has achieved and I constantly see so-called Tweens clutching these books to their hearts. The series is NOT appropriate for young readers – the portrayal and exploration of the themes are unrealistic and much too influential and intense for the young audience.
Hmmm, now I want to read it. When people were saying how great it was, I was slightly terrified. Now that I’ve heard how terrible it was, it seems slightly interesting.
No. I won’t read it. I’m scared that it will eat my soul. I’ll stick to genres that actually interest me instead of teenage-romance-fantasy books.
i will admit the book is kind of crap, but remember this is “Fictional” and if your children do decide to read this tell them there’s no such things as vampires. So enough of your “oh my this book portrays female as ditz” if you find it not to your taste put the damn book down. We also don’t need multi paragraph rant about how much it sucks.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=97403730401
join it. read the 2 minute twilight.
Terrible plot and terrible characters and terrible anti-female themes and blahblahblah aside, I simply couldn’t get through the writing. It’s an insult to today’s youth that they have to suffer through this crap. I fall RIGHT in the demographic, so many of my friends are hopelessly obsessed.
Me: “Doesn’t the writing style… bother you? It seems really… childish.”
Friend: “It’s just a fun read, you know? Like, I read all these very intense books in school, I wanna go home and just have something easy to read.”
It’s unfortunate that they’ve fallen into this trap – a poorly written love story about Mr. & Mrs. Perfect, that basically amounts to a fanfiction with self-insert characters with absolutely no personality. I really have read fanfiction that is thirty times better than Twilight, and doesn’t involve possibly the most annoying female protagonist EVER.
TO DRIVAL: fair enough, the books are indeed fictional and vampires are along the lines of Santa. However, the tweens that read these books will subconsciously absorb the absurd portrayal of all-consuming love and this will skew their perceptions, especially due to their impressionable age.
You forgot to mention the sexual pedophilia of Werewolf imprinting and the justification that Meyer makes of it.
Logic of mainstream fuckers
“If a product sells a lot, then it must be good”
Twilight’s greatness is in how flawed all the characters are and Bella and Edward’s unhealthy relationship. You take a step back and you watch all the fans saying things like, “omg Edward is so cute”, “Bella is evil I wouldn’t treat Edward like that”, and you laugh at them. It’s like Austen, most Austen readers don’t realise it’s a satire, most Twilight readers don’t realise they are reading flawed characters and themes. Now if that wasn’t a good enough laugh, you then get the massive uproar from people who don’t like it.
People who read Twilight and don’t pick up on all the sexism and flawed characters deserve to be laughed at. So laugh at them, they aren’t going to listen to you bashing Twilight, so there’s no point in wasting time trying to explain to them.
Many books out there are as badly written as Twilight, but at least Twilight doesn’t have the stupidly optimistic view of humanity that most novels these day have.
Finally as way too many people are saying Harry Potter is better. Twilight is better than Harry Potter. Harry Potter is just as ridiculous, but only has the redeeming quality of laughing at the fans. Not only does the series have more plot holes than swiss cheese, but every character is a Mary Sue to a greater degree than even Bella. Harry Potter continually breaks school rules, is generally a bad student and completely self obsorbed, but everyone loves him for it. He then goes out and beats a load of Wizards who have been studying magic for much longer than him. What’s the great justification for all of this? His mother loved him lots, guess what, mothers are genetically engineered to do so. Yet Harry Potter continues to live and do more ridiculous stuff. Bella on the other hand is a relatively good student with an unhealthy love for the Romeo and Juliet syndrome. She also likes to try and sacrifice herself for others a bit too much, which is shown as a bad thing in the novels. In fact as far as I see it, everytime Bella tries to do something that Harry Potter does, it backfires and she needs to be saved by people better suited to the task. A much better message to our children. I’d rather my future kids think, there’s a problem I should goto others for help, than there’s a problem, I better go fix it myself.
I’m a rabid Austen fan, and reading the first few lines of that god-forsaken book (Twilight) made me throw it away in disgust. Everyday, I have to face the likes of my high-pitched squealing classmates and hear their inquiries of why I haven’t read the series. Honestly!! I am so sick of this whole hype about these “books” (If they CAN be called as such)
Ok, I know these books have the necessary formula to make any ditzy teenager pay for a copy.
Damzel+Hot guy+ Hot rival guy+ Hot make out scenes+ We can’t be together crap+ Fight scenes = OMG OMG OMG Fangirls.
I seriously wish girls my age would grab a Jane Austen book, where has the individuality, politeness, wit and intelligence gone to with the young girls of today? Apparently, Edward Cullen sucked them all out.
Oh, and to all who’re saying that forcing yourself to read the series is dumb, and that she should’ve not read it at all if she didn’t want to, I have something to say….
She read the Twilight Series to prove a point. She FORCED herself to do it because she felt the need to prove her point. If let’s say she bashes the series without reading the whole thing, wouldn’t it be senseless? And wouldn’t you guys tell her to read it before she criticizes it? God, grow a brain… Or did the vampires suck them out for you? <3
I think that Twilight hates + lovers should be able to come to a few conclusions together without getting all worked up about it. Personally, I love Twilight, but I also see how ridiculous it is. For Edward is always growling, Jacob is always smiling, and Aro sings his every word. But give us Twilighters a break, kay? Last time I checked its not against the law to love a book.
FOR TWILIGHT LOVERS:
-Twilight is not the best written book in the world, and not the best book either. You should like it for other reasons: the plot, characters,ect.
-You have to admit, a lot of the Twilight Saga is laughable. I think its better if you learn to be able to laugh about it, and still love it.
-At some point you will have to get a life besides Twilight. I know its hard, just try.
-EDWARD IS NOT PERFECT!! He has some obvious flaws that Bella seems unable to point out. You have to either like him with the flaws, or not at all. But you can’t argue that he is perfect.
FOR TWILIGHT HATERS:
-Just because someone enjoys Twilight doesn’t mean they’re stupid, Edward-obsessed or being attacked by sexist messages they are unaware of. Please, give us a break.
-Name one time Edward had been abusive. Sure, hes been creepy, stalkerish (watching Bella while she sleeps), and a bit strange (cus she can have puppies if thats what it takes!) but never abusive. Throughout all the books he is overprotective, and obsessed with her safety. The only time he ever hurt her he spent a whole chapter apologizing, being disgusted by himself, and promising never to hurt her again. And then he spent a half a book moping about it. So you can say he is strange, creepy, anything you want (which I do not think he is), but not abusive.
Actually Jacob once said he was abusive. Ouch, stealing from the book you hate.
-EDWARD IS NOT PERFECT!!! I’m sure you agree with me on this one. And I know its SOOOO annoying to read about Bella thinking about how perfect he is, telling him how perfect he is, fainting because hes so perfect, but he’s not. The reason I’m informing you of this is because you seem to think that Edward is supposed to be perfect, and you’re doing everyone a big favor by pointing out his flaws. Well, Edward has obvious flaws. Bella, of course doesn’t see them, because she is too obsessed with ignoring them, but I think that the reader is supposed to be able to point them out. Bella’s POV sees him as perfect, Jacob’s POV sees him a a freak. So there you go.
-While reading Twilight we don’t tend to think “OMG!! Bella is so spineless and miserable and has such low self esteem that I want to be just like her!” On the contrary, the only reason people would want to be Bella is for Edward. You can say that I’m contradicting myself because being Edward-Obsessed is just as bad, but I don’t think so.
WOW THAT WAS LONG, I’m very proud of myself. I tend to be a bit obnoxious while writing stuff like this, so just try to see past that while you’re reading it, kay?
-Fifi (yes twilight ruined my life, no I don’t care)
SOMEONE SAID THIS:
She is said to be “plain,†and yet she has at least five boys hounding her the second she gets to Forks.
Erm, heres my comment on it:
Bella is obviously not plain, she just has such incredibly low self esteem that she thinks she is. Either that or the boys in forks are just incredibly bored. I’m sorry to hear that being pretty makes you a bad person, just like loving someone and being upset when they leave you makes you a bad person.
Now that I’m done writing comments I will go jump off a cliff because I was so badly influenced by these books that I think its the right thing to do.
*yes that was an attempt at internet sarcasm. What it meant was, YOU CRAZY PEOPLE, THESE BOOKS DON’T INFLUENCE FANS TO JUMP OFF CLIFFS, NOT GO TO COLLEGE, OR MARRY DEAD PEOPLE AND YOU KNOW IT!*
I’m extremely sorry to see that is your opinion, but everyone has their own opinion that they are entitled to. I am actually writing a novel right now and after reading your article I know exactly what I am doing with my lead character. The tricky part will be getting published, but I will be famous. Why? I am barely a teenager, that’s why. Excellent job on writing your opinion for all to see. (I’m a twilight fan, but obsession is the last thing in my mind. I see competition.)
People argue that there are worse book out there. And yes, there are. The point is those authors arent getting millions of dollars for their crap, and she is. She thinks she is the next tolkein or jk rowling and she’s not even close to touching them.
Really, she is just a lucky pathetic writer.
I think twilight is a fantastic book! But that’s just my opinion. Bella is clumsy and weak, but she can be strong too. AND IT IS A BOOK. Of course it can’t be applied to real life. No normal boyfriend would move to protect his girlfriend, and no normal girl would be a “zombie” for months, and the book will not influence us to jump off a cliff.(Where did you get that idea?) There is no book that’s perfect, but I suppose if you wrote a book you would feel differently. That’s because you know what you like, there will not be a book that suits everybody. I enjoyed your POV.
thank goodness for people like you!
it just irritates me how fans of the series put down people (like you and me) who don’t like it, saying silly things like we’re just sour-graping, that we didn’t bother to read them and so have no right to say such things etc.
But the point is, we have read it. We’ve actually held the books and read every single word. And after swimming painstakingly through trash, I think we have the right to say what we do.
We don’t hate it for no reason. We’ve read it which is more than enough.
Get a life.
i think yuu should speak for yourselff. if the book was so bad why would it be one of the best selling novelsss. so think twice buddy bc oviously if you look for reasons to find bsd stuff in the book youll find them so get a life and stop being an idiot or better yet. since yuu kno so much why dont you write a book better than twilight see how many people willbuy it. tHANKS. =]
O K on November 24th, 2008 6:34 pm
Get a life.
Can she not speak her opinion? Is it not cool to say what you want to say? I guess so, because if you do, you’ll get flamed by TwiTards.
britneyy on November 24th, 2008 6:44 pm
i think yuu should speak for yourselff. if the book was so bad why would it be one of the best selling novelsss. so think twice buddy bc oviously if you look for reasons to find bsd stuff in the book youll find them so get a life and stop being an idiot or better yet. since yuu kno so much why dont you write a book better than twilight see how many people willbuy it. tHANKS. =]
Me: Whoa. OMG. It’s called proofreading, hon. Anyways, people buy it because they want to read it, not because they think it’s good. Many people may have read it and didn’t like it, and it’s best -selling because of all the hype. What’s so stupid about critiquing a book? A lot of other books have been subject to this. What makes Twilight so special?
That was an awesome blog, and Twilight is a very painful book to read.
One more thing:
I keep hearing “Get a life.” You’re the one who read a series of crap books that are about 500 pages each, and getting all pissy over nothing. You’re the one who decided to read a person’s critique, and, in a fit of rage, flamed her blog with hateful comments. There are worse things to get mad over. A person respectfully stating their opinion isn’t one of them. -_- Ignorance is something to get mad over. Face it, some people will like Twilight, others won’t.
Twilight may just be a work of fiction, but Kellen Rice is totally right; it’s messing with peoples’ brains. The proof is in my personal experience just last week: a teacher asked my class what we considered to be the image of an ideal romantic relationship. Half the class, which was overwhelmingly composed of females, screamed; “BELLA AND EDWARD FROM TWILIGHT”. I sat there feeling sick and downright disturbed, having heard all the exciting details of this epic romance. In fact, I just spent today interviewing a dozen people from both sides of the Twilight faction in an attempt to get to the bottom of this. You are an inspiration, and to all the Twilight-loving flamers who replied and will in the future, SPELL CHECK before you insult someone’s writing, otherwise you’ll look pretty darn stupid.
I must speak my mind on this part, Why must every one bash on the 12 year old’s i’m 12 and frankly i hate the 2nd book i think it sends the wrong meaning to the type of people that are easy to fall into this type of relationship. I have hear many others say they wish that they could have a “Protective” boyfriend like Edward, Yes he was never abusive, Butt why would a so-called “Lover” steal parts of there so-called “Lovers” car so they could not see there so-called “Best Friend” I must say that Edward’s and Bella’s relationship was unhealthy and quite obsessive. For bella to fall in to such a state for such a long amount of time after her “Boyfriend” leaves her i have to say that’s not a good thing to put in a “Young Adults” book. Her jumping off a cliff so she can hear his “Voice” in her mind now….That’s just plain crazy. And there is quite a lot of unhealthy thing’s in this “Relationship” such as Edward’s possessive nature he has for Bella, And Bella’s obsession for Edward is so big that she cant be away from him for more then a few minuets with out falling into a slight depression. i understand both side of there POV butt i think that Edwards possessive nature is overly basted for her safety that he is hurting her, Not physical butt mentally. And Bella’s obsession for Eward, I get that every one wants to be loved butt the way she “Love’s” him is much to depended on needing to be cradled and protected all the time. Quite a few children nowadays think what they hear or read is O.K in real life, And i wouldn’t want my child (If i ever have one) to think that such a relationship is O.K
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
thank you so much for writing this.
I agree with absolutely everything you’ve said.
duh..if u don’t want the novel then don’t mind it…
you’re just making your lives compicated…
if you don’t like that book then so be it….
duh…
well..for me twilight is the best book that i ever read..
harry potter is okay but sometimes it really bores me alot..thank god j.k. rowling finally wrote the last series of the book..it’s time to let the other novel shine..;)
I don’t argue that there’s people out there who read the book and consider it to be pure entertainment. But there are also a lot of people who read it and do take in Stephanie Meyer’s twisted depictions of love. It’s not just twelve year olds- sadly there are a lot of impressionable teenagers too. I’ve heard everything from ‘Twilight is my Bible’ to ‘Go die’ from a friend because I stated that I thought the book sucked. But when you get right down to it- Twilight sells for sex appeal. For those few of us who actually have taste in literature, or have no interest in romance, Stephanie Meyer’s book may as well be a pile of dust.
i never thought about these stuff while i was reading the series. thank you for showing me the other POV on the twilight series. i totally agree with you now, but i dont think some kids are stupid enough to follow what bella did
Christ almighty, I weep for the future. THIS is the series that teenagers have come to love?? This? What ever happened to the Lord of the Rings saga or the Narnia books? Or what about great books like the Great Gatsby or the Catcher in the Rye?
Stephenie Meyers claims she had no prior experience writing novels and clearly it showed in her prose.
You’re soooo true! Finally someone that sees it as a bad series as well. I see no point in it… I hate the whole plot… seriously, how interesting is a vampire series?
After Anne Rice, I see no point in anyone else trying to write vampire books. She is a master mind and no one could ever match up to her! I know these books are for teens, but I was reading Rice in my teenage years. Full of history and well written. Not this dime a dozen crap being written today. Its a shame what todays youth finds entertaining…
Butt why would a so-called “Lover†steal parts of there so-called “Lovers†car so they could not see there so-called “Best Friendâ€
Ouch. Hey, I never said he wasn’t obsessiveish or a stalker or anything like that.
Thank God, for people like you in the world. Everywhere I go it’s always “OHMIGOD, I love Twilight. Eeek, Edward is so hot.” They’re so brainwashed by Edward’s and Bella’s ‘relationship’. Guys are not like that in real life. They do not talk like Prince Edward. And SMeyers describes women as weak creatures that are dependent on males.
When people hear that I hate Twilight, they give me an evil look. It’s funny how a poorly written book with no point or plot, whatsoever, can attract this much attention and be an obsession for people. I’m a teenager, but in my opinion, Twilight is the worst book to date, and it probably will be.
nice review. I somehow agree with your points, though the part that bella gives birth gives me the creeps. (well that’s how meyer placed it anyway.) however I think meyer deserves the credit despite those flaws you’ve presented because twilight is a BEST SELLER, meaning it has been sold to a lot of people and it is not necessarily a well-done book as compared to rowling and the other writers, right?
sexist? hmm. . from how you’ve shown it, it almost got me nodding yes with you. on second thought, it really depends on how people see things. some people say its feminist, some say its chivalry, but then again, it’s a matter of how you see things. so I guess you’re not really into chivalry.
as for edward, yeah, I think he’s an asshole when he ripped of the engine and had bella kidnapped. however it has already happened (in the story), and I find it realistic for people to become somewhat possessive towards the one they love. as for bella’s reaction well she just dismissed his acts(hmm.. not sure about this)because she’s so into edward. bella fell in love in jacob at some time because jacob filled in the space edward made when he ditched her. with jacob, I guess his ego spiked that’s why he got the jump on her. yes you might find that alarming but it also happens in real life. as for the cheesy situations as mooning, staring at the caf: well love is cheesy for some, and as how I experienced it personally. *oh loooove.*
another thing, since you have said that twilight has no/ a poor plot and worldbuilding aspect, i think this is justifyable because it is presented in a limited point of view (Bella/Jacob). besides, i’m considering meyer’s experience as a writer, and she said herself that she’s not seasoned as they are.
as for teenagers, hmm. . who ever said that, we’re not totally mindless nor impressionable as you guys think. after all we’re capable of doing reviews/crtiques like this whatsoever. twilight clicked towards teenagers because it was aimed for us teenagers. the older people should understand that because after all, they were once teenagers, like us.
as for the twihards who bash critics, aiming at them personally about getting a life, calling each other names wouldn’t do anything right. perhaps critics take ‘fun-filled’ fiction books seriously because they are critics! they’re here to evaluate how the book is. you might say you love the book and don’t even think about putting a hole into it, but they have the right to express themselves as much as you are. better yet, if you think that an idea is wrong, then prove them otherwise by rebutting their points.
the problem sometimes with fans is that they love things because it’s in the bandwagon. they’d mindlessly kill anyone that criticizes that thing with extreme prejudice (at least some, not all.) although I have liked it before, I dislike twilight now because it has become overrated; its value for me has lessened because of that.
there. I think I have said everything, as guy who has read Twilight.
THANK GOD. I thought I was the only one who thought, wait a minute, this is SHITTY SHITTY WRITING.
I honestly think these books would have been much more fascinating if you take out the mythology. No vampires, werewolves, demon babies. People falling in love at first sight? I think showing the love between Edward and Bella would have been 1000x more interesting and insightful if they were both human.
Transversely, I think the Twilight universe would have been 1000x better if Smeyer committed to her own mythology. I respect that she tried to marry a deeply committed love story to a eerie mythology, but she didn’t do it properly. She spent far too much time highlighting the love story, as opposed to fleshing out the universe. That is why, I think, so many people fell in love with Harry Potter. Because you could truly immerse yourself in the universe, every detail was perfectly thought and planned out. Legitimate critiques of Potter aside, Smeyer simply did not commit the way JKR did and it showed in her writing. It was abundantly clear from early on that the focus would be the love story (to a fault), but adding a poorly thought out mythology is part of what makes this series so… well… BAD.
I hate to go back to JKR, but make the comparison. Potter fans can tell you the name of Harry’s godfather’s FATHER (Orion, btw). This was written nowhere in the series, but it is simply common knowledge because JKR took the time to flesh out her character’s family tree, as to be more realistic with her universe. Can the Twilight fans tell me the name of Alice’s father or mother? Doubtfully (I honestly cannot remember if that detail was outlined in the book). Smeyer has a potentially wonderful and deep world on her hands if she had just taken the time to flesh it out. No, instead, she decided that telling us that Edward was so *dazzling* eight hundred times. That, my friends, is poor penmenship. Period.
And, as a side note, I have been with my fiance for two and a half years (longer than E+B by the end of Breaking Dawn by the way) and very much in love with him, however – if he ever took the engine from my car so I couldn’t go visit another male friend? Over, done, finished forever. That’s not love. Well, yes, it is love. But it is love you can – and should – go to jail for.
I’m really enjoying the defense tactics being used by the Edward-lovers and offended housewives (who don’t see any warnings in the fact that they’re reading the same things as their Hannah Montana fans). If only the author had employed some these strategies instead of commenting on actual text from the books! In the future, we “pseudo-intellectuals” should remember:
1. Speak it all caps. It makes you more “right.”
2. Rape a thesaurus.
3. Books, obviously, can’t impact real life in any way. Please forward this to all authors who have been banned, exiled, excommunicated, or killed for their work.
4. Try to use the fact that they’ve given it a chance and done their research against them. “If you don’t like it why did you just stop reading?!?!†is terribly effective.
5. When completely unarmed, claim that the person criticizing Twilight was “too mean.†If you don’t want to hear it, it’s automatically untrue.
6. Always include a mini auto-biography.
7. Do not acknowledge the existence of better literary options, especially those whose characters are most blatantly ripped off (Stoker, Byron, etc).
8. Don’t spell-check.
9. Especially not for homonyms.
10. Swear a lot.
*smirks*
It’s as though all the Twitards here have horrible spelling and even worse grammar.
*giggles*
Hate you break it to you, Twitards, but Twilight SUCKS!
*laughs*
But seriously, I’ve seen people compare Twilight to Death Note just because Death Note happens to have a character who loves apples. Hello? Death Note owns, but Twilight sucks. DO NOT MIX THEM UP, TWITARDS!!!
Although… there is one similar thing about Twilight and Death Note: both seem to have women be the weaker sex, but Twilight makes it more blatant. Death Note still comes out on top.
Kellen Rice, you win the prize: my respect.
That is all.
let there be peace among the TwiTards and the TwiRapists
read and enjoy the only thing both can agree on.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4676953/1/2_minute_twilight
I can’t believe some of the comments on this article. Did someone actually say “you think too much, just like everyone else” in defense of these novels? WOW… there’s being a fan, and then there’s just being ridiculous. I’ve read the first 3 novels in this series, and while I didn’t hate them with a blinding passion like some I certainly would never even dream of comparing them to JK Rowling. They’re not even in the same league. One series is a WORLD wide success, the other an American success. That really should tell people something.
The only redeeming character in the whole series was Jacob, in my opinion – the only one with a personality. As far as the rest of the novels goes, well, everyone’s already said it. If you’re a major fan of these novels, please, go try LJ Smith’s Vampire Diaries – they’re better written, more compelling, and the female characters actually care about other things than relationships. And please, don’t every again argue with someone by saying they “think too much” – thinking is a *good* thing. Intelligence? Also a good thing. And if you don’t agree with that, then you really need serious mental help.
wats spelling got to do with hating the books?
Just curious
i love twilight and by the way why u downers always so crappy about anyone who likes them we can all like what we like and agree to disagree, we dont have to act like uncivilised chimpanzees
go team EDWARD …..jakob ur goin down byeas
First of, you Twilight lovers NEED to calm down.
Why?
Because, it’s her opinion and if her opinion call you stupid kids OH WELL
SO WHAT?
It’s her fricken opinion!
The problem people have with you Twilight fans — SMeyers “work” aside; you’re treating this book like an effing CULT. Anyone who don’t love and “listen” to the masta must suck, must die, have no life–SECOND OF–If she doesn’t have a life(the reviewer) neither do you, because you’re reading a review about something that disagree with your POV.
HMM
That makes SO much sense. Makes me think you got nothing better to do but pick fights with people on the internet. Sounds like NO life too me!
*~Note I want to say that I don’t mean “all” I don’t want to generalize like that and some Twilighters have actually shown respect. *~
On a writing scale-judging the book on its merits, morals, grammar YES PEOPLE IT FAILS GET OVER IT.
Meaning yes, technically to society “terminology” of sexism –YES the writing appears that way. And shows SIGNS of it.
Meaning yes, the “Series” was more of a “DIARY” then a book which costs in some grammatical errors. No one CARES (not all true) BUT IT”S THE TRUTH. GET OVER IT!
Meaning yes, according to “proper writing” standards SMeyers didn’t quite follow the Story Triangle Climax. People–that’s PRETTY important!
I don’t think you guys UNDERSTAND how this series could have been in the “LITERATURE” world NOT the pre-teens/I love vampires world but the LITERATURE world a GREAT STORY!
Beside it being a typical-always told-tale story she could have really brought alive the storyline IF one–she had in the first book.
IF she spent more time developing a PURPOSE for the characters as well.
When you read Twilight, they, the characters was just THERE. It’s like a you got a microscope and you zoom in on a cheesy-over told life of a girl and you’re watching it play down. There was really no climax and when there were one it was thrown in. THAT’S how it was represnted. GET OVER IT.
I do want to thank SMeyers though. Alot of you Twilight readers wasn’t actually avid readers but it got you wanting to read more (IM HOPING)theme like books of its nature and HECK you might come across ACTUAL vampire stories!
POINT IS–No one is telling you can’t like the story because of it’s characters, or you can’t like the story for its so call creativity.
If this book has helped you in anyway, …establish something you was lacking…brought you a glimpse of happiness-made you believe in that “love at first glance” again then good.
But for people who adores the english language, adore books, and properly written tales–and most importantly for people IN the literaure world (its kinda like the “entertainment world but our own.) All these elements this reviewer and SOME Anti-twilighters HAVE suggested this book doesn’t cut it.
So excately WHAT ARE YOU DEFENDING?
That “birth” scene? Uh…ick! As a professionally trained EMT and a longtime horror fan, it’s kind of hard to gross me out, but that descriptive did. I have given birth–by cesarean section, as it happens. And I have to ask–wtf is the matter with this woman, writing something of that nature? One almost gets the idea that she despises women. I think I have to go watch Alien now to get that disturbing image out of my mind and replace it with something comparatively wholesome and decent.
Wow! I was shocked to be reading this article.
If you thought the first three books were “horrible” why keep reading?
Twilight was so “bad” that it ONLY made a mere $70 million the opening weekend.
I think you guys are all scared that Twilight is going to be bigger than Harry Potter. (:
I would like for one of the many Twilight fans to give me one well constructed reason (REAL reason: translation for those that don’t understand what I mean) for why you enjoy this story… Please, enlighten me
I am 23 years old, i have a perfectly healthy relationship, no suicidal thoughts, i live in a sunny country and i love Twilight series.Why?My reason of loving this book was quite simple really. Perfect endless love.Everyone wishes to have someone special,to love and be loved. I really can’t understand why you are spoiling the magic of the book.It may have a lot or just some flaws.Just stop debating both sides.You are ruining it by sticking to the fancy words like feminism. So she is the damsel in distress!So what?The world has become so horrible that i need a bit of magic.That’s all from me i’ve read all your comments so don’t make the same comments as above.
Thank you very much. I plan on giving this website to many twilight fans at my school. I can’t wait til another series comes out that is half way decent to have people go ‘OMG You MUST read this book’, no really I have heard people say that.
Keep up the good work!
All I can say is your an idiot. I know this is probably an old page and whatnot, but it kinda made me mad. Are you against popular ideas? Bella is just acting like any teenage girl on a crush, then realizes that Edward is her true love. She never had any aspirations of going onto college or any other future. Before she moved she only took care of her mother. Now I agree with the anoying aspect of everyone getting so into the book, but that is no reason to dis the author. She does a great job writing and definatly lures you into Bella’s world, if you let her. If you would have actually read the books, you would know that Jacob isn’t the best person for Bella to hang around with. Edward would rather not have Bella’s face ripped apart by a werewolf. About him getting her pregnant, it is FICTION. It does not have to be true. You were the one going on about how people were getting to into a fictional book anyway. You don’t have to like anything, nor do you have to try to ruin someone else’s experiances. Stephenie Meyer is a great autor and she wrote 4 fantastic books. Accept it and get a life.
Shut up post abooovee me …I am a teenager and I don’t act like that…My FRIENDS don’t act like that…matter of fact..I dont know, haven’t met or SEEN …..ANYBODY in my Miami, Fl school ever acted like that.
Don;t generalize little girl.
SERIOUSLY. Now that made ME mad.
@ Krysten Amber on August 19
telling people that they “deserve to die” because they don’t like Twilight is very immature and hostile. can’t you get it through that thick skull of yours that not everyone is going to like it? there will always be people who will bash it. why are you showing so much hostility to people who don’t like it? they don;t have to like it. why can’t you state your opinion in a POLITE and CIVILIZED manner like some other people? if someone else comes and says why they don’t like it are you going to give them a death threat? the police can track you by your computer’s ip address. don’t come crying to me if you threaten someone and they report you then the police track you and come to your house and press charges. this goes to anyone else who says hostile things or say “people who don’t like Twilight deserve to die”.
wow THANK YOU! i totally agree with some of the points in this article!
i actually only read the 1st book and my friend is forcing me to read the second one, but i’m kind of bored half way through it.
but i don’t even think bella is the damsel in distress type…to me she has NO personality. and neither do any of the other characters. there’s barely even a plot. and where was the “suspense” and “romance”?? i found everything too predictable and nothing romantic. edward and bella are just a boring couple. i hate how everyone is so in love with edward! he’s BORING!
though so far jacob seems okay in new moon.
My problem isn’t really the anti-feminist Bella but the WAY Meyer writes! She’s a horrible writer. She is NOTHING compared to J.K. Rowling.
About the feminist thing:
First of all, I think feminism in general is partially retarded. In the United States, women have more rights and have more ADVANTAGES than in any other place on earth.
I just wish Meyer would stop talking about Edward’s skin, his golden eyes, and “perfect” muscles. I mean, THAT is cheesy and it takes up 99% of Twilight.
I truly don’t know how Meyer was an English major.
Stephanie Meyer can’t possibly be compared to anyone else who got published- with Twilight in hand, she’s created a new level of FAIL, one with a profit. The only good thing about the books is that they have given thousands of aspiring teenage writers hope of getting their own work published- no telling how that will end. Myself included- but I’m not sending out my writing until I’m at least out of college with a few years of experience editing and proofreading under my belt. Good philosophy to abide by: it’s perfectly okay to write rubbish. But it’s definitely NOT okay to publish it.
Thank you! Thank you so very much! Nearly every girl in my school loves this garbage and I can’t take it anymore! One girl even said she wanted to marry Edward. Makes me shudder.
I just found this and you opened my eyes. I’ve been a fan, I’ll admit it.
The last book was a complete fail on SM’s part and I was really disappointed that she decided to write at the lowest level of bad. Seriously, Bella has a baby? And the baby, who’s suppose to be a killer and monster, is sweet and loving?
I don’t get it. I don’t understand why people liked it.
I’m a Jacob Black fan and I hate SM for having him become such a jackass and, like you said, abusive. WFT!?
And then he imprinted on the half vampire. Of course. Just have Ball skip the whole ‘newborn-can’t control the blood lust’ and we’ll call it a day.
Oh wait…
I’m thankful that you wrote this. You gave me the indepth look on the books and made me realize that SM just sugar coats it.
Kind like McDonald’s. It tastes good, but oh it’s so bad for you.
My experience with Twilight was thus…
I read some Twilight fanfiction. I thought it was what you expect fanfic to be: simple, using repetitive adjectives, etc.. In short, mediocre writing. Could I do better? No. But it is fanfic – we don’t really expect Tolkien.
Some months later, I had the chance to read the Twilight. I’d say that her writing and the fanfic just about measure even.
That is just plain sad.
[…] November 30, 2008 read this (: clicky and this clicky […]
Seriously people, just chill out. If you don’t like Twilight put it down. If you like Twilight pick it up. Nuff said.
Does it make any sense that it was very painful for me to read twilight, but I love it? I think you get into the mood of the bad writing, because once I reread the last chapter of Breaking Dawn and was just all “ER- WHAT WAS THAT” because it was so horrible. I’ve read The Host, Stephanie Meyer’s other book, and it was much better written. I don’t think its so much that she’s a bad author, or that she just got into the mood of how she originally wrote Twilight.
I think people should be able to read Twilight and accept that it is badly written, understand why people think its sexist, ect, but still like/love it. OK THAT SOUNDED WEIRD i meant more like Twilight lovers should realize that it is what it is and is not perfect, instead of acting like its the best thing since sliced bread.
*phew*
I have to stop commenting…
PS: I am a victim of the Twilight epidemic. )-= or do I mean (-= ????
[…] November 30, 2008 http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/ […]
Really, this entire comment thread is just like the McCain campaign of vote for me because I’m not “a pretentious intellectual”.
Why is it so wrong to have an opinion based on advanced schooling? Why must it inspire hordes to attack furiously with their incomplete sentences, caps lock and mashing of exclamation points?
People read their shallow fiction, but usually, they acknowledge that it’s shallow, not ground breaking or life changing. And even if it is life changing to these kids, I think they’ll learn later that their fandom was a bit hot headed, now that they’ve learned a love of fiction, they’ll keep reading, and we all know the more people read, the better off the rest of us are. So there’s no need to get angry at the young trolls trying to defend their unique butterfly book. Arguing with them and trying to prove them wrong at this stage in their development is futile. Best to let things be and let them learn on their own.
Honestly, this is probably caused by the fact that there is a much much large population of the 12-18 age group online than there was 10 years ago, and it results in this fandom, which is just a wider spectrum of the real world being represented online. Oh well?
As for the generation that is older and adores this series.. well.. I can only hope they too learn as they get older. Like beanie babies. Etc.
omg THANK YOU! i’ve been trying to talk ALL my friends out of reading these stupid brain dead books O_O i swear bella is the most insipid heroine i have EVER read of. I don’t even really understand why Edward is such a dream guy i mean, so he’s rich and can play the piano i mean HELLO he’s live over 100 years he’d be a worthless nimrod if he hadn’t achieved at least that much, i also don’t get why the fact that he doesn’t sleep is such a heart warming thing about him. I mean would you want your boyfriend to just stay up all night staring at you while you sleep? That’s like border-line obsessive…swear there are so many things wrong with this book…makes my blood boil -__-
first i think that it wasn’t as sexist but it certainly was borderline. also i like the bit about why thet couldnt have a kid, my sentiments exactly. also what if bella has her period? anyway these books were some of the worst i have ever read!!!! breaking dawn should be burned!!!!! i love books i have about five hundred dollars and i have major dedt on my library card, but i did not like those. i literally fell into one of the plot holes in eclipse and died. then i saw the movie and wanted to gouge my eyes out. i must say though I HATE edward, bella, and jacod. the model ending would have been if bella died giving birth and jacod and edward killed each other. perfect every one wins. the only characters i liked were seth and leah, and even they we very week and under developed. bella was so uncaring about her fate and constantly made excuses for edward. edward was over protect selfish and massicistic, what the hell! thats not a balenced mix at all, meyer added and subracted things from him to create a plot and an actual purpose for her writting. jacod did a 360 in personallity and becomes this totally other person. and the readers like, ok what just happened? and who is this new guy also named jacod. my advice to any one who read twilight: dont read any further, its to horrible. stop at the first one before your literary imagination falls in a plot whole and dies of malnutrition.
I love all of these books and you people are just saying that they are stupid and all b/c you are tired about hearing people reading them. . . . . . . .Or your just a freak!
Im sorry you have never heard of FICTION! My friends and I have read this and of course read the books AND BEING 13 WE ALL KNOW THAT NOT EVERYTHING WORKS LIKE THAT. My mother has read them too. Some things didn’t make sense like the baby. But this book wasn’t meant to be published and I think that if everyone thinks life works like the way it does in the book THEY MUST BE FRANKLY DUMB! If you ever write a book post it somewhere, I’ll buy it and show you how it feels to be told your a horrid writter maybe its because your a horrid person.
Olivia and friends
Look, Olivia. Here is the thing. You are entitled to enjoy the books. Even as misguided as you are. The fact that as a 13 year old you’re reading books meant for 13 year olds is is disturbing. You should be looking to challenge yourself. But whatever, thats your choice and your neglectful mothers choice. You’re just the victim of society. But everyone else here has a right, too. They have a right to criticize these books. If they don’t like them they can say so all they want.
Life is tough, kid. Not everyone is going to agree with you. And when they don’t agree with you in real life you can’t talk to them in all caps. That’s going to be a shame for you I’m sure.
For everyone else. Look, I hadn’t even heard of this garbage thing until I saw a movie trailer (which looked as awful as awful could look) and I’ve only heard a few things about them. None of which are good. Even from people who read them all and kind of liked them I’ve been told the writing is awful. At a 5th grade level at best.
Also, all you young kids reading these books. You should be challenging yourself. That’s how you become more intelligent and a productive member of society. Reading the trashy, poorly written books aimed at your age group just is not the way to go. They won’t challenge you. They won’t hone your reading, comprehension or reasoning skills. They won’t be useful at all. They will only make you less valuable to society. Broaden your horizons with what you decide to read. Don’t limit yourself to trash.
I’m a huge fan of Twilight and I respect your opinion of that book.
I also agree with some things in this article. Especially the thing with Bella just being a normal girl who has 5 guys pulled around her finger.
To be honest I mostly like Twilight only because of Edward Cullen.
Because he is just so gentle, intellegent and funny at the same time. The mayority of the male youth today is pretty much the opposite of Edward. I think you didn’t really get the relationship between edward and bella but that’s okay because you were right about nearly everything else. The reason because I love this book?
It’s fun for me to read. I mean I am 14 year young. Twilight is just like a tale to me. Not very realistic and stuff but entertaining.
You shouldn’t read it if you were too serious about books. I also read books for the “grown up”s and I enjoy them too but Twilight is just like a book which makes me happy. Just because deep within most of the women love cheesy love stories. And it also made me want writing my own stories and books. It inspired me to be more creative.
The illiteracy of the Twilight fan community does much to explain the popularity of Meyers’ horrible prose.
Thank you for making it easy to decide who’s side I should be on in this debate.
Ah, I forgot to suggest that all the little weirdos reading Twilight should pick up a good book. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, despite being hundreds of years old, is one of the best horror and romance novels ever written.
Yes. Dracula is romantic.
I’d also like to suggest Phantom of the Opera as a great comedic book. Yes, it’s funny. No, I’m not kidding. Crack it open. You’ll love it. It’s also pretty short, for those of you with short attention spans.
Another amazingly hilarious book is Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel, and the sequel, Road to El Dorado. Written by a woman, these books about love and hate during the French Revolution will give you all a REAL man to love… The Scarlet Pimpernel! It’s hard not to love Marguerite Blakeney.
I would also like to suggest reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. It’s phenomenal, and will help open your eyes.
All of these books are available as audio books for free download on the internet, as they’re all in the public domain. Please. Expand your horizons.
funny people. its fiction. like it or not, everyone is entitled to their opinion. the target market for the books is not the same as romeo and juliet or jane eyre it was never meant to be. take it for what it is and move on.
Hah, i always hated these books because the damned vampire has my name. Thanks for making this review, finally someone who understands. Alot of the responses are of people saying -Bah the book rocks F you!- but ya, i disagree with them, and agree with you. All girls love this book cause they all want to be that damsel in distress, have someone else do shit for them, and have a hunksicle to themselves. Poor Edward. I hate him, and i still pity him for having to be in this book. I hope the author makes a last book and ties it up with everyone being … unlikable. If they all died, everyone would love them. if they lived on forever, then chicks would write fictions about how edward got sick of whatever her name was and love them instead. Nah, i want Edward to show his true colors, real vampire stuff.
Maybe if the author wrote a book about Werewolves, then i’d read it.
I’d just like to say that the preceding comments about the other poster’s within this thread seem to be dead on with their ascertations about the readers of the series, Especially those of Chris.
I agree whole heartedly with him in regards to people needing to challange themselves and read something beyond their targeted age group so as to broaden horizons aswell as their understanding of english and its use. Olivia (above poster) shows quite clearly just how important comprehension is when she states “But this book wasn’t meant to be published”. I’m sure given the context of her post she was really saying it was meant to be published but then who knows, the young are so fickle these days.
Just my thoughts.
Ok – so I’m a 20-something professional woman (getting alarmingly close to 30) and well “i liked the books” – mind you I haven’t finished BD yet. So a few quick points:
1) Its a fantasy/horror/vampire novel – so most of the relationship rules go out the window.
2) The writing is not very good.
3) But it is a page turner – I’ve not been able to put it down.
4) The male/female relationships are unhealthy.
5) Most teenagers I know can see that they are unhealthy and are enjoying a good “yarn”.
6) Isn’t it better that a teenager reads something then they don’t read at all?? When I was younger I found reading “difficult” and
7) Don’t abuse the (more polite) young girls and guys who write on this forum about liking this book – lets have a reasoned and fair debate if we are going to have one at all. What happened to the review skills we learned at school?
And finally: If you want a really stomping good teenage/young adult series of books, with a strong young woman who chooses to become the best in a male dominated career, while still being fantasy and fun then read:
“The Alanna Series” by Tamora Pierce
Seriously, they have myth/magic/battles/love/romance – with an inspirational heroine “Alanna”.
When I found reading difficult, these “Alanna” books taught me to love reading. I plan to give them to my niece and any future children I may have myself,….
Over-and-out..
ps: I *still* read the Alanna books on a yearly basis….
pps: here is something to wet your appetites (off wikipedia):
“Alanna is a ground-breaking female knight. Although noble-born girls traditionally go to the convent to learn how to be proper noblewomen and wives, Alanna desires to become a knight, a position only given to noble-born boys….”
pps (again, last one I promise!): The Alanna author, Tamora Pierce, set up this website:
http://www.sheroescentral.com/
I’m no feminist, but am all for celebrating strong female role models — read and enjoy
To be honest, I’d rather teens not read this series and not read than read them and get lofty thoughts about things. Speaking as a teen here, I’ve seen the absolutely disgusting obsession with these books. It’s…horrifying. Worse than any of the ‘bad guys’ in the books.
Heh, we were just having a discussion in class today about banning books. One of the pro speakers for banning a book, Lakota Woman, argued that it taught bad lessons. The woman who wrote the book grew up on the reservation and basically just had a really terrible life. The book is about how racism against Natives is horrible, how she fought threw it, how she lives, ect. Anyway, if this is teaching bad lessons, then what is Twilight teaching youths? I agree with the article’s author in that it promotes unhealthy relationships and possessiveness.
Instead of teaching all these young woman about how to get yourself an abusive husband or boyfriend, why don’t we teach them something valuable?
Fair point Yves – I have to be honest in the fact that I have only discovered the Twilight books recently and haven’t seen first hand the teenage obsession with them … obsession is never a good thing (mmm sounds like the characters in the book!)
I quite like the books, warts and all. Saying that, I was disturbed with the controlling nature of Edward in book 3 and the almost physical violence of Jacob. I wanted Bella to tell them were to go and give her some respect. The “bruised and battered” outcome of the love scene in book4 was sickening.
Saying that, I still can’t put them down and enjoy reading them!
However, even tho’ I enjoy them, I don’t think I’d give the Twilight series to my 14 year old niece. Much more likely to give her the Alanna series. Someone she can look up to, not be irritated by.
these books are purely meant for enjoyment, and if it makes people happy to read them, then good for them! This series is not meant to be analyzed seriously. if you hate them so much, stop reading them and stop complaining about it.
I don’t even know how you managed to get through all four books. I started New Moon in July, and five months later, I still haven’t made it passed page 159.
Excellent review though. It’s nice to know someone in this world knows how to write something decent.
Well obviously the books don’t suck considering they’ve all been on the best seller list. Just because YOU think they suck doesn’t mean they do. Why can’t you just let people enjoy them without having to voice your negative opinions. If people like them, more power to em! Twilight was amazing btw!… as well as New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.
Can I get an amen?!
No, you don’t get an amen. You get a HELL NO! Bestsellers list does not equate to “Best Written Piece of Literary Work”. The book’s obviously selling well due to brainless teenie fan girls like you buying them by the truckload.
Vampire-human pairing is just necrophilia at its worst.
these days, it is apparently cool to like pre-teen vampire movies
i aint fallen for the trap
When we dismiss the criticism of books such as these with the remark that “it is only fiction,” I find that concerning. While many adults read teen fiction, for teenagers, it’s not just “fiction.” We cannot dismiss the impact that teen fiction has for teens, even if that impact is just to “blow their mind” with an amazing story.
That said, I do believe, that reading gets an undue status irrespective of the quality of the material. Reading something trashy is no more noble than watching something trashy on TV. And while bodice-rippers will always be popular with some, I like to think that those people are mature enough to stand in their own power, and make choices to protect and respect themselves.
I don’t support censorship, at all. Teenagers need to learn to think for themselves. But I find it distressing to think that in this century, we still romanticise violence against women. We can layer it with fantasy and vampires, but when a person removes the motor from their partner’s car, kidnaps them, isolates them from other meaningful connections in their life, that’s emotionally violent and abusive. When someone encourages the other person in a relationship to become emotionally dependent on them, that’s emotionally violent and abusive. And to excuse that behaviour as a loving relationship, is abhorrent to me. And to package that for teenagers, who are just learning to explore intimate relationships, is to send a message to girls that it’s okay when their partner treats them that way. When one in 4 women are sexually assaulted, we need to start talking about the messages we send teenagers. The intimate relationships we have in adolescence can define us as adults. I cannot see how a person, who is emotionally dependent on their partner, has any power? What kind of power is it if a person doesn’t feel strong enough to leave an abusive relationship? Or that they have to endure abuse for the sake of “love?” To dismiss this stuff by saying people “think too much,” breaks my heart.
The fans know that vampires aren’t real. (I hope :p) They know that the series are a work of fiction. But books like these speak to people, because we all experience intimate relationships with others. The passionate responses from the fans are proof enough of the impact these stories. When we’re inspired by characters, we identify with them. We might love Bella, but we need to question this need to idolise her, and her relationships with men.
Reading some of these comments is similar to being trapped in a Yahoo! Chatroom.
Personally, I thought the books were very poorly written trash.
But then people should be free to read whatever they like and judge it for themselves.
Finally somebody said it. I’ve read the whole Twilight saga and I agree completely with. I thought I was the only one who didn’t love Edward or Jacob and who thought Bella was feminism’s nightmare.
Twilight is my like guilty pleasure and my confirmation that people reads any piece of c*** they find. I read the books expecting for Bella and/or Bella to get killed. Didn’t happen sadly.
All the characters belong to different stereotypes, but I don’t have problems with the secondary ones because they barely do something. The book would have been the same without Rosalie, Emmet, Esme, half of the wolve’s pack, Bella’s classmates. Too many characters that don’t get to be developed.
I’ll stay away from Alice because she’s the only “happy” one in the whole group, I liked that character.
Thanks for writing this, I tried to explain to my friends that the book sucks, but they almost killed me.
well do I have something of a different P.O.V. to give you guys.
I am somewhat of a feminist and I greatly ennjoyed the Twilight series, it is by no means my favourite or the best written book I have ever read but neither is it the tripe, garbage or deserve the ridicule you are giving it. I am not meaning to imply that you are not allowed to voice your oppinions but I am saying that maybe these books have given young girls a view of which they can challenge if they wish. They may wish to rise to a new calibre and create their own heroine like Meyer has created a Damsal-in-Distress. The world is changing at a rate that is feared and thinking about this book as a vampire novel and not of the horror genre we are given a view of the past, of a loved and slightly overused topic that has been given new meaning.
“…but only after they’re married, of course-we can’t have the naughty temptress taking away Edward’s 107 year-old virginity…”
Well articulated. However, at the end of the day, it is only a novel. If teenagers (I am one myself, but nevertheless) thought for themselves a little more often then they would be able to overlook copying the type of relationships in this novel.
The protagonist’s agony at her separation from Edward is comparable. Okay, I’ve never actually heard of a case were somebody jumps off a cliff with the immensity of their suffering, but I’m sure many do get very unhappy being separated from their loved ones.
Oh, and that line had me in stitches from laughing so hard.
Ok like the others i couldnt finish your article or whatever you call that. I know you didn’t really like the book, but you shouldn’t be that harsh. What if you wrote a book and i dissed it so bad? yea you should think about it….if you don’t like it, then just keep it to yourself!! there are many other ways to deal with you hate for her series!!!
This article is … spot on. I’m thankful I never fell for the craze. I read the first book and had to struggle through it. I felt sick listening to my friends yapping about the Twilight series throughout school hours.
This article is bleeding awesome. Hell, hater’s should get their own lives.
Reviewers have a job to do and that job is to REVIEW.
You can’t expect a reviewer to sugar coat a terrible novel just because it’s on the best seller list, right?
I’m sure Twilight had a good starting plot. But like movies, the sequels make better money during the opening week but is still never better than the original. Wait scratch that. The original wasn’t good as well.
I agree with you 99.736%
1) LOVE this review. Love it. Well written, funny, and makes an excellent point.
2) Wow Twilight Fans. You say it’s just a book? Then read it in the comfort of your rooms and leave the wank out of the grown-up blogs. We have our opinion on the series, you have yours. No one is right, and no one is wrong.
It’s amazing to watch them come in droves and COMPLETELY fall apart.
Okay just to start off. You sound like a bitch. Who probably alot of people hate. I don’t even know you, but I have a feeling you’re one of those losers who in highschool, had 1 friend and still considered themselves ‘cool’. I love twilight I think Bella can be a little over dramatic and I don’t think she should have acted so extreme in her love for Edward, but the books are still good. You mentioned something about women’s rights thing in there, well Jane Austen I believe was a great writer, but her books were boring. Twilight is full of suspense and leaves you wanting to read more. You can’t really disagree with me because you read all four of the series. And about Breaking Dawn maybe you’re too stupid, but Edward is a Succubus ( or incubus it depends on gender) which means he can make women pregnant. Aside from that IT’S A FUCKING BOOK GET THE HELL OVER IT!!
lmfao.
dumb
Aww…………….. is somebody mad because their boyfriend broke up with them???
stephanie meyer is a great writer, no matter what you say.
ok, i do admit. eclipse totally sucked (thnks a lot meyer)
i mean, what was up with jacob telling himself that he is in love with bella and that she is in love with him??? and then he kisses her like a madman and she considers that she DOES like him??
ok eclipse sucked.
but ur totally dillusional if you think that twilight and breaking dawn sucked. theyre the best there is. wonder why so many have been sold???
and edward DOES hold her like that because he does not want her to get hurt (notice how shes an accident magnet??).
are you happy now??
uve got a bunch of psychopaths saying that they hate the twilight series. congratulations.
Wow! The rants on here are so long, I can’t believe spent this much time on here. Now for my opinion:
To that little girl liz
your 13 and you think that Bella and Edward’s relationship is realistic? your a tween, so let me break it down for you( since I’m 17 and the book was aimed at readers 15-17, thats young adult , mkay?) well in the real world, love doesn’t work like that. It sucks to high heaven but it doesn’t. I hated realizing that fact as I got older because it honestly sucks. I’m not gonna say don’t believe in true love because(although I’m not very fond of the series at ALL) it’s a really wonderful feeling that you get after seeing your favorite character couple hook up(trust me I know) and also you just want to believe in it. But the book was in no way “realistic”. It had some realistic views through Bella: such as moving and being the new kid and starting over. Even some of the feelings can be considered “realistic” but until your much older you’ll soon realize that the book is just pure fantasy.
NOW, to the other comments:
Some of you guys took this WAY too far. Especially those of you who “claimed” to actually like the fourth book……..come’on…….come’on…really? reallly? real- NO! IT WAS TRASH! I could actually taste the trash in my mouth and it was horrid! Alot of you guys had some solid opinions which was pretty cool to read but their is someone I MUST flame. AND IT IS* drumroll*: Kortney (on December 4th, 2008 6:01 pm) whoo girl you blew me away with your dumb ass comment of yours. I valve and respect the opinions of everyone here(although some were a bit out there) but yours. You had I strong start and then just died. Ok first, grow up…….GROW UP :). Your writing is terrible. I know it’s just a blog but have some consideration for your reader……come’on……come’on. Also Jane Austen is a wonderful writer,true, her books start slow , but how long has it been since she died? Think Myers can compete? and another thing how dare you compare an up an coming writer like Stephanie Myers( who even has little confidence in her own writing) to a legend like Jane Austen! But then again you probably never finished a book because they where what?- oh “boring”
AND NOW MY PERSONAL FAVORITE:
“And about Breaking Dawn maybe you’re too stupid, but Edward is a Succubus ( or incubus it depends on gender) which means he can make women pregnant.” – By Kortney
No maybe YOUR too stupid to realize the difference between a Succubus and an Incubus. First off, a Succubus is a female, mkay? and an Incubus is male, mkay?
and well, you see the thing is…..EDWARD IS A FLICKING VAMPIRE!!!!! not a succubus OR an Incubus!!!!!A vampire!!!! Vampires are…. DEAD! There’s NO sperm in dead people!!!! Even if Edward WAS an Incubus it would be a complete contradiction of what everyone here in all their “Twilight spirit” was fighting for because the Incubus is an evil demon that ” pursue(d) sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child”. Edward didn’t even want to have sex with Bella for fear of hurting her. Bella was the tempest( and I mean the storm) here. Also Edward’s motive in the first book wasn’t “I wanna screw some chick and have a baby, yea!” NO! He wanted to stray away from people, especially Bella because of her so called “alluring scent”! so…
your whole logic is flawed,
your taste in novels is flawed
your typing skills AND grammar is flawed and…..
the provided educational system where you live is flawed
so now
Good day to you ! >p
Okay I haven’t read these books since I am well past my teenage years. I can understand both points of view. Teenagers are not stupid they know that relationships in the real world are not like this but as fans they like the fantasy and escapism even if the characters are badly written and themes are questionable. I have to admit some of the books I read as a teen were not exactly classic works. On the other hand the books themselves are badly written and have plot holes the size of the grand cannon and this really does encourage others to write really bad literature to cash in on the teenage market. I do think people are over reacting slightly. In a few years no one will remember these books they aren’t exactly classics are they and the teenagers who love these books will have grown up and moved on to other and hopefully better works of Literature.
Truthfully, I am a twilight fan. I’ve read all the books several times over. And yet, it was still fun to read your take on it. I fully agree. Edward is abusive. Bella is moderately disturbed. And Stephanie Meyer did make Jacob slightly pedophilic.
But all the same, that’s not why people love these books.
There’s something about Edward’s absolute devotion that makes so many girls wish that boys outside of books were just as amazing. Jacob makes a lot of people wish they had a perfect best friend. And Bella-if her descriptions weren’t so conflicting (plain! beautiful! not good enough! can’t live without you!)- would give girls who consider themselves plain- or, like me, are just generally clumsy-a hope for something supernatural.
Oh yes. I said it.
So, at least for me, personally, it’s not the characters themselves, but the surface message. The whole ‘true love exists’ thing, no matter how sappy.
Besides, sparkly vampires? How much cooler can you get?!
Oh, and yes, that was sarcasm. I prefer my vampires…normal? Is that the wrong word?
Grace, I am happy for you. Okay- that sounds strange I know, but allow me to explain. You proudly admit you are a Twilight fan BUT unlike other fangirls, you can see both the negative and positive aspects of this novel. I sincerely wish there were more Twilight fans like you.
Fans that do not tear apart anti-Twilight commentators and are willing to listen to other viewpoints. Fans that see the dark side (as in the abusive, controlling, and all around dangerous dark side) of Edward Cullen. That really speaks to your character, and I am relieved that people like you are out there.
But enough of my blubering, I am embarassing you, I know.
Continuing on!
The second and third books really irked me. I had read the books before the article (as had my other friends) and instead of really getting into the book I sort of skimmed through it. It was not working for me in that I couldn’t get into the book at all. Could not find the plot, found Bella insufferable, etc etc etc. I was quite happy when the books ended.
After reading this article I went back and read the books with a deeper insight and frankly, I was pretty disturbed by the two mentioned books (#2 and #3). Why is it when Bella HALUCINATES Edward’s voice he is scolding her? Go ahead and look in the book, the tone I was picking up off of Edward was less scared or worried but more mean and demanding.
Then Bella jumps off of a cliff. How admirable. I doubt she was fully committing to suicide (Edward’s job!) but nevertheless HOW POINTLESS. All of that for one hallucination? *Hangs head*
Then there was the third book. I was sickened by Edward’s actions but even more so by my friend’s reaction. After I brought up the point of Edward committing a felony and a KIDNAP, they want rabid (pun intended) on me claiming: “HE ONLY DID IT BECAUSE HE LOVES HER AND WANTS WHAT IS BEST FOR HER AND OHMYGAWD HAYLIE HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT?!?!?!? BELLA GETS IT! WE GET IT LIKE BELLA GETS IT! BELLA KNOWS EDWARD WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD HURT HER AND HE ONLY WANTS WHAT IS BEST FOR HER HAYLEN YOU ARE SO STUPID—-”
I zoned out because I was in SHOCK of their reaction. I was like this for about 10 minutes (and they were still going) when I asked them if they wanted to be barred from seeing their best friends (regardless of gender), having your car dismanteled and broken, and being cut off from all contact from their loved ones just because some guy claimed that he was scared for her.
That shut them up. For about a second, until they dived right into their old arguement.
That is what truly scared me. They would want to accept that kind of behaivor as Love. They see that as healthy and even beautiful. They are in for a truly horrifying awakening when they have to deal with that kind of crap in their future relationships.
What a sick and perverted way of looking at relationships.
I may sound like I am overreacting, but I am not. I am truley scared for these girls, and for my friends.
Really…?…….Wow from November 24th… for a twelve year old you are really wise and very smart. I am glad there are young girls like you that give 12 year olds a good name.
(I am 18, btw, put I felt like putting it out there)
Amen, sister. I’m so incredibly sick of getting Twilight shoved down my throat (by Entertainment Weekly in particular, a magazine I used to love but that is devolving into Twilight Weekly). It also pains me to see young girls who sincerely don’t know any better expect their future boyfriends/husbands to be exactly like Edward. And I’m sorry, but I pretty much have zero faith in most of this nation’s youth, especially considering the sheer lack of spelling, grammar, syntax, etc. ability found in most pro-Twilight posts. So tell me, is that a coincidence that most of the Twilight fans can’t string a sentence together? And no repeat posts of “Teenagers today ARE smart!” will change my mind. The very fact that these books are considered by many to be the height of literature tells me all I need to know, thanks.
You can’t win with them, either. If you haven’t read the books, you get, “You can’t judge what you haven’t read!” If you HAVE read the books, you get, “Why did you read them if you didn’t like them?” Seriously.
It sickens me when J.K. Rowling, who couldn’t even publish her first book under her own name, gets compared to Stephenie Meyer, who benefited from Rowling’s success only to tell girls to be weak, submissive, self-absorbed and whiny. I’ll take Hermione and Ginny any day, thanks. I’d like to see Ron and Harry try to keep them from seeing friends or have them kidnapped.
This “It’s only fantasy!” crap doesn’t fly either. Harry Potter, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, etc. are ALL fantasy novels, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be devoid of moral lessons, tragedy, themes, etc. My litmus test for fantasy novels is, “Would you still like the character if they weren’t in this fantasy novel and didn’t have powers?” Would you like reading about Harry, Ron and Hermione if they weren’t wizards? I would. Would anyone give a crap about Edward Cullen if he wasn’t a vampire? Somehow I can’t think so. Characters in Potter, LOTR, etc. are fleshed-out people who HAPPEN to be wizards, elves, dwarfs, whatever. Even in Anne Rice’s novels, the characters HAPPEN to be vampires. In Twilight, being a vampire/werewolf IS the character.
Those saying, “I didn’t fly on a broom after reading Harry Potter!” are completely missing the point. That is an obvious fantasy element; Bella’s abusive (and it is abusive) relationship with Edward is far more grounded in situations that girls might actually face. A girl will never fly on a Nimbus 2000, but she could very well face a possessive, paranoid boyfriend. That’s what the writer is getting at, that a generation of girls will see Bella and Edward’s as the relationship to emulate. Way to miss the point.
When Twilight sells an average of 57 million copies PER BOOK like Potter has and generates an average of $900 million in global box office sales PER FILM like Potter has (I was fair and did an average and not a cumulative, since we’re comparing 7/8 to 4), then you can talk about Twilight as being any sort of threat. Everyone knows that the comparison came about because the publishing industry needed a new cash cow and Twilight was convenient; the fact that anyone takes it seriously is laughable.
OMG I LOVED THE BOOK! UR CRAZY!!!!!!!!
I enjoyed your post and referenced it on my blog here: http://www.maladjustedforinflation.com/2008/12/twilight-and-consumer-choice.html
I agree completely, having read all of the books. Being one of the female teenage fans, I don’t really know what drew me into the books. Even realizing that Stephenie Meyer was a TERRIBBLE writer didn’t dull the fascination at all.
I think the obsession came from the fact that there aren’t many modern vampire love stories right now. Plus, the first one was a bit creepy (in a good way), so I kept hoping for it to get better. It didin’t. Also, after the second book and especially the 4th I realized the books sounded a lot like poorly written fanfiction and began pointing out all of the things Stephanie Meyer did wrong. Before you get into the characters and most of the flimsy plot, Twilight sounds interesting at best and if S.M. was a much better writer, who knows? Twilight + could have been at least okay.
i think that you make a good point, but stephanie meyer being a morman is just old fashion in her writing, everyone has thier own opinions and dont read the books if you dont apricicate hers. i think the love story is beautiful. it may not be what every girl dreams of, but some young girls need to have that glimpse of absolute love in thier lives. the desire to be irrevecobally in love. so although new age philosophy has taught us that women are equal to men, and even though this book is not concidered sexist in my eyes, but old fashioned, feminisim is a new concept. Bella is a normal young girl, one that dosent concider herself to be anything special, thats what makes this book so intoxicating to young girls like myself. that this sinerio of a complete fairy tale love story can happen to a normal girl.
I have always thought that the twilight series were exactly like that. Unrealistically portraying relationships. I will only bash the book and not the readers because anyone can read what they like. As for me…I HATE THIS BOOK AND THE SERIES the plot was badly written, the characters were not original. This book is only worth buying for it’s cover. It makes a great poster….
Look, I’m 17, and I’ll admit that I was in love with the books for a bit, but re-reading them, I realize they’re not as great as I thought they were. The thing is, it’s really easy to get into the main character’s head, something I find impossible to do with books, but if SM has one talent, I would say that’s it.
As for sexism, the only reasonable explanation I can find is that, due to the nature of the vampire/wolfiness, the relationships will obviously be different. And the reason Bella is portrayed as a damsel in distress is because SM is trying to show how weak humans are in comparison to vampires/wolves, not because she’s a woman. Take it or leave it.
I actually liked Stephenie Meyer’s books a lot but everything you said made sense and i have never really given the book much thought.
Good job!
Although i was a twilight-series addict, i’m impressed with this review. It definitely made my day!
p.s.: notice the past tense? ;p i was a fan…. until now
read it. terrible. nothing new. sociologists nightmare. kiddies love it because somebody decided to advertise it to them. it’s sad really. ok im over it.
Oh my.. It seems that some of these young Twilight fans are not aware that it is a career to be a book editor.
Or that you can go to University (College) to study English, and you have to read these imformed critical responses to use as secondary resources to support your arguement.
Yes it is fiction, yes it is just a book.
All the more reason for people to write their opinion and arguement on.
Ok little Twilighters, you got it? Book critics EXIST (and are taken more seriously than the “FUCK U MAH GAWD ITS JUST A BOOK GET A LYF!!!”).
Now, another thing that somewhat depresses me from these reviews is the lack of understanding of feminism, and the automatic eye-rolling and groaning that happens when the f-word is mentioned, and the “you’ve got your rights now shut the fuck up” talk.
Even the women out there that think being an unemployed mother is anti-feminism – “”Oh I am a mother of three youngins and only my husband works, so feminists hate me!”. It isn’t when the choice is theirs.
I don’t want to lecture, but the jumping to conclusions and not even BOTHERING to discover WHY feminism is still needed saddens me.
I like to read, and I like reading great books, no matter how escapist they may be. A lot of the time I don’t critically analyse them until the second reading. I judge the books I read based on the intended audience and the quality of writing. Rowling’s writing isn’t the best, but she isn’t a terrible writer. And, her writing improved over the course of the series. Regardless, she had a good instinct for character development, for plot, and for suspense. I wasn’t a fan of the HP series, but they were good for the genre that it was aiming to be and for the audience it sought to entertain.
Twilight on the other hand, whilst it may fulfill the need for the targeted demographic, was so poorly written, with such flat characters, and a plot that was added like an afterthought. I don’t dislike this novel for whatever ideals it may seem to proffer to young girls who eat it up with glee — let them have their moment, I guess — but, rather, its bad writing raped my eyes. I will critically analyse it for the purposes of a class, but for entertainment, it was bad. It offended me as a would-be writer. Seriously, it was written so badly.
Perhaps I am just bitter that I will probably never get published. Based on the Twilight mania I am wondering whether anyone would actually be interested in reading a novel about a 12-year-old child-prodigy-cum-pseudo-celebrity, who leaves on the eve of his televised 13th birthday, in pursuit of his first kiss, and befriends a hooker-with-a-heart-of gold. It’s a road-novel. I’m working on it.
Wow! This is just so funny to read, especially the fangirls sides(some NOT all!)
Well, I do agree with this article, but only on the first and like two chapters of the last book. I’ve only read those two, so those are the only ones i’m entitled to have any opinion about. But this article does have a point: this book is sexist, amongs other things.
And yes Bella is part of that. Sure she was a new student, but when i was un jr. high (which was small), we had a new student, but every guy didn’t ogle at her. And what’s up with her being invincible to vampire powers. Seriously?! Clearly, Bella is a Mary-Sue (fanfiction writers will know what I am talking about)
However, I respect the opinions (the more intelligent written ones) of those who enjoy these books. My friend, a hopeless-romantic, enjoys them, and we both repect the fact that we have different opinions (she’s also a rep and im a dem). So please, don’t bash those who enjoy them BUT don’t also bash those who dislike the series (again, only to those who are intelligent)
Fuck Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, I read that book in 9 hours and wrote a report on it in 2 then enjoyed watching it burn.
a little FYI bella is beautiful…. she just sees herself as an average girl. and when he threatens suicide if she doesnt kiss him…. oh wait a sec! she tells him to kiss her. And i am a 13 year old and i dont get any of the messages that you say are being sent. When edward leaves bella and she’s upset, it tells me that friends can help you through that kinda crap. And if you hate the books so much then dont read them! dont trash something that girls AND boys alike are really enjoying, because trust me, that wont do ANYTHING! You are going way way to deep into this! LET IT GO!! it’s a book meant for young adults and teenagers. and its a love story, bella and edward are in love, and so yeah, she;s willing to give up anything to be with him. Wouldnt you give up something if it meant you could be with the love of you life forever?? Bella and edward are in love, and that’s why they stay together. and bella loves jacob too. you dont always realize you love someone until you are really close. and why are you talking about bella being able to hunt in a dress and heels. Sorry if i am being nosy, but r u a freaking feminist?? cause sure sounds like it. You should just be happy that this is making other people happy. especially teenage girls. This book has been helping me through a tough time and i am thankful to stephanie meyer for that. Maybe you should read books intended for people YOUR age. Not slamming a perfectly good book, that is making thousands and thousands girls and boys happy. youll see my comments in ur other reviews too.
I have to admit, I’m a Twilight fan. Now, it’s no Harry Potter but it’s a cute cheesy little story. I have to agree with all of you points, just to a lesser degree. Meyer’s writing style is atrocious, however, and she oddly reminds me too mush of Sarah Palin (if you get my drift).
wow, its just a made up story it isn’t real. If you reading this book and dont notice that than your retarded and deserve to kill yourself anyways. This review was really funny to read and i agree with it. but yet again its just a book. The author is rich now she doesn’t care.Oh and the whole feminist deal. shut the fuck up there women dieing in other country trying to live. why dont you do somthing about that instead of taking about women rights in a made up book!
Thanks so much for this. I’m so happy to know that I’m not the only person out there who can’t stand anything about the Twilight books. My best friend loves them, and tried to get me to read the first book. I had never heard of them, so I said, sure, I’ll give it a try.
And I really tried. I got to about page 17 and thought to myself, well, i can skip the next chapter, since nothing appears to be happening except for Bella being awkward and useless and Edward being a douchebag. So I skipped the next chapter. And then the next thirty pages, or so, but still, the only things happening were Bella being useless and Edward being a douchebag, and occasionally some trite motions of romance.
So I gave up. I just couldn’t go on. I have never been physically incapable of reading a book before. Twilight, in that way, was memorable. I have not read the rest of the series, nor do I feel I need to.
Thank you also for bringing to light the feminist issues. Being a feminist myself (and, in response to the seemingly less-than-educated fangirls out there, being a feminist does not entail hating men or anything, it means thinking men and women should be treated equally in all spheres of society. Okay?), I was already insulted by Bella’s constant whiffling and ineffectiveness over anything in her life. But I chalked it up to just a bad caricature of a teenage girl, written by someone who was probably just as insecure and self-involved at that age, and had pathetic, unfulfilled fantasies of some mysterious handsome stranger sweeping her away. But the examples you give actually gave me chills; I never realized it was so blatantly awful.
Thanks again for a brilliant and refreshing point of view!
And think of it this way: Even if they lash out at you for this article, at least fans of Twilight are being exposed to both sides of the argument.
Well done for accurately describing the sexist story of a Mary-Sue with no self respect and a controlling, abusive and slightly misogynistic idiot.
And what the hell was with Bella carelessly flinging away her entire identity to become a vampire like her insane husband?
I think that what’s sad is that basically the only character with any sense, depth or personality (thinking of Jacob Black) is deemed the ‘bad guy’ by thousands of readers simply because he opposed their perfect Edward.
“…the books themselves are insulting on every level-as a woman, as a teenager, as a literature student, and as a graduate of the Harry Potter craze.â€
Well said and great article.
THANK YOU for this post. Exactly my thoughts. I’m appalled and horrified that my intelligent female friends are suggeting this as appropriate reading material material for young girls. As I tried to read book 1 I had a terrible sinking feeling that our country is heading for another submissive 50’s housewife phase. I hope I’m wrong. boo hoo…
i do agree certain parts are pretty unhealthy but its a book. a lot of people read books to get away from reality. everything that is written doesn’t necessarily have to be true and healthy for everyone. its a make believe book. obviously your child is always going to see or read things that aren’t good for them. that is where the parent comes in and talks some sense into their child. tell them whats right from wrong. some of the greatest literature are the have the worst tragedies! a person can’t just learn from seeing and hearing only the good things in life, people learn from mistakes, bad things that happen to them. lifes lessons! so give the series a break.
well personally I adore the books…..and for you to be so upset at “books” is frankly extremly funny. Its a seriers of books for teens. Don’t read so much into it. If you don’t think you will like it then don’t read the book. Plain and simple, and also common sense. =D
i just have 1 little question!! HOW CAN ANYTHING SUCK IN A GOOD WAY!!
I can’t believe some of the comments here. The obsessed ones must all be low on self-esteem, single, and probably leaving drool stains on the book at the thought of the “perfect guy.” Everything you said us true, and to quote: “I do NOT need to know that Bella ate a granola bar for breakfast.”
Not to mention Edward and Jacob are both pedophiles (Bella is 17, Nessie is a baby.) I’m not some ‘feminazi'; I just have an IQ higher than 97.6% of the population =/
http://lydiyarazan.blogspot.com/2008/12/debate-team-next-year-toof.html
okay this is getting ridiculous.
okay Twilight fans: you say that Sm has gotten as much as sales as Harry Potter, but i would love to see this evidence. because the fact remains comapared to Harry potter, twilight is like a joke.
The next Harry Potter? oh that’s rich, breaking dawn sold 1.3 million on the first day Harry potter and the Deathly hallows sold 8.3 million in the first 24 hours….what does that say??
Now J.K. Rowling;s new book has knocked the twilight books off the best sellers list and Rowlings book only contains five short fairy tale stories…what does that say?? well it says that J.K Rowling can write a page and it will most likely sell more that Smeyers.
I am sorry for leaving an off-topic comment, but I believe everything on the subject has already been said. I just wanted to say something along the lines of “Holy freaking something-or-another, there are almost 2000 freaking comments.” I’m impressed.
I had heard very little about the Twilight books before this (they don’t seem to be as big hits in Europe, because I never see them here) but judging by the article and half the comments here they do seem awful. That’s too bad; I’ve always loved vampire fiction but I guess I’ll avoid these books.
can somebody PLEASE explain to me how edward and jacob are abusive?
Im pretty sure both of them are obsessed with keeping bella safe.
and when are you idiots going to realize that this book is fictional, so it has unrealistic aspects.
and honestly, you all talk about how much these books are terrible, yet you all know everything detail, and read all the books.
I think most people that are here trashing people and coming up with retarded names like “twitards”, are idiots, because you focus so much energy on hating the books. And if you think Stephanie Meyer did such a TERRIBLE job writing the book, then go publish your own book since you all seem to think you can do a better job at it.
If anybody has a remark directed to this certain comment, email me at kirsten72192@yahoo.com because i dont check this everyday like some of the people on here.
okay to answer your question kistein edward is abusive because he controls bella, and he emotionaly abuses her, mentaly abuses her and that’s not acceptable.
bella is a true idiot number one.
for one, she gives up everything for this guy even though she has known her parents longer, several times during the series when she doesn’t want to do something he will get in her face and tell her to do as he says as if she was a child, and when she doesn’t he has been known for forcing her to. i remember reading several times when they were together and he told her to get in the car and she wouldn’t so he physically dragged her to the car and put her in there himself and it wasn’t like she was in danger or anything, no, they were at school. she didn’t want to go to prom, what did he do?? he forced her to go even tthough she didn’t want to, even though she was crying her eyes out for him not to take her but he then turns to her and say with an annoyed voice, bella your being unreasonable.
new moon he emotionally abused her by leaving and taking the pictures and what ever momentoes he gave her and hid them from her.
now as the story progressed she started to cling to another guy, jacob.
jacob wasn’t as nearly as creepy or abusive as edward, but he did have his moments, when he forcibly took a kiss from her when he theartend to kill himself if she refused him, so causing her to feel guility which is emotional abuse, manipulating the person’s feelings to get their way.
in eclipse edward’s behavior by now should be very clear when he took the engine out of her car and calmly waited for her to try and go to la push after he told her if you try to go to see jacob i will stop you myself, using force if needed.
so then he had his her kidnapped and held hostage by his crazy annoying sister ,alice.
Oh, and claire was it?? yes can you please tell me why they are inlove?? seriously why is bella and edward inlove??
“..When edward leaves bella and she’s upset, it tells me that friends can help you through that kinda crap… ”
and when did bella ever have friends?? OH thats right! she treats them like crap even though they tried to be her friend, but of course shallow bella doesn’t want normal humans as friends because they’re not good enough.
if you don’t remember go and reread the passage when she first came to the school and she insults a boy without even getting to know him sounding like one of those stuck up girls.
she called him a golden retriever even though all he was trying to do was be nice and show her around the school since she was new.
she never had decent friends because she was so wrapped up about edward talkng about how such a greek god he resembled, and how he was gorgeous, and perfect, and looked as if he stepped out of a modeling magazine, with perfectly tossled hair, and wonderfully smelling breath, and being iced cold to the touch..
notice how that is all she ever talks about when around edward, which is his looks, i don’t know about you but she sounds like those people who only go for looks and if you weren’t amazingly beautiful like the cullens then you obviously weren’t worth her time.
during a time in the series she has said, “my brain may not work right when i’m a vampire, but at least i’ll be pretty”
so inorder for her to feel good she has to be a meyerpire that sparkles in the sun??
and what’s sad is that right now you haven’t grown up enough to see these things, when i was your age i wouldn’t have ever thought that far into a book, but now that i’m older and yes i’m still a teenager. but i understand if you don’t catch these things in the series since your only 13.
what’s more sad is that girls have literally broken up with their boyfriends because he wasn’t like edward.
anyways, i loved the article girls in my school have lost their minds. and to those who are generalizing saying that all teenage girls love edward and like twilight is wrong, i’m a sophmore and a girl, and i hate this series.
Kellen Rice, you are quite amazing.
I personally know college women, intelligent girls with great futures ahead of them, who have been sucked into the Twilight craze.
Thank you for succinctly summing up my views on the matter, so that instead of arguing with them, I can refer them to your article.
Oh, and Twilight-crazies, who claim that one must have written a book in order to criticize Meyer?
I’m a published fiction author who writes vampire stories.
I say good day sir.
Ah, and has anyone else noticed that the majority of the replies opposing the author’s views are completely lacking in grammar, coherence, and overall maturity?
I find that humorous.
<3 Ceri
you are so umbelivably wrong.
Twilight is a fantastic book, and the movie was even better!
Stop criticising it!
No kanick we won’t stop criticizing it because the simple fact is that if we stop criticising it then you need to stop saying, “it’s an amazing book!! shut up you don’t even know what your talking about!!!!” (which i haven’t found a single reason yet as to why bella and edward are in love nor why this series is so fantastic).
i mean, it’s only fair right??
since we can’t voice our opinions it’s only fair for us not to listen to yours because you did the same to us.
so i guess we can say right back to the twilighters to stop loving the book because of these reasons and that it’s not fantastic nor amazing it’s an embrassing read and a sad excuse for literature.
all those mistakes i found in that story wa sover the top and it was ridiculous.
don’t be angry just because we found something wrong with the series and yet the twilighers can’t back up their arguments as to why twilight is so “amazing”.
all we get is, “well the series is great!! edward is so hot, and the cullens are hot too, but the humans are all ugly and mean in the series, and i can relate to bella! i would totally jump off a cliff if my love left me!!”
i believe most of the reason twilight sells well is because sex sells.
twilight is like a sexual fantasy with all the suppose “hot” guys running around sparkling and furspolding into werewolves.
that’s all bella has to comment on really is how “hot” edward is.
she doesn’t care about her education all she wants is edward. she doesn’t care about her mother and father, no, she would leave them forever to be with a guy she hasn’t even known him long enough nor was he there throughtout her childhood.
she has only known this guy for a year or so before she wants to just throw her parents under the bus for this guy.
bella is so pathetic, i was taught family matters more then some boy and when i read how she treated her parents comapared to edward it’s really sad and she then takes up the roll as obessessed over dramatic teenager, you know the ones who fall apart if someone ever says anything horrible about their boyfriends, the ones who let their partners beat them because he told her it was for her own good, the one’s who believe they can change a guy if he was a thug or something, you know, the ‘bad boy’ persona? the girl who was left to care for a baby after the guy told her he would love her forver if she had sex with him
i have met girls like bella and they are so sad that i feel like slapping some sense into them.
believe me when i say i really don’t think that if edward was written as ugly that bella would allow him to break into her house to watch her sleep. look how she treated eric, the “chess club kid” as she has labeled him even though she just met him that day.
this girl is such a Bi$#*, she disses jasper after she became a vampire and called him ugly just because he had scars on his face and because he wasn’t perfecty perfect like the rest of the cullens. i wanted jasper to rip her apart and burn her remains for that uneeded comment.
now you can’t tell me bella isn’t shallow just because she left her mom so she can be with phil and moved to forks. and then she starts to take care of charlie but the moment she meets the cullens.
what ever selfishless she obtained in the beginning of the story flew out the window, then it was about her becomng a vampire not thinking about the consequences, oh no! she wanted to look pretty and become a supped up model like the cullens and live forever with edward .
never mind her parents who were there for her and the main reason she was alive to even get to get a glimpse of edward.
she’s such and idiot. and i feel bad for those of you who would actually do that to your family and friends for a guy.
a guy you just met last week.
it’s ridiculous to those who would unless their parents tried to kill them, abused them, was never there etc. the only people i can see them doing inorder to get the love they never got at home.
well i’m done for now..
… i’m astonished that some of you don’t find faults in the “it’s a kids book, don’t read to seriously into it” argument. to the person who talks about a second coming of the submissive housewife era, i’d say our problems appear much worse, everyone is stupid.
I DISAGREE TWILIGHT ROOOCKSS BAABEEH (: <3 SERIOUSELY YOUR ALOUD TO EXPRESSE UR THING XD BUUUT TWILIGHT RROOCKKSZ MEENN , WHYY DONT CHUU LIKE IT ITS SSOO GOOOOOD !!
LMAAO TWILIGHT HAATTTERS
HATERS : JALOUSE OR MAD AT PEOPLES SUCCEST
I<333 TWILIIGGHTWWOOT !! TWILIGHT ROOCKSZ !!
shiets dont need to write crap on twilight if you hate it just keep it in you i bet twilight could out run you guys in a cliickk bittcchhsz !
TWILIGHT ROOKKSKZZZ
OK.
the story is in belief of the love at first sight/true love thing. it is a romance story. stef is trying to get the ‘they belong together’thing into your head.
Yes, of course.
It’s not okay for people to enjoy a book, is it?
Actually, I think you are a wanker. I’m not sticking my fingers in my ears and humming, I’m responding to this.
Have you ever written a book? Are you a published international selling author? Yes, the books, they must be shit. In actuality, you seem to be the one in silly denial. Do you hear yourself?
And by the way, its a goddamn fictional novel! People are allowed to write things that aren’t realistic. I certainly don’t read books because they are realistic to life. It’s an escape. A fictional, not real escape.
It must be a terribly written, no plot novel series, if it has millions of fans, has made millions of dollars and has a up and coming movie following. Yes, yes, you really know what you are talking about.
do you need to be cheif inorder to know if your food taste like Sh#%??
why do we need to be published authors just be able to tell when we don’t like something?? well i guess we have to be teachers now inorder to understand that we don’t like homework.
and yes, we understand it’s a fictional novel, but what we’re talking is all the girls who actually dumped their boyfriends just because he wasn’t like edward, we’re talking about girls who will let a man bruise them just so they can be like bella, a girl got with a guy just because his name was edward, then she got pregnant and he left her and when the baby was born she named her reneesme. and this was after she read breaking dawn and was giving the baby up for adoption.
sadly, there are girls out there who have taken this book to heart and who have made up prayers for edward and are waiting for a guy who doesn’t exist. well he does exist actually. but i only see that relationship becoming abusive.
you may have been able to read the series and still be grounded about it just being a story, but obviously if girls have resorted to being violent just because someone doesn’t like a book, then they need help and we’re here to make them see the light or atleast reach your level of sanity.
we understand that there are some fans out there with some actual common sense. but right as you can see the anti’s aren’t the one’s screaming in caps and using l33t speak that kids are now using today, and you wonder why teenagers today are becoming illierate, the anti’s aren’t the ones threatening to kill them, kick their A#$’s and, saying “NO U R RONG!!! THIS IS AN AMAZING BUUK!!!!111″
no. the anti’s are getting a kick out of your reactions to this article because you all sound like you would be in grade school, i’m sorry but it’s true.
now i’m not saying that the anti’s never did anything wrong but the twilighters are the ones who supply us ammo.
an really who is sticking their fingers in their ears??
the anti’s are not resorting to calling twilighters names, yet this action among the fangirls is quite popular.
and yes we know her books sold millions but she isn’t the first, what? you think other authors haven’t done it before her?? besides Meyer hasn’t been through enough she doesn’t know how hard it must be for her books to be banned fro library’s in some states and country’s, she hasn’t had all her books burned infront of churches, all of her books haven’t been leaked online if you count midnight sun, because that was her fault.
but no she hasn’t been fiighting religous people because they don’t like what was in the books.
i’m talking about J.K. Rowling.
that woman has come a long way and for some people to hail Meyer as “The Next JKR” is an insult especialy with all the mistakes the twilight series has.
the twilight series is mostly loved by girls who never either picked up a book before or who never got into reading when Harry Potter came out. so i mean obviously they think it’s the best book ever since they never took the time to sit down and read.
but of course we must not know were talking about since we all gave support to our arguement as to why we don’t like twilight and i still haven’t gotten answer as to why edward and bella are inlove nor why this series is so great.
but this post is long enough so i’m done at the moment…
I loved the Twilight books. It’s just a fantasy/ novel not real. Maybe you loved the series maybe you hated it that dousn’t mean you can trash S. meyer!
IF you hated the series why did you finish it.. i just think your seeking for attention..
I dont see you making a awsome fantasy/novel.. this is an amateur review
Truue if you dont like it you wouldnt even read it -.- ! sshiets men if you hate it hateit in ur head dont write shiets !
Wow, I loved your article, and I wholly agree with all of your points. Well-written and well thought out and well executed.
<3
Shitty book is shitty. The Twitard comments that don’t seem to make any effort to provide examples that contradict your points, well…their writers can all go suck it (haha, unlike Edward SparklePants).
8D Kthx for writing this article.
ummmm ok?
so equus, if you really hate the books that much, why dont you just stop reading them, dont see the movies and stop commenting on a website, that is all about the bloody books!
and im not going to say how great the book is, coz i know u will only just criticise me.
so just delete this website from ur “bookmarked list” and get on with ur life!
Id just like to laugh at the Twitards for calling this an amateur review, and asking why she didn’t stop reading. She gave it a chance. You can’t give your opinion on a series if you don’t finish it, THAT be amateur. Log off, and go stare at your vamp cedric diggory poster.
Stephenie Meyer is to literature what Sara Palin is to politics. If the world ever ran out of adverbs, I think she would probably starve to death. You have my respect for making it through the whole series.
Um. I love you. Lol.
I agree with everything you said. Bella is a total Mary Sue and a sorry excuse for a female. What irks me is that people like Mike and Eric are so nice to Bella and all she does is act like a cow and doesn’t appreciate it, and is too busy admiring Edward, who she at that point hadn’t even spoken too. MEYER FAILS IN MANY, MANY WAYS.
twlight is a pedo movie a 6 month year old girl and a like 100 year old wearwolf and has beastilaty wate interspecies erotica fucko
“ummmm ok?
so equus, if you really hate the books that much, why dont you just stop reading them, dont see the movies and stop commenting on a website, that is all about the bloody books!
and im not going to say how great the book is, coz i know u will only just criticise me.
so just delete this website from ur “bookmarked list†and get on with ur life!”
What are you talking about??
i have stopped reading the books, i didn’t go see the movie and what site are you talking about?? this site isn’t all about twilight if your talking about another site then please provide a link showing i’ve been on a site all about the twilight books.
incase you haven’t noticed this review was about the reasons why kellen rice didn’t like the book series, so basicly this is a review about hating it so why are you on here if you love it so much?? shouldn’t it be you who gets on with your life since your the one trashing this persons opinion about the book?? why should it effect you about what we say??
your taking this personally for one because why else would you be so upset about us not liking these books??
besides, i’m here to keep it balanced since the twilighters keep saying she’s wrong and yet you haven’t tried to argue your points as to why you think it’s not garbage.
because you can’t justifiy it.
you can’t give any reasons because there isn’t anything actually deep about the series.
it’s an easy read, the words aren’t hard to understand and foremost, it’s basically you reading a fantasy about a ‘hot’ guy.
so why do you keep coming back if you don’t agree with this article??
…..yeah you get back to me on that after you stop coming back and trying to battle us knowing you won’t win since we give so much evidence to back us up.
and i still haven’t gotten the answer i wanted
why are edward and bella in love??
by now, i’m covinced that even the twilighters don’t why.
hahahahahahahaha!
i actually don’t think twilight is that great. it has plenty of flaws, but all books do. Edward and bella are in love because it is a “supernatural fantasy book”. and u cant explain y they r in love, and thats whats great about it.
and by the way, i only comment this site coz i get a kick out of u people! i laughed at ur first reply to my comment!
so just know, that i am only here, because i think its hilarious!
well then you don’t seem so hostile after all, i’m not dissing anyone who likes the books, and if you can catch the flaws then your alright.
The same Twitards who criticize Kellen for criticizing the books after reading them (“If you didn’t like it, why did you read it?!”) would be screaming bloody murder if she were criticizing them and HADN’T read the books. There’s no way for her to win. Fact is, if you want to have an informed decision, you need to be familiar with what you’re criticizing. You don’t see film critics reviewing films they haven’t seen. No one asks a film critic why they “saw a movie they didn’t like.” Do you realize how stupid that sounds? It’s equally as dumb when you say things like, “If you didn’t like them, why’d you read them?”
thank you equus, i hope u can too, se both sides of the story.
thank you equus, i hope u can too, see both sides of the story, because i understand that not everyone likes twilight.
There will always be people who enjoy the read and others who don’t. Personally, I enjoyed the read. There isn’t a need to compare Stephenie Meyer with other best-selling fantasy authors like J.K.Rowling and Christopher Paolini (who also happen to be two of my favourite authors); she is different from them and successful in her own right.
It is unfair and inaccurate to say that the Twilight quadrilogy is a merely a fantasy romance for, as someone put here, “bored teenagers”. What many people here do not seem to realize is that the complexity of humanity is woven into the story in a very subtle and yet compelling way. The human essence is defined and redefined over and over again, illustrating the fragile and complicated nature of our existence.
Edward Cullen is not just a vampire, Jacob Black is not just a werewolf or more accurately, “shape-shifter”, and Bella is not just a girl caught inbetween worlds not her own. Each character in Meyer’s story is a representation of us as people and humans, in one way or another. Have you ever imagined what it would be like to be them and see the world through their eyes? And what makes so sure that people who see the world in the way as they do don’t exist? Surely then, it can’t be a mere fantasy.
Furthermore, what Meyer has done is to give the traditional vampire and werewolf story a new twist, and such creativity is inspiring. What were previously “monsters” to us take on a human side that is so close to us and yet so far. We are also shown that if we were to put our mindsets and prejudices away, there exists a possibility of breaking barriers and building bridges. Humanity is defined by who we are and not what we were created to be. Concepts such as those mentioned above pervade her novels.
For me though, the most compelling part of Meyer’s work is the intense love that Edward and Bella share for each other. It isn’t merely a surface thing; it is deep, carnal and necessary for both to survive. So different and yet the same. Perhaps so many of us are gripped by her writing simply because a hope is created – that we can find a soulmate who loves us more than we love ourselves is a rare thing in today’s world, but the crucial part is, it is not impossible and it’s existence can be perpetuated – a love for the whole of eternity. It seems unreal, but yet, it is so uncannily and strangely familiar to us all, and so the question is why?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but for those who have only read the novels as they are and not for what they are, here’s a little hint. When reading Stephenie Meyer’s words, it isn’t even enough to read between the lines; you have to let go of yourself completely and feel the words and images for what they truly are.
Oh, and if anyone would like to reply to my above comment, I’d be happy to chat more about it, but do email me at magmj.the.alien@gmail.com because I don’t think I’ll come back here to check this site. I would sincerely appreciate it if you replied nicely or at least politely. I was just stating my view on Meyer’s work from a literary and personal point of view and would rather keep a decent conversation without all the swearing and insults. Thanks. =)
This review is spot on… but it makes me sad that both my younger sisters obssessively love these books.
THANKS GOSH SOMEBODY realizes that Twilight is totally runing the minds of American Youth. After reading an excerpt online, I was frankly shocked at it’s stupidity, simplicity, and lack of plot. Heaven knows why my friends are all freakishly obsessed with Bella and Edward’s realtionship, since as mentioned above, it is totally sexist in every way possible. Advice? DON’t WASTE YOUR TIME READING THE SERIES! Harry Potter will do your brain much more justice…
I just wasted my time reading ALL the reviews. And to tell you the truth, i see where they’re coming from. But really if you take the amount of people on this site and amount of fansites. Belive me, they dont’ add up. If Twilight is so gay, why did it earn $70 mil in like 2 frikin days! Oh yeah it completley sucks.
it’s not like anyone was expecting to be bad (well atleast some of the twihards,and the people non the wiser about it being a story) with all the hype it had people were expecting it to be good but there were more bad reviews than good reviews, the movie dropped from number one after it’s first week, summit fired ms. hardwicke beecause they weren’t pleased with the movie, some twihards now hate the books and have joined the anti side all because of the movie.
the sales for the weekend it opened decreased rapidly.
To Equus:
With regards to there being “more bad reviews than good reviews” for the Twilight quadrilogy, unless there is concrete evidence, I don’t think you should make such a sweeping statement. Furthermore, the critics who do such reviews on novels certainly do no represent the majority. If you asked every single person on from every country who has read the series to write a serious critique and reiew on the entire storyline, I’m quite sure that the results would be overwhelmingly different from that which you mentioned.
As for the movie, I’ve seen it and admittedly, it wasn’t that great though I thought that both Kirsten Stewart and Robert Pattinson did quite a good job with Bella and Edward. The movie lacked the intricacy and complexity of the novels, but understandably so, since it would be impossible to do a perfect rendition of the novels. As I once mentioned, it is quite ridiculous to compare the Twilight series to the Harry Potter one since they both deal with different concepts and have their own unique merits and selling points, but just to make a point regarding movies based on best-selling books, the movies never quite do the books justice. I was sorely disappointed with the last three Harry Potter movies because they left out so much and I could not quite understand how and why other people felt that they were good. However, that only served to cause me to hold the written books closer to my heart than before.
Also, it is important that before you make comments, you should first get your facts right. Catherine Hardwicke wasn’t fired by Summit for not doing a good directional job. She wanted to do the second movie “New Moon” but due to scheduling conflicts for her other upcoming projects, she has had to step down. In fact, she is very supportive of the new director Chris Weitz and can’t wait to see how the sequel to Twilight turns out.
Absolutely brilliant article. I like the follow-up one even better. I have to agree that the whole twilight thing is a load of nonsense. There are loads of really good books, written by talented writers, but most of the time its the bad books that sell by the millions and get turned into films. I honestly don’t know why it has turned into some kind of phenomenon. It is seriously a load of rubbish, with no real story-line, no originality, and no reality. Either write something worthwhile or bring back the classics!
To :Mag Melvy Jolie
well considering how mr. weitz torched the golden compass, let’s hope for the best. even though i truthfully hope they somehow kill bella and destory edward in new moon, but of course they won’t do that but a girl can hope.
and considering that twilight isn’t well known is also a factor, you may just be talking about the majority of the United states, but even not everyone here has heard of it.
in europe the talk of the books will draw a blank to most of the people.
and with all the bad news on twilight i would think my assumption is quite close to the truth.
when fox four news starts bashing a movie you know its bad, when fans of the series hated everything about the movie you know it’s bad. when the lead actor and actress don’t like their characters, i think that should say something.
but of course there are those who will never try to see this since they believe to be the best book ever and they can’t see the flaws within it. to each there own.
i guess it took for twilight to become a movie inorder for those problems in the series to be magnifyed.
but if the movie was so good shouldn’t it still be number one in the box office? even though it was proclamied to be so great? it hasn’t even been out for a month yet and it dropped rapidly.
the people who never read the series weren’t fooled (some were though), they saw how obessed bella acted when around edward.
the last three HP movies is understandable that they couldn’t include all the details from the book since something is happening in every chapter, i mean, it’s not like it was small details or anything but the HP books are huge.
twilight just had nothing to actually happen that was interesting then the last 100 pages when james comes out of the blue to kill her because her blood was so “enticing”.
that’s it. other than bella groaning on and on about how edward looks and her usual complainning seemingly about nothing.
so i don’t see how they couldn’t have been able to put everything from the book in movie.
if Meyer would have cut 200 pages from the book you wouldn’t have missed anything.
but of course this is my opinion, you can’t swear up and down that i’m wrong, but i stand by what i said. (typed/ said; which ever one)
which i’m sure you will do the same.
Sorry I meant you “Can” swear up and down that i’m wrong.
Hey, this is a bit harsh on the author, don’t you think?
I’ve read the book myself, and I think it’s a great escape from reality – when you wake back up, everythings different. Besides, from the way you’ve wrote this article basing Twilight as ‘sexist tripe,’ don’t forget, Bella’s not the only female character in the book
what about Edward’s adopted family for example?
Ive looked at a few of these comments, and one thing that I couldn’t help being annoyed by is what people thought of twilight fans. Sure, go criticise the book. It can’t be all wonderful, true – but that doesn’t mean that people should have a go at the people who actually enjoyed the series. They’re normal people, like you, who have a favourite book, like you. Who would react the same way as if someone criticised them merilessly, like you. (Not saying you’d criticise them;))
It’s a good article, but a bit overly negative. No offence:)
Way to go Equus by the way, your rants are pretty good to read
You’ve just made my day.
what the heck??!!!! it isent that bad im a BOY and i liked it you guys are fags!
To Equus:
You wrote: “considering that twilight isn’t well known is also a factor, you may just be talking about the majority of the United states, but even not everyone here has heard of it”. For one thing, I don’t live in the USA; I live in Asia and travel around Asia. The Twilight quadrilogy has been a sell-out in many of the cities here, and it has been reprinted in different Asian languages. When something like that hits Asia and makes it big, you know it’s a success.
I have no clue as to what you mean when you say “when the lead actor and actress don’t like their characters, i think that should say something”. Kristen and Robert have never once mentioned that and quite on the contrary, they have signed on to do all four shows precisely because they are intrigued by their characters.
I never said the movie was ok. On it not being good enough to portray the novels, I alway agree with you. However, I do believe that Kristen and Robert gave good performances, what with the low budget and short running time. As for the HP movies, apart from the first two in which Christopher Columbus as director managed to do an astounding job in representing the magical realm of HP, the rest did miserably, and true, if it had been a couple of details that had been left out, it would have been “understandable”, but chunks of the essence of the novels were missing, but let’s stop there because HP here isn’t our argument.
I know we’ve both got our own opinions with regards to the all novels, and for the sake of proving our points, it’s more than highly probable that neither of us will back down, but regardless, I would like say that the Twilight series holds much more than many give it credit for. I think what has sadly taken away the true magic of Meyer’s novels is all the mindless screaming by over-enthusiastic fans and all the surface-only meaning of falling head-over-heels in love. I feel that too many of the fans appreciate her work at face-value alone and that all the wild fanaticism is overly hyped-up by the media and is completely inappropriate. (I am sure we both agree on that.)
Everything said, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Twilight quadrilogy and look forward to reading more of Stephenie Meyer’s work. I will also acknowledge that it was interesting to read and analyze the various comments here from both parties. Once again, if anyone would like to carry out a discussion with regards to the Twilight quadrilogy, I would happily reply and you all can contact me at magmj.the.alien@gmail.com.
thankyou Lucio =)
i’m glad i was able to become a factor in making your day
in an interview robert pattinson told them he didn’t like edward
in another, kristein stewart said she believed bella was overdramatic and and she couldn’t see what was so great about her nor edward.
i live in the u.s. and even not all the people here know what twilight is.
the screaming fans may play an addition to why we hate ut but it’s not the fans who i have the problem with…
it’s stephenie meyers who i don’t like and agree with.
new moon was what did it for me, the moment she threw herself off a cliff just to hear a voice, i was done with the series but my mom had bought eclipse after i finished new moon without my knowledge so then i began to read eclipse with hope that it will get better, it didn’t though it wasn’t as bad as new moon, it was number two on the terrible list.
we can keep going head to head with this you think it’s a good series i find it an embrasses read, you probably think bella and edward are in love and hoped they would stay together, by the end of eclipse for me i was wishing they would have died after there little crazy stunts involing suicide and jumping off cliffs to hear a voice berate her (bella)
but i doubt we can ever truly get what were are arguing about to either side since we are not on the same side atleast from your post you seem like a level headed twilighter and haven’t tried to insult me yet.
and i hope you can enjoy cannibal eating mermaids, which meyer plans to be one of her next stories.
anyways it been nice to debate with you in a way, thankyou for keeping your cool =)
and a shout out to my fellow dark siders!! your flying pony lurves you all!!! *hugs*
cank why are you calling us fags?
why?
see this is a great example of how people start calling others names.
the anit’s have proven there point once again it seems
Just came across this randomly, I found it to be an excellent review. This is exactly the kind of analysis I wanted so that I could rightfully justify my firm refusal to read the books (other than simply pointing out how “retarded” they seem). Well done!
I’ve read almost all the reviews here. I’ve seen that movie and I thought the action was preety cool, but the craze over it is a bit much for me.
Now i haven’t read the books but one thing i want to comment on, is the question of why Bella is attracted to Edward. Really it like any forbidden love story…girl likes guy she shouldn’t be caught dead with (canna like Romeo and Juliet)
And saying that that Edward and Bella’s relationship is unhealthy would be true but you all need to realised that this is pure fiction (those who are critics and those who are crazy die-hards). How many love stories have been written where the relationships when put into the perspective of reality are dangerous. One such that came to mind is Beauty and the Beast…i dunno but a girl falling in love with a beast seems quite as unhealthy as a girl falling in love with a vampire
But hey what do I know…I still wanna read the books and have a more informed view
I agree with everything that was said in this review. I’m a teenage girl and I have read all those stupid books, and found them to be daft and pointless. I mean, why are vampire’s so freaking interesting. It’s not like this was the first time someone has written about them. Jeez, take Anne Rice. Vampire’s have been done. Get over it. And her other book “The host” Um… no. Does invasion of the body snatchers sound familiar. It sounds like she’s just taking other people’s ideas and sticking hot people in them. That’s not literature. And someone mentioned that Stephanie Meyer introduced them to all the classics like “Wuthering Heights” and Jane Austen, that is just sad. Don’t you go to school. Don’t they make you read real literature. Don’t you walk beyond the row of teen books in your book store? If you have to read a crappy teen vampire book to realize there are real authors in the word that is just plain sad.
THIS ARTICLE IS ABSOLUTLEY RUBBISH AND UTTER NONSENCE NOT TO MENTION UNTRUE !!!!
TWILIGHT IS THE BEST BOOK IN THE WORLD AND NOTHING CAN COMPARE WITH IT !!!
THE FANS ARE IN LOVE WITH EDWARD AND BELLAS CHEMISTRY NOT TO MENTION THAT EDWARD IS UTTERLY GORGEOUS AND JACOB TOTALLY HOT !!!!
IF YOU DONT LIKE THE BOOK……THEN WHY ARE YOU LOT READING IT ???!!???
THE BOOK CAPTURES YOUR HEART AND MIND AND MAYBE SOME PEOPLE DONT LIKE IT BUT PLEASE…… KEEP IT TO YOUR SELF…..US TWILIGHT FANS HAVE HAD ENOUGH….ITS JUST PLAIN SAD !!!!
IF YOU THINK STEPHANIE MEYER IS A CRAP AUTHOR …. I WANT TO SEE YOU TRY WRITING A BOOK THAT WILL CAPTURE EVERY SINGLE TEEN GIRLS HEART AND MIND AND SOUL……
I SERIOUSLY DONT THINK YOU CAN DO IT EVEN IF YOU TRIED !
ITS BEEN MADE INTO A MOVIE AND I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THE MOVIE DEFINATELY WASNT BETTER THAN THE BOOK .
THE BOOK IS OBVIOUSLY A BIG SUCESS AND I BET EVERY SINGLE HARSH COMMENT IS BY FAILED AUTHORS DESPERATELY TRYING TO SELL A BOOK BUT TO NO AVAIL.
INSTEAD OF SLAMMING THE BOOK, THE AUTHOR AND THE FANS…THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE…..ITS ONE OF THE BIGGEST CRAZES EVER AND IF YOU THINK YOU CAN MATCH UP TO THE SUCESS OF TWILIGHT……
DONT THINK AT ALL.
TWILIGHT RULES AND FOREVER WILL
THOSE WHO HATE
EDWARD WILL KILL XX
i agree with the things that you say in this article but to be honest Twilight is kinda like Harry Potter in a way that it gets teenage kids out of the tv room and reading BOOK it doesn’t matter whats in that book if anything it should be the parents monitoring if its appropriate or not for their child. Like i said if it gets the kids away from the mindless hours of tv then its good enough for me, just let kids ‘escape’ into their own world where they can imagine scenes, not watch it and ruin their eyes forever so they cant see a single word again. and yes the fans are a little crazy but i’d rather see thousands of teens protesting someone saying bad things about a book than protesting someone saying bad things about a tv show
I have to say, I do enjoy reading the books. It’s just something I can read and not think about it.
But I’m not one of those fans that yell and abuse the writer of the fantastic article and say:
OMG WHAT IS RONG WIT U?!!!?111 TWILIGHT I S WESOME blah blah.
Nice article. Enjoyed reading it even though I love the books.
please don’t bring twilight even close to Hp.
there’s a difference between learning a moral lesson from a series than drooling over a hot guy in a series that explains in excrutiating detail about every little thing in the room, to let them be in bella’s shoes so they can have a wish fufillment.
it may have gotten girls to read now a days since they’re not so much into gossip girl or the disney channel.
but you have to admit they only thing the fans have to talk about is how edward is hot and that isn’t much of really doing anything than looking at a magazine.
so you’d rather have the twilight fans yelling at us for saying anything bad about there precious book, but we can’t say anything about why we like it??
and as you can see with the comment above you a lot of twilight come to us yelling in caps and calling us names but we can’t say anything to them??
no i can’t do that, it’s has to be fair so they will get the same treatment they do to us, done to them.
as your screen name says your a twilight fan, we don’t expect you to understand where we’re coming from since you probably think it’s a good series and you see the problems and yet you don’t think what we’re are doing is right.
twilight fans are such hypercrits
even though we give solid reasons why we feel the way we do, and here comes a twihard stomping and throwing a tantrum just because we don’t agree with the wonderful Meyer and the true wuv of edward and bella.
i mean, how dare we question edward’s intentions???!!!
when he took the engine out of bella’s truck, edward was just doing what was best for her even though she is old enough to make her own decisions!!!!! and edward was from the early 1900’s!! never mind that he lived through the women’s rights movement nor saw how women made there way as to strive to be looked upon as an equal gender!!
and he never ages so that means his mind stays the same so he still looks at women at women as being weak, even though he went through college and his mind had to grow with knowledge after his unfortunate living among humans which refers to as weak minded and shallow and vampires are a superior race of demon and evil beings.
and yes edward is a stalker if you read midnight sun you’ll know he oiled her windows inorder not to alert her as she slept .
i don’t know one who would actually be happy with the guy, if you don’t have a problem with a guy taking the engine out of you car and looks upon your race as inferior then edwards the monster for you!
sorry i meant to say ‘why we don’t like it’ in the paragraph above.
my mistake.
hope i didn’t sound to rude or snarky to you all, if i did offend anyone, then i apologize.
You are brilliant. If I could hug you I would. I can’t stand the books. To make sure I wasn’t crazy I forced my mum to stread a bit too. Twenty pages in and I was half death. My mum used to be an editor and she screeched whenever she noticed something wrong with it. It was like having my first year essays proof read all over again.
I completely agreed with all your points. Edward watches Bella as she sleeps and she just shrugs it off. I’d be runnig to get a restraining order for the creep that’s stalking me.
Unfortunately my cousin and aunt have discovered the books and are happily making their way through the series thinking it’s brilliant. All it has done is confirmed that my mum and I are the sane part of the family. At least now you’ve given me some arguments to argue my point over Chistmas dinner if it is brought up!
First of all the twilight books may be a “success”, but that doesn’t make them good!
and worlds biggest twilighter fan,, oh my goodness,, get a grip, the whole edward will kill you thing at the end just shows you are an immature 11 yr old who has not debating skills and the capital letters like a child stomping her feet.
You go ask a english literature teacher, you know, the ones who are qualified, and ask their opinion on the book, you know if the writing quality is good, which is not.
It hasn’t captured hearts,, its deluded girls, who are gonna grow up thinking they will find their “edward”
At the end of the day.. if people love it/hate it/or just dont care, all you have to do is wait… will it stand the test of time.. will people in 50 years go… wow what a failure (probably) or what a classic it has become. That is what makes a book a classic.. time.. will it last?
yes, yes and YES!! couldn’t have put it better myself. i am absolutely appalled at the series and i am almost angered at the amount of success meyers has received out of this trash. i am glad you wrote this….
TWILIGHT RULEES IF U DUN LIKE IT BITE ME OK RITE ON THE A**
Narwhal,
I’ve just gotta say I’m a total Twilighter, and I also think that you’re entitled to your opinion. So what if you hate the books. It’s all about personal preference, I like chocolate pie, and maybe you don’t. Big f***ing deal. Just because us Twilight fans are very passionate about these books doesn’t make us all big cry babies. We still have brains, and if anyone is seriously crying right now because someone wrote a negative review about their favorite books, then maybe they should grow some skin.
Everyone else,
First of all I love these books, second, THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC, that’s why it’s called fantasy, and third just because vampires are not real does not mean that some of Bella’s situation is realistic. Many of the women I know were totally self sufficient and independant before they met who they thought was “Mr. Right.” And another thing any woman would probably like an Edward once in a while. That doesn’t mean that they hold their breath until he comes. They just find themselves dreaming about him occasionally. Bella and Edward=Romeo and Juliet. I’m not saying that they’re completely the same, but there are some strong similarities. I’m also not comparing the authors or the stories per say, but the type of love that both couples share. Each would die if the other did, and each would die for the other. Reading these books is a temporary escape from the real world, to me anyways. As for them not being well written, they sound like they are coming from a 17 year old girl. How old is Bella? Oh, that’s right she’s 17!!
Claire,
Are you by any chance blonde?? Vampires are supposed to SUCK your blood.
As for Edward and Jacob being abusive, never once did either slap, kick, or twist her, in fact, I believe it was Bella who threw a punch. They’re practically invincible, while she is fragile, they are merely trying to protect her. More like a dad than a boyfriend, but whatever works.
would you just please shout up .. barbarian
To Equus:
You wrote “twilight fans are such hypercrits”. I hope that doesn’t apply to me. LOL. I see where you’re coming from, and like we’ve both acknowledged, neither of us are going to back down anytime soon, but that’s fine. I’m glad to have had that polite and not over-emotional debate with you. I hope I’ve at least proven that not all Twilight fans are illogical screaming maniacs who would die at the sight of Edward Cullen or Robert Pattinson. Oh, and thanks for noticing that I haven’t yet insulted you; I don’t plan to. I think that would extremely rude and unpleasant.
To Everyone Else:
I think it’s important that we all air our views passionately so that we can prove our points, but we should also ensure that they don’t come across over-emotionally because that’s what gets on everyone’s nerves.
For Twilight fans, if you throw a fit on this page, you’re never going to prove your point to those people who hate the series. You’ll only serve to prove them right – that you’re so crazy over the book that you have lost all common sense and good manners over what they consider a “petty romance”. If you want to drive a point home, it would be much better to type out a coherent paragraph or two in response to a couple of comments that you feel strongly about, and in language befitting that of a more mature person who can truly appreciate the books. It’s not nice, or for that matter of fact correct, to insult someone whom you barely even know and then accuse them of doing the same to you first. Even if it was them who started it, don’t you think it would be worse if you sunk to their level? I’m clearly on your side since I love the Twilight quadrilogy, but I don’t approve of all the rudeness and hostility, and neither do I like the fanaticism and uproars.
For those who don’t like Twilight, I think the same goes for you too. You have to try to understand that us Twilight fans see magical things in the series that you may not see or refuse to acknowledge. Such deep, intense, carnal love between two characters might seem immature, stupid and insane to you, but for those of us who lack even the littlest love and care in our lives, such stories hold out a hope and if you look at logically, hope is the essence of human survival. Imagine if you could only see bleakness and darkness in front of you and know that you’d never experience the slightest joy in life again. Would you really still want to live? I certainly understand where many of you are coming from, and as I mentioned before, I enjoy hearing and countering other perspectives, but again, there’s no need to be rude, hurtful, insensitive or offensive.
Basically, it goes for both sides. Put your arguments across reasonably and logically, and people are bound to try and hear you out. If all you do is scream and shout and insult while blocking out everyone else’s views, you’ll never get anywhere. Equus and I have managed to put our points across to each other without an ensuing quarrel and if we ever met in real life, we might even be friends. So cheers to us Equus!
you don’t have to physically put your hands on them to abusive them, there are different kinds of abuse.
just because bella is seventeen doesn’t mean we can excuse the author,who is a 35-36 year old woman.
not all seventeen year olds write like that nor think that way.
i’m 16 and i defiantley don’t lose my mind over a boy, i have too much pride and dignity to act like i lost my senses for boy i barely know.
it’s going to be hard for us to be convinced the twilighters aren’t cry babies as from the previous comments pretty much point to them acting like kindergardeners throwing a tantrum just because we don’t worship the twilight series.
they come in and start calling us name because it’s like a defensive mechanism, they don’t want to see problems with the series even though it could be dancing naked right infront of them, or it could just be they can’t think of anything else to say after we pointed out all the problems.
either way the twilight fans are bringing this on themselves, if they could act like some of the other twilighters who just come in and calmly state why they don’t agree with this article.
and i must ask do you really think romeo and juilet are in love??
i took them as being overdramatic and that the play was a tragedy.
i never knew meeting someone that same night at a party in love with a another woman and then seeing another girl and immediatley falls in love with her.
within two days they were talking about getting married
then a week later they commit suicide…
shakespeare never meant for it to be glorified as a love story, it started off as a tragedy but then of course others twist things over the years and now its looked upon as the greatest love story ever told.
i didn’t know falling love within two minutes of meeting and kissing eachother and then they’re in love. just like that. then commiting suicide was so romantic.
that doesn’t sound like a great and wonderful true love story but then again that is your opinion if you fall in love quick like romoe did with juilet.
but then again those of you who believe edward and bella are in love then yes i can see why you wouild think that considering bella too didn’t know edward long enough to be in love with him.
in new moon they were basicly trying to commit suicide. i guess they deserve eachother since they are both lunatics better to have two insane people together than with a normal person, we don’t want the normal people to be hurt by their crazy ways.
and star crossed lovers?? where does it show that edward and bella are star crossed lovers??
to me, a star crossed lover would be if edward and jacob got together, they are both the opposite, they’re covens or tribes hate eachother and if either one came to either side they have been ordered to kill and their duties to their families are not a walk in the park and they are always been kept apart from eachother and would have to sneak around to avoid conflict and if caught they cause an all out war between the werewovles or shapeshifters (which ever one meyer spat out during breaking dawn) and the vampires who should attack humans because the werewovles or shapeshifter protect the humans as apart of being a werewolf. now that sounds like an awesome story that i would read.
edward and bellla aren’t being kept from eachother, no one is stopping them and don’t say jacob because he backs off when bella asks him at times and he’s rarely in the triangle that was so called in the story. but we all knew bella would never go for jacob because he was young and warm, almost human, well if he stopped shifting that is.
that forbidden love thing gets on my nerves the most i think because no one is stopping them, there isn’t a problem in the story because alice will see and stop what ever that was supposed to happend (that really grated my nerves as well)
and even though you may know the story is just a fanstasy and not looking for a “edward” but there are some delusional girls out there.
anyways this is getting to be a long post so i’m just going to end it.
Mag Melvy Jolie , i agree, and yes you have throughly proven to be an actual logical twilight fan and i respect that.
well considering that atleast you have read my side of the story, i would think if we ever met ,we would be friends.
unfortunately one of my best friends of two years was angry i kept giving my reasons on why i didn’t like it, and so last month she stopped being my friend.
over a book… (sob story time)
i’m still in a bit of shock that she would do that to me even though she always had something bad to say about Harry Potter (she hasn’t read the series), i never stopped just being a friend even though she insulted what i liked so when she started talking about twilight, me being me, not able to stay out of it, thought i’d add my two cents as to why i didn’t agree with her.
she was furious, and was acting like the twihards on here, not to the same extint but she was up there.
it’s sad that our friendship turned out this way after everything i did for her, standing by her when she needed me, but of course she seemed to not think about that.
so yeah, i may have a little bit of a personal issue with the twilight series, but it’s okay, i kinda hopeing she comes around to her senses and thinks about how silly this has gotten.
if we don’t make up as friends, than i suspect we will see eachother when were’re older in a store or something and think back to when we were in highschool and become embrassesed that we behaved that way.
but Mag Melvy Jolie, i’m glad that you atleast can like the series and still able to converse with an anti, not throwing insults, overall being pleasant.
Don’t worry i never thought all the twihards or twilighters were all throwing tantrums and theartenign to kill us or have one of the cullens kills us for some strange reason.
it’s possible to converse calmly and politely with the other side without throwing insults and calling others names.
so cheers to us too Mag Melvy Jolie! =)
“As for Edward and Jacob being abusive, never once did either slap, kick, or twist her.”
Um, you’ve never heard of the concept of emotional and mental abuse? Just because they don’t physically hurt her (I’m even dropping the point where Jacob forces her to kiss him) does NOT mean that they’re not abusive. Messing with a car part to keep a girl from seeing a friend is abusive. Treating her like a helpless two-year-old is abusive. Stalking her and watching her sleep without her knowledge is abusive.
And please tell me that I didn’t see this tripe getting compared to Romeo and Juliet. Like all of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, Romeo was possessed of a fatal flaw. His flaw? Impulsiveness. That should tell you all you need to know.
Rice, if you write a book, I will buy it in every size and color.to match my shoes. You are amazing and I am so glad i found a fellow Twilight Hater. These crap books took every developed, complex and glorious thing about the oldschool vampire novs (IWTV, BSDrac) and kicked them in the gut. I was so enraged reading Meyers crapfactory that i couldnt even get any english words out to scream. I just babbled in tongues. I just wanted to thank you for getting it out there that this book was written by 12 year olds for 12 year olds. Goddamn.
i like twilight
Lol! Funny how there’s a person saying they ACTUALLY LIKE twilight (doesn’t deserve capitalization) and the comments just end like that!
Don’t worry, it is now my mission to save literary success! Wair for it; the book title has an ‘8’ in it ;)!
epic review….. just epic.
I can just picture the looks of indignation on the faces of many of the vapid, airheaded fans of this trashy series as they read the review.
It’s all very true, I may be a guy but the way the series portrayed women was completely apalling in my eyes, which is a huge thing coming from me.
Wow, give me a break!
It’s a book series. Aren’t some books suppossed to be totaly not-true-to-real-life? That’s what makes some reading fun right? Yea it is not to great for 12-17 year olds, but I am much older than that and found myself reading all 4 books in less then 2 weeks! I couldn’t put them down after starting them. I was able to fly through the books due to the way the author wrote them. Okay, they are not written like the works of Jane Austen, but they are much easier to read than her novels and I am a HUGE Jane Austen fan!
I think the Author does a great job at making you see, feel, and smell what the people (or bloodsuckers, dogs…) see, feel and smell. I LOVED these books!! I was sad to see them end at the last book Breaking Dawn, but I think they were wonderful and so easy to get lost in. Sometimes everyone needs a little bit of not-so-real-life.
Go ahead and pick up a copy of Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. I am going to be buying more novles written by Stephenie Meyer!
as we have said, you may have been able to enjoy them without going insane. if your much older than 12-17 years old than do you hang out with girls of those age ranges??
i do because i’m forced since i’m 16, the things i have heard and seen from them because of this book series is ridiculous.
when your still in highschool you hear and see things that teenagers are doing.
unfortunately girls around those age ranges are acting like it’s just the only thing in the world that deserves praise.
some teenage girls are actual worshiping these fictional characters, a girl got beat in school by three other girls just because she wrote a book review in the school’s news paper of breaking dawn and those three twilighters went up to her calling her names and yelling then they beat her up. three against one.
a girl got with a guy just because his name was edward and got pregnant (as i have mentioned in one of my previous post) named the baby reneesme. so these are just books right?? girls aren’t taking this seriously?
i read four of the Hp books in a week about to reread the fifth one.
i must say i’ve learned more from Harry Potter than twilight.
no wait i did learn something from the twilight series, never ever end up like bella, vampires are now gay since they sparkle, werewolves are cool, humananity rocks, never meet an edward, if that happends run like a bat out of He#l, it’s not cute to have a guy watch you in while you sleep, never get with a guy who is like edward and being around people like alice makes me uncomfortable. guys with flaws are wonderful, being dead and ice cold is a horrible way to live. and the cullens are all fairies, reneesme is a demon spawn and all the books in the world pwns twilight (yes the whole series)
well that’s what i learned atleast
yes keep reading up on how perfect everyone has to be as you read smeyers books.
have you read the host?? than i’m surprised you haven’t seen how she treats woman in that book but of course i’m just 16 what do i know??
Okay, Twilight fans? Please, please- if you are going to defend your book, use proper grammer. Please have SOME maturity in your answers. I doubt your caps lock key is broken, so you do not have to go overboard on that.
And could you give me an honest to goodness reason why Twilight is so “good”? (Besides the old standby of relating to Bella and how Edward is so Hawt, I want something original. You know what original means right?)
BTW, Literature called and wants SMeyer to know that if she is going to continue to rape Literature, could she at least use some lube beforehand? It’ll hurt a lot less. There will also be a lot less blodd. And while I am at it I will personally ask for SMeyer to tone down the insane laughter while she is raping Literature. Thank you.
Hey E., I know what it is like to get dumped by a friend because you just happen to disagree with Twilight. My best friend of FOUR years dumped me because I did not like Twilight (among other various reasons). She said (and I quote) “Simone u shuld stop insultn the book cuz its sooooo good and u r sooooo stupid to hate it… screw u simone…. u suck…. i dont want anythin 2 do w/ u anemor.” All this BECAUSE I THOUGHT THE BOOK SUCKED?
Well good riddance then. If you are going to judge my character on just ONE opinion, then you were never even a friend. You were more like a parasite.
Anyway, my major beef with this book is how this particular series has been compared and even herald as the next Romeo and Juliet. Say what!?
Let me summarize R&J for all of you.
R: OMG you guys!! This totally fine babe Rosaline* is gonna go to a convent!! Which sucks because I totally want to get in her pa— *ENTER JULIET* Dahaaaaaam! Check out this scrumptous young thing!!
(fyi Juliet is like thirteen or something? Ew)
couple scenes later
R: You and I should totally get together. It is DESTINY!
J: Okay!!!
couple more scenes later
R: Let us be married!!
J: Okay!!
Friar/Pastor: You know you guys shouldn’t RUSH into this kind of committment so fast
R: MARRY US DAMNIT!
J: Okay geez.
couple more scenes later, throw in some deaths, family fued escalated to OUTSTANDING proportions.
R: We should committ suicide
J: Okay!!
The end.
Yeah, why do you think Shakespeare labeled his story AS A TRAGEDY?!?!
Anyway- let me begin my comparisons! Like Juliet, Mary Sue, sorry, BELLA, rarely makes her own decisions. Feminist critics point out that Juliet never makes her own descions- everyone else does selected choices for her. Romeo/Edward literally pulls J/Bella around like she is a puppet or a two year old child.
How is that love? How is that trust? How is this a healthy bond? In the second book Edward DID NOT KNOW for certain that Bella was dead. But he decides that since life means nothing without having someone to boss around, life is not worth living. Sorry, did I say bossing around? I meant controlling.
See, anyone who takes away the possesions of a person, forbids their family members from seeing an ex, and not allowing their girlfriend see one of the few friends they actually care about just because of an old fued??? (Romeo and Juliet connection!)
Ah jeez.
*Haha SMeyer. I think I am on to you. Remember when Rosalie wanted to get with Edward but he refused her advances? I think this the reverse of what happened in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo was continually rejected by Rosaline. Now Meyer switched it up. Harhar. Plus Rosalie… Rosaline? Really really beautiful chicakadees? Yeah, I’m starting to see your tricks and refernces SMeyer.
But instead of me being impressed, I am mostly annoyed.
Hello Simone, i agree with everything you said.
i never saw romeo and juilet as lovers more like overdramatic teenagers or how ever old romeo was.
and my friend said the same to me along those lines as well.
everytime we see eachother we act like the other doesn’t exist and talk to our other friends, like we both are invisible and we don’t look eachother in the face. petty?? i know but my pride gets the best of me at times.
i thought i was the only one who noticed the resemblence to rosaline and rosalie.
good to know you see R&J as a tragedy too. =)
This article has been directly lifted from the guardian.
It really is tragic, these Twilight books. Ruining what seems to be strong friendships over opinions over a fictional book? That’s sad.
Something else thats horrible about this brainwashing series- All three english literature teachers at my school have become obsessed with the book. All three teachers are female. It’s sad that they’re supporting sexism. They’re printing out and giving away copies of midnight sun. They have tshirts and poster of them all over their rooms. It’s pathetic.
LOL I think it’s my second time to read this review, and it never fails to amuse me.I’m 17, in college, and I’m around girls who are looking for their Edwards. It’s rather odd how my sister even called me mean for not liking the movie, given that she haven’t watched it yet. The news of how “good” the series is spreading throughout her school, and is now polluting her mind. I don’t think I’ll be able to live with a sister who’s joining a craze of Edward obsessed fan girls.
Aside from that, I like this review. It was definitely worthwhile.
Same with the comments. Especially from Twilighters, most of you can’t even defend the series and result to insults towards Ms. Rice. How immature.
hey , i like the books personally . but she didn’t , fullstop . the fans that insult her , why are you wasting your time ? everyone is entitled to an opinion , and just because we don’t agree , doesn’t mean we can insult her . I wouldn’t like being called a bitch or any of the other insults here , would you ?
oh , and sorry . i forgot to say that I don’t really think Bella is that much of a role model , but still , the books DO have moral values and they’re interesting . There’s always a bright side .
Hell yeah. Word, Nad. Everyone has their thoughts about every book and movie & it’s really no use in being so fcking mad about it at someone who’s just voicing out her opinion
i don’t know why they think we are insulting them for criticising the series.
i’m sure even twilighters have something they don’t like for example, brusill sprouts.
what if a twilighter wrote a review on why they don’t like brusill sprouts and the brusill sprout lovers comes in throwing a fit just because you said you didn’t like them.
the lovers go, “your so mean!! how dare you not like brusill sprout??!!! brusill sprouts changed my life!!!! and your hurting god’s feelings for saying you don’t like one of his creations!!!!! i’m going to find you and choke you in your sleep with brusill sprouts, so ha!!!
and the person who wrote the review on brusill sprouts goes, “i was just stating my opinion as to why i don’t like brusill sprouts. why are you theartening me?? and hurting god’s feelings?? i’m sure he never expected for everyone to love brusill sprouts so there is no reason for you to get so upset over this, it’s like i insulted you, but i didn’t so there is no reason for you to react this way”
and that ladies and gentleman, is what is happening here.
i really doubt anyone can like everthing in this world, that’s impossible.(well except for god)
we’re human, not perfect beings
this post may not make much sense but i hope i got a point across.
Hey E., can I like give you a virtual hug or something? *Hugging!!* I know this is going kind of far, but I think you and I are kindred spirits. Lol.
(And yes you did get your point across. Thankies)
why of course you can simone! *HUGS* kindred spirits? okay! that’s fine with me LOL!! glad i was able to get my point across with the brusill sprouts, LOL!!! *hugs simon again* sorry i’m very hyper i have to keep it professional when i get into a debate on here but i like to act weird most of the time. *flys around around room* yah!!
At least she actually read the books. You can’t like or hate a book if you don’t sit down to read it. So why do people always say you have no life or you put too much effort into hating something simply for giving it a chance?
The reactions from people who are “True Twilight fans” on this article show a very negative image of the people who enjoyed the books. Getting mad because someone doesn’t like what they do and then calling them ugly or that they don’t have sex? That is juvenile and pathetic, a person speaks their opinion and the reaction is that the person MUST be unattractive, a “bitch” or doesn’t have a man (or woman) of their own. Why don’t you throw in that she’s on her period while you’re at it? How shallow and empty are you people that you dismiss someone’s complaint as lack of sex or even that they are lesser than another human being? Meyer writes a few books and now she can only be criticized by people who are her “equal?” She writes books, she isn’t a blue-blooded noble of some far-off kingdom!
Good literature makes you think., imagine and feel something for the characters. I’ve only seen the movie but I found the characters as they were portrayed in the film to be vile and ridiculous. My entire time in the theater was spent trying not to laugh at the terrible movie. This review seems to match what I saw in the theater but that isn’t going to stop me from giving the book a try. because that’s what you should do. You read the book, give it a chance and if you love it, hate it or simply don’t feel strongly about it, you are being honest.
Jose i appalud you *claps*
“My entire time in the theater was spent trying not to laugh at the terrible movie.”
I feel you. I didn’t want to seem rude in front of my twilight-loving friends. lol
i never went to see the movie but my friend relayed back to me how it went and she said she kept laughing throughout the movie =]
the worst part would be the screaming fan girls inside the theatre. I wanted to throw my heels at every single screaming/gushing/giggling fangirl. But yeah, the part where Edward says that his skin is the skin of a killer, sounds so… LOL =)
I admit, I spent the whole time making these inane and sarcastic comments at the screen. I was told to shut up 10 minutes into the movie, I was blabbing that much!
Eddie was able to sum up my entire reaction to the film… remember that scene when he first smelled the darling Bella? That is the only time I was on par with the movie, like Eddie The Bed Wettie and I had a real connection… as for the rest of the time I mainly rolled my eyes and… yeah, rolled my eyes some more.
Best part of the whole experience, I saw the movie with my BF Dominik, and when Eddie and Bella were sucking face he snorted but the way he did it- well it sounded like a fart. He and I nearly died in the movie theater we were laughing so hard and we could not draw in enough air. lulz.
(We got many glares as we were walking out of the theater, fyi)
And what was with some of the lines in the damn movie? “This is the skin of a killer!” Yeah, as soon as I heard that I had the sudden image of Tinkerbell with Eddie’s head quoting those exact words. WOW.
Thank GAWD they did not use the “dazziling” crap in the movie too. I do not who drew the line on excluding that particular material, but I thank them. But as for the lion and the lamb reference? Gawd, some1 get me a barfbag PLEEEEZE!
…. Too late.
it was an interesting book.
if you dont look to closely.
still, no reason for girls to go crazy on you.
very interesting article.
i think ur stupid twilight may be unreasonably fake but it gives girls hope it might be getting there hopes up way to much but give them some creadit, there not stupid enough to believe that they can fall in love wit a vampire so wateve hate all u want cuz envy is an ugly thing. by the way i think the author give some girls a little influnce to act themselves cuz bella acted herself and a lot of guys ended up likeing her so yea. and about the part where she falls in love wit two people i think is stupid too but think about it most girls… no people have this problem where they cant choose who they want in life and in the books myers shows that sometimes pressure doesnt help and thts why edward was being nice anyway i think all yall r haters and Ms. Rice get a life and stop wasting ur time on negative articles such as this one cuz there is no point twilight is always going to have fans and im one of them so wat eve, HATER!!
jazmine?
is that u?
its kate!
wait, r u jazmine marshall?
omg, i thought u were older than 16 equus! r u a man?
Okay, Twilight has to be a bigger joke in the Philippines. Their local TV channel would be making a local series of Twilight.
Hilarious. Fans are going on a rampage. lol
I agree with you 100%.
Twilight is nowhere NEAR as good as Harry Potter. Let me point out some differences.
1. Harry Potter is about someone who has lost his parents. Twilight is about someone who has her parents but disrespects them so much that she doesn’t even call them ‘mom’ and ‘dad’.
2. Harry’s story ended with a happy ending, but he had to face so many of his friends’ deaths before. Twilight was just a happy little ending in a happy little world in SMeyer’s sad little mind.
3. This is to those of you who say that Harry Potter is sexist. Have you even READ the books? Haven’t you seen Hermione’s personality, or even LOOKED at McGonagall? Haven’t you even stopped to think about how strong Mrs. Weasley is? Have you EVER noticed how Lily Evans has the courage to stand up to boys? Don’t even get me started on Ginny. This proves that you’ve not read the books. Harry HIMSELF has said that he would never think that girls aren’t as smart as guys.
4. Each and every one of Rowling’s 800 pages have a plot and a story. In Twilight, each page just spells out “I L-O-V-E E-D-W-A-R-D”.
5. Harry and the rest have personalities. Bella and co. DON’T.
I would like to point out much more, but for lack of time, I can’t. I think these five points do prove what I’m trying to say.
*claps* Ks great job!
There are so many good series out there that are able to contain a plot and some romance as well. If they could do it with relative ease, than what does SMeyer have as an excuse? Some series:
Harry Potter (duh)
The Piratica series by Tanith Lee
Alex Cross series
Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series
Ellen Hopkins
The Gemma Doyle trilogy
hell, NANCY DREW!!
I know there ARE LOADS more out there, so lets here them!
Jane eyre!! *jumps up and down*
pride and prejudice!!
Ok first of all i would just like to say that i LOVE Twilight. Sure you make some good points but i dont agree with them at all. You are thinking it through way too much. Oh and if you thought the books were so horrible and appalling then why did you waste your time summarizing the whole book in your little rant? Why did you read all four 600 page novels hmm? If i didnt like the first one i wouldnt have read any of the rest. I respect your opinion but that doesnt mean you should talk trash about it. Stephenie meyer spent all that time writing the books to get a good reaction. You shouldnt talk bad about someones work just because you dont like. If you dont like it then just forget about it. You really wasted your time writing that novel of a review. It is a book!! It is not reality and really no fiction book is true. It is called “imagination.” If you would just look past all your problems with the book and just think about the storyline and love story between the two im sure you would like it.
Have you actually been in love like bella and edward? Excuse me if edward really respects bella and treats her well like some girls want to be treated. I think it is good that edward likes her that much because if there is any guy like edward:hot,smart,and just a great guy, girls would want him. This is coming from the heart of a true Twilight Fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
Mad Twilight Fan
P.S–Sometimes reality can be like Twilight except for the vampires and fiction stuff.
A very, very good review. It fits just fuckin’ perfect. I completely agree wit it, the books are total nonsense. I threw mine in the bin ^^.
At last, someone said the right things about the book.
Yours sincerely,
Mad HARRY POTTER Fan
P.S.: If life would be like Twilight, I’d like to have some poles and a hammer.
Okay Melissa is it?? again the reason why some people decide to finish a book they started is because no matter how horible it is you want to know how it turns out.
i know that may sound weird but it happens all the time to people who read a lot.
and again, we know it’s “imagination” our problems with it is that young impressionable girls want an edward. the guy who broke into bella’s room just to watch her sleep, the guy who took the engine out of her car just because she wanted to go see a friend, the guy who has his siblings kidnap her so he can keep and eye on her, the guy who goes behind her back to make her do things she said she didn’t want to do.
Now melissa, let me ask this question, would you seriously be okay with a guy you don’t even know to break into your room and watch you sleep?? who you want him to stalk you?? are you okay with a guy taking the engine out of your car so you couldn’t go see a friend??
whats sad is that some girls will say yes as long as the guy is hot.
i’m sorry but i will never want to be with edward ,i’d rather marry frodo, bear his children, run around middle earth from orcs, fight in a war for the ring and save the world.
no i don’t just want a hot guy who is great( edward truly isn’t that great at all) smart?? well since he had to go through school for years on end thats the only reason he’s smart. he lived in the early 1900’s they didn’t know what we know now.
and for you to say for us to overlook the problems and to love the book and bella/edwards precious love?? no.
and edward/bella aren’t in love. what do you know about why they are together in the first place??
he’s hot
her blood smells good and i can’t read her mind
and it’s not like that changed through the story because all bella talked about is edwards looks. everytime he came up to her even you gotta admit that she will go on and on and on about edwards looks.
You are one of God’s numerous gifts to mankind with this wonderful review. Thank you for making my day with this spectacular review.
It’s sad that twilight fans keep on saying that she shouldn’t have read the books if she didn’t like them. I mean, really, how can you criticize a book without reading it first?
I enjoyed the Twilight books as time-passers, but I completely agree with your review. The characters were continually more deplorable as each page passed. Bravo!
If you didn’t like the series,
Why did you even read them?
This is your fault.
If you didn’t like them in the first place,
You shouldn’t care about things like these.
Call me a b****,but at least I’m speaking my mind,so
F*ck all of you out there who don’t like the series.
Go to hell.
I’m so glad you wrote this article. I completely agree. I’m a teenager and all of my friends really like this book. I read it and I was NOT impressed. For one, it was insulting. Like you said. I’m a girl and I think this sincerely sends the exact WRONG message to pre-teens. It glorifies Edward, even though his behavior is aggressive, moody and downright disgusting sometimes. He’s the perfect abusive character. In so many ways. He’s as controlling as hell too. He’s pretty much her god, in so many ways. He controls her. Why? Because she loves him? That’s NOT love, he’s obsessed, maybe.
And Bella, ugh. It’s just disgusting. She’s a Mary Sue. Everything is about her. Mainly about how she is the victim. She’s glorified and EVERYONE’s in love with her. It’s horrible. Romance is NOT like that. I hate the whole “Love at first sight” thing. She barely knows him. It’s so superficial. It’s about beauty, not character or god-forbid, personality. If anything the relationship between the two can be classified as “Lust as first sight.” And nothing else.
The fact that she is at Edward’s beck and call every second gets increasingly aggitating also. What is strange is that she barely makes any demands of him, the way he does of her. He tells her what to do and who to talk to. What girl in her right mind would EVER be ordered around like that? If my boyfriends EVER did that I would dump him so fast it’d make his head spin.
She shows an obvious lack of self respect. And teenage girls are WORSHIPPING her. As an idol. What we need is a STRONG female character for them to model themselves after. Not a weak, victimized, love sick idiot.
The worst moment I think, is the “child” issue. It sends the message that women only exist to have the children of their husband. Like you said, she drops her dreams, her ambitions. Anything that could possibly make her a valuable member of society. Or happy for that matter. And throws herself into this hellish “marraige”.
Now I am completely against censorship, or book banning or whatever. But the sexual themes in this book are VERY mature for the age they’re targeting. Although you say this is for girls ages 12-17. The largest mania I’ve seen is in ages 10-14. Truly. Pre-teen. I don’t mind people reading it. I mean, for fun. I read it for a laugh and came up for air disgusted. And I KNOW the simplicity of reading a book. But.. THESE BOOKS CONTAIN SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES ABOUT THE ROLE OF WOMEN. It’s BAD. It’s a bad, bad, message for young girls. Especially when they are so young.
Wow I wrote that so fast I didn’t realize how many mistakes I made! Ooops, sorry, please overlook them! ?:P
Okay I admit i was once a Twilight manic to, i devoured those books like a starving mouse devours cheese. I thought those things were the best books ever and i even thought that they could live up to harry potter.
Then I read them again
After getting halfway thru Eclipse again a little lightbulb appeaed over my head. These books are the most ridiculous peice of crap that I’ve ever read. Bella it seems is perfect. She can literally do no wrong. Can you say Mary Sue anyone?
And Edward bespite being hot and every teen girls dream is abusive and just plain mean sometimes.
Why are all these men pouring over Bella like she’s so great I thought she was supposed to be a regular girl so teen girls like me could relate to her. I’ve never in my whole 16 years of life been poured over by boys like she has.
Honestly I could go on…and on
But what really gets me are the fans. One girl literally attacked me, i mean started punching me when i tried to tell her how i felt about twilight. My twin sister managed to pulll her off of me thankfully.
So not only are the twilight series bad, but they also turn girls crazy.
And they don’t stand up to Harry Potter. Not in the least bit. Harry Potter had a defined plot thru all 7 books finally leading up to the amazing climax with Voldmort. Twilights plot is patched and quilted together sometimes with loose ends.
I honestly can’t see what i ever saw in those books. I think i’m going to go re-read Harry Potter again. And trust me i’ll love it.
OK…it´s only a book…so cut all the crap about feminism and all that. You have a right to have ur own ideas but that doesn´t mean u can diminish the fact that these books are at least ok-written. I don´t think u have Stephenie´s imagination or creativity to write a book. And as twilight saga reader i might also say that teenagers won´t act the same way Bella did just because they read it on a book, for god´s sake…how imbecile do you think they are?
And besides this is just a f***ing book for god´s sake, I suggest you try to invest ur time in more fulfilling activities instead of trying to burn the books with ur critiscim. We are not discussing major political problems here or trascendental ones…IT´S JUST A BOOK. Try to invest time in doing something good for mankind…and the Edward/Bella love story it´s really good. I´m not sayong it´s perfect but it´s good…Ok Missy!
Dear Dr. Kellen,
Whenever I find out one of my friends is a fan of the ‘Twilight’ series, I nearly drown in my tears, bile, and despair. Recently, the frequency of of these discoveries has been climbing higher and higher, and my attacks have become more violent and easily evoked – even by the mere mention of words like “chagrin” and phrases like “pale lavender eyelids” and “glitter skin”. I have recently taken refuge from the shadow of the neurotic barrage of confusing symptoms I am growingly susceptible to in a local hospital. Despite my obvious malaise and equally apparent maladies, several physicians of comparatively high standing have declared me in perfect health, the previously complained symptoms disbanding like vapours when out of earshot of my friends and having been tested for each. However, after weeks of exhaustive testing, it has become clear I am going to die.
The doctors were dismayed when I gave them the news.
Some of the nurses still come to my bedside and unburden their troubles of outlandish hours, salacious staff-patient frivolity, and the dow in singsong sorrow chats with little tact or taste for a woman we both know will soon die.
They are not considerate.
Some of my friends come to visit now and again, but once the conversation turns to “sculpted, incandescent chests”, “bodies of crystal”, purple patches, and deus ex machina, I quickly have to send them away. How do I convince my friends to pick their literature more carefully? How can I stop my sudden “attacks”? They are making my social life a disaster, and making my dismaler dismal relationshipal strains dismalest. And how do I get the nurses to stop talking about their mortgages?
Desperate,
-Toni U., Midlands
my opinion about twilight:
1. i like the story, hate the book (it is thick but there’s a lot of repitition like; how perfect Edward is, how he smells so good, how he makes her heart beat, etc etc.) i could summarize the book and make thin.
2. the movie was soooo bad! while i was in the theatre i spent it looking at people and seeing their reactions if they we’re as bored as i am.. It was a waste of money and time.
3. i dont like comparing Harry Potter and Twilight coz’ everyone’s doing that. I’m a Harry Potter fan and i like the flow of the story of Twilight saga (but puhleeeze i dont mind the thickness as long as it has sense not just blah blah blah).
4. im no critic but i know if the book was poorly written or not. Even my 10-yr old nephew can have an imagination like that.
so my over-all likeness of twilight is 40%- liked the story 60%-hate the book.
I 100% DISAGREE..
If you don’t even like the book then
don’t read it..
Who even ask you to read it?
No one..
Twilight is a fiction tale..
So the story can be as fake as the writer wants it to be..
You are so UNREASONABLE..
So what if the whole story is about Bella?
You don’t like it, YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT IT!
The whole story is about Bella is because
she is the main character..
You are so dumb..
Worst then baboons..
If you don’t like Twilight why are you wasting your time
on this piece of shit?
-.-
I’d like to say… She is a book/movie critique. This is what she does for a job, so get used to the fact there are people out there who will say TRUE things about books. You can still love them, and enjoy them, but personally I 100% agree with what she’s saying, and I’ve read all the books too. Just vomit terrible, but that should not stop you from enjoying it. Go ahead, no one will stop you.
you suck
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I completely agree with Marissa.
Though we all have our own opinions ,
we don’t have to critize the book in this way .
ITS JUST A BOOK okay ? Like it or not , thats your problem ,
theres no need to do all these stuff . If you dont like
or disagree or simply detest the book , then
KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF .
Different authors have different styles of writing .
The book is fictional , its N-O-T R-E-A-L .
Please get that right .
It think , if we have comments or this we want to say about the book , we should keep them constructive.
I’ve read the whole saga and I have enjoyed the book .
Like I said , you dont really have to agree on everything .
But there’s no need to criticize the book in that manner .
I don’t agree on what this urh , Kellen Rice has to say ,
for goodness sake, its a book , talking about it in a negative way like that is immature and childish .
Thats kind of her job, she’s a book and movie critique, and this is her honest summary from the experience. It’s just her opinion, but she posts it to give a few people her thoughts, to help them judge if they want to read the books or not.
I completely agree with Ethel.
Though we all have our own opinions ,
we don’t have to critize [sic] the article in this way .
ITS JUST AN ARTICLE okay ? Like it or not , thats[sic] your problem ,
theres no need to do all these[sic] stuff . If you dont[sic] like
or disagree or simply detest the article , then
KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF .
Different authors have different styles of writing .
It think , if we have comments or this we want to say about the article , we should keep them constructive.
I’ve read the whole saga and I have enjoyed the article .
Like I said , you dont[sic] really have to agree on everything .
But there’s no need to criticize the article in that manner .
And obviously, to offer criticism on a book one hasn’t read yet is O.K.
Obviously.
Hey What the FUCK? Just because you dont like this book doesnt mean you can rant about it. How qould you like it you wrote it and someone said HEY THIS BOOK SUCKS LIKE FREAKING SHIT. I’d RATHER EFF MY DOG WITH A HOT DOG. So screw you and grow up.
WTF??? dude, SHE IS A BOOK/MOVIE CRITIQUE. YOU GROW UP and realize people do this for a living!! they read books and watch movies and give an honest summary of their opinion!! you don’t even have to listen to her if you don’t want, but accept at least that one person feels this way, and is giving an opinion so others can decide if they want to read the book or not!!
Don’t rant about what other people have created just because you dont like it. I have read the whole series and ENJOYED it.
So just freaking GROW UP.
So screw you and your fucking rantings and go fuck yourself.
YOU SUCK SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. WHATS YOUR PROBLEM YOU HOE. aahhaahh, funny. SO SHUTTUP wee.
I think I’m going to have to stop with the sarcastic comments and ask a real question, because at this point I’m gob-stricken.
How can Twilight fans come to this blog and, not only tell the author that because she doesn’t like the series, she can’t have an opinion (and even more shockingly, that she is immature because she has one), but attach a rosy “SHUT THE FUCK UP” in parting–especially since, evidently, if one has a negative opinion of something, one should promptly shut the fuck up and grow up? Seems slightly hypocritical to me.
And, I mean, since the Twilight fans didn’t like the blog, they just shouldn’t have read it in the first place. It’s their own fault, they shouldn’t care about these things.
Right, Caryll?
Right, guys?
Right?
YES!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!
oh this is just rich. i love how twilight fans say, “well if you didn’t like the book you should keep your opinions to your self, but i love the book i think its amazing and stephenie meyers is a great author and a storyteller” now doesn’t that sound like an opinion to you?? if not then you might need to re learn what an opinion is. and why oh why do twilight fans have to tell us to grow up?? so just because we aren’t like alot of you who are so enamored with finding an edward from a FICTIONAL book as a potential boyfriend, we’re wrong in expressing our opinions???
you know what? thats it. so far only a few twilight fans have been able to come here and debate with us calmly and rationaly. and so far the majority of the twilight fans have shamed their own fan base.
they can’t even act like a mature person and tell us why they don’t agree with us and that truly sad. i hope those of you who act like this will be different in the future and will be able to look back on this and be embrassesed.
because its not us calling you names like we’re still on the playground in elementray, no, its those of you who are calling us names acting like a five year old angry that bobby didn’t like the toys you have. its ridiculous and for a 16 year old to act more calmer than you (if your older than me than i am appalled by your behavior) if your younger, well i don’t necessarily expect for you to act like a mature person, but that doesn’t excuse you from acting like the world is coming to an end since we don’t like twilight.
some people don’t like harry potter, okay thats cool if they don’t like fine its not the end, because i still love it. i’m not going to go around bashing people for not liking harry potter as if not liking it was a sin.
some people don’t like Kikyo from inuyasha, but Kikyo is my number one favorite character throughout all of my years of watching anime, i don’t understand how anyone would not want to murder and torture kagome (i can safely say kagome got me started on hating bella; they act too much alike)
well i know this post was probably a waste since i’m now convinced the majority of twilight fans act like preschoolers so now they will have a very very very very very hard time trying to convince me my assumption isn’t true.
*to those of you who came here and discussed with us calmly i congradulate you, you are light years beyond most of your fandom.you have proven yourself to be very mature and plesant to the anti’s. Thankyou.
~Equus
Haha Lol What happened to fiction and imagination? but seriously is it necessary to write how much you hate something. I could make a blog on how much i hate things but people don’t really care what you dont like. Try giving reviews on stuff you did like.
I loved twilight but the movie wasn’t very good compared to the books.
I suggest getting some positive energy and imagination!
I do not agree, but thank you at least for calmly and rationally giving your opinion.
THANK YOU!
i’ve been trying to explain how bland and over done this story is for months now, and couldn’t find the words.
and to all of you who claim that teenage girls aren’t influenced by this, i’ve seen at least 10 myspace names including something about “finding my edward cullen.” therefore there’s obviously a desire in there for an overbearing, overprotective, masochistic boyfriend, due to these books. we may as well just set our clocks back to 1919 and start fighting for our rights all over again.
I completely agree with you! How can kindapping be romantic? Oh he just loves me so I will let him kidnap me .. not. Bella is so .. lame. Until Twilight I believed that every character made has it’s place, personality and weakness. As I said Until Twilight.
After all this time women fought for gender equation ( forgive me if it’s not the right word ) young girls my age ( because I AM 14 ) copy Bella Swan in hope to get themselfes a HOT Vamoire like Edward who will save them from everything.
I haven;t read the last book but from what I read in your review. OH GOD. I felt so disgusted. how could Miss Meyer think of something like that is beyond me.
Well that’s from me, Hope you have a nice day sir/madam.
ina, the word is equality, for future reference. =]
I agree with Toni.
There were so many Twilight fans,
Yet they read these reviews,
And then they turn into anti-Twilighters.
It’s their loss,
I’m sure
When I first read your reviews,Kellen,
I was at first confused (because there were so many fans of the series),
Then I got the whole story.
You think the book is based on something real.
What if YOUR life was like the series?
Would you want it to be LIKE the series?
You’re criticizing something a LOT of people love,
And still,your conscience hasn’t got to you yet.
oh jeez, caryll, had she but known that she was going against the opinions of others!!
i doubt the antis feel guilty and yes, our consious is there.
we know what we’re doing, we know what we’re saying, and we know what point we’re trying to get across.
so what if we criticizing something everyone loves?? people crticize things all the time.
why should one book series be any different?? people have bashed many authors before and how come your not saying anything about that?? people have bashed Mr. Tolkien, Ms. Rowling, Ms. Austen, Mr. Dickenson, Ms.Rice, infact, every author the world.
and no, she doesn’t think its based on something real. it’s the twiliht fans who are basing their life choices on a book series, little girls are convinced that they will find their “edward”.
Okay, you can’t tell me that isn’t true. there has been alias names on here that said, “Mrs.Edward cullen” so it isn’t based on real life?? then how come girls are convinced that there is such a guy out there that they want to marry and for him to be just like edward?? sounds to me like they are “BASEING A FICTIONAL CHARACTER ON REAL LIFE REALTIONSHIPS”
so whose wrong?? the antis who have sucessfully pointed out problems from your precious series and gave supporting evidence, or the twilighters, who are acting like tyrants trying to force us to not say anything bad about the book.
once again, twiligters are like little kids who don’t understand what “opinions” are.
I’m sorry if someone has already made this point, (I read about a hundred of the comments and then skipped to the bottom).
The Twilight series is strangely addicting and I am a fan because of this not because I think the books are particularly well written. The relationship between Edward and Bella in these book is captivating and at the same time clearly unhealthy and obsessive, however it is not just Bella who is dependent on Edward. His life revolves around her too and he actually coped worse than Bella when he left, she was the strong woman in that situation who decided not to honour her promise (to stay safe) to a man who had betrayed her.
I am not at all sugesting that this book holds up to feminist scrutiny but not all the female characters are weak, Alice and Victoria in particular have very strong personalities.
To those of you saying that Bella is not so mature and selfless as she seems (pointing to her occasional childishness and her using of people) I would probably agree with you, however surely these flaws make her a more believable character? And Stephanie Meyer didn’t introduce Bella with the words, “selfless and perfect Bella, ” so I don’t think she can be wholly blamed for putting across an undesirable female character.
Finally, as those who have read Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward’s perspective) will know, neither Edward or Bella is supposed to be perfect, they only percieve each other that way. Edward is an overly protective and controlling character with problems with his temper who has killed several people, whereas Bella is obsessive and does not lead a balanced life outside the object of her affections. I would point readers to some words spoken in Eclipse on the subject of the lovers in Wuthering Heights, “Perhaps their love is their only redeeming factor”.
actually, i love twilight.. i admit, i’m one of those teenagers who fantisized about edward cullen, although a hated bella even from the start..
of course, i was hurt when i read your article because i’m a bi fan of the series, but im also thankful, at least i opened my eyes.. i wasn’t able to see the other messages in the book until you pointed them out..
but even so, nobody can really blame the fans for wanting to find an edward cullen right? for me, i like twilight and harry potter just the same.., it’s just that i think meyer could have put in more depth into the story..
i also think that it’s unfair to compare HP and twilight because first of all, they have different genres and second, they have different targeted readers. i personally believe that the quote which said that twilight is the best book after HP is totally screwed. it just proves that they are competing with HP.. that’s disgusting by the way..
each of us have different likes, but we shouldn’t really care about the opinions of others.. this is a free world.. we have our own freewill..
_fellow twilight fans: the HP fans and antis hav their own opinions nd criticims.. just understnd them, besides HP also received serious bashing during the time it was published..
_antis: just please understand the fans, after all, it’s sumthng we luv, of course it hurts.. “break it to us gently”
great article!! wish many people can read this..
oo… i like your review. I AGREE. thank you for your rant.
(not sarcastic in anyway)
odds are you are thinking i talk to much but this is my opinion. k kellen im not trying to be mean here but there is no need to be this critisizing about the books they may not be to you but these books are inspiring i mean for all you know you dont like the books so what there are lots of ppl who do and i mean yes edward cullen(aka robert pattinson) is really damn hot maybe he isnt to you but odds are there are more ppl who think he is then ppl who think he isnt becasue so many ppl like the books i mean the movie and the book twilight is the #1 best seller in the world and as far as im concerned it still remains that way. it inspired me and now im writing stories like there is no tomorrow no im not a writer but i may as well could be. now i know that you dont like it but you could keep it to your self instead of making a big deal out of it and making a huge freaking site. you have your own opinion and i understand that but theres no need to go this far and odds are you probly arent going to read this and nobody is going to reply to me but im still gunna do this anyway if you do read this and want to reply my email is behind_the_wall.2672@hotmail.com
and in case your wondering im not like 24 yaers old or anything im 14 my birthday was 3 days ago and i wanted to see this movie at the theatre in toronto and il ltell you it was the best decision i have ever made and odds are now im gunna buy all the books including the new one ocming soon called midnight sun
but i think i have talked to much so im gunna stop right …now
where did you ever get that twilight was the number of best selling book in the world?? you have heard about JK Rowlings recent book that knocked meyer book from number one?? with meyer being the supposed next JKR was knocked down the list by JKR.
(that was totally ironic)
and not a lot of people know what twilight is.
not all the country’s in the world know what twilight is.
you seem so convinced that twilight is what everybody likes, but as you can see there are anti’s out there, more than you think. some of them aren’t as vocal as us on here (i just have a problem with not jumping in the debates)
i’m inspired by a lot of things twilight surprisingly one of them.
because i learned to find a boyfriend who didn’t suck as much as edward, i learned that girls who throw themselves off cliffs to hear a voice is straight up stupid, and finally i learned that obviously Meyer didn’t care what she wrote as long as it was about perfect edward.
so you don’t have all the books?? you have read them?? then there may not be any hope left, twilight causes people to lose brain cells i know thats what happend to a lot of people after they read the book. they were ashamed because they couldn’t reread Hp after reading twilight because the words were too big….the words were too big..now thats just sad and these were 16 year olds who told me this.
i’ m not saying that the vocabulary isn’t advanced in Harry potter because i know i learned new words by those books alon
but its also obvious that the reading level for twilight is around fifth grade so i guess people are lowering themselves to read at this level (some people need help)
anyways i’m outter here. i’ll be back to stir up trouble as i like do.
honestly,if u didn’t like the books,why’d ya read ‘em?
i’m not trying to be mean,i’m just stating my opinion.
let me tell you this:what if you wrote the books and verybody hated ‘em?
wouldn’t you be upset?
IT’S FICTION FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
haha, its as simple as this.
you dont like the series,
why go blog ? is this your life ?
haha.
i just realized how stupid this is ?
yu dont like something so you go
blog about it ! you guys are idiotic.
get a lifee. youve come down to not
letting your children read this if they
havent had a healty relationship
with a boy ? that is REDICULOUS.
that would be obsession your talking
about if your kids are using these series
which are”fantasies” and fictitious may i
remind you, to relate to there lives. you need
to talk to them. im 16, and ive been reading
this. i certainly am not relating this series
to my life haha. im not gonna go jump off
a cliff as Bella did. Rediculous. why dont
yall chill the hell out. children like fiction books.
its fun to read about vampires, santa claus and
all that good stuff. let them. dont restrict them from
it or go blogging about how horrid this book
is. if you dont like it, quit blogging all this bullshit
all your doing is maken it more popluar then it
is already. Practically every middle school, high school
elementry school and online schools have kids reading this
stuff. My school is crazy about this book.
teachers are supporting this book.
you guys just need help, your overreacting
about a book thats of fictitious characters.
give me a break ! & get a life !
omg ! and i didnt even see the girl above
me, debby ? dood you go girl !
shes speaking the truth
i agree with her 100 %.
oh my god….how many times do we have to say this?? good lord you twilighters are hard headed.
because smart one we had to read the books in order to know if we liked it or not. just like how you had to vegatables to know if you liked it or not.
and we’re not trying to be mean either. we just stating our opinion as well.
and since your so upset that we wanted to make a blog on something we hated well you know what?? thats our choice.
if you think we’re wasting our time well by golly why are you commenting on a blog about something you love?? i’m sure your going around talking about how awesome this book is but did you ever think that we ever thought that you looked like an silly for loving this book (atleast i think most of the twilighters are silly for it)??
i think your wasting your time being angry at us for stating our opinion because obviously you thought our opinion was important enough for you to comment on this blog.
if this is such utter nonsense to you guys then why are you so angry at us for telling others about why we hate it?? why??
is it that you don’t want to see the problems?? is it that you don’t like us getting intellictual about it??
its obvious twilight fans like to stick their fingers in their ears and stomp their feet just because we don’t like the book series.
some twilighters just don’t get it.
the anti’s understand that there are different opinions about this book series, so why is it so hard for twilighters to accept that we don’t like it??
just because we aren’t falling over our selves to kiss Smeyer’s butt like some twilighters are doing even though the problems are there clear as day.
we just have a more open mind is all. we may think too much but i’d rather do that than be like some of the twilighters that have shown their colors when something bad is mentioned about twilight.
i don’t understand how you guys think we’re being immature when most of the twilighters comments on here have showed them of being exactly what they accussed us for.
if you look up at the earlier comments made then you will see a long post with just the words “suck” because they didn’t like the article. you can’t tell me that was mature and being better than us in behavior wise.
any who i hope i didn’t anger any of you guys but i most likely did so i’m going to end this post…
and to debby:
yes i would be upset if someone hated my books but then i’d have to get over it because i was the one who put my work out there, i was the one who went to get it published so if people hate it then i would just have to except it.
if i didn’t want to take the heat i wouldn’t have gone to get it published.
so basicaly just because Meyer started wrote the book which she claimed for her self then she shouldn’t have put her work out there for all to see and critiq.
she knew that authors went through this so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to her if we aren’t dazzled by her series.
its her own doing…
TO ALL PEOPLE WHO HAVE DISSED MY COMMENT…
FIRST OF ALL IM NOT AN ECCENTRIC 11 YR OLD IM A 14 YR OLD WHO HAPPENS TO HAVE A BRAIN …
IM ONLY WRITING IN CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE IT MAKES MY COMMENT STAND OUT MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL READ IT AND UNDERSTAND IT…
OH AND ANOTHER THING…….
TWILIGHT IS A SUCCESS……AND WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS A SUCCESS – BECAUSE ITS BLOODY GOOD !!!
SO “STEPH” DONT GO DISSING PEOPLES COMMENTS BECAUSE IT JUST MAKES YOU A SORE LOSER AND TERRIBLY IMMATURE — AND I DONT REALLY THINK I WANT 2 GO UP 2 A LITERATURE TEACHER AND ASK FOR HER OPINION BECAUSE I AM NOT WRITING THIS COMMENT FOR GRAMMAR ADVICE—-IM WRITING IT BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN SOMETHING DEARLY AND IF YOU THINK YOUR MESSAGE DID ANY GOOD WHATSOEVER — IT JUST MADE ME MORE DETERMINED TO PROVE THAT TWILIGHT IS THE BEST BOOK EVER
AND ITS MASSIVE SUCCESS SHOWS JUST THAT.
AND PEOPLE…YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THIS REVIEW IS DOING ANYTHING GOOD….TWILIGHT HAS ALREADY BECOME A GIGANTIC CRAZE AMONGST US TEENS AND THIS REVIEW IS JUST SHOWING HOW ARROGANT ADULTS ARE TODAY…
YOU ADULTS OBVIOUSLY ARE NOT UP WITH TODAYS ” MODERN LOVE STORIES” AND YOU MAY SEEM TO THINK BACK TO PRIDE AND PREJUDICE OR WUTHERING HEIGHTS OR WHATEVER BOOK THAT SEEMS TO INSPIRE YOU……
ITS THE 2000’S PEOPLE…GET A GRIP !
IF YOU DONT LIKE TWILIGHT THEN WHY READ IT AND MOST IMPORTANTLY WHY DISS IT ?!?
OVER 21’S SHOULDNT BE READING IT ANYWAY AS ITS NOT MEANT FOR THEM—SO OBVIOUSLY THEY WOULDNT UNDERSTAND IT BETTER !
THE OLD FART WHO WROTE THIS REVIEW IS PROBALY A 40 SOMETHING SINGLE DAD WHO OBVIOUSLY HASNT READ ANYTHING BETTER SINCE …WELL….I DONT KNOW….ROMEO AND JULIET AND SINCE ITS NOT VERY OLD (LIKE HIM) HE SEEMS TO THINK ITS ALL MADE UP RUBBISH ENCOURAGING GIRLS TO FIND THEIR EDWARD !
WELL MOST CERTAINLY US GIRLS WANT TO FIND THEIR EDWARDS (OR JACOBS IN MY CASE) ….. AND WE MIGHT PROBALLY FIND HIM … BUT ITS NOT GOING TO TAKE UP OUT LIVES AND WE WOULD SUFFER IF WE DIDNT….US TWILIGHT FANS OUR STRONGER THAN THAT !
AND TWILIGHT IS NOT LIKE HARRY POTTER ! FIRSTLY HARRY POTTER IS ABOUT MAGICAL CREATURES , SPELLS AND OTHER USELESS STUFF—–BUT TWILIGHT IS ABOUT A FORBIDDEN LOVE WITH A BEAUTIFUL CREATURE !
AND THAT PROVES THEY HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON !!
MAYBE PEOPLE WONT LIKE THIS MESSAGE AND THINK IT IS POINTLESS BUT THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE….IM NOT THE SADDO ADULT GOING ONTO CRAP WEBSITES LIKE THIS AND WRITING CRAP ABOUT THEIR DAUGHTERS OBSESSION !
OH …AND THE LAST MESSAGE I WROTE IT HAD A LITTLE POEM AT THE BOTTOM…..ITS NOT CHILDISH…IT SIMPLY SHOWS I HAVE AN IMAGINATION AND WONT STAND PEOPLE DISLIKING TWILIGHT.
OH AND IF SOME HATE COMMENTS ARE FROM UNDER 21’S THEN YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO GET A LIFE. A PROPER ONE.
TWILIGHT ROCKS !.! XXX
OH AND IM JUST SPEAKING MY OPINION
IM NOT SAYING OTHERS ARENT ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION IM JUST SAYING THAT THEIR OPINION IS STUPID
hehe
AND IM NOT KISSING MEYERS BUT…IM PRAISING HER FOR WRITING EXTRAORDINARY BOOKS
LY X
oh and also read krissy’s comment
totally true
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL GUISE
Attention “WORLDS.BIGGEST.TWILIGHT.FAN.EVER” :
You are an idiotic fuckwat. Congratulations on proving yet again what mindless drones comprise Stephenie Meyer’s horde of raving, frothing fangirls who believe, somehow, that Harry Potter with its “magic” and “broomsticks” and “allegory of human existence” is somehow absurd and unrealistic set next to a mushy love story between a girl and a vampire. Because vampires, you know, are real and everything.
Armed with your capslock and self-righteous fangirl fury, you have successfully shown that not only are you irrational and illogical, but that you are in fact yet another obnoxious tween brat who contributes nothing to the human race. You say you have a brain, and therefore I must commend you on the steaming pile of brain goo lodged between your ears that somehow deludes you into believing you’re “thinking for yourself.” Such a vast conspiracy to make you feel entitled and intelligent is impressive indeed, particularly considering your dismal endowment to begin with.
So, WORLDS.BIGGEST.TWILIGHT.FAN.EVER, consider yourself congratulate. Your idiocy is unparalleled. Look forward to a fulfilling life as a moron.
wow WORLDS.BIGGEST,TWILIGHT.FAN.EVER. you do know that by using caps you aren’t getting your point across right??
because if you can’t type calmly and explain why to the anti’s that we’re wrong then you can’t hope to acheive anything to making us agree with you since your yeling in caps.
and not all teens are suckered in likeing twilight.
look at you, insulting this authors opinion like some little kid.( which you are)
so what if we don’t like twilight? this article was to draw in and find those who felt they way this person did and to have an intelligent debate on why the twilight fans think we’re wrong.
but that goes to show your age since your still slinging insults at others for not having an opinion that was the same as yours.
believe me i’m younger than 21 years old infact i’m 16.
i have a life and frankly i like debateing with people on why they like twilight or not.
and so far only about three have truly been able to debate with us. the others are just like you, throwing insults hopeing that they will be hurt the writter of this blog and to some how prove that you are better than them.
so what if this author is insulting some one’s obsession?? which is a problem since she is obsessed. many people insult a lot of things i like but i’m not Boo Hooing about it. i’m not so upset that i’d come and yell in caps to the person for haveing their own opinion.
many people hate harry potter but i’m not going to cry and scream at the person because they didn’t love it like i do.
i guess it is true a lot can change from between being 14 to 16 because i really don’t recall acting like you are right now. i never did actually , nope never.
and i still liked harry potter than but i wasn’t going around finding a article about someone hateing it and yelling at them because it’s their opinion.
you can’t stop what we think of twilight and it’s obvious we aren’t stoping you from thinking that it’s the best book ever.
sorry i meant that the twilighters are obsessed after the i typed about the author insulting someone’s obsession.
well frankly to all those deluded low lifes who are hating on my comment……i truly dont get your point.
you see , there are 2 types of people in this world….the positives and the negatives.
I , being a positive person , know when i am right or when i am wrong and i dont let pathetic comments like the ones above me bring me down…i fight back.
So , when my FRIEND showed me this stupid website which her mum had written on ( i hate her mum ) i immediately defended the topic ( twilight) because i am a TRUE FAN not a “silly little girl” or an “idiotic fuckwat ” ( what the hell is that – do you think i will get offended by some kind of immature made-up word HA)
oh and the capital letters were just showing my fury at the minds of some low-lifes like ” equus” and “ame” and a few others.
if you dont mind me saying …. most teens like me are attracted to things such as twilight – we find it alluring and also extremely interesting….in case you haven’t noticed already ….equus , you sound like a computer-hogging geek who has been bullied from time to time.
and ame , you sound like a paranoid twat in need of a mental asylum – a special one.
its my opinion , and i bet you dont like it one LITTLE bit. and i bet my harsh words have angered you.
so i bet you are going to flip out and write some mean damn stuff about me.
but you know what, I DONT FLIPPING CARE.
and it all relates to this topic. you angered me about the one obsession that really has inspired me , so i flipped out.
i wrote a load of nonsence which didnt make sense , but it was because i was totally ANGRY.
and then instead of not caring , which i would have done , you guys infuriated things even more by writing more crap as usual ….which as you know…fired me up even more ( i guess im like jacob in more ways than one)
so you see , your supposed to be older than me and yet your acting like mental 10 yr olds. so to end things clearly….
TWILIGHT may be a load of garbage and utter nonsence to you but some people ( like me) …. think its the next best thing since …. well its probaly THE BEST THING.
it may have “stupid ” characters and the love story may be influencing people or whatever crap you think about the books…..but what us twilight fans see is something more…something you will probally never see unless you werent a moron.
on and btw …. people are probally thinking im from the USA – almost all twilight fans are from there….im actually from the UK — where there are loads but not as many as the USA.
and I live around the corner from robert pattinson ( not that you would care since you are deluded)
oh and im gonna mention this website to every known twilight fan — see what that will do to all you twi-haters
oh and another thing…..PLEASE STOP DISSING ME … ITS JUST PATHETIC AND STUPID AND IT WILL JUST INFURIATE ME EVEN MORE TO CLOSE THIS SITE DOWN…(I DONT KNOW HOW BUT I WILL DO WHAT I CAN)
i congratulate you all for putting your point across but to no avail….the NEW MOON movie is beginning production and us twilight fans are even more fired up as ever for the next movie and the next book – midnight sun.
so if i were you…..i would just forget about twilight….there is no point hating something when theres nothing to hate about.
oh and there are more twilight fans than haters.
oh and another thing…vampires do exist …..believe me.
There is so much here that I have been waiting for a long time to say but couldn’t put into words. Thank you for realizing my dream and speaking my mind out to fans of this series. This article is to be forever recommended to all my friends who have a bad taste in literature.
oh believe me when i say Worlds.biggest.twilight.fan.ever. that i’ve never been bullied since people are afraid of me, i do get my revenge when the time comes if any one ever done any thing to me which is very rare, but i do put them in their place i’ll tell you that much.
many may have called me a bit of a negative person but i’m negative in some things for a good reason.
many people have told me i act far beyond how my age group
and do you think i was hurt by you calling me a geek?? people have said i act like an old grandma or their parents but i take that as a compliment.
so you really think that just because we hate some thing we are low lifes?? see that right there is your problem this is why i called you silly.
why are you taking us not likeing some thing so personally that you feel the need to call us names?? thats the only reason it was done back to you.
and its obvious we aren’t going to let this go since i’m responding back to it.
the fact that you think vampires are real is what got me thinking that maybe its you who is deluded. i mean i love lord of the rings but i don’t think elves are real. i love harry potter but i don’t think wizards and witches are real either. and i’m a big fan of both doesn’t make any less a fan if i don’t believe in those things.
because oh great one they aren’t real. and twilight is just like all the other ones. it goes like this: a new vampire thing comes out and everyone is talking about it then suddnely it fades and then the genre isn’t seen until years later .thats how goes.
i guarantee it will happen. the books already ended causing a lot of people to convert over to anti’s, the movie got so many bad reviews that it dropped from number one after its first week out in the US. and the fact that your precious Robert pattinson doesn’t even like edward takes the cake. he’s the closet anti along with kristen stewart we’ve got on set.
you can call me all you want because the fact is you aren’t the first you defiantley won’t be the last.
and yes i heard about them making New moon they got the guy who did the golden compass, which flopped.
besides i find it amusing how you react to our post infact, you remind me of the nuttymadam lady.
This was a lovely article! Thank you ^_^
I wanted to like Twilight….kind of.
But in the end, the book was very poorly written and the movie was FULL of cliches, plot holes, and horrofyingly dreadful acting.
I seriously went through periods where i felt bad for the actors.
Who ever wrote the screenplay for this should DIE.
I am highly disapointed with the actors’ performance as well. simply because of the fact that they could have at least put SOME effort in to becoming their character.
Instead, they just stood/sat there and babbled their lines in a mono-tone fashion that honestly had me rolling my eyes through out almost the entire movie.
AND THE VAMPIRES? how can they be vampires? They don’t even have fangs!!!!!
In a nutshell… Highschool musical, minus singing and dancing, plus pussy vampires, equals epic fail, equals Twilight.
Oh… and on a personal note. Twilight is the most sexist piece of literature EVER.
It was written and plotted so that every girl in this movie could not take so much as one step without needing a man (Edward or otherwise) to come to their rescue.
It was rediculous, and really pissed me off.
So… a big middle finger to Stephenie Meyer for that.
i think you suck and not in a good way!!
but hey thats only my opinion..
i think dissing a best seller isnt very smart.
and that you should keep your own comments to yourself.
and if not, prove that your all that and make a world best seller and then also the movies to go with it.
if you didnt like the first page, why did you keep reading ??
thats what i cant understand..
ohh and by the way,,, get a life..
you took all that time to write some review that no one cares about!
I’m a guy who was blissfully aware of this series and i just wanna say I DON’T CARE! I DON’T CARE IF YOU ARE FOR OR AGAINST THIS BOOK! I DON’T CARE ABOUT IT AT ALL! I wish people would just stop bringing attention to a bad book by a bad author and that we could just get on with our lives.
Max, i would love for that too, it’s just the twihards that provoke us unfortunately.
I loved your article/blog. Every stupid little flaw you mentioned I wholeheartedly agree with. Meyer’s lack of writing ability and everything. But what I most enjoyed in your article is that you addressed the unhealthy-abusive relationship that Bella and Edward have and the fact that Meyer is setting that up as a gold standard for every girl, from pre-teens to mothers. I absolutely adore you.
The best part about this is seeing the Twihards’ react to it though. It really shows just how… (un)intelligent they really are.
unfortunately, I must confess I am a fan of Meyer’s work. I can see all the flaws and horrible messages it sends, and yet I can’t help but like it. It really is frustrating.
You have inspired me to grab a good Jane Austen and slap myself in the face to remind me what a real fem heroine should be.
I’m sorry, but I think you missed the whole point of the book(s). It’s not about relying on a man. It’s not abusive. It’s not about any of that. It’s the idea that true love really does exist, and should not be segregated by race, social status, or in this case, species and age. Bella and Edward are completely head over heels in love. What they have, is more than even just love. It’s an animalistic NEED for each other.
Ok, it is a craze, and it is a bit obsessive. But the idea is nice. It’s great to believe in a happy ending. The “idea” of Edward Cullen is great. The idea of love is mesmerizing. But reading this…I would assume that you don’t believe in love either. I think thats whats sad.
Yes, the characters are quite flawed. Majorly flawed hid underneath the facade of being absolutely perfect. Would you rather have perfect characters, with no flaws, at all? How boring would that be.
In my opinion, Stephenie Meyer did a fantastic job.
Another point, everyone needs to stop comparing Twilight and Harry Potter. They are two very different pieces of literature, with two very different plots, points, and subject matter.
Its women like you who give us a bad name. Thats why people think we are all whiney.
Also, an “I think” or and “In my opinion” every now and then would be nice….its completely opinion oriented.
So, yeah, I am a Twilighter, and proud to be one.
Some of your points are good, and intelligent. But most are utterly biased and ill-informed, check your facts.
Your entitled to your opinion…as am I. But that gives you no right to say, or even simply imply, that fans such as myself are mindless and stupid for enjoying these books.
That’s my two cents…thank you.
IF ITS SO FUCKING BAD WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE LOVE IT ?
ITS NOT SEXIST A GIRL WROTE IT ? BELLA IS IN LOVE I KNOW PEOPLE WHO HAVE KILLED THEMSELFS OVER IT BEFORE. AND YUO FORGOT TO MENTION HOW BELLA IS EDWARDS WORLD ! HE WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HER SHES A QUEEN IN HIS EYES ! GET A LIFE.
and i believe you have no right to say this woman or male who wrote this article doesn’t believe in love.
i belive very much in love in fact, i’m looking forward to the day i find the man who was made just for me, but i think ed/bella’s love is ridiculous.
i think if they knew each other longer i “might” have been able to say that they’re in love but they only knew each other for a few weeks before they were “irrevocably” in love with each other.
i’m sorry, but i believe you should atleast be together with some one for atleast 8 to 9 months before you can be sure.
all bella sounded like was one of those girls who fall in love so fast with a guy giving them attention. and then she ends up clinging to him and she will start to hyperventalate if he ever spoke of leaving her even if its was for two days the girl will practicly start crying and about ready to die if edward left.
i’m sorry but i thought that was pathetic. i belive you should atleast be strong about it and not just break down at small things.
i don’t fall in love easily, to me, a guy has to prove him self and i have to know him for a while before i even think about dating him.
i guess i’m have my guard up too much.
and once again, what flaws do they have?? all bella’s supposed “flaw” is her clumsiness and her obsession.
and then the clumsiness isn’t seen as a flaw it’s seen as endearing and her obsession is meant to be right since you know its “edward freaking cullen”.
so now the cullens. we’ll start with edward. his flaw is nothing. that guy is ridiculously perfect and not only that but a freak. that guy is creepy okay maybe thats his flaw but it wasn’t written down as that it was meant to be looked upon as his intense love for her.
his stalking. once again, wasn’t seen as terrifying but as his love for her.
i seriously don’t know any girl who would want to have a guy they don’t even know break into their room and watch them sleep.
fangirls say they will if he’s hot which is crazy.
some girls and women are willing to let men stalk them if he was hot and thats sickening. it’s all fun and games until he does something like rape them, stop the from seeing their friends, abuse them, and then until they are murdered.
and thats what the problem is with girls wanting to find their edward. the only way they will learn is when he really starts acting like edward i hope the fangirls enjoy getting kidnap since you know its for their safety and i also hope you like your car having its engine taken out of it. i hope you love his mood swings, and him making you do things you don’t want to do.
i hope you love the fact he will let another man have sex with you and i also hope you are over the hills with him planning for your baby to be killed since he called it a monster.
good luck with your edwards girls!! if you want a guy like edward you have to take all of him including his stalking ways and him smothering you since he doesn’t know how to stay away.
because i refuse to get with a guy like him, i would rather marry batman before i get with edward and thats the truth.
OMG i can’t agree more with this review! i can barely get through the first book but forced myself to finish the whole series anyway because i had paid for the whole thing. what a freaking waste that was.
the hype is too much. whenever i criticize the books, much less robbert pattinson, my friends will jump on me and start kicking me out of the class.
gosh people. get over it.
I read the first book of the Topflight series–as my parents refused to let me complain until I had–and, safe to say, I was laughing uproariously through the first 2/3s.
Then I remembered how many people are in love with this book, not only in the 12-17 range, but in college and above. And then all the real authors with unique and well-written characters, plot, and storytelling capabilities that have received little to no public acclaim.
A part of me died on the inside.
These books will hopefully fall harder than Harry Potter did with the seventh book. I doubt people will wake up and smell the crap they’re reading, but hopefully they will, at least, get through this horrible fad. They can’t do it soon enough as far as I’m concerned.
… don’t know why that says “Topflight.” Damn auto-correcting spellchecker…
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Ms. RIce!
This is a wonderful review, very true, and yeah, people are crazy about this series. But this, like harry potter, will end, eventually.
But here’s the thing, and don’t hate me, I’m not a fangirl,
but it’s a fucking STORY.
It’s fiction. Get over it.
Life is NOT over, because you forced yourself to read a cheesy romance series.
I’m sorry.. but after being an avid reader of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles or Poppy Z. Brite’s delicious vampire series, it’s extremely difficult to go back to something so juvenile.
Nope.. can’t do it. But I am very surprised that so many college students like the series. I’ll never understand it.
And never read it.
.. hmm. I suppose the up-side is that people are actually reading.. that’s good right?..
Not when the book has so many problems, no.
its good they’re reading, but we also have to ask: what are they getting from reading it?
so far it was just based around a girl who swoons over a “perfect” guy.
there is no moral lessons to this series, its like reading a magazine. no, sorry that was an insult to magazines, you can learn more from magazines then twilight.
not be mean or anything but twilight doesn’t require a lot of thought processing. its not challenging, i found it an easy read nothing wowed me about it.
what really turned me away was the way bella was acting to everyone out side the cullens, its like she thought that no one else could ever dream to live up to the cullens.
and people wonder why her friends just stopped trying to even get to know her.
the point is we (anti’s) don’t agree with the message being sent to the impresionable teens, tweens, and surprisingly adults.
what they see is bella’s way of life and they want that too. girls now want to be bruised by men so its like edward did it to them.
these ladies are convinced thats what they want but they aren’t thinking of the consequences. its like all they see is rainbows and sunshine and never reality.
thats one of the problems with the book, atleast i think so.
This is a country that made Zac Efron and Britney Spears successful, so technically, Twilight fits in perfectly.
Also, I’d like to know how long it took the tween to type “suck” an infinite amount of times, because it took me forever to scroll through it. Although I wouldn’t expect a Twilight worshiper to have paid attention in 3rd grade English class, please note that nouns and their verbs should agree; therefore, “This article suck,” is not grammatically correct, and it annoys those of us who are fluent in the language.
Kyttie, don’t forget “I Am Charlotte Simmons” is considered an accurate portrayal of college life, despite the fact that you would be hard pressed to find a more poorly written or inaccurate insight into what actually happens on college campuses.
As a dude, I wanted to hurt Edward so bad. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends crushed and hurt because some guy has acted exactly like Edward acts in this book. It also offends my sensibilities as a human being; that’s the standard I’m supposed to live up to? Edward’s “perfect-on-the-outside-satan-on-the-inside” bullshit? No thank you. If it weren’t for the many cases I have encountered in which girls between the ages of 13 and 23 have dumped their boyfriends because they “weren’t Edward” I would dismiss Twilight as another book in a long line of a growing fad: bad books with bad plots and some awful moral lessons.
I actually LIKED Jacob Black, but never read the third book. Through the second book he was maybe a little over protective, but for crying out loud the girl was trying to kill herself over Edward… I wonder why he didn’t want her to go back to him? Then I find out he forced himself on Bella… twice… what the hell. Then I found out his dad actually applauded it? What the hell. This book started out having a really, really bad female role model and a really, really bad male role model, but could at least find itself redeemed that Jacob Black and Bella’s dad were a pair of men that readers could look at and say, “Hey, these are a pair of good guys.” In the third book, Meyer carefully took that away from us.
So instead of having people look at the first two books and saying, “Ah, Jacob is a pretty good friend” or “Bella’s dad is a really loving and caring father who’s looking out for his daughter” we get “Ah, Jacob is a rapist-to-be and Bella’s dad is an enabler.”
Lovely.
Ironically, the “Anti-Kellenrice” person who posted the long-winded comment about how much Kellen Rice and this article “sucks” inadvertently posted a summary of the series in about the same length as the series.
I picked up the first book because I get one free book a week from the place I work and all of my female co-workers were obsessing over it. I tried to read the book but well, this article summed it up nicely. I couldn’t stand how the book just seemed to be about 2 kids fawning over each other incessantly.
But I can’t really criticize too much. My literary escapism as a teenager came from John Grisham novels. The plot and devices may be the same in every book he writes, but at least he includes a plot!
Yes. I do have something to say.
I would like to say that this is only fiction, fiction is somewhere where a vampire can exist, floating around between our lives and his.
Also Bella and Edward are not just dating they are soul mates, this book you condem you do not understand, sure you’ve read it but have you thought about the book. Not only is it different from every cinderella story, it shows life at its best and worst.
Not only do i disagree with your 4th paragraph but i also would like to tell you why.
One, Bella shes herslef as average not that she is. This i think shows us that no matter how we see our selfs we could be wrong, not everyone has to be a supermodel to get attention.
Two, those 200 pages you refer too shows her fragile nature and is my faviorte bit. The connection she feels just makes me loose myslef in those pages and the similarty between them (Class when they are seated the same both refraining to make the other move away makes her and myslef laugh)
Three, would you prefere she falls for a guy craving ownly one thing? Double meaning intended. What kind of a message would that be?
Four, Bella is confused by Edwards mood-swings and she feels that it is her fault. It isn’t. She feels comfertable when she sees him, why do you feel the need that she takes comfert in another person. Because he is a guy? Hardly fair.
Five, Bella tries to be the hero saving her mother but we both no fiction or not their is no way she can and Edward saves Bella like a boyfriend should defend his girlfriend when she is placed under situations she has placed herslef into.
You say Bella gives up on ambition to be with Edward but Edward clearly struggles to fight agains it. Giving in he knows that she will be able to go to college later, but we both know in the recent book she puts off being a vampire to have a baby and to go to college after all. In the end though she can not while she is human but you can not have everything in life. This is not a fairy tale, but its not real either you have to take it with a pinch of salt
Bella a teenager falls in love. Ofcourse he is going to be, in her eyes, beautiful and talented and sexually appealing. Isn’t that life? To one day open your eyes and see someone you can’t help but fall for. To wake up and want to be with that person and when this person is gone, suddenly stolen from your life, can you not see that a couple of months is hardly enough. We are talking about her LOVE, love you don’t feel just anywhere. Marrage love. Can you see the life Meyer was trying to show you. Dull changed to heaven then ripped apart, you can’t not be depressed.
Jacob is no doubt the hero, yes he does love her but she isnt his world, he is young and is a man. Bella see’s that his personality, charm and company is very HEALTY. She starts to realise that she is letting her life fall apart and gives her readers hope that they can over come anything in their lives AND that true friends always come back.
Jacob’s behavior is not driven by him being a man and able to take Bella if he pleases, he has fallen for her and she has too it is her own fault he kissed her (Holding hands on the beach). She even was about to tell Jacob that she was going to be with him but that was the point Alice comes back believing her to be dead.
Not only does Bella save Edward, but it shows that Edward was deeply inlove with Bella. You have picked up on that Bella does something dangerous, rides bikes goes clift-diving, but he goes to kill himself. Edward finally has a weakness. Bella. The girl you put down. The girl you say has destroyed hope for women. But what about happiness and love, does Bella have to be the Hero. Just because she is a women does not meen she doesnt have faults.
I believe that Bella and Edward were ment for each other, even though Bella loves Edward and casts him as perfection, he has faults. He has a controll issue because he is JEALOUS.
You say he doesnt want to give up his virginity when really he says he wants to protect her. You say Bella is portrayed as the temptation (Adam and Eve all over again ehy?) but Bella has choosen her life. To be with her other half. So when your love tells you their going to play with wolves i hope you can be as generous as you say Edward should be!
Now the birthing scene isnt pretty but then again it isnt. And its should be more Un-pretty as this marks her becoming a vampire, even more permentant then marrige(Which is good, or dont you like that either). Also Bella being the main character and very different in CHOICING this path must have powers, with is no different to the powers of other vampires, which does show her as the hero winning without loss! amazing how you wanted her to be the hero then put her down when she feels at her most highest. Her non-climax was actually to me the being of her realisation that he as a mother can overcome her fears and fight for what she wants to protect.
Finally, i would like to see another book on our shelves. Kellen i would also like to add that fiction will never take away the 200 years women have achieved but have we gone so far that a writer can not write about a girl who falls inlove without pressure that she might need a hero.
I believe that Bella and Edward, Bella and Jacob and Edward and Jacobs relationship is real. That happens. Fact. All you have to do is let your imagination forget that he is 107 and has venom that would kill sperm, or that Bella loves a vampire or even that she finds a werewolve who “imprints” or her half human baby!!
=)
Speaking my mind i would like to just say how funny it is that you have created a little anti-meyer (without all the crazy fan ;)) and you have also created a anti-you
Also “sucks” was all i saw for about half an hour…I do no want to be portayed as someone can only see half a story so i would also like to make one more comment…
No matter how much i do like Twilight series i can see your point.
Edward can seem overbaring.
Bella a little selfish, wanting Edward and Jacob(But arent we all).
Jacob…well multi-personally sorta sums it up but then again we are seeing it from Bellas point of view and she doesnt understand the group he is in.
I personally wanted to throught the book sometimes out of frustration but not in a bad way really
*In my last comment what i ment was…
have we gone so far that a writer can not write about a girl who falls inlove without the pressure that her having a hero is sexist. Love is love and someone can be the hero, right :)*
These comments are amazing. Seriously, everyone, learn this amazing new practice called “literary criticism.”
I find your perceptive of Twilight and of Mrs Stephenie Meyer herself a total outrage. These books are not just a frivolous tale of another teenage romance, they have deep litaray quality and I find it unjust that you degrade them in this manner. You are alowed to voice your opinon on a subject and I`m sure that Mrs. Meyer takes your critsim without a tear but how would you feel if someone degraded the works of your dreams and your sentiments to shreds. take her feeling into account i feel very strongly about this and I would also like to inform you that if you did not enjoy these books it does not mean others will feel the same though some surley do but perhaps this type of litrature is not of your liking then perhaps you could try other genras besides fantasy/romance novels by your opingon I take it that you would suite quit well in adventure books. So that is my opingon on your toughts
Amen! I picked Twilight up at a Bookfair a few years ago, read the back, then put it down. I thought it would be really cheesy and weak. Then, 3 years later, I borrow my friend’s copies just to see what all the hype is about. And I just couldn’t see it. When your main character is weak, unbelievable, unrealistic, and could never pass as a human being, you have a few problems to work through. Thank God I’m not the only one that sees this. I loved your article. It made me laugh, because it’s so true.
I do have to congratulate Meyer on one thing though. She got a lot of kids to read. So many girls that spent money on movies and make up actually bought and read a book! Hopefully they’re smart enough to see that it’s just a work of fiction. And that it took place in an alternate reality that’s a few hundred years behind us in women’s rights.
as we have observed some of those girls didn’t get it.
and again, we know its fiction, it was in the teen read section very clearly.
but i refuse to believe in bella and edwards love. i just won’t.
their love is ridiculous. the girl was desperate and obsessed.
i guess its because my mom taught me how to be strong and not lose my mind, my idenity for a guy. to be independent. my dad taught me how a real man should treat me and edward doesn’t cut the bill.
bella never shows being independent all she does is lose her mind over a guy and as you can see how she reacted to when he left was pathetic.
i mean really don’t you girls who feel like you can relate to her have dignity?? where is being an independent woman?? where is showing people you can be strong and can move on with your life?? where is when he comes back groveling at your feet and you kick him to the curb since he was the one who hurt you tremendously??
thats how i feel about it atleast. i grew up with songs of empowerment for women, my mom taught me how to react to those situations, she never lied and tried and sugar coat everything because of my age, she told me the truth how everything goes in life.
i never grew up with the thought of life being rainbows and unicorns. by the time i was six i got the sex talk, when i was barely ten i got told the truth like i was an adult. i know things i probably shouldn’t, but i am who i am today because of it.
and people wonder why they call me wise or that i act like their parents.
so yes i have a view on this relationship like an adult even though i’m not one yet. and i find it disturbing that young ladies are wanting a relationship such as bella and edwards which is fictional.
they say its just fiction and yet they’re running around here wanting a boyfriend like edward, who is a fictional character.wow. they are very hypercritical.
anyways i’m sure it would sound crazy if i said i want a guy like harry potter as my boyfriend. i bet it sounds strange to those of you who don’t like harry. you would say, but he’s fictional character why would you want a guy like him?? and you probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend why i would want him like that.
i guess the same goes for those of you who are wanting an edward, i just find that your setting yourselfs up for dissapointment, but don’t mind me if you want someone creepy like edward than i’ll just wait and see if what i predicted happens.
Wow. If you’re intent on stripping those of us who see the books for what they are–literary trash–of our opinions, please do so with periods, commas, and correct spellings. Thanks.
I have to say that I read the first book and did see it as the story of an abusive relationship (Even had the male and female roles been reversed, the relationship would still have been unhealthy). Even if you overlook the fact that Edward only becomes interested in Bella because he wants to EAT HER, the entire book is largely concerned with Edward ordering her to do things. Get in the car, Bella. Get in the car or I’ll force you into the car. I haven’t and probably wont read the second book, but I think it’s hilarious that a guy who throws his woman around for a whole novel in the name of love and protection will leave her in the next.
Poor writing aside (that didn’t stop The DaVinci Code), the negative themes of arrogance, violence, and submission far outweigh the theme of love defying odds.
That said, I did somewhat enjoy the book, but I couldn’t turn off the alarms in the back of my mind the whole time that said “Ugh, this character is delusional.”
pointless topic……………………
Stephanie Meyers books are like a bad time soap opera to the literacy world: it’s so corny and terrible, but something draws you to it. It’s like Mills and Boons for todays teenage girls.
Meyer’s vampire series hasn’t got anything on Anne Rice, thats for sure.
goodness sake
what does it take to get through to your thick heads ?!?
equus , please stop annoying the guts out of people with a life..its just plain STUPID.
most comments on this crappy page are made by YOU which obviously leads me back to the “computer-hogging geek who gets bullied from time to time” bit.
its inevitable that the twilighters are gonna win this non-stop battle between us and you….you gotta face the facts mate.
no matter how hard you try to convince , annoy , slam , and hate us twilighters — we are still gonna bloody love the book.
so , whats the point in writing on this page and whats the point commenting back on our comments—-its POINTLESS and UTTERLY STUPID…..
your never gonna get your point across ( thats certain) and no-one is listening to you ….
why dont you please go out shopping , read a book , watch tv, ANYTHING that will stop you hogging to computer and commenting back every hour…..it just shows how pathetic you are.
oh and btw…i didnt say i BELIEVE vampires were real…i KNOW vampires are real , the proper term for them is sanguinarians and some people live on just blood….in case you didnt know (obviously). google it.
i dont care what other utter nonsence your gonna comment me back with….it just shows your, well , a ” computer-hogging geek “.
so please , if you have any intelligence left in you , dont comment back on my comment because frankly I DONT BLOODY WELL CARE.
i hope other twilighters ( its not twihards in case you didnt know) back me up , otherwise haters will just ASSUME they have come to a position of greatness, when really … they so haven’t.
XD
Hailing from England!!
Alright~ I will gladly admit I am a fan of the series, sort of. But allow me to go deeper into that statement. I like the side characters A LOT better than I do the main characters. Alice, Carlisle, Kate, Charlie, Billy, and especially Leah (!) and Angela; the reason being they have a lot more depth than Bella and Edward combined! I feel a sevre frustration at SMeyer for going into a lot of description and detail with the side characters than she does with either major characters.
Her descriptions on the landscape of Forks is actually quite beautiful, in my opinion, and I was surprised to find myself more interested in the foilage of Forks rather than most of the peoplee of Forks! (Well except for the house. How does the first floor have no walls or sructure SUPPORTING the other floors? It would collapse upon itself! I would know, I am pursuing a degree in architecture.)
Her shabby treatment of vampire mythology left me rather crossed. Crosses have no effect on the vampires, the sunlight does no harm, THEY SPARKLE?! Really?! (I am stealing from Hermione Granger a bit here, from The Chamber of Secrets) Even mythology is based in some fact (assuming vampires do exist, but for know lets say they do), so the long standing mythology about vampires would hold true today. So why shake it all up and make such vampires? Why?!
But I kept plowing through the series, because there was something that kept me hooked throughout the entire series. I am human after all, not some superily speacialy awesomy vampire with superpowers beyond reckoning!
My allegiance to the series was sorely severed, if not nearly broken, in Eclipse when Edward kept his girlfriend under lock and key and used manipulation and underhanded tactics to get the things he wanted from Bella, while she laid back passively and allowed it all to happen. *Oh, he only does it because he loves me. WHAT?! That is NOT how a relationship works SMeyer.
Breaking Down was all LULZ (for me) because of so many reasons. Where do I begin? Jacob as pedophile? The vampires powers (i.e. Maggie knows when she is being lied to. How well placed!)? The Death Baby’s name (Edward Jacob? Bella, you know how Jacob feels about you, you know how he feels about Edward, and yet you continue to dick him around like that? WTH?! And in keeping with that, Cleodina proposed an interesting question, what if she named the thing Edwob Charlisle? WHAT THEN?), how said baby is rarely held by her own *dad*, how Jacob seems to have a lot more time with the kid then her own parents?, the vague sex scenes, THE PRO LIFE MESSAGE (OMG!!!!!!), and SMeyer’s vagrant disregard for her own rules (venom + eggs DO NOT GO TOGETHER YOU BIOLOGY DEPRIVED WOMAN!!!)… I could go on but I will discontinue.
Then there are the fans themselves. While there are a small (believe me when I say SMALL) majority of fas who are willing to listen to criticsm and defend Twilight, there are others who behave with such immaturity and such audacity within the presence of even a litttle bit of a differentating point of view that I am scared to be included in their prescence! (Apparently American Twilighters are supposed to be a lot worse, and from what I have seen from this website I believe that is true)
Its a different opinion. How is that such a bad thing? Why can’t you allowe yourself to at least read their comments and try to see it from their point of view before you respond?
And respond their statements with point of your own that prove why Twilight is such a good book! Don’t go on a flying temper tantrum and use cap locks to defend Twilight. Because that makes you look, well, pretty stupid.
And with that, I conclude.
I take offense to your characterisation of Twilight as sexist. It is not so in the least.
Meyer gives many good reasons for Bella’s love of Edward, describing him as ‘perfect’ or some form of it (ie perfection, he did something perfectly, ect) 32 times in Twilight, as opposed to describing other things the same way just over 18 times in the same book. This means that Edward is nearly twice as perfect as the rest of the world. And, since about 30 of these references were in reference to Edward’s looks, we know he is very attractive. Physical attractiveness IS the most important quality one should look for in a mate; if it weren’t for beauty, humans would naturally select based on other characteristics, like intelligence or wisdom, and then what would happen? Everyone would be an ugly nerd. And since no one wants to reproduce with an ugly nerd, nobody would reproduce, and the human race would end. Edward is SPARKLY for heavens sake. That alone justifies giving up one’s life to a man, perhaps a sacrifice unreasonable to ask an individual to make, but one worth it for the gene pool.
Also, Meyer’s demonstrated knowledge of biology should make her a professor at harvard med. Edward who has 25 pairs of chromosomes, reproduced with Bella, who has 23 pairs. The result had 24 pairs; no scientist would be able to give us such observation. I fully expect for Meyer to win the Nobel prize in physiology this year.
I completely disagree. These are the rants of a bitter feminist. I don’t ust like the book because I happen to have the surname of Cullen either…
I agree that the views are pointed at slightly feminist, but here’s the hard reality of the situation. Its the truth.
Girls are constantly sweeped off their feet by their “perfect” teenage loves. Girls constantly go to pieces when those “perfect” loves leave them. Now, assuming you’ve had a boyfriend, pretend for a second that this sweet, loving, and seemingly perfect guy left you. You’re not telling me you’d be alright. You’d cry for at least the first day of maybe even week after you’d been dumped.
When you’re in love, nothing else matters. Your mind just goes off in the direction of the one who holds your heart, no matter how rough the path or how dark. Bella happens to do that, as do most girls.
I kinda like to take this book and compare it to the bible. (I dont want any crazy bible worshippers on my ass okay? It’s just a comparison, and yes I’m an Athiest). It tells a story. In order to tell a seemingly simple story, it exaggerates things a wee bit *sarcasm*. At it’s core, it’s still there. A seemingly simple love story. A guy. A girl. Its a bit more complex than that, since the guy is actually a bit more on the moral side but that just adds to the excitement. Also, just like the bible, and Edward, it’s myth. It’s fake.
There’s a reason that this series was such a hit. Girls everywhere can relate to it because they’ve been in a similar situation, and I know a few guys who liked it because they were in Jacobs situation and even one case of Edwards (no, not a vampire, just incredibly good looking).
Stephanie Meyer gave everyone an escape of reality when she wrote this book. That’s the reason people continue to read it and will always continue to read it.
Oh ya and I forgot to compare this to Disney, but I’m sure you loath them too.
Disney constantly portrays their protagonist as these beautiful, graceful, and talented willowy girls. The “prince” or w/e is always drawn to them because of their beauty. (The only exception to date is Mulan, which I love)
A good example of this would be Cinderella. I remember reading “Tales of an Ugly Stepsister” a long time ago, which made me realize Disney is at much at fault for making girls crazy as anything. The handsome prince first sees Cinderella at the ball, and he falls in love with her immediately, without even knowing her name, only because she’s “beautiful”. In Tales of an Ugly Stepsister, the author takes the view of one of the stepsisters who is actually a very talented, sociable person, but who happens to be rather plain, and borders and ugly. Cinderella is very beautiful and graceful, but quiet and demure. Yet the prince chooses her at the ball!
What does that say about society? People blame Stephanie Meyer about destroying young girls reality, and yet Disney starts that from a much younger age. Promises of finding a handsome prince, oh but you have to be pretty….
once again, i’m here to debate with twilighters.
if no one responded to all your rants to challenge you then you wouldn’t get another view on twilight.
i know twilighters are not going to listen, they proved that by far with all the post they have made.
if you seriously want to believe in a fictional novel romance than fine, thats on you, when the time comes when things start to get bad, i hope the words of the anti’s comes floating back in to your heads with an avengence.
but i guess i’m jumping the gun too much but i got a feeling that it will happen.
and if i’m annoying the twilighters best believe twilight is the most annoying fandom of them all with the exception of several level headed twilighters.
and Worlds.Biggest.Fan.Ever. i hope you actually didn’t believe i wouldn’t respond.
you really expect me to sit down and shut up and let you say what you want?? oh no we have a problem because i refuse to back down. i don’t know why your still coming here if this place upsets you so much. its an anti article so why are you coming back??
all your name calling isn’t helping you come across as mature either. if you really want to talk to me then so be it, but do it in a calm orderly manner. you can’t hope to win by being defensive and throwing out insults.
so there it is. all your calling me a “computer geek” or a hoggin computer geek”
how is that supposed to help you against antis’?? where are we?? in elementary?? or what ever grade school you use in your country.
me not winning?? oh we’ll see about that…
The main reason why I didn’t really like this series was just the quality of work. The writing itself wasn’t good, and I didn’t feel like I was having any catharsis or that I had anything remotely in common with Bella or anything. It was simply uninteresting to me and evoked no emotion. Secondly, the caps-lock crazy fan base does make it extremely hard to ignore this series and very easy to dislike it. I just wish they could actually defend an argument instead of just telling all the backwards, obviously fat and/or ugly haters to f*** off.
I used to ADORE the Twilight series. I used to think that Edward Cullen was the hottest thing ever. But then I read Breaking Dawn, and seriously, that book just opened my eyes. Now, even though I respect the Twilight series, I pretty much despise it. I think the first three books were decent enough, but the fourth was complete trash.
I’m going to talk about how fans are defending the books. I know people who’ve told me that I MUST read the books. When I tell them I have read them and disliked them, they completely blow up on me. “Why’d you read it if you didn’t like it?! If you have something mean to say, don’t say it!” I’m just expressing my opinion, what’s wrong with that? You people who say that you loved the books and that we shouldn’t criticize them just because we didn’t like them are telling people your opinion, so why can’t people who didn’t like the books do the same? And let me just add that quantity does not equal quality. Just because the series is popular doesn’t necessarily mean that’s it good. When I first read Twilight, no one knew about it. Now everyone’s talking about it constantly, and it just annoys me.
I’m pretty much only criticizing BD. I think the first three books are okay, though I’ve realized that they’re not the most amazing literature ever written, which is what I used to think of them.
Everything was just too convenient for Bella. She gets everything she wants. The beautiful thing about the whole story was all the sacrifices she made for love. But by BD, she doesn’t have to give up anything at all. She keeps Jacob as a friend, she keeps in contact with Charlie, she gets to be a vampire, she gets to have a kid, and she gets to be with Edward. I have nothing against happy endings, but this is sending people the wrong message. I think it’s telling them that they can get whatever they want in the whole entire world, when in fact, that’s not true. Life isn’t fair, if we work hard, we’ll get some things, but we’re not going to have everything.
Bella and Edward are too perfect. Sure, they have a few flaws. Bella’s clumsy and insecure, and Edward’s overprotective and can get angry a little easily. In BD, their personalities kind of vanish. The loving, romantic Edward we all adored is gone, and replaced by an Edward who is almost always worrying and anxious about something. I remember at one point he even asks Jacob to give Bella a child, and tries to kill his and Bella’s kid. Bella becomes totally different when she becomes a vampire. She’s no longer insecure, since she knows she’s beautiful now, and she’s not clumsy, cause she’s a graceful vampire. She also gets to skip over the entire newborn phase and has a superpower that pretty much trumps all. We can’t relate to her at all. Thanks to her power, the Volturi can’t do anything. The climax of BD was, in my opinion, terrible. We hear about some guy named J. Jenks, who I was expecting to be some awesome vampire who would help the Cullens beat the Volturi, but all he turns out to be is some guy who Bella gets passports and whatnot from for Jacob and Renesmee in case she and Edward die. This turns out to be completely useless anyways, since the Cullens end up winning. Then the ultimate showdown between the good vampires and the bad ones is just a conversation. Alice conveniently shows up with a half vampire/half human guy, who explains everything. The Volturi just shrug and leave. What was that?
And Edward and Bella’s relationship was totally absent in this book. All they ever do is have sex. I missed the conversations they used to have, the romance that used to be in the three previous books. And Jacob imprinting on Renesmee was…disturbing.
So overall, I think Breaking Dawn was horrible. In my opinion, it screwed up the saga. I can’t read Twilight and New Moon and Eclipse without thinking about Breaking Dawn, which I think was a really bad conclusion to what could’ve been a good series of books.
And by the way, I’m not some 40 year old sitting at my computer typing away, as most of you Twilighters seems to think. I’m a 14 year old girl who was disappointed by Stephenie Meyer and just wanted to share her views with other people.
This is all just my opinion. Twilight fans, please don’t tear me apart. If you liked the books, fine. I respect your opinion. I disliked the books, that’s what I think, so please respect my opinion.
People, there’s no logic to be had with little girls who dream of glittering vampires at night while tucked in under their ‘NSync sheets, so perhaps we should save the adult conversation for those of us who don’t giggle over our fake IDs or salivate over the Jonas Brothers.
I will say that there is nothing wrong with a person liking this series just as there is nothing wrong with a person liking all five rambo movies but they have to be able to admit to themselves and others what it really is, and that is, if anything is a guilty pleasure.
It is not creative, it is not original, the books are all the same story retold four times over again it is a romance novel, and a rather creepy one at that, After a while i just had to laugh at what i was reading. It just got more and more ridiculous. It is by no means of “deep literary quality” try reading crime and punishment if thats what you want, I haven’t lol, but i dont claim that poorly written romance novels are wonderful works of literature.
equus….im just gonna ignore your comment.
its totally pathetic coming from you.
ok…i call you a name…im just stating a fact..not being rude.
oh and about me winning….i think us twilighters were winning from the start.
if you do comment back..im just gonna ignore you… infact im gonna stop coming to this crap website so you will HAVE to stop commenting back to me.
no matter how many times you try to prove your right…youv’e just wasted your time because your all wrong really.
i suspect your one of those ” i-will-never-back-down-because-im-a-psycho-loony-who-thinks-im-right-all-the-time ” kinda people.
ok maybe you think that…its fine by me…but its never gonna get you anywhere…its just gonna make you go round in a circle.
because..after i stop coming to this website…you will eventually start annoying some other twilighter…which is plain SAD.
so please, for the sake of human-kind….stop going on the computer and typing in crap that nobody cares about.
please go and read a book or something.
it will do us all a favour.
PLEASE.
and if you do comment back ” by trying to never back down because im totally right and wotnot” it will just prove your a worthless loser trying to pick a fight on an obvious subject.
believe me worlds. biggest.fan. ever. you will be doing us both a favor by not coming back. i read everyday so its nothing new for me.
since you can’t act like your age and accept others have different opinions then you fine, i hope you have a wonderful fullfilling life. i wish no harm upon you. i hope you will not have to endure anything that makes your life miserable, i pray you live out your days in happiness.
goodbye =)
This was honestly a really good review of the entire series…
but, really…is a 12-year-old going to read that deeply into the underlying themes of these books? Sure, maybe the books could instill bad ideals and morals into the reader’s subconsciousness…but most kids that read this series read it for the shallow reasons: impossible love & romance, the perfect guy, the creation of another world…some kids just enjoy letting their imagination run wild, you know?
Yeah, some of them might actually get misled along the way, but really…not ever kid is mindless.
However, you’re exactly right in everything you said, & I completely agree with you on the matter of all of the horrible concepts presented in the books.
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everyone look down upon twilight book fanatics and their inability to notice the book is poorly written
Okay. So now I’m going to speak my mind.
What. The. Hell.
Only people with nothing better to do would try to psychoanalyze a teenager’s romance. First of all, in response to Rice’s article:
Apparently, one of your many, many whinges seem to include Twilight being ‘anti-feminist’. I fail to see this point. You claim that Bella is incapable of even making a move without the assistance of a male, or that when in New Moon, she breaks down completely. Let me point out that:
a. It’s been stated quite clearly she is c-l-u-m-s-y. You’ve heard of the ailment, yes? Quite common, actually. This flaw of hers is heightened infinitely by the fact that oh, I don’t know, she’s surrounded by a host of super-graceful, extremely dexterous vampires/werewolves?
b. If you would actually read the books properly instead of dropping the axe on it as soon as you find an excuse to whine and waste space on the internet, you’ll know that she actually attempts to go on living after Edward. Also, it states that Edward goes through the same pain she does. Hello, the whole ‘moonless night’ speech was kinda a indicator.
c. Lemme give you a few names: Alice, Jane, Leah. They look like sniveling, man-dependant sops to you? Name one, non-human anti-feminist and we’ll talk, dungbag.
d. Yes, because I am a teenage girl and like reading Twilight, I must be itching to jump off cliffs and get myself locked in towers after reading this, aren’t I?Please deflate your condescending, patronizing head and realize we are fifteen-year olds, not five year olds. Now, after watching The Dead Poets Society I’ll just go and shoot myself in the head because I didn’t get the lead role, shall I?
e. Note this book is under the ‘fantasy’ genre, where star-crossed lovers and soulmates exist. So why in the hell will Meyer throw in some BellaxJacob ‘real life teenage romance’? Also, she’d be the Whore of Babylon, after dumping the guy she’s been with for a book and a half. If you’re going to criticize that aspect, go and burn Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as well. The concept all started there. (Also, if that did happen, you’d probably bitch about how Bella is a monster whore.)
f. To all those ‘OMG Twilight must burn HP rocks’ shippers out there: What the hell. You spend half your time moaning about how JK never should’ve killed off Fred, and the other half boasting about how it makes it ‘real’. Also, in HP, the books are spent fighting a dark lord. In Twilight, two poeple are madly in love. Also, if you really want to up the angst, consider how all the vampires were turned in the first place. It’s no happy la-la rainbow land.
g. I’m not exactly sure where the hell you brought up concepts like ‘sexism’, ‘rape’ and ‘abuse’, since I’m pretty sure rape can only be done if it’s involuntary (Snort. Right.), I don’t see Edward as a wifebeater (the guy was born in the 1900’s. Seriously.), and Bella isn’t exactly going ‘omg, Edward, save meeeeeeee’ (in fact, all thing considered, she actually deals with things quite well). So go read the books properly before stuffing crap down our throats.
h. I know it’s been brought up before, but ‘escapist’ is kind of a key word here. Yes, it might be surprising, but people who like Twilight aren’t rabid fangirls, aren’t complete shallow idiots, and know real people don’t sparkle! (Gasp!). And, oh look. Not a single caps-lock! So stop griping and just enjoy the damn book.
“omg, i thought u were older than 16 equus! r u a man?”
lol. even though this is really late, no, i’m a girl =)
that’s why it’s called “criticism” you criticize the book and the writer as well. Criticizing the book is also one-way of advertising it whether good or bad criticism because if a person read this kind of criticism they’ll be wondering what was the book all about.
So everyone has the right to say their opinions. People don’t have the right to say bad words to the person who criticize or to the person who disagree or agree if the book is great or what.
if you’re a twilight fan so be it if you’re not then you’re not.
these people who hate Kellen Rice are people who don’t accept criticism well. It also applies to you’re personal life. You people have some real issues.
You seriously ought to get a reward or something for writing this. About time someone wrote something pointing out all the disgustingly chauvinistic points in the Twilight series. And it’s pathetic how people obsess over it and center their lives around a series that’s not even well-written!
I’ve got to say, I love this. I’ve read all your Twilight posts and they are amazing. I’ve read the series, and I can honestly say I do like them, but more in the fanfictiony ‘lol, i can’t believe i’m reading this kind of way’ than the same way I can read Lord of the Rings in a sitting and want more.
And just because I feel I must, I’d like to point out that Bella does have a flaw after she turns… she CAN’T run in heels, she has to kick them off and piss off her newly gotten sister Alice!
I have to speak my mind too. I just have to.
First of all, great article.
Second, to all those people that are comparing Twilight and Harry Potter – don’t. Just don’t. They are two completely different books. If you have to compare anything, compare the style of writing.
If you want to compare something, compare the style in which the book was written.
First of all: Meyer wrote the book in… what was it, three months? That’s admirable, but is it long enough? Rowling spent 5 years just making the plots of all the seven books, and then spent another 5 years writing book one (of course, the other books came faster, but three months?). Maybe it explains why Twilight doesn’t have a plot.
Second, Smeyers grammar is horrible. I am Dutch, so I am not that good at English grammar, but even was irritated by some her mistakes.
Third, the whole Bella-Edward relationship? Nothing realistic about. I was amazed – no, I was ~*dazzled*~ .
I have read Twilight, and was greatly disturbed that people actually think it was a good book. Sure, Edward is sexy and handsome, but he is also the creepiest boyfriend/stalker I’ve ever read about. I can’t understand why anyone would want a boyfriend like that. And I’m 15, so I’m actually exactly the kind of person that Twilight was written for.
Now, for all you people talking about feminism – teenagers aren’t exactly interested in that, because we’ve already learned to follow our own dreams and do what we want. This is the 21st century, ladies. Sure, Bella can choose to marry Edward and give up college. I would’ve been alright with that, weren’t it for the fact that she knew she wanted to be with her precious Eddiekins after three weeks.
No kidding. It was about three weeks. My friend had a boyfriend, and after a month or so she said she knew it wouldn’t be her last boyfriend. And she was totally in love when she said that, so it’s not that she didn’t want him anymore or something.
Overall, I thought Twilight was crap, more like Stephenie Meyer put her sexual fantasies on paper, with all those Mary Sues and Gary Stues. I’m hoping the movie will be a bit better.
(Also, a little side note: for everyone who’s saying Harry Potter isn’t that good either: it was meant to be children’s book. So of course HP isn’t the best book ever. Although I’m a huge HP fan, I know that it’s not the ‘b3st3st b0ok Evurr!!1!111one!1!’ It just happened to become popular. I find it rather awesome though. Rowling ftw :’D)
WORLDS.BIGGEST.TWILIGHT.FAN.EVER is the epitome of stupidity.
yes, i know i am late, and yes, i know i am stooping to her level by namecalling. dammit, the silly girl deserves it. “IM NOT 11, IM 14″ honestly? i lol’d on that one
as for the book, it is utter garbage
Its so pathetic how so many Twilight fans are freaking out over this article.
Here’s a tip: If you want to be taken seriously, turn off Caps and calm down. Or, how about you just not comment? You’re all freaking out about how someone dare to say Twilight is a horrible book, but you’re doing the same things about the article, just in a sad, tantrum-throwing way.
Its not anyone but Stephanie Meyer’s fault that she wrote this horrible book. I don’t understand why so many girls are freaking out over some pathetic Mormon housewife’s sexual fantasy about vampires. Even the lead actor in the movie said he hated the series and thought Meyer’s books were poorly written and “creepy”. Wacth an interview of him, and you’ll see! I’m not lying.
I’m a Junior in high school and in no way a Twilight fan. But, the thing is, some of the smartest people in my grade — those in my AP classes, scoring 4.0s, and so on — read Twilight and like it. Reading Twilight doesn’t make you any less smart, but being obsessed does, just as much as you all attacking the writer of the article does.
You need to all go see a therapist or something, if you’re getting this worked up about someone not liking the same books as you.
Lynn you saw that interview too? Rob really does hate the series, its pretty ironic =)
youguess are just jelous because you cant write as good as her!
“youguess are just jelous because you cant write as good as her!”
Or you, either.
I just recently read some Twilight. You are my new best friend. With all the people shrieking in my ear how epic and wonderful it is I was a little scared I was the only one who noticed it was glorifying abuse and was nothing more than the author’s way of living out her very glittery fetish fantasies.
ok, what the hell is wrong with all the twilight haters? should they put a caution tag on the book: ” hello, this is a FICTION, please do not try this with yourselves”? I mean this review disgusts me, from all the good things u could have written about this series u pick the most disgusting. therefore: FUCK YOU
i would say that getting obsessed with anything is the biggest foolishness, even with harry potter, no knowledge can ever go wasted, good books are a good influence and bad books are bad is utterly rubbish, if you are a first time reader, how do u know if a book is good or bad, its after experiencing all sorts of literature that u really understand what u like and what is good and bad.
best wishes, happy new year
she is just soooo jelous
Jealous of what? I don’t see how anyone can be jealous when it comes to Twilight. Or…no, I’m very jealous so many people can become so absorbed in a poorly written book and ignore everything else in the world. Your life must be so easy!
Every Twilight fan I know complains about being put down for liking the book, but you all do the same — and worst, in most cases — to those who don’t like it. You can all wank to some b=make believe vampire as much as you want, just be polite and go do it in your room, or at least a dark corner.
Telling people to fuck off for saying they don’t like a book is ridiculous. This whole Twilight v. Harry Potter is so funny. I like Harry Potter, but I like laughing at it, too! All Harry does in the last three books is go “BAAAAWW!” for most of the time. Hell, he’s suicidal in the last one! And Snape is so desperate to get in Lily Evans pants, he begs Harry to stay with him when he’s dying to look at Harry’s green eyes. Its ridiculous! But you know what? JK Rowling researches. She knows what she’s writing when she writes, unlike some Mormon shut-in who imagines teenage girls literally passing out with one kiss. Unless Bella has some severe illness, that shouldn’t happen. And if so, she needs to go to a doctor. (And if that’s the case, I’m sure the doctor will give her some pills to stop hallucinating about vampires following her around.)
Also, HP has tons of active females that don’t fall over themselves to get at a boy. But, again, this isn’t meant to compare the books. They’re in two different categories for readers. One reader likes a book that doesn’t describe people as “liquid marble” or whatever, the other…does.
If I wrote like Stephanie Meyer, I’d kill myself. I LIKE my A in English, thanks. If I turned in crap like that, I’d be kicked out of my AP class and thrown into Extended.
Robert Pattinson’s opinions of Twilight (No lie!):
“When you read the book,” says Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, “it’s like, ‘Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.’ I mean, every line is like that. He’s the most ridiculous person who’s so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn’t do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that’s how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he’s a 108-year-old virgin so he’s obviously got some issues there.”
and
“When I read it … I was convinced that Stephenie was convinced that she was Bella, and … it was like it was a book that wasn’t supposed to be published, like reading her — her sort of sexual fantasy about some — especially when she says that it was based on a dream, and it’s like, “Oh, then I had a dream about this really sexy guy” and she just writes this book about it, and there’s some things about Edward that are just so specific that … I was just convinced that this woman is mad, she’s completely mad, and she’s in love with her own fictional creation. And I sometimes … feel uncomfortable reading this thing, and I think a lot of people feel the same way, that it’s kind of voyeuristic … It creates this sick pleasure in a lot of ways.”
First of all, writing comes from the heart. Stephenie Meyer has written from her heart, and I don’t believe that ANYONE has the right to criticise another person’s art, because everyone feels things differently and you have so obviously warped and manipulated the storylines of these books to insult an amazing author’s creations.
If this is such a perverted, trashy book series then why has it turned into a worldwide bestseller AND a record breaking box office hit?The story of Edward and Bella connects with people all over the world because we are all being brain washed into abusive themes???NO. Stop dissing other peoples work and get a real job
Lynn, I’m so glad you posted up what robert pattison said.
He is the closet anti on set that we’ve got. and kristein seems to be the second one we have.
that part about it becoming a bestseller i honestly wouldn’t know.
most of the girls ever talk about is which person they would rather be with either its edward or jacob. as if this was a some sort of pick the the hottest guy contest.
they don’t care what edward does since he’s hot (he’s disgusting in my opinion). whats scary is that they see nothing wrong with edward taking the engine out of bella’s car since they drank up all the nonsense he told her about just trying to protect her.
from what?? because he said jacob was a werewolf well that was very hypercrtic of him since he seemed to have forgotten he was a vampire. if the girl wants to go see a friend well then let her.
but noooo, edward won’t have that. he is a creepy, obsessed guy.
you all using the excuse, “well he’s from the 1900’s and he doesn’t know how to accept bella doesn’t need him”
okay so let’s see he died when he was seventeen so what was it 1912, 1918 when he died? (he’s information was not important enough for me to remember) okay then he was around the womans rights movement so i don’t see how you can use that excuse. but then you say,” well he was frozen so his ways froze with him along with his mind” no that’s ridiculous if his mind was frozen then he shouldn’t be able to learn all the things he went to college for.
he remembers so i guess that means his mind is still expanding so him acting the way he was is not an excuse.
trying to protect her by having his siblings kidnap her?? wow he is such a great boyfriend…you can having him ladies
yeah i don’t think so. i wish a guy would stop me from seeing my friends because we will be fighting.
I want to grapple with this notion of Edward coming from the early 20th century so he must automatically have great manners. No, he doesn’t. Let’s look back on some disturbing but true facts the early 20th century.
You know back then husbands could legally beat and rape their wives? Yeah, its true. Women had next to no rights until they had to fight for them for many years while being used and abused by goverment officials and policemen whose duty it was to protect their citizens. So I guess I am playing into the Twilight fans reasoning when I say that yeah, Edwards background does indeed has a lot to deal with his treatment. I will hazard a guess in saying since that kind of crap was the norm Edward was well aware of it and accepted it like a lot of people.
BUT- that does not make it right. Edward may have a background in women being placed second to men, but he also lived through the 20th century. The seventies dealt with a lot of feminism pushing through and making it’s place in American culture. So was Edward somewhere else when all that happened? As a CHIVALROUS GENTLEMEN wouldn’t he support that kind of thing?
And I do know he had no dad growing up so it was just him and his mom. (wait, how come SMeyer didn’t write some stuff about that?! the mom, and their relationship I mean. Her name even? I read Midnight Sun, and all I saw mentioned was that he had a mother’s love— and that’s it) So wouldn’t he treat women with great respect? Or did he have to take care of his mother like Bella had to take care of Renee? (That would explain his need to carry Bella around everywhere) EXPLAIN YOURSELF SMEYER!
Plus Edward HAD PLENTY OF TIME to get into the Underworld culture that was the Roaring Twenties. Crime surged through the thirties because of the Great Depression (alcohol was banned as well, so mafia saw a huge profit in that), there was the fourties and that thing called…uh….. lemme think….. oh yeah!!! WW2. Do I even have to begin the list of SHIT the soldiers went through in Europe and the Japanese isles? So he had plenty of time to be corrupted (since he was techincally a soul-less demon, hey he said it himself!).
Getting back to single motherhood, how come his childhood was not mentioned much? Single motherhood is tough, especially in that period. So he didn’t have to go to work (yeah, child labour was a.o.k. back in those days) to bring home money or did he? Was he rich? Or at least well off? Got an inheritance off of the nearly non-existant dad (I say so because he is never once mentioned, in any context)? WTH MEYER?! We need some background info (yeah, both anti Twilight and pro Twilight) to better discern why Edward is the way he is. Historical stuff like I mentioned is great and all but I would like it so much better if Edward mentioned his mom some more in books 1,2,3,and 4. You know what, espcially 4 because he became a *parent*. PERFECT TIME TO INTRODUCE TO THE MEMORY OF EDWARD’S MOMMA!
Oh, and E. (see above) mentioned a brilliant point. KIDNAPPING A PERSON AGAINST THEIR WILL is against the well and for someone so AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD LAW he sure likes breaking the rules! So capturing a woman and holding her hostage (one, Bella was in the hotel in book 1 so do not deny it- two, Stockholm Syndrome, in which said hostage(s) root for their capturer, would explain why she feels so in love with these people) is all GOOD as long as its for the woman’s protection?
SCREW U EDWARD.
(and I wish I did not share my name with someone who thinks Kellan Rice is a horrible horrible horrible person because of what she thinks. THANKS.)
Sydeny, you said it better than i did =)
Just read the review and I partly agree with it. The first book was quite good considering that the target audience were teenagers. It was pretty standard for this age group. Although I also didn’t get why Bella was the single most fanciable girl in Forks High School (yet Rosalie and Alice are so much better looking than her). The clumsiness of her character was massively overplayed.
In the second book waaay too much time was wasted over Bella being depressed about Edward leaving. It was so boring through this part that I nearly wished she would get it on with Jacob, even though I really loved Edward. I agree that her relationship with Jacob did seem a lot more normal than that she had with Edward (although its kinda contradictory to say her relationship with jacob was ‘normal’ when he was a werewolf!). I feel that that entire second book was a waste,especially when Victoria the evil avenging vampie was still kickin’ around. I find it hard to believe that Edward would have left Bella and Forks with that danger still around. After all, they could control Jasper’s ‘bloodlust’, but the danger Victoria posed to Bella was much greater. The only decent part of the second book according to the demands of the plotline, was the end of the book, when the volturi finally came into play. This was necessary for the forth book.
Then I read the third book and was getting more frustrated. It wasn’t til near the end of the third book that Victoria was finally killed off. In the meantime we had to deal with Bella’s never-ending whinging about which boy she should pick. And Edward’s seeming lack of ability to get pissed off at her indecision really grated on my nerves. I wanted him to ‘be a man’ and lay down the law. But he was pathetic!!
The fourth book was reallly bad. The wedding and the honeymoon was lovely, but the whole pregnancy thing was just stupid. And half the book was wasted on it. Jacob was really annoying too, it would have been a much more interesting book if he had decided to try and kill the Cullen’s cos he couldn’t deal with it all. Then maybe he coulda had a change of heart but not before Bella was fatally injured. Then it coulda been HIM who made the decision whether to turn her into a vampire or not. Thats just one idea I had. But altogether would have preferred to see the fourth book focusing on her transformation from human to vampire. She shoulda had real trouble with it and turned really evil. Part of the story could have been written from Edward’s point of view as he tried to save her from herself and struggled to deal with the guilt over transforming her. Then a really good climax would have been if the volturi had discovered her breaking one of the vampire rules and came after her. They could have killed Edward in battle and captured her cos she had that great superpower.Then she could have gone on a suicide mission or tried to avenge his death. This is still pretty dramatic, but would have been a whole lot more exciting than her becoming this really controlled vegitarian vampire with superpowers who also had a half moral, half immortal child. I mean, after all the hype/suspense Meyers created over how Bella would cope with the transformation, it was such a let down. All this, ‘I’m better as a vampire than I was as a human’ was just ridiculous. Her total belief in keeping the baby and loving it even though it was killing her was just sloppy writing. Meyers didn’t even attempt to deal with Bella’s probable fear. We never really witnessed Edward and her having any major rows over it either. Sometimes Edward was just too perfect for me. Meyers definitely failed to deal with some issues here and it seems like she was ‘suspending the reader’s disbelief’ beyond the point of intelligence. She was relying on readers not thinking about what they were reading when she was breezing through all these issues that had previously been pivotal focal points in Edward and Bella’s relationship. All in all, by book four I was bored with it for all these reasons. I felt like I could have written a better fourth book.
On the bright side, the film was good. Rob Pattinson is hot lol
“She was relying on readers not thinking about what they were reading when she was breezing through all these issues that had previously been pivotal focal points in Edward and Bella’s relationship.”
I totally agree! Where the hell did Edward go? Breaking Dawn was one big FAIL. If you could see through SMeyer’s fluff then so could others. Thank you for pointing that out.
Wouldn’t Jacob have been privy to the arguements Edward *could* have made? I expected that out of Edward. Since Bella is CLEARY (kind of hard to miss and all) in dire, yes dire, trouble and needs some help STAT.
Edward did ask Jacob to convince Bella that in this case abortion=good, like reallyreallyreallyreally good, but then that went nowhere.
Not even Carlisle, compassionate and brilliant doctor extraordinare, raised an arguement against Bella.
“Hello my darling daughter-in-law. Looking pretty sickly, if not plain dead. Why is that again? Oh yeah you have a THING, sorry, darling EJ-kins/Edwob Charlisle/ /whatever name you plan to curse your kid with inside of you that is wreaking havoc to your body. YOU DO KNOW WHAT HAVOC MEANS RIGHT???! Time to put your personal political and moral beliefs to the wayside and extract that thing out of you!”
But no– nothing.
Or Alice could have gone in there and made her point, Bella respects Alice, she’d probably listen.
“Bella, my new sister! Listen, I just foresaw something pretty terri-” *sound of pelvis breaking* “Yeah that would be it. See why Carlisle wanted you to abort? Right there.”
Then Jasper could have used his chrisma powers and make Bella feel a.o.k. about it and abort the thing. Or would that count as manipulation and the loss of Bella’s free will?
Like she had to begin with…. and then there is Rosalie “BABIEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!” Hale.
But then this COULD ALL BE AVOIDED if SMeyer followed her own rules and just have Bella not have a death baby and adopt a kid. Maybe. Have to deal with the whole age thing–
“Mom why do you still look like your seventeen? Your’e not Brad Pi- I mean Benjamin Button.”
“Erm… BOTOX! Yes, thats it, Botox my darling! Works wonders.”
Okay maybe not..
I feel as though you’ve set yourself boundaries that limit your ability to really understand the complexities of the Twilight Series.
Bella is a teenage girl.
Her perspective narrates most of the series – of course she’s irritating and lovestruck and thinks she’s “average” when she’s not. Of course this isn’t written with the most beautiful, descriptive, elaborate imagery in the history of literature – how many teenagers do you know who have such a talent? She’s a teenager. Low self-esteem, always compares herself to others. Hello, reality.
I know very few teenagers who will actually take a compliment wholeheartedly and actually agree with it.
These books aren’t supposed to be about the fact that Edward’s a guy and Bella’s a girl, and that she’s totally hopeless without him because he’s a guy.
Grow his hair out, develop his chest, change his name to Elena. That won’t change the nature of Bella’s character, just her sexual orientation.
Edward’s gender is completely irrelevant in the series.
That Bella has her shielded mind, and that she seems so enchanting to all the boys in Forks, and that she falls in love with a vampire all suggests that she was never meant to be ‘just’ a human. And Meyer implies that throughout the whole series.
Born a human, destined to be supernatural.
She’s obsessed with Edward, which Meyer makes perfectly clear, because she can’t stop thinking about him, and hates his absence. Obsessed, totally. Not because he’s a guy. Because they have an intensely powerful bond.
Perhaps you’re missing an insight into someone else’s perspective on the concept of soulmates, and the overwhelming power of such a relationship.
This is a story about love that triumphs, about a teenage girl in a supernatural world. I personally find that, to me, these books sing out about predestiny and fate. Bella and Edward belong together, that’s why she became such a ‘zombie’ without him. They weren’t able to be apart, because they weren’t supposed to be apart.
Your criticism of the Twilight series reminds me of a confrontation I had with a feminist friend of my mother. I was reprimanded for my use of makeup and my fondness of mini skirts because I ‘shouldn’t degrade myself for boys’.
I’m a lesbian.
I’ve also never degraded myself for anyone.
You read this series with the wrong glasses.
wow.. you are a dumb sour bitch! get a life, Stephanie Meyer is a talented writer and you are a negative close minded… well, bitch…
i would take a guess you don’t hate this series as much as you babble on about… i think our just a bitch who wants some attention…
so i read twilight 2 months after it came out long ago in 2005 before all the big craze and everything. it was just a book that i picked up from the shelf, here in a australia we even had that freaking uk cover to start with.
i honestly liked the book it was an easy fun read. the writing wasn’t legendary or anything but it followed nicely and i liked how corny it was, i’m a sucker for the lame and over the top, it’s a fun read.
but i liked that bella fell down alot
cause well i did that on a daily basis
i liked that edward was protective top the point of spasticness because you could laugh about it.
i giggled when ever he spoke to seriously and thought about what i would do if someone said that to me.
i would laugh and probally never take them seriously again
but i fell in love with their love
its quiet unhealthy
and for some reason the unhealthy obessive love in always intriging
bella makes choices in these books which i think people always forget
she chose what was right for her
i don’t think i would make those same choices but i think thats the point
isn’t that what the whole feminist thing is about that you can choice to
a) have only a career
b) have only lots of sex and babies
c) have both
d) be a completly dizty girly girl
e) be a serious sister
f) all of the above
anyway i don’t think this book was ever written with the intention to be analised as much as it is, but that’s what happens when you get the obesessive crazy fan’s who were hungry for some lame vamp romance
i still love the books i fell for character that were very easy to see and think about. if you look at what the fan’s really take from the books it’s not so bad reading some of the fanfic’s and all that the younger readers just see two teens in love and back then everything is dramatic and end of the world potential. they don’t take so literally and readers who are not so young well then don’t take it to seriouly either
anyway they are my thoughts
i don’t think that twilight should be the phenomen it is the new readers arn’t the same as the orginal fav’s they don’t read it like we did, so much, but at the same time i do like being able to talk about as much as i want with out annoying people anymore
i’m obesessed but only with parts, some theme’s some idea’s and the fact that its a lame and corny lovestory that’s very twisted but somehow ends up happy in an almost sick way, that is beyond easy to read. great liture is great but at the same time not always the easiest read isn’t it good that people are atleast reading
I’m sorry
But I read your article
and I read all the comments
And I just laughed for so long
TWILIGHTER’S COMMENTS:
“It’s just a book, get over it!!!!!”
You wanna know WHY we’re so pissed off? It’s because this book is representing literature for thousands of young girls – don’t deny it – and this is what they think books are.
“Not everyone is influenced by a book!”
Oh, not everyone. BUT SOME PEOPLE. You can’t say that absolutely no one wishes to be Bella, the weak feminine thing that waits for the boys to save her. Meyer did add some ‘feminists’ in the book, just to say she did, like Rosalie, Esme, Alice. Yeah, right.
“I WISH YOU HARRY POTTER FANS WOULD JUST GO AWAY AND CRY IN YOUR ROOM COZ UR MOVIE IS CMING OUT IN 11 MONTHS!!”
See. Movie? Only Twilighters care so much about the MOVIE. We aren’t so immature that we have to cry out eyes out over a MOVIE. Harry Potter is a BOOK. And at least the MOVIES were actually good!
And not all Twi-Haters are Harry Potter fans. You are just being stereotypical.
“There are worse books.”
Oh yes, I’m sure there are. The only reason we are complaining about THIS one is because it’s glory. It’s a horrible book. It doesn’t deserve it.
MY OPINION ON TWILIGHT:
Twilight: The romance story – it was okay, I admit. It was much too intense for a FIRST, HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND WHO IS MORE THAN OLD ENOUGH TO BE YOUR GRANDFATHER, but it was okay, all feminism aside.
The crappy action at the end – right. Out of the whole series, this was the best book.
New Moon: ….article said it all. Also the build up in the Volturi den, to nothing.
Eclipse: Jacob sexually harasses/molests Bella several times [not just by forcing her to kiss him, by the sexual innuendo around her boyfriend, etc]. The worst part was at the end, where he forced her to kiss him by threatening to kill himself [like she could say no, as such a ‘selfless’ person]. Then, she decides she’s in love with him! Second build up – nothing. Because that would be too hard, wouldnt it? And you wouldn’t want to kill any of your precious characters.
Breaking Dawn:
Ugh.
Made no sense.
Disgusting.
The marriage part – okay, the reasons for doing it [sex! sex! vampire existence, ditching your family for a guy! sex!] weren’t all that good, but I will agree that it was necessary, since Bella was getting older, and apparently looks is all that matters.
PAEDOFILISM
Jacob has to ‘wait a few years’ [Eclipse] for Renesmee. Has Meyer considered the enormous pyschological and emotional consequences for having a boyfriend that used to make out with her mum? Or having sex with a guy she considered to be an uncle once? Or the kid they might have, werewolf, human, vampire? It’s kind of gross.
You Twilighters need to chill out. Seriously. We are just making our views and PERSONAL OPINIONS heard, and you guys are just freaking out, with no real argument. Go read some MEG CABOT who’s characters ARE feminist but are also feminine and manage to fall in love but not be so utterly consumed that they can’t do anything else and will fall over themselves for sex.
Final thing to say:
MEG CABOT is awesome.
Ciao.
*snort*
COMPLEXITIES OF THE TWILIGHT SERIES?
Give me a break
Oh, by the way, feminism is choice
But the choice Bella made – which was to ditch her family, friends, her chance at a normal life, her virginity – all for a guy. Because she loved him so much. She didn’t go to college or anything, she decided to turn into a vampire and have lots of sex with her vampire boyfriend.
This is very different to choosing to be a stay at home wife and mother. That’s what my mother does – and is doing – and she’s a very strong woman. She has more power in the house than my father and is a great mother.
So STOP TWISTING OUR WORDS. And learn how to spell.
Also, something Meyer said in her FAQs, a response to “Why the big build up to a fight?”
I’m not the kind of person who writes a Hamlet ending. If the fight had happened, it would have ended with 90% of the combatants, Cullen and Volturi alike, destroyed. There was simply no other outcome once the fight got started, given the abilities and numbers of the opposing sides. Because I would never finish Bella’s story on such a downer—Everybody dies!—I knew that the real battle would be mental. It was a game of maneuvering, with the champion winning not by destroying the other side, but by being able to walk away. This was another reason I liked the chess metaphor on the cover—it really fit the feel of that final game. I put a clue into the manuscript as well. Alice tore a page from The Merchant of Venice because the end of Breaking Dawn was going to be somewhat similar: bloodshed appears inevitable, doom approaches, and then the power is reversed and the game is won by some clever verbal strategies; no blood is shed, and the romantic pairings all have a happily ever after.
That, that right there, is the sign of a weak writer. You can’t bear to part with any of your characters, and you can’t be bothered writing a fight scene.
It wouldn’t have to have ended up with 90% of fighters killed. You could have made it an even, hard fight – and kill off SOME people, not just the throwaway character, Irina.
Also:
With Breaking Dawn, the expectation was so huge and so intense that I knew the negative reaction was going to be especially bad this time.
She doesn’t seem to care what any of her fans think. Oh no, I’m not saying you should WRITE for the fans. The first books of the series should be written for fun and for what you want. But after a while, and with your huge success, YOU SHOULD FACTOR THE FANS IN INSTEAD OF JUST DOING WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT WITH A HAPPY ENDING!!!!
Okay I’m going now, bye.
omg the author wrote this book so young teenage girls could escape the realties of the real world for a few moments, if people start doing the same things that the twilight characters were doing thats when its weird, but the fact is they read this for pure enjoyment, just like when people play sports and other things. Remember this is a FANTASY book and not meant to be taken to heart, if your so worried about what effect this is going to have on the impressionable get out there and do something worthwhile to stop it, don’t just whinge on a blog page.
If you believe that by allowing your daughters to read this novel they are going to idealise Bella and Edward’s relationship then you’re an idiot. Children look to their own parents’ relationship to show how it should all go. Sort yourselves out!
@ Kellen Rice
wow….
omg, your opinion is very pessimistic and makes me feel amused… ^^
stop going on like that, please…
you can’t stop the hype around the books. through articles like that you are just pushing them more and more…
but either I have to admit that you have expressed your opinion in a very good way.
and yes, jacob is an idiot
as hard headed kids are today, they look to the media as influence in their relationships.
some kids don’t look to their parents. they look and see what the latest britney scandal is to fashion their realationship. and they way its going with girls wanting a relationship like edward (creepy obsesed gary- stu) and bella (mary-sue).
i can see why Ms. Rice wouldn’t want her children to be influenced by that unrealistic romance. she just wants whats best for her kids.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU
I WAS A TWILIGHT FAN UNTIL I READ NEW MOON
BELLA IS SO WEAK AND DESPERATE TO BECOME A VAMPIRE, IT’S ALMOST EMBARRASSING TO READ…
THE BOOKS ARE BECAME REALLY STUPID AND DOWN-RIGHT IMMORAL =[
To all those willing to die to defend Twilight, read this article and then try to argue that Edward and Bella’s relationship isn’t unhealthy.
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=f4ffb0d6-cd69-499b-8a16-63dc2fb8dee4
I find Twilight complex.
Of course, we each apply our own contexts and understandings when we read something. That’s why some people hate books – or any text – that others love, and why we draw different things from them.
But everyone knows that.
Twilight is of a supernatural setting.
To me that accounts for the obsessive relationship, the way Bella is so alluring to the other boys, Jacob’s crush on Bella. Because it’s supernatural, it’s ok, to me, for Bella and Edward’s relationship to be so unrealistically intense. For Bella to have such bad luck. For her to absolutely obsess about becoming a vampire. Of course it’s unrealistic. It’s not real. It’s supernatural and everything about Bella and her relationship with Edward is beyond regular human capacity.
If he was human, and everything else remained the same, I’d probably have a different opinion. Then you’d no longer have the vampire going against his nature to try and protect the one human he wants for his dinner more than any other. Then I’d be more willing to say that the whole thing just doesn’t seem right. But it’s fantasy. And I just can’t think of fantasy as reflective of reality at all. Funnily enough.
As for spelling – and I’m not sure that was directed at me – grammar (in terms of syntax and semantics as opposed to punctuation, which isn’t grammar) is much more important for communicative purposes. Our capacity to use language develop due to the importance of communication to our species. Grammar is much more important for that than spelling. In English anyway, because we use word order to express case rather than morphological structure. Plus, historiolinguistically speaking, English has gone through a lot of chopping and changing and borrowing from here, there and everywhere, so a lot of the time our spelling doesn’t really follow any conventional patterns.
It’s the bound morphemes we really need to worry about as far as correct-spelling-for-the-sake-of-clear-expression goes. Like you don’t want to mix up your ‘-ed’ suffix with ‘-er’ because that would change the meaning. But, most spelling errors occur in root morphemes, and usually we understand what they’re supposed to be anyway.
So, even if that wasn’t directed at me, be more fussy about grammar than spelling. Like when people get ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ mixed up.
Was the book targeted at you? No. So shut your faces. You don’t know what we teenagers like. You’re all old and wrung out and all you can do is winge and moan. Get. A. Life. And if that’s how you translate feelings in books. You should not have become a critic. And by the way, only on book was based on pride and prejudice there are other classics y’know. ie. wuthering heights. I’ll leave you to whine about this comment now. Knowing that’s what you sad, sad people do.
I have been trying to figure out what it is about this series. I agree, it is not well written. Bella is a fairly obvious fantasy girl (I believe the fanfiction sites call it a Mary Sue). The biology is silly.
But…. but….
I picked up the books (all four of them) and read them all in a single weekend. My excuse is that I was completely at the end of my rope after a three month effort at work to make a due date. Tired, exhausted, mentally and physically fatigued; my brain needed a break.
So why not just pick up a Harlequin Romance – they still make those, don’t they? Or a good apocalyptic sci-fi epic? Nothing is as cathartic as the end of the world as we know it!
I think the appeal is that SM has captured the total irrationality of adolescence. The highs are so giddy, the lows are so dark. Everything is an absolute and fresh and new and intense. I remember how that felt – and thank god its over. I think that Romeo and Juliet captured the same thing – boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy kills girls cousin and is exiled, boy and girl can’t live without each other and through a series of absurd mistakes, die. Very sad. And awfully silly. Rational people don’t behave that way.
Rational women don’t behave like Bella. But I know I wasn’t rational at 17 either. I am now, I grew up. It happens – usually.
Twilight is a guilty pleasure. Like having cheesecake for breakfast. You shouldn’t base your diet on it, but every once in a while it won’t hurt you.
Lol @ Jemma
Lol. That’s all I can say.
FIRST OF ALL
I am a walking demographic for the book, 14 year old girl
So shut YOUR face
And let us have our opinions
Instead of going off to have a tantrum.
Also
Would Stephenie Meyer stop saying she based the books on classic novels worth reading, and stop comparing?
Romeo and Juliet
Merchant of venice
Wuthering Heights
JUST BETTER OKAY SO BACK OFF
*Also, she doesn’t need to tell us she hasn’t done any creative writing, sounding all smug. We can see that. My 6 year old autistic brother can write better than her*
look i know there are such things as guilty pleasures which is used alot as an excuse for liking the books, but you gotta draw the line somewhere.
i mean if you must, read Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. those books aren’t as ridiculous as twilight. if anything, twiligt should have been a satire.
maybe then i would accept it, but the way its written, the non exsistent plot, the cullens and bella, everyone basicly in the book got on my nerves i mean i was praying for people to jump bella (just attack her, slap her half a score times, toss her off a roof, run her over with her raggedy broke down truck, anything will do) while i was reading the books.
she annoyed me to no end i mean, i was just ready for someone to kill her, make her a sparkly vampire, and just ended the books all in one sitting. but of course we couldn’t have that since it would cut the time of sparkly perfect uterus munching edward and the dazzle sparkle cullens.
obviously, not all teenage girls are going to act like bella. just because i love batman doens’t mean i’m going to go jumping off of roof tops and be a vigilante while saving people.
not everyone is the same, there are people who really lke cheesy romances that aren’t realistic but they read it any way so they can imagine its happening to them. that their boyfriends or girlfriends would be unbelieveably perfect just like the cullens (why do you think girls want to find their “edward”?) and most of those reasons are shallow.
and then theres others who aren’t falling for that cheesy romance and who can stand back and examine the realtionship with a clear mind.
*snorts with laughter*
oh-
oh my God
Seriously?
Response to the Twilighter’s comments:
“She’s a good mormon mom like she’d write anything that she’d let her kids read,”
HAVE YOU READ BREAKING DAWN, OR EVEN ECLIPSE? I would NEVER let MY kids read THAT.
And so what if she’s mormon? What, just because of your religion, you automatically can’t write a book that doesn’t express your religion’s beliefs? I’m Muslim and I’m writing a romance, thank you very much
And any Twilighter’s that say that we are JEALOUS of Stephenie Meyer – …
The only reason I’d be jealous of her is because she wrote a best seller. Not because she wrote TWILIGHT. I want to write a best seller too, but I am 14.
Any of you say “Why don’t you go write a bestseller and THEN you can blab about her”
That is just a pathetic comeback
*sigh*
Pathetic.
P.S: I don’t care if you read Twilight or like it as long as you acknowledge it’s not the greatest writing and there are much better books. Also as long as you aren’t wearing a vampire jumpsuit and screaming, ” I LOVE YOU EDWARD ” in the Twilight movie lines
Why must I be surrounded by demons of stupidity?
oh, and sorry for the really long comment
The fourteen-year-olds here are embarrassing me. Trust me, fellow Twihaters – we’re not all like that. I know I’m not!
I agree with this review 100%. I laughed all the way through the movie and hated each of the books, yet my eighteen-year-old sister loves Twilight. GAH. What’s going on?!
We’re never going to get through to these thick-skinned, stubborn and idiotic Twilight fans, but we’ll soldier on anyway. We are the enlightened! *high fives the Twihaters*
I completely agree with you!
I suddenly realise I pasted some of the quotes in my previous comments in the middle of the other quotes
So that’s why it doesn’t all match up
sorry.
A guilty pleasure is a guilty pleasure. I don’t think you have to “draw the line”. You don’t have to admit it and expose yourself to judgment, however, but since I did do that I will stand to my defence.
Just because a person might read “Twilight” doesn’t exclude them from having good taste. I read other books, most of which are far better, some of which I admire but don’t enjoy, like Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”, and some of which l both like and enjoy, like “Pride and Prejudice”.
“The Road” is a book that I found profoundly depressing but it has won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is arguably a classic of some sort. It bears some commonality with Twilight. Punctuation and capitalization is missing or inconsistently used, although I think this was a deliberate stylistic choice. The biology makes no sense since anything that would kill cockroaches and all vegetation would not leave higher life forms alive. And the idea that humans could survive by deliberately getting pregnant and then eating the infants is not just repugnant – it is completely unsustainable.
I hated reading “The Road”. But it is much the better book. I certainly wouldn’t read it when I was emotionally and mentally drained. Twilight fit the bill perfectly – light, fluffy and requiring no effort or thought. Yes, I could have read Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. I could have read Jane Austen. But I had read them before and I wanted to see what the Twilight fuss was all about.
It seems that better written books require more effort to read. i wonder why that is? It seems like it should be the other way around.
To be honest, this “saga” isn’t worth all the hype. It’s badly written, sexist- Women are stronger than Bella is made out to be! She can’t even take a step without needing “perfect” Edward, who really actually annoys me. I could write better than that.
In fact, I know I do.
It’s hardly realistic at all in the terms of how love really works, because real love isn’t abusive. Someone who really loves you wouldn’t take the motor out of your car to prevent from seeing your best friend.
This was predictable and boring, and I thought that this article hit it all right on the nose. We didn’t need five billion pages on how Edward is so beautiful.
And for those who say it teaches vocabulary? As if! It was all common words to me, and I’m 14. Hardly enlightening. I don’t get at all why you’d want to read this.
I find it sad that most people for Twilight can hardly spell properly, and the reasons they give for it being “awesome” include:
“Stephenie Meyer is a great writer and you’ll never be!” (Mind that there will likely be mispellings.)
or:
“It’s just a book so get over it already, god!” (Gee, sorry for voicing an opinion, and the First Amendment.)
In any case, I read the books myself, looking for something to read after Harry Potter, because, let’s face it, those books are the best ones I’ve ever read.
I was sorely disappointed.
I have a degree in women’s studies, have travelled throughout the world and consider myself to be an independent person. However, I still found myself drawn to twilight. I think that the most important question to ask in regards to the novel is, why is it so popular? It is easy to dismiss pop culture and label it as ‘thoughtless’ and ‘stupid.’ But it reveals very important aspects of our culture because there is some reason that millions of people are drawn to it.
Firstly, it a fantasy novel. It takes us out of our everyday lives and transports us into a world of romance, danger and magic. If anything, it is an escape from reality.
Secondly, I think that the character of the vampire is very revealing in regards to our cultural ideals. Vampires cannot suffer from disease, they are immortal, they are the most beautiful creatures on the planet and they are dangerous. Western society is obsessed with not growing old, staying beautiful, healthy and young. The vampire is able to achieve this without even trying.
Edward is the ultimate byronic hero, which makes him an extremely attractive character. The byronic hero has been used as the love interest in countless novels and movies, and we know that women are attracted to him. He is the one that cannot be caught and is dangerous to love. However, some how Bella manages to tame him and win his heart.
I think that the popularity of the novel also reveals that we are not as complex as we like to think we are. We are animals, although we like to forget that fact, and we are motivated by a desire to survive and procreate. We are drawn to the story because it is about the nature within us.
It is a story of symbols as well.
Therefore, I do not think that we should dismiss the novel as pop culture trash. Even if you hate it, then ask yourself why and what does that reveal about you? Or if you love it, then consider what aspect of yourself it responds to.
And I must add, that I do not think that Alice is a weak female character. I enjoyed her humor and energy.
*high fives Chloe*
i don’t think hating some things reveals anything about anyone except maybe if you hate other races, but hating a book?? and for soild reasons?? well i guess that reveals we don’t just take everything in stride, we don’t accept how the story went, we analyze it, crtiq it, pull it apart to find out the sources. i guess that might reveal we just think more than those who don’t question stories.
and yes it does reveal something about our culture, it reveals the shallowness. once again this points straight to the media.
if it wasn’t shallow then why on every single page it had to be written out about how beautiful the cullens were?? or what they wear??? i don’t know anything about the other cullens except their cars, their clothes, their hair, their eyes, their ice cold skin, occasionaly their breathe, how they resembled models, how beautiful pale skin is suppossed to be, and thats pretty much it.
what do you know about emmet?? what about jasper?? rosalie?? alice?? esme?? edward?? all their characters were 2 dimensional.
edward was just there to fullfill a wishful thinking smeyer, rosalie was there just to “prove” that blondes were horrible, emmet was there to be like a preppy jock, jasper is the emo kid just there to be used, alice was there to stop any conflict to happen to everyone and there just to dress bella, esme was just there for nothing we don’t much about her, carilse was there just because he had to turn everyone into vampires.
the humans in the story are there to convince everyone that vampires were awesome and the werewovles were there just to cause an actual plot (which didn’t work out).
they have no personality none of them. especialey bella and edward. those two might as well have been walls. i’d rather stare at bruce wayne while he worked on a 10 page report.
they are the most boring couple i have ever read about. dean thomas realtionship with ginny was more interesting than those two and dean and ginny weren’t even main characters in the story.
what does twilight have to do with the nature within us?? twilight offended me. if thats the case then Harry potter evoked the nature us since he had three kids. but of course that has never occurred to me that it takes a book about a unrealistic romance for people to open their eyes to our culture and out human nature.
but of course not everyone can’t think like each other.
Noemie,
You have some very thoughtful points.
It is easy to have a knee-jerk reaction. “Pop-culture” oh, sneer sneer sneer. But if you think of it there are so many important works that were the “pop-culture” of their day. Works such as “Canterbury Tales” which is actually so dirty and violent that it would get an “R” rating if it were a movie. Very low-brow humor in today’s terms.
Novels were not considered serious works at all until – what? – the early 1900’s? Austen published her works anonymously because ladies of her social class simply did not write something as “pop-culture” as a novel.
I think the reasons you have called out are the ones that appeal to me – the fantasy, the simplified world, the perfection. Real life is simply not like this. Especially as an adult.
So part of the question is “Will Twilight have enduring appeal?” Will it be a flash in the pan and soon forgotten? Something like the Cave Bear thing that was so popular in the 80s. Remember that? Somehow I can’t see it having the endurance of Lord of the Rings or the Narnia chronicles.
OMG!!! It is just a fiction book for God’s sake. It was written to entertain. If you don’t like it, that is fine. You don’t have to put down anyone else that may enjoy it. Remember-the book is not real life.
The Twilighters which say, “Just because you say it’s pop culture, doesn’t mean it is,” and, “It’s an escape from reality,”
What makes you the final judge on what it is? We aren’t either, but that’s what this is about.
And the ‘escape from reality’ thing? Okay, fine. Go read some Harry Potter or Jinx or something. Even though it’s a fantasy, DOESN’T MEAN IT CAN’T BE REALISTIC. Or poorly written. Or setting a bad example for young girls and a horrible example of modern literature.
*whistles happily*
Rafal H is right .since girls are taking qualities from edward as being a perfect “boyfriend”. so its been seen that girls are taking this realisticly.
theres no other way to explain what they’re doing. if its so unrealistic and just fiction then why are girls trying to find a man just like edward?? why are they wanting a guy like jacob?? i thought it was just fiction and that girls aren’t applying this story to real life??? atleast thats what the twilighters told us…
Lol @ Equus
You go girlfriend
{By the way it doesn’t matter if you’re a guy I’m still gonna call you that. I have a complex. I can’t change images of what I think people look like!}
OMG!!! It is just a fiction book for God’s sake. It was written to entertain. If you don’t like it, that is fine. You don’t have to put down anyone else that may enjoy it. Remember-the book is not real life.
Ahahahahhaaahahahaha
*tear*
The highlight of my holidays.
highlight?
Highlite?
Someone tell me?
Sorry.
I lie about not posting comments again. I have to stop that.
LoL don’t worry i am a girl =)
its “Highlight” =)
“oldenoughtoknowbettertooyoungtocare on January 10th, 2009 10:35 pm
OMG!!! It is just a fiction book for God’s sake. It was written to entertain. If you don’t like it, that is fine. You don’t have to put down anyone else that may enjoy it. Remember-the book is not real life.”
tell that to nuttymadam of youtube. sadly enough, there are people who take it very seriously. so much so that they literally cry after reading a twilight installment
To EQUUS:
I LOVE YOU. I felt exactly the same way about the twilight series. You are absolutely brilliant, I never thought I would see someone my age who would think about the the whole situation of twilight like the way I do. I absolutely HATED the twilight series…and could not figure out why edward and bella were in love.
For Bella its obvious: “He soooo Hott, and beautiful, and sparkly, omg…I’m going to pee myself because he’s glorious”, which is absolutely pathetic. The fact that bella thinks whatever he does its ok because he’s hott is SO annoying and wrong I have to question stephenie meyer and her standards of men because through her wrting it is clear that nothin else matter if a guy is “ADONIS”-like…ohh save me, but whatever that’s not what I’m getting at.
So I decided to read Midnight Sun or whatever its called and its from Edward’s point of view because I wanted to see what made him like her. I never understood that about twilight saga so I was curious.
And I think its because supposedly “Bella is endearing because she is shy” and Edward falls for her because her behavior is different from the rest of the girls, she is extremely shy. She did not tell the school when Edward saved her from the Van, which makes him wonder why she did not . All said he keeps thinking of her without wanting to, just trying to figure her out and that fascinates him because usually he is able to see through people quickly, and in the end he feels drawn to her because of this. He then later realizes he is love with her. Also, she is “clumsy ” when he first meets her and he finds that “endearing” and that made me want to throw up because it made it seemed like he enjoyed her being weak, and constantly throughout the passage it made it seem like he could never take Bella seriously she was a clumsy girl and acted like she was five(which made me feel offended) …but whatever that’s not the point.
So I guess its makes sense why Edward likes Bella, But for the life of me I CAN’T figure out why Bella like him, other than “He has sparkly chest”….What do you think?
As for Edward, by reading Midnight Sun, I discovered that he just a b@#$(*&! as much as Bella is because when Eric wants Bella to ask to the dance he thinks to himself “Oh how can let someone with bad skin and hair ask her” or somethin along those lines which made want to slap him senseless because he thought Eric was less than him due it “bad skin”…..uughh all throughout the novel meyer implies that looks are kinda important and that’s ironic because Bella is no Angelina Jolie.
Anywho that was VERY long, Sorry lol. but based off that doesn’t Edward’s love for Bella kind of make sense?
You really tick me off!!! I am in Love with this series. It is really sad that you have to go dissing great books because your boyfirend left you. Well, you lknow what?? Boo HOoo. You are soooo dumb. It is the best series ever written. Thank god for Stephanie Meyer.
I am not afraid to say what I feel…
What. The. $#*!
The Twilight Saga is the best series ever. You disgust me.
sorry loser
Twilight is entertainment- admittedly it’s bothersome, poorly written entertainment that will never be accepted by the hard-core conservative vampire lovers (by conservative I mean resistant to change, not the political label). The problem with Twilight is that there’s no way of keeping it away from the couple thousand readers out of millions who can’t think for themselves.
Anyone who says that books can’t influence people obviously hasn’t read Kellen Rice’s articles very carefully. That’s not to say that all people are influenced by all the books they read, but some are. The point is that people need to think for themselves.
And now that we arrive at that topic, I would like to remind all Twilight lovers and especially the members of Edward Cullen’s harem that ‘thinking for oneself’ does not necessarily imply ‘thinking like you’.
This article is 100% truth. I just don’t understand how a normally functioning teenager/young adult can’t see it. The sad thing is that almost every single one of the fans are women. And it’s a real shame that J.K. Rowling is having to go through the indiginity of having her work compared to this garbage. I really hope some of these Twilighters will take a serious, honest look at this article and come to terms with the atrocity they’ve been fawning over… but I doubt it.
Even J.K Rowling can’t write well.
Both series rely on their plots.
I think that Bella’s obsession with Edward’s beauty is something she can’t help. He’s a vampire; his beauty is supposed to be enchanting in that it can draw his prey to him. Bella is a human – but also the one human Edward wants to ‘eat’ more than any other. So, perhaps, his supernatural charm is more powerful for Bella. They’re absolutely irresistible to each other, but on a supernatural level.
At least with anything that isn’t written too well you can develop your own justifications for the behaviour of the characters. That was one of mine.
Twilight is cheesy and easy to predict and even easier to read. Easy to read in a guilty-pleasure sort of way. It’s not beautifully written, but it is from a 17-year-old girl’s perspective, and not every 17-year-old girl is the next … hmm, well, I can’t think of any female writers I’m particularly fond of at the moment. Ha. So, that sentence failed. It’s not the kind of writing that reads easily because it’s so beautiful, but it’s not like trying to chew through a chunk of The Brothers Karazamov or anything.
I enjoyed reading the Twilight series. You don’t have to be stupid or unable to write well yourself to indulge in a silly little fantasy romance.
The majority of Twilight fans probably haven’t read anything since Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code.
Not everyone enjoys classics. Goodness knows how long it takes for Jane Austen to stop prancing around with her characters and actually make Mr Darcy memorable. It takes a dedicated reader to get through particular books.
So what if Twilight isn’t Garcia or Tolstoy standards? It’s not Romeo & Juliet or anything Bronte-sisters, but, like, at least they’re reading something instead of laying about watching The Hills.
i always questioned bella’s love for edward since he told her its their looks that draws their prey to them. i mean, how would she know if she really was in love with him??
LoL Nikki, it’s good to know there are others my age who think along the same lines as me. =]
Thanks for the love!
You really tick me off!!! I am in Love with this series. It is really sad that you have to go dissing great books because your boyfirend left you. Well, you lknow what?? Boo HOoo. You are soooo dumb. It is the best series ever written. Thank god for Stephanie Meyer.
Um.
Totally mature.
The whole ‘they are in lust’ thing…yes it seems as though they might be in lust, but for this one, I’m giving it to Meyer. It’s her story and she can make them meant for each other or whatever she wants.
I honestly don’t hate Twilight as much as I say I do – I hate the fact that everyone is praising it when it just DOESN’T DESERVE THE PRAISE, I hate the crappy writing and purple prose, I hate the rabid fangirls and I hate the ignoring of perfectly GOOD writers like MEG CABOT who kick ass, but the story [of Twilight] is good, without the stalking and the sparkliness. If you move the ending – which is the evil vampires – to more in the middle of the book, so there’s action, and someone else wrote it, it would’ve been a good romance [I am sickened by the fact that the label in the library says ‘fantasy’ instead of ‘romance’. I mean, who are you kidding?].
Also JK Rowling does not have to rely on her plot – the characters are funny and the writing is interesting and suspensful, though her plot is awesome too. The only good action plot was in Eclipse, which was a really good idea HAD IT NOT BEEN WRITTEN SO BADLY, but in the end Meyer wimped out and didn’t write a fight scene with the newborns, just Victoria, which was extremely short lived.
See? I am capable of looking at it both ways. I don’t just critique for no reason, even though it’s enormous fun because the Twilighters are so offended and the antis are laughing their asses off, even when Twilighters diss HP or Lord of the Rings.
Though don’t try to diss MEG CABOT. -narrows eyes-
That is just uncool. You can not like her, she’s not for everyone. BUT EX NAY ON THE ESS DAY
Ah! I know Pig Latin!
You know what amuses me more than anything else? When the Twilight-ers attack and don’t even bother to check their spelling. Seriously, people who don’t have a grasp on high-school-level spelling shouldn’t be telling us all off for dissing ‘such a great book’ when we apparently don’t know squat. Who are they to judge? A great deal of girls I know wouldn’t even read if it weren’t for school intervention.
That’s it. I’ve decided: I’m becoming an editor so that I can prevent this kind of fail from ever being published again.
LOL
You’re all mental
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
This is so perfectly done, what a brilliant review!
And to anyone saying
“its just a book, its not real!”
Ever heard the sayings “The Pen is mightier than the sword?”
or perhaps;
“If we are to take dangerous weapons out of that hands of idiots, lets start with the typewriter.”
Writing has an amazing influence on people, especially teenage girls, if you can get them to read.
If you’ve seen the way girls act at my school, after having read twilight and obsessesing over Edward of Jacob, by sticking pictures of their faces around the classroom, dumping their boyfriends because theyre ‘not as nice as Edward’ and other such ludicrous reasons.
That, is beyond ridiculous, so for those who say, ‘its just a book, what harm can it do?’
As much harm as a brilliant book can bring good.
Which is a lot.
I have to say it was a good essay and i do agree with you on some points but not all. My friends argue over the fine nitty-gritty details of this series to no end. I must say though that even though they were an enjoyable read, for the most part. It is a FICTIONAL series about a FICTIONAL girl and a FICTIONAL relationship with a FICTIONAL boy. Why stress and argue and fuss over it so much if it’s, as I’ve already said, FICTIONAL. Just don’t read it if you don’t want to and don’t argue over it.
I would love to talk with anyone who wishes to argue or agree with me. Simply send any comments to my e-mail and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
e-mail: Chaoticangel54@gmail.com
Wow… if you people have nothing to do but argue, I find that sad.
I like the books, and I’m proud to say I was one of the first people to ever read them. When I started, Twilight and New Moon were the only books out, and I thought they were pretty good. I was excited for Eclipse, and also enjoyed it.
Then it became the fad, and all the 10-year-olds started reading it. Which is also sad. These are not children’s books.
Anyway, Breaking Dawn was bad. Yes, I bought it, yes I read it, no, I’m not boycotting the series. But I’m proud to say that while I like the series, I’m not a fangirl. When my friends and I joke about marrying Edward, we’re making fun of anyone ridiculous enough to want to. I am aware that relationships are not like Bella and Edward’s, and that that’s a good thing.
I just think it’s stupid so many of you are spending so much time arguing about it, and getting so passionate in your views. Find something better to do, why don’t ya? Read a book. XP
I totally see your points on everything. I will admit that, though I found the books amazingly annoying, I wasn’t paying enough attention to them to pin-point what it was about them that was rubbing me the wrong way. It was evident in the first few pages of Twilight that Bella was a glorified MS, and, though I’ll admit as well that I found Edward’s “swoop in and rescue” scenes a little heart-quickening, you are RIGHT. Bella’s relationship with Edward is unhealthy on every level (unrealistic as well, but it IS fiction and he IS a vampire, so whatever). I’m not fearing for the young girls reading these books anymore than I was before I read these books, because, well… I don’t think they could be anymore screwed-up, ideal-wise, than they already were.
But anyway. What I really wanted to point out to all these other reviewers attacking Rice for having an opinion that she clearly finds to be the only correct view, is: when did she make it clear that she felt this way? All she did was give her opinion without qualifying it, which I think should happen more often. A person shouldn’t have to give a disclaimer every time they want to speak up. So, you are basically reacting in a very predictable manner, making yourself look close-minded every time you accuse her of the same. She didn’t say that she felt that her opinion was the only right one, but I’m sure she’s decided that it IS how she feels, through and through, BECAUSE it’s the opinion she holds! That is what an opinion IS, people. Find something else to flame her about, I’m tired of hearing about opinions like they’re some kind of sinful thing to have!
@Krysten Amber and TWILIGHTER4LIFE!!!!!!!!! and Lila-
You guys are fucking idiots. Go back to school and learn proper grammar and spelling!
Personally, I’m sort of neutral towards the series, but I think that there are some problems with the books. And this essay really ennuciated those points. Like the fact that there is barely any plot! The first one I picked up, started reading, but couldn’t finish till I started a year later, because there’s no plot until the last 100 pages. The second also had no plot till the end. The third really had nothing but Bella complaining about how she couldn’t be with both Edward and Jacob, and the fourth had absolutely no plot. Wow.
But, I also think you missed a few points in your essay. Like the fact that Alice is the only female character not obsessed with having babies? And that’s only because she didn’t remember her human life and all. What sort of messed up message is that?
And then there are no strong female characters. Mrs. Meyers says that Alice is a strong female character, but really, she never is portrayed that way. The guys, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward are strong, and Jasper and Bella are always worried about Alice. Yeah, real strong.
And then, even though this isn’t sexist, the whole thing reeks of Christian undertones. Really. And, not though I’m putting this down, the whole theme is abstinence. And I’m pretty sure none of the girls reading this have exactly noticed this.
I don’t think that means that girls should avoid Twilight, but they should realize the subliminal messages before they pick it up. I’m not an advocate of a brainwashed female population.
just as you may find what we’re doing stupid and unecessary, we find it quite entertaining how the twihards react. if you ask me those who are yelling and calling us unecessary names who are acting like its such a sin to have a different opinion as them.
I agree with you 100% of the way. The twilight series is completely shallow. For once I would like to read a book where the heroine can take three steps without some guy holding her hand and saving her. And I’m pretty sure that most abusive relationships today are caused because some girl read twilight and thought it would be a good idea to force herself into finding her “perfect Edward”. It just really peeves me to hear people calling Stephanie Meyer such a great writer. To tell you the truth, I’ve seen better stories on fanfiction.net.
While I have both my complaints as well and many things I enjoyed.
The main thing that I dislike about Twilight, is the way that some (NOT ALL) fans go insane and write offensive things (this is a discussion on a YA book, there doesn’t need to be any cursing).
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that there are many twilight fans who could (and have) looked at this and were able to politely disagree with the author and be able to say why (I thank and appluad all of you fans who were able to do this)
My best friend is obsessed with Twilight, and she knows I have things I dislike about it, but what I respect the most about her is that she can verbalize what it is she likes about the books and can intelligently defend them (thank you again to all of the fans who have either done that in a comment here or anywhere else).
For this reason I call her a true fan, i.e.- someone who can see both the good and the bad in somthing but still love it (if she were her she would start referencing the book about how this applies to Bella and Edward).
People who can accept something in bost its best and its worst are people who can stick with it the longest.
I expect that those of you who simply scream about just how amazing it is with no reason are probably going to be the ones in a year or two who have forgotten about it and moved on to a new fandom.
But to all of you who who love Twilight, even knowing and understanding where the criticisms come from, I wish you a happy affair with Twilight that will last as long as you wish.
You deserve it
~Coles
I’m surrounded by Twihards. SURROUNDED. I’m pretty sure all of my friends are all like , “OH MY GOSH!! I LOVE TWILIGHT!” It’s ANNOYING having to listen to them over and over and over and over about how “great” Twilight is! I read it before it became popular. I liked it like I like most of the books I read: OKAY. But now everyone’s freaking out over the books, and the movie, and it’s torture to hear everyone fangirl over it. Even the people who hate to read love it, that’s just wrong. Thank you soooo much for writing this article!!
And whoever says that she doesn’t have the right to write this article and she needs to keep her opinions to herself: it’s called the first Amendment: Freedom of speech people!
I think that it’s cool if you don’t like the book.
Personally I like it.
Whats the issue? I don’t go writing a huge long rant on how good it is.
The author is also a person and you are being mean to her.
This book was a great success and she was proud of it but people like you ruin their self confidence.
Really you probably went into reading the series with a Biased opion, did you ever TRY giving it a chance?
I have found that Twilight has become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I read bits of the books when I have absolutely nothing else to read, and really only because I find Emmett pretty funny.
And I’m sure that Stephanie Meyer is a perfectly nice person.
But I think that there’s a point when I’m reading the book, and I just have to put it down because it is so cheesy. Romance in the real world? Yeah, it’s not like that. Look at the divorce rates in the world!
And high school romance is definitely not like that! I’m a first hand witness. Just when you think a couple is perfect and all, they go and break up.
But, most of the readers are in the 10-14 range. And, those romances are even shorter. Two years back I was reading an article on middle school romance. To summarise it, they basically involve saying you’re dating, possibly going to a movie, and then breaking up the next day (and maybe some of the more risque eighth graders will have sex). And, so, to all of you middle school Twilight fans, I ask, how does this romance seem realistic to you at all? How do you apply this to your life? And how the hell do you expect to find your Edward Cullen?
I know plenty of girls who’ve never had a boyfriend, and they do quite well on their own, with fun lives. And I’ve known plenty of girls who’ve had boyfriends, and still have lives. We don’t need an Edward Cullen to have complete lives.
And, I also have been wondering for a while… the book says that Bella thinks of herself as plain, and she’s described as an average girl, who wasn’t the interest of guys in Phoenix. But then all the guys in Forks love her. Exactly how does that work out? Is that insulting the people in Forks, saying that they aren’t as pretty as the more average people in Phoenix? Is that some sick bias in favor of the author’s hometown? Or did Stephanie Meyer just forget what she had already established earlier on in the book?
To the Twilight fans, I respect your opinions, and I see where you’re coming from, but you don’t need to shout at people and insult them to make them see your way. That probably won’t work. Props to all the calm, rational Twilight fans.
And to Equus, I think you’re right on, and I completely respect how calm you are, even though everyone keeps insulting you. And to Rafal H, I agree, and I also have to say I love Meg Cabot too (I love the mediator series, and I can’t help but notice the similarities to Twilight, though it’s miles better, even though it was written about five years prior to the original publication of Twilight).
And, finally, I want to say, my grandmother was a professor of women’s studies at UNC, and I was brought to respect all that females have achieved throughout the course of history, and listening to her rants about nineteenth century men who were total pigs. And I really hope that she never reads the Twilight series, because then I will really get an earful.
I loved the book, though I respect your opinion and even venture to say I agree with it. However, I enjoyed the book reguardless and that’s what matters I think.
I also think It’s really immature of people to curse you out for your opinion- don’t listen to them because I think it’s always good to have a different perspective.
One question though- you said that Edward and Bella were in an ‘abusive relationship’ and Jacob was an ‘asshole,’ but don’t you think there are many circumstances like that in real life? I reality, (I know there are no vampires or werewolves) but not everyone is perfect
You have just stated my every thought on this purpley drek. Thank you, my faith in humanity had been restored.
I enjoyed the article, and although have only read a page or two of the first book ( I immediately set it down due to the horrible structure and tasteless writing that I found almost insulting), reading this page has really made me lolz somethinge fierce.
I love debating, but some of this is just rediculous. These prepubescent tweens are absolutely hilarious!
Did anyone else not read the comment stating that vampires were real?
Holy Hell, I cant wait for the over obsessed fangirl generation to rule the world! *insert eye roll here*
Oh my stars, you people!
You’re speaking like this is some sort of literary class. It’s not. This is a series for enjoyment, a fantasy land, fictional and in no way realistic novels. Do vampires exist? No. Therefore, a Bella/Edward relationship could never exist and is entirely fictional.
The problem here, I believe, rests in the readers of the series: those that actually take the series for reality. If you care so much about their sanity, go do something about it, because you all no that the obsessive fans are never going listen to what you have to say. Take them to a mental institute and show them real love or something. It’s just so ridiculous how you’re all getting so defensive here.
I myself have read the series and enjoyed as some would say a “guilty pleasure.” I completely realize that it is fictional, however, and in no way compare it to real life.
There, I’ve said my opinion. I am in no way forcing it onto others, and I will let no others force theirs onto me.
Sadly, I used to be one of the Twilight fan-base. I was one of those girls who would be outraged when someone said that they hated the books. After some time though, I have seen the light. After watching the movie (which was basically a retelling of the book.), I realized that Edward/Bella was just WRONG. Bella has no personality what-so-ever, and Edward is even worse. After this realization, I hastly read the books over, but I felt like gagging. I mean sparkling vampires? WHAT was I thinking?
I think that I’ve always known that something was wrong with this series. In the middle of New Moon, I found myself cringing at Bella’s overreaction. So your boyfriend dumped you for your own good? Who cares? You’ve only known him for a few months, maybe a year. I’m sure there has been a girl out there who has suffered much more heartbreak than you have. So stop jumping off cliffs and get your life together!
Also, after reading Breaking dawn, I felt so unsatisfied. Basically the climax of the book lasted 2 pages of a chapter. I mean, what was that? And a “half” vampire? I feel like the only reason that Renesme (what a horrid name!) aged so quickly was because Meyers wanted her to hurry and grow up. Also, the fact that Bella skipped the entire first phase of being a vampire(you know, bloodthirsty, hostile, uncontrollable) was a big disapointment for me. I was looking forward to a better Bella! What is this bull!?
Not to mention the Jacob-turned-pedo. he imprinted on a girl that looks 5, but is actually 2 months old. Good job Meyers.
First of all…
Twilight Fans:
We get it. You love it. Wonderful. From the comments I read, you kept saying you’re just one person and that you wouldn’t waste your time, but honestly…by you arguing it doesn’t change people’s opinions. This article from what i gather is just one person’s opinion. They aren’t attacking you or your love of Twilight. They are just expressing their PERSONAL opinions. Pardon my french, but stop bitching. If you wrote an article saying that Twilight is fantastic and you got comments saying it sucked you would be upset because they didn’t realize it was just your opinion.
Second to the ones who don’t like Twilight:
Yes, yes, I agree it isn’t the best piece of “art,” it is a book. Yes it is targeting impressionable youths, but they do have free choice to do what they choose, if they want to go to hot topic and buy Edward Cullen glitter and force it upon their male friends then so be it. Everyone is arguing over free speech, which i find rather hilarious. I’m not saying to stop fighting, by all means do it, it is a free country, but I just want to point out that you aren’t producing any results by fighting about whether the book sparked your interest or not. . In short, people will always like or dislike something for stupid or good reasons. Let it alone, and get on with your lives and stop arguing over opinion. I am done now and feel free to argue with me. I’m not going to respond, because I have better things to do than this so I bid you adieu…
I 100% agree.
Edward/Bella is not healthy.
Bella isn’t a Mary-Sue. Bella is the goddess of Mary-Sues.
Jacob was probably the only good thing in the entire series.
Vegetarian Vampires are probably the worst thing that ever existed.
Once I had a nightmare that I turned into Bella. I woke up screaming.
Nice article!
You know something…I’m not agree with you! You know why…Because you are saying something that isn’t true! Well, I know that life is not like love stories but we (twilight fans) have the right to dream a little! The fact that you dont like the book…isnt our problem (other people) so you dont have the need to spend hours writing about something you dont like! Is irrelevant! Or waste your time reading something about the book! if you dont like at first…you wont like the nexts! I know that There are so much stupids girls that fall in love with a perfect boy that only exists in stories but there are people that like fiction stories about vampires for example! That have the interest to spend time reading book that they like! Like normal people! Like the same way YOU spend your time in yours favorites books! So…dont waste your time in such stupid things like this! Is just an inmature method to free yours disagrees! Publishing it…is NOT a good way!
What’s a really lame disney show that’s still funny? Like Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Not Hannah Montana. Spare me.
OR THAT’S SO RAVEN [already seen it]
Sorry for using this like a forum
Your main point seems rather pointless. I cannot conceive how this can be construed as sexist merely because a girl is depressed because I guy whom she loves goes away.
Do you not think that girls/women should or can have such a strong emotional attachment that they just might experience some kind of constrained grief when the boy/man they love leaves their lives? Your turning those kinds of genuine emotions that happen to real people into some kind of power play between the sexes is just plain sickening. Honestly I think you have a very warped viewpoint on male/female relations.
Besides, how many times is it shown in cultural productions how dejected and “zombie-like” men get when their girlfriends leave them–often to the point of killing themselves? Well….is that sexist too then?
Your argument, I’m sorry to say, is throughly absurd–and just plain wrong. This does NOT make the story sexist in the least.
Fact: there wouldn’t be a world war going on over Twilight if the Twi-lovers would just stop talking once in a while about their favorite book- or even better, try not to kill us for having different opinions. However, because the mania never ends, Twi-haters seek out their own lot, just as Twi-lovers seek out theirs. You’re allowed to love the book, you’re allowed to hate the book, you’re allowed to express your opinion either way. Every once in a while you are also allowed to change the subject, not preach, and accept that while it may not apply to you, there are still some people in the world whose brains absorb every drop of fiction they read.
Dude keep your own opinions to yourself. I think Sheldon is right. What the hell is the main point of it. The Twilight series is totally awesome. Kellan Rice, you have no taste in what-so-ever. It may suck to you, but you know what. Keep your mouth shut for all of the Twilight lovers sake. We Twilight-lovers can’t help but be addicted to the series. It’s probably just too good for you to even read. Of all my entire life, I’ve never been able to read books because they were boring and meaningless. Until I heard about Twilight, I started reading. What you said was wrong Kellan. Your opinion offended to probably Stephenie Meyer and all of the lovers. You may hate, but please keep your opinion to yourself for god’s sake. We girls may obssess over it but we can’t help it. It’s just way too good. So Kellan Rice, if you hate the book so much, keep the opinion down to a minimum. Or go talk to a dog about it!!!!!!!!
Again, I really find it sad that most of the Twilight fans can hardly spell properly. But at least it’s easy to tell who’s for Twilight and who isn’t.
Just check for spelling mistakes. I know, not all of them are like that, but it’s the majority, so sorry if I offended anyone. Just saying what I think. Or, you could always just look for the ones crammed with insults, but hardly any reasons as to why Twilight is worth reading.
Twilight is badly written, Bella’s an idiot, Edward is an abusive, overprotective moron, the characters hardly develop at all, the plot is stupid, the books are sexist, and everything about it just annoying. For those who say it’s got intesting vocab- Uh, yeah. Because I really didn’t know what the word “incandescent” means.
And I really didn’t need to read five pages of how Edward is so “perfect”, so beautiful, and on and on….
It’s an absolutely pathetic excuse for a book.
And to Linda, above me, uh, ever hear of the First Amendment? It’s called Freedom of Speech. Might sound familiar, seeing as Kellan Rice is exercising that particular freedom.
Books are not boring and meaningless.
I’ve actually read Twilight, and for a while, my opinion was neutral. But now I’ve decided that’s not worth reading, or even talking about, because it’s not good, and not worth obsessing over.
No one has to keep their opinion to themself, so sorry if you don’t like it. It’s not “just way too good” not to obsess over it.
It seems like all the Twilight fans are too hard headed to actually listen to reason, which is sad, because I’m sure there are at least a few intelligent fans out there.
As all of the twilight lovers have said, it’s just a book. Yeah. And we should be able to dissect a book all we want. Isn’t that what we’re taught to do in English?
And currently in English, all the books that I’ve been reading have been pretty sexist. But that’s because they were written in the time period when Edward was actually human. And I feel that with a modern book, we shouldn’t even be having to discuss whether it’s sexist or not! We didn’t ever have to do that with The Princess Diaries, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or any other popular books today.
And I agree with Marissa. Anti-Twilighters are perfectly allowed to share their opinions. You’re being hypocritical. You have all those Twilight fan sites, sharing your opinions, that Anti-Twilighters don’t agree with. And you might say that they don’t have to read the sites, or the books. Well you don’t have to read this article if you don’t like it. Go on, continue in blissful ignorance.
And I do have to admit, though, it is kind of hard for a human to defend herself from fully fledged vampires… but couldn’t some of the female vampires be stronger? And the two really strong female characters (Leah and Victoria) are portrayed as bitchy and evil, and are generally disliked. So, does that mean that if you’re a strong female, you’re a cold-hearted, dislikable bitch? If you’re a girl, you have to be helpless to be liked?
And you might say I’m reading a little bit too much into this. I suppose this is true. But did Stephanie Meyer not notice this? Did she not read into her own novel? I suppose I do forgive her, personally, as this is her first novel, and I do know that a person’s writing grows better with practice, and so far, Mrs. Meyer hasn’t had all that much experience writing. But, I do think that the book does give off these vibes to me, whether Meyer meant it or not.
And, also, I do think that the book is a bit inappropriate for the age range it hits. Yes, teenagers are perfectly able to handle the more sexual content, it’s not that foreign to them. But the twelve year olds reading this may not be old enough, and their parents may not want them reading this.
I had a friend who had to skirt around her mother to read the series, because her mother banned them, on the grounds that the content was too mature. And this friend was fifteen years old.
But I’m really talking about the really young kids who read the books and watch the movie. I was talking to my little sister the other day, and she said her friends saw the movie. And we’re not talking preteens. We’re talking fourth graders. Nine-year olds. Frankly, I was appalled.
And then I was glancing at my sister’s Scholastic magazine (for those of you unfamiliar with this, it’s a catalog given out in schools selling books for elementary schoolers), and in the back, they had Twilight. And then I thought of the sex scene in the fourth book, and my mouth dropped. Little third, fourth, fifth graders reading that? It’s disgusting, really. I was glad there was a warning saying some content was unsuitable for young children, but it hardly did anything to console me.
In seventh grade, for a book report, I read a book called Lovely Bones, that focused on the raping of a twelve year old, and how her family heals. It scarred me forever. I still shudder to think of it. It was scary. And I don’t want something like that to happen to young people reading the books- though Twilight doesn’t deal with rape.
But, Twilight does have the messages that have been mentioned and repeated so many times on this page. And unlike teens, most of whom know better, younger kids are very much more impressionable. And I don’t want them growing up with very messed up ideals. Even though you don’t want to admit it, Twilighters, some people reading Twilight are young enough that they don’t know better.
I personally don’t want my little sisters reading this series until they’re older, and understand these things a bit better. And I perfectly understand all the mothers who feel the same way. Don’t judge me for wanting the best for my sisters.
[…] http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/ […]
Jesus i love you, writer of the article.
Want some good vampire movie? more REALISTIC (I hate Stephenie Meyer with a passion because she’s playing God with vampires; they’re practically unkillable…) vampires, try Underworld. Get into it while you can because the 3rd movie comes out this month somewhere.
I have read Twilight when it wasn’t ‘popular’ and put into a movie; it really wasn’t all that great because it was extremely slow. And boring. And sparkl-WHAT THE HELL VAMPIRES SPARKLE Also, I actually found New Moon was Slightly better because of Jacob/Bella; that’s the only thing that kept me reading until the last 200 pages. Eclipse? Breaking dawn? Psh. No.
Even the more cheesy movies are better than this pile of shit ‘saga’ what the fuck, seriously?
Fright Night was better than the whole four books.
I agree with you Kellen
@ Yuuki-chan.
That must’ve been a horrible dream!
@ Sarah S.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Twilight is the best movie I have EVER seen. And one of the best parts about Twilight is EDWARD. I mean he is so HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I…dont…understand. Thats an interesting way to look at the series, but i dont think that meyer intended it to be perceived that way. Bella was DESPERATELY, unconditionally in LOVE with Edward. She loved him with ALLLLLLL of her heart and just fell apart. It happens with first love that STRONG. I think this girl is reading too much into Meyers books, and people dont follow examples to the extreme like you think they do…give the readers the benefit of the doubt, why dontcha? Personally im in LOVE with the books. I think they tell a great love story. STORY, not real.
I am a fan of Twilight, but I read every word and agreed with you through almost all of it. I was born a Harry Potter girl and that’s the way I’ll die, so to see people comparing the two is rather painful for me to see. I do like Twilight because it is the ultimate relationship with the ultimate man that doesn’t exist. The fan base is simply all these girls and women wanting a perfect relationship. No one is really talking about the plot or the character development.
Oh and the whole Edward abusing her was totally untrue. He got jealous but Bella understood it and in the end their issues were worked out.
Thankyou for coming here able to disagree with us calmly and pleasantly, it is very apperciated.
but i must ask, even though edward was jealous, does it still make it right?? no. no matter how jealous he was, taking the engine out of her car was ten thousand steps too far.
and i’m sure you wouldn’t like that done to you. what really gets me is the twihards see nothing wrong with this beahvior. once again i say this, its all fun and games until it happens to you.
let’s see how you would react if a guy who told you he was just jealous of your friend, so he decided to take the engine from your car or truck, have his siblings kidnap you, thearten to kill himself if you ever left him or died (i’m sorry ladies but that is psychoatic).
and i’m not trying to be mean, or rude as some have told me, i’m just here to debate with those who like the series and to twilighters who are able to talk to the anti’s respectively by not throwing out insults at every chance they get.
once more, i would like to say thankyou to those who were able to do just what we asked.
Look everyone is allowed to have an opinion and thats fine.
But what your doing Kellen Is Crucifing the books, The Readers and Fans and Above all Stephine Myer.
Hate it all you want but you fail to understand is that people can understand the difference of Fiction and Real Life.
And for all your It’s sexist stuff its rubbish. Bella doesnt need a Edward or Jacob helping her and protecting her every 10 seconds.
Matter of fact all you haters there is nothing wrong with the books there are no abusive relationships no sexist crap no but i do agree that when Jacob kisses bella the 1st time that is very wrong but she asks him to kiss her before the battle with victoria and the new borns so that he’ll come back to her.
The point of the months being written in New Moon is that you cant really write alot about someone who has bcome basically a zombie. I believ the Meyer wrote new moon very well with the way she had bella become a zombie and eventually become normal again after she spends time with Jacob and realizes that she loves him too. Though Edward wanting to die because he thought that bella was dead was a little melodramatic i think meyer did that to prove that edward loved Bella above everything even his own life
I will admit that Edward did get a bit Psycho With the whole Jacob Black thing (im a guy and that just makes us look bad im i right guys and girls) but they do sort it all out and Jacob and Edward do become friends in Breaking Dawn. All that aside eclipse was fantastic and it sucked me in form start to finish. The Fight between Edward and Victoria was very well written.
Breaking Dawn. Freakin Awsome!!! The dividing into the 3 Books (Bella, Jacob then Bella again) was a brilliant idea. allowing us to see the worst of part of the story (i mean bellas pregnancy) through Jacobs eyes was a amazing idea. The 3rd part of the book is very well done allowing us to finally see it through the eyes of a vampire. The ending. what can i say. Stephine Meyer has proved that she can finish a phenomanal saga with out failing in the ending as alot of writers do.
Everyone is entitled to their oipinion but please we can be civilised about it. So try to get your veiw across with swearing and being abuvise towards others.
^ To Aaron:
It’s called learning the English language, and until you utilize it properly, please don’t talk and/or express yourself freely.
I so agree with your review!! when i saw Twilight for the 1st time, it was in english (and as i’m french i did not understand every single word; gosh i was so lucky!). So at 1st, I thought the movie was rather good for a teenmovie!
But yesterday’s night I saw it in french!! I’m still laughing!!! what the hell!?!? “The lion fell in love with the lamb”?! it’s so cheesy, I had tears of laugh, and my friend as well!!
I’ve ordered the books last week and i think that was a mistake! if the books are as cheesy as the movie, i’m gonna regret my money a lot!!
as long as the twihards can get that we have our own opinions about the series then we might be just fine. and we are not crucifying the fans. where did you get that?? why is it all alright for twihards to call us names and insult us but we can’t talk about a book we don’t like?? why are your opinions more important than ours, so important, infact, that we can’t say anything bad about the book, or the author in fear of “Hurting” her feelings??
nothing wrong you with the books you say?? hmmm.. i still don’t see how no one can see nothing wrong with edward’s behavior. there is no excuse. i’m sorry but again its all the twilighters see is colors and rainbows when it comes to this book. i still think
not only that, i sure you noticed a lot of girls mentioning how they want an edward and how normal boys don’t measure up to the perfect fictional edward.
once again you say its fiction but the twilighters think they are justified in finding an edward or a jacob, as if they can walk down the street to either if those two boys houses.
its like we are lesser than the twihards, as beings.
that one about bella not needing edward aned jacob made me chuckle. okay lets see, what did she do after edward left?? she became a zombie, not reaching out to try and get out of her depression, nor trying to hang out with friends. how did she start to come out of her catatonic state?? she went and clung to jacob instead.
so not only can she not function without a guy but she needs to cling to someone else to get back to being normal, and not only that, but then she falls inlove with him. and then she starts to do crazy stunts just to hear edwards voice in her head.
so her not needing them for every step she takes isn’t cutting it.
ny friend once said, “that if bella loved edward so much then she shouldn’t to have fallen in love with jacob”, i guess that means edward wasn’t all of that and a bag of chips because to fall in love with someone else after all that claiming her undying love for him she falls in love with jacob. so edward wasn’t all she wanted obviously, he was missing something that she found in jacob, a personality in my opinion. edward might as well have been a girl with all of his drama queen episodes.
i do see why she would fall in love with jacob who was written as a fun person, but since he got screwed over with imprinting demon spawn, basicly the left overs, he lost his appeal.
coming to our the next issuse, pedophilia.
jacob will become one once reneesme turns seven. i don’t care how much smeyer tells us she’ll be full grown around that age, which doesn’t make sense. how can she be emotionally a 17 year old when she is seven? how can she grow so fast even though they say vampires don’t age?? so shouldn’t bella have been pregnant for several years?? reenesme should have developed slowly in her womb. but of course since bella is a mary-sue everythings has to be just right for her.
she didn’t even have to worry about her bloodlust either, even though jasper had been a vampire long before her and yet he still is having problems with controlling his hunger and then when bella was turned, she told jasper he was ugly since he had scars on his face and wasn’t perfect like the other cullens. i can see why jasper resents.
and whats up with the baby commucnicating that fast?? bella got everything she wanted, and a baby who can communicate with her when she needs something. bella didn’t have to go through raiseing a kid, all she did was go and have sex with edward while her daughter was being raised by another woman and the girl’s future husband.
i know its smeyers story an she can write what she wants, but even what she’s spouting doesn’t make sense.
many have said, “jacob isn’t a pedophile since it isn’t sexual at that age”. the fact still remains that jacob will eventually be looking at the seven year old like a lover would. and to add some more craziness to the mess, jacob is basicly raising her along with rosalie. that girl will be having so major problems.
can you imagine one day waking up and your “uncle” being all touchy feely with you?? i wouldn’t be surprised if reenseme trys to kill her self within the same week of turning 17( 7 yearsold ), or atleast run away from home (far far away).
can you guys really say that there isn’t a problem with that?? i mean seriously, you don’t see the horrificness of it??
would you want your daughter’s surrgote uncle to have a realtionship with your seven year old daughter??
personally i would attempt to kill him and then i would pack up and leave town with my family. trying to get away from the pedophile that now wanted my daughter sexually.
and the whole, “he can be what ever reenseme ask him to be, so it isn’t sexual”
didn’t you remember reading sam’s take on that?? that an imprintee is there to ensure the sirvival of offsprings?? or that part, ” who can refuse all the love and devotion of that person who imprinted on you”?
an imprintee is the imprinter’s mate. so i really don’t see jacob wanting to keep it casual.
anyways i just went on a long rant so if you will excuse i will need to end this.
Aaron, though I respect your opinion, I have to disagree.
First of all, the ending in Breaking Dawn left me empty. They were going to start an epic fight, all epicness included, and then it’s just: “Hey, you know what? I forgot what we were fighting about! Have a happy life, and ttyl!” that’s my loose definition of the ending. Same with The Host, which I had to drag my eyeballs through in a month time because after every chapter I felt the need to take a painkiller and then go jogging to revive my muscles. The Host, obviously, was a happy ending, and it shows Smeyer simly prefers to keep her young fanbase happy instead of the mature ones. (Or the mature ones who love sweet endings.)
Equus, I agree, Renesmee x Jacob is wrong. And twifans are defending it by saying it doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship, but please note that Edward called Jacob his SON. No father calls anyone their son (except his real son, of course!) unless they’re doing his daughter. And I don’t know about Smeyer’s dad, but someone like Edward… uh… I don’t see him giving his daughter away like that without snapping Jacob’s legs, and maybe castrating him. Edward is protective, but I failed to see that in Breaking Dawn. Come to think of it, Bella’s reaction was more plausible.
True, fiction is fiction, but they’re not supposed to send the wrong messages to teens and below. I’ve read about a girl who said she was now more comfortable with pedophiles and stalkers, and even murder because of Twilight. I’m not joking, I actually read that on an online journal. You cannot possibly tell me that’s healthy in any way.
@ Aaron
Kellen Rice is crucifying the book- and Meyer’s obvious lack of character development, but I’m not seeing you or any other Twilighter nailed to anything thus far.
The point is, we have every right to express our hatred of the books and mock them, just like Twilighter have the right to rant about how hot Edward is and how the relationship is ‘sooooo sweet!’ Sure, have your guilty pleasures. When has someone ever told you specifically: “Don’t read Twilight because…”? Well, comapre it to the million times anti-Twilighters were told to read or re-read the stupid series because our opinions are apparently not normal.
@ Artie
‘Twas indeed.
And to all you fans who incourage us to ‘keep our opinions to ourselves’ and then proceed to babble on about how wonderful Twilight is and how we all should burn in eternal hell for bashing it:
YOU GODDAMN HYPOCRITES.
hahahahahaha
ur so funny!!!!
wat a funny joke
if u dnt like twilight then dont write about it or read it….
dnt been mean to stephenie meyer she did a great job and i dont see any of u writing a 1# selling book
its a love story like romeo and juliet lyk the forbidden fruit type thing
i do agree dat sum people get too obsessed but so dats ther chose…
its jst a book oh and a movie….
and i do say the movie was a disapointment but hey they tried and it was a low budget movie
and i dnt c u getting angry at the harry potter fans their just as obsessed over that book
Have you noticed the raving Twilight fans always say ‘I SAW Twilight’, and not ‘I read it’?
Regarding the crudely written message by Jess – Harry Potter fans weren’t that obsessed, except when Deathly Hallows came out, and I’m ashamed to say all these fans were lined up in wizard and witch’s clothing. The News Lady said, “And it’s a great day for Muggles,” and I just died on the couch.
Harry Potter fans will mostly respect your opinions and not throw a book at you if you don’t agree with the fact that ‘Twilight is the best book ever’ [snort].
I will admit there are extremists in every group. Terrorism has no religion ;]
Don’t you dare compare Twilight to Romeo and Juliet
COME ON. Apparently it was loosely based on Shakespeare’s play, but ew.
Stephenie Meyer apparently based a lot of her books on classics, which she did no justice. Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, I cannot go on.
Okay I’m gonna go do my reading assignments [Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. Pretty good] and badger people other than you.
Ciao!
P.S: ‘Keep your opinion to yourself, Kellen Rice’? She’s entertaining us. And it’s called the First Amendment.
Keep YOUR opinion of keeping opinions to yourself TO YOURSELF.
That MAKES SENSE IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT!
once again, romeo and juilet isn’t about a romance, its about a tragedy.
i had always thought romeo and juliet was in love( thats what i heard all through the years) but that was until i read it last year.
considering how fast romeo fell in love with juliet goes to show that he was more in lust if anything.and not only that but he fell in love the same day he professed his love to another woman and was rejected because she didn’t want him, so his ego was hurt.
he was in love with rosaline that day and by next morning he was in love with juilet, and was professing his dieing love to her instead. thats when i decided i disliked romeo because he seemed so horrible.
and thats why i don’t believe edward and bella re in love because they fell in love too fast and claming their love for one another in about three weeks time.
i doubt anyone who want to have a relatioship like romeo and juliet.
I am 12 i hate the twilight. All my friends want to be like Bella, oh of coarse this won’t send any messeges. Keyed in on the heavy sarcasm? Smeyer makes herself Bella with no faults. By doing so she creates a Mary Sue. Yes i did just bash Smeyer. Well all those fangirls bashed Kellan. The diffrence? Kellan knows who what she is talking about.
I am disgusted in how many people love the book.
I love Jane Austen. I can’t see why Smeyer who claims to love her would disgrace feminsim.
I also wonder why she would write a fantasy about herself when she claims to be happy?
I actually like the Twilight series and that’s although I know that it might be a bit … traditional. And to the people who complain about Bella’s being depressive in New Moon: you can be glad if you don’t feel like that when you’re lovesick. But I felt like that and I hadn’t read the book then. Stephenie Meyer described it absolutely perfect and it’s not at all overdone. And you don’t have to complain about my English, it’s not my mother tongue.
And it’s annoying me that you’re all like, “OMG Stephenie Meyer tried to copy Romeo and Juliet OMG I’m going to die!!!!!111″. Have you ever thought about Shakespeare not being the first author to write a tragic love story?
@ Vanessa:
Have you ever thought about Twilight not being tragic? Because it’s not.
We’re not all like, as you so eloquently put it: “OMG Stephenie Meyer tried to copy Romeo and Juliet OMG I’m going to die!!!!!111″ Shakespeare is so much better than SM ever wishes she could be.
Maybe you should read some of the above comments, like ones Equus put up? Those explain why Twilight sucks, and they explain thoroughly.
Not everyone just says “TWILIGHT SUCKS!” Some of us actually have REASONS. Oooh.
To the Twihaters: Rock on!
To the Twitards: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?!
@ Vanessa, i am glad i don’t feel like bella anymore.
i once did,( but i knew him longer than edward and bella ever knew eachother x 2) and it took me a little over a year to get over him. with my friends help and my best friend( my mom) i was able to let him go. i
‘m ashamed i let myself drop so low as i was did over a guy. i pledge to never again let that happen to me. and it was during that time that i had read new moon, and i still wasn’t like that. bella just took it to a whole another level. i mean being a zombie for 4 months?? i was still living, still going out with friends, still doing what i always do. read, play video games, hang out with my brother, joke with my parents, love my family. i still skeived off doing my homework until the last minute, i even still looked ahead to my future for when i got out of loveing him. and here i am.
i was trying to move on in my life and not dwell on, “Oh he’s not with me anymorrrrreee!!” no, i was still strong about it, i wasn’t going to let him see me as if he was able to break me down. i have pride that is hard to surpress.
i’m just glad to say that i’m out of that part of my life and i’m in to another that is making me happy and being more careful about guys who are not worth it.
so yeah, i’m glad i’m not like bella anymore. =)
I read the first book when it first came out. A friend of my recommended it to me and she was a very well read person so I thought if she liked it it must be good. Well I found out I didn’t really like it. I though it was ok but not something I really liked. After I read the second book I started to hate the series. I never noticed the sexism in the books though so I was very surprised when I read that in your article.
I don’t think this is the worst book ever and no one should read it. I think just because I don’t like a book doesn’t mean its a bad book. It just wasn’t for me. And thats ok.
Although I am afraid to tell anyone that I didn’t like those books. I think thats what I hate most about the series. Its fans…
Nana, no need to be afraid to tell people you don’t like the series, its your opinion and they can’t do anything to change it.
but thats alright, if you don’t want to say anything. with all the violence the twilighters have done to antis ,its understandable you should feel that way.
I usually TRY to be very open minded to what people have to say, no matter how it is being criticized. But it was hard to do so with this article. What bothered me the most about this article, is the mild insults that were given to the people that actually liked the Twilight Saga. The article made some good points, if you were analyzing a book that wasn’t meant to be read for nothing other than personal enjoyment, but the way you did it is what put people off. If you didn’t like the books at all, you should state it along with your reasons. But he title “Twilight sucks and not in a good way” was completely unnecessary. I’m starting to think that you completely “trashed” this book just to get more reaction from people, in order to get more popularity.
You guys are so funny.
All of you.
Especially the Twilighters
The neurtrals, well, what are you doing here? Trying to keep the peace or ruin our fun?
Come on, you guys. You can’t tell me this isn’t fun.
I need popcorn. Popcorn is a fun food.
“I’m starting to think that you completely “trashed†this book just to get more reaction from people, in order to get more popularity.”
Are you saying that a journalist wrote a controversial piece to get noticed? *Gasp*
How dare they! How dare anyone. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Um, yeah, trying to get noticed. More readers equals more sponsers,
But I really hate the FriendFinder.com ad. I’m sure friendfinder is awesome, but the little video is really weird. Plus the girl is wearing a pink/flesh coloured bikini and it looks wrong.
Yes I realise I went onto a random babble by the end of my previous comment.
Leave me alone I’m tired.
THANK YOU SO MUCH I HATE HOW EVERYONE LOVES THIS JUNK
Twilighters: Yes, it’s a book. It’s a book we happen to hate. We have just as much right to bash it as you do to defend it. Quit leaving comments that boil down to OMG YOU SUCK GO TO HELL!!!! and please take the time to actually DEFEND YOUR POSITION.
As for the series….the writing is terrible, the characterization is worse, and whether you believe in God or not, the morals suck. Bella needs to grow a spine and get out of both abusive relationships before it’s too late.
By the way, what’s the big deal with vampires? They suck blood. Big deal. Mosquitoes do that. If it’s monsters I want, I prefer zombies and werewolves.
Edit: After reading some of the comments from the fans, I have come to the conclusion that it’s okay for a fan to express her opinion, but it’s not okay for an anti to do the same thing.
How would you fans like it if we were the majority and we did the same thing? If there were more antis than fans and whenever a fan started to talk about why she loved the books, a million antis jumped down her throat and said something like “It’s just a book! If you like it that doesn’t mean you have to talk about it! YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHY YOU LIKED IT NOW GO DIE IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE!!!!”
It’s comments like this that make intelligent debate impossible.
@ Danielle, that pretty much sums it up.
@ Myhtie, your blunt post made me laugh.
@ Jess, I don’t speak chat very fluently, I do apologize.
Actually, I’ve dealt with a Twilight fan who offered to teach me how to type in chatspeak, since I type whole sentences. No, really. No, REALLY. If this is the future generation, we’re all fucking DOOMED.
Twilight biggest fan or something like that made me laugh soooooo much, I mean, saying ‘but what us twilight fans see is something more…something you will probally never see unless you werent a moron.’ So people that don’t like certain stuff are morons just because others like it. For example, if a lot of people liked certain food but I didn’t, then I’m a moron, and not only that, also a negative person for giving reasons of why I don’t like that food.
And this’ oh and another thing…..PLEASE STOP DISSING ME … ITS JUST PATHETIC AND STUPID AND IT WILL JUST INFURIATE ME EVEN MORE TO CLOSE THIS SITE DOWN…(I DONT KNOW HOW BUT I WILL DO WHAT I CAN)’ Wow, you’re a tyrant, an oppressor, aren’t you? Ever heard or read the human rights?
Let me remind you Article 19: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expressionâ€
‘Freedom of opinion’, you’re being very hypocrite with yourselves, and this goes to all the fans that came here and only used crude words; don’t tell that there are things you don’t like, well, then you must also be morons for not liking them, don’t you? Get my point?
There have been really good fans that said ‘well, this is your opinion, I still like twilight because of this and this and this’ and that is absolutely ok, that shows their maturity and ability to receive other opinions. People can still like the book, for example; I like twilight because of Alice, but believe me, since the first book I could see everything Rice wrote in this article (It’s more what I dislike than what I like about the book, maybe I read it because of Alice and because I want to know how everything I read turns out), and it’s worrisome that some people let the bad things of the book pass as if they were nothing, worst, as it was a ‘indication of love’. If you like twilight, well, do it, it’s your choice, but at least be more critic with everything that arrives to you.
And for those who says ‘Don’t like, don’t read’ please, grow up, be more consequent with everything you do and say. Every book, every film, tv show or whatever is for consumption pass by a series of critics; every book in the entire planet gets good and bad critics, this is not the first book to pass trough a lot of bad ones but you shouldn’t take that personal, it means the authors is doing something wrong and that is why the critics exists. Learn to respect others thought just like you want your to be respected.
Twilight fans should be more critical like Katie, or Ex-Twilighter, who likes the books but also sees the flaws, and accept them as that. To Rebecca, I would say that the flaw on the characters, is that they’re almost perfect, that’s the flaw. The article never said about wanting perfect characters, but we want believable characters. The first flaw is Bella as when she gets to school and almost every male wants her… FAIL
BTW, maybe people compares Twilight and Harry Potter because of their ‘best- seller’ status, they have that and the age range similarity, but not the story, so it’s good to point this out. Don’t because a rant because of the comparison.
From my p.o.v, Twilight is just an easy reading book which is good to entertain when you’re bored and find nothing else to do. But it’s not good enough to be praised. Not in writing style and not in the evolution of the characters, both are poor at certain level. But I think the main problem, is that this story passed by an editorial. I’ve read a hell lot of fan fictions (not twilight fanfics) that has the same writing level, the same way of narrative and it’s done by mostly by teen girls. My point is that this girls writes stories with similar level all by themselves, without any help, and Twilight main flaw is that being a published book, it seems like it has never ever been reviewed by the editors themselves. In other words, it seems like a story without editors, with no refinement and no work on it. The book seems like a spur-of-the-moment thing.
And again, to ‘twilight biggest fan’ or something along those lines, how can you say ‘i suspect your one of those †i-will-never-back-down-because-im-a-psycho-loony-who-thinks-im-right-all-the-time †kinda people.’ To another one here? God, do you see yourselve?
And just like Victoria said ‘To tell you the truth, I’ve seen better stories on fanfiction.net.’
I — I think I love you. ;0;
@ Andrea: Amen, sister!
Yeah…I think the only reason Twilight and HP are compared is because they’re both bestsellers, both fantasy, and both written by single mothers who are now swimming in cash. The similarities sort of end there, though. Tell a Harry Potter fan that you hated the series, and nine times out of ten, they will say “Really? How come?” Twilight fans, on the other hand….I admit that some of them are perfectly grounded and secure in their fan status. Tell them you hated the books and they will politely ask you why. But all you have to do is look at some of the comments on this article to see what the rest are like.
To all Twihards: I have nothing against you personally. None of us antis do. You want to like a book that we think is a steaming pile of crap (figuratively speaking), go ahead. Just don’t get mad at us because we think Twilight is a steaming pile of crap, okay? There are people out there who think Harry Potter is evil; I don’t get mad at them for that. Their perception doesn’t change the fact that I like what I like, and the same is true here.
What difference does our hating Twilight make to you? Honestly. We’re not telling you that you can’t read those books. We might tell you that reading them may not be good for you (mostly because of the whole abusive-relationships-are-idealized-because-the-abuser-is-HOT thing) and we will DEFINITELY mock them. Why should you care? You like what you like, and unless we present a really good argument that hits home, nothing we say will change that. The same holds true for us.
I realize I probably rambled a bit, and I’m sorry. I just wanted to tell you that you’re free to like Twilight, and articles like this one aren’t meant to mock YOU. They’re meant to mock the books. So stop taking it so personally.
I appreciate the review. It was very well written. I will admit the Twilight Saga is my guilty pleasure. I agree with 99%. I don’t know if someone has already reviewed about this or not because I didn’t read the ones before mine because I don’t have the time to. I’ll just say one thing. Bella being “plain,” but wanted by five guys, I can understand that. Forks is a small town. The people in it have known each other since pratically birth. Bella being new to town would make people interested in her. Bella and Edward’s relationship is abnormal. I can understand Bella refusing to want to go to college because she wants to stay with Edward. It’s hard to explain, but imagine being so much in love with someone that they are all you think about. The idea of growing older than they are, like four years, especially for women would not be ideal. Granted I did not like the whole Jacob force-kissing her, I can somewhat understand why he did that too. He’s a sixteen/seventeen year old boy, who fell in love with a girl who didn’t return the feelings. He knew that if she were to be with Edward, then he would lose her. In his mind kissing her might have been able to help her see that Edward wasn’t for her, but that he was for her. And Breaking Dawn was HORRIBLE. I love the Twilight Saga, even though it is completely cheasy with the whole damsel in distress thing. I’m a teen girl who is more independent that most 30 year olds, but I think the fact that I’m reading a book where the guy doesn’t put himself first keeps the hope that maybe not all the guys that are in my town are selfish and that if I start to fall for someone who I’m in a relationship with, then they will be there to take care of me when I need them. I think Breaking Dawn was a horrible ending to a guilty pleasure series. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to, I can’t think of the word, “attack” your review, because the points you are are extremely good and I agree with 99% of them. I’m just trying to put out there the points that Stephenie Meyer was most likely to get across. Also, I’m sorry if the grammer or spelling of my review is horrible. I just become lazy when it comes to commenting on something. I admire the work you put into this article. You are a great writer. Thanks for the review.
It doesnt matter that you ‘antis’ think that the series are ‘steaming pile of crap’ ….the series are still ridiculously popular… I guess…you’ll just.. have to suck it up… wont cha! =D
Or you can waste more time of your life posting more contradicting comments!!!
HAHA.
And Rafal H:
I have so much fun ruining other peoples fun!!!! And hey! It gave you something to make fun of HUH?
Good JOB!!!
Next time try to keep the rambling down just a little bit. Being tired is no excuse.
This is, no joke, probably the rudest article I’ve read in a REALLY long time. I mean, well written, and you make very valid points. But it is so silly. The fact that Bella plays a damsel in distress? What is WRONG WITH THAT? People are different. And not everyone can be the heroic kind of girl. This is a BOOK, sweetheart. Stephenie Meyer wasn’t trying to “influence young people”. She was writing a book. Whether people who read it are influenced by it, well that’s up to them, isn’t it? The point of reading it is that its a nice story. Its a good read. Not too complicated, and very sweet. The love Edward and Bella have is something you don’t see. its like watching a sappy movie. You know that’s never going to happen, but its nice to dream. That’s why people read it. Stop looking so deep into things and just ENJOY it. Its so much easier to have a negative outlook and bring things down than it is to just enjoy things. Its a nice series and I feel as if a lot more people would have liked it had it not gotten SO popular. People need to stop being so judgemental and just respect other people’s opinion. Its okay if you don’t like it, but you don’t need to be RUDE about it. We don’t need for you to dissect it and see whats wrong with it. Goodness, and now you’re gonna tell me you want world peace? Pff, mkay. Can’t have that without respect, can we?
YOU don’t need to get so mad at us for having an opinion. We don’t get mad at you for having one–until, of course, you get mad at us for sharing our opinions, in which case the war is ON.
We LIKE overanalyzing the Twilight series–perhaps just as much as you like reading it. We let you have your fun; now let us have ours.
Oh…My…God..I love you! As much as I read Twilight (before it git really popular, mind you) It was and is nothing more than a guilty pleasure to me. People are so obsessed with it, and it makes me ill. It’s bad for you to let your life revolve around anything, whether that be a person(like Bella and Edward) or a silly work of fiction. I should know, I’ve been in this kind of relationship, where I was unhealthily attached to someone. I lost a lot of friends because of it. Only now do I look back and see how much I could have really screwed myself over. This book gives so many bad ideas to impressionable kids. Seriously. As an added note Twihards need to seriously consider writing down an actual…I don’t know, well reasoned argument, instead of freaking out like the teenagers they are and proving the rest of us right…
ok you know what! go screw yourself ok! just because you did not like the novel doesnt mean you have to go out of your way to insault it like that!! its a book for crying out loud people! get over it!! its not the next president of the united states ITS A FUCKING BOOK!!!! and i happen to enjoy it! and i dont think new moon is sending a message saying that we all should go into a suicidal stage! god! the book was saying how miserble she was without him! OMG! get over it you fucking people! you dont like the book big effin deal! go read another one then! if you dont like it thats your problem! this is getting annoying! could you please people just get over it! its A BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just read this article, and, having read the books, feel the overwhelming need to contribute to the comments on this page.
On a side note, I have to say how disturbing it is that almost every comment on this article is poorly written, and that is especially annoying as most of them are supposed to be criticizing some other writer’s work.
But that’s just me.
Okay, now I have read the Twilight books, and I have seen the Twilight movie. I’m usually on the edge of whether or not I like them, but I certainly see why modern-day pop culture lapped them right up. Most of you didn’t bother with this, which is okay, but don’t judge right away- hear me out.
The books make the main characters out to be “Mary-” and “Gary-Sues” because they are supposed to be written from the point of view from someone who loves them, obviously. Which the young pre-teens of America would undoubtedly understand because the majority of them have been in a puppy-love situation.
What the books present to these girls is a new situation, a new romantic setup. Not one where the guy is an asshole, or the girl is gorgeous, but one where they are both a little weird and a little shy, and everyone acknowledges that they are a little out there. Edward isn’t supposed to be perfect, and neither is Bella, but they are supposed to be perfect for each other. Just like every other famous piece of work, the characters have flaws. Bella is too much of a people-pleaser. Edward is too worrying. Young girls like these characters not because they read the books and think “I’m going to be just like Bella. I think I’ll read Wuthering Heights and turn down the popular guy at school for the weird one”. They read them and think “I hope I’m someone’s Bella someday”. (Note: This is not how I feel, but I do have a 12 year-old sister…)
They’re not thinking “I hope someone climbs through my window to watch me sleep and destroys my car”, they think “I hope some guy somewhere wants me to keep myself safe and thinks I should be saved sometimes”.
I may not agree with any of it, I may not want this kind of relationship for myself or for anyone else, but lets face it, a book series like this is a lot better than most of the shit they put on TV.
At least they’re reading.
P.s. Harry Potter definitely kicks the shit out of Twilight. =]
Madison and I are on the same page.
And she’s grammatically sound. Woot!
Shea Mo, if the twilight fans explainend their points of views just like you did, I’m sure the twilight haters wouldn’t feel that there was a problems with the first one (you knew how to defend your points). The thing is that the way the fans reacts, makes people feel that there is something wrong; also, you have a point of view that isn’ that shared by the Twilight fanatics as I’ve seen. From what I read and see, they find the abussive thing, a ‘thing of protección, of love’ which isn’t ok.
I think that what most worries the haters, or at least me (I’m not hater, I just think the book is bad in a lot of ways), is that there are poeple taking the wrong things of the book as examples, or sees them the wrong way. Most of the readers, are teens, people in the crucial age for the personality definition. And you must know that we people,are like sponges, who absorbs a lot of things, especially between our birth thill our late teens, when our personalities, our identities develops.
I love this article. You pointed out just about everything that was wrong with the book, exept for maybe that Meyer almost constantly breaks the willing suspension of disbelief.
But to be honest, I think the book itself isn’t the reason I detest it. I’ve read worse and have just put it aside, where as whenever I see a copy of twilight I actually want to burn it (and the idea of me wanting to destroy a book is almost unthinkable).
No, what I hate is the fans. Not as people, but as young girls who are being so naive and losing great relationships, not even trying to attract decent men who can love and work with you, and/or going with people who are no good for them because ‘he reminds me of Edward.’
It saddens me when people act like that, especially when I’ve lost friends because we don’t share the want of an edward (I don’t use the term ‘perfect man’ because I do believe that there is someone out there who will be perfect for you) or when people question my choice of men because my boyfriend doesn’t look or act like Edward. Well, of course he doesn’t. He acts like someone I can get along and forge a lasting relationship with.
And as for those of you who say “oh, it’s just a book,’ I agree. However, a book is one of the most powerful weapons one can hold. by doing so, you are capable of shaping the minds of the general population by emerging them in your (or at least the characters’, but usually theirs is based on yours) mindset. Something is going to rub off. One way or another, we are all influenced by everything around us.
C’mon people, haters and lover alike. Does this really matter? In twenty years, will we still be thinking about this stuff? Honestly.
I very much enjoyed reading this article! It made some wonderful points, as did some of the people who responded to it. I do think, however, that it is a bit silly for everyone to get so worked up over a book series. While friendly debate is often fun to partake in, it looses its charm when people begin acting nastily towards one another. I’m all for expressing opinions, but there is no reason to be mean in the process.
On a more amusing note (to myself at least), did anyone else notice that the “hardcore” Twilight fans are the only ones posting in all caps and making use of crude grammar?
I was glad to hear my girlfriend tell me that after reading the first book she threw the thought of finishing the series away, not for sexist or feminist reasons, but simply because it’s not well written, original, nor creative. While not every female protagonist needs to be a hard-footed bra-burning feminist, all protagonists, male and female, find their own weaknesses; those that are deep and complex tend to make the best characters, the best stories, and the best victories, while this female protagonist seemed simply devoid of any such characteristics. I really think it should be out of want for a better protagonist, better plot, better written story that people should realize the worthless quality of these books, not out of need for an iron chested amazon heroine.
You. Are. My. Hero!
Thank GAWD there’s someone out there who thinks this book isn’t all the hype. I swear to God, I was so close in making a debate or giving a speech or something about how Twilight isn’t all that good. Seeing girls walking around with a copy of New Moon or Breaking Dawn craddled in their arms was enough to make me go up to them and say, “Seriously, WHY!?”
Which brings me to a certain point. Every single person who has read Twilight at my school–and I’m not joking, this is 100% true–I asked, “Why do you find this book so good? What makes it a great read?” and there response is, “I don’t know.”
I don’t know? I don’t know?! Then why are you reading it!?
Others, like the people on other websites I’ve read, reply, “Because its soooooo good. It’s just a great read.”
Okay, WHY is it a great read?
My uncle is all the way with me, too. My godmother has read the book and insisted that my uncle should read it also. Honestly, there’s nothing to look forward to in Twilight. People like a main character they could look up to as a role model. What does Bella do that’s SO great? Let’s see:
1) Ditches her friends from a girls night out to hang-out with Edward, whom, I’m pretty sure, claims that she didn’t like him in the beginning
2) Refuses a couple of dates from Mike because “(maybe) Edward might have a crush on me! :3″
3) Goes along with Edward’s liking to her when they’ve kinda only known each other for about three weeks. (three weeks and they were already making-out)
Yeah, Bella is a total role model to all young girls. Ditch your friends to find the sexy guy you’ve been crushing on but tends to avoid you. Find a really cute guy and dig him for information on your crush. Make-out with him when you still don’t know much about him. Don’t find it creepy that he sneeks into your room and watches you sleep.
Totally pathetic. Come on Twilight fans. I see you at school getting straight A’s and running for class president. You guys are obviously smart. See through the series and find it utterly ridiculous.
Oh, and another point, when Edward shows Bella his true self in the sunlight and claiming he’s a monster. Um, last time I checked, monsters don’t go all “sparkle-sparkle”.
Thank You so much for this article. You have voiced what thousands…no millions of people have wanted to say and haven’t! My whole class who are Twilight maniacs look at me like I am mad because i detest the series but i feel great knowing there sanity has not left the reader. Twilight sucks not only because of the style of writing but because it IS as you put it unhealthy. I can’t believe they are making the movies. *rolls eyes in pain and disgust*
you mentioned that the twilight series makes you sick…this article makes me sick.
1st, let me say that anyone who agrees with this is an over-the-top feminist. men and women are meant to be in relationships, sometimes those relationships take wrong turns, men can be a**holes, but then again, so can women. by suggesting that edward/jacob are abusive to bella, you suggest that men in general are always going to the the negative part of an abusive relationship, and therefore, women are always the vulnerable piece to a relationship. thats quite anti-feminist, isnt it?
2nd, maybe you haven’t actually considered this idea, but, it IS possible, don’t you think, that the so-called “abusive boyfriend” edward cullen, is actually being over-protective, and as much as i love his character, unbelievably over-protective, because he cares for bella, and wants her to be safe, not for his sake, not just so he can be happy, but because he really, truly cares about her, and wants her to be safe and happy? i do realize that, nowadays, guys can be the opposite of that. Many guys, especially teenage guys, are just looking for one-night stands, taking advantage of insecure girls, and only wanting sex. But did any of you bother to think that that is the opposite of the situation in this book ?
AND, teenage girls are not THAT impressionable, or irresponsible, or stupid, i should know, i am one. We are not going to look at New Moon, for instance, and decide that it’s okay to fall apart and be overly reckless when a boy leaves you. Edward wasn’t just a teenage crush though, he was Bella’s true love. being rather quiet and insecure like Bella, i can see why she might fall apart, here was a guy who she loved more than anything in the world, who she let her guard down with (something that’s difficult to do when you’re insecure), who she really thought loved her back, who said he didn’t want her anymore, who left her, who said she was “no good for him”, she’s stuck thinking, now here’s someone who i really truly care for and love, who just left me, didn’t care that it was hurting me, and isn’t coming back, and though i haven’t felt anything like that, i do know, from experience, that when someone you really love and care about hurts you like that, you don’t recover overnight, it’s traumatizing, and makes you incredibly insecure, AND, before Alice came back in New Moon, we DID see Bella begin to heal. She realized that she couldn’t dwell on Edward, she decided that maybe she should try to be happy with Jacob.
Also, though people believe Bella was anti-feminist to forgive Edward immediately at the end of New Moon, there was nothing to forgive. Edward left her because he realized she was in danger being with him and wanted her to, once again (SHOCKER !), be safe and happy.
I will agree that Jacob, who is likeable to an extent in New Moon, is almost despicable in Eclipse. Though I do, at this point, finally realize that he was simply trying to do whatever he could to save Bella, who he really loved (so hard to believe, right ? how could i guy POSSIBLY actually just want what’s best for a girl? they’re all abusive and selfish right ?), from a future he believed to be worse than death.
Believe me, I am in NO way justifying him practically molesting Bella. and I agree that his constant sarcasm and meanness is disgusting.
But back to my main point: Bella is in NO way anti-feminist, or selfish or a damsel in distress, or whatever criticism you want to make. Firstly, part of the entertaining part of the story is the fact that she seems to have appallingly bad luck, and though that kind of awful luck is unrealistic, Twilight is about vampires and werewolves, it isn’t exactly supposed to be realistic.
Bella is a selfless character, who, can, at points, come across as anti-feminist, because she puts other people, sometimes guys, before herself.
The one thing that really irritates me though, is that all twilight haters seem so eager to characterize Bella and Edward’s relationship as unrealistic or abusive.
Is it so hard to wrap your head around true love? Now I’m an intensely logical person. I’m not about to start with some “the one” crap about meeting your one true soulmate in the world and they complete you and whatever, which is basically like imprinting for werewolves in Twilight when you think about it, but whatever. And although I dont believe in “the one” or whatever, i do believe in true love. It IS possible to love another person that intensely, to acknowledge their flaws, but look past those flaws and love them anyway. And Bella does do that. She realizes that Edward IS overprotective, and overreacts much of the time, but she doesn’t care. She loves him anyway. And that whole, anti-feminist, giving up her whole life for him idea is an important part of the story. Similar to the way she acknowledges Edward’s flaw, but looks past it, in Eclipse, she finally realizes how much she IS giving up by becoming a vampire, but she still wants to, because she loves Edward THAT much.
In the society we live in today, this does send a message to young readers, and a positive one:
1. It sends the message that you don’t need to be gorgeous, or popular, or athletic, or have big boobs, or a perfect body, in order to be happy. Bella wasn’t any of that. She was plain, quiet and shy, the pretty much polar opposite of what teenage girls strive to be, but she ended up happy anyway, a guy fell in love with her anyway, which is what so many teenage girls worry about. And, if you read Midnight Sun, you realize that Edward fell in love with Bella because she was brave and interesting and kind and selfless, and an all-around good person. The fact that he saw her as unbelievably beautiful, was simply an unexpected bonus. Teenage girls strive to be the opposite of Bella nowadays. They think that they need to be pretty and popular to get the guy, to be successful, to live happily ever after. They don’t care if they’re bitchy, because they don’t think that’s important. This story discourages shallowness in young girls.
2. In society today, girls are pressured to always look good, becuase that’s all that teenage guys care about, right? they just want sex, they just want something nice to look at, they dont want relationships. That’s what many teenage girls believe. And many times, it can be true. Twilight shows young girls that that isn’t always the case. Teenage girls can have a good relationship, teenage girls can be loved, not just for their bodies. Twilight gives teenage girls hope. It discourages the shallow image that teenage girls strive to be. It lessens the insecurity that teenage girls have about always having to look perfect.
Lastly, I would like to say that, when i scanned briefly through these comments, many were well-written and intelligent, many went over the top, swearing and stereo-typing twilight fans as a bunch of shallow, stupid teenagers who are unable to be logical and look at the story objectively. That is rude and absolutely untrue. I have no trouble admitting that I am a teenage girl who is thoroughly obsessed with Twilight. But I am also a logical, intelligent, 15-year-old, who isn’t simply going to say “you suck, twilight’s amazing!” or say “AHHHHH! your a liar!!!” I do not know any of the people who commented here, nor do I know the woman who wrote this article. I am not judging you as people, or as a group, based on your one opinion, and i’m sorry if i ever come across that way. But I am making a legitimate, well-written (relatively, i’ve written better things, but give me a break it’s after midnight) argument here, and I do NOT, in any way, appreciate being stereo-typed.
In conclusion, twilight is a story that can be cheesy sometimes, but that intelligent, teenage girls find inspiring.
First, I just want to thank SheaMo for saying that she’s on the same page as me.
No offense to almost all of the reviewers, but this is an unfair argument. Most, if not all, Twilight lovers are teenage girls, including myself. Many of the Twilight haters (sorry I couldn’t think of another word) are adults who have been to college, and use proper english day to day. Granted, all of us have been taking English classes since grade school, but this article is attacking one of the most obsessed about books of the entire year. The fans of Twilight are die-hard fans. We know the books backwards and forwards. Plus, it is a known fact that teenage girls are emotional especially when it comes to something that they “love” being criticize.
To Andrea
I do not find the abusive part of Edward and Bella’s relationship okay. I was abused by my father for 13 years of my life and I’m only 16. I went through hell and back and through it again to get out. But I understand why so many people find it okay. Today’s society is becoming more different than it was 20 years ago. Back then, men were men, they were the protectors, the providers, they took on responsibility. Today, men aren’t like that. Watch any court show on TV and one in every two (Yes, I can say this because I don’t have cable and when I come home that is all that is on and I refuse to watch Soap Operas) cases it will be about a woman giving a man a loan or rent or chid support and the man saying “it was a gift.” It’s considered okay today for men to have two, three, four “baby mamas.” The abuse in Edward and Bella’s relationship is of course going to be misinturpreted by teen girls because we have never expierence what true love is. We’re too young. I repeat what I said before, the idea and hope that maybe there is that one guy out there who doesn’t care what you look like, who doesn’t expect you to pay half when you’re on a date, and who truly loves you and cares about you so much that he would do ANYTHING (like kidnapping you) to keep you safe from harm while he wasn’t there. And I know that my comment right there will draw up some sort of feminism remark. That is why the abuse, which in my terms is harmless compared to what he could do, in the relationship is interpreted as “love.”
Shouldn’t we be happy that the youth of America is reading? I mean granted Twilight is not the most educational or philosophical book right now, but it is a proven fact that reading, no matter what it is, help improve grades. It especially helps with the PSAT, ACT, and SAT comprehension sections. I have always been an avid reader and I considered myself well read. Twilight is a fictional love story that a person reads for the hell of it. People usually don’t read teen romance novels for the deeper meaning.
I’m a big fan of Twilight. I own all four books (read them multiple times) and saw the movie. I will admit though that there are parts of the book that I do not agree with and I’m glad that we live in a society where we are allowed to have these types of disscusions, showing opposing viewpoints. I’ve learned a lot about the different views on Twilight.
Just a word of advice for Twilight Lovers, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE, check your spelling and grammer. It completely discredites your argument if you don’t. It will only make you sound ignorant and immature without it.
By the way, this is fun.
Also, I proofed and check my spelling. I’m sorry if I missed something. If I did and you noticed it, tell me. I’m trying to move out of using my habitual AIM writing and switch to writing like I would for a paper.
Hope everyone is having a good day.
Maddison
Maddison :anti’s are another word to use but thats not the point.
Maggie, i beg to differ on the part about twilight having a positive message for our society.
care to explain why bella treated every one like crap if they weren’t the cullens?? can you tell me why all bella talked about we’re looks?? if it wasn’t so much about looks there would actually be a mediocore story (as long as some other author writes it).
bella admitted it herself during the story. she mentioned how even if her brain wouldn’t work in other words be intelligent and smart, that atleast she’d be pretty when she was turned into a vampire. and then she said several times throughout the books that she wanted to become a vampire in order to be good enough for edward.
how does that send a good message to teenage girls who have issuses about their looks?? its saying that its okay to change yourself to be pretty. its okay to let a guy change up your look so you can be worthy of him??
and how is bella not having any friends because she has no life outside of edward send a positive message??
this whole series was spent on looks, if looks didn’t matter so much, bella sure didn’t prove it. All she had to say was how beautiful everyone (the cullens) is. notice how she treated her supposed friends.
they weren’t like the cullens so they weren’t worth her time.
she didn’t know how to have another life outside of edward, and thats a major problem. the way she reacted was not proving her wonderful unconditional love for edward, it just proved she was flipping crazy. “oh i’m going to jump off a cliff to hear my love that left me voice!” no. just no. that doesn’t send anything good to girls who are impressionable. and yes teenagers are impressionable.
with all the peer pressure to try drugs or have sex or be popular, this book isn’t helping out society it just fell in line with the other shallow ones within the media.
it doesn’t take a lot to get twilight. its not a hard read. Smeyer kept reusing her words over in all her books like she was still an ammature writer. she should have been 12 y.o. then i would understand why she writes they way she does.
she explains the cullens looks enough for her to seem like a pre-teen girl just hit by hormones and finding out there are boys out there and that they don’t have cooties. and that they surprisingly are other things to do then share cookies with one another.
anyways, i would like to say congradulations to you for keeping your cool and by not insulting us like most of the comments on here.
Equus; i will agree with you on two points:
stephenie meyer does reuse certain words over and over again in the series, and she does go over the top in talking about how beautiful Edward is.
however, Bella didn’t treat everyone like crap if they weren’t the Cullens. Firstly, she got along great with pretty much all the werewolves. And, she mentioned over and over again in the series how much she cared about her parents and worried they would miss her. I will agree that she didn’t have much in the way of human friends, but at the beginning of Twilight, she mentions that she doesn’t relate well to people in general. however, she does hang out with Angela on occasion, and treats her well, and most other people, she doesn’t treat like crap.
also, at one point in eclipse, when she’s talking to jacob and he’s trying to understand how she loves edward, he thinks that she’s just with him bc he’s good-looking and rich, and she responds that she rather he weren’t, but she would still love him because he’s the most decent person she’s met.
i will agree that she frequently talks about how the beauty of turning into a vampire is such a positive thing, but, she’s a teenage girl! even worse, she’s an insecure teenage girl with a boyfriend/husband who is absolutely gorgeous. while her concern about her looks may not necessarily send the best message to young girls, it’s accurate.
and it does absolutely NOT say that it’s okay to change yourself to be better looking:
1. the main reason she’s becoming a vampire is so she can be with edward forever (and because she doesn’t want him to kill himself when she dies) and because he won’t be so much better than her, ( i couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it.) not in terms of looks necessarily but in terms of the fact that she’s vulnerable and he constantly has to take care of her, and she doesn’t want to be taken care of, becuase she’s used to being the caretaker.
2. Edward doesn’t care about her perfected looks. he thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world when she was still human. THAT does send a positive message to teenage girls. part of the reason teenage girls care so much about looks is for themselves, they feel better about themselves when they feel they look good, however, that’s only a small part, the main reason is so other people, mainly teenage guys, will think they look good. edward’s indifference to bella’s improved looks says that teenage girls don’t have to try so hard. for example, before twilight i would wake up every morning before school, blow-dry my hair, straighten it, put on bronzer, blush, liquid liner, pencil liner, eyeshadow, mascara, and lipgloss.
after twilight, i realized what’s the big deal? i realized i don’t need to wear tons of makeup and have perfect hair to be pretty. Now i straighten my hair maybe once a week and the only makeup i wear is sometimes a little eyeliner, and mascara. Twilight has showed young girls that we don’t need to try so hard, and that looks are NOT the most important thing.
Also, like Maddison said, Twilight is not Shakespeare, or Jane Austen, or whatever, we get that. But it is a major improvement from teen girls either not reading at all, or reading The Clique series, or The A-list series, or Gossip Girl, which focus 100% on cliques, looks, designers, popularity, if you think that Twilight sends a negative message to young girls, those books send the message that popularity, overly expensive clothing and looks are all that count, Twilight shows otherwise; Bella is the opposite of those characters, she drives a Chevy truck from the 1950’s, she rarely blow-drys her hair, she never wears makeup (except when Alice and Rosalie force her too, like her wedding), and she isn’t popular, shes quiet and insecure, but she still gets an amazing guy to fall in love with her–and i’m not just calling him amazing because he’s gorgeous like a lot of twilight fans, im calling him amazing because he’s decent, he has his priorities in order (and looks are at the bottom of that list), and he loves Bella–and she still ends up happy in the end.
also, i want to add that there are a ton of people who are saying edward’s abusive because he won’t let Bella see Jacob; 1) he’s trying to keep her safe, though part of it is about his biased against werewolves, he admits that. 2) my mom is currently reading eclipse and she made a good point; Bella loves Edward, she wants to become a vampire to be with him forever. Jacob, being a werewolf, is Edward’s natural enemy, though Edward is overreacting, she shouldn’t be sneaking off to see Jacob and telling him all these secrets about Edward’s family in the first place! thats not edward being abusive, it’s bella not being loyal to the guy she’s in love with.
and Equus; i left i big long comment responding to what you said like an hour ago and it hasn’t shown up, i hope it does because it was wicked long and i have no intention of rewriting it.
Maggie-
Oh yes, because as we all know, werewolves are EXACTLY like humans when it comes to the friends department. Besides, it’s quite well established that Jacob is incredibly good-looking as well.
And I don’t care that she has no human friends. If for some reason people didn’t like her in such a small school, that’s fine. However, it’s more the fact that she right away rejects most of the people who were friendly to her calling them “Chess-club geeks” and like “a golden retriever” before she even knew them and refuses to move that label. That crosses over from “Not good with people” into “judgmental bitch”
“He’s the most decent person she’s met” Oh, that /obviously/ tells us what she loves about Edward. How does she define decent? Unhappy? A bipolar, over-protective self-centered emo kid who needs to vindicate his existence with a girl? Because if you strip away his looks, money, and age, that’s what you have. If there was really anything else to Edward, please enlighten me. All four books have done nothing to point out what was so great about Edward other than that he was going to be an immortal living rock that sparkles in the sun.
Okay, you say that you do a lot less in the morning? Well, has this done anything at all to impact your love life? I’m not saying that that kind of vanity is a good thing, but were you so blind to real life that you didn’t notice that make-up and beauty could only do so much, or that the couples that weren’t put together because of money or looks seemed to last longer? If so, then I’d say your problems are somewhat deeper than just liking a book that has brainwashed half of the girls in my class.
Oh yes, Bella drives a truck from the ’50’s that she only will take at first because it’s all there is. But she never blow-dries her hair! Well, so does every girl at my school who has a genuine personality (and many of them ARE dating). You claim she isn’t popular? Well then, how do you explain getting into a large groups on the very first day? I’m almost popular, and it took me upwards of a week. And Edward is totally decent and doesn’t care about looks, right? Then why does he love Bella? Really. Tell me one trait-just one trait- that he’s attracted to.
I… I can’t believe you’re saying that about the abuse. It doesn’t matter the situation. Forcibly stopping contact with your girlfriend’s childhood friend and watching her sleep is a federal offence.
Just for a moment, pretend that your boyfriend was afraid your long-time friend would hurt you because he likes to collect swords or guns. Would that vindicate him taking the engine from your car? Would you keep him?
And how would you feel if you woke up in the middle of the night to find him looming over you. Would you let it go? I know I’d be after a restraining order.
The thing that’s frightening me most is the girls on here…”I don’t care about that feminist shit crap”? WHAT?
Girls these days don’t care if they have equal rights? Don’t want the vote? Want their worth to only be based on wife/mother ability?
FEMINIST IS NOT A DIRTY WORD.
It’s about relative equality between the sexes, not “OMG MEN MUST DIE”, not “DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU”. It’s the idea that a woman is worth as much as a man, that a woman is able to think for herself, is able to support herself.
Any woman who doesn’t believe in that can get back in the kitchen and made me a sammich! And get off the internet, you’ve got housework to do!
Side note: Why does everyone ignore the part where EDWARD REMOVES PART OF HER CAR? That’s a RED FLAG on an abuser. Just sayin’.
Also, to those saying that teenagers are not easily influenced by books, read the comments. The frightening stupidity on here says otherwise.
Ooooh my gosh lol @ all the rabid little preteens who come in and cuss out the author of this article. You all are asking her why she cares so much, and if she doesn’t like the books why read them, and OMG WHY SO MEEEEEEN Well, she read books she didn’t like to write an OPINION article, you read her OPINION article and are now bitching about her OPINION. Woowww, you all are acting like her opinion is some kind of moral offense. But what else can you possibly expect from the same generation that brought us OMGPENGUINOFDOOM!!!111? Personally, I think twilight is an alright casual read but does have a TON of disgusting messages. And sorry, but a vampire that fucking SPARKLES is fucking stupid. All of the characters suck and are barley any more developed at the end of the series than at the beginning. All you stupid people who act like not liking Twilight is an insult to your honor or something need to GTFO.
Last, because I just remembered and I’m sick of seeing “BUT HE LOVES HER!” and “HE’S JUST PROTECTIVE!”
Some Red Flags for an Abusive relationship.
#1. Is Your Other Very Jealous?
This is the most important red flag; a jealous person by definition is controlling and will not give you personal space or respect your boundaries. Generally the prospects are not good.
#2. Does He/She Check Up On You?
Does the person call you on your cell phone a lot? Are you expected to check in often? Does your other need to know where you are all the time? Do you feel roped in a bit by the other person? This is a personal space, boundary and control issue. Deal with it; it will only get worse. (Or do they have you kidnapped?)
#4. Is The Relationship Equal?
Do you see your friends as much as the friends of your other? Do you do the things you like, as much as your other likes? Do you share chores equally? Do both of you do the driving? If it is unequal now, it will only get worse. Work on getting it equal early on.
Again, parts taken out of car? Sorry, no real man I’d date would dare do that. Isolation is a HUGE red flag of abuser, fantasy or no.
Sazz, you make an excellant point. The actions of Edward are abusive and wrong, but again young girls don’t know that. All they think is that what he is doing is “out of love.” You can’t blame them for their ignorance.
Rae:
teenagers do that. they judge and categorize people. live with it. (and since when is being like a golden retriever a bad thing?) she didn’t treat them badly because of those judgements, she simply made them.
it doesn’t matter whether or not her idea of him is true or not. that’s what she thinks of him. and he cares about her.
also, his unhappiness doesn’t make him a bad person.
he’s overprotective because he cares about her and wants her to be safe (which obviosuly means he’s not self-centered)
and the bi-polar comment is ignorant, rude, and altogether uncalled for. my brother has a mood disorder that is in many ways similar to bi-polar, but he is smart and funny and fun and kind. first of all if you knew anything about bi-polar, you would know that edward isn’t, and even if he were, that wouldn’t make him a bad person.
no, it hasn’t done anything to impact my love life, i have stopped being late for school 90% of the time though, and i’m not stupid, i realize that love is not based on looks, but like i said, I WAS INSECURE, i didn’t wear makeup and try to look good so i would fall in love, i did it to get noticed, because making a good impression on people is important to me.
1. bella loves her truck
2. an excerpt from midnight sun:
“Through her conversations with Mike, I was able to add the most important quality to my list, the most revealing of them all, as simple as it was rare. Bella was good. All the other things that added up to that whole–kind and self-effacing and unselfish and loving and brave–she was good through and through.”
now before someone starts saying she’s an awful person and he’s wrong or whatever, im not saying that that excerpt is true, im just saying that that’s what edward thinks and that’s why he loves her.
I will agree with you on one point, the watching her sleep i found a little creepy. but I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’d file a restraining order against someone I loved, he didn’t go to her house to watch her sleep to see her undressed, or to rape her, or molest her or attack her. Clearly, he didn’t do any of that because she was unaware he was there for two months.
And she saw Jacob off and on when she spent the summers in Forks, it’s not like they were bffs for 10 years. And yes, Edward went over the top by taking Bella’s truck apart, but, if my boyfriend, who I loved, wanted me to stay away from my friend, because he was worried I would get hurt, because he truly cared about my safety, I would. I’m not saying I wouldn’t be pissed if he went as far as to have his sister kidnap me for a weekend but I would listen to him.
Sazz: don’t call all the teenagers who commented here stupid; you don’t know us and that’s just rude. And, not to brag, but I just went to a private school for the last three years, where I was in all accelerated classes and made high honors 75% of the time, I’m just SO frighteningly stupid, aren’t I?
And no, I have no problem with that kind of feminism, but Edward doesn’t treat Bella as his subordinate, there is no aspect of anti-feminism in that relationship.
Oh for God’s sake everyone stop over-analyzing every single piece of Edward and Bella’s relationship!
And before anyone says that I’m just some teenager saying “AHHH! your a liar, it’s not true Twilight rules!” I could sit here and write a fourth long message debating people saying Edward is abusive, but I have a life.
Maggie:
I don’t care if you answer or not. I just hate leaving things open-ended.
Maybe the teens you know. The group of friends I hang out with give people a chance first. But maybe that comes with having an IQ with three digits. And sure, if you don’t count never giving two great guys a fair shot as treating them badly. Your thoughts on a person affect how you act towards them.
I understand that being unhappy doesn’t make you a bad person, but it makes you a lot less fun to be with. One of the most important parts of a relationship is being able to have fun with each other. When was the last time you really enjoyed being around someone who was upset?
“He’s over-protective because he wants her to be safe” Brilliant. However, there’s a reason I said ‘OVER-protective’ and not ‘understandingly protective because of the circumstances.’ She was in no real danger except for the end of Eclipse. Besides, even if she was, doesn’t Edward understand how important it is to let her think through her situation. He basically turns her into a caged bird, forcing her to go with whatever he wants her to do. If he was really a caring individual, he’d realize that he was almost dehumanizing her by keeping her from doing anything.
Right, because you’ve never used the words “gay” “retarded” “OCD” or “ADD” to describe a person when they were none of them. But if this has really offended you, fine, I’ll switch my comment. Edward is not bi-polar in any use of the word. Instead, his moods are less predictable than those of a pregnant woman. Better?
Okay, so putting so much gunk on your face that-
No, I’m not even going to finish that. But the basic point was this: if you need to read a horrendously written book with utterly unbelievable characters to become secure in your self-image… there’s something wrong there. Don’t most people have things called ‘friends’ that do that?
1. Not for a long time, she doesn’t.
2. …There are so many things wrong with that. And I thought Edward was supposed to be smart. But I think you’ve cleared up why they act the way they do: They’re both blind to the other’s true nature. But then that adds to the problem: Meyer has glorified naive idiocy.
But here’s the question: COULD you love them after they betrayed your trust be neither asking to watch nor telling you about it? I know I couldn’t.
If I remember correctly, he got really into ‘protecting’ Bella after New Moon-After Jacob had become close to Bella.
The problem is that no matter the circumstances, it’s a major red flag. Let’s pretend Edward began to beat Bella since werewolves wouldn’t kill someone with bruises (remember, we’re just pretending here, so don’t ask about the situation). Would you still be okay with that? Because in the real world, those two things are both part of abuse, and will often happen together.
That’s the real problem I have with this series, it sends subliminal messages that this kind of behavior is okay. I’m not worried that the writing is crap and the characters are stupid. I’m worried about how I see girls getting into abusive relationships thinking, “Oh, he’s just worried about me.” That’s the reason I analyze their relationship so much. Because of how many people it affects. If I can show just one person that this kind of relationship is wrong, that’ll be enough.
Maggie, i’m sorry to hear that. about you now realizing that makeup, hair, clothes, and being popular matter. i sometimes forget others weren’t raised like me. i was always taught it wasn’t all about makeup in my house. i listened to my mom other then listening to the media.
but i’m glad you have understood looks aren’t everything.
responding to the points you used
1. i still don’t see why edward loves bella, in midnight sun the reason this whole thing started was because he couldn’t read her mind. so she was a mystery to him. he didn’t have a reason why as to following her around so his excuse was that he just wanted to protect her. do you really think edward would’ve have given bella the time of day if he could read her mind??that part about bella staying with edward to become a vampire just so he wouldn’t kill himself. that sounds like guilt to me. edward guilted her into getting what he wants. he does that alot. a very manipulative bast$%d thats what he is.
her mind was just like all the other girls who were thinking of being romantically interested in him. but edward being the douche he is, shoots those girls down without any remorse. the way he thought of humans was disgusting.he is so full of himself. he believes vampires are more superior to humans. he said so in such a way that i was offended.
if you ask me being a vampire would be a nightmare. living for all eternity? giving up my family and friends?? gving up having kids?? no i wouldn’t do it even if it was the only way to live. which comes to something else about bella not having to sacrafice anything. she got all those things on the list, even a baby that will be full grown at seven. she didn’t have to struggle, she just got everything handed to her in the end.
but thats not relevant to your post too much, so onward.
2. alright edward doesn’t think looks are everything. but explain the cullens. why do all of them have to look like models?? why do all of them have to be the creepy/ popular kids?? why do they have to so “perfect”?? bella’s looks obviously aren’t just average. the way the guys reacted to her including a teacher ( she was so “average” looking that she pulled a grown middle aged teacher ladies and gentleman) and by what edward said in midnight sun about how nearl every guy in school were particly panting for bella swan ( meaning beautiful swan).
why does bella judge people without meeting them or knowing them?? tell me why she treated mike and eric and everyone different then the cullens??why??? and then she ignored everyone being nice to her in a very snooty way.
as Rae said how she reacted to how she treated everyone else versus how she treated edward.
and angela was the only person edward approved of. cause edward said that her other friends were shallow and weren’t rea friends to her. like she couldn’t make that decision for herself, but of course what edward approves of must be right! (that was dripping with sarcasm right there)
but she wouldn’t even keep up her friendship with angela by eclipse she didn’t have time for anyone else but edward and jacob since she was afraid edward would leave again so she decided to cling to him. thats why she reacted so strongly to the thought of edward leaving to go feed.
i never did see the good in edward, he was too cheesy for one.
and your making excuses for edwards behavior. but you got something to say about what jacob does. i guess we should say jacob was trying to save her from living that hellish life as a vampire.
edward could have waited at the border for her and let her go see her friend( the only friend she really has) it wasn’t like the werewolves couldn’t protect her. but she had to sneak away to see jacob and when she got back edward was waiting there looking like he was about to whoop her a%$.
i seriously thought he was about to beat her. but he just says go in the house bella. and you know that chick ran like the devil was on her heels into the house.
what ever edward says goes…
which leads us to the kidnapping from alice.i don’t care how much he loves me but having me kidnapped so he would have someone keep an eye on me. he would be begging to break up with by the time i was done with him.
I will keep my ramblings, thank you very much. They keep me happy.
Just so you know I am super pissed right now since the dentist put some sort of springs in my braces so NOW MY TEETH ARE KILLING ME.
Example of average Twilight fan answer:
OMG!!!!! Ffs, jsut keep ur opinon 2 urself. I respct ur opinon but its rong. Edward isnt abusive he just luvs bella nd hes protective. you just jelus coz u nevr hd a boifrend!!!!!!!!!!! GET OVER IT ND GET A LIFE!!!!!
Example of the Twilight fans that still have control over a tiny portion of their brain:
Look, I realise that Twilight isn’t the best book ever. It’s just really good, and it’s my guilty pleasure. Keep your opinions to yourself, though we ‘respect’ them. Get over it and do your homework.
These are basically the same thing
Example of the anti-Twilighter answer:
Hell yeah, Kellen Rice. To all you Twilighters, get over it. It’s just a terrible piece of literature. If you actually read things other than sparkly vampire ‘fantasy’ novels, then you’d realise this. And learn some grammer. [Grammar? Grammer?]
Example of my answer:
Stephenie Meyer should be arrested for rape of a thesaurus and attempted murder of literature.
Example of smart people answer:
Both of you. Get over it. It’s not that big a deal.
:} I must go O.D on panadol.
STUPID ORTHODONTISTS!
Lolz, thanks for the backup Equus. It looks like you’re a lot better at this than me XD! (sorry, I’m kind of a newb…)
Don’t worry you did good Rae =)
It took getting into several debates with the twilighters to arrive at this point, i’m still learning to debate though, pratice makes perfect (as much as i hate that saying, its true).
oh believe me when i say i must remember to spell check my words lol!
i believe in most of my posts here there is a mistake some where …or two….or several. lol!!
anyways, congradulations on your posts! i hope you continue posting here with us! (as long as the behavior of the rabids don’t anger you or chase you off since they insults us so much)
Equus –
Yeah, I suppose you’ve got most of your aguments down to a science XD (silly twilighters, they always repeat their arguemnts)
lolz, that’s why I type all my comments in word. That manages to get most of them X3
I’ll stay here until the Twilighters stop showing up or I get really, really busy again XD!
i’ll probably be on here until the sims 3 comes out *is excited* when i have my copy i won’t be sited for a while on here (going to be on a sims bienge) so its good that the others are holding down the fort when a twilighter comments.
don’t worry though ladies and gentleman i will be back. even though the twilighters don’t listen and ask the same questions that we already answered over again, i’ll be here (after i get my fix of the sims 3) =)
“If you keep criticizing then you have no life?”
Why, yes. I KNOW I have no life. I perfectly agree with you and am not offended by something I already know. But I do like debates and having my topic known, just like what everyone else on this forum is doing.
First off, I’d like to thank Sazz for all the points she’s made. No matter which way you look at it, Edward is abusive and, in my opinion, a strictly bad boyfriend/husband. The only people who think otherwise (and I’m not saying this as a negative thing or trying to be mean) are HUGE Twilight fans and have put them in Bella’s shoes, falling head-over-heals in L-O-V-E with the so-called extravagant Edward Cullen. Maybe this is true, maybe its not. Just saying.
Think of it this way. Like you’ve probably done already, put yourself in Bella’s shoes. Close your eyes (well, not at the moment or else you won’t be able to read this ^^’) and imagine you’ve just went to live with your dad in the positively gloomy Forks, Washington, going through life as a regular teenager. Then, all of a sudden, a handsome (vampire) boy comes to you and BAM! you’re boyfriend/girlfriend while only knowing each other for say, oh, three weeks, having already shared a make-out session.
Now, I’ve never had a boyfriend before, but I’m pretty sure people wait a LITTLE longer until they’re concidered boyfriend/girlfriend. The only people I know who’ve managed to stir up a relationship in less than three weeks (heck, the shortest I’ve heard was two days!) only last for about two to three months.
Back to the point: So, you’re boyfriend/girlfriend now. Yay, all smiles and sunshine, life is good. But as time goes by–maybe, three days or two days after you’re concidered boyfriend/girlfriend–he tells you he watches you while you’re sleeping. He sneaks into your room, which I’m pretty sure most people leave LOCKED before they go to bed, and watches you sleep. What would you do? Be honest and tell me what would you do if a guy you’ve known for not even a MONTH breaks into your house just to watch you sleep ‘cuz he doesn’t sleep himself? I don’t care if he’s a smoking hot vampire! Being a vampire would probably make me pull out a restraining order faster than the speed of sound! “Oh, it’s because he CARES for her. He LOVES Bella.” Damn, if you were in the situation, you probably wouldn’t say the same thing! I know SMeyer is trying to make Edward seem romantic, but breaking-and-entering is simply not romantic in any way. Unless Bella and Edward have known each other and been going out for at least a year or six months or so, gone on plenty of dates and can easily say “I love you” to one another and are suddenly told not to see each other again, then the idea of Edward breaking into her room to watch her sleep seems more suitable. Its romantic when you’re being kept away from seeing each other when you’ve been together for so long, but its just down right creepy when you’ve only been seeing each other for less than a month.
Okay, so you’ve gotten over the whole “Aww, he breaks into my house and watches me sleep.” thing. You’ve spent time with your childhood friend (the positively sexy Jacob Black ^^) and all of a sudden, you’re car won’t start. Why? Because your so called “lover” took the engine out and forbids you to see him; your close, childhood friend whom you can interact with about as much as you can interact with your boyfriend. Then what would you do? Please, do tell me, ‘cuz if it were me, I’d be fairly mad with my so called “boyfriend” for messing with my car–MY car–just because I’m going to visit my friend. “Oh, he’s just being protective. Its his way of showing he LOVES you dearly.” Uh, I’m sorry, but I think I would’ve broken up with this guy since the breaking-in-my-room-to-watch-me-sleep thing. “Who are you to tell me who I can and can’t see? You have your life and I have my life. I don’t interfer with your life, so don’t interfer with mine. You may not get along with Jacob, but I, in fact, happen to like hanging-out with him. I know you’re trying to protect me, but taking the engine out of my car was going over the line.” The fact that Bella was OKAY with Edward’s actions is just putting her down in the women-have-rights-too catagory. She didn’t stand up and tell Edward about his behavior, she just took it. Wouldn’t you believe so? Wouldn’t you feel (women/girls) like your boyfriend isn’t treating you like a true woman?
If, for some reason, you guys are still together, life starts going okay again. Then, Edward is leaving you! “But, but, but why? What did I do? I can change, I really can!” I’m a teenage girl, so if my boyfriend broke up with me after what seemed like having an unbreakable bond with him for a long time, of course I’d go into depression. I’d be sad, I’d be depressed, but not as long as Bella went through depression. I’d sit in my room, cry my eyes out, shovel gallons of ice-cream and cookie dough in my stomach and then I’ll get over it. I’m not going to let a guy ruin my entire life. Like the famous line says, “There’re other fish in the sea.” Heck, Bella, you have Jacob! He kissed you and you obviously LIKED it and LOVE him. There you go! Wait until your depression subsides and hook up with Jacob because, clearly, you two will seem to have a more stable relationship. Like Rice put in her topic, Jacob/Bella seem more like a relationship that would ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE instead of the once-in-a-blue-moon Romeo and Juliet love-life of Edward/Bella. Yes, I’m aware this is “just a book”. Its not real and all that jazz. I’m just a high school junior putting up her opinion like everyone else because I’m tired of the girls at my school going gaga over a series that, in my opinion, is strictly horrible. Why, oh, why Harry Potter did you have to end? Someone should write a story about the Twilight series brainwashing the entire population and those who aren’t effect should join together to get rid of it. Random, but I’m gonna close this comment seeing as the bell just rang and I need to head on over to break.
Thank you for your time, I bid you adue (sp?).
cilla-chan-
I’m always glad to see new people on our side, but I noticed one thing that you said that would have made your argument seem totally void to a Twilighters.
“Now, I’ve never had a boyfriend before,”
Let me think of a general reply from a Twilighters “But! How cn u know that! youve nevar nown twoo wuvvvvv!” Or maybe even “YOU RAVING FEMINIST BITCH! NO WONDER YOU’VE NEVER DATED! YOU’RE A FUCKING ASSHOLE WHO’S NOW INTERESTED IN ANYTHING BUT HER GODDAMN RIGHTS! I BET THAT ALL THE GUYS AT SCHOOL RUN AWAY FROM YOUR UGLY-ASS FACE! GO SLEEP WITH A WOMAN, YOU BITCH!”
Don’t mention not having a boyfriend unless it becomes important for your argument. Twilighters will usually think that that means you’re a crazy bra-burning feminist and/or a lesbian. Either that or they’ll think you’re such a bitch that it vindicates their opinion that all Antis are naturally unpleasant people. It’s sad that that’s the way they see the world, but it is.
Other than that, you made a lot of sense, and I applaud your efforts!
Hey, I would just like to say a few things while we’re letting a few opinions fly. I REALLY did enjoy the whole Twilight Saga. I can understand how all of you do not like it, but to me, It’s the best book i’ve ever picked up and read. This is a fictional book -may I remind you. You all get the worst idea possible about this. You pick at all the flaws you can. No teenage girl -take it from me- has ever even thought that this was a book about what you’ve stated above. I find it very disturbing that you hated it so much, you wrote an article about it. There’s a lot of people who hate these books because ‘everyone’ loved them, and they just want to hate them for that reason. I think it’s totally unfair, Stephenie Meyer is an amazing author. And by the way, there is another book in the Twilight saga, it’s called ‘Midnight Sun’. Which I am currently reading Stephenie Meyer’s rough draft on the computer. Yeah, i’m not a Twilight fanatic, but I really really, REALLY loved all the books !! Remember, FICTIONAL -therefore it is NOT real, and is NOT sending a message out to girls the ages of 12-17. That’s ridiclous how you turned the books out to be something their completly not. I’m pretty sure all the girls who are obsessed and ‘in love’ with Twilight do not think the way you do. We all see this book as a Vampire love story. These things never happen, so when somebody writes that, and brings it to life in a movie, we go crazy. This is what every girl really wants. No -not a vampire boyfriend, but true love. You see it as danger that Bella would fall in love with a vampire and be risking her life every single second of the day, but really it’s all about love. You might think it’s so overrated and everything, but I really loved it. It’s DEFIANTLY NOT ‘teaching us’ to be anything like that, and go try to find a vampire. All i’m saying is, this book is probably just not for you. We ALL have our likes and dislikes, but it might be a little too much when you say “what’s worse is when few seem to realize it.” And when you also stated this:
“That reckless self-endangerment is okay, so long as it’s to be close to your lover? What a lovely message to send to young women.”
This story is not sending any message to us. And if you love someone, it’s crazy all the things you’ll do for them. When you say how Bella falls ‘in love’ with Jacob Black in the second book after Edward leaves her, do you not understand the emotional wreck she is?
She just lost ‘the love of her life’ He’s defined as her rebound guy. And later on when she actually does think she’s falling for him, things like that DO happen. It’s possible to love more than one person.
VERY possible. I argue this because I just wanted you to know my opinion, I wish you all wouldn’t hate it so much that you want to ‘burn the book, and spit on the book’ There are just things not EVERYONE is going to love.
I hate mushrooms, many people love mushrooms, but I don’t go write an article about it.
Thanks, Kayla.
You are officially awesome, mademoiselle. Join and love the Anti-Twilight club.
And don’t listen to the Twi-hards and fangirls, they’re just pissed that you dissed the ‘BEST BOOK EVAR’ and ‘MOST SPESHUL CHARACTERS’. I for one, think you are awesome.
By the way, (all you Twilight fans) Why are you talking trash to Kellen? These are her OPINIONS, most all you just made a complete fool of yourself. There’s a mature way to handle it, and then there’s the way most all you handled it. That just makes people think “Oh lord, them Twilight books done messed them up in the brain” You’ve got to learn to control yourselves. Gosh! I didn’t like her article too much either, but you’ve got to respect someone’s opinions. SHE posted the article, YOU chose to read it, if you decide to give opinions, learn some maturity. Don’t dog someone out because of what they think. Respect it.
Thanks, Kayla
KAYLA:
I enjoyed reading your opinions and thoughts on the books.
I am also 15, and I just wanted to say, one day I had nothing to do, so I went to the library and picked the book Twilight, one of my friends recommended it to me, just to keep me occupied with something to do while I was usually bored. I read about 153 pages the first night. All I wanted to do was read it. I never wanted to put it down. I realized how addicting it was for me and how much it was taking away from my life. So I only read 30 pages per night. Edward does not torture Bella. You’ve got to remember that Edward is a Vampire, he’s NEVER felt love, he has no idea what love feels like. He meets Bella, and that all cahnges. He FINALLY gets to experince love at last. There were about 3 or 4 things TOTAL that Edward did that you all think is being ABUSIVE. Edward is a vampire, for him to control himself as much as he did around her, was just astounshing! Kudos for him. You all say how Edward took Bellas engine out of her truck, well.. You see that being repeated MANY times. And how he watches her sleep. Obsessive? No. In love. DEFIANTLY. He watches her sleep because, she’s a human that he is despratley in love with. She’s the ONLY one in the world that can keep Edward from listening to her thoughts. That draws him more to her. I never for one second got ‘creeped’ out by this. If you truly understand the meaning of love, and have felt it, you would know why! Bella’s heart beats. Edwards does not. Watching her sleep is one of the most facinasting things. He’s not humas, so his actions and words WONT and are DEFAINTLY ARE NOT going to be the same as ours. Watching her sleep ‘fascinate’s’ him. Let him be, he’s doing NO harm. NONE AT ALL. So if your trying to diss on this book beacuse Edward is ‘abusive’ why don’t you go read “A Child Called It” , then go write a book about that. THAT book actually has abuse in it. I’m sorry, but when that one person posted then “Red Flags” for boyfriends, and how you know if their abusive or not, well, i’m MOST likley sure, it was written for HUMANS. You just CANNOT say “human or not,.. ” NOT fair, one bit.
Your all saying “omg, the Twilighters are all saying he does it out of ‘love.'” Well, really what else is there but the truth? Stephenie Meyer wrote these series the way SHE wanted them to be written. She did an amazing job, by the way. If you just opened your eyes up a little, you would see how amazing these books are. Agree, or disagree, it’s up to you. Doesn’t really matter to me, I’m just one that likes to have BOTH sides out there. Not just one. That’s partically NOT true,
Thanks for letting me vent out on here,
-Rosalie
Hi! I agree with you about the lack of technique. But I think you’ve gone too far. The story is interesting in a certain way and if you look from another point of view, you might see positive points.
I hope you pay a little more attention to the saga and see good points.
And don’t be so hard with your critics ok?
Kisses. :*
Wow, ya’ll are SO opinionated on Twilight, huh?
It’s pretty crazy
Heres some ideas-
Twilight haters; write your opinions in a book, so people don’t start knocking on your door with guns, knives, and spoons ready to kill you. Posting it on the internet will do NO good, just cause problems.. Like how it is now.
Twilight lovers- Read your books, Go get your life back, don’t overly obsesse with Twilight, don’t let peoples thoughts and opinions get to you, brush it off your shoulder, fools.
This is all too crazy, dang.
It’s just Twilght, not the end of the world
And it’s not coming true, just a few damn books.
Who came up with the ‘brillant’ idea of ‘SELLING’ water.
what a fool.
I dont see how u like twilight.
it’s trash trash trash trash trash.
and bologna,
fuck twilight lovers.
who the hell writes a book about vampire love with a human girl ?!
You all got problems, go watch broke back mountain.
find something else to hate on bitch.
Go watch lil pony.
(lets c who writes back to this! )
ahhh,haha
jp.
idkwtf twilight is even about,
just a vampire loving a human,
and shiny sparkley vamps.
WOW -me teeth sparkle, do I get an award ?
call me at 123-you-dumbass.
To both Rosalie and Kayla-
The fact that they’re fictional and that “he’s just doing it because he loves her” matter nothing to me. In fact, I couldn’t care less. What I care about is that like it or not, there are young women out there who are royally screwing up their lives because of Twilight. It doesn’t matter if you’re capable of rising above the influence, just read the comments and you can see how seriously young women take this book.
The fact of the matter is, that there are subliminal messages in absolutely everything, whether the creator intended it or not. Our brains interpret Edward and Bella as real humans, even if it’s not on a conscious level. Because of that, unless these young girls are very strongly encouraged to choose more reasonable role models, they can never be happy. But they’re not getting that. Because everyone is just “Oh, it’s a book” Well you know what, so was “Mein Kampf.” Books, fiction or not, have the power to subconsciously affect people just like it would if you were close friends with the characters.
Read anything about the science of television commercials and other advertising, and I swear that it would support what I’m saying.
Heck, if you want, I could even go into why this sort of thing is a useful survival tool.
Oh, and by the by, don’t act like I don’t know what it’s like to be a teen today. I’m a freshman in high school this year.
Dang, I meant no harm. I was just stating MY opinion, since Kellan decided to state hers.
Anything wrong about that? I doubt it.
Thats just what I believe. It’s not changing.
Thats their choice on who their role models are. I can’t change it any neither can anybody else..
unfortunately kayla you didn’t notice the ages people posted up when they were accussed of being a 40 year old with no life ( thats what the twilighters told us, so if your 40 and you want to get mad get mad at those who made those comments, i for one respect your age as do other people who didn’t say those things)
i’m a teenager, 16 actually, and i’m a girl. i’m a sophmore and i hate the twilight series. it has nothing to do with it being popular, i sure don’t hate it because of that . if we just hated it because of that then we shouldn’t be able to pull as much of evidence up as we do.
i didn’t like it before all this blew up, i never did like bella, i never did like edward, i never did like alice, i never liked emmet, i never liked most of the vampires except for jasper and rosalie (before BD when she couldn’t stand bella either) and the werewolves. i only really liked was leah and i did like jacob but he got screwed over to be with the demon spawn reenesme (or how ever you spell that marysue child’s name)
i hang around teens everyday so i see what twilight has done up close and personal.
its not pretty. this book is influnceing girls who are swayed easily.
and rosalie. excuse us antis for not believing in a fictional unrealistic love.
just because we don’t take examples from a story how love is supposed to be doesn’t mean we don’t know the meaning of love.
so your saying its okay for a vampire to be abusive since the rules of being labeled as an abusive indiviual means you have to be human??
oooooh the excuses we antis have encountered
let’s see how fascinating you find it when you find out a guy in your room, watching you sleep, and following you around for months. let’s see how romantic it is then
open my eyes?? my eyes are very much open which is why am not believing in a fictional relationship.
why do girls want to find their edward?? why are girls wanting to find a fictional character to be with them?? this is just fiction right?? the twilighters have established that in most their post talking about its just fiction or its just a book.
oh really?? a book doesn’t influence people?? we know girls aren’t looking for a vampire, but are looking for a guy like edward. thats influence. this book is influencing girls to look for an edward.
if it wasn’t influence then girls wouldn’t be searching for that since its only a book.
Influence:
the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others:
EX: Twilighters use ‘twilight’ to infleunce their decisions in a relationship so it can be like bella and edwards.
if you ask me, you are being influenced by everything in your life right now. media influences people, tv influence people, books influence peolpe, video games, etc.
i’m not ashamed to say i am influenced to being self assertive like Hermione Granger, intelligent, and to think things through.
she was able to take care of herself without the boys. she was the smartest witch of her age, she saved the guys more than they saved her. now that is something i find to be awesome.
i guess i never liked weak female characters like bella, she doesn’t have a mind of her own, she has no life outside of edward, she ignores what little friends she had, and then she didn’t have the courage to stand up to edward when he does things that isn’t right.
bella was just all around pathetic, hermione would probably try to hex her for acting the way she was and then face palm herself for being a burden on the human race.
Kayla
And I was stating mine: that people who state that Twilight is harmless because it’s fictional need to pay more attention to the world.
Yes, you can change it. I’ll admit that it’s impossible to help everyone, but sometimes people don’t know any better. Sometimes by telling them why what they’re doing is harmful they’ll listen. Sometimes if you show them that there are other ways to be happy than finding your ‘true love’ who acts just like Edward, they’ll take that route instead. And even if it is sometimes, isn’t that enough?
I have nothing against you liking Twilight. Heck, I have nothing against ANYBODY just liking the book. what I DO have a problem with are the people who refuse to do anything with their lives but try to become Bella and those people like you who turn a blind eye to it saying that “it’s just a book”
Darn it, Equus! You beat me to the punch again XD!
Oh well, maybe when I’m your age I’ll get to go first ;P!
You were a Hermione too? That’s pretty cool. Are you like, the twin sister that I’ve always been lied about or something XD?
Just out of curiosity (and to possibly cement the whole ‘twin’ thing) do you happen to write? If so, what kind of things?
Sorry, for the random interrogation. I start to get a little silly after 8:30…
All right;
RAE,
Here’s how it is, Yeah it’s just a book. To me. I have NO clue why ya’ll all are speculating every single problem in Twilight, I really don’t care who wants to be Bella, who wants to be Edward, or who wants to date Edward.
I’m not anything like that. I think it’s pathetic. I was mainly speaking for MOST people like me, who enjoy the series, but aren’t obsessed with it. It’s not sending me a message at all. You can say over and over and OVER again how it influences people, it never once influenced me. Honestly. I thought in the beginning Edward was something, then I realized “He’s a vampire!” But I never wanted to be Bella. It means nothing to me really, and when I say it means nothing to me, I mean the ‘influence’ on it. I just don’t see how you can say Twilight is a book with abuse in it. wtf? I don’t mean to get an attitude, but it’s almost like your trying to change my mind and make me think Twilight is an abusive book that is sending the wrong message.
Maybe some people are influenced to make their relationship like Edward and Bellas. No matter what I say do you honestly think people will listen? Maybe where you are, but NOT down here. You say something, and they get rebellious. It’s 2009, not back in the day.
Why would I want to encourage people that this is sending the wrong message anyway, when they can just enjoy it for what it is. Which – in – my – opinion – ,
Is nothing harmful. I don’t get it. Not at all. I NEVER said the reason why people don’t like it “IS BECAUSE” everyone else likes it, and they wanted to hate it for that reason, but I’m just saying that’s how A LOT of people are now days. I’m 100% aware that doesn’t include everyone. And i’m not one of the people ‘refusing to do anything with my life and stop trying to be Bella’ I personally like her character, I like bella a lot. But I don’t want to be her. I’m perfectly fine with who I am. To be honest, there are WAY more important things than “Twilight influencing ‘wrong’ things” There’s no right or wrong answer to our opinions, I know, I just get a little fusturated when people make a HUGE deal out of a book. Yes, books can influence some people. The people with no lives. How can it influence them? I have no idea in the world! The reason why I say ‘It’s just a book” is because: IT’S JUST A BOOK. I can’t help it if things get carried away, because people have no life, and want to be Bella. I don’t care if their 40 years old. Personally, that’s their fault for letting Twilight take over their lives.
Like I said before, I don’t mean to get an attitude, i’m just one to voice my opinion on things.
So whatever.
..Dang rae, kayla and equss,
ya’ll must be enjoying ya’ll conversation.
After reading these last few Comments above,
i started to think about what rae and kayla were tlakin about,
i kindve think kayla is more right then wrong. she makes a point when she says something about it takin over ppls lives. thats their choice. we cant help it if they decide what they want to do. we can try to lead them in the right direction, but she right, very few ppl these says listen to anythig we say. yes we possible can mak a diff. but you NEVER hear bout the world changing for the ‘good’ i now think that twilight is an ok book. i’ve read the first and little of fourth, but it hasn’t taken over my life, and it wont. it just depends on how people take it. if their lookin for an obsessin, then they got it. i wouldnt necessarily say they dont have lives, becasue obviously they do, they just don’t do much in them. rae and quus, i also agree with you! in some way it can be a bad influence, but you can almost say everything around us is a bad influence, you could take just about anything and argue it to be a bad influence. theres 2 sides to everything.
Personally I think there needs to be a Twilight Anonymous help group for those whose lives have been taken over. But thats just me.
Hey! I’d just like to say, it’s how you percieve Twilight that either makes it bad, or good. It’s not ‘good’ for anyone, but it’s not ‘bad’ either. Jason M, You made some good points. Equus, you also did. along with Rae and Kayla. Yes, i’ve read the books twice, I’m not in love with Edward, ha, no. But there was a little peice of me that envyed Bella. Because, she got to live a life not many people in the world do. She dated a vampire for gods sake! Robet was cute, (Edward) so I was a little jealous when she got to kiss him, and it wasn’t me, but I thought Bella fit the description perfectly. She see’s herself as ‘plain’ while Edward see’s her as magnificently beautiful. Though today if we dont ‘look’ a certain way, were usually not accepted. Bella’s look was ‘plain’ and original. But I thought she had an exquisit natural beauty. I can see how you think it’s giving off the wrong influence, as it amost is, but i’m pretty sure that’s not the was Stephenie Meyer would want us to think of it as. Kayla, I’m not trying to rag on you; but yes, books do influence people. Almost everything influences you, weather you know it or not. Now, Twilight may not have influenced you, and you say why do we make such a huge deal out of ‘a’ book? It’s because think little ‘book’ has the power to change how we think. We all want something different in our lives, this is the cure for some people. It is starting to become an issue, which nobody likes. People dream about this kind of stuff happening to them, they doodle on paper “I <3 Edward, a/f” Which is almost pathetic, Edward IS fictional, but that means little to most people. Yes, it is a book; with words, and pages. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have the influence on people. Like I’ve said before, I love the series. I don’t mean to rag on anybody who wants to stuck up for Twilight, but I just felt like I should address both sides.
There are more worse books out there, and you ask, why don’t you do something about them?
Well, most likely, their being delt with, the same way this is. Twilight is one of the best seller books, so more and more people are familairizing themselves with the novels. So therefore, their are discussions about all books/ movies/ magizines/ anything really. You just might not know it.
*Chelsea
LOL!! Rae, yes i’m a Hermione too. and yes i write, not all the time but my imagination does run alot so i get ideas write them down, and then i get another idead and i write that one down until i have mounds of spirals with just random stories thats not finished but i go back to them wheni want to continue the story.
oh! and i write fantasy. =) i’m not sure, but if i am your long lost twin then i must say, let us reunite!! wonder power twins activate!!
LOLOL!!!
yes Jason it was a very lovely conversation.
i believe the reason i got into being more vocal about not liking the series is when twilighters decided we needed to be censored about not liking the series. that made me angry for one and that spiraled into where i stand. it started with me hating new moon and letting it go, to standing up to voice my opinion just as much as the next person.
i know its their choices to be obsessed with the series, what i would like is for the twilighters to not keep accussing us of going too far, or being too harsh or hurting smeyer’s feelings.
its like they can have some strange right to tell us these things.
all we’re here doing is talking about why we don’t like twilight and the twilighters come in to tell us things like, we don’t know the meaning of love, or we’re being immature, or they insult us (they love to do that), or we must be hardcore femenist, or we have no life, or we’ve must have been bullied, or that we were ugly.
anyways, we know they won’t listen, we gathered that much.
they think that twilight is an exception to being critiqed. everything is critizced even if its popular. alot of people outside of the twilighters circle can see this its really only them and smeyer who thinks it needs its on golden pedastol and special lighting. with its own set of clothes, and shoes.
i think you’re wrong. personally, i like to read a story where i don’t have to have my feet planted in reality. i’m pretty sure i’m not the only one either.
and why is it that every book with a female character lead MUST make her some feminist bitch? i found bella, while sometimes quite sulky, to be as clumsy, confused, and human as i am.
and yes, bella’s complete breakdown when edward left her was a bit much. but any intense relationship under the age of 20 is gonna leave you feeling the same way. like nothing else matters. it happens. it’s real and it hurts.
i hate to disagree with you.
actually, no i don’t
fuck offfffff.
So, I just read the article, after reading all the books (twice) and I can see the point about it being a sexist and degrading book.
But the book is also about a lot of other things. It is a glimpse of the past, mixed with today. And I think it’s pretty amazing how Mrs. Meyer woved the two times together.
Besides, nobody is complaining when we read about Mr. Darcy saving ‘damsel-in-distress’ Elizabeth (because her sister ran off with Mr. Wickham) or when Romeo and Juliet kill themselves, because they refuse to live without the other.
And why is that? Because it was written over 100 years ago? Maybe parts of the Twilight-series are simply an ode to books like ‘the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’ or ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
I also read a lot of the reactions on it, and it sounds like most of them come from infantile, stubborn people. People, you are embarrasing yourself with the way you call other commenters names and swear, just because they have a different opinion than you. Every book has its good sides and its bad sides. Deal with it.
I’m hating U
now I’m hating more,
even more,
And now, my heart it’s full of hate for U!!!
How do U dare say that things about my twilight and my Edward (and Bella, I like her)!!!
U Suck and I agree with Anti-Kellen Rice!!!
Go to hell!!! No don’t go, cause Edward might be there!!!… Just die.
XOXO, Loving Twilight yesterday, today and tomorrow…
Ps- I still hate U!!!
What other thing is the series about other than Bella acting a fool over Edward?? There was nothing else but pages upon pages of cheesy lines and passages about telling each other who loves the other more. For Bella’s case more along the lines of being a hormonal teenager.
And then the last 100 or 40 pages were only where an actual situation arrives. Like Smeyer just threw that in because she remembered that there’s got to be more in a story than just Bella and Edward being over dramatic.
At least Elizabeth was able to hold her own unlike Bella and then she wasn’t as easy as Bella. Back then it was more acceptable for women to obey the males. Elizabeth personality and what she was taught by her crazy mother was conflicting.
She did say what she wanted to people who she didn’t like especially Mr. Darcy who she had animosity with. He insulted her first and she was hesitant to have a relationship with him after he proposed. She was more like a woman of today then Bella ever was.
Bella is the classic abuse victim. ‘He only does those things because he loves me.’ sure thing Bella, ignore every sign and don’t listen to Jacob because heaven forbid he was right about precious Edward.
To anyone who says things like: ‘Women like you just piss me off and GIVE US A BAD NAME !’ – and ‘It’s only a book!’
I seem to recall that some of the most outspoken opposition to female sufferage came from other women, who thought that the sufferagettes gave women a bad name.
And as for something only being a book? The Female Eunuch is only a book. So is A Brief History of Time. The Communist Manifesto was only a manuscript.
Twilight has reached a very wide audience. If the message it sends out influences that audience, then we have every right to question it.
The twilight tweens really need to learn how to spell. Half the joy in reading through the comments thread is killed when one has to take time off to decipher the terribly massacred spellings. The tweens are so outraged, it’s almost cute.
However, this mania over a couple engaged in an extremely neurotic and downright unhealthy relationship is very disturbing. Especially because the target audience is so painfully impressionable. I worry for the younger generation – feminism aside, I don’t think it’s appropriate to give off messages like It’s okay to entertain thoughts of suicide in the name of true love to the tweens. The implications are terribly serious, a thought which I’m confident Stephenie Meyers conveniently chose to leave out of her spectrum of thoughts when publishing the book – after all the really fucked up relationships sell more with the kiddies these days, because everyone likes to vicariously experience what it’s like to have shit hit the floor and your life sink in a cesspool.
I do not think Bella is attractive at all. Honestly, after Book 1, I thought perhaps if Meyer picks up on what the critics are saying, Bella’s character can have more depth. She had potential. But of course, developing Bella into a strong willed independent girl would not make as much money as a damsel in pathetic distress would make.
Also, I cannot understand for the life of me why Edward Cullen is considered the perfect gentlemen. And since Twilight is inspired by Pride and Prejudice, as someone mentioned above, how exactly is Edward more appealing than Mr. Darcy? Tweens, care to explain what is OMGSOAWESOME about Edward Cullen?
Never mind the plot, the quality of writing? “Incandescent chest…scintillating arms…” Seriously? Edward Cullen’s physical description sometimes give off the impression of a human/vampire lampshade. I’m sure if we mass reproduce them, we’d be very environmentally friendly…and he’s a vegetarian vamp. Even better.
I’m a big fan of vampires and have read Anne Rice and Bram Stroker thoroughly. I have been a huge admirer of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the eventual spin off Angel. But this. This makes me question just what the fuck is wrong with Twilight. And question: Hasn’t it always been a norm that Vamps cannot stand sunlight? What paved way to the exception with Edward?
@ Taylor.
“OMG! get over it you fucking people! you dont like the book big effin deal! ”
Darling, I think you should practice before you preach. It makes you look better on the internet.
You do realize, not every book is going to be perfect.
Not everyone is going to understand/ or like it.
This obviously goes to show you.
It’s funny how the Twilight fans defending the book here are bashing us for having a opinion that does not correspond with theirs and then proceed on to proclaim that liking or disliking the book depends from person to person. I don’t see what is so insulting about what the said writer wrote. Kellen Rice, like many others did not enjoy the books and she expressed her opinion over it, just like the Twilight fans do (only more incoherent) in their internet hang outs. Hypocrisy much?
@ Kayla
I’m sure your message got cut off because I don’t think your last line’s completel…or doesn’t make sense.
You are absolutely right. Every book gets mixed reviews, and every book has its fair share of fans and critics. Kellen Rice choose to be a critic because it did not appeal to her tastes. However, what is particularly annoying is that the Twilight fans decided to barge in and unilaterally bash everyone doesn’t think Twlight is OMGSOAMAZING or that Edward Cullen and Bella Swans are a match made in heaven.
This robs the Twilight fandom of whatever credibility it had left because it just goes to show that the place is filled with tweens who cannot handle an opposing view point. Very mature.
Kayla-
Dear GOD woman, can you READ? I SAID that the reason I’m so opposed to it is that it is BRAINWASHING many young girls into thinking that this kind of life is possible (minus the vampires, of course). In fact, that was almost my entire comment. Please, I know you’re only fifteen, but you should at least have a bit of reading comprehension.
Equus- Oh… My… God… we are twins XD! I just finished the third edit of a fantasy novel I finished in June.
Just curious, but did you post your stuff anywhere?
wow. you obviously don’t understand anything
summerlovin-
Who was that directed at?
Twilight Lovers–
Let me repeat myself again:
“PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE, check your spelling and grammer. It completely discredites your argument if you don’t. It will only make you sound ignorant and immature without it.”
You’re making the rest of us who love the book look bad.
Maddison
This story is not sending any message to us. And if you love someone, it’s crazy all the things you’ll do for them. When you say how Bella falls ‘in love’ with Jacob Black in the second book after Edward leaves her, do you not understand the emotional wreck she is?
She just lost ‘the love of her life’ He’s defined as her rebound guy. And later on when she actually does think she’s falling for him, things like that DO happen. It’s possible to love more than one person.
Oh, please. This totally excuses making out with another guy while you’re engaged to another
AND BY THE WAY THEY HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR LIKE 4 WEEKS.
But the book is also about a lot of other things. It is a glimpse of the past, mixed with today. And I think it’s pretty amazing how Mrs. Meyer woved the two times together.
Are you kidding me? 2 words; shoddy research
The reason the Twilighters with defences [or lack thereof] for the book and are crazy is probably because they are hormonal tweens who are absolutely mad and worship bad literature, since they don’t read in general.
1. The Twilighters who are sane [there aren’t many] do have correct grammar
2. No, you don’t need correct grammar or spelling all of the time. But it helps if you’re arguing a case that Twilight isn’t affecting teens.
3. Stop trying to defend the abusive Jacob-Edward-Bella relationships. Don’t. You just sound stupid because, well, it’s kind of obvious
4. TWILIGHTERS WHO SAY QUIT COMPLAININ’ – you are yourselves complaining, so get over it. Saying ‘GET A LIFE’ makes you sound like a bitchy tween giving Twilighters a bad name.
I hate the Twilighters who go ‘all this feminist bullshit’
FUCK YOU OKAY. I don’t swear in general but ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What the hell is wrong with you?
You tell me Twilight isn’t affecting teens?
Hi whoever this is, I have no idea!
Personally, I agree with Melissa and Caryll.
If you are a young girl and you LIKE reading (like me) then, this can be a great book. To hell with that, this series of books is one of the best I’ve ever read, and i read A LOT of books. Plus, why is everyone conplaining about it? Yes, I love the books, and i am 12 years old, but think about it. Everyone wants their children to read more, right? well, everyone over here (Im writing to you from England) agrees. The books are being marketed much heavier than the film, and I think that if you like to read, then you should give this a chance. Yes, to a certain extent I am a Twihard, but hopefully i have proved to you that the ones that are “sane” have good english/spelling/whatever.
Also, If you actually read the books, then you would realize that in New Moon, Bella does not decide to commit suicide, she is “Cliff Jumping”, and she does it because she has hallucinations of Edward everytime she does something dangerous, so it is like a kind of drug for her. Hope I helped
& Lisa,
Thank You!
Charlotte, it still doesn’t make it better for teens to be reading something thats got them trying to change good relationships they have with their boyfriends or girlfriends (apparently there are guys who would like girls to be more like bella)
bella was just crazy and over dramatic and insane but i guess its almost the same as crazy so which ever one would be pretty accurate.
i did give it a chance as everyone here who gave evidence as to why they don’t like it did too. you guys do know we’re not pulling this info out of no where right?? its solid information that can be found within the book.
i love to read also but i know a bad book when i see one, well at least one that wasn’t good in my opinion but we’re all different..
i think that maybe if bella stood up agaisnt edward and put her foot down several times and actually had arguments with him like a real couple then i might have tolerated them.
but everything had to be so “perfect” that the only thing they had a disagreement with was turning her into a vampire and she only wanted that so she could have sex with edward. she only married him because that was the only way she could be turned into a vampire and then she wanted to stay human for a while to just have sex with edward. she was always superfluous character.
anyways if someone was reading a book on how to have intimate relations with your neighbor for YA then would it still be fine since teens are reading?? no, because it could have negative effects down the road later in life.
If you’re going to say that certain types of books like Twilight are going to have negative effects on people, then you’re going to have to say that about ALL books because it is all how the reader interprets the story not what the plot of the book is.
Madison-
No, because ALL books do not influence young girls into breaking up with good people and getting into abusive relationships. True, in most books, the people will do things wrong, but in those books, there are either repercussions, the majority of the book is about doing (or finding) the moral right, or the book is not targeted at tween girls. The problem with Twilight is that it is mostly unaccountable for the subliminal messages and incredibly popular (ergo, it can affect more people than, say, a horrible fanfic can)
@ Kayla,
Before so skillfully generalizing me into the fifteen year olds cateogory, I’ve got a question to ask. CAN YOU READ? Just where did I exactly rebutt anything you said? All I said was that I agree with you on the part where you said every books get mixed reviews and I wrote out what I make out of that. Before asking about my ability to comprehend things, I’d ask you to take a small step backwards and make a decent attempt at understanding what is being written in painfully clear and simple english. Yes? Makes you look a lot less stupid.
Oops my bad. Apologies Rae. I overlooked your name and figured it was Kayla replying to my comment above. I’m sorry.
@ Charlotte,
Dear it’s great that you are reading and I think everyone at your age should do that in abundance. However, what many of us are pointing out here is the kind of false expectations of reality the books are creating on teenagers who are reading it. Teenagers are at their impressionable worst during this period and somehow the fact that they find Edward and Bella’s semi abusive, part neurotic relationship to be ideal is disturbing. Sure, love makes you do all kinds of crazy things and maybe the cliff jumping and hallucinations can also be true if extended far enough, but to tell this kind of things to give it the kind of validation that Meyers has done in her series is wrong. Because like I said her target audience is hanging onto every word she types out in print. These girls still lack the emotional capacity to make fully independent and mature decisions and judge what’s right and what’s wrong – even though they protest over this, it is a given fact and plenty of research had been done over it. That’s how you get legal age boundaries these days (18-21 etc).
On top of the twisted plot, her writing is for the lack of a better word, just plain awful. Perhaps you have not read adequately to make that kind of distinction yet and i don’t blame you over it. Her characterization is weak, interactions are so-so and her merciless abuse of the thesaurus is an insult to writers everywhere. If you want to know what I’m talking about you only need to look as far as Harry Potter where the number of main characters are twice as many as in Twilight and yet they are so wonderfully developed, multi dimensional and extremely plausible. I’m not a devoted Harry Potter fan but having read both sets of books, I can confidently place my vote for Harry Potter. Or even Eragon and the Eldest written by Christopher Paolini. The kid is only 20+ and his dictation of his novel is far better than what Meyer’s has done with Twilight. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more, but I’m just going to cut it short for now.
Perhaps when you grow a little older and subject yourself to a variety of good literature books I think you’ll realize what many are pointing out.
S-
It’s okay. I’ve done dumber stuff XD! (especially when it starts getting late. I don’t know where you are, but it’s well after 10 here)
Oh, and let me say that I like your primary comment.
Twilight doesn’t tell girls to break up with good people at all. If it does, please tell me where. Plus, have you ever read any of the tween books out today? They are horrible, sometimes worse, than Twilight is with their subliminal messages. The Clique and Gossip Girl are just the tip of the iceberg. Granted some books do have a moral to the story, but many books don’t, those books being ones that are for tween to teenage girls. It gets worse when those books are played out in front of them on the TV.
Well, I’ve been reading some opinions around here and I thought I could leave my own.
First things first. In *my* opinion, I think that the article is just fine. I personally didn’t like the book at all. I could hardly keep myself reading after the first 200 pages. I really like stories and all that, but there are ways and ways of telling them, and the way the author did in this case is just maddening. No synonyms, no clear structures, no actual train of thought… I think I found only one metaphor, something about the woods in Forks. But that’s just as far as its grammatical development will go.
But let’s not dwell on technicalities.
Regarding the plot itself… Well, there’s not much there, now is it? I got the impression that it would be like something you’d find in some fanficton site, or something close to it. I’m really wondering how on earth did the first book get published anyway. I think I’ll put it down to the fact that it sells… and that’s about it. If compared with HP, like some around here are keen on doing, that one had the plot outlined at least. Characters were shaped and colourful and the story was written in a passable style -repetitive, but passable. But since mentioning HP touches a nerve, I could mention numerous stories that do not have the language well-laid and yet manage to evolve into something; a plot, I daresay.
All in all, that’s what I think. And the whole point of this space is to post opinions on the article, not just make a big fuss around it, so I hope that if anyone disagrees or has something to say, they rebuke with coherent points, not with just plain insults and the ‘you suck’ kind of crap.
Thanks for reading. Cheers.
Madison –
It tells them that Edward is perfect, and if you don’t have an Edward, that’s just not good enough. Ergo, those who are affected WILL break up with perfectly good people.
Did you notice how I said ‘most?’ those are included with Twilight in those that need to be fought. If you haven’t noticed, most literature out there could fall into several categories: a: Those targeted at adults or younger children, (ie. the Myth books) b: classics- which although are not always moral are often analyzed either in forwards, prefaces, or end notes or are talked about in English classes. (ie. Lord of the Flies and anything by Shakespeare) c: Stories with morals, or at least repercussions of bad choices (ie. Harry Potter).
I don’t like thinking that young impressionable girls are reading those books or watching certain TV shows either. However, this is an article about TWILIGHT, which is why I was talking about TWILIGHT. If this were a discussion about “The Clique” or “Gossip Girl” I would be pointing out what was wrong with those. But it’s not. The point I’m trying to get across isn’t “There are so many young adult novels that are ruining kid’s minds!” I’m trying to say “Twilight is hurting a lot of people, so you might want to take a closer look at it.” You have to go forward little steps at a time.
@ Equus and Jen
I agree partway that what Bella did in New Moon was a little dramatic, but thats part of the joking fun of it. Also, I decided to read Harry Potter when i was around 9. I couldnt get past page 100, and thats a rarity for me. To me, it was like what everyone is saying here, but for Harry Potter, instead of Twilight. Finally, if I ever dated any boy that wanted me to be more like Bella, then it could be hard for me and some people, or it could be easy. Bella is quite smart, a good student and a bit clumsy if you wish to say, but she has a maturity to make desicions about loving a vampire. Even though I would like to have my own Edward Cullen, I would be scared stiff if ANYONE was a vampire, and people even think that IM a vampire, because I have 2 really wierd teeth and they look just like fangs and they hang around on top of my gums, and its pretty wierd. Right, Im going to stop boring everyone who reads this now
Oh and BTW, 2 things.
#1. Over here (England), they actually ARE selling the books EVERYWHERE. You can buy it from supermarkets and even GAMING SHOPS now, and there isnt even a Twilight game!
and
#2, If you complain about Twilighters having bad grammar, then you should check out some of the hater’s responses. Some of them have no grammar too!
Wtf?
Why the hell are all of you dogging me out!?
I never even read that comment above, Rae!!
“However, what is particularly annoying is that the Twilight fans decided to barge in and unilaterally bash everyone doesn’t think Twlight is OMGSOAMAZING or that Edward Cullen and Bella Swans are a match made in heaven.”
Wtf? Does this article say anything about how were not suppose to share our opinions? NO,
I was SPEAKING MY MIND. just like the rest of you.
And since that comment was directed to me,
Let me say this. WHEN DID I EVER SAY THAT?! I seriously don’t remember. Is there nothing else to do other than criticize my “comprehension’?
wtf, theres NOTHING wrong with me giving my opinion on how I thought the book was. Were talking about a book, NOT my comprehension skills.
It makes me look stupid?
Whats wrong with you??
You have NO idea who I am. You do NOT know me.
Don’t ever say that stupid shit to me.
You all talk about how the Twilight fans cannot spell, have YOU read the comments by the Twilight haters?!?!?!
Or are you just over looking them, casue your a Twilight hater too?
NOBODY IS PERFECT.
Get the fuck over it.
That’s what fucking buggs me.
I know that this an article about Twilight, but I was trying to defend Twilight by showing examples of tween books that don’t have any morals to their plots. I wasn’t trying to start some debate about them. Yes, in Twilight, Edward is portrayed as “perfect” in some aspects, but Stephenie Meyer wrote the book thinking that girls who would read it would have a mind of their own or at least be able to tell fiction from reality. You can’t blame her for having “messages” in her book that may or may not have taken over a girl’s life.The girls who have become obsessed with Twilight are mostly followers. I know that someone is going to say “NO THEY AREN”T,” but I go to an all-girl high school and I’m surronded by them everyday. Many girls who have become obsessed with the book usually only did so because “everyone” around them has and they want to be part of the group. So Twilight is most likely “hurting” those girls, but it’s not only because of the book. Also, I think I may have found out why Twilighters have become so angry and emotional about this article. It’s not because of the article itself anymore. The Anti’s reviews come across as condescending. I know that the comments weren’t meant to be that way, but reading some of them now, it comes across that way.
I agree with Kayla on that one.
We ARE talking about books. Does grammer matter that much to you?
Yes, you tend to over look the fact that all you Twilight haters think what YOU say, is HOW IT IS. No, You all think ya’ll are perfect. Which if you read the comments back and forth, you can see how that is percieved. Since when does it matter who has correct grammer, and who doesn’t?
Hiporciates. (I really could care less if I spelt that wrong!)
YOU say WERE all too judgemental, WHAT THE HECK MAN!
Your judging people by their ‘grammer’
You all try to make it look like were the ‘bad guys’
???? Are you kidding me.
were just giving OPINIONS.
were NOT discussing grammer.
(Kayla, it’ll be all right, not EVERYONE is like ‘S’ and ‘Rae! There are still many people in this world who are still sane!)
I personally loved Twilight. I LOVED the way SMeyer wrote it.
I see a lot here that when someone leave a comment on how they really enjoyed the book,
Someone like Rae, Equus, S, or some random person comes in and states that “blah blah, it’s abusive, it’s not out of love,”
and if they really have nothing to say about that, then they talk about peoples spelling. Someone said way up above that “Vampires are suppose to be scary, not sparkle like some fag in the light”
Well, all right. I actually LIKED that myth. And there are some others who like it as well. I liked how the Vampires sparkle in light. I didn’t necessarily like the vampires that look like they went to hell and back, and how they live in coffins, and move like vombies. You see that everywhere. Unlike Twilight’s vamps. Which is different, and I like it!
(I don’t really need anyone messaging below me telling me things about how ‘I’ need to do stuff, and this and that. I just wanted to speak my mind, so there you go)
I wont be back on here either, so no need to be all-
“Well you know Alex, ……”
I agree with you Jason ^^
Kam*
@ Kayla
I know you are butthurt that people are not conforming to your views on Twilight but if you read my second comment carefully, you’d notice I did mention the fact that I misread Rae’s response to you as your response to me. Maybe if you were not so busy fuming over those who do not enjoy Twilight as much as you do, you’d have notice. Intelligence is a gift, use it wisely please.
@Jason
Funny how that happens doesn’t it?
Uhm Jason, are you really this dumb in real life? A book makes or breaks based on Grammar. Grammar is the fundamental element in ANY language. So yes, it matters. Internet lends us the privilege of being anonymous and the opportunity to voice out our opinions – but that in no way insinuates that one must act like a total illiterate. There is a reason why your teachers place emphasis on grammar, I’d advise you to start taking them seriously.
And btw it’s grammar not grammer. Spelling is sadly another fundamental in every language. I don’t know how the semantics or linguistic rubrics work in Jasonland but on Earth it is pretty important. And if you are going to live on this planet and make attempt to mingle in our society, contrived over thousands of years, I suggest you conform with the basic understandings. It does wonders to one’s public image, even if it is on the internet, possibly behind a fake name.
You said, I quote, “You all try to make it look like were the ‘bad guys’
???? Are you kidding me.
were just giving OPINIONS.â€
Jason, can you read? Have you been following what the Anti-Twilighters have been saying? They too are giving THEIR OPINIONS which they hold over the books. Calling them immature, lame and a variety of negatively connotative adjectives or simply ridiculing them for their stance is exactly what your little Twilight cronies have been doing. Hypocrisy works both ways. I am sure your underprivileged intellect must have gripes coming to term with that, but as someone who possess a three digit IQ, let me assure you, your Twlighters are being as much hypocrites as you accuse us to be.
(It’s okay Jason. There are thankfully only a handful of people like you. On an even brighter note, most grow out of it. If you are that unfortunate, you can always go back to Jasonland where I’m sure you’d be received as the prodigal son returning home. Or something, I hope sincerely)
@ Rae
Thanks! You raised some very excellent points yourself!
Cheers!
Oh and to clarify any further misunderstanding, Jen and S are comments made by me.
Also another funny quirk I noticed. This article is dedicated to disliking Twilight. Why are the Twlight tweens patroning this page so frequently? Unless they’re on a convert mission to show the rest of us the errors of our ways and finally give in to the ~*~phenomenon~*~ that is Twlight.
Alex, I know you are going to go back on your words and come back to see if anyone took note of your two cents worth opinon. Let me just say, you are probably 14, you probably want to be Edward Cullen when you grow up and your definition of literature comprises of writers like Stephenie Meyers and you think Edward is the perfect protagonist and Bella the ideal DiD. (But wait, do you even know what a protagonist is????)
@ Lem,
Actually, I am 17.
and, I am a GIRL.
Just becasue my name is Alex, doesn’t mean I’m a guy.
And I never got off here, I just left the page up, so I actually never ‘left and came back’ I’ve been here all along,
Btw,
LEM,
Don’t try to tell me what i’m ‘going’ to do when I get older,
You know absolutley shit.
@ Alex
There you go dear. Proving my point to the last dot. Cheers!
Alex,
I’m 16, miraculously gifted with spelling and human logic. I’m sure that is going to take me several steps ahead of you in the future.
Well, JEN S;
“Also another funny quirk I noticed. This article is dedicated to disliking Twilight. Why are the Twlight tweens patroning this page so frequently? Unless they’re on a convert mission to show the rest of us the errors of our ways and finally give in to the ~*~phenomenon~*~ that is Twlight”
I’m sure if there was an artice dedicated to liking Twilight, you’d probably read it to see what people have to say,
What the hell do you think we’re doing?
Nobody is here to show you the ‘Errors’ of your ways. Their just damn opinions.
” if you read my second comment carefully, you’d notice I did mention the fact that I misread Rae’s response to you as your response to me”
One question Jen,
CAN YOU READ?
^^ that comment you left may have not been for me,
but I dont give a shit.
BTW,
LEM;
If you fucking read what I wrote, you would KNOW that I NEVER left and ‘came’ back. I’ve BEEN here all along.
Alex, I don’t really get you or your lot. Everybody keeps on talking about expressing their opinions. I’m not sure phrases like Kellen Rice sucks, or OMG WHAI U HATE TWILIGHT, U R ALL IMMATURE and other things if you look at the comments posted count as expressing one’s opinion. Any sane minded semi intelligent human being would be able to tell you that it is downright provocative as if fishing to start up an argument.
Yes, I was addressing to Kayla something which she obviously failed to read. Believe it or not, mistakes happen, even to the best of us. I can of course read Alex and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you can too. But one question to you, CAN YOU COMPREHEND EVERYTHING THAT YOU READ? OR DOES IT FLOAT RIGHT PAST YOUR LEVEL OF GRASP?
@ Lem
“I’m 16, miraculously gifted with spelling and human logic. I’m sure that is going to take me several steps ahead of you in the future”
All right now, so your saying your better than me?
I HATE people who think ‘just because’ you have better ‘human logic’ that your going to be BETTER in life.
JUST because I don’t talk like you, with ‘intelligent’ words, and not the best speller in the world, you take it that your better than me,
and i’m just a peice of scum on the bottom of your shoe.
You don’t know me hun, so therefore you cannot judge me, do you KNOW your going to be ‘a few steps ahead of me’ in life? Nope, you have NO idea.
Jen S–
The only reason that I am as you so kindly said it “patroning this page so frequently” is because I like debate. It’s interesting to hear the different viewpoints that people have on something. I know that there is no possible way for me to change someone’s mind over the internet just like there is no possible way for you to change mine. Also, just because this an article about disliking Twilight doesn’t mean that people who like Twilight can’t voice their opinions just like you are voicing your own. Also, it is a known fact that in a debate the person with no argument resorts to personal attack, like you bringing your IQ and saying that Jason has ” underprivileged intellect.” I’m not saying that Anti’s have no argument. All I am saying is that the fact that so many Anti’s are attacking Twilighters because of their grammer or their spelling and not trying to put their argument across is sad. Also, I too have a three digit IQ so if you’re trying to say that only idiots like Twilight, then you might want to reconsider.
Lem–
Thank you for proving my point. The fact that you are attacking Alex for his views are completely hypocritical. So what if he is 14 and so what if he doesn’t know what a protagonist is. (I’m not saying that he doesn’t because I don’t know him.) Almost every single anti is claiming that Twilighters are attacking them because of their opinions when they are attacking us back for ours. Just because a person may like the book, like Alex and I, doesn’t mean that we are incompetant. It’s not like we read the books for the deeper, philosophical meaning. We read them because we liked the story.
^^ that comment you left may have not been for me,
but I dont give a shit.
You obviously care enough to broach the comment and leave a painfully constructed remark that is probably supposed to appear condescending.
And with regards to your comment to Lem, I can see you are taking a liberty with the internet here to save your face. After all it is not humanly possible to track down and see if you actually had the page open or not. Or if your curiosity got the better of you.
You are probably going to say you don’t give a shit but I can see another ~RUDE~ and ~HURTFUL~ remark in the horizon from you. I do look forward to that but not with enthusiasm. Mostly for my, and everyone else’s amusement.
Madison,
Believe it or not, Grammar and Spelling IS extremely important in any language. Any person who expects to be taken seriously should learn to master the two fundamental elements or otherwise risk appearing like a complete douche bag. Solid arguments or not. I have seen some excellent arguments made by Twilighters and I applaud them. However, three quarters of them are made up with remarks like OMG U SUCK, TWILIGHT <3333, GET A LIFE TWILIGHT HATERS etc etc. I’m sure you are not going to contradict me on that because the evidence is right up there. I’m not attacking Jason personally at all – anyone who decides to engage in a debate on the internet should possess the maturity to handle any and all remarks, friendly or unfriendly hurled at them.
Lastly it’s great that you come here to read the debate. I’ve seen some of your comments and while I may not be like minded with them, it’s great that you are defending something you like instead of unilaterally bashing someone for not doing the same.
Jen,
I was never here to start an argument.
It’s when you guys start attacking people, especially me, where I get DEFENSIVE. I let NO ONE, and I MEAN no one put me down.
Sure you don’t say things like “You stupid peice of shit. fuck you”
Nope, you don’t say it like THAT. But you DO say it, in the most ‘intelligent’ way you can.
It usually goes something like:
“You have no intelligence” (Which your referring to me as stupid, if you did not know)
Also:
“CAN YOU COMPREHEND EVERYTHING THAT YOU READ? OR DOES IT FLOAT RIGHT PAST YOUR LEVEL OF GRASP?”
It takes two to aruge, Jen.
I wasn’t ‘looking’ to start anything! Just shared opinions. I’m so god damn sorry if not EVERYONE is fucking like you!!
not EVERYONE is fucking as intelligent as you and YOUR damn “lot”
Alex
“JUST because I don’t talk like you, with ‘intelligent’ words, and not the best speller in the world, you take it that your better than me,”
There is a thing called Microsoft Words and a function called Spellchecker. I suggest you’d do yourself a great deal of favour by using it.
“All right now, so your saying your better than me?
I HATE people who think ‘just because’ you have better ‘human logic’ that your going to be BETTER in life.”
Having human logic isn’t that difficult. I’m sure there are guidebooks available somewhere for people like you.
JUST because I don’t talk like you, with ‘intelligent’ words”
Do what your revered Stephenie Meyers does then. Abuse the Thesaurus
” you take it that your better than me,
and i’m just a peice of scum on the bottom of your shoe.”
Nope, that’s entirely you talking. I had not said or insinuated anything of that sort.
“You don’t know me hun, so therefore you cannot judge me,”
Trust me I fear for my sanity if I ever have the misfortune of knowing you as anything more than an annoying Twilighter on the internet.
Madison
“The fact that you are attacking Alex for his views are completely hypocritical.”
I’m not attacking him/her for his/her views. I was just having a laugh because she had distinctly mentioned she won’t be coming back here. And then she comes here with a comment that this page was open in her browser the WHOLE FUCKING DAY. Yes that is what I am laughing at. I have absolutely no interest in Alex’s viewpoints because I can pretty much gauge how they are going to be like. And honestly I have seen enough of that here and it makes my brain hurt.
Alex,
Let me put it in simple english for you. My comment to Kayla was not meant to be. I had misread Rae’s comment as Kayla and hence wrote that in retaliation. Now this commenting system does not allow me to undo the comment which is why I left another comment mentioning the mistake I had made. Both you and Kayla decided to willfully ignore that bit and you especially decided to make an argument about it. And if you don’t give a shit about it, why bother bringing it up anyway? I don’t want to know your opinion. You are more than welcomed to share it but in the future do not address me if you do not wish me to respond to you.
I take it personal when you say things like
“underprivileged intellect.”
Like Maddison said,
Why are you trying to bring your IQ into this?
Nobody really asked you how many ‘digits” your IQ was,
It doesn’t matter to me if your smart or not.
But it obvisouly does to do. You say that unless we heave intelligence, no one will take us seriously.
Well, I hate to break it to you Jen, NOBODY gets out alive, So why does everything have to be perfect and serious?
You can live your life the way you want to, and I’ll just live mine the way I want to!
Because it seems to be working great!
And Alex no one attacked you. Trust me it’s all in your head.
Jason
Oh yes because mocking Rae and my sanity was perfectly alright by your sense of logic. And you might want to take a step back and read through before pressing the Submit Comment button. Your coherency is dwindling by the second. Secondly, have your opinion. No one’s stopping you from it. But you bash on someone else’s opinion, do not expect them to sit quietly and do absolutely nothing about it. You might live a sheltered life where you are made king but this is the internet. People can and are like this. No one is going to respect you or take you seriously if you discard something as fundamental as grammar and spelling (logic aside) and continue to embarrass yourself.
Btw, I’m sure i’ll see SOMEBODY correct my spelling if I do not,
I typed it fast. It’s suppose to be
“But obviously it does to you”
&
“You say that unless we have* intelligence”
My bad.
There you go! Learning already! I’m proud of you kiddo!
Jen–
I know that grammar and spelling are extremely important. I have said twice on this website:
“PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE, check your spelling and grammer. It completely discredites your argument if you don’t. It will only make you sound ignorant and immature without it.†(Now that makes it three)
Also, I hate it that three quarters of the Twilighters have come one here saying “OMG HOW DARE YOU! YOU SUCK!” It makes the rest of us sound bad.
I’m not trying to be hateful or hurtful. It’s just when people start attacking me for my opinions, without knowing who I am, it brings out the bitch in me, just like I’m sure brings out the bitch in you.
You may not have been attacking Jason, but you did attack Alex in your last post. There is NO REASON why there even has to be personal attacks. Yes, we all have different opinions about Twilight and because this won’t agree, but that has NOTHING to do with intellegence AT ALL.
@ Jen,
“No one is going to respect you or take you seriously if you discard something as fundamental as grammar and spelling (logic aside) and continue to embarrass yourself.”
Are you sure about that?
Not that many people are like you.
(Thank god for that one!)
^Just couldn’t help myself.
People take me serious enough. I’m a joker, I don’t like to be serious 100% of the time, like most of you.
I don’t need to read through my comment before I click ‘Submit Comment’
If I make a mistake, I MAKE A MISTAKE. I’m only human Jen.
Forgive me for ‘mocking’ you and Rae. Oh can you EVER forgive me.
And by the way, I’m 100% sure I spelled everything correctly. Happy?
Your right Jen.
Your oh so right.
Let me go slit my wrist and kill myself right now.
Would that be better for you? If you just got rid of at least ONE stupid person, it’ll be better for you right?
Maybe i’ll just go commit suicide.
You have no idea the words you say, how bad it can hurt people to the point, where they want to kill theirself.
I say my words out of defense. When you hurt me, I hurt you back.
Madison,
Alex had no reason to get involved over a post which I had written to Kayla after I mistook Rae’s response to be her’s. Obviously I had taken the time to point it out in a subsequent post. If Alex cares enough to read the condescending one and then ignore the second one, there is little I can do other than explicate to her what exactly is going on. (Also, please note that this is the internet. If people start taking everything said on the internet as personal attacks, then their perception is very screwed up)
I see your point and you will not find me attacking you or your opinion in any way unless you directly involve me in it or if it sounds something like most of them do: U SUCK, GET A LIFE etc. If someone puts time and effort into writing a well thought out response to the Twilight hater, I am more than happy to oblige and respond to the person in kind. Because like you, I enjoy debating and as long as it is done in an intelligent and educated manner, it makes it fun and interesting. And for that, thank you! I don’t know who might have attacked you for your opinions and I am not going to apologise on their behalf because honestly it’s not my place to do it. If you want to open up a new debate over Twilight with me, I’m more than happy to participate in it.
Sorry Jen, I have to make a correction you attacked Jason instead of Alex.
LOL ALEX. YES OBVIOUSLY I AM EXTREMELY BUTTHURT OVER WHAT A TWAT SAYS TO ME OVER THE INTERNET.
Let me go slit my wrist and kill myself right now
NOT IF I GO AND JUMP OFF THE BUILDING FIRST. IT’S A RACE SISTER, SEE YOU IN AFTERLIFE.
Jason
People take me serious enough. I’m a joker, I don’t like to be serious 100% of the time, like most of you.
Friends and posse don’t count. Try posting with this kind of errors in your message in any one of the communities or forums, then let me know how it goes.
And I’m extremely ~*~delighted~*~ that you are making an effort to spell correctly. Can you hear my fangirl squee?
Madison
I’m sure Jason can fend for himself without you having to nanny over him. You are not the censorship police and what I said is not even a fraction of what people CAN and HAVE said on the internet.
Jen–
I do have to say thank you. You are one of the few who actually wants to debate something without being hurtful or intending to be because you can’t interpret how the other person is going to take it.
Also Alex,
Just out of genuine concern, I do hope you do not do such a thing. Because that’d be extremely foolish. If you provoke people without cause they are going to snap back at you. It’s just how life works. If you are unable to handle that, then it’s best to leave them alone.
Jen
All right now, Alex it’s the INTERNET. don’t take everything so personal. (Hopefully what you said above, was a joke) Not everyone will like you, or your opinions. Yeah, now I understand what you were talking about earlier Jen. I still might not agree, but at least I understand it.
“I know you are butthurt that people are not conforming to your views on Twilight but if you read my second comment carefully, you’d notice I did mention the fact that I misread Rae’s response to you as your response to me. Maybe if you were not so busy fuming over those who do not enjoy Twilight as much as you do, you’d have notice. Intelligence is a gift, use it wisely please.”
I never said anything about your mistake comment. Since my last comment, I haven’t been on. So I don’t really know what you mean when you say:
“if you were not so busy fuming over those who do not enjoy Twilight as much as you do, you’d have notice”
I never said anything..
?
I was not nannying over Jason. I was trying to use him as an example of what is going on with the attacking on here. I never said I was the censorship police because believe me with what has been said on here I could say so much more, but I’m not because it has nothing to do with Twilight just with hurting another person’s feelings.
Thank you Madison.
I do not intend to hurt but I do have a volatile temper and if people snap it, I do not hesitate to snap right back at them. The only thing is that people get way too hurt over something someone said over the internet. Someone they have not even met in real life and is very unlikely to meet. The underside of internet debates I guess. *sigh*
Yes Kayla and Alex,
Let me address you both and repeat what I have been trying to say. The comment which you both refer to was not meant for you Kayla. I had mistaken Rae’s comment to have come from you and responded accordingly. I have clarified this already and I do sincerely hope you will stop making an issue out of it. Obviously you are extremely upset over this Alex, and I’m sorry you feel that way. I have no issues with apologising if it makes you feel better but I should let you know not everyone’s going to do the same.
Jason,
I apologise for going over the top with the insults. I was annoyed, I admit and now on introspection I realize I have diverged entirely from the point about discussing Twilight.
Snapping back is just a defensive mechanism, it’s human nature. Granted, I don’t try to hurt people with my comments, but if someone snaps at me first, damn straight I’m snapping back.
@ Jen.
No, I know that comment wasn’t meant for me, but what I mean is that once you left the seconds comment about how the one before wasn’t really meant for me, like right after that you said this:
“I know you are butthurt that people are not conforming to your views on Twilight but if you read my second comment carefully, you’d notice I did mention the fact that I misread Rae’s response to you as your response to me. Maybe if you were not so busy fuming over those who do not enjoy Twilight as much as you do, you’d have notice. Intelligence is a gift, use it wisely please.â€
But I never even said anything to your mistake comment. I’m not really trying to make this a big issue, but I DID notice that it was a mistake. Thats why I never said anything.. and you then said,
Maybe if you were not so busy fuming over those who do not enjoy Twilight as much as you do, you’d have notice
That’s why I was confused.
It’s ok.
Really Alex, I do hope you are just joking with your last comment. If I have offended you, I am sorry. But please do not entertain thoughts about suicide over what someone might have said on the internet. It’s never worth it. Once again, i’m sorry.
Alex–
I hope that you were joking with your last comment. I don’t want your family to have to go through what the Meiers have to live with everyday. Like Lem said, “It’s never worth it.”
well didn’t this just escalate into throwing insults back and forth.
is it really our fault if a twilighter comes typing like they’re are texting on their cell phones?? or that if they write like they text then its kinda hard to decipher.
madison:
it didn’t “tell” them
but it has been influencing girls to do that.
i can ask for the article where some girls have been breaking up with their boyfriends and fiances just because he wasn’t like edward.
now i know those girls had to be crazy before that, but it doesn’t change the fact that its happening. some girls now think normal guys can never be good enough because he’s not edward. Guys have been telling their girlfriends to act more like bella and don’t argue with them or telling them no.
the book has is causing people to ruin their relationships.
i feel more happy then sad for those men who were dumped for a fictional gay sparkley character, because now they don’t have the crazies hold them back from actual good meaningful, where the girl isn’t going to dump him because he wasn’t like Harry or like will from pirates of the caribbean relationship.
Equus:
That maybe true that people are breaking up because of Twilight, but there was something going wrong before Twilight even entered the picture. A normal person wouldn’t break up with someone they liked because he wasn’t like their favorite fictional character.
Twilight is the best!
Madison:
true there had to be problems before that, but twilight seemed to just be the last thing that knocked the already weak relationship down.
Madison-
What blissful reality do you live in, may I ask? Evidentially it’s not the same one I’ve lived through. I have honestly heard people saying things like “Yeah, he’s sweet, but he’s not as flawless as Edward. I know that there’s someone out there who’ll love me like Edward loves Bella.” or “He’s good to me, but he’s not as well-built as Edward. The guy for me is going to be red-hot AND perfect mentally.” It sickens me. Also, I’ve seen people ignore true feelings of affection just because “I didn’t feel it the second I saw him, so he can’t be my soul-mate”
Oh, and then there are the people who start bad relationships because “I wanted him from the first moment I saw him, and he told me he would watch me while I slept if we lived closer. Isn’t that so sweet?”
Madison-
I’m sorry, I missed one if your comments. Here’s my rebuke to that one:
Actually, you can. Writers, believe it or not, do actually have responsibility for their creations. If you write a book that is totally immoral and foolish actions go unpunished, you could at least mention SOMETIME that it would never happen. A note at the end, a press conference, an interview, on your site, ANYTHING! But she doesn’t. I’ve looked and found nothing of the sort. She just goes around acting like her book is really what the world should be like.
The problem that I have with her wasn’t that she wrote an illogical story with no plot whatsoever, nor even that she published it (after all, it gives me a bit of hope that I may too have a chance), but that she takes no responsibility for her actions. She doesn’t go up and say “Okay girls, I’m all for you liking my work, but could you please, PLEASE stop trying to be Bella? Life doesn’t work that way,” or even something like “Please remember that Bella and Edward are fantasy and there is almost no chance of anything like in the books happening in real life.” If she did that, she would get some respect from me. (also, it would probably help, since a lot of the people that read the book take her word as law)
And we can’t all be leaders. And for those who are, the least that they can do is give everyone else someone good to follow.
Jason- If you didn’t notice, I didn’t judge anyone by their grammar, and I’m not being judgmental. I’m trying to have a good argument based on things that I have noticed and my opinions.
And of course we’re saying our opinions are “how it is” That is how you argue. If you’re given something that you can’t deflect you say “Okay, you got me there” or something, but until then you have to keep fighting.
And I would like you to give me one example-just one- of me being a hypocrite.
Rae–
Blissful reality? Oh that’s a good one. The girls who usually say stuff like that most likely have some sort of psychological problem with commitment or they have no mind of their own seeing as how they let a teen romance novel take over their lives.
I said before that I loved the books, but there were parts that I didn’t agree with. Edward watching Bella sleep being one of them. It just freaks me out.
With all of the hype that Twilight is getting, Stephenie Meyer should make some sort of statement about how this is a fictional book in order to make sure girls know. She most likely thinks that today’s teens and tweens can differentiate reality from fiction.
I DON’T LIKE TWILIGHT AT ALL. IT’S POINTLESS INDEED. AND STOP SAYING “STEPHENIE MEYER IS THE NEXT J.K. ROWLING” ‘CAUSE IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. I SWEAR. J.K. ROWLING IS AMAZING AUTHOR NOT LIKE STEPHENIE MEYER SHE SEEM’S SO TRYING HARD AT ALL. I LOVE HARRY POTTER SO MUCH!
Hey Equus……..
SHUT UP!
XOX
Madison-
Problems with commitment, really? Some of those people had been dating for YEARS when that happened. And then there are GRPWN WOMEN I’ve met who had “He doesn’t love me like Edward loved Bella” as one of their primary reasons for divorce (now, I understand that this isn’t the only cause here, but if they put it SECOND on the list and before something like an affair, then it has to be something serious)
And as for not having minds of their own, we can’t all be leaders. If we did, it would be absolute chaos. And for those who do lead, the least that they can do is give everyone else someone good to follow.
Also, I’m sorry, I missed one if your comments last night. Here’s my rebuke to that one:
Actually, you can. Writers, believe it or not, do actually have responsibility for their creations. If you write a book that is totally immoral and foolish actions go unpunished, you could at least mention SOMETIME that it would never happen. A note at the end, a press conference, an interview, on your site, ANYTHING! But she doesn’t. I’ve looked and found nothing of the sort. She just goes around acting like her book is really what the world should be like.
The problem that I have with her wasn’t that she wrote an illogical story with no plot whatsoever, nor even that she published it (after all, it gives me a bit of hope that I may too have a chance), but that she takes no responsibility for her actions. She doesn’t go up and say “Okay girls, I’m all for you liking my work, but could you please, PLEASE stop trying to be Bella? Life doesn’t work that way,” or even something like “Please remember that Bella and Edward are fantasy and there is almost no chance of anything like in the books happening in real life.” If she did that, she would get some respect from me. (also, it would probably help, since a lot of the people that read the book take her word as law)
Jason- If you didn’t notice, I didn’t judge anyone by their grammar, and I’m not being judgmental. I’m trying to have a good argument based on things that I have noticed and my opinions.
And of course we’re saying our opinions are “how it is” That is how you argue. If you’re given something that you can’t deflect you say “Okay, you got me there” or something, but until then you have to keep fighting.
And I would like you to give me one example-just one- of me being a hypocrite.
Kanick- Wow. That response TOTALY leads me to think that you are well out of third grade, and will make in impact on Eqquis. And if someone can SO eloquently state why Eqquis should stop, you’ve made me believe that Twilight is now the bestest book ever and that I should go join the sparkklie-vampiers-maek-me-happi club. I’m going to leave right now -eye roll-
Oops… The comment I wrote last night DID go through. I’m sorry Jason and Madison. (although, I did change Madison’s to add her latest comment) I didn’t mean to make you read it again XD!
Kanick, sorry to say i can’t, well i could, but my family traits come out roaring at times. i do have a bit of a hard time with letting things go.
besides, me shutting up would make it easier on the twihards, and i’d hate for them to miss out on some good whole some debating.
nice try though
thanks for the back up Rae though you mispelled my name LOL!! but thats okay i’m going on a limb here and say that it was late at night. thanks again!
Thats true that not everyone can be a leader. The people who say that do have some sort of commitment issues because a normal person would not break off a relationship that they were in because of a fictional character. People who have been together for years may have blamed it Twilight, but the relationship would’ve have ended sooner or later without Twilight.
I agree with you that those who are leaders need to be good role models, but from birth we are given our own minds. People are given the right to think for themselves. If something happens to them because of them following someone or somthing else, it is their fault, it isn’t the leader’s fault. Granted, Stephenie Meyer should remind her readers that this is a fictional book, like I said in my comment above, but she thinks that today’s teens and tweens are able to differentiate fiction from reality as do most adults today.
Madison-
So just because they have a problem we shouldn’t pay attention because it doesn’t happen to normal people? Well then, why are a large number of drugs illegal? Normal people would be smart enough not to do it. And why are there antidepressants? Normal people don’t have depression. And why do we give money to the people with the red buckets at Christmas? Normal people live in houses and can fend for themselves, even though the economy’s down the tubes.
It doesn’t matter that normal people wouldn’t do it. Isn’t the point of civilization so that people can support each other for the betterment of all?
Then should all of the people in Germany in 1945 who weren’t actively trying to stop Hitler have been treated as war criminals if they were so able to think for themselves? People might have a sense of right and wrong, but those are learned behaviors. Girls are typically taught from a young age to be gentile and rely on men. Now, it nearly isn’t as bad as it was even 20 years ago, but the mentality still exists, especially in more conservative households. And then you put this on top of their upbringing, and it might be the last straw. If a child is taught from birth to want to be somewhat subservient, and that is constantly reinforced through the media-TV, magazines, and newspapers as well as books-then we might have a cultural throwback to the 1800’s when it comes to women’s rights.
So obviously, Twilight is not the only problem. However, it is one part of it. If we constantly pick away at a problem, eventually it will dwindle to the size where it is no threat to my or my loved ones’ well being.
Equus-
Aww… Dammit… I feel bad now… It wasn’t…. But it was early in the morning, though.
aww thats okay Rae, i’m not mad =)
Rae–
Sorry for my poor choice of explanation and words. What I meant to say that people with some sort of psychological issue that could be as little as low self-esteem usually pick something that they like/love and obsesse over it until it becomes all they are. Same thing with almost all drug addicts. They have something happen to them and they turn to drugs to make themselves feel better. Plus, comparing the Salvation Army red kettles with Twilight maniacs is comparing apples and organes.
Maybe where you live girls are taught to rely on men, but where I’m from we’re taught that men are supposed to be men like they always have been. They are supposed to be protectors and providers, but as women we have a duty to ourselves to be independent. Plus, what news are you watching? Hilary Clinton was the first woman to run for president and she almost won the nomination and is now the secretary of state. Yes, some tv shows do come across as showing women as subservient, but that is a select few. The ones who don’t show this far out weigh the ones that do. Plus, what are your credentials for you to say “we might have a cultural throwback to the 1800’s when it comes to women’s rights?” What proof do you have of this? The overall plot of Twilight is that good propers over evil. You need to gain proper perspective. This is one fictional series. What do you want to happen? Should the Twilight series be banned? Shouldn’t your agruing be more acted toward more heinous things like the SAW movies or Hostel that can affect and immune people from those horrible acts of violence?
Ah… that makes more sense.
However, those people still need help, which was my point.
And I believe I’m guilty of the same word-choice problem that you had. I wasn’t comparing the Salvation Army to Twilight maniacs. I was giving monetary aid to those who need it to giving psychological aid to those who need that, which are two similar things to me.
Well, good for you. I was stuck being an evangelical Christian for the first six years of my life. There was so much ‘women should always be beneath their husbands’ and ‘the point of females is so that they can please men’ that I’m shocked I don’t feel completely lost without a boyfriend.
What news am I reading? The news that talks about women who are shut out of jobs because they’re not as good-looking as a younger competitor when the job had nothing to do with appearances. The news that talks about the statistics of how women are grossly underpaid when compared to their male counterparts. And I look at the trends I’ve seen in the population of the newer generation-my generation. I’ve seen girls trying to come to school half-naked even in winter so that they can catch a few eyes. I see great, beautiful young minds that have been told by many people- usually men, but sometimes other women- that their brains have to take a backseat because the guys are horny and need to get laid. I’ve heard people with 4.3 GPAs saying that they were going to become housewives, not because they think that it would be good for their children (I have nothing against individuals of either sex staying home to raise their children. In fact, I think that’s a totally legitimate option and I might have to think about that when I get older), but because that’s what ‘women are supposed to do.’ And then, there’s my favorite: “Things were so much better before the sixties when women started to, like, be able to do stuff. I’d rather not have to think about anything. It’s just, like, so LAME.” I wouldn’t care if there was only one person thinking that, but it’s hundreds. And if they don’t think what are the odds of them having many children? And then what if they pass those ideals on?
And yes, I know about Hilary Clinton. However, the majority of voters are older than the people I see doing the things mentioned above. My question is, will it be possible for a woman to match-or hopefully surpass Mrs. Clinton’s achievements in ten years when the people I’m watching will rule the world? I hope for the life of me that they do and that this trend isn’t part of a larger pattern, but there’s no way to be sure. All that I can do is try to tip the tables in the favor of women’s rights.
I’m sorry; I didn’t think that you’d take that literally. What I meant is that it seems very, very possible to me that judging from the observations women’s rights will begin to slowly slip away. And then there’s the fact that humans tend not to be able to hold onto the good times for long, I’ve noticed. “War brings peace brings war,” as my history teacher says. There is a huge battle for something or other. The people are devastated by what happened and stop killing each other to start building a better future. That goes well for a few generations, and then the people in the new age long for the action that their ancestors had. So they start a war other something or other. The cycle repeats and repeats forever and ever.
There is a similar cycle to the one above, but it’s more along the lines of “oppression brings freedom brings oppression” Sometimes, people begin to lust for the ‘simple life’ that earlier generations had, and they take what they have for granted. This is happening right now with the worker’s unions in America. Some of them are just starting to slip away, because people think that they’re ‘not doing anything.’ So what happens if the same thing with rights happens?
No, I’m not saying Twilight should be banned. I’m saying, though that there should be at least SOMETHING official somewhere that points out that the life Bella leads isn’t all that great, and she’s not a good person to follow (the ‘this book is completely fictional’ thing on the copyright page does nothing either).
Do you want to know why I’m not going after Saw? It’s the rating. Not only is there something that, just with one letter, makes it painfully obvious that this is not appropriate for the young and easily impressionable, but right next to the giant M if you look at a poster or DVD case it says something like “extreme violence.” I would assume that most of the time, parents would not let a tween watch something that is OBVIOUSLY targeted at adults. However, twilight IS targeted at teens, and very often tweens will read it as well. The parents, if anything, are just glad that their kid is reading.
Also, I’d like to hear how often you’d hear a teenager saying “I killed this guy because I saw it in a movie” versus “I’d let a guy watch me while I sleep-assuming he’s hot- because I read it in Twilight.” Oh, and then there’s the fact that it’s more intuitively obvious to anyone older than 10 that killing people is wrong (this is reinforced almost constantly by everything for a long time), where as it might be harder for a girl to see the line between a genuine protective personality and an abusive one, and assume that something’s okay when it really isn’t.
I hope I made sense that time….
Rae–
I never said that those people didn’t need help. I did write a comment saying that they do. I’m just trying to say that Twilight isn’t the only thing wrong, that there is something deeper that is having them become obsessed with it.
There will always be people in the world that think that women are inferior to men. Like my theology teacher says, “You will have two obstacles to get over in life your age and your gender.” It has been that way for centuries passed on from generation to generation. There will always be situations where women are treated unfairly. Just like there will always be situations where african-americans, jews, catholics, etc… won’t be treated equally. Hell, I’ve been discrimated against for wearing my private school uniform on public transportation. It’s just how the world is.
I guess I misunderstood you when you made the comment about Twilight/news having girls act inferior to men. I have the exact same thing happening around you happening here. Girls dressing like hoes because they think it will get a guy to notice them, when it really gets them used. Many of the girls I see that happen to were girls that I have known my whole life. They were conservative, smart and liked school (like I am today), but as we entered high school you had be “cool” and do what everyone else was doing. Alot of girls aren’t strong enough to put up with peer pressure or the teasing that goes on when you actually are a “good girl.”
We are all created different with our own values and beliefs. Because of this, there will be differences in the world. I mean you and I don’t agree about hardly anything having to do with Twilight because of how we think. There will never be anything such as world peace. It’s not humanly possible.
Yes, Saw is rated for extreme violence, but since when do kids ever listen to ratings. I would hope that parents wouldn’t want their children to see that either, but kids find ways to see things, read things, do things that they aren’t supposed to. I take a CA (Criminal Analysis) class for fun (yes, I’m a weird sixteen-year-old) and you would not believe how similar to the plot lines of those types of movies the crimes are and I’m not just talking about adult criminals.
I will repeat myself again. The girls who think that it is okay for someone to watch them sleep or take the engine out of their car don’t know the difference between protective and abusive because no adult has taught them.
And yes it made sense…
It has always scared me to witness supposedly normal human beings descend into this irrational state of mind that many Twilight fans exhibit. That so many people don’t realize how hypocritical they’re being, that they honestly think that other people don’t have a right to an opinion that opposes theirs, that they actually believe that their subjective viewpoint is a fact… it distresses me on so many levels.
All the juvenile bitchy comments about how haters don’t have the right to criticize other people’s art/writing, which is exactly what they’re doing, only with worse grammar. How do you people justify this to yourselves?
The behavior demonstrated by some of these fans is symptomatic of much deeper problems, but I’m not going to get into that.
Instead, I’m going to exercise my basic human right to speak my opinion.
The whole Twilight series is completely mediocre. They seem to be written like the world’s longest pieces of fanfiction, only I’ve read fanfiction that I think is better then Twilight.
The fact that Twilight got published doesn’t surprise me. The library is full of books that make me deeply question the literary standards of those around me.
What surprises me is how inexplicably popular it is. It’s nothing special, really, give my cousin some energy drinks and after making him read Romeo and Juliet followed by Dracula and he’d probably produce something pretty similar, if less drawn out. Seriously, judging by the stories my cousin submitted to his university paper, he’s about on the same level as Stephanie Meyer.
Just like every other average wannabe writer out there who never gets a publishing deal due to sheer luck of the draw.
It’s true that I’m quite often confused by what becomes popular and what doesn’t, which is part of why I have so little regard for the opinions of others a majority of the time, but even my own brother has fallen into the Twilight trap, and he normally has such good taste. It blows my mind, and is almost enough to make me suspect that some sinister plot is going on.
I find the characters to be one-dimensional and cliched, with Bella being the author-insert Mary Sue that seems to be plaguing the literary world today. It’s not that I can’t understand the allure of reading about a normal girl finding an awesome guy and having a relationship with him. The part that I can’t understand is where this average girl has every guy who’s important enough to be given a name in the book falling in love with her while she angsts about how not special and not pretty she is. It loses all potential for a character you can relate to.
As for the relationship between Edward and Bella, it’s not obsessive unhealthy relationship that I don’t mind. I’m actually a complete sucker for twisted self-destructive romances. The big difference is that in the stories I like, it’s made obvious that the relationship is indeed abnormal and unhealthy, and if you like it anyway that’s indicative of your own instabilities, but it’s by no means portrayed as an -ideal- relationship in any way, unlike in Meyer’s books. Obsessive, all consuming soul-deep love is awesome, but either make it healthy or make it clear that it’s not. Don’t make it fucked up and then dress it up like it’s perfect.
I could go on, but I’ll save it for later. I get the feeling I’m going to be arguing about this topic for a while yet to come.
Madison-
Okay, I’m glad that we can at least agree on something.
True, but does that mean that we should just ignore that kind of injustice? Call me naive, but I think that as long as we can speak, we have to speak out against wrongs. Just because we won’t be able to stop the problem, shouldn’t we at least try to beat it down until we reach our limit? Otherwise, it could spread out of control.
Exactly. Like being called a lesbian and getting yelled at for being a ‘peeping tom’ if there are any women in your line of sight not fully dressed in the locker room.
…Wait… wasn’t that the point I just made :/? Whatever. I have nothing to object to in that statement.
That’s true, but at least they know it’s not right, because whether or not they listen they see the rating. I see it as somewhat of a filter. It keeps the problem more or less manageable. There are enough physiatrists to deal with the amount of people that get murderous intent from watching slaughter in the world (although I’m not so sure that it’s that easy. Humans can actually be fairly sturdy, usually have a large will to live, and it’s hard for a human to kill another human). Twilight, however, HAS no filter. I believe that there is probably a connection between that and the amount of girls (and boys) that are being deeply affected by the book.
I’m not surprised about the stories being similar. However, we end up with a ‘chicken and egg’ question, so to speak. Do the criminals behave this way because of the movies, or are the movies written the way they are because of criminals? As my school does not offer a CA class (I’m actually jealous of you on this one. I can’t even take a psychology course at all until I’m a senior. These next two and a half years are going to DRAG…), I can’t say for sure if these people decided to commit the murder the way they did because they had seen it on the silver screen, or if it simply made the most sense. I DO know, though, that as a writer, I will do my best to think as if I am the character and come up with material from that. Or either party may have taken a previous crime into account while designing their own setting. It seems quite possible to me that the murderers and the screenwriters came up with the same answer independently (after all, I’m pretty sure that all civilizations managed to invent shoes, even those who weren’t in touch)
…You mean there are schools that don’t cover that? Then again, there are schools who don’t teach anything about birth control. No wonder we have so many problems…
Rae–
No, we shouldn’t ignore the injustice, but until there are enough people who care and take the time to fight it and speak against it is just how it is.
I’ve said before that I am a fan of the books, but there are parts of it that I don’t like or agree with, but I do believe that people who are capable of reading, are capable of thinking and figure out what is real and what isn’t. Those who can’t are the ones who let trivial things influence them.
Believe me, in my CA class we have gotten into debates arguing the ‘chicken and the egg’ question so many times. The only reason that I even brought up Saw is because I’m actually writing a paper on Jigsaw, psychoanalyzing him and his influence on the people who see the films. Their responses amaze and scare me at the same time. Yes, they may have ended up with the answers independently on some things, but when I’m reading a case that follows a “game” from Saw play by play, I find it unlikely.
PS: My school is like yours with the whole psychology classes. I went out on my own and joined a class that a local college offers. I figured it would help seeing as how I want to be a part of the BAU (Behavorial Analysis Unit) in the FBI, kinda like Criminal Minds if you’ve ever seen that show.
I agree with you when you say “no wonder we have so many problems.” My school is the type of school that informs you about everything and I mean EVERYTHING to the point where you want to live in a bubble. It amazes me the things as little as HPV (not that HPV is little, just well known) that people know little about.
Lara, thank you! For putting everything I had been wanting to say about the series in such a well thought out comment! I would love to hear more of your views on that!
I personally think though that Twilight does not even deserve the term mediocre. Seriously how can chests be incandescent or arms be scintillating? Scintillating?
And the fact that girls these days, many much much older than I am, cling onto the Mary Sue esque perception of Bella and seem to think their neurotic relationship is true love it bothers me a great deal. I have had the misfortune of reading some really bad literary fiction but this seals the deal for me. The general comparisons drawn by Twilighters to Harry Potter makes me want to remove their kidneys with butter knives. I mean what the hell? Harry Potter has 1) A plot 2) Characters 3) Well defined characters 4) Good writing albeit very simple but JKR captures the essence of he story with few words. I mean of course Harry Potter in itself is no literary marvel by any sort (I personally think that honour still rests with Tolkien and Middle Earth) but compared to Twilight it is in a different terrain of its own.
Sorry for the long banter. I just wanted to say I loved your response and I would love to hear what else you have to say on this matter.
Why thank you, Lem. It’s nice to be appreciated, and I’d love to discuss this with you.
In the matter of Twilight being mediocre, you do have a point. I think it depends on your definition of average. If you haven’t been disappointed every time you’ve gone to the library in the last four months, higher standards would probably apply.
Meyer’s use of adjectives and descriptive terminology in general makes me giggle. It’s like she picked a specific set of words she likes and is trying to use them as often as possible, even if they aren’t entirely appropriate.
The idea of teenage girls reading the Twilight books and thinking that they want a relationship with someone like Edward is something I find disturbing, and yet it’s happening. Girls who I thought had so much more sense then that started spouting praise for Edward ages ago, but it was only recently that I finally caved and actually read the books after my brother not-so-subtly left them by the couch when he came to visit. It was then that I started thinking back to all the talk of Edward, and I gradually became horrified.
I myself don’t understand the comparison to Harry Potter, other then the fact that they’re both obscenely popular. I like your idea with the butter knives, by the way.
While they’re hardly my favorite books, the Harry Potter books are on a whole different level to Twilight, particularly the earlier ones. Harry Potter had magic that inspired the imagination of young teens, characters that were relatable with various good characteristics and flaws that weren’t treated as if they didn’t exist, and even though the series seemed to steadily get worse after book three, it still had redeeming qualities to balance it’s faults.
While Tolkien isn’t my style in particular, I can appreciate that the Tolkien works are wonderful. I’m glad that people don’t seem to be trying to compare Meyer with Tolkien, because that would be truly saddening.
I’d love to further discuss these points with you, or any other that you’d like to talk about.
Can we just say that what ever you think.. we think
TWILIGHT ROCKS!!
And dont bother reading the books if you dont like them..other people love them, so get over it!!
So Yeahh!
what i don’t get is when people say don’t bother reading the books, they make it seem as if we just picked twilight randomly to hate.
like we were walking through a store and stopped and said, “this is the book i’m going to hate”
and then twilighters tell us we should stop reading them. well we did stop, we don’t reread the books over again. well i didn’t. i read them each one time and pushed them into the back of my closet, isolated from my other books since twilight isn’t worthy of being on the same shelf as the others.
they make it seem like we are sitting here with a book rereading it as much as they do, but of course we’re not, we just remember how the story went and what happend.
All I am going to say is this (Becasue I have already and currently am ranting aainst Twilight book) If yuo havent heard of this website, Do visit it: Twilight sucks.com/forums)
very god well-thought out discussions about meyer and her infamous books. this whole craze has got to stop.
Equus:
I would hope that if you hated doing something that you would stop. I respect the fact that you aren’t just hating on it because you want to be different than others, but rather read the books and made an educated decision.
If you want role models, don’t look into literature. You should know that by now.
Literature is not there to give teenagers role models or examples. Is there basically to the service of the writer’s expression. That is art.
If you can’t handle art, watch PBS.
Cheers,
Ana
Well, i think this has completely blown out of control, can i just say that i thought this article was quite good, for once i get to here the true opinion of someone who doesnt like twilight, but to be honest i love the series, Who cares if its bad example for kids etc. its a great book to read and i think it is ace
wait a minute, justin, who cares if it sends off bad examples to kids?? what is this world coming to? who cares? i hope you really don’t believe that, i really do.
This article was the highlight of my day. No lie. Probably of my week too. I completely agree with the contents of this article. I think it would have been great if you had mentioned more of Edwards flaws though… (creepy stalker much?)
The sad truth about Twilight is that many people think it is alright to have books out there that insult everything that forward-minded countries have worked for. There are so many better literary female-rolemodels out there for young girls to look up to. I remembered when every girl wanted to be Hermione Granger. I remember wanting to be like Elizabeth Bennet. I loved how strong and independent those two characters are. Bella on the other hand is… weak. both as a character and as a person. The people who can’t realize that Bella is not a role-model for girls in the world that we live in needs to get out of the 19th century and start living in the now.
Thank you so much for an articulate article that truly expresses the myriad of flaws that people are blindly accepting.
If anyone says that you have no right to have written this, simply tell them that , like Stephanie Meyers, you have the freedom of press and expression, and that if they don’t like what you write, they shouldn’t read it.
Good luck on any future articles you may write!!!
~Niko
Madison-
But how do we know if we have enough people unless we keep trying? Take some poll?
People are influenced by everything that they touch. The only question is how deep of a chord it strikes. Just because something isn’t real and the person knows that doesn’t mean that it still won’t influence them.
I don’t doubt you, because at the time I have no credentials to do so.
But how many times has something like that ‘game’ happened? Unless there is the kind of number that matches that of people who’s lives were messed up by Twilight, I won’t be convinced that the rating filter doesn’t at least help.
PS: Then I’m jealous of your local colleges. They don’t have anything for me either ;_;
I know… It can be pretty crazy, no?
My personal opinion is that we should cut the minimum gym credits and make it a law that we have a semester-long sex ed class. I’m willing to bet that that’ll take down those teen pregnancy statistics a peg or two.
Ana-
People don’t LOOK to books for role models. No one goes to the store and says “Oh look, a fictional book. I’m going to act just like the main character!” People get the book, begin reading it and go “You know, this main character seems to be doing fairly well for themselves…” Or “You know, that’s an interesting point, I might have to take that into account.”
That is, if they think about it. Most people don’t. Their subconscious sees the main character as human, even though they’re fictional, and will react the same way it would if you got to know that person closely. Have you ever made a new friend and then started picking up some of their little habits? It’s the same exact thing.
Rae–
I wasn’t saying that because we don’t know how many people are trying then we shouldn’t do anything. I was just trying to say that until there is a great enough movement to change the way of thinking, nothing will change.
That is true, but since that is the case then EVERYTHING would have to be disected and analyzed to see how it would affect different types of people.
It’s not just “games” that have happend. Thankfully, they are in the minority compared to Twilight, but other things in the media, books, games, etc… have influenced criminals. I was just using the example of Saw to get my point across.
I agree with you. I know I would rather have to sit in a sex-ed class in the morning than have to play field hockey or basketball at 8:30 in the morning. I think it would reduce the precentage of teen pregnancy, but I also think it would reduce the amount of STDs that would be contracted.
I think it was kinda dumb in someparts i do agree i hate bella in some parts she always is getting herself in to trouble and is like edward come save me, i mean how crazy would you be to jump off a cliff because she wants to here edwards voice secondly in breaking dawn, the end is very very stupid they get all these people for like half of the book and then its like ok we did all this for nothing there wasnt even a fight i wouldnt of minded if bella dyed it would have been better thats my way of putting it
Madison-
From what I’ve seen, it tends to be a snowball effect. Everyone that is after the same result does what they can, and that can change some people. Then, those people change some more people, and soon you’ve got enough bodies for something big to go down.
No, my point was that there should be some sort of warning giving a basic summary of the worst stuff that happens-like they have in movies. It doesn’t take too much brainpower to figure out the worst probable effect it could have on the mind. If there is a reaction, it should be the same for about 90% of the people-just in different amounts. It should be simple enough to come up with a list of what sort of recurring themes will hurt people and in which way (although it would have to be checked every 10 years or so)
If medicines, movies, video games, and TV give warnings, then why shouldn’t books?
Exactly. There will always be people that overreact. You can never completely stamp out people who are affected in ways that they shouldn’t, so you have to pick your battles. It’s a nice idea to think that it’s feasible to do anything without having repercussions, but socialism is a nice idea too. Neither will work because of human nature. So what we have to do with the books is chose the ones that seem to be doing the most damage and try to control that problem.
Leah, i agree with you. all i regret about the story is jasper not suceeding in ridding us of bella. he almost fufilled our most wanted hopes, but of course the cullens had to save the day.
if it wasn;t for those meddling 2 dimensional meyerpires, jasper would have gotten away with it.
*shakes fists at smeyer* darn you smeyer for wanting your self insert to live!! darn you!!
I wanted to support you. I agree with just about everything that you said about the books in your review. I have read all four of the books and seen the movie and Bella and Edward’s relationship is a classic, unhealthy relationship. It’s too bad that so many people still idealize and defend it. Edward is the classic stalker and Bella is perfectly happy to have him isolate her from her friends, family and any other romantic options that may come her young way. To your detractors who says that it’s just fiction, I say look at all of the websites and screaming girls who want Edward to be their boyfriend. That kind of devotion speaks to a deeper issue than just enjoying a summer read on the beach.
Personally, I prefer my heroines to be the kind that can take care of themselves and don’t need a man to swoop in every 100 pages to do it for them. I also like the kinds of literary romances where the heroine and the man in her life love each other in an equal way that doesn’t involve stalking, manipulation, isolation and so forth. I just wanted to shake Bella every time she gave the classic battered woman defense, “he only does it because he loves me.”
Hermoine wouldn’t need Edward to rescue her and she would put him in his place when took out her car engine to prevent her from leaving the house. Also, in a fight, Hermoine would be an integral part of a team kick James’ ass. That’s my kind of heroine.
Finally, I agree with your last article. Meyer’s response to her book being leaked on the internet is like that of a petulant child. She’s not going to last long in public spotlight unless she develops a thicker skin.
To Kellen Rice. I wanted to support you. I agree with just about everything that you said about the books in your review. I have read all four of the books and seen the movie and Bella and Edward’s relationship is a classic, unhealthy relationship. It’s too bad that so many people still idealize and defend it. Edward is the classic stalker and Bella is perfectly happy to have him isolate her from her friends, family and any other romantic options that may come her young way. To your detractors who says that it’s just fiction, I say look at all of the websites and screaming girls who want Edward to be their boyfriend. That kind of devotion speaks to a deeper issue, than just enjoying a summer read on the beach.
Personally, I prefer my heroines to be the kind that can take care of themselves and don’t need a man to swoop in every 100 pages to do it for them. I also like the kinds of literary romances where the heroine and the man in her life love each other in an equal way that doesn’t involve stalking, manipulation, isolation and so forth. I just wanted to shake Bella every time she gave the classic battered woman defense, “he only does it because he loves me.”
Hermoine wouldn’t need Edward to rescue her and she would put him in his place if he took out her car engine to prevent her from leaving the house. Also, in a fight, Hermoine would be an integral part of a team that would kick the bad guy’s ass. That’s my kind of heroine.
Finally, I agree with your last article. Meyer’s response to her book being leaked on the internet is like that of a petulant child. She’s not going to last long in public spotlight unless she develops a thicker skin.
Pretty much everything I’ve ever had issues with regarding the Twilight series. Every little thing (follow up piece included) (except for possibly the insult that comes from being a life long fan of vampire literature/lore, the roots of which Meyer completely hacks to pieces, making it hard to understand why she chooses to use vampires in the story at all). And I’m so relieved to see that there exist people who think the same things and are just as horrified (and depressed) by the success of the series as I have been for years.
Btw, to the girl who told you that you think too much…all I can say is I wish *I* were able to stop thinking, I really do. How wonderful it would be. Maybe they’ll come up with a pill for that. I can only hope. For now I’ll just have to settle for attempting to self-induce a coma. Mother always told me I should aspire to use the brain God gave me a little less…
Also to the girls who don’t think we should “pick on” Stephanie Meyer for over-using the same words…As a writer, words are all you have. If you can’t be bothered to get creative with them and really do justice to the fact that those words are your only tools then you have no place in the business of art (be it through story telling or any other median). Have some standards for what you read, honestly. Surprise your eyeballs every once in a while. Read some Palahnuik or Tim O’Brien. Or hey, if you want to read about what vampires have traditionally been like for centuries, pick up some Anne Rice or Stoker. Don’t forget your holy water.
[…] http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/ […]
I posted a comment before – why didn’t it post? I can’t find it on here.
Hermione is laughing her ass off at Bella’s attempt to be a strong female character.
This is ridiculous. It’s a book. If you don’t want to read it, don’t. Don’t ruin everyone else’s time. If they choose to read it, they choose to read it. If you seriously can’t read a book without thinking that there is an underlying feminist message, thats ridiculous. Your never going to find a book where someone doesn’t think that. I’m not obsessed with the books but I liked them and they weren’t disappointing for “graduates of the Harry Potter craze” I read every single Harry Potter book as soon as they came out yet I still liked the Twilight Series. You have a right to voice your opinion but its not really going to matter. She still has a movie deal, she still sold millions of books, she still has hordes of people reading them. So you can voice your opinion and complain about this book all you want, its not going to do anything except piss some people off and get some people to agree but your probably not going to change anyones mind if they’ve already read it so just chill out.
Also, I think that this whole fight that’s going on is ridiculous. I read some of the comments above like the conversation between Lem and Alex. Its somewhat sad that people waste so much time here. I’m here cause my friend sent me the link and I wanted to voice my opinion just like everyone else. Yes, I agree with some that the whole Hellen Rice SUCKS thing is a little immature. She doesn’t like the Twilight Series, SO WHAT. Everyones entitled to their opinion and yes people express their opinion on others opinions but the way you do it shows how mature you can be. The one comment that somewhat pissed me off was the Hellen Rice SUCKS and took up space writing Suck over and over again. Yes I don’t particularly agree with Rice’s opinion but do you seriously have to stoop to that much of an immature level. It’s no big deal, she doesn’t like it get over it. Not everyone is going to like it. Take Harry Potter series for example. Everyone thought they were amazing except for some who would not let there children read it because they thought it to be blasphemous. We may have criticized them but it probably didn’t change their opinions. So voice your opinion you have the right to but don’t waste your time writing stupid responses to it that are just going to make you look like an immature person or what Hellen Rice described.
Em, as much as we have seen the way twilighters react to us voicing our opinions, i think its safe to say we have tossed their feelings into the back burner. i know that may seem cold to those who don’t do that, but the twilighters have sure ruined my opinion of the majority of them. we know they’re not going to listen to us, but they have no right to try and stop us from voicing our opinions, they can’t seem to find respect for us when they insult us and curse out, so i don’t see why we should care about their feelings, if they’re mad thats not our problem, if they want to cry because of what we said then they may need some help that we probably can’t give.
only some of them i consider as someone i can debate with, the others act like little kindergardeners so i’m sorry if it seems like i look over them to the twilighters acting like adults. theres no need to tell us to chill out, we’re far from angry, and it kind of sounds like thats just your way of telling us not to say anything else and to leave alone, but you know we’re no going to be doing that any time soon.
and Em, we already read the books, we’re not rereading them since we found them extremley lacking any plot, characteraization, personality. if only we got the choice to kill bella ourselves i would suit up right with a machine gun just for her. Harry potter actually has all those things i mentioned. a plot, character development, and personality, the girls weren’t falling over themselves for a guy and they known the men they were going to be with for years. even ginny was a stronger character than bella, but i would guess so since she had to be strong to not be over run by her six brothers. bella just was ridiculous, theres no way any one is going to convince me other wise.
we know what we’re doing. its angering people that we would dare question twilight and go against it. we know there is like a cult following smeyer since its the new thing. i personally can’t see anything that is so wonderful about the series. nothing what so ever, all the twilighters say is good about is bella/edward and we(antis) have reasons for not liking them.
so what else. what other reason do the twilighters like it?? i believe if edward wasn’t describe as perfect adonis greek god, super calvin klein underwear model looking, then girls wouldn’t be acting crazy for the guy. all smeyer did was feed the hormonal teenage girls sexual fantasies for a “hot” guy to love them even if they considered themselves as average looking.
that they want to believe that a guy out there will love them like bella forever and never leave them. if he does leave them then they would want to believe he was being tortured and entertaining the idea of committing suicide at the thought of never seeing her again. they want a guy to act like a love sick puppy (no pun intended).
but of course we know that a guy isn’t going to kill himself just because he thought she was dead, he wants to live ladies sorry i know it crushes your hearts but he wants to live. i wouldn’t blame him for wanting to move on if a girlfriend of his died. but now girls would rather a guy to be miserable without her at his side. thats pretty selfish in my opinion
now i know that happens, girls wanting to change guys and have them die for her to protect her life. they find that so romantic. i find that over dramatic, when you’ve been married for 10 years then fine you can jump infront of a bullet for them, if you had kids then no, i wouldn’t agree with you killing yourself to be with your husband or wife, you got kids that need you here to help them cope without their other parent. life goes on, you can’t lay down and wait to die. now if your kids were killed then i can see a parent losing their health or dieing from a broken heart because their children that they brought into this world died or was killed.
i guess my views may sound a bit hypercrtical and may not make sense.
and Rafal H, hermione would have an elborate plan drawn up on how to intelligently push bella off a cliff while figuring out how to lock the cullens into a room and set them on fire with the fiend fyre spell. the fire won’t go out until the victim is reduced to soot. so ladies ad gentleman thats one way to kill the cullens.
Equus, I wasn’t saying you (the antis) need to chill out. I meant people on either side that were being immature and not making a point. I think fighting over peoples opinions is stupid. Its an opinion about a book. When I said chill out, I was speaking to people like Anti-Kellen Rice who took up so much space just to write “suck” a million times. Theres no value in that kind of opinion. I respect the people on here who actually have a point to there arguments and I’m not trying to fight anyone on here. I know people who are obsessed with the Twilight books and yes the whole fantasizing about Edward is a little sad. He’s fictional. Yes I liked the books and the movie but not for the whole love story. I’m more of an action person and I know someones going to read this and say “Twilight has no good action” but again its a matter of opinion. I like the science fiction/ mythical kind of books like Harry Potter, Eragon and even Twilight. Lumping every Twilight reader into one category isn’t exactly fair. I don’t really mind the grammatical errors. Not everyone can be perfect. I find grammatical errors in a lot of readings that shouldn’t diminish the story. I liked Twilight because it was somewhat different. (Again someones going to argue that I bet) I like the whole vampire concept and I liked vampires before Twilight even came out. On top of that it included creative things like the whole vampire history and same for the werewolves. It takes talent to get four books published. People may think “Oh anyone can get a book published….Just look at Twilight” but it was published. Its been a huge hit among people and yes it may end up conveying the wrong message but the people who read it aren’t looking for that message. There not spending there time looking for it their spending their time reading for fun. So Equus you make good points and I’m not trying to fight with anyone about this. I was voicing my opinion just like everyone else. How people react to it is their choice. I’m trying to be mature unlike some people on here who don’t have any reason for there comments and I’m not targeting the “antis” or anyone for that matter.
Oh also Equus, in your first paragraph you said “they have no right to try and stop us from voicing our opinions, they can’t seem to find respect for us when they insult us and curse out, so i don’t see why we should care about their feelings” I completely agree. Their are people on both sides of this that act like that. If they’re going to be immature about it or try to stop you, they don’t really deserve your time. You have the right to express your opinion no matter what so if they don’t like it so what. They don’t deserve respect if they act like that. It’s immature. If they can’t handle that not everyone likes the book then why are they here
I’m trying to read as much of these comments as possible but its a little hard considering there are alot of comments but I saw that Equus made a point about the whole “girls want an edward”. I’m just saying that I’ve had a boyfriend for 11 months now and I’m in high school. After reading these books I had no intentions of breaking up with my boyfriend to find an “Edward” I didn’t even compare him to Edward. The girls that did do that are somewhat pathetic. There not going to find an “Edward” as much as I’d like for vampires like them to be real I’m not going to go looking for an Edward even if they were. Maybe the girls that broke up with their boyfriends were already having problems and jokingly said that he wasn’t Edward or maybe her boyfriend was a douche or maybe she was crazy. But the Edward character was somewhat of a gentleman. Not sure how he put up with Bella (now that I think about it she was a little obsessive). But none the less he stayed. He protected her and he treated her like a princess despite the fact she was always getting into trouble. So the precedent Edward sends may raise the bar for some or some may realize they already found their “Edward”. To me, I think the reason girls may dump their boyfriends saying they’re not Edward is because they think that there are some guys out there like him. To me he represents the qualities of a decent guy. Hes sweet hes caring hes protective. These girls may have had boyfriends who weren’t like that. Its still a little sad that they broke up with there boyfriends for that reason but I mean maybe there was something behind it.
Em-
First of all, we’re not lumping every Twilighter into one category. However, our main problems are with the 90% of the fanbase that gives the other 10% (meaning people like you) a bad name.
No one reads ANYTHING looking for a message aside from a: people looking for books for their children and b: people reading the Bible/Torah/Other holy book. However, does that mean that the people are unaffected by what they read? No. Does it mean that the Author is not somewhat responsible for not thinking that it might warp peoples lives (especially when the book has already messed people up and she refuses to acknowledge it)? No. And how people react initially isn’t their choice. The only question is if the reader is a secure enough of a person not to act on that initial response.
And as for you and your boyfriend, good for you. I’m a freshman in high school and have been in love with the same guy for almost the entire year (I’m still working up the nerve to tell him, though). And you see Edward as one big metaphor for a soul mate, from what I’ve gathered from your comments. Obviously, people like you aren’t the problem.
The people who ARE the problem are the ones who don’t see the metaphor. What they see is someone who is portrayed as perfect and want someone who is EXACTLY THE SAME. The people who have broken up with boys who WERE caring and protective, and yet somehow weren’t enough for them. These people don’t see Edward as a metaphor-as you do- but as perfection incarnate. I’ve asked some people why they broke up, and some HAVE had underlying reasons, but I’ve heard a good handful say “He didn’t remember this little trivial thing I told him moths ago, like Edward did,” “He’s sweet, but his kisses don’t make me feel like Bella when she kisses Edward, so it can’t be true love,” and even “he doesn’t care enough about me to watch that while I sleep.” To me, that doesn’t seem like the makings of a genuinely good guy, or like honest criteria for a significant other, especially the last one. In fact, that’s honest criteria to file a restraining order.
Em, those girls we’re just crazy. i’m more happy for the men who were broken up with over him not being like edward, now those men can find a girl worth while to be with who won’t use the excuse of him not being a ficional character.
i’m sorry for assuming that you were talking to the antis when he said to chill out, it was rude of me to do so.
as much as i’d like to say edward has good qualities, i can’t forget all the bad that he’s done, all the jabs he made at her for being human, all the times he treated her like a child (that was creepy to me too, the girl has a father for that already) the whole engine incident just ruined him for me. i would rather get with serveus snape then be with him if he was real.
it does dissapoint me that others don’t look deep into books and see the other meanings, like for instance, i was watching power puff girls (yes i know its just a show) the other day (yes i know very kiddy of me but the power puff girls are awesome) and i recognized them sending a message about not doing drugs, but it wasn’t exactly drugs they were talking about, it was chemical x (you know what made the power puff girls with sugar, spice, and every thing nice?) but it was their way of telling us to just say no. now i realize that the last time i was watching that episode i was 8 yr. old so i didn’t pick up on it till now. there are many kid shows that have messages and its very exciting to find them. but this isn’t about the power puff girls so onward.
you proved your self as one of the twilighters who we can debate with calmly and rationaly. we respect that. as long as you don’t go on a rampage and start insulting us, then we’ll get along just fine on here.
yes lumping them in one catergory isn’t right, but i believe they brought that one on themselves. your right i don’t agree with you saying there was action, writing a five page essay on anything else in the world would have been more interesting to me (even though i don’t want to write that many pages, but if i had to read twilight again then i’d pull up a chair and get started on that essay right away)
i found nothing interesting about her acting like a fool over a guy just because he was a vampire, or looked like a greek god. i guess the factor also plays into this is that i was never really a vampire fan. they are still creatures that are evil and i’d would never want to exist as one. that would be horrible to have to live forever and i pity the cullens despite not liking them.
now before those of you who want to jump down my thoart about that, i’m going to say i enjoy reading about mythical creatures vampires included but i am more of a werewolf then a vampire fan by a long shot, but twilight was just not one of them of the books i enjoyed.
i was more on the human side more than any thing and i wanted them to find a way to destroy the cullens but since the cullens are like mary sues’ and gary- stus’ they are nearly indestructable.
i couldn’t stand most of the cullens and the ones i could stand were jasper and rosalie, and i only like them because jasper tried to attack bella when he lost control and i liked rosalie because she hated bella for trying to give up her human life to live in the nightmare she’s in for all eternity, until someone kills them. but we all know that went out the window since she’s raising the demon spawn reenesme along with the now pedophile in training, jacob.
bella just never had any personality to begin with, she didn’t have a life outside of him and his family, she treats her parents wrong, and she’s selfish. but then again thats just my opinion of her.
her dad didn’t deserve to be treated the way he was over edward. if i could save the characters from that horrible book, i would save the humans, charlie, leah, and jasper. they shouldn’t have to exist in such a horrible universe as edward and bella.
they don’t deserve to be in those situations jasper shouldn’t have to still struggle with his hunger while bella skips around here not having any problems at all. what was j. jenks there for? he was there just to say how beautiful bella was. smeyer is so superficial.
leah shouldn’t have been tossed aside like that again just so jacob could become a pedophile. she shouldn’t have been treated by the pack that way, yes i wanted her to move on to someone who can love her without having to worry about them imprininting and being forced to stay near the one they imprinted on. imprininting was very wrong to me, they couldn’t even pick who they “wanted” to be with. so not only are they being forced to love someone that they didn’t love to begin with but the one they used to really love is “forgotten”.
the story was just wrong to me. all the needs to be perfect and beautiful, bella being a bi**h to others who tried to help her get over edward when he left, jacob being pushed aside for someone with no personality. what personality can anyone truly say edward has? what personality does bella have?? i’m curious about the answers some will give.
anyways Em you too have made good points and have enough maturity to deabte with us like adults…
Em–
Finally there is another Twilighter who actually has a brain to debate. Thank you.
I’ve taken some time to read most of the comments on this site. (I skipped over the immature ones though…. they made me want to through my computer out the windeow) I really have to say a few things:
1.) Em: Thank you so much for being able to defend Twllight rationally. Your responses are mature, and commonsensical (it’s a word, i swear), which really make this debate a bit worth-while
2.) Equus: I agree with the car point. At first, I tolerated Edward (although slightly creeped out by the smelling thing and the stalkerism), because I appreciated the manners he displayed for part of the time. He was raised in the Victorian Era (kind of) when manners were extremely important, and I admired that. Nowadays, most forms of chivalry are completely down the toilet (accompanied by the flushing noise). I thought that the chivalry thing Edward did was rather sweet…. And then he took out the engine in the car… and I got angry. What Eddie-boy did was wrong and illegal. He didn’t ask permission to do anything, and as such, destroyed private property. (Future lawyer talking here…) If Bella had half a mind for herself, she could have easily told off Edward and sued his sorry @$$ for destruction of private property. But… Bella is too obsessed to do anything.
I take my new driving freedoms VERY seriously (I finally started driving even though everyone I know already can… XP), and if -my- boyfriend did that to me, I’d be extremely unhappy with him (putting it lightly). I’d give Edward a piece of my mind if I were dating him, which, thankfully, I’m not.
I look foward to seeing the debate progress!!
~Niko
Madison –
I’m kind of glad to. First of all it restores some of my faith in humanity, and it’s more fair that way. Two of us versus two of you seems much better to me XD!
bitter much?
i’m sorry but why do people feel their need to comment on books? the are just for entertainment. if you dont like it keep your mouth shut. no one cares
and Rafal H, hermione would have an elborate plan drawn up on how to intelligently push bella off a cliff while figuring out how to lock the cullens into a room and set them on fire with the fiend fyre spell. the fire won’t go out until the victim is reduced to soot. so ladies ad gentleman thats one way to kill the cullens.
That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with anything I said?
Equus and the other people that have been on for ages, you guys wanna be in my fan fic? My other friend who is online and loves Snape, I’m includin her as Snape’s wife as they fight Carisle and Esme
Twilight fans too
you’ll fight the other crazy ones
Seriously the Twilighters scare me. I think they’re just pissed because they know we’re right.
The fact is, Twilight is a FICTION book, and people KNOW its fiction when they read it. they’re not exactly gonna go jump off a cliff to heard Edward Cullen’s voice, if they do, they’re mental and need help. seriously.
(we’re on the verge, but we’re not quite there yet, lmaoo)
We would also like to mention something about the whole “so what if its sending out the wrong signals to kids”. there are alot more things in the world today that we should be worrying about, things such as size 0, anorexia, drugs, knife crime, teenage drinking and much more. compared to that, should we really be worrying about a god damm BOOK?
(and btw, the other bracketed quote before was a joke, in case you don’t understand our sense of humour)
Twilight Rocks! xD
ah-
Because some of us, believe it or not, actually ENJOY to debate. If you have an IQ that tops 100, it tends to be interesting
Esme + Alice (LOL) –
No, but there are other ways to ruin a life. Like the woman that was mentioned by Equuis (I think it was her, anyway) who get pregnant just because the father’s name was Edward, or the women who are now being abused because it’s part of the ‘perfect man’ in Twilight.
And I love it how the Twilighters go “aren’t there bigger problems to worry about?” as if we weren’t speaking out against those problems too.
I can’t speak for the others, but I know that I feel the need to talk about what the book can do because there ARE no programs against it, where there are many against drugs, violence, teen drinking, anorexia, and most of the other major problems. But is there such a thing as ‘Twilight rehab?’ If there is, it’s gone past me.
Esme + Alice (LOL) –
I’m sorry; I hit the send button on accident before I finished typing XD!
Anyway, I had meant to include the following:
Just so you know these —>( ) are not brackets. These are —> [ ]. Those are called parentheses (I’m sorry, it’s anal retentive, but I’m a writer myself, so I’m a total snob about that sort of thing)
Rae
You have a point there, about the whole ‘pregancy cause the guy was called Edward’ because personally as a twilighter, i think that is just wrong and totatally O.T.T. But just because SOME twilighters are that bad, doesn’t mean you can catorgrise all of them to be like that, and im not saying that you are catogrising them all into that, but some people are.
t
And thanks, i didn’t know that about the () thing, but it was merly used as an expression sort of thing in the first place xD
Rae
You have a point there, about the whole ‘pregancy cause the guy was called Edward’ because personally as a twilighter, i think that is just wrong and totatally O.T.T. But just because SOME twilighters are that bad, doesn’t mean you can catorgrise all of them to be like that, and im not saying that you are catogrising them all into that, but some people are.
Still, i think that if you dont like twilight, then fair do’s, voice your opinion. some twilighters may scream and shout at you, but i aint one of them. you have a right to your own opinion the same as i have mine. yes i like twilight, yes you might hate it, each to their own.
And thanks, i didn’t know that about the () thing, but it was merly used as an expression sort of thing in the first place xD
Rae-
Thanks for letting us know XD
A lot of people like Twilight, and I’m sure an equal amount of people don’t. I’m just being honest. I personally am not going to state whether I like it or not. I don’t want to be yelled at or praised for loving or hating the series.
The author of this article is entitled to their opinion, and I can say that it was a very well written opinion.
On the other hand, it may have been a little bit… unwise to provoke the Twilight fans.
The book has a good concept, and the characters are individual. That being said, I think that expanding upon the original characters would have been better than adding 10+ new ones in the last book. I’m not going to hate on Twilight, and I’m not going to claim it the best piece of literature ever. It has it’s flaws, it has it’s romantic bits and well written pieces. So, if you hate it, power to you for stepping out of the crowd. And, if you love it, great. It’s good to know that people are enjoying reading, even if the book is something people bicker over.
Rafal H, it would be an honor to be in your fanfic =] and i was just continuing from what you said about hermione. since she was laughing at bella from her attempt to be a strong female, i came in an said she would also think up a intelligent plan on how to rid us of her by pushing her off a cliff.
hope i cleared that up for you =]
and yes Rae it was me who posted about the teenage girl getting pregnant by a guy named edward (he left her) and she named the kid reeneseme after she read breaking dawn. but then the baby was adopted since the girl had signed away her rights months before the baby was born. Then the couple who adopted the baby changed her name to lily (lily potter any one?).
Unwise bailey? what so unwise about just saying what we want about the series? what are going to do to us? i’m not attacking you on your opinion or any thing, but what is unwise about what we do?
and its not like we intentionally try to provoke them, its them getting so upset over our opinion. They make it seem as if we don’t have any right to say what we want. They are trying to surpress us.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t rather like being told not to say any thing about this book. We are going to say what we want about it thats just how that will turn out.
Anyways, you were very respectful and calm and plesant, thank you for posting your opinion, hope to hear more from you if you plan on coming back.
Thank you so much. A well written review, and all things debatable were backed with reasons. Good job and thanks again.
Ooh Equus what’s your name?
And what crazy twilighter do you wanna verse? Would Rae be a crazy Twilighter? All the cool vamps are gone :}
Are any of you on Yahoo! Answers? Or twilightsucks.com? Because seriously it’s a small world even on the huge website I always run into people.
[There are so many SICK fangirls. It’s really disgusting. on a thread on the aforementioned website a fangirl said that after reading Breaking Dawn she wouldn’t mind being raped by Edward, and another said she wouldn’t mind if she died in the process. Yeah.]
We have a right to label you because honestly the majority of your fanbase are the crazies! At least the ones I’ve encountered. I don’t recall Harry Potter getting such bad reviews, so many antis and so many crazy people? Yes there are crazies but they aren’t going to kick your ass if you don’t like Harry Potter. Like, if you don’t like MEG CABOT I will either immaturely walk away or say to each his own.
P.S: I really hate IQ Tests. I took so many because I insisted that I got one wrong for a wrong reason [e.g: my brother pounced on the keyboard] and I kept getting different results. I can’t find a good one that isn’t SO DAMN LONG or the one that isn’t on Facebook.
Rafal H, can’t give out my name but your welcome to use my post name (Equus)
and i recentley started browsing twilightsucks again. i post as a guest by the same name on here ( Equus).
but i’m not too sure which twihard i wold want to go up against, you can choose for me if you like, i don’t mind.
and yes, HP don’t get so offended and upset if someone bad mouthed the series, we just go along on our merry way, but if they don’t have good reasons and is just bashing it because Harry isn’t hot enough (someone said that the reason they like twilight better is because harry wasn’t as hot as edward *sigh* how shallow that now people have been reduced to compare books with looks? since when does that make a good book?) then i say you better prepare for a long drawn out debate battle.
Damn haha I get off for like two days come back and there are a bagillion comments. Thank you for seeing that I’m not a crazy twilighter. I’m not going to write an essay cause I can’t exactly keep up but Yes I do agree with Equus that Bella was rude to her father, Edward was a little creepy with watching her while she slept and stealing her engine that pissed me off. If she wanted to see Jacob she should have been able to. He was one of her best friends. I was actually somewhat rooting for Jacob. He loved Bella and he was extremely sweet except when Bella broke his heart. He continued to stay around despite his hate for the vampires. For me, I believe the action was in little scenes. In most books, theres usually a major climax. But each book I think has multiple. Some may not see them but I believe they’re there. I enjoyed the different way Meyers portrayed vampires. The old views like Dracula were interesting but I liked to see her take on them. I may not have covered much of the topics people talked about after me but I can’t really write much this morning.
Sorry if it seemed like I was telling you what to do. Honestly, that wasn’t my intention. It’s just… the fangirls of this series range everywhere from liking it slightly to insanely obsessed. And in some ways, they are so obsessed it ruins their lives. I have a friend who is so into the book all she does is think about it, talk about, watch it over and over. It’s not the worst thing someone could do. I would obviously rather have her addicted to this than drugs, say.
When I said it was unwise, I didn’t mean they would come and hurt you. They most likely don’t konw where you live and aren’t coming to kill you. But they say hurtful things, and I know that, again it isn’t the worst thing in the world, but still. My opinion of the book remains that it had it’s flaws and it’s better moments. =)
Rafal H-
Wait…? How did I become a Twilighter D8>?!
we pretty much let their insults roll off of us like water. though some anti’s are more prone to throw the insults right back.
but i understand what your saying bailey.
The book isn’t all that great. And i am glad someone wrote something negative about it. But my distaste for it is because there is a whole lot of nothing happening in this book. The ONLY thing i am bothered by in this column is how people keep saying stuff about leading strong female roles. It is making everyone look like a feminist. Which is NOT good. Dislike the book because it was written poorly and was to much of a fairly tale (rich handsome guy, who can save you life, cars, college anywhere you’d like, never ending love, and the perfect wedding. COME ON!!! spare me.) but don’t dislike the book cause it will show teenage girls to go cry over there boyfriend and cause bella isn’t very strong. Honestly the book isn’t real, duh vampires, so if those teenage girl is acting out like bella to be like bella then good. she can stay in her room and cry for the rest of her life. she shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce. Point being don’t make yourself look like a feminist nazi it makes us all look bad.
Elizabeth-
Since when is being a feminist not good? And there is a HUGE difference between wanting to stand up for your rights and being a ‘nazi.’ What would you say if twilight had supported racist stereotype? Would you just say, “Oh, you’re being a racial non-segregations nazi”? We’re not burning bras, we’re saying it’s wrong to give kids the idea it’s OK to be totally subservient and not have lives outside of their boyfriends.
And as for your “she can stay in her room and cry for the rest of her life” comment, does that mean that we should allow all the depressed people to kill themselves so that they don’t reproduce? Are we supposed to ignore the druggies because most people are able to know that illegal substances are illegal for a reason?
Sorry, Rae! I just saw like a whole list of Equus then Rae then Equus so I assume it was a fight
I am here to abolish the whole HP vs Twilight thing since HP is just s much better. So much much better
1. Harry Potter is funny
2. It has a range of characters all having their own unique voice and personalities
3. You can relate to most of the characters [e.g: The bossy nerd who is really nice if you get to know her Hermoine, the slightly eccentric Luna, the funny kid with lack of tact Ron, the jokers Fred and George, etc etc]
4. The characters are realisitc
5. If you were to say someone in HP vs someone in Twilight, the HP person would kick Twilighters ASS.
6. JK Rowling can write
7. JK Rowling is modest and is not arrogant
8. You actually give a crap about what happens, because you know it won’t be a total happily ever after
9. There are so many possibilities left unknown. There is an ENTIRE WORLD created by JK. Fanfiction is easier and funner ;]
10. JK Rowling did not copyright design apples.
Oh yeah. Stephenie Meyer COPYRIGHTED APPLE DESIGNS ON ANYTHING TWILIGHT.
You cannot copyright a fruit. What the fruck is wrong with you people?
I personally think HP is great, but I have nothing againts your opinion.
Anyway, I’ve read all Twilight books and it’s like reading into Meyer’s fantasies. Everything is always about Bella and it’s definitely not the character narrating, it’s Meyer herself and her delusions.
She rapes thesaurus books.
Rafal H-
Aah… I see…
Just, please, read next time D’8!
And about copy writing a fruit-you can bloody copyright anything you want these days, however, the copyright only works in context. For instance, you can have a character say “I’m lovin’ it” and not have to pay McDonalds because you’re not using it as a slogan. Also, you could have “I’m loving it” as a slogan because it’s not the exact same words. So really she’s copyrighting a single red delicious apple as the symbol for her fanfic- I mean her books. …I think. Unless she’s gone and changed the picture and then trademarked that too.
I have to give you my condolences on actually reading the entire series, I only forced my way through the first one in order to say ‘yes I read it and it made me want to vomit in my mouth a little’. I agree with every thing you’ve said here and personally if I had my way I would burn every copy I got my hands on.
I really hate her interviews
I really, really hate her.
You know she didn’t research until Bella did in her book? She said she wanted ‘to see what Bella can find’
What’s with her whole it’s-a-fantasy-I-don’t-need-to-research thing?
IT’S SO ANNOYING
SHE CANNOT WRITE FOR GOODNESS SAKE
I frucking hate this. I hate it. I feel so sorry for the tweens spending all their money on ACTION FIGURES and posters and whatnot only to realise how crappy it is
GAH
So if, in my book, my character says “I’m lovin’ it.”, I will get sued by McDonalds?
Bring it.
Do you think she’ll copyright the word ‘chagrin’ next?
Rafal H-
I know, a lot of people do. Most of the sane people do anyways.
SO true. If you’re writing in an established genre, you need to do SOME research. Hell, when I write I use original creatures (Less boundaries that way) but I not only spent a year tweaking and retweaking their abilities and set up, but I also did research on different myths from all over and incorporated some elements from quite a few of them. It took me FOREVER to get everything right so that there was just enough “Blanket Skills” (meaning things that everyone can do) that they weren’t too un-relatable, make sure that they didn’t have too many weaknesses so that they weren’t too vulnerable (if you want to know, electricity saps their strength and makes it impossible to cast spells in the right direction, and any hit-no matter how glancing- to the heart or a particular part of the abdomen kills them for sure. The youngest ones can be killed by nailing any vital point. Also, they’re powerless if surrounded by dragons or nymphs.), and that the personal and family specialties aren’t too crazy. And even AFTER that I had to go through and make the characters. It took me YEARS.
Although, that may explain part of why Meyer’s book sucks so much. She did it completely in three months. It took me that long to write my roughest rough draft, and my story’s only half as long. Heck, the entire process has already taken about three YEARS and I’m not even quite done yet.
So do I. But youth has always been foolish. Hopefully, they’ll grow up and kick themselves for it.
And no, they can’t sue you. You’re not using it as a slogan for an establishment. You’re fine if it’s a line of dialogue, or even a title of a book or movie. Just not if you make it the slogan of a restaurant or-I believe this is true- a store.
I mean, Meyer wasn’t sued by Applebee’s.
She’ll try. But she’ll fail. I’m pretty sure that you can’t copyright a word unless a: it’s the name of a fictional race, person, or location that you created, b: it’s the name of a company (ie. Macy’s ), or c: it’s your slogan. And even then, if it’s a basic word, you only own it if it applies to the same sort of ‘thing’ as you have copyrighted (for instance, Hot Topic cannot sue an author for titling a book “Hot Topic” Because it’s a general phrase.)
Thank you so much!!! I finally jumped on the band wagon to see what all the fuss was about with these books. I’m an avid reader so I was hoping that I had a new series to love. Now that I’m in the middle of book three I’ve been trying to force myself to see the obsession. There are times when the books are fun but good god that damn “love” story is ridiculous. Seriously, if she cut out 1/2 that crap the books would be 200 pages at best.
For those folks who can’t stand criticism, get a life. I read all sorts of books and could really care less if someone agrees with me or not. The great thing about this world is we all have our own tastes and opinions.
I’m so glad there are other people who agree about these books. I just don’t see what all the mania is about!
This article does suck and if you are that dumb to write something like that then well you are dumb. Also what im thinking is that you just want somebody to love you like that. Also i dont care what ever else you say because you have to be the worst writer i have ever seen you suck. Twilight is the best book ever along with the rest of the series.
I am hooked on these books, due to my childhood romantic obsession with vampires. I studied genders studies last year and am ashamed to say that i didnt even think of the weak female role model that Bella Swan is. I just found her very dull, weak, clumsy and obsessed with looks. I am not about to be influenced badly by these book as im old enough (26) to know that men suck :p …no pun intended.
Great article! It made me giggle.
I’ve never read Twilight. Firstly, I’m not into romance novels and I’m not a fan of vampires, so I decided this novel wasn’t for me. The only ‘vampire’ novel I’ve read is Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett. (An EXCELLENT read) But now I’m sort of curious. So I may borrow my friend’s copy and read it. But only after watching several episodes of MST3K as a warm-up. I mean, if I’m not allowed to poke fun at something, then what’s the point?
To the (True) Twilight fans:
If you just want to read to have fun or to escape from reality for a bit and don’t want to worry about literary things such as theme, symbolism, conflict, rising action, falling action, conflict, etc., then why don’t you do just that? You know, the part where you read something because you like it and not worry about what other people say?
‘Cause, you know, responding angrily to any kind of critique the novels receive tends to fall into the “worrying about what other people say” category.
Please remember that people have different tastes and not everyone will like the books. And if you meet someone who doesn’t, then it’s just best to accept it and move on with your life. In fact, screaming about how people should love the books often provokes the exact opposite reaction.
I don’t mind criticism of MEG CABOT. I will argue their points calmly unless they do it in a bitchy attitude I will be bitchy right back but not mean.
One thing I CANNOT STAND is comparing MEG CABOT to Stephenie Meyer. Saying she’s the same thing. I cannot tolerate that.
MEG CABOT is a kick ass writer. She went to a REAL COLLEGE, she has experience, her books have plots, her characters have personality, her female characters are feminist and have morals even if they aren’t perfect [their flaws make them perfect, though]
They compare Mediator and Twilight; I’ll see the differences
A girl moves from her home to make her mother happy, and in the place she meets a hot supernatural guy >..<
Plus Mediator was writen WAY before Twilight
So there.
[This has been my Mediator rant. We’d like to thank MEG CABOT who is awesome, and Mediator which is the best paranormal romance ever. Thank you for listening to my rant.]
Rafal H –
Meyer didn’t go to a real collge? Do tell >3
http://twilightsucks.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=smeyer&action=display&thread=6460
I love that site. It’s SO funny.
Maybe you’ll find me >..<
^^ That’s the ‘College’ education thing
Rafal H-
Ooh… sorry, typo (I didn’t spell check because it was only one sentance and I wasn’t arguing).
Anyway, I had never heard that Meyer hadn’t gone to a real college. I thought it said in her ‘about the author’ blurb that she had a major in English.
To all of you, who are bashing these books: there is a deeper meaning!
OK, I got the first book figured out. It´s not about Bella, but about Alice!
remember she´s so keen to meet Bella. She invited her to the fateful baseball game. She went with her to “protect” her. To what end?
She finally, after 90+ years, learned the truth about her human past.
*vbeg*
And with her gift of foresight, DON´T tell me she didn´t know in advance!
—–
I just keep wondering why, if Meyer is so set about defending the cause of “true love waits”, the whole thing is about physical attraction: smell, body fluids, looks. Do these two have any common interest besides each other? Actually, I think, Jessica sums it up really nicely in the first book, when Bella tries to tell her “there´s so much more to him behind the face” and then muses about him wanting to be good etc (duh). “Well. He is gorgeous.” Fullstop.
So we have a 110-ear-old who behaves like 17? While I might believe that a fast car and a body “more like a greek god than anybody had a right to” help you stay youthful, I can´t believe that he really spent 90 years in this asexual pubescent (note the antagonism!) state. No wonder he chews the headboard when they get down to it…
As far as the second book is concerned, I can´t believe there has been a pack of werewolves living in that small town for centuries, and only started to make trouble that one year? That´s worse than all the other parallels to “Buffy the vampire Slayer” (small town, vampires, werewolves, in love with a good vampire who´s afraid he might lose his soul if he has sex).
On the plus side, there are some characters. if you skip all this lovesick “I have no life besides my former boyfriend” stuff, the Volturi really speed up the story. As does Jacob. I didn´t get Bella at all in the end. While all this sugartalking of Edwards might be very romantic in a 18th-century-sense, the last year should have taught her how to choose men:
Edward
-leaves her in a really bad way
-is reluctant to kiss
-never lets her anything do for herself
-is pushy and jealous
-has ice-cold skin which is hard as stone
Jacob
-can repair a car
-shows her how to do it
-actually shares some interests and shows her how to have a good time
-kisses her
-has hot, fuzzy skin
Honestly ladies: Whom would you pick?
PS.. English is not my mother tongue, so please excuse me when I sound weird
um right…
i h8 this syte the people who do not like the twilight series are boring and have no imagination what so ever. just 2 make a point i really dont think you should be dissing such a good book, i bet there are more twilight lovers than there are haters.
so haters be carful!
by the way the only thing i love about this syte is that every one is so polite!:D
no offence to anybody was intended in this message
so sorry if you were offended.
you an ass for taling about the twilight saga like this if u didn’t like the frist book then y in the hell did u even read this series and yes i agree w/ scara u have a right to speak ur opinion but still if half of the twilighliers / twihard of twilight fans heard of ur article u ass whould be dead and we will spread this and c how many f***ing twilight fans will NOT NOT be HAPPy w ur ass !!
ur a dick head
-edwardcullenisforever
o and scince u hate twilight dont think about coming to a twilight site or my site
bitch!!!!! XD ^w^
scara –
First of all, before you touch a keyboard, go back to first grade and learn how to spell. I’m sorry to start out being so rude, but I had to read your comment three times to understand it.
Secondly, “the people who do not like the twilight series are boring and have no imagination what so ever?” Did you not notice how many of the anti-Twilighters (especially those who keep coming back) are writers themselves? There is no basis whatsoever for your claim. It’s just stupid to lump us all together like that.
Next, “i bet there are more twilight lovers than there are haters. so haters be carful!” There are. We know this. However, we also know that no one on this site knows who we are. It’s not like there is some sort of satellite tracking system that can pinpoint anyone who dislikes a book.
Edwardcullenisforever- We read the series because we wanted to have an informed opinion. I know that I had some sort of glimmer of hope that Meyer might actually end the series beautifully. I was sorely disappointed.
And we know you have a right. However, the haters also have a right to speak their mind. It’s a two-way street.
Oh, and if you didn’t want us to come to your site, why did you include a link?
Off the bat, I will say I’m 14. Any of you who think I’m going to go on some stupid girlish rant about how much this article sucks blah blah blah, can stop reading it now. I’m not going to. I’ll admit that I’ve read the books and enjoyed them, but I still do not understand the hype. They were entertaining at best, and I suppose I could describe them the way my dad sometimes describes television: “Bubblegum for the brain.” They keep you busy, entertain you for a while, then the taste fades and you spit it out. The thing that really upsets me is how the so-called “Twilighters” get in fights with Harry Potter fans. It’s complete idiocy. Yes, I’m aware that Harry Potter fans may even start these fights sometimes, but seriously? I promised myself I would not be one of those people who starts fights with people in comments on the internet, and I hope nobody will be mad at me for what I’m about to say. Though, I’m sure some will. To me Twilight will never measure up to the complexity that is Harry Potter. I feel I’m running on a bit, so I’ll cut this short. I’m just stating an opinion and realize that people will probably get upset with me over this, but hey, what do I have to lose? Also, the craziness that has ensued over Robert Pattinson is kind of ridiculous. He even admitted on a show that he doesn’t wash his hair… sorry, but that’s kind of gross. I mean no offense to Stephenie Meyer or Robert Pattinson at all. Like I said before I’m just stating an opinion.
<3 Raychel
I think of this series as the AIDS of literature…
I also find it really funny how all of the people that are pro twilight talk like immature teenagers
Why do all the Twitards seem so bent on trying to prove that its such a “good book”? Stop trying to justify all of the time and money you’ve spent with this series to us. I think this series needs to go and die now, it has had its time and now it just needs to DIE
Raychel-
I’m glad I’m not the only fourteen-year-old left with a brain and an appreciation for typing out complete sentences.
Although I’m pretty sure that you have nothing to fear. By saying that you liked them but saw them as nothing but “Bubblegum for the brain” (I like that phrase) pretty much protects you from everybody. The Twilighters will see you as one of them because you enjoyed it and the antis will see you as someone who is intelligent who just enjoys some literary crack now and then (because, really, who doesn’t?)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Stephen King’s opinion may drive a stake through the heart of “Twilight” author, Stephenie Meyer.
In an interview with USA Weekend, the bestselling author compared Meyer with J.K. Rowling , the author of the Harry Potter series.
According to Stephen, “Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people… The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”
from Stephen Kings mouth!
Lol did he speek the truth!
I feel almost ashamed to say i’m a Twilight fan.

Most of these Twilght fans seem so childish. They say things that never make sense. Somebody wrote Kellen Rice ‘sucks’ about a thousand times. Immature much? I’m not sure if they know, that their almost setting an example for all us. It only takes one messed up Twilight fan to get this site, and go balistic.
Then it’s all over, we’re all automatically retarted.
:\
I’d just like to say I LOVED the opinions on here, (Well, most of the intelligent ones.) You all have good ideas! The only thing I didn’t reallly like, was Alex.
Wow, man don’t kill yourself over someone’s opinion. It’s not at all ever worth it. Never. Hopefully your were just joking.
I have to admit, I kind of liked the books while I was reading them. It was hard to look away. But I was always completely aware of the lack of plot. And then the more I started analyzing them and discussing them, I became horrified that I had at one point even kind of liked them. I came to the conclusions that you wrote here and and am very concerned for all those who defend the books so vehemently. Thank you for posting this. I know most people who like the books will simply take offense at this article, but perhaps a few, like me, will come to their senses. It’s just not literature. At all. Twilight is all around horrible (except for inside joke material, for which it is WONDERFUL). Thank you for taking the time to write this and for taking all the unjustified, repetitive, unoriginal crap that has inevitably followed.
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1604226/story.jhtml
Lol I love the Stephen King thing ; you should see Yahoo! Answers Books and Authors. SO MANY OF THE QUESTIONS [including one of my own!]
Stephen King is my hero now (L)
I don’t know why people are so mad over it. He’s not a ‘jerk’. He simply has the balls to express an opinion no other writer would, since they are afraid – rightly so, I imagine – that their readers would no longer like them since A LOT OF PEOPLE read Twilight.
You guys, how old are you? I get the feeling most of us are teens.
I’m 14
Thank God some of us have a brain, fellow 14yearolds.
“I have to admit, I kind of liked the books while I was reading them. It was hard to look away. But I was always completely aware of the lack of plot. And then the more I started analyzing them and discussing them, I became horrified that I had at one point even kind of liked them. I came to the conclusions that you wrote here and and am very concerned for all those who defend the books so vehemently. Thank you for posting this. I know most people who like the books will simply take offense at this article, but perhaps a few, like me, will come to their senses. It’s just not literature. At all. Twilight is all around horrible (except for inside joke material, for which it is WONDERFUL). Thank you for taking the time to write this and for taking all the unjustified, repetitive, unoriginal crap that has inevitably followed.”
That is EXACTLY how I feel
my friend who was supposed to hate Twilight with me read them and thinks ‘they’re entertaining’
I had a good read of this article and a look the replies from both sides. Personally i am a Twilight fan. I started the books after seeing the Movie and I admitidly enjoyed the books, they provided an escape from reality that I needed. I can understand peoples dislike for it there are clear ‘Moral’ flaws in some parts of each of the books, but they’re hardly made to be politically correct are they? A vampire and a human fall in love, doesn’t exactly scream everyday life to me. It is called fiction for a reason.
It seems to me as if you picked up the first book with an already negative attitude towards it and began finding flaws as soon as you could. I’m not one to buy into the latest trends but the Twilight series/saga (whatever you might call it) was far better then i had expected. Not only did you read the first book and dislike it but you then proceeded to read the next three books? There is a simple ideal where, if you don’t like something you stop reading it.
The other thing that came to my attention is that you clearly do not give teenagers enough credit and of all the influences in the world, you’re going to blame the Twilight Saga for the attitude of female teenagers of the world? I think if the idea of teens reading Twilight is keeping you up at night because they’re so easily influenced then you are sadly focusing on something that to me as a reader and a 19 year old female, portrayed more then just a controlling relationship, to me an unselfish, loving relationship was clearly portrayed between Edward and Bella. He worked with his family to save her while she spent her time worrying about those very ‘people’. She made the decision in the very first book to die in order to save her mother.
I can admit on some occasions Bella got on my nerves but on other occasions i found her to be a very good role model to young females. Again expressing her selfless attitude by moving to Forks therefore allowing her mother to travel, spending her time making sure her father was well looked after, worrying about The Cullens despite their many attempts to reassure her.
Also take a look at the relationships between Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme, those examples on their own portrayed ‘True love’ I grew to love them as couples almost more then i had fallen in love Edward and Bella. There was more to the story then just the two of them. I also found Jacob imprinting on Reneesme to very creepy but then it took on more of a protective fatherly role then a relationship. Clearly a half Vampire half human child is going to be different to a normal child so growing a fast rate to me seems perfectly natural as such in a story of this genre.
Some of the responses by Twilight fans disturb me, I am not one of those people who typ3’s lyk dis or THIS and says things that make no sense but i understand their want to defend the books. As i said i loved the series and the flaws seemed minimal once i became engrossed in the books.
Daryl-
You seem intelligent, so I’m actually going to try to explain my point of view here.
1: “It is called fiction for a reason” Is what you said for the reason that it doesn’t matter that they’re not politically correct. Please, please, please go and tell that to all the girls who are now saying that it’s okay for your boyfriend to watch you in your sleep and to take parts from your car. It doesn’t matter that it’s fiction and that your conscious sees it as total make-believe. Your subconscious can’t tell, though. It thinks that Edward is real on some level, and that there are guys out there just like him minus the blood sucking. It also sees Bella as real and sees that she ends up happy and with a child after being with someone like him. So unless you’ve also been shown that it doesn’t work that way, there are billions of years of evolution pushing your mind to go after a stalker. See, I don’t know anyone who would have a problem with the horrible undertones if they were shown. If there were any consequences EVER to Bella loving a vampire-stalker, then it wouldn’t have nearly the effect as it does when it’s candy-coated.
2: “It seems to me as if you picked up the first book with an already negative attitude towards it and began finding flaws as soon as you could.” Wrong. Did you not notice all the people who have said things like “Yeah, I used to like it, but then I reread it and realized how terrible it is.” For about a month, I thought that the books were the best things on earth. I didn’t even NOTICE the flaws until I came back a few weeks later after looking over the book I wrote and realizing how little say Bella had and how creepy Edward was. And then I began to notice all the crazed fangirls and it all went downhill from there. Also, when you said ‘if you don’t like it, don’t keep reading it’ there was one thing that you missed: most of us were either hoping that Meyer could give it a good, satisfying ending or we wanted to make sure that we were educated about the topic we were discussing. None of us read it again unless we liked it after the first run-through.
3: “The other thing that came to my attention is that you clearly do not give teenagers enough credit and of all the influences in the world, you’re going to blame the Twilight Saga for the attitude of female teenagers of the world?” I HATE it when people say this. First of all, I’ve covered the subconscious bit before, and secondly you’re acting as if we think that the world will be butterflies and kittens if we burn the books. That’s just not the truth. We’re like the people who say ‘take a bike to cut down your fuel consumption’ or ‘recycle as much as you can.’ We KNOW it won’t fix the main problem. However, it’ll make the rest of the issue easier to work with. We’re not blaming Twilight for starting the problem, just making it that much worse. Also, this is an anti-twilight page, not a “the current culture is giving youths a bad message” page.
Rae, I can agree with some aspects fo your point of view, I did find some of the actions of Edward to be creepy and over the top. I have reread the series myself and I did see some more flaws but it didn’t make me like the story any less. As for the Negative view comment it was directed towards the author of the article.
My own mother made the best point yet, Its a story, its not real. There is no real Edward, no Bella, no vampires none of the stuff mentioned. I can certainly see things from your point of view and believe me the fan girls scare me too, but I feel that if teens are reading the books with that thought in mind then its not going to harm them. I also think that teenage girls aren’t ‘falling’ for Edward as a stalker but more as a sweet guy who cared for Bella and looked after her. As i said its not real, theres no point in reading way to far into things, this article to me seemed to portray an extreme view on the whole series.
But thats just my opinion.
I noticed that the creator of this article has a quite number of enemies here. Personally, Stephenie Meyer SUCKS and also the Twitards that are defending that Mary Sue-Type of writer. Will you call a writer a “professional” or “cool” if he/she falls in love with one of his/her created characters? O c’mon! Twitards here are like “Leave Britney alone!” Maybe it would take decades for them to be healed or remain as a hopeless Mary Sue forever.
Anyway, thanks for allowing me to share my opinion. Maybe I’ll keep “waking” up those “Mary Sues”.
PEOPLE WHO SAY “I hate twilight, stephaine sucks, bla, bla, bla”
r torrally wrong! if the say that is because they dont like reading!!! I have some TRUE facts to say :
1- People love twilight. (why would they read it then?)
2- Books let your capacity of memory bigger
3- if you didn´t like it, why, you shoulden´t convience people that it sucks
4- The author lives because the books r sold!! how would she win money if nobody bought the book??? she chose that job because it makes her happy!!!
Later I´ll come up with more
Please stop telling people what to do! They won´t hate twilight just because you say so!
Darren–
I would take your comment seriously, but all you say is “Stephenie Meyer SUCKS.” You make no valid argument like Rae or Equus. So until then…
Sophie–
Although you and I don’t agree with the viewpoints of the anti’s, they are allowed to voice their opinion, just like we are allowed to voice ours. They aren’t trying to change others minds just making stating their points for their views and we combat those points with our own, called debating.
Also Sophie, sorry if that came out mean. I wasn’t trying to be.
Hello guys! i’m back to cause trouble now ( had a bit of a vacation. in another fandom that needed to some help calmimg down but i’m back now). Rae, you did a lovely job holding up the fort mostly by yourself, congradulations! oh and thank you to those who came and debated back with the twihards, you too are appreciated.
Now let’s get back down to buisness:
Daryl:
“It seems to me as if you picked up the first book with an already negative attitude towards it and began finding flaws as soon as you could. I’m not one to buy into the latest trends but the Twilight series/saga (whatever you might call it) was far better then i had expected. Not only did you read the first book and dislike it but you then proceeded to read the next three books? There is a simple ideal where, if you don’t like something you stop reading it. ”
okay, you have to read the book first inorder to know if you’ll like it or not. we didn’t start scavergeing for flaws as soon as we could. we started reading it just like you started reading it expecting something atleast like the movie since its been off the wall with all the hype. your right, there is the ideal that we stop reading if we don’t like something.
i for one, thought twilight was alright and i kept hearing the next two were good so me being stupid got eclipse and new moon in the same day.
when i picked up new moon and started read it, i came to my senses. the book was terrible. bella for one, was absolutely pathetic. she’s the whole reason i didn’t like the series, well including creepy sparkly edward.
“The other thing that came to my attention is that you clearly do not give teenagers enough credit and of all the influences in the world, you’re going to blame the Twilight Saga for the attitude of female teenagers of the world? I think if the idea of teens reading Twilight is keeping you up at night because they’re so easily influenced then you are sadly focusing on something that to me as a reader and a 19 year old female, portrayed more then just a controlling relationship, to me an unselfish, loving relationship was clearly portrayed between Edward and Bella. He worked with his family to save her while she spent her time worrying about those very ‘people’. She made the decision in the very first book to die in order to save her mother.”
well seeing how some teens easily give into peer pressure its kind of hard not to give them small amount of credit. i’ve seen too many things in my two years alone in highschool. if a girl is crazy enough to thearten another woman’s unborn children because she said she didn’t like twilight then i’m sorry if i can’t give impressionable teens the whole benefit of the doubt.
yeah, bella was just stupid. “oh, i’m going to go by myself to a vampire who apprentley has my mother and i didn’t think to remember what my father told me about her not being any where near home. i didn’t call phil or my mom i called the house where she would not be. and then i’m going to go by myself without telling jasper and alice because i can take on vampire”!
last i checked james couldn’t read minds nor could he tell the future, so why didn’t she tell the cullens and have them come 20 or so minutes later so it seems like they tracted her scent down??
and bella didn’t think of anyone but edward while she was going to go get herself killed trying to save her mom. Your going to go save your mother, and all you can think is some guy you haven’t even known for a year?
wow… once again, i feel the love for her mother right there.
Did i read that right? you say their relationship was unselfish and loving?? ooohh so i guess edward guilting bella into staying with him because he told her if something ever happend to her he would got straight to the voultri or that she was only supposed to be with him or something along those lines? and i pretty sure i remember bella being scared for him because he said that. i’m sorry but that sounds like he guilted her into doing that. oh and the whole engine incident was an unselfish act too?? edward was always selfish if he cared about bella as much as he had his little drama queen episodes then he would have stayed away from her, plain and simple but nooo, he knew he had a craving for her blood so he goes and watches her sleep by himself with noone there to stop him from bleeding her dry. wow i feel the unselfishness right there…
“I can admit on some occasions Bella got on my nerves but on other occasions i found her to be a very good role model to young females. Again expressing her selfless attitude by moving to Forks therefore allowing her mother to travel, spending her time making sure her father was well looked after, worrying about The Cullens despite their many attempts to reassure her.
Also take a look at the relationships between Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme, those examples on their own portrayed ‘True love’ I grew to love them as couples almost more then i had fallen in love Edward and Bella. There was more to the story then just the two of them. I also found Jacob imprinting on Reneesme to very creepy but then it took on more of a protective fatherly role then a relationship. Clearly a half Vampire half human child is going to be different to a normal child so growing a fast rate to me seems perfectly natural as such in a story of this genre. ”
okay let’s see about this, you found bella a good role model?? how so?? seriously, if a girl was to act like bella we might as well push her off a cliff ourselves.the girl jumped off a cliff just to hear edward’s voice berating her, this girl isn’t good roll model.
bella always had something to complain about if it wasn’t the weather it was how shallow her friends were since edward told her they were. or it was about how charlie couldn’t understand her. so its a good role model for her to take care of her father even though he had survived for years without her? the whole bella moving to forks i admit was a nice thing she did for her mom and worrying for the cullens. but that was the only time she ever showed us anything remotely of being unselfish. the way she treated mike newton, erik, and everyone else is disgusting. first she goes and judges erik for his oily acne ridden skin and assums he’s on the chess club team, a geek, then she had the nerve to call mike newton a golden retriver. what have those guys ever did to her?? i got a name for her it starts with B and ends tch.
i never knew bella going into a comatose like state when edward left was considered as a good role model, or her downing herself about her looks or about how she wasn’t as pretty as all the cullens or that she wasn’t good enough for edward. she has no life outside of edward thats why she didn’t have anyone to turn to since she just shunned the people who tried to be her friend since they weren’t good enough for her anymore, she had the sparkly mysterious vampire kids.
nothing that bella did was a good model for kids.
the whole reenesme incident made no sense. how is it that a hybrid human and vamipre can grow at a fast pace??not only do vampires not age but humans age at a very slow rate, so how can this be? smeyer told us vampires don’t age, so why did reenesme get to grow at a fast rate if she was half vampire? shouldn’t it have been that bella have been pregnant for several years or atleast a hundred?? it would make more sense. the whole jacob and reenesme situation was ridiculous ( i mean come on, she’ll be full grown at seven?).
we all know sooner or later, jacob will want the girl as a lover. emily tried to say no to sam because he left her cousin for her but we all know what hapend to her, she’s now forever scarred for life. this book isn’t sending good messages to the reader’s or atleast it isn’t in my opinion.
anyways, i’m happy you were able to disagree with us intelligently and not throw out insults.
I gotta say, I disagree with you. I have not read the entire series yet, but so far, I think you’re wrong.
I first think you’re wrong about Bella being a feminist portrayal. I think that feminists uphold one of the most feminist ideals around- that every woman needs to be a feminist. That every woman, whether it be a fictional character or the girl down the street, needs to be strong, not because she is strong, but because she is a woman. So Bella isn’t an independent, out-going woman who doesn’t need a man. Big deal. What I admire is that Bella knows what she wants and is willing to sacrifice for it- yes, sometimes the series becomes grossly mushy and overly dramatic, but I don’t see why that is so threatening. I mean, honestly, why does every woman have to be “a tribute to her gender” or something like that? Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you have to be the ideal, strong, courageous woman who does everything just as well as a man. Feminists will discover something truly great when they realize that hey, they don’t need to be men and they don’t need to be uber-women… All anybody, male, female, gay, straight, twilight fan or twilight hater, needs to realize is that all they need to be is themselves. I suggest that people try it- it’s pretty relaxing.
I also think many of the comments above are wrong. Many of those who support the review of this article automatically categorize people by the fact that they enjoy these novels. Aren’t people who call fans of the series descriminating based on a preconception? Aren’t they demeaning others based on part of who they are? Isn’t that being biased? And isn’t feminism a form of bias? Wow, pull the log out of your own eye before picking the splinter out of anothers’…
And as to the articles writer’s comment on young girls being so impressionable, isn’t that just another for of bias as well? If you don’t think so, it’s called ageism. Don’t group young people based on preconceptions of impressionability.
Equus–
Okay I know that the last comment was meant for Daryl, but I just really have to comment, mainly because I feel like I’m going through withdrawl. If you don’t want to read it, then that’s fine.
I think what Daryl was trying to say about you picking up the book with a negative attitude towards it wasn’t meant to come across as you hating the book before reading it. I think they were trying to say that because of all the hype that Twilight was getting, you picked up the book trying to find flaws to be different from everyone else.
Also, with teens giving into peer pressure and letting “Twilight” affect them, I disagree. (Surprise there) If Twilight hadn’t have been written then it would have been something else, book, movie, etc… that would have influenced those teens.
The reason why Bella was thinking of Edward while trying to save her mother was mostly because the relationship between her and Edward was stronger than her relationship with her mother. Yes, she hadn’t known Edward as long as her mother, but while reading the book the reader gets the feeling that Bella and Rene weren’t that close.
It’s human nature to be selfish at times. Edward wasn’t always selfish and Bella wasn’t either. Edward left Bella to keep her safe from himself and others even though he wanted to be with her. (I know someone’s going to comment on that.) Also, Bella, as stupid an action as it was, went after James alone to try to keep Jasper and Alice and the rest of everyone she cared for safe.
Daryl didn’t say that Bella was a complete good role model in everything that she did. She said that on occasions she was a good role model. Plus, what person, role model or not, hasn’t made a choice/mistake that people haven’t agreed with. What high school student do you know that NEVER complains about something going on in life or doesn’t profile a person that they don’t know? It’s high school. Don’t tell me that when you walk down the street that when you see a person that you don’t know, you don’t make a quick assessment of who they are. Everyone does that.
Yes, Bella shunning people while she was with Edward wasn’t a good choice, but it’s a classic case of a girl, for the first time, having a new, wonderful boyfriend. If the people that she was “friends” with cared about her, they would have told her straight up that she was changing and not for the better.
Breaking Dawn in my opinion was a horrible ending to a great saga. The logic for why Reenesme was allowed to grow so fast was most likely because vampires, although never aging, move so much faster than humans in everyway.
Plus, the whole thing with Jacob, Reenesme, Emily, and Sam, makes you seem like you can’t accept a person for the mistakes that they’ve made in life. I understand that Emily being scarred was horrible, but it was something that Sam couldn’t control at all. It’s not like he did it because he wanted to or kept doing it over and over again afterward.
Maddison
Pat Clearier:
“I first think you’re wrong about Bella being a feminist portrayal. I think that feminists uphold one of the most feminist ideals around- that every woman needs to be a feminist. That every woman, whether it be a fictional character or the girl down the street, needs to be strong, not because she is strong, but because she is a woman. So Bella isn’t an independent, out-going woman who doesn’t need a man. Big deal. What I admire is that Bella knows what she wants and is willing to sacrifice for it- yes, sometimes the series becomes grossly mushy and overly dramatic, but I don’t see why that is so threatening. I mean, honestly, why does every woman have to be “a tribute to her gender†or something like that? Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you have to be the ideal, strong, courageous woman who does everything just as well as a man. Feminists will discover something truly great when they realize that hey, they don’t need to be men and they don’t need to be uber-women… All anybody, male, female, gay, straight, twilight fan or twilight hater, needs to realize is that all they need to be is themselves. I suggest that people try it- it’s pretty relaxing.
I also think many of the comments above are wrong. Many of those who support the review of this article automatically categorize people by the fact that they enjoy these novels. Aren’t people who call fans of the series descriminating based on a preconception? Aren’t they demeaning others based on part of who they are? Isn’t that being biased? And isn’t feminism a form of bias? Wow, pull the log out of your own eye before picking the splinter out of anothers’…”
alright here we go:
the problem that i had with bella is that she has nothing outside of edward, she is obsessed. no she doesn’t have to be burning bras and protesting against the way men treat women, but she could’ve atleast stood up to edward when he did something that wasn’t right. she could have spent sometime with her friends other than when edward wasn’t around. she could have stood up and pretty much told edward to F**k off when he told her she couldn’t go see jacob. she couldve had some me time for herself instead of hyperventalating over edward going to go hunt a few miles away.
and i am being myself, the self who can not sit down and to have my voice heard about twilight.
catergorize? do you mean how we catergorize the rabids who come in and tell us we have no lives, or we must be lesbians because we don’t believe in bella and edward’s relationship?? or we must hav been bullied or abused for thinking this way?? who aren’t saying they all will be like bella, because there are people who will be able to understand there are good and bad qualities about twilight even if the antis can’t see them. i’m sorry to say that your fandom has messed up most of our views of them. but considering how irrational some of them have shown up to challenge us its not our fault it they take it like a personal insult just because we don’t like twilight.
madison:
that definatley wasn’t the case, i didn’t pick up the book to hate it becasue of the hype, i started hating those books long before breaking dawn came out.
i know what girls do. i know they choose their boyfriends over their family members or friends, and yes i belive unless your friends or family members wronged you in anyway, then your pathetic to take your bofriends side over your families. i’m sorry thats just how i look at that.
and i’m also sorry that yes, i do have a problem with what sam did. it all started because emily told him no, he could’ve have got away from her or stayed away. i thought they had what was best for the imprint in mind but sam just said screw it, i’m going to be with her even though i jacked her face up. and emily being was stupid enough to go along with it and feel like she owed him something for messign her face up.
i believe in forgiving people even though i have a hard time myself for it. i’ll forgive people eventually depending on what they did. i can’t forgive sam for messing emily up, i can’t forgive edward for taking the engine out of bella’s car even though it was her desicion to go see jacob. she had to sneak away to go see him and thats wrong to me. edward is controlling.
the fact is it stil happend. it doesn’t make it right for what sam did. he slashed her face like jason just because she told him she didn’t think it was right for him to do that to leah and then emily still stays with him?? werewolves are unfortunately immortal if they keep shifting but i say emily should have poisended him. i know it may sound harsh but still, thats just like getting mauled by a dog just because you told him he couldn’t have any table food so he gets angry and attacks. would you keep the dog?? i’d put him down but thats just me. i doubt sam wanted too, but now emily seems to be okay with it? now edward on the other hand we know he wanted, taking out the engine was proof enough.
and i don’t buy into the mess smeyer spews. if she told us vampires can’t have babies and then turns around and gets bella pregnant just because. the thing is bella is meyer’s self insert.
bella didn’t have to worry about her blood lust because she has a she was squimish about blood. oh yeah like no one else had a proble mwith blood. but since bella is super special she doesn’t have to worry about a thing, she doesn’t have to raise her daughter and go through the ups and downs of motherhood instead she lets rosalie and jacob, mr. pedophile in training raise her, and even J Jenks was there just to tell us how awesome bella looked… oh give me a break Smeyer thats ultra mega mary sue right there.
Equus–
I wasn’t trying to say that you picked up the book hating it from the beginning. I was just trying to say that maybe you grabbed the book with a different mind set you might have had towards a book that no ones ever heard of. (We’re going to have to disagree with this because I know that you’re going to say you didn’t.)
Bella’s family may have not out right wronged her, but she was so far distant from them that it had the same effect as if they did which is why she would have stayed closer to her boyfriend’s side.
You think I don’t have a problem with what Sam did? I do, but he was a newborn werewolf, he couldn’t control when he phased or didn’t. Plus we don’t know the full story behind the argument meaning what it was about. None of us will know what it feels like to imprint (because it doesn’t exsist) and we don’t know how strong that pull is, which is probably why Sam stayed with Emily. You don’t think he probably feels horrible about what he did. Hell, Jacob even said in the book, “Sam has to live with what he did for the rest of his life.” And you’re most likely catergorizing Emily in the same group as women who stay with abusive guys. It was under completely unrealistic circumstances that the incident happened, so I can understand why she stayed with him.
I’ve said before that there are some aspects of Edward that I didn’t like, taking out her engine and being controlling one of them. And I would take your comments about what you would do to Sam seriously but you’ve never been in an abusive circumstance (or I don’t think you have and have hoped not). I have been there, for thirteen years, so I know her mind setting.
I said before “Breaking Dawn was a horrible end to a great saga.” I hated that book and didn’t like the fact that Bella got pregnant at all. So we on some things agree there.
Why is the Twilight debate continuing? Look Twilighters, you can like the book, whatever, as long as you acknowledge that;
A) It has mediocre writing at best
B) It has bad morals/role-models
C) It’s not the best book ever
and you read more, better books, fine. Go ahead.
But don’t try to debate it. I’m sorry but…we’re kicking your ass. A lot.
Just stop it.
P.S: I think there’s an ant in my ear
-Name one time Edward had been abusive. Sure, hes been creepy, stalkerish (watching Bella while she sleeps), and a bit strange (cus she can have puppies if thats what it takes!) but never abusive. Throughout all the books he is overprotective, and obsessed with her safety. The only time he ever hurt her he spent a whole chapter apologizing, being disgusted by himself, and promising never to hurt her again. And then he spent a half a book moping about it. So you can say he is strange, creepy, anything you want (which I do not think he is), but not abusive.
HEM HEM:
Abuse can sometimes be mistaken for intense feelings of caring or concern. It can even seem flattering. Think of a friend whose boyfriend or girlfriend is insanely jealous: Maybe it seems like your friend’s partner really cares about him or her. But actually, excessive jealousy and controlling behavior are not signs of affection at all. Love involves respect and trust; it doesn’t mean constantly worrying about the possible end of the relationship.
Abuse can be physical, emotional, or sexual. Slapping, hitting, and kicking are forms of physical abuse that can occur in both romances and friendships.
Emotional abuse (stuff like teasing, bullying, and humiliating others) can be difficult to recognize because it doesn’t leave any visible scars. Threats, intimidation, putdowns, and betrayal are all harmful forms of emotional abuse that can really hurt — not just during the time it’s happening, but long after too.
http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/relationships/abuse.html
Remind you of anyone?
Seriously, whats wrong with you? Its just a book. No big deal. And I think that Harry potter is over draggy.
Gosh, the world of Twilight and all of its complications!
I’m partly amused with these comments however, some are just downright terrible, especially the one about being a computer geek who ‘occasionally gets bullied’
Such a childish comment, did the commenter ever know what it’s like to be a victim of bullying?
Anyway, getting over the over-reaction of a comment (=D) I see that the TWILIGHT fans aren’t being portrayed in a particularly good light.
I dislike Twilight, the writing and the use of words sometimes drove me to despair. Yet, I accept there is something about it that makes it popular. Personally I think it’s the ‘fairytale’ air that Meyer has created. Twilight could seem as escapism for teenage girls, joining in with Bella and Edward in their romance, or ‘fancying’ other characters.
However, I personally don’t like it. I like realism in my books; by the end Breaking Dawn the world of Bella is full of glittery stars and rosy cheeks. Far away from the world of Bella that is full of new found love and desperation that we started with.
Also, I’m not really sure how a Twilight fan would like Bella’s pregnancy and birthing scene, if they ever do Breaking Dawn as a movie, there is no way I’m going to see it.
Just an opinion by a fifteen year old girl =)
I agree that when someone has an opinion then they have every right to express it, so I’ll express mine now… First off let me just say this so everyone knows where I stand on the issue: I love love LOVE the twilight saga. having said that let me point out some things that- in my opinion- were annoying. this person says that the book is sexist because bella can’t take a step without needing to be saved by Edward. Let’s keep in mind people that Bella has entered a world of blood thirsty, freakishly strong vampires so I would imagine that -as much as she would probably like to- she can’t really stand up to them lest she get snapped in two… not pretty… not pretty at all. Oh and i didn’t know that the author was TELLING girls 12-17 to … what was it… “fall apart at the seams of months”… thanks for clarifying that because I thought she was just describing what BELLA went through and how she handled things. Listen, the fact is many people handle heartbreak differently. Also some are more sensitive than others to certain things. It just so happens that Bella was sensitive to the fact that the man she loved broke her heart without warning, and she handled it in a not so good way. Here in Massachusetts one of the required reading books for a freshmen is Romeo and Juliet. I suppose our teachers are telling us all to go kill ourselves if the one we love dies. And I’m sorry but the rest- in my opinion- is just picking at little things. This person has somehow forgotten while in the midst of reading the FOUR novels (of a series she/he hates mind you) that this is a story! it is fiction… it is not about being sexist but instead about being a good story teller. Meyer kept a lot of Drama in the books. If it was safe then what would be the point of writing a book about a girl who falls in love with a vampire? why knit-pick at the fact that she got pregnant, or that she was heartbroken, or a kiss stolen by Jacob (stolen kisses, male impulse… it’s part of being a teenager), or that he boyfriend crossed the line by forbidding her to see someone (btw I think the writer of this article should go back and read those parts because in no way did Meyer make it seem like what Edward was doing was fair or right). The point is that it’s not meant to realistic in a way. And I say “in a way” because it seems that Meyer was only trying to capture the essence of how a teenage girl would act in those circumstances. Edward is old fashioned and Bella is Just a teenager and teenagers do stupid crap. anyway I don’t really feel like writing all the things I absolutely HATE about this article because if I did then this comment would never end. Let me just say, that I am not closed minded and I TOTALLY respct your opinion and agree with the fact that Bella is sometimes portrayed as weak, but you have to remember that she is not a portrayal of me or you. she is simply Bella. OH! and one last thing i promise! about the whole Bella having a baby and it nudging her at two week and that not being realistic…. Um… who picks up a book in the fiction section that is so obviously about vampires…. VAMPIRES… and expects reality??!! I think you were maybe you were looking for the biography or NONfiction section. It’s okay…. we all make stupid mistakes ^_^
Rafal H.–
Your comment is really immature. We’re allowed to debate if we want to. If you don’t want to debate, then don’t visit the site.
Equus said:
“the problem that i had with bella is that she has nothing outside of edward, she is obsessed. no she doesn’t have to be burning bras and protesting against the way men treat women, but she could’ve atleast stood up to edward when he did something that wasn’t right. she could have spent sometime with her friends other than when edward wasn’t around. she could have stood up and pretty much told edward to F**k off when he told her she couldn’t go see jacob. she couldve had some me time for herself instead of hyperventalating over edward going to go hunt a few miles away.
and i am being myself, the self who can not sit down and to have my voice heard about twilight.
catergorize? do you mean how we catergorize the rabids who come in and tell us we have no lives, or we must be lesbians because we don’t believe in bella and edward’s relationship?? or we must hav been bullied or abused for thinking this way?? who aren’t saying they all will be like bella, because there are people who will be able to understand there are good and bad qualities about twilight even if the antis can’t see them. i’m sorry to say that your fandom has messed up most of our views of them. but considering how irrational some of them have shown up to challenge us its not our fault it they take it like a personal insult just because we don’t like twilight.”
But isn’t it someone’s perogative to want a relationship like that? I mean, regardless, yes Edward is overbearing and not the best model for a boyfriend, but I think what many fans of the series like is that he IS so in control of the relationship. I don’t personally find it appealing, even as a guy, but I know a lot of fans seem to appreciate (sp?) the fact that Edward is overbearing. I’m not saying that it’s good they feel that way, just that they shouldn’t be made fun of or criticized for their views, after all, I think that a proper debate shouldn’t be done in an attacking “rabid” (to use your phrasing) way, but rather in an educated, balanced discussion.
That is why I disagree not only with those people who call twilight fans “Twitards” and “Twihards.” I personally believe that those phrases are meant to attack someone on a personal basis, so it’s no wonder that someone take it personally. And no, I’m not saying that it’s okay for said Twilight fans to attack the dissenters, just saying, more generally, to EVERYONE, lets try and have a more civilized discussion and when you state a view, you should try to back it up, otherwise you don’t really bring arguments to the table, you just sound mean… (oh, btw that last sentence, EVERY PART OF IT was directed at EVERYONE, not just Equus)
Gosh, this book just brings out so much hate in people. I read the books and liked them, sort of. And I am totally fine with the fact that a lot of people don’t enjoy them. My own best friend hates them!
I didn’t really like Bella. To me, she is a selfish, coldhearted bitch (excuse my language) who only cares about her personal needs. She pulls Edward and Jacob along and they both bow down to her and kiss the ground she walks on! It’s disgusting. Edward is so willing to forgive her. No matter what she does, she is a saint. I’m pretty sure she could kill his entire family and he would still love her.
Honestly, the only thing that kept me reading was the werewolves. I loved the witty remarks, and the developed personalities. I just don’t think the whole “every single person on the planet loves Bella,” is likely. All the Cullens, minus Rosalie, love her. All the werewolves have different opinions! It was quite refreshing.
New Moon was what shocked me the most. It was almost as if saying that if your true love leaves you, crawl into a hole and die. If no one needs you, you don’t need to live.
Anyways, I’m sure you guys are sick of reading my views, and please know none of this was meant in offense. I enjoyed the book, it was a change from re-reading Harry Potter over and over. But, Harry Potter is still my favourite series, and no amount of swearing, yelling, persuading, or otherwise will change that.
One of the crowd.
Pat Clearier :
But isn’t it someone’s perogative to want a relationship like that? I mean, regardless, yes Edward is overbearing and not the best model for a boyfriend, but I think what many fans of the series like is that he IS so in control of the relationship. I don’t personally find it appealing, even as a guy, but I know a lot of fans seem to appreciate (sp?) the fact that Edward is overbearing. I’m not saying that it’s good they feel that way, just that they shouldn’t be made fun of or criticized for their views, after all, I think that a proper debate shouldn’t be done in an attacking “rabid†(to use your phrasing) way, but rather in an educated, balanced discussion.
That is why I disagree not only with those people who call twilight fans “Twitards†and “Twihards.†I personally believe that those phrases are meant to attack someone on a personal basis, so it’s no wonder that someone take it personally. And no, I’m not saying that it’s okay for said Twilight fans to attack the dissenters, just saying, more generally, to EVERYONE, lets try and have a more civilized discussion and when you state a view, you should try to back it up, otherwise you don’t really bring arguments to the table, you just sound mean… (oh, btw that last sentence, EVERY PART OF IT was directed at EVERYONE, not just Equus)
sound mean?? sorry, i’ve adapted to being a bit harsh in my debateing at times.
So I think you (being the crazy anti-twilight people who spend hours ranting about how horrible Twilight is) are just as bad as the obsessed twihards that spend hours ranting about how GREAT it is! I’ll admit you make some really great points. Bella is far from my favorite female literary character. The relationship between Bella and Edward is a bit weird and over the top sometimes. And, the books aren’t not that well written. BUT, Harry Potter isn’t a literary masterpiece either. Does that take away from how popular and enjoyable that series is? No. I read all 4 books and I liked them. They were easy reads and were entertaining. I don’t think people should have to take sides on the issue! You don’t have to be either obsessed with it or hate it. I’m not obsessed. I liked the movie and the books, but they’re not my favorites by any measure. At the same time I’m not going to completely bash them and say that it sets the feminist movement back! So many modern books and movies give a bad image to the women in them, but no one is ranting about how terrible they are. Does that make it right? No, but we can’t just single out this one novel. How about you write about the sexism and bad messages in half the books and movies out today! I think everyone needs to get off their high horse and move on. If you don’t like them, don’t read them. If you like them, then read them how ever many times you want. Don’t go trying to force your opinion on everyone around you though!
dang, sorry i accidently hit submit so i’ll continue from my previous post to Pat clearier:
thats what i find as a problem.it does creep me out that they like what edward is doing. thats scary in my opinion. they think its so romantic of edward to stalk her, watch her while she sleeps for months on end not to her knowlege of it occurring.
Yes, it is their preogative, do we think they’re crazy to want a relationship like bella and edward’s?? yes we do think they are.
and then the whole engine incident that i have gone into detail several times on here so i’m skipping on ahead.
the only time we make fun of them is when “They” stomp in and try to insult us, then their fair game, they brought that one on themselves if they have done that to any of the anti’s, if they can’t respect us why should we be respectful to them?? but notice how we don’t insult the people who come on here to intelligently debate with us and who doesn’t insult us.
Is it right for the twilighters to come in here and insult us?? no, and i see you agree with us on that, and we may not say any thing related to the terms twihard or twitard.
Yet they still come in angry, like we ran their dog over. saying things like, “i respect your opinion in all, but i think you shouldn’t say any thing, its hurting SM’s feelings!” or, ” you don’t know what your talking about your opinions don’t matter and i bet you’e never been in love like edward and bella’s!!!” i thought they respected our opinions, so why are we being silenced??
and we’re didn’t give them the name twihard that was their own doing. they refered to themselves as more hardcore than the regular fans so they decided to set themselves apart and named themselves twihards. now the name rabids, were given to those who attacked us for our opinions (swearing, theartening to kill us, insulting us basically) now the twitards are also a name to those who insult us and had no merit to their argument to saying what was so great about twilight.
One of the crowd: i agree with you on not likeing bella.
We’re all individuals with different tastes.
What’s the bible to one person can be fuel for another’s fireplace.
The point here is that people who adore Twilight complained about the author of this post being stupid, which in itself is a rather empty accusation. So, the people who didn’t like Twilight stood up for the author, next thing you know, madness ensues.
Not that I don’t find it highly amusing. Also, Stephen King thinks Smeyer is talentless. Let me hear some opinions on that, because in all honesty, despite SK’s disappointments, he has a large collection of great fiction novels that don’t revolve around ‘perfection’ and sparkly vampires.
Leah, yes it may seem crazy about what we’re doing, infact i think i would have been able to move on if it wasn’t for the fans thinking we can’t say what we want, but of course we can’t let them think they can control our opinions and they may think the same about us, but i don’t see this ending for a while.
as it has been said about SK, ” The King Has Spoken” i mean the fact that a legendary author agrees with us on Smeyers writing is very exciting to us.
Indeed, Equus. I think Nora Roberts didn’t think much of Smeyer either. Now that I think about it, how many authors actually DO like her?
Granted many author, not all, may not like Stephenie Meyer’s grammer, but I’m sure they admire her determination.
Equus- Thanks! But I’ve had some practice. When you’re a rare polytheist in a catholic school, you learn how to hold your own with fanatics XD!
Artie- as far as I know, none. Not the serious unpublished authors, and certainly not the published ones that seem to have any sort of opinion.
ok that article is sooo jacked up! twilight is NOT sexist. it is a VAMPIRE LOVE STORY a DRAMA!all yall that hate it proably have no tast in a good novel any way!!! this is the best serise ever written. it is better than harry potter and any other book you can think of! so STOP saying bad things about Stephanie Meyer or any of her books! there are only good thingd about her novels!!
You put on a good argument. And you have every right to state your opinion. Some of your arguments made me laugh and think to myself “hey that’s true, i never looked at it that way.” However, you should keep in mind that the Twilight saga are works of FICTION and not every novel has some sort of “message” intended. This book was written for the sake of entertaining and allowing the reader to escape everyday life. You also shouldn’t blame Stephenie Meyer for the fact that you didn’t like the book. It isn’t necessary to have feelings of hatred and animosity towards the author of supposed dreadful books. I myself saw no sexism whatsoever in these books. Yes, Edward is a little over-protective, but is he abusive? That is up for interpretation. But for now, I think we had all be a little more mature about this and stop bashing people for reading and writing what they enjoy. And obviously, Stephenie Meyer isn’t the only one who fancies the “twilight” world of vampires.
Oh, thank you so much for this article.
I am a fellow teenager (19 for now), literature student, and Harry Potter graduate. And I 100% agree with you on all of this.
I admit, I sort of enjoyed Twilight the first time through. It was cheesy and cliche, but I didn’t really care that much. My friends kept telling me how amazing the series was, so I decided to read more in order to see if it got better.
Wrong! New Moon is truly appalling. I spent the entire book waiting for Bella to take Charlie’s advice and “handle” it. That was so unhealthy and creepy. The only bright spot was Jacob. He was a true friend in that book and the only time I didn’t want to slap Bella was when she was with him. I’m sorry, but I simply can not explain away Bella’s behavior with a simple, “Well she loved Edward”. Whatever. People deal with heart ache all the time and I can’t believe she is giving teenage girls the idea that it’s OK to become a “zombie” over a guy!!
Eclipse was only a little better, but that was where Edward began to creep me out as well. He’s abusive and all under the pretense of protection. He stops Bella from visitng her best friend…and she doesn’t stand up to him. She loves him more for it. Seriously, what message is this sending?? And when Jacob stole those kisses from Bella, I was horrified. Jacob had been my favorite character, and then he did that. I still like him far better then I like Edward, but that was disgusting.
Then Breaking Dawn. I read that book just because I wanted to see what happened when Bella became a vampire. What a disappointment. First, the sex scene…I know Bella wanted it, but that was a perversion of what should be a wonderful experience. He bruised her and practically broke her bones and we’re supposed to believe that is love? Second, the hell child. No words. Third, the Hitler-esque charisma of said hell child. Seriously, that kid is a spoiled brat who can make anyone follow her. No one sees anything dangerous about that?? Third, Jacob imprinted. As a Jacob fan, that disgusted me. Meyer can explain it away as not really being pedophiic…whatever! It’s disgusting and a cop out. Jacob needed to move on and I kept waiting for him to do it under his own power. Instead, he has a sick connection with his former lover’s daughter which he can do nothing about. That’s love.
And there are so many other problems. The fact that Bella is supposedly mature for her age, yet makes no decision that proves that. The fact that all the high school kids are immature idiots who have no personality and no worth. The fact that the only things Bella describes in great detail are the vampires. In fact, the only highlights are the other Cullens. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie….they are the only characters I had any feelings for.
To sum up: these books may be ridiculously popular for now. But I will be shocked if the popularity of these books lasts for as long as Harry Potter will. Those books were honestly well-written, engaging, and will likely prove to be popular for generations. Twilight? Doubt it.
I’ve read plenty of critisms on the twilight series and they’re all pretty much the same. This one is definitely no different. Notice that the person writing the review has read all the books and know more detail than probably someone who is an actual fan. From my understanding, people who actually don’t like the books can’t even go on reading after going through the first of the series. And say, “I’m just not getting it.” They do not continue on. This reviewer has read all the books and I bet my life on it, has also read the unpublished version. Who cares if other well known authors did not like the books. Van Gogh paintings were ridiculed for a long time and now look how popular and priceless they are… Do you have to be part of the status quo to be respected? The books were entertaining. Young girls and women alike are inspired not so much by the Heroine Bella, but by the Romantic and love sick vampire Edward Cullen. Meyer compared his character the Mr Darcy, Mr Rochester and Gilbert Blythe. If you’ve read the books these three characters came from, they are very similar to Edward Cullen… Now would you call them abusive or just plain romantic. Remember Edward does come from that time period. I think we are all just beginning to realize that the feminist movement left women now a days longing for that romantic man who use to open doors and be “over protective” to the ones they are smitten with..
BTW – I do agree that the books were poorly written… but use your imagination and just go with the story… I think this is what fans are obsessed with. The idea of escaping into a fantastical world, especially in these hard times, is not so bad. I also do agree that teenagers should not be reading this book… There’s way too much idealism into it and impressionable teenagers may take it more literaly. However, teenagers are also more fickle. Give them another year, and they should fall in love with another author…
Rafal H.–
Your comment is really immature. We’re allowed to debate if we want to. If you don’t want to debate, then don’t visit the site.
*snort* Twilighter…called…me immature…*snort*
I can act as immature as I want to, thank you very much. I happen to be 14 and these are the last days I can still be treated like kid. SO BACK OFF!
Secondly, I love debating and you can debate except that YOU ARE LOSING. You make SOME good points, but mostly we are kicking your asses.
So calm down and join the debating team like I did and CHILL OUT!!!
p.s: Why are the Twilighters so hostile? Especially on Yahoo!. They always report my questions even if they have nothing to do with Twilight.
YEAH I’M GENERALISING BUT LIKE I SAID; Get over it.
Did any of you see Ghostbusters 2? I love it!
I don’t agree with you. You’re just pointing out at the negative stuff. Everyone has an opinion, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to insult the book or the author. There is no need for that.
This is fiction, so why not the vampire? Why not the “wolf fell in love with a lamb” love? And why not Twilight? There actually is a nice way to say it, so you don’t need to insult anything or anyone.
It’s ok not to like it, but this is actually quite rude.
You seem a little “pissed off” by the fact that everyone “fell in love” with Twilight. So what? There are people who like it, and people who don’t.
And I must say something about five boys who fell in love with Bella. She came somewhere new, where people are different. And as she said: “The boys in my school saw me going trough puberty and growing up. Boys here see me like woman.”
I’m not trying to insult you or being rude, but there is a nicer way to say that you don’t like the book. But you obviously don’t care about other people’s opinion, only the ones that agree with you.
Pathetic.
Rika, that’s all nice and dandy that Bella went through puberty on another school and was a woman in her new school, but that’s utter bullshit.
I’ve transferred from school to school, and though I was very intriguing to people in my new school, people are generally defensive toward the new kid. It doesn’t matter if you’re Angelina Jolie’s daughter transferring, if they’re already a tight group, there is no way you’re going to have 5 boys chasing you like you’re fresh meat.
It’s also very nice that you’re stating your opinion, but you’re also falling into overused insulting. You can say we don’t care about positive opinions, but we actually do, it’s the part where people like you jump up 500 times in a row telling us we’re pathetic and stupid and whatnot, but you’re not really giving us any good comments on where Twilight could deserve some credit.
@Madison, determination in what? She had a coincidental dream, coincidentally published her novel, and coincidentally it was liked. There’s no determination here, just luck. In fact, had she gone through a fanfiction site she would have noticed how many teenagers are obsessed with vampires nowadays and thought: Oh, possibilities!
Actually, while I’m on it, the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Created way before Smeyer had her dream, yet, it’s ironically so very, very the same as Twilight except so much better. Don’t believe me? Main female character, Sookie, has mind-reading abilities and falls in love with a vampire because she CAN’T read his mind and she finds that incredibly relieving and mysterious. Also, another guy who loves her is a SHAPE-SHIFTER who needs an IMPRINT in order to shape-shift.
I rest my case. There’s more, but I can’t be bothered.
Heh, everybody wants to be a critic…
but look at the success the book has gotten.
Everyone has an opinion…. but it isn’t a Fact!!!
if i were Stephanie Meyer… I would be laughing my ass
off by this review… why? because I’m rich, Bitch!!
i wouldn’t care of what you’re saying
i wrote the book, and gained Millions and Fans
how many have you got?
i guess all the Twilight haters
which is 0000.1% percent of the World Population
and one more thing, haven’t you read a book for pure
entretainment? i do, that why i read books
to get deeper in the magic of the Writer
but i see that you all like the concrete
I hope you enjoy dissapointment
Gerard, facts are very unsubstantial when there’s still people who can claim that hard evidence in front of them is bullshit.
Smeyer is rich, yes, but not for the right reasons. When I look at people like JKR and SK, they’re people who came a long way. They didn’t have a magical dream that gave the population of teenagers a massive orgasm in the shape of a romance novel.
On that note, money and fans don’t say much about a person. I can list a bunch of celebrities who killed themselves, no? Exactly.
000.01 percent? Get off your high horse, buddy. I live in Europe, and aside from Britain, everybody here would not spend a cent on the Twilight series and the movie didn’t even have its trailer featured on TV. It was kind of like tumbleweed rolling by. I only even know Twilight because I talk to people in America.
I read probably a novel every day, so don’t give me that crap about concrete and disappointment. It’s the fact that I read a lot that I can actually tell from a mile distance Twilight isn’t worth 2 euros let alone 3 dollars.
I’m sorry, I just had to…
Stephanie said:
“ok that article is sooo jacked up! twilight is NOT sexist. it is a VAMPIRE LOVE STORY a DRAMA!all yall that hate it proably have no tast in a good novel any way!!! this is the best serise ever written. it is better than harry potter and any other book you can think of! so STOP saying bad things about Stephanie Meyer or any of her books! there are only good thingd about her novels!!”
Wow, you are obviously the kind of person who REALLY HELPS those of us trying to defend the books intellegently… I mean, “proably?” And “tast,” and “serise,” and “thingd?” Honestly? Its debators like this that give the fans a bad rep. You’re not really helping to prove that Stephanie Meyer is a keen author when people have to question whether or not your literate. Just take a little more time in your responses, don’t get emotionally attatched to the books, and make somewhat decent arguments not “OMG I LUFF STEPHANIE I’M GOING TO KILLZORZ YOUZ H8ERZ” and we might actually see a turn for this debate.
Rafal said:
“*snort* Twilighter…called…me immature…*snort*
I can act as immature as I want to, thank you very much. I happen to be 14 and these are the last days I can still be treated like kid. SO BACK OFF!
Secondly, I love debating and you can debate except that YOU ARE LOSING. You make SOME good points, but mostly we are kicking your asses.
So calm down and join the debating team like I did and CHILL OUT!!!”
I actually agree with the person who called you immature… I mean, obviously, you have the self awareness to know that you’re being immature, and your age isn’t an excuse. I also find it hard to believe you’re on a debate team, because it really does feel like non of your arguments are bringing anything to the table…. Just saying, for maker fun of so-called “twilighters” for not having good points, your argument seems pretty bear.
Soorry, some people probably won’t get my humor in the above post, but if you people get it, congratulations, youi understand sarcasm and a bit of my online humor….
Rafal H–
Me chill out? Hun, all I was saying is that you stating “we’re kicking your asses” was immature. Is that what your debate team teaches you to say? When you’re in a debate with people, your age doesn’t matter, just your points. Also, you saying “Some Twilighter called me immature” was laughable. You don’t know me, know what I’ve been through. I’m older than you, wiser than you, and have gone through things that I hope you never have to see. Isn’t debate all about having a stance on a topic and aruging that stance with valid points that you can back up with facts? With the ones you just made, I can surely tell you that you can’t.
Artie–
I’m talking about her determination to get books of that length out once a year. You gotta admit, whether you like Twilight or not, that writing that many pages while trying to raise and family and have a life is admirable.
Madison,
That’s fairly true. However, go through any popular fanfiction site and there will be plenty of teenage authors who wrote the same amount. I’m not saying the quality of spelling and grammar, or even structure will be the same, but it gets the point across.
But can the same not be said of JKR? She has a family too, and her books are huge after all. Not to mention JKR has to describe many things and actions vividly, whereas Twilight does not really contain as much action or fantasy. (Which was my main petpeeve.)
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll give you the same amount of respect you give me when I say I don’t like Twilight. I’m not unreasonable, I’m just not very appreciative of certain ‘ur stuped’ comments, which you thankfully do not use.
Guys, seriously, I like Twilight, but at the end of the day: it’s just a book!
Yes, the purple prose gets a bit annoying after a while and I dislike how ‘perfect’ Edward is described to be, however, if you take it for what it is: a romance novel (however you try to colour it) it’s an entertaining read.
It’s a fairytale that allows you some escapism for a while and then you go back to your normal lives. I personally thought Edward and Bella were sweet together, but I’m not going to have a go at twilighters or the anti twilight people, as we’re all entitled to our own opinions! That said, it’s been entertaining reading the debates!
well from what stephenie meyer said, she doesn’t raise her sons much since she doesn’t want to leave her computer. she also said she tunes them out when she’s writing. her husband is the one taking care of the kids.
and not only that but JKR was on welfare living in a run down apartment with her 3 or 4 year old daughter. she didn’t have help with her daughter, she and her husband divorced, she wasn’t speaking to her mother because of a huge fall out with her. and her sister didn’t live close to her. it was hard times. and finally the idea of a boy wizard came to her on a train. she began writing while she rode to her destination with her baby. and thus began he working on Harry Potter in cafe’s when ever her daughter would fall asleep so she could turn her attention to writing.
Stephenie wasn’t needing for anything, she had her husband there to care for her sons and she isn’t on welfare, she was living a more comfortable life than JKR did when she first started writing HP and the philospher stone.
Okay, where to start about this horribly written review. I’m a girl. I find ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the Twilight series offensive. It seems like that is mostly your only argument against Twilight, and it is not a very well supported one.
Everyone likes entering a new world, with no worries about homework, or bosses, or the current economy sitution, etc. And that is what this is. It is a MADE UP WORLD. It is a book written at about an 5-10 grade level. Find out about the book before you start throwing unbacked, uneducated arguments against it.
I respect those who do not like Twilight; that is your perogative. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, and I like Twilight just as much. The two are TOTALLY different stories, with different characters and plot lines, and SHOULD NOT BE COMPARED.
Okay I never compared Stephenie Meyer and J.K Rowling when came to writing, so I don’t know where that came from?
Madison – I think what Equuis was trying to prove was that it wasn’t a big deal for meyer to write that much.
Okay, so here’s the thing:you brought up some good arguments, I’ve never really looked at the books that way but you had som good points. I read and re-read all the books several times. I fell head over heels for them; I was totally in love. Then i realized that every one else i knew started reading the books and became completely OBSESSED! It was pretty scary having my friends ask my to call them ‘Alice’, ‘Mrs. Cullen’, or ‘Bella’. Some of them actually died and cut their hair to match the character’s hair in the books. They started wearing shirts and getting bags; almost every where Iooked i saw a quote or picture of Edward Cullen. It got to a point where i realized ‘Twilight’ wasn’t as great as every one thinks. But i don’t think that trashing Stephanie Meyer the way you did was at all necessary. Some of the things you said about her and her writing were positively horrid. It takes a lot of imagination and creativity to come up with a several hundred page series it also takes courage beacuse she’ll have to deal with critics like you who try their very hardest to tear good authors down. But any way I agree and disagree with some of your aruguments.
what i was trying to say was Madisson is that can be said the same like Artie said. People for some strange reason think that Smeyer went through much more than JKR, not saying that you said that, its just they think she had it harder. and by pushing out books could be considered as determined but also JKR spending years on going over her first book so that there will be little to no mistake seemed to be very dedicated to her work.
Sorry i meant meant, Madison ( didn’t mean to spell your name wrong)
How ironic is it that Twilight fans tend to tell all the anti’s they need to shut up and stop wasting their time talking trash about Twilight, when this is an opinated Twilight hater site. You say we need to stop reading the books if we don’t like them, and Twilight is the ‘omgah, best book ever’ and that we need to keep our opinions to ourself, but then you go on and say,
“Twilight is the BEST BOOK EVER, I LOVE TWILIGHT, you all need to get a life && stop wasting it hating Twilight”…blah,blah..
^^ Well you guys, that’s an opinion. At least we didn’t go to Stephenie Meyer’s page, or a Twilight lover’s article and state our opinions there, this is actually an article about one person telling us her thoughts on Twilight.
Respect that, will you?
“Rafal H–
Me chill out? Hun, all I was saying is that you stating “we’re kicking your asses†was immature. Is that what your debate team teaches you to say? When you’re in a debate with people, your age doesn’t matter, just your points. Also, you saying “Some Twilighter called me immature†was laughable. You don’t know me, know what I’ve been through. I’m older than you, wiser than you, and have gone through things that I hope you never have to see. Isn’t debate all about having a stance on a topic and aruging that stance with valid points that you can back up with facts? With the ones you just made, I can surely tell you that you can’t.”
My age in debating does matter since we are sorted according to groups. I just don’t think you guys should be so serious all the time.
Now, ‘what you’ve been through’, I don’t care. Because that doesn’t matter to what you’re saying. I was a little hyper yesterday, so what?
Oh okay, so I didn’t make any good points…at all…in my entire time on this comments thing…have you read them all?
Also, THIS IS NOT A DEBATE. This is a comments page and I was getting sick of the Twilighters since you guys are generally rude [generally. you are. SCROLL].
Anyway if you think you’re words were so very cutting and insulted me so, you’re wrong, because I’m used to it, and if you didn’t, well what’s the point? I didn’t start the ‘immature’ thing. So go to hell.
;]
Oh and the ‘kicking your asses’ thing was a way for you Twilighters to understand the “we are beating you” with the facts and what-not.
Because no matter how much you deny things, the answers are right there on the page.
Rafal H–
Your age in a debate does not matter, for the last time.
Actually what I’ve been thorugh does matter with what I’m saying. You obviously haven’t read my previous comments because some of my stances on the book are based off what I’ve been through. Plus, personal expierences are the best judgement with making a decision on this book.
No, I didn’t read any of your comments and frankly I’m not going to. I never said ALL of your comments have no valid points. I said that your last one had NONE.
Also, this is a debate. The definition of the word debate is “to engage in argument by discussing opposing points.” Isn’t that what is happening here? I mean, yes this is a comments page, but the commenters are debating. You’d think that a person on a debate team would know that?
Rafal, I have NEVER been rude or mean at all through my comments. I have merely stated my stance on Twilight. If you’ve taken my comments as rude, well then I’m sorry, but I try to write them mature as to not resort to “OMG YOU SUCK.” I don’t know when or if a person will take my comments as an insult, no one does.
I wasn’t trying to start anything with the immature thing. I was merely stating my opinion. Plus this whole immature thing has been going on for a while with the Anti’s towards the Twilighters,which on some cases I agree with. And you telling me to “go to hell” just proves my point.
And I’m sorry that we’ll have to disagree with who is coming out ahead in this DEBATE or not.
Have a good day
Maddison
Rafal H–
Although I hate to take the opposition’s side on anything, Madison’s right. You shoul be a bot more curtious…
LOL
You guys need to calm down, really.
P.S: Stop attacking me, thanks.
[…] for those who aren’t lapping the series up, you’ll find something insightful here: Twilight Sucks… And Not in a Good Way Twilight: A Follow-Up, and a Promise Midnight Sun is Canceled: Eh, No Great Loss You know, I […]
Rafal H–
I wasn’t attacking you, neither was Rae.
Every single thing in this article is without a doubt the gospel truth, yet I still find myself hopelessly addicted to the Twilight saga. The only thing I dislike about this article is that it pretends Twilight is the first of its kind and that anti-feminist literature hasn’t landed a permanent spot in history already. Exceptionally well-written, though, with undeniable points.
well i am a young reader of the twilight saga
and i just finished reading breaking dawn and i think it was AMAZING its not just based on vampires. Its based on fighting for your true love and i enjoyed it i am a big fan
and i think all of you are completly wrong
I agree some parts are not the best but mrs Meyer is a great writer.
I actually found at least the first twilight book to be very good and I saw Bella as a strong female role. Now I agree that I did not appreciate her fading into the background during the last three books, but how can you say that Stephenie Meyer is putting women down? I mean fighting wise she creates both Alice and Victoria who put up a fight against Edward. Bella herself who is human and therefore physically weaker than all of the vampires and werewolves still tries to fight along with them. She goes to sacrifice herself to save her mother, she sheds her own blood to distract Victoris, she constantly insists that no one should fight or die for her. When Jacob kisses her, she tries to punch him in the face and only the fact that she is human causes him to not feel it. Also in the final book in the final scene, she was the key element to victory or even to having a chance in the battle. How can you say that she makes women appear weak? She makes her choices and sticks to them; Edward eventually learns not to force anything and NEVER tries to hurt her. I find the love story immensly enjoyable, and I enjoy the character Bella who is so relatable and strong.
Hahahah Twilight is just funny, shows us how easy young girls are influenced., and Meyer is just a silly bint.who should take a writing course., the idea for the story is very good, about a vampire and a human fall in love., but honestly., I think the woman never heard of the word PLOT before., You go Keller!
Stephanie Meyer is an amazing writer,
and you beating down on her, and talking down on her is uncalled for . You needn’t insult Stephanie or the series just because you dislike them .
Bella feels ordinary, so does almost every other teenage girl, what are you going to do about it ? Make fun of them too ?
And about the Bella-Jacob realationship, she was confused, trying to get over Edward , what more do you expect ? For her to miraculously get over him, and totally forget he ever exsisted ?
And what’s wrong with her loving Jacob ? Absolutely nothing .Well, that would never happen, not even in reality . And, ‘ young women ‘ don’t get that message , you talk about teenager girls like their stupid ! Well, excuse us for escaping reality for long enough to enjoy something far from reality .
Edward prevented Bella from seeing Jacob because he hurt her, and the it’s obviously tense between all of them , Edward was just looking to keep Bella safe, is that a crime ?
Yes , Bella led him on, but again, she was going through a tough time, all teenagers do .
Breaking Dawn shows the value of family and friends , and why it’s important to keep them in your ever-changing life .
All you did was point out the negatives, and didn’t even take time to look at the positives .
These books are fiction, and they’re a little over-the-top at times, but that’s life .
If you didn’t like it, you didn’t need to put it down , or bash the author .
OK. to begin with i LOVE the whole Twilight Saga and i thought Meyer did an awesome job.
Yes everyone has their own opinion on the book and thats just my opinion. Now whether you want to judge me or better yet criticize me for liking the saga thats up to you.
I think it is beyond childish for people to go on criticizing the author of this book. Think about that for a minute if like so many of you say its an awful book then exactly why are they the # 1 I REPEAT #1 books on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children’s Chapter Books in its second week on the list, and remained in that spot for eleven weeks. It spent over 30 weeks in total on the list.
After stating this i think i proven my point on how all over the world MANY NOT ALL BUT MANY kids love these books putting it on the #1 spot. Yes at the same time kids don’t all agree with others and have their own opinion on these books.
I, being one person out of billions have the right to have and make my own opinion on these books without being judged because after all its just my OPINION. So I’m not saying i agree with Kellen Rice but don’t you people have other better things to do then judge not only her but the books. By judging her your judging all the other people who agree with her and when judging me if you do so you’ll be doing the same. So if you people don’t want to get judged on or talked about then avoiding making comments like you suck or anything that may cause a negative response on who ever reads it.
THANK YOU
IF YOU BOTHERED READING MY OPINION OR NOT
IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE
P.S I AM IN LOVE WITH ALL FOUR BOOKS AND ITS A SHAME BREAKING DAWN WAS THE LAST BOOK OF THE SAGA .
i laugh at you all. its a good book, but its fiction its not real its just an escape for people.
Yo this book is aight! No its better than aight its darn right hot! Edward is dating my friend Millie but they call her ‘Bella’ god knows why cause it doesnt resemble millie at all.
Love abby, aka crabby
I daresay i loved the book more than life itself, i mean, i am a sixteen years old, the book was pretty much written for me wasnt it. im totally going to get a boyfriend and be helpless so he saves me cause nothing bad will ever happen. im totally going to base my life off being bella and having edward and jacobs for boyfriends so, yeah.
as if any teenage girl is going to do that.
i think about edward every night, and touch myself
I too touch myself before i sleep
I think about Jaspers lovely eyes and give meself a big ole touchin!
I sometimes find myself dreaming of the dude who also plays volchek on OC he is sooooooooooooo hawt. xox gossip girl
EVeryone on here are douches. Besides that Millie Girl i love her, were dating, fack yeah
eeeeeeeeeeeek i love twilight da words are totally impressive for gals like me! yall i want ma babies!
I’m having trouble telling if these people are agaisnt it and being overly sarcastic, for it and making fun of the antis, or for it and just that screwed up… 0_0
Sometimes I wish you could hear intonation and see faces on the internet… It would make seeing true meanings so much easier.
Rae–
I’m right there with ya.
Um I’m beginning to think it’s all the same person o.o
OH MY GOD THERE IS AN ANT ON MY BACK GET IT THE HELL OFF OH MY GOD
FREAKING SUMMER
Sorry
Oh by the way the ‘statistics’ you list do not matter since we are not begrudging it’s success, we are saying why it should not be successful, why it doesn’t deserve it’s fame, why it is a bad influence and why it, in general, sucks.
Oh and if you loved StephEnie Meyer so much, why don’t you learn how to spell her name?
the whole edward/bella relationship, from my perspective is easy to comprehend. yes, i know it isn’t real but the struggles of love in a humans life seems to easily relate to them. you want to do anything in your power to keep that person in your life and everything can get so easy but complicated at the same time. it can be so wrong but so right. these books aren’t just about the literal meaning, from what i get from it. but i’m not saying you’re wrong. your opinion is your opinon. i’m not the type of person to call someone out like that. but to be fair everyone will have different opinions but it’s only fair to hear out everyone, not only yourself. i think the books are great because i didn’t know it was a huge fad. i found the book in my living room and decided to give it a try. i’ll admit. at first i thought it was kind of lame. but the only reason the book intrigued me was because of the whole new found love between these two. i read all 4 books in 8 days. because i found it easy to relate to. i think that’s why so many people read it. not for the literal meaning. but the world it puts you in when you read it.
You know a book is truly successful when it has it’s own hate-club.
No seriously though, when you see any work with a political group backing it, you see marketing success.
Now i think this book is actually done decently. Unlike some books in the past where ever character was simply the author’s mouthpiece, Twilight’s characters actually felt alive.
Now the following is true for liberal slippery slope 16-year old psuedo-intellectual “brainwashing” also. This book contains romanticized conservative fairy tale “brainwashing.”
This book is chalk full of the author’s subliminal advertising. If you didn’t notice that……well I’ll just assume you were to “into” the story.
In the end, you have to wonder if any of it is truly brainwashing. Most people seem to regard any works that contain even a gem of someone else’ views as “lolbrainwashing.”
Most works, from the current Pope’s insanely ludicrous bishops claiming Holocaust exaggerations to Dawkin’s ridiculous double standards, that contain a political view point tend to suck majorly.
Twilight is not the case. Harry Potter was not the case. If you want to see a book where the characters are simply mouthpieces of the author, read Starship Troopers, the worst work of psuedo-literature. It wasn’t literature, it was a political essay.
However, the book mentioned in the previous paragraph is very, very popular. The viewpoint supported was democracy. Many readers loved the ideals of democracy and some even say it was “well written.”
Now there is nothing wrong with making your views reflected in your works. If you believe that is “cramming your beliefs down someone’s throat,” watch the news. You get 3 different varieties with horrid political agendas.
In my honest opinions, having read 3/4 Twilight books and 6/7 Harry Potter books, I’d have to say Twilight was written with more eloquence. This may simply be due to Harry Potter’s target audience being younger and the fact that Harry Potter was more concise and elemental, compared to the dredging suspenseful void that inhabited the middle of New Moon.
However Harry Potter doesn’t go around claiming how homosexuality is the new democracy or Bella running around saying that anyone that doesn’t practice abstinence is a slut.
As for the feminist factor, feminists are political activists. All political activists are disgusting in at least one way. They spread more problem than they ever solve. The only reason why we don’t ostracize them all is that we need their money and lobbying to express our opinion in our Presidential Democracy.
Political activists will always find something wrong with society. If there isn’t anything wrong, they will create a problem. Now that women are allowed to vote and share equal rights under the law except for the “right” to be drafted, they need to do ridiculous things like express negative opinions for books.
A real feminist would be running around attempting to promote the welfare of said abused women rather than taking scant examples of “abuse” from a book and attempting to create controversy.
Sometimes obsession isn’t healthy, other times, it’s created some of the greatest works in human history. Meyer’s depiction of a “great love” may seem rather repulsive to you, or it may be the epitome of humanity for you (I would have rather seem Bella getting together with Jacob a la “Phantom of the Opera.”)
To each their own, some people have odd love practices. Although I’d rather not see them all, they are all entitled to doing whatever in the privacy of their homes.
Full devotion is no less empowering than an uphill battle for material success. We all need our stories with the hero’s journey. Bella is a hero in this sense, so was Harry Potter.
It’s so easy to compare when there is a liberal and conservative version of the a modern fantasy on hand.
-Pancakes
Pancakes, i’m glad you were able to come in here raving mad and insulting us in a way.
now let’s see about your post:
“In my honest opinions, having read 3/4 Twilight books and 6/7 Harry Potter books, I’d have to say Twilight was written with more eloquence. This may simply be due to Harry Potter’s target audience being younger and the fact that Harry Potter was more concise and elemental, compared to the dredging suspenseful void that inhabited the middle of New Moon.”
well of course to each their own opinion, but the later books from Harry Potter couldn’t be said the same for the younger audience, by the thrid book we left the children’s section and migrated to to YA just as Harry does as he ages to adult hood. but of course to each their own, i may not agree with you on it twilight being written with eloquence but i respect your opinion.
“However Harry Potter doesn’t go around claiming how homosexuality is the new democracy or Bella running around saying that anyone that doesn’t practice abstinence is a slut.”
oh far from it, just because dumbledore was inlove with grindlewald doesn’t mean it was being promoted at all. bella running around was far from saying you were a slut, but her begging to have sex with edward made up for it. sex was the only reason she wanted to stay human, seemed very slutty to me, but of course we all don’t see that the same way.
” Now that women are allowed to vote and share equal rights under the law except for the “right†to be drafted, they need to do ridiculous things like express negative opinions for books.”
i beg to differ, there is nothing ridiculous about expressing our opinions about this book even if they are negative.
“A real feminist would be running around attempting to promote the welfare of said abused women rather than taking scant examples of “abuse†from a book and attempting to create controversy.”
we are hardly trying to create controversy. it wasn’t us who wrote what edward did to bella, how he manipulated her into doing his bidding. because it all came in that little package SMeyer gave us called dazzeling. bella litterally forgets what she was angry about and apparently edward can control it in a way because it only occurs when he wants bella to act like he wants her to.when she’s mad he steps in he controls her emotions in a way. or he kisses her senseless.
if our arguments were so scant, how come the fans are so angry at us. were just stating our opinion. how come they don’t like when we say things that make too much sense and they try to insults?? i’ve had people say that i think too much, or i’m too crtical, or i have no life.
and whats more abusive then the little moments edward tells bella to do what he says?? go to any abuse site and and you’ll see he gives off the warnings like a red flashing beacon. he thinks he knows whats best for her, he thinks of her like shes some little child, which is, but he won’t let her make these decisions for her self. she didn’t want to go to prom, well you know what edward forced her to go, she didn’t want to apply for college but he decided she was to go any way so he forged her signature to the college he was going to, she wanted to go see jacob, he made the choice for her and said she couldn’t go and if she tried to run, he would use force if necessary. he controlled her healing process when he left her, he didn’t need to tell her he didn’t find her worthy any more, he gets mad if a guy even thinks bella looks good and tell her she didn’t desereve any one but him, that sounds pretty abusive to me, but since we don’t all think a like, i’m sure this will go over your head and you will keep the thought of abuse out of your mind.
Thank you again for coming to share with us your thoughts!
Oh god I’m getting really tired of this. Twilight is a hundred no a thousand times better than Harry Potter. Yeah they’re both good i just prefer Twilight and thats just simply it. I could care less whether you people disagree or agree with me, but its getting to a point where its PATHETIC to have to read how a nobody bashes the author of this book who is making millions no matter what.
So yeah have a good time debating when this really is going to get NO WHERE.
Oh and yeah i am obsessed with the Twilight saga and probably always will =] =]
A valid review, and undenyably some good points made, but you really should take into account other childrens/teen media beforen critisizing Twilight as if it were the anti-christ.
I’d like to refer back to 90% of the disney films I’ve ever seen/was brought up on, and comment on the far more prominant and undeniable sexism seen. The Little Mermaid, Aladin, Snow White, to name a few, are all shamelessly based around the ‘damsel in distress’ framework. I have no doubt that you’d dispute the integrity of these works too, however, you cannot deny they are a worldwide phenomenon which have bought hours of entertainment to many: young and old. Are you suggesting that my generation have been so badly harmed by these likewise works that we no longer recognise their flaws and decifier when a concept should be challenged? It offends me slightly that you assume none of the teens reading the saga will acknowledge it’s faults. (And those who genuinely don’t… well, I won’t deny that it embarrases me too, but give them a few years).
On a slightly less degnified note; cliches, romance, and sexual tension is what we, the teenage females of the world, want! Surely you remember this from your own childhood years? (If not, please take note!) It may be shameless, but as far as I’m concerned; art, literature, music, films, everything we love, is about indulging the senses – influencing us so passionately that we decide to make ridiculous fan videos obsessing over unrealistic men with super powers and nice eyes. It may not be moral or correct, but we love it anyway. That’s why violence in the sixties supposedly rocketed, making Anthony Burgess a hero. That’s why gigs are a place for sex and drugs, making every off-the-rails musician an idol. And that’s why we, despite it’s oh-so-sexist-ways- love Twilight.
I’d also like to add that this saga is clearly not intended for an audience so well read as yourself.
So what if us lower quartiles want to enjoy a bit of mush?
It’s this or MTV!
I have read your three revews for the books and I am a sevinteen year old who fully agrease with you and your points. You put it out that Meyer dose not resurch and I have more to add like vampires DO NOT SPARKLE IN THE SUNLIGHT! Instead they burn or there powers weaken. I’m a huge fan of actual vampire, werewolf, demon fantisy and I may not be an ather yet but I do have some work that might get published and if an ather does not care to reserch and sure you can bend the rules but Meyer broke them into millons of peaces and burnd them to ashes. Next to all those pre-teen girls out there if you want true vampire novels read Ann Rice, or read Rob Thurman`s Nightlife, Moonshine and Madhouse, or maybe you want to try real werewolves like the Mercy Thompson`s books by Patricia Briggs and finaly the Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn. Hell evin watch Supernatural at least there is some real facts about the supernatural. You all might hate me for posting this but you know what a true artist knows when its a peace of work or when its trash and should be burnd for evin being realesed. This is what I belive in and if you dissagree well then tell it to some one who cares. (If my spelling is worng any were I am sorry)
“Hahahah Twilight is just funny, shows us how easy young girls are influenced., and Meyer is just a silly bint.who should take a writing course., the idea for the story is very good, about a vampire and a human fall in love., but honestly., I think the woman never heard of the word PLOT before., You go Keller!”
Lol! I agree with you 100%
On the topic of Twilight’s targeted audience:
1. Meyer wrote it for herself and other housewives who are bored with their husbands and wanna have wet dreams about the DREAMY Edward…twilightmoms.com anyone
2. Most of Meyer’s fanbase is basically tweens and even 10 year olds…come on. I was reading Tracy Beaker when I was 10…they are reading Eclipse and how begging a guy to sex you is totally okay..
3. Harry Potter 1-3 was targeted for kids, though I still enjoyed them. Goblet of Fire was more mature and darker, and anyone can really enjoy them, as they had advanced vocabulary [no, Twilight doesn’t count, since the words are straight out of a thesaurus and shouldn’t be there in the first place] and are more exciting and suspensful.
Can we stop with the Harry Potter comparisons? Seriously? Because, I’m afraid with THAT one, we can beat you, no worries…Dumbledore’s Army is much larger than your Volturi or Cullens or whatever. And – I’m sorry – but there is no point debating the HP vs Twilight. Just don’t do it – if you think that, in your own opinion, Twilight is better, congratulations. But…come on.
Also I can use ‘sex’ as a verb on the internet if I wish ;]
You know it’s funny… as much as I agree with this article, Twilight was one of those rare books that makes it impossible to stop once you’ve started reading it..
For that reason alone, I can’t agree entirely with all this hatred towards Smeyer.. because anyone that can create a new world and write such a gripping story deserves some credit.
And weren’t we all in need of something after the JK phase was over? Something to throw us back into the realm of reading and literature (even if you don’t think it deserves that title) that would lead us to search for other works?
All I know is, a good book should entice and take you in as a reader and the Twilight series has done that for many.
And as for your comments about setting an example for young girls… perhaps Stephanie Myer made Edward so “perfect” to discourage young girls from believing that real men (or vampires) like that exist. Jacob was just a little too close to home for my liking and he still turned out to be a werewolf so… don’t keep carrying on like she set out on a mission to brainwash us all. The impossibility of it all always brought us back down to earth in the end.
Rafal H-
Actually, I believe that Dumbledore’s Army was rather small. HOWEVER! It it came down to a fight, Harry’s gang would win on their own. I mean, the Cullens can be burned, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione could just use whatever fire-summoning charm they’re on now and roast ‘em all, and then use patrificus totalus to keep them still while they burn.
mikayla (pro twilight)-
(sorry for typos, I’m kind of in a rush)
“And weren’t we all in need of something after the JK phase was over? Something to throw us back into the realm of reading and literature?” Well, can’t we enjoy books without it being the next big thing? I don’t know about you, but the amount I read after HP didn’t decrease at all. In fact, I started writing on top of all the reading I was doing.
“don’t keep carrying on like she set out on a mission to brainwash us all.” She wasn’t on a mission. She simply didn’t think of the possible reprocussions of her actions. The legions of girls broken by this may not be totaly her fault, but it IS her responsibility to own up and tell them to snap out of it.
“The impossibility of it all always brought us back down to earth in the end.” No it wasn’t. Not in a way that would remind our subconsious that it’s impossible to have a relationship like that (if you want a deeper explanation, I’ll type one up later. I’m late for school as it is)
Wonderful article! Thank you. Yours is a voice of reason in the dark awful world of Twilight Fanaticism.
1º of all, I LOVE this books. However, I do think that the Edward-Bella relationship was obsessive. But being a fan i was really ofended with what she wrote.
It’s ok to have a say about tis, but not like Kellen did.
I’m also a HP fan and I need you to STOP comparing them, they are 2 completely different stories!!
“In New Moon, Bella enters a self-described “zombie†state when Edward leaves her. In fact, the author oh-so-cleverly inserts blank pages with the months’ names as a poorly conceived plot device for showing the depths of her heroine’s pain and also to avoid having to write the “hard stuff.†”
I think leaving those pages like that was creative, and at 1º I didn’t like the fact that Edward left Bella, but later you realize that this is how she KNOWS she can’t live without him. If he hadn’t left, Bella wouldn’t know what to do.
I LOVE TWILIGHT!!!
Oj, and another thing:
Dove on February 9th, 2009 6:31 pm wrote:
vampires DO NOT SPARKLE IN THE SUNLIGHT!
Darling Dove, vampires DO NOT exist, they are exclusively fictional, therefore there are no strict rules how vampires should look like. Even Bram Stoker changed the myth about the vampires a bit to create his now classical “Dracula” – so you prove nothing with your comment.
You guys are really messed up if you Hate Twilight. First of all none of it is real Stephnie Meyer and any other writer can wirte about what they want. It called a story. God People have different interests so what if a million girls love the book its a great series. I bet most of you love a certain book that is fiction. Get a life …Twilight was great and so were the 3 other books
Kristina:
How are we messed up if we find the faults of a book too annoying to live with, and then we complain about it? Newsflash: We’re not. Complaining is allowed in the world.
Telling us to get a life is just a ridiculous thing to say, because you make it seem that if we speak our mind, and continue to do so, we have no life, which definitely (doesn’t) makes sense.
Did it ever occur to you that there are things to criticize about, and when people just say it’s “great because it is”, that only ticks us off more. That, and the bad grammar/spelling a lot of the Twilighters seem to use.
Do us a favor and come up with some actual reasons why we should like it. We aren’t brain dead, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to comprehend them.
And honestly, what does the fact that it’s fiction have to do with anything? Like you said, we can like what we want to.
We don’t like Twilight, so you might as well get over it. Disliking it is no reason to bash us, either. It only makes you seem immature and childish.
Oh yes, Rafal H. and Rae, there are too many ways for the Hp characters to destroy the cullens, its not even funny. Vampires are fast? well they can’t run in mid air can they?? wingardium leviosa guys, or use impendiante, thats stops or slows an object or a person down, the cullens will only die if they get cut into pieces, well they’ll use Sectumsempra , cuts the a targets limbs off, if that is what the attacker intends or it could just extremly make huge gashes if the attacker wants the target to just be tortured, and once the limb is cut off it won’t grow back, but since the cullens are super special their arms can still move back to the body like its the iron giant, they’ll have to use fiendfyre, which is a cursed fire, made up of flames of abnormal size and heat that can crumble fairly substantial objects to soot at a mere touch. Left burning long enough, the fire will take the shapes of gigantic fiery beasts (including serpents, chimaeras, dragons, and birds of prey) which will pursue any target the attacker intends as well.
and then they have broomsticks, can the cullens fly?? yeah i don’t think so, at least i don’t recall ever being able to fly in the books. the sticking charm, stick them to a tree and they can’t go any where. edward can read minds?? well the HP people can use occlumency, edward woludn’t be able to look into their minds. Now alice will be a problem which is why we have to stupefy her, and Luna can take care the rest. or use imperio to make the person do what ever you want them to. they can also use expulso, which blows up the target. or they can also tap into their defensive charge, which means the wizards or witches magic reacts instinctively to protect them. it would feel like charge of electricity runs through the body with this automatic defensive spell.
they could also disapparate, away. i don’t know how much good it would do if some one used the spell called Duro, which turns the target into stone, but since the cullens are already hard, may be they can make them what bella always describe them, as a statue.
they could also use Cave Inimicum, which keeps enemies away
well that was just a few to name that could annihilate the cullens to soot. Even Neville Longbottom could kill them, since he was wimpy clumsy forgetful boy turned Bad A** in Deathly Hallows.
well as much as i’d love to keep listing spells that can blink the cullens out of existence, i’ll let you guys chew on that infomation for a while.
Oh and pancakes, i was reading my post to you and i saw several mistakes, where i said you came in raving mad, i meant to say that you didn’t come in raving mad and insulting us. i hope i didn’t make you angry or anything since i should have checked my post over carefully, i hope you can forgive me.
Equus-
I envy you and your Hermione-like ability to remember what spells do XD!
LOL! Rae, why thank you for the hermione comment, and please all i did was do a little research no need to envy me. Hermione justs seems to know every thing there is to know, i wish i was more like her. *sighs*
LOL. Yes, Neville Longbottom believes it’s not butter…
Await the fanfic of the HP vs Twilight fight…I might use brooms but not for all of them because if it was an ACTUAL FIGHT HP guys would just decimate the Twilighters. For the sake of my fanfic I decided to lengthen it ;]
“ERECTO!” …How did Harry and Ron not crack up?
Oh, did you know there is actually a site called menarebetterthanwomen.com? Yeah. This guy is named – ironically – DICK Masterson. I don’t think he’s every heard of the term ‘generalisation’.
Whoa
Everybody is attacking me up there [I didn’t read all the comments when I was away]
God, calm down. I was a little hyper that day. Stop getting all riled up; oh my God, you’re SO immature, and I am superior to you in every way as I am older. Gosh, you can’t be in the debating team, your arguments bring NOTHING to the table.
Yeah, you did say it that way.
Stop being so ducking RUDE.
P.S: You were so attacking me
I’m immature at times but I have the sense not to think that I am immature all the time, and I do not call people names just because of one little thing
AHHH Conversation over I must do my fanfiction which I keep putting off…
Marissa:
Thank you for calling me childish…i could care less. I think it is only fair to bash out on peple who hate Twilight becuase you make me upset with all the crap your saying about it …I lOVE TWILIGHT. How is Twilight annoying… Have you even read it?… It is not only Twilighters who have bad grammar.. anybody could. maybe most Twilighters are Teenagers just trying to prove a point that it is a great book and dont worry about spelling.. most people understand what they are saying anyways. for example you.. you understand what i was saying didnt you …thought so. so when you have a better agruement I will be waiting.
LMAO contraditions errrwhere!!! for example, people that like twilight are hilarious, they say “get over it, its just a book, its not real, etc” yet they are also arguing trying to defend the book when the should also keep there comments to themselves and get over it too. i laugh all day…..thank that thing guy person whoever people believe in, i think his name was god, that i didnt read SHYT!!!!!!!!
Kristina –
…We make you upset… because we say bad things about the book… and you’re mature? If you couldn’t care less, why are you riled by what we’ve said?
And as for twilight being annoying, step out of yourself for a moment. Imagine that you’re a hater. Are you intelligent enough to do so? If not, it may explain some things. However, I’m assuming that you are. Now, pretend that someone asks you what you think of Twilight. Since lying is generally considered wrong, you tell them that you’re not fond of it. Then that person says…
“OH MY GOD! HOW CAN YOU HATE SUCH AN AWESOME BOOK?! YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY STUPID AND SUCK AT LIFE!”
And then you say, “Dude, calm down, it’s just a book.
And then they say, “BUT IT’S THE BEST BOOKS EVUR! AND BELLA AND EDWARD ARE TWO WUV! HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE IT?!”
“Because -insert reason about a: Edward not being perfect b: Bella and Edward having an unhealthy relationship, c: Meyer’s non-existent writing ability.-”
And then, depending on your answer, they would say a: “WELL YOU’RE JUST A LESBIAN!” b: “YOU’RE JSUT JEALIOUS BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU’RE JUST A DORK WHO TOUCHES HERSELF AT NIGHT AND KNOWS SHE’LL NEVER HAVE TRUE LOVE!” or c: “WELL, SHE WAS ONLY WRITING FOR HERSELF!”
And that point, you either fight their ranting until the bell rings, or you just shut up. Now repeat that conversation several times a day.
See how that could be annoying?
And during the books themselves, Bella and Edward are fairly shallow characters and Meyer’s writing style is not one I like. To me, she sounds like an eighth grader trying to get an A on a paper by using really big words. Her style doesn’t seem fitting for first person either if you ask me. (I personally like a rougher, more organic approach when using first person. It adds another element, sort of an indirect characterization of your lead in the narration itself. But, of course, that’s just me).
Also, those are MY opinions, and I consider opinions of that sort enough of a reason to hate something.
Also, in your comment, you said “and dont worry about spelling.. most people understand what they are saying anyways.” For the love of god, woman! Have some respect for your own language! This is NOT a chat room. This is NOT real time. There is no reason to butcher the language used in the book you evidentially love so much! True, in real life, we are forced to speak in the vernacular for the sake of time. But we are not speaking. We are typing. I suggest you learn to use English correctly before you continue using it.
Good day.
Kristina-
Sorry about that. Pressed “submit” by accident. Anyway.
Kristina-
We make you upset because we dislike something you happen to hold near and dear? Wow. That pretty much just says it all. What would you like me to say to that? There’s what we call a huge lack of maturity.
If you don’t care, why do you act as if you do?
I’ve actually read the Twilight “saga”, shockingly. I’ve read them all twice, to be exact, while my opinion was still mulling over. And guess what else? I’m 14.
And you asked how can I not like it? Well, let me think:
1. I can write as well- if not better than SMeyer, so she’s not all that wonderful. Way to go, Stephenie! You can write at an eighth grade level! Woohoo!
2. Bella is such a Mary-Sue it’s not even funny. She has one thing bad about her: her clumsiness. I found that be extremely unrealistic that someone so “plain” can attract so many guys.
3. Edward is abusive and annoying, rather than someone I’d want for my boyfriend.
4. SMeyer abuses the thesaurus. It’s not necessary to use practically five pages to describe how perfectly perfect Edward is.
5. It’s very shallow, because all the vampires are “so inhumanly beautiful”.
6. The whole Breaking Dawn book was just screwed up after Renesmee was “conceived”, and Jacob imprinted on her. Can you say pedophilia?
7. Folklore and legends were butchered terribly, because SMeyer didn’t even begin to research until Bella did.
8. Twilight pretty much oozes male superiority, because Bella is always getting into trouble, and basically becomes a maid in her own house. Charlie was fine without her doing everything for him.
And if a girl were to be even slightly strong, they’d be automatically considered a plot ruining, idiotic nobody. Look at Leah- she’s a strong female, and everybody hates her.
9. The characters don’t develop. At all. And they’re not relatable to in the least.
and, just to save you from reading so much,
10. There isn’t a plot, either. It’s just an overused, boy- saves- girl, overly romantic, piece of “literature”. Nothing interesting whatsoever.
It’s mostly the overenthusiastic Twilighters who have bad grammar. It’s called a generalization, so I apologize to those who were actually gifted with spelling things correctly.
Being able to read something, even if it’s mispelled, is not the point. The point is, mispelling gives people the impression of laziness, among other things.
I think I have a pretty fair argument, versus yours anyway. How is mine less legitimate than anyone else’s? It includes proper grammar and valid points.
How does that do it for you?
Marissa-
Your points are good, but they’ll never do it for Kristina. Part of being a Twilighter is placing those black books into the plact that once held your family’s bible.
Not all Twilighters put the books on as you said it “place that once held our family’s bible.” We just love the books. There are two different categories of Twilighters, those who love the books, but still have a life and those who have let Twilight become all they are.
Rae-
Thanks. Somehow I’m doubting anything will be good enough for Kristina, but it feels better to try than to just sit back and do nothing.
Why is it so hard to really admit that a book has faults? Nothing is perfect.
Madison- What I meant is that it becomes something where there is no argument to be had. The person’s viewpoint will never change. Besides, not many people our age are really that engrossed with their own faith unless they’re trying to discover what they really believe. Even most ADULTS who are ‘devout’ Christians tend not to pay attention to their religion in daily life other than going to church and maybe saying grace. After all, as they say, “There was only one true Christian and he died on the cross”
Marissa- Yep. Although I’m partially here because we have no debate team at my school and I’m too lazy to form one myself…
And as for admitting something had flaws- the book is more than just about a Mary-Sue it IS a Mary-Sue an and of itself now. Most people scream that it’s amazing and those that don’t claim that the flaws are only ‘skin deep’ if you will-that the fact that it’s fantasy makes it O.K.
Yeah, because no one has EVER done anything wrong after they saw something fictional. (Although, I’m waiting for the day someone commits a murder and says “I saw it on the news and I wanted to try”)
Rae–
Oh well that makes more sense.
And I have seen old news stories where kids have done MacGyver stunts just cuz MacGyver could do it.
Well..well…well…I have nothing to say but thank you for fucking twilight…but you know what I really appreciate the movie, especially the guy…he is so damn gorgeous…ooooppppps!!!!!opinon is not correct nor wrong…so you better shut up…respect a little..peace men!
YAY!!! I want to join the debate! ok,ok! I’ve said before that I am Pro Twilight, but I know when to say “Ok, that’s kinda f@$#ed up!”. I’ve been reading this debate and “antis” are calling “twilighters” immature and vise-versa. The reality is that both side are kinda right. Like I said before on Feb. 5th I am very open minded and I do not only see one side of things (although I love LOve LOVE twilight!). I don’t really see how the book was so poorly written though @_@ must be me…. but anyway… I had my fair share of problems with Bella and Edward as well. I have never really liked girls who couldn’t think for themselves or HAD to have their boyfriends or else they’d become super emo. I also never liked the whole ‘self sacrifice’ idea either.
You know…. in new moon when Edward decided it would be best to break her heart to help her get over him… All I can say is I hope guys don’t really think that way because it’s stupid! Yes, there are a lot of flaws with the story but no story is perfect. I see a lot of people comparing Meyer to JKR and I think to myself, “WHY????”
They are two different writing styles and two different kinds of stories. I just wanna know why you can’t love both series, because I did but I also think Harry Potter was kind of flawed as well… and the way it ENDED….. *sigh* i was disappionted, but I still loved the series.
I think that Twilight saga should be given it’s own chance and Not be compared to Harry Potter because they are too different.
Ah I missed everything..
Literature help? Okay I saw Bride and Prejudice about 60 times, and now I’m reading the original Jane Austen…
Who are the Lucas’ in the bollywood movie? It’s very frustrating
I love the Twilight series. Sure, I’m obsessed with it, but it’s not fair to say that people are only obsessed with it because of how ‘hot’ Edward Cullen is. I personally think that Stephenie Meyer is an amazing author. And as for the series being aimed at people 12-17, it wasn’t aimed at anyone. Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight for her own entertainment, and I know that there are many 30 year olds who are just as in love with Twilight as 15 year olds.
I don’t think you have the right to say everything that you’ve said. I agree that everyone is allowed to have an opinion (which is why I hate how many Twilight fans have commented saying ‘you suck’, especially as it makes us look bad as a whole), but some of the things that you say AREN’T fair. You don’t have to like the series, but critising Stephenie Meyer so much makes me think “yeah, well do better yourself!”
Rae and Marissa:
I almost fell asleep reading those comments about me. They were really stupid and about number 10. I pretty sure it was interesting if so many people read it and LOVED the books. Oh and Rae I know proper English I just dont chose do use it on the computer I dont like to waste time when Im typing just to make it perfect. AND for the both of you , dont judge me and say nothing is good enough for her. I only defending something I love and what other people do too.
Kristina-
My comments were really stupid? Okay, sure, because I really care about what you think of me.
The plot was either interesting, or the readers were easily satisfied…One or the other, I’m sure.
And you know what? Sometimes I can’t read what you say because your grammar is so pathetic. You might as well make it perfect, because it gives off the air of intelligence! Isn’t that just fabulous?
We’re not judging you because we said none of our reasons will be good enough for you. That’s not judging, sorry. Would you like us to?
You’re defending something you love, fine. That’s all well and good, but giving us some reasons as to why it’s so wonderful would be very much appreciated.
Your comments are really just abysmally spelled, and very redundant. I’m hoping you know what that means. Honestly, it wouldn’t kill you to use the right grammar.
My opinion isn’t any stupider than yours is, so I really wouldn’t be talking about the content of my writing.
Again, if you have anything to say, other than, “You’re stupid! You suck at life because Twilight is awesome. You don’t know what good is!…” And so on.
DaydaBase-
Well, to me, it seems badly written mainly because she reminds me of how I wrote in fifth grade. However, the more objective reasons are as follows:
A: There really isn’t much of a plot. In the first book, it was mostly just Bella oogling Edward plus a little bit of something thrown into the end.
B: Her characters are about as deep as an average shot of whisky. I know it seems like characters and the writing should be separate, but with no good characters you have no story. The only possible exception to this is in a man-vs-nature plot, but still you need a strong protagonist to keep people interested.
C: She’s writing as Bella, but does not carry any of Bella’s self into the narration. She writes in the style of third person, only using “I” “me” and “my” (Yes, I know that that’s a textbook definition of first person, but there is an incredible style difference. If you make yourself sound like your lead while you speak, then it just makes the book so much more real and satisfying even if it actually lowers the reading level)
D: Her writing lacks true elegance. She tried and failed, ending up with purple prose (meaning that it was overly dramatic). So in realizing this, she throws in big words and pretends to make it fancy.
E: In the books that DID have something resembling a story line, it just seemed to be thrown together as she went along and never revised to create foreshadowing and suspense.
Kristina-
First of all, grow an attention span.
Now that that’s out of the way, I was speaking from experience. But since you’re OBVIOUSLY so radically different from the other hundreds of Twilighters here, what WOULD be good enough for you?
” love the Twilight series. Sure, I’m obsessed with it, but it’s not fair to say that people are only obsessed with it because of how ‘hot’ Edward Cullen is. I personally think that Stephenie Meyer is an amazing author. And as for the series being aimed at people 12-17, it wasn’t aimed at anyone. Stephenie Meyer wrote Twilight for her own entertainment, and I know that there are many 30 year olds who are just as in love with Twilight as 15 year olds.
I don’t think you have the right to say everything that you’ve said. I agree that everyone is allowed to have an opinion (which is why I hate how many Twilight fans have commented saying ‘you suck’, especially as it makes us look bad as a whole), but some of the things that you say AREN’T fair. You don’t have to like the series, but critising Stephenie Meyer so much makes me think “yeah, well do better yourself!—
For give us Ellie, but after so many encounter’s with twilighters just defending the series because edward is hot, sorry if we think thats why you like it. i don’t think we said any thing bad about SM, she’s an author, they’re criticzed all the time, what makes SM so special that we can’t criticize her writing?? believe when i say i don’t think she’s that special, she just reused an idea thats been worked so many times over except the sparkling. What are we saying that isn’t fair?? whose coming in here insuting who??
sorry. but the book has been labeled YA, thats young adult, so the majority are teenage girls with a couple of boys thrown in. and older woman who have said they like the thought of being teenager again. i’m sorry if it may sound more like they are haveing a mid-life crisis, but thats just my opinion.
and Daydabase, i agree, they shouldn’t compare twilight to HP, twilight can’t even make an article without harry potter being some where mentioned. they boosted the popularity when they said its the new harry potter, or that SM is the next JKR. i honestly think they ride HP’s coat tails to get more publicity. i have yet to see twilight mentioned with out the media throwing HP in there. i blame the media, they’re the one who caused the war between the two fandoms. well, actually it was the twilight fandom who called open war on HP fans for some unknown reason. HP fans were fine with being lost in their magical world and here comes the twilighters stomping through. this also motivated me to be more open about my opinions with twilight. they wanted a war, they got one.
Kristina-
I’m a Twilighter through and through, but seriously don’t comment on here saying that you’re waiting for their argument and when a person does give a rebuttal, you don’t take the time to read it. The fact that you only state your opinion and aren’t open minded enough to accept others views and debate those hurts the rest of us Twilighters. It makes the sterotype of us, being immature/not knowing good literatrue etc.., seem true, when it damn well isn’t.
Also, with the grammer statements, I can understand that when you’re on the computer you don’t use proper grammer, hell I don’t either, but the fact that one of the reoccuring statements of the Anti’s towards the Twilighters is about grammer, try to use some good grammer to shut that argument down.
I’m glad another Twilighter is on here, cuz there sure as hell ain’t enough on this page.
The only thing Twilight and Harry Potter have in common is the hype about them. That’s it.
What do you think about people agreeing on something but for completely different reasons?
Rafal H- it doesn’t matter to me. If they’re on my team and they’re good, I’ll sure as hell play with them.
Oh, and happy friday the 13th!
Madison-
I’m releived to know there’s at least one intelligent Twilighter on here, even if I’m not one myself.
If Kristina won’t listen to an Anti, maybe she’ll actually bother to read your comment about the rudeness she’s portraying.
What if it’s something like I saw on Boston Legal…
These two parents are suing the school for having the principal dress up like an ugly witch…
One set of parents is Wiccan and find it offensive
One set of parents are Catholic or something and think that they are trying to encourage black magic or something like that.
Or what if it’s : Harry Potter and Twilight shouldn’t be compared.
One says cause Harry Potter owns
One says cause Edward Cullen is hotter than Potter.
P.S: I made a rhyme I am so clever
Marissa-
I’d hope so too, but I doubt it.
Marissa, Rae–
I’d like to think she will cuz Lord knows I’m completely outnumbered here.
Madison-
Well, not completely, I think. There are three main antis (Equuis, Rafal H, and me), and Equuis seems not to be here often, Rafal is random at best, and I don’t say anything if someone already has. And then there’s you and the sane Twilighters that tend to pop in for a few days. Also, Marissa may become a regular. Then it’ll be three on two.
I’m sorry if my logic’s hard to follow there… it’s late where I am, it’s been a long week, and I’m being forced to keep a lot of my thoughts about people out of comments since my ‘friends’ keep yelling at me when I write rant-journals..
Twilight is a bunch of bullshit pure and simple. Meyer has all but acknowledged that she dreamed the damn thing up. Its amazing the number of rabid fangirls who go “OMG EDWARD CULLEN IS SO HAWT” and cant actually think up a coherent argument as to why the series is good.
Furthermore, Stephanie Meyer is not even a good writer. Oh sure, she can describe and elaborate and wax poetic about her characters. But the actual story line is held together with spit and prayers
Rae-
Yeah…Kind of sad, really.
Madison-
Your odds could be worse, and you could also be one of the insane Twilighters who forgot their brain somewhere and never went back.
Yours is still in tact, and you use yours.
And Rae, again:
I guess I am becoming a regular. Not that I mind, it’s prefectly fun. But 3 on 2 isn’t impossible.
Marissa-
“But 3 on 2 isn’t impossible.” …I’m sorry, what did you mean by that? I’m a little slow today.
Sorry i haven’t been on here as much. with debateing the same thing over and over after i said it before, does get a bit tiresome, and i had been able to post while i was at school during my 2nd period you can see the time difference from 8 0r 9 to 3 and 4 o’ clock, but for some reason now, the site won’t load up any more while i’m at school and i had a lot of work to do so i’ll be ready for the end of the semester exams, and so i have to wait until i get home, and then when i get on the blog Rae or Rafal H, Marissa or another anti seemed to handle the fan without me there. and recently i have backed off and not jumped in as much in an arguement that i had nothing to do with, i keep thinking i’m ganging up on them if its just them, and i seeing what Madison wrote about being out numbered just reassured what i was thinking.
Now i know i have done that several times on here jumping in and i’m not saying i won’t do it again if i see a fan treating any one wrong, but i’ve been trying to cut back on jumping in the debate. I still come on here everyday even if its not to post, but more like to see how Rae, Rafal H, Marissa, and other anti’s are handling it. I’m sure i’ll be on here a lot more by the time my teachers decide to cut us some slack and when spring break rolls around, but i digress at the moment. =]
Marissa, Rae–
That’s true. Hey if I do start sounding like one of those really crazy Twilighters, smack me. Okay? Okay.
Equus- Now you know how I used to feel XD!
Madison-Well, I would, but I cannot use violence through the Internet… I will however criticize you severely XD!
Rae-
I meant that the odds could be worse. You said in a previous post they were the odds against the sane Antis and the sane Twilighters:
“There are three main antis (Equuis, Rafal H, and me), and Equuis seems not to be here often, Rafal is random at best, and I don’t say anything if someone already has. And then there’s you and the sane Twilighters that tend to pop in for a few days. Also, Marissa may become a regular. Then it’ll be three on two.”
That’s all. But it’s Saturday, and we’re all still tired from the week, so no big deal.
Madison-
You seem intelligent enough that we won’t have to resort to that. But if that day ever comes, we’ll snap you out of it somehow. No worries.
“Madison-
Well, not completely, I think. There are three main antis (Equuis, Rafal H, and me), and Equuis seems not to be here often, Rafal is random at best, and I don’t say anything if someone already has. And then there’s you and the sane Twilighters that tend to pop in for a few days. Also, Marissa may become a regular. Then it’ll be three on two.”
I choose to take that as a compliment
I grouped up all the funniest Twilighter quotes [it’s up there somewhere] and my fighting Twilighters-on-here-days are over, because every time someone comes Rae [smartie ;]] gets to ‘em
Do not fret; if there is a Twilighter, fangirl, Twi-mom or Twi-guy near, I will come. And I will give them a severe talking to!
Marissa-
Aah… okay, that makes sense. Yeah, I’m sorry, I tend to leave my brain in my locker over the weekends so that I don’t forget it like everything else on mondays.
Rafal H-
And I’ll take ‘smartie’ as a compliment, since that’s what it always seems to be XD! I’m always the smart one, always.
Oh well, smart people get better saleries, so ha!
And yes, I shall always return because I have no outside of school life!
…Except tomorrow, because I’m getting my new desk so my coputer will be off for a while -squee-
Smarties are indeed awesome
But M&Ms are better
Though none of the people here are classified as a M&M
Unless you’re a rapper.
*cracks neck*
All right. This is how you should PROPERLY RESPOND TO THIS ARTICLE IF YOU DO INDEED LIKE TWILIGHT.
Though some of your opinions are valid, I disagree with most of them, and here I will rebutt your points in a respectful manner.
[here is the usual fangirl responses, not ones you should do, because if I get into the mindset of a REAL fangirl my brain might give me a Cyrus (the act of liking Miley Cyrus)]:
Twilight is fantasy. Research rarely applies and for this reason scientific explainations of why Twilight should not exist are ridiculous.
Edward is not an abusive stalker. He simply is a LITTLE over protective of Bella and loves her so…
Oh I’m sorry I can’t go on
Anyway try to use correct grammar/spelling/puncuation [parantheses and brackets don’t count online, by the way, I don’t care what the text books say!] and sound intelligent [I didn’t make a good example of that did I]…also, be respectful of other’s opinions. No one’s opinions are ‘wrong’.
P.S: If you insist on insulting somebody, use a sarcastic/clever word like dimwit or moron to make you sound smarter
e.g: Rafal H, you’re such a moron for writing this comment. You and your dimwitted ideas have no place here. Be gone!
Hey, is Madison an anti or a fan?
Can someone list the main people on here? I am so confused.
Rafal H-
Rafal H-
Parentheses so count. As do dashes. However, that’s only if you have something you need to explain that would wreck the flow of your point otherwise. Footnotes would also count, but you can’t use those….
Oh, and also, for the insults, I actually prefer cussing and/or original ones. They’re much more colourful.
Anyway, here’s the list:
Pro-twi:
Madison and Marissa
Anti-Twi:
Me, you, and Equuis.
Rae-
That’s okay. My brain is somewhere. Not sure where, but it’s around here somewhere.
And,
I’m not pro-Twilight. Quite the opposite. The only reason Madison and I started talking was because of this exceptionally rude Twilighter who started insulting anyone against it. (Shock)
Marissa –
Really? I’m sorry, I thought you had said before that you liked it… maybe my inability to read is acting up again XD!
I am so confused right now
“Oh, and also, for the insults, I actually prefer cussing and/or original ones. They’re much more colourful. ”
What do you mean? I’M SO CONFUSED
Original, like British? Like, you have a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp?
I love london slang.
Rafal H –
So am I.
Who knows? Maybe when you turn sixteen you have to start being inheretly confusing.
No, original like…. well… I don’t know, stuff that you have to think of yourself.
Rae-
I don’t believe I’ve ever said that… Nope. I’m an Anti-Twilighter and proud of it!
Ah what a long week at school can do to a mind over the weekend.
Marissa –
I might have misread Madison’s name for yours (they both start with ‘Ma’….)
But anyway, I’m sorry :<
This is an awesome article, and i’m sure you heard this about tens of thousands of times. To all those who disagree with this and thinks this is just plain stupid, can you argue with this? Everything she said in this article is true! Twilight is just a bunch of horny vampires getting the easy girls. I almost threw up when I read Breaking Dawn
Chelsea–
Your entire post is enitirely your opinion, which is fine, but has no hard facts. I would argue with you about it, but there’s nothing to argue about.
Rae-
It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it. Live and let live. I’m not one of the Anti’s who would totally flip for being mistaken for a Twilighter.
Marissa- Aah, that’s good.
I’m on a little bit of a short fuze right now about that, personally. It’s just that everyone ASSUMES I like it because I wear black all the time. I’m just tired of it…
Rae-
Why would people assume that just cuz you wear black? It’s not like the ONLY people in the world who like Twilight wear only black.
Is it weird that I have chicken stuck in my teeth?
I mean, I haven’t eaten chicken lately
KIDDING
And the generalisation for those that like Twilight are the peppy, pink-wearing, squealing girls that scream about EDWARD CULLEN when then are talking about Rpatz.
Also the ones that have spirited talks about Jacob vs Edward, instead of talking about books, ideas, or EVEN TV.
I think that the person who wrote ‘you suck’ over and over again is being ridiculous, people are perfectly entitled to there own opinions.
I personally think that Edward’s character is controlling and misogynistic and that Bella’s is pathetic.
Shut the hell up you freaking retards. If you all think twilight falls under acceptable literature, you must be thinking like a 12 year old Mormon girl. Instead of wasting away in this shitty author’s extended rhetorical essay, pick up some actual literature.
why thank you tim and jenna, don’t worry we learned our lessons and thrown twilight into a fiery pit of bad literature for something more worth while, but thank you for coming on here to express your opinion. =]
Madison- the same reason everyone assumes I’m gay because I don’t feel the need to always wear tight clothes: People, as a general rule, are stupid.
Rafal H- Well, I suppose, but as EVERYBODY knows, if you like dark colors, you must have a hard on/soak your panties (Whatever the gender appropriate form of arousal is) for vampires. And Edward and co. are TOTALLY vamps and not faeries with blood fetishes.
Rae–
Your a person therefore society MUST label you.
Rae-
That’s really obnoxious that people think you like it just because you wear black.
Does that mean, though, as a general rule, everyone you meet is stupid? Or that everyone you meet is stupid to start with, and may or may not redeem themself?
It sucks to be labeled, I know. And “the fact that the same reason everyone assumes I’m gay because I don’t feel the need to always wear tight clothes” is especially sucky. But that doesn’t mean that people are stupid. All the time, anyway.
Madison- That’s a good explanation too.
Marissa- It means that as a general rule people are stupid in general. I give them plenty of chances, but they don’t take them. Besides, they have other ways of proving that they can’t have a three-digit IQ, such as their behavior in general. They can’t think for themselves at all. They just do whatever is ‘in.’ If you have a brain and don’t use it, it’s the same as not having one at all.
Twilight vamps aren’t black, though…they are more sunshine yellow with lavender. With glitter.
*sigh* Stephenie Meyer…why…
Rafal H- Exactly. But it doesn’t matter to them…
As to why, because she’s just an idiot. I’m not judging off of her being a housewife or her being mormon, either. I’m blaming it off the fact that she didn’t to any research until Bella did, that she finished her manuscript three months after she got the idea, which just shows that she doesn’t care, the whole ‘Midnight Sun’ fiasco, and the just sheer aura of idocy and incompetice that she has in her interviews.
How does the book present sexist views? Any girl would give up going to college or a career to go marry somebody she is in love with! I mean the books are reatrded (breaking dawn being the most retarded of them all!) but i think its going a little to far to say it has sexist views! Its a romance, it is designed for teens to be swooned!
WTF?-
It’s sexist not because Bella decides not to go to college, but because it presents us with a heroine who can’t do anything without her boyfriend’s approval. It’s sexist because no one cares that Edward is stalking her. It’s sexist because he’s downright controlling and mentally abusive. But the real problem isn’t the existence of this: it’s the sugar coating it. So many girls are going out and looking for a relationship just like Edward’s and Bella’s
WTF-
thats a great name you got there, wtf is wrong with you? Any girl? sure, any pathetic girl who ca??nt get a guy probably would. How is it not sexist? I would never give up my career for some stalking pedophile. Love is overrated anyway, and it takes someone who has really been in love to say that. Bellas a feeble annoying, plain brat. It is sexist as it shows her not being able to do anything when edward left her. If thats what you call love, well im sorry to tell you that you havent ever really been in love. And Bella is just a downright annoying character, the whole ‘edward isnt here, is it because of me?’, who the hell does she think she is anyway???? And this is supposed to be about a ‘selfless’ girl. hah, more like a SELFISH girl, considering how badly she was leading jacob on.
yes, as u can evidently see, bella annoys me
oh and btw, its nice to know how mature twilight fans are. to think i was one just a few days ago
and it seems in Meyer’s world, you have to submit to a man in some way. take sam and emily, i don’t care how many times he phased before he imprinted, he still scarred emily for life. and she just forgives him like it was walk in the park and felt like she owed as if she was the one who did something to him. abuse victims feel like they owe their partner something because the abuser hurt them.
from the twilightsaga (i don’t think so) page:
“Sam and Leah were dating throughout their high school years and were very close despite the fact that Sam turned into a werewolf and could not tell Leah. Their relationship ended when Leah brought her cousin Emily Young down for a visit and Sam imprinted on her.”
sooooo, i guess that means he was a wolf for a little while because he was still with leah when he turned and he couldn’t tell her. so he was a wolf for a while. couldn’t control your self eh sam?? why don’t you go and la push your self off a cliff. you will be making thousands of people happy.
i still say that if sam loved her so much he would have stayed away from her, she told him she didn’t want to be with him because he left her for leah and she didn’t agree with what he was doing, and he got mad wolfed out, and slashed half her face into ribbons just because what she was saying, i thought imprinter’s were supposed to respect the person they imprinted on’s wishes, i’m sure that jacob said that, and then he (jacob) said, ‘ who can resist such love and devotion?’ well, emily tried and we saw what happend to her its like one way or another the imprinter is going to get what they want one way or another.
any sensible person with a natural survial instinct would run for the hills as fast as they can, but then again i can see why emily would be afriad to leave, he jacked her up last time, whose to say he won’t do something to her if she makes him angry again?? and poor claire, when she finds out what happend between sam and emily, you know she’s going to be scared, big brother quil doesn’t like little kevin so he will do any thing in his power to stop her from being with kevin.
we know they will have a relationship in the future, well at least it was impiled that there will be a relationship between them. i’m not sure if it was jacob or edward, but one of them said, “well at least he’ll just have to wait a few more years for claire” thats messed guys, that truly is. its like claire is being child groomed for the guy she sees as a brother. there is something not right about this situation. anyways back to sam and emily.
then she just moved down there to be with sam and have the nevre to ask her fiancee’s ex girlfriend, her cousin, to be the bridesmaid in their wedding knowing, leah had a problem with them as a couple.
i’m sorry, but..emily’s an idiot, sam’s dangerous and stupid, and i do not support this pairing.
* Sorry, this seems to have lead off the oringinal poat of twilight sexist and instead tunred into a sam and emily rant*
@ Tina:
A few days ago? wow! so what turned you?
If you don’t mind me asking that is.
I am going to ignore the drama on this board and comment on the actual article.
The article has a good basis in fact and the opinion is well-presented. I respect the author’s thoughts on the Twilight series: she didn’t like it. Personally, I happened to genuinely enjoy all four books. Each to their own.
However, what I didn’t appreciate about the article is the fact that Twilight readers are presented as morons and silly teenage girls. There are far better ways of asserting an argument than name-calling and stereotyping – something that, unfortunately, there is far too much of in both this article and the comments on it.
When I started reading the series I was eighteen. I am now twenty. I am an avid reader, and my preferences span quite a few genres. I don’t consider myself either a weak-willed damsel in distress or a starry-eyed, rabid fangirl who can’t string together two sentences without unnecessary caps and swearwords. But after reading this article, that is how I felt I was being classified as, simply because I enjoyed reading a story that I thought was beautiful and descriptive and well told, if not well written.
The obvious arguments have already been made in these comments, both well and not-so-well, so I won’t repeat them. I merely believe that there are better ways to win a reader to your cause or stir up some intelligent thought than to belittle and insult people who liked something that you did not.
When did we insult any one Victoria?? i hope the comment would be more directed towards the twilighters who come on here weekly to insult us for our own opinions of the series.
Show us where we insulted any of the fans, they seem to act that way to us first, several have gained our respect on here, but a lot of the other twilighters, not so much. they just prove what we say about them who act the way we described them.
Now, i’m not saying none of the anti’s never insulted any one of them. but it was more of the twilighters who come in here slinging those insults for no apparent reason. what good is it for you to insult some one who was just trying to express their opinions because those who say we can’t say what we want about this series, sorry if the majority who have come on here hasn’t proved they can act maturely. You were able to do that, so i congradulate you on coming in here and expressing your self calmly and plesantly.
Victoria–
Thank you for being a fellow Twilighter that actually has the maturity to comment appropriately. It’s nice to know that there are others out there. I agree with you on how the article sterotypes people, like us, that like the books.
Equus–
Don’t comment on how or what victims of abuse think or do when you haven’t been in an abusive situation/relationship yourself. You never know what you would do.
It takes a lot of control to be able to control something, like being a werewolf. It may say that he was with Leah still when he phased, but that doesn’t really matter when it comes to him controling himself.
I think Sam did try his hardest to control himself when Emily came into the picture. Yes, it is said that imprinters only want what is best of them, but we don’t know what it feels like to imprint. I’m sure Sam didn’t want to scar Emily. Emily may have said that she doesn’t want to be with him, but, and I will say this, Sam made the mistake of hearing that face to face. The idea of not wanted to be wanted by the person that you love is hard enough for a person let alone for the person who is supposed to be your soul mate.
Once Emily found out what Sam really was, she probably felt that it wasn’t in his control with what happened to her. She knew that Sam really did care for her and couldn’t control his phasing. Not once has he, after the first attack, lost control at all. Not once.
Emily did move to La Push to be with Sam, but people do that everyday to be with those they love. Emily asked Leah to be her bridesmaid because she was close to her cousin before the whole Sam thing happened. You don’t think that once Leah found out about imprinting, she would have calmed down a little bit, which she didn’t, but that was because she was still bitter and hurt over the entire situation. Over time she would have calmed down and realized that Sam didn’t wake up one morning and say “hey I think I want to fall madly in love with a girl I don’t know and ruin the wonderful relationship that I have with Leah.”
I’m actually a wolf girl when it comes to Twilight. I like them ten times more than Edward and Bella. They more complex and realistic than the Cullens and Bella.
Madison:
All i was saying was how i would think emily would have acted. you would think she would be a bit more afraid of him. your right, i haven’t been in an abusive relationship, but i would think i’m able to say what i would think would happen in that type of situation, several of my family members have been through that ( and i want to say i remeber you saying you’ve been through that kid of relationshio and for that i’m sorry). i hope that i wouldn’t have go through a relationship such as an abusive one, sorry if i think emily should get out of that relationship. whose to say sam wouldn’t get angry again?
You would think because he got so angry and attacked her, he should would stay away from emily. i know he didn’t try to hurt her, but the wolves claims to love their imprintee so much that they would never hurt them why attack her?
Sam went against that little code of not hurting them, i thought they said that the imprinter respects the imprintee’s decision and obviously he didn’t like what he was hearing thus what set him off, i thought the imprinter could never actually get too angry with them, and with the abusive relationships some don’t get it. i couldn’t forgive him for that, hit me once i’d have to pray that i would have the strength to get out before he did some thing like kill me. i hope i never become like those girls who say, ‘ but he only did that because he loves me’. i really want to shake some sense into peopel who get abused, but would they listen?? is it wrong for me to feel like that just because i’ve never been in that type of relationship??
i kinda doubt it some will listen they would need to see for themselves that there was a problem already, and some would just put themselves right back into that situation.
i can’t make up excuses for sam just because he’s a werewolf, i hear a lot people say, ‘ well sam’s a werewolf he couldn’t control it’
i couldn’t forgive if i was emily, there has to be some kind of hate from emily every time she has to look in the mirror at her forever scarred image, but of course i’ve been known not to forgive easily so sam is no exception just because he’s a werewolf doesn’t mean i accept his behavior just because sam thinks emily being mean to him. i know it says he was torn up about it, he wouldn’t be the first to say he felt horrible about what he did and emily just thinks it was her fault like she thinks she owes him somethin in return.
i can understand where leah is coming from, i can see why she would still be bitter because emily had a choice to turn him down she tried and got hurt in the process and then she just accepts it like it was the right to do to be closer to sam, moves down there despite what her cousin might think. Emily is such a great and caring family member.(that was some heavy sarcasm right there), but we all have diferent perspective on this. fantasy guy or not i can’t over look him doing creepy or down right wrong things within the story.
Equus-
I’m not saying Sam won’t get angry again, he probably will, but what I was trying to say was that he was the first one to phase and has now learned the warning signs to when he will lose control and has control over his phasing. If let’s say he even gets close like Paul does in New Moon to losing control then Emily would, no needs, to leave him.
We were never told the entire back story as to what happened during the period of the attack, before, during, or after. We don’t what Sam said or Emily said that made them stay together. So I don’t know why Sam stayed.
Like I said before, Sam made the mistake of hearing Emily’s decision face to face which probably caused him to lose control.
And I agree with you with the girls who say “but he did it outta love.” I want to smack the shit outta them for even thinking that. Especially since my father was abusive for most of my life and it pisses me off to think women can just say that and not realize the impact that they can have by either not doing anything about it for so long that it starts to happen to others that they love like their children or it eventually kills them. But Sam and Emily’s case is different than anything normal.
No, it’s not wrong for you to feel that way about relationships. I was just saying that unless you are physically put in that type of situation, you don’t know how you will act. I’m sorry if I sounded like I was attacking you. I wasn’t trying to.
I’m not trying to say that Emily just thinks “oh I permanently scarred for life, oh well” and puts on a happy face. I’m sure there’s some turmoil going on behind closed doors that readers don’t know about.
Yes, I understand where Leah is coming from also, but I guess it’s just been how I grow up but family is family and you are there for them no matter they’ve done. Yes, what Emily did was bitchy and wrong, but after a while a person has got to move on. I know that Sam and Leah were in love, but some love isn’t forever. I just recently found this out on my own.
And random thought
Does anyone find it ironic that this is an article about being against Twilight and whenever I click on here to see what’s going on, I see ads saying “Buy Twilight Stuff Here!” or “Find Out Which Twilight Character You Are.”
I’m not saying Sam won’t get angry again, he probably will, but what I was trying to say was that he was the first one to phase and has now learned the warning signs to when he will lose control and has control over his phasing. If let’s say he even gets close like Paul does in New Moon to losing control then Emily would, no needs, to leave him.
I thought that there’s no stopping werewolves once they’re mad and phased. Plus I thought you could not control when you phase. PLUS what if they’re alone when he attacks her.
We were never told the entire back story as to what happened during the period of the attack, before, during, or after. We don’t what Sam said or Emily said that made them stay together. So I don’t know why Sam stayed.
He shouldn’t have anyway (Y)
But Sam and Emily’s case is different than anything normal.
>.< So…he lost control? Not normal?
I’m not trying to say that Emily just thinks “oh I permanently scarred for life, oh well†and puts on a happy face. I’m sure there’s some turmoil going on behind closed doors that readers don’t know about.
I’m sorry but…Stephenie Meyer…she is not capable of that type of thought. The only reason they are there is so Jacob can have someone to hang with. The whole book is just Edward being hot.
And random thought
Does anyone find it ironic that this is an article about being against Twilight and whenever I click on here to see what’s going on, I see ads saying “Buy Twilight Stuff Here!†or “Find Out Which Twilight Character You Are.â€
YES. Twilightsucks.com has that too. It’s just Twilight-related Google ads.
-Elana
Thank you so much for stating the oveouse. I know vampiers arnt real and if you read more then just a vew lines of my first comment then you would realize that I did say you can bend the myths and change them but never write something and have no back up to prove it.
So to thouse who like it I just have to say read some others that go by some parts of the myths and not just by one athers point of vew were there was no reserch done. I’m trying not to offend any one just because I’m don’t understand the debate I just had to say my opinion and please for thouse who like to read look at other books in the dark fantisy and try to find some things closer to the myths. ( I did recomend some so look back to my fist comment.)
Rafal H–
The only time when a wolf can’t control when they phase is when they are new or when they lose control, which we read about in New Moon. They start to shake, but while doing this they try to get away from anyone they would harm.
Again, we don’t know what Emily may have said to Sam and we don’t know if Sam decided to stay away from her, but then talked to Emily, which is why he most likely stayed.
There are different circumstances that played into the picture with the attack. That’s what I was trying to say, not that him losing control was normal.
I never said that Stephenie Meyer would have thought of that. Like I said before I’m more of a wolf girl mainly because they seem to be realistic when it comes to how guys act compared to Edward.
Tina-
Its not sexist! Just because some stupid character in a book is madly ‘in love’ to a pysco. Just becasue one character in a book is going to give up her collage and carreer to become a vampire doen’t mean every girl would do that. I think its retarded that girls get so defensive about a story of a girl whose in love. I admit the character doens’t portray any girl I know or heard of, and is stereotyped as a girl who only want love or whatever. I know not every girl is like that, but its not sexist because the author wants her character to be that way. She’s a women I don’t think she would try to make it that way on purpose. I hate this series just as much as some of you people, but its retarded to see it being sexist.
Hey Tina I’m not sure if you know exactly what love is, probally being no guy wants a snobby, catty girl as a partner. Love is overrated to those who can’t get a boyfriend, not to those who actually want some happiness in life. I admit Bella is annoying as hell. I agree with you on that! I also believe love isn’t about being clingy on a guy, in the girls case, because we’re oh so helpless, but its defiantlely not sexist. It being written by a guy, I would probally be more sided with these people.But stop acting like you have experinced all of life because you’ve been in love, what once or twice, because I’m pretty dang sure you haven’t
My name is wtf? because i want to know why retarded people are saying this is sexist!
Tina-
First of all i never said i have been in love, this is not about me! Its about people who think a simple romance story is sexist! If you think this book is sexist then your saying every other romance story out there is sexist!
Second, i would not give up my career to marry somebody, but bella has never had a boyfriend so the first oppturnity she gets to have somebody love her, she is going to take that opptrunity and run with it! Just because it does not work out for other people does not mean it can’t work out for somebody in a book! If girls don’t realize that thats not what really goes on in real life they need to stop reading becasue they are going to find out the hard way!
Oh and its just a book get OVER it!!!!
I see where your coming from now Madison, and i’m very sorry to hear about what you went through with your father. i honestly wouldn’t know what to do if my dad did any thing of that sort towards me.
Rae-
I guess that’s fair to say. It annoys me so much when people are just mindless zombies doing what’s “cool” because it is. I agree.
wtf?-
Okay, first of all, let’s stop with the name calling, yeah? Cool. So, you asked how the books were sexist. Well I remember scrolling back up, and one of the Anti-‘s politely explained why.
Either you’ve disregarded it as useless information, or you didn’t pay attention to it, because you still ask why. I’ll do it again:
Bascially, Bella turns into little Susy Homemaker the moment she gets into Charlie’s house. I’m not saying it’s bad to cook for you father, but the love of god, he got on fine without her as well.
Secondly, once Edward rolls around and catches her interest, she can’t do anything without his approval! That’s obsessive, stalkeresque, and overcontrolling. That’s not how things are any more.
Bella isn’t independent in the least, because she can hardly tie a shoe without Edward’s help and permission. People say it’s “because he loves her”, but let’s face reality for a moment. That’s abuse.
It’s set back gender inequality when obviously women are just as strong. But no. SMeyer has to portray women as the helpless, incapable and incompetent human beings, whereas the men are “strong, and amazing, and brilliant”!
Yeah, no. No times a thousand.
And guess what else? If a women IS portrayed as equal to the men, she’s automatically hated and pushed aside as a useless, annoying side character of no importance.
Now, after you’ve read all that, can you honestly say there’s no hint, WHATSOEVER, of misogynistic themes? No. I don’t think you can.
Marissa-
Thank you.
I will admit, though, that I have a tendency to be slightly judgmental and closed. I’m trying my best to fix it, but I’m fighting about thirteen years of bad experiences…
And I must say, you explained the whole ‘sexist’ thing a lot better than me.
and me too! i strayed so far away from the sexist point all the way to ranting about sam and emily, and you and rae stayed on topic and then you both explained it better than what i had attempted to do. =]
Equus-
I read the second book, and found bella absolutely pathetic.
Kendra-
umm hmm, sure, because YOU know everything that had and is going on in MY life. don’t make assumptions, i obviously state my point of love being overrated to things i’ve been through and things that people around me have been through. i’ve experienced a lot of things through my life thank you very much, who the hell are you to tell me that ive never been in love? and judge my personality? considering the fact you dont even know me
WTF-
its sexist in the way how bella is portrayed as a weak female, who cant even take two steps without falling down and hurting herself. and she needs to be saved by her strong boyfriend all the time.
Rae-
Well, I tend to not be judgmental, so we can balance each other out on here.
If you have bad experiences to speak from, than I’d say you have a reason to be the way you are. When it comes to judging others, anyway.
Thanks for the compliment! I was in a frustrated mood after reading that. So I took it upon myself to correct them.
Equus-
You and Rae are both making me blush!
Thanks!
Oh, man! This whole thing is so confusing! Because everyone is having their own little argument and it’s all out of order and I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON ;'[
Someone talk to me, I’m lonely.
Rafal H –
Lolz, welcome to life on a forum XD! (I think that’s what the name-tags on our comments are for)
Rafal H–
Equus and I were having an discussing about Sam and Emily’s relationship.
Rae, Equus, WTF, and Marissa were discussing about whether Twiilght was sexist or not.
Kendra and Tina were dicussing Kendra’s response to Tina’s first review on the board.
I think that’s it, but I’m not sure. Right now I’m supposed to be listening to my Chemistry teacher lecture, but I’m sorry I really don’t find mole ratios are relevent to my life.
It’s not sexist! Bella is just a pathetic idiot who always needs her boyfriend and does not have a life outside of him! Any girl who has had a first boyfriend would be acting like this, too! If you think that is sexist then you are saying everybody else that has acted like that is sexist!
Kris-
Thank you oh so much for explaining how this book is not sexist!
i hate Twilight it is the worst book and movie EVER!!!!!!!!!!
its stupid!!
wtf-
BECAUSE Bella is a pathetic idiot who has no life outside of her boyfriend IS the reason it’s sexist! Hello?!
Not all girls turn into mindless mushballs when they get their first boyfriend.
And then, when Edward ISN’T pathetic, that demonstrates male superiority! What is it that you don’t get? It’s simple- because Bella is pathetic, among the other girl characters, and Edward, who ISN’T pathetic, among the other guys makes Twilight sexist!
I mean seriously, it’s not that hard to comprehend.
@ Tina:
Oh! you too? ?New moon was the beginnibg of the end for me, bella was one of the reasons ( the big reason that is) i couldn’t enjoy the series.
Madison:
I know what you mean, i have Chemistry in the morning and i try to stay awake, but my teacher has a thick accent so sometimes i would be sitting there with a blank look on my face not understanding what she had just said. LOL!! but i believe this is good practice for the future for when i have to talk to others who have a thick accent, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to understand that time around. =]
WTF? – your arguments are contradicting and I’m not quite sure if you’re being sarcastic or not.
Although i do believe you guys are getting heated over a book, intended for entertaining purposes, mind you, Stephanie could have written it better. Yeah, make Bella stronger and less of a servant. Make it so shes not so DAMN obsessed. But, whatever. It’s a book. Just don’t read it. Its a bunch of lines formed into a bunch of words formed into a bunch of sentences form into what our mind perceives as something. Nothing to be offended about. But Stephanie Meyer, learn to write.
I’m sorry, Emily, but I happen to like literature. I like going to the library and bookstores and going online and having intelligent [yes, I know, it’s surprising, isn’t it?] conversations ABOUT literature. So no, it’s not JUST a book, alright? Books are IMPORTANT to some of us, and the Twilighter’s lame excuse that it’s ‘just a book’ or ‘just fiction’ is insulting and annoying. Maybe it’s just a book to you but it’s not to us – or me at least. I want my library back, I want my librarians to stop looking at me in the omg-it’s-a-fangirl way, and I WANT MY BOOKSHOPS TO STOP BEING DECORATED IN REALLY BAD PICTURES OF EDWARD, TWILIGHT TOTE BAGS AND TO PUT THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD BACK ON THE STANDS INSTEAD OF FREAKING BREAKING DAWN!
That is all ;]
Rafal H-
Well done! You just said it all.
All I can say is wow…
People just don’t when to quit and to let go. I suggest, to anti- and fans alike, to step away from your computer and take a deep breathe. Fighting and insults will get you no where.
Wtf –
I think Marissa has explained my point so i need not take it further.
Equus –
New Moon is actually the worst book i have ever read in my life, im sorry, but what exactly is the plot in that book? ‘My boyfriend left me so im going to sulk on my sofa for 3 months and then lead a guy called Jacob on?’ Right, not interested.
Rafal H-
I agree 100% with what you’re saying
Tina-
Somehow I get the feeling “wtf” isn’t going to listen to us no matter what. Sadly, they can’t even admit a book has faults, even though nothing’s perfect.
Madison/Marissa you’re in my fan fic [If you don’t mind]
Equus, I want you in it BUT your name is confusing to some people, because it’s the play of course so they don’t know. Make up a name, if you like?
Does anyone else love Bananas in Pajamas? I’m sorry. It’s just…it’s so funny!
Rafal H –
*gasp* I used to love that show!
Sadly… I remember nothing about it…
Rafal H-
I don’t mind! That’s seriously cool. Where can I find it?
Can’t we all get along without pushing our opinions on each other? According to my tastes, Twilight is the biggest pile of rubbish to ever come out of a publishing workshop. To you it might be a solid gold Bible. Fantastic. Now let’s all state our opinions without trying to convince someone that we are more right than they.
Rafal H:
you’ve started your fanfic?? where is it?? *is excited*
oh and i guess i can go by Denim, its pretty close to my real name =]
Val-
Think about what website you’re on.
That kind of thing doesn’t seem happen, mostly because the overly obsessed, half brain- dead Twilighters keep yelling at us to shut up.
Twilight IS awful, we know. And I’m glad you can state your opinion politely. But a lot of people have problems with the “polite” part, so let’s be honest:
Maturity is far and few here. And if that’s what you’re after, I’d suggest going someplace else, because most of the time, this is what you get- arguing, and shoving opinions in others’ faces.
Val–
I have to agree with Marissa, not with her opinion on Twilight, but with the fact that there are only a few of us on this website who have the maturity to dicuss opposing viewpoints on a book.
Rafal H–
Of course I don’t mind being in your fanfic. My friend writes fanfiction and usually complains about getting writer’s block, so I hope you don’t get that with your stories.
Madison-
I’m very excited to be Rafal H’s fanfic. I want to read it really badly now. And writer’s block isn’t fun.
But yay for us! Because as far maturity goes on here, I think we’re at the top, along with the other regular debaters.
You’re way behind. I already wrote an article on this, like, months and months ago.
Amber–
Do you have a link? I’d like to read it.
LOL
I figure I’d finish it all before I post it
Or is that not how it works?
Don’t get your hopes up, it’s really lame. It’s basically Twilight characters vs Harry Potter ones and I threw in all my Harry Potter/Twilight friends from real life and online to fight each other too ;D
Dw I’ll make sure the Twilighters get some good shots (Y)
JUST TO MAKE SURE:
Marissa and Madison, are you pro-Twilight?
Are there any other main Twilighters/antis?
I’m sorry I asked this before, but I have a really bad memory when it comes to people.
Rafal H –
Me! -waves- I’m an anti!
Rafal–
I’m a die hard Twilighter, but one who is actually sane. lol. And I think that Marissa is an anti, but I’m not sure.
Of course i won’t listen to you? And it is that hard to comprehend because everything you guys (Tina, and Marissa) have been giving me so far is a bunch of bull! I never said the book was perfect, it has many faults. I HATE this book!
i liked the Twilight books, even though the story is fiction, i could relate to most of what happened to Bella. i’ve acted like Bella lots of times (not in a way to kill myself though) after being dumped, and i’ve known other people who have been in relationships like Bella’s. ya i have to agree that the story is spacey in places but it made sense to me. i would not let any young girls read this story and i also think that girls should have had some kind of a relationship to actually understand the story. give Meyers a break, Twilight was one of her first books (if not the first). when you write a story, you can’t start it with one writing style and end it with a different one without messing up the story. i have also read books that are worse than this and Meyers probably didn’t know it would be so popular, if she would have known she might have written it differently.
Rafal H:
Marissa is an anti =]
Rafal H:
Anti, all the way! XD And I don’t care if your fanfic isn’t anything really, really spectacular. It’s STILL made of awesome.
wtf-
Uh…Since when? Everything you’ve said has made us to believe you LIKE Twilight. Everything I’ve said has truth behind it. Sorry if you’re not a fan of veritable points.
Next time, though, I’d recommend making your opinion clearer.
I agree whole-heartedly with you. Upon finishing the first book, I wanted to fall onto the floor and weep for humanity. Luckily, I had my copy of Pride and Prejudice at hand.
Oh god, I’ve been reading comments for about 15 minutes and…oh my lord. The Twilight fans have seriously made themselves look like idiots, what with their bad spelling, punctuation and grammar.
And thanks to this article, I don’t ever plan on reading Twilight. I never did anyway, but I don’t want to wish I could punch Bella in the face for being such a fucking pussy when Edward broke up with her.
So you know what I’ll do to combat this? I’ll write a lesbian jiang shi (Chinese zombie) love story. Wouldn’t that just be yummy?
…
Actually the ability to punch fictional characters in the face would be quite grand.
WTF will also be in my story, under the name Walter Trell Farrell. He will be a Twilighter. It’s gonna be exciting (Y)
I have a really bad cold, sore throat….ohhh I need a tissue
Marissa and Tina-
I agree with WTF 110%!!!
She makes a good point. How is it sexist? Tons of girls are actualy like that. You may not, but I know about half the girls at my school are. Why get so defensive? Its stupid. I HATE THIS BOOK! but i don’t find it in the least bit sexist. Just becasue you say so we have to believe you. Well think again becasue your point isn’t a very good one ot begin with.
I agree. Harry Potter is soooooo much better. It actually has a story line!
1. Harry Potter is funny
2. It has a range of characters all having their own unique voice and personalities
3. You can relate to most of the characters [e.g: The bossy nerd who is really nice if you get to know her Hermoine, the slightly eccentric Luna, the funny kid with lack of tact Ron, the jokers Fred and George, etc etc]
4. The characters are realisitc
5. If you were to say someone in HP vs someone in Twilight, the HP person would kick Twilighters ASS.
6. JK Rowling can write
7. JK Rowling is modest and is not arrogant
8. You actually give a crap about what happens, because you know it won’t be a total happily ever after
9. There are so many possibilities left unknown. There is an ENTIRE WORLD created by JK. Fanfiction is easier and funner ;]
10. JK Rowling did not copyright design apples.
I think i did make my point clear enoug thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!
I started hating this book when all these girls started obsessing over it and acting like morons! And everything i said about it has facts behind it too!
For all the people who DON’T think twilight is sexist go to http://www.quizilla.com and take my poll!
I don’t see why you all are fighting over ONE PERSON’S opinion. Just get over the fact that there’s ONE PERSON in the world that wants to share their opinion. You don’t have to whine about it.
WTF? so before you were saying that it wasn’t sexist, but now your saying you made a quiz on quzilla on why the series is sexist. your confusing me, because i asummed you were a fan not an anti.
wtf-
I agree with Equus. You weren’t clear.
Kendra-
I’m going to repost why Twilight is sexist:
“Bascially, Bella turns into little Susy Homemaker the moment she gets into Charlie’s house. I’m not saying it’s bad to cook for you father, but the love of god, he got on fine without her as well.
Secondly, once Edward rolls around and catches her interest, she can’t do anything without his approval! That’s obsessive, stalkeresque, and overcontrolling. That’s not how things are any more.
Bella isn’t independent in the least, because she can hardly tie a shoe without Edward’s help and permission. People say it’s “because he loves herâ€, but let’s face reality for a moment. That’s abuse.
It’s set back gender inequality when obviously women are just as strong. But no. SMeyer has to portray women as the helpless, incapable and incompetent human beings, whereas the men are “strong, and amazing, and brilliantâ€!
Yeah, no. No times a thousand.
And guess what else? If a women IS portrayed as equal to the men, she’s automatically hated and pushed aside as a useless, annoying side character of no importance.
Now, after you’ve read all that, can you honestly say there’s no hint, WHATSOEVER, of misogynistic themes? No. I don’t think you can.”
I’ve never met anyone like that in my life, and I hope I never will. I never said just because I think something, everyone has to agree. Furthermore, you won’t hear me say that either.
My point is perfectly on target. Please tell me why it isn’t, because I’m curious to know.
WHAT THE FLIP THAT WAS THE WORST ARTICLE THIS @#$ HOLE HAS EVERY COME UP WITH TWILIGHT ROCKS $%&& YOU $%^ HOLES
Why God? Why can’t you send me just ONE sane fellow Twilighter and not people like “up yous” who can’t even spell “yours.”
“WHAT THE FLIP THAT WAS THE WORST ARTICLE THIS @#$ HOLE HAS EVERY COME UP WITH TWILIGHT ROCKS $%&& YOU $%^ HOLES”
Lulz.
I am so sick right now. Had to stay home from school. What do I have? Runny nose, sore throat, eminent death.
Farewell, all of you antis and Twilighters, I’m going to read Lady of Skye by Patricia Cabot, because I MUST know how it ends before I die. I’ll make my friend post my very long non-fanfic of Twilight [and fanfic of Harry Potter].
*grabs tissue and sneezes*
up yous-
Wow. Your grammar is impeccable. And your vocabulary is commendable.
Thanks for posting. You cheered me up after a long day.
Madison-
I feel kinda bad for you that all of the Twilighters, you’re the only one sane enough to have a decent conversation with the Anti’s. “up yous” was the most pathetic I’ve read in a while.
Hang in there. Maybe we’ll have another (Sane) Twilighter on soon.
Rafal H-
Feel better soon! What’s Lady of Skye about?
Marissa-
I understand where you are coming from. but just because she’s like that doesn’t mean anything. There are TONS of girls actually like that. Our society has changed so much coming from girls rights and we are equal to men in alot of ways but others we are not. I don’t think we should become a 50’s housewife, but some are! And some are not! But bella is just any other girl ‘helping’ her father. She never protests.
I know edward is controlling, I thought so from day one. Its not abuse becasue she doesn’t care nor does she complain. But there are some girls like that. I think SMyer was just trying to state that you would do anything for your true love. I honestly don’t believe in it and would never do it, but I hardly say its sexist. And I also know how one would come up with this conclusion of it being sexist. Every childhood fairytale has the women portrayed as a ‘damsel in distress’ because thats usually what it is. I’ve never heard of a guy being saved from a tower from a girl riding on a white horse. Becasue thats what the girls looks for. A man that will love her forever and will protect her from anything. If not openly they usually secretely thinks that. Nobody wants to be alone. I hardly think the women is ‘pushed’ aside becasu ewe are simply women. Some men might think like that still, but there are still racists and we can’t change that. We have come along way though.
Well, I finished Lady of Skye, and feel a bit better…CABOT has really great healing properties, you know.
Lady of Skye is a historical >ADULT< romance novel about Brenna Donnegal and Reilly whatshisname. It’s set in Scotland, where Reilly moves to prove to his ex-fiance that he is not a wastrel and is compassionate and what not. They are both physicians [Brenna is not licensed, however, her father was a Physician and clever] and Brenna is trying to find a cure/the cause for cholera which was a disease that was hitting Skye. Brenna and Reilly fall in love, though Lord Gleddenning [can’t spell] is thoroughly put out ;D
It’s good.
*sniffle*
A mother of one of my daughter’s friends sent this link to me. My daughter has recently become “obsessed” with this series. I skimmed through all three books (haven’t seen the last one yet) to make sure they were appropriate reading for her age.
I must say that the author of this article seems to have they argument one sided in that he blames all the “faults” on the young adult characters.
What parents should be considering when discussing this book with their kids is the fact of how irresponsible the parents in the book are describe. It seems the underlying message the author is saying is that if this girls parents were more parental figures than this story would have gone nowhere.
This Bella’s mother is nothing more than selfish and clueless and the father who is supposed to be a law enforcement officer is even less aware than the mother. I found it humorous that the author spent so much time going into detail on how the vampire family is constantly assisting in the rescue of the human girl while her family remains clueless. How could parents be so unaware?
If she had a stronger relationship with both her parents, the issues of controlling etc the author points out with the boyfriend, would have been a non-issue. It appeared to me that this vampire took on the role of father protector as well as his family while her real parents remained clueless.
What was the scene in book 3 where her father encouraged that other boy after he kissed the girl without her permission? The vampire kid and his family took the proper steps in helping this girl while the father made jokes with the boy who was clearly out of line?? hmmm.
Bottom line…..Parents: Talk to your kids and actually pay attention to them (know what their reading, spend more than 2 seconds with a boy they just introduced as their boyfriend). Ask lots of questions, be involved. You’ll have plenty of time to live your life after they go off to college etc.
Kids: Don’t follow everything you read. This is purely fiction and the choices the girl makes are the choices of the author and what moves a story along (sales and marketing), not what should be followed in real life.
I wanted so much to like this series. As a burgeoning writer myself I had hoped to read it and get some pointers on writing a good story. I had actually stumbled across this review before I read the book and I asked my friend who is a die hard Stephanie Meyer fan and a cashier at Borders about the books. Both praised the series to the skies. So in fairness I spent $7.99 and gave it a chance hoping your review would be wrong. Unfortunately your critique of the series was spot on. Bella has no energy or fire and is literally inactive dull and boring unless Edward is around and still theres not much improvement. The plot is pale imitation wrapped in cliches and the character development leaves much to be desired. To all you Twilight fans believe me it’s nothing personal as one of my dearest friends is a fan of the novel series. But there’s just no substance no spice no flavor in this series A good book makes one want to take it and not put it down till its finished) After about twenty pages I wanted it to be over
I TRIED I REALLY REALLY TRIED I’m sorry
I think you are right with the most points, and i say this as someone who has read all the books and actually enjoyed them. Their relationship is strange, scary, and obsessive, and yes, Jacob was not acting right when he forcibly kissed her.
I have only one more thing to say (a point on which I disagree with you):
Why is it so incredibly bad that she gets married instead of going to College? She never was actually looking foward to it.
And, correct me if I misunderstood, but wasn’t feminism about Females being able to make their own choices?
So, she chose marriage. It might have been a stupid choice, but she chose it all on her own. You can say about Edward whatever you want, but as overprotective as he was, he actually was the one encouraging her to go to college- but she didn’t want to go. Don’t blame women who fullfill their wishes, even if those wishes are plain and old-fashioned. As long as their happy with it, this should be nothing that goes against feminism.
That’s all I got to say.
Kendra-
You know girls who have no backbone or no mind of her own whatsoever? That’s not good. I could understand that in an environment when women are treated as inferior to men, but not here.
And actually, that is abuse. Look- this is from the Twilight source message boards, which has lots of good information- and it explains why Edward is abusive, and what abuse is. Please, take a look:
“1. Edward is controlling and domineering
2. Edward has an unequal share of authority over the relationship
3. Edward threatens suicide
4. Edward manipulates Bella into marriage
5. Edward actively attempts to prevent Bella from seeing her friend (removes engine, has her kidnapped)
6. Edward encourages Bella’s isolation from others
1. What is abuse?
Obviously Edward is not abusive physically to Bella, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not still abusive. That is, he is emotionally and mentally abusive. And the fact that he’s a vampire has nothing to do with it; Meyer is portraying a relationship between two people, and given the fact that Edward has a very human psyche (i.e. he experiences human emotions (anger, ‘love’, worry), human desires (sex), and was once in fact human) it is not a reasonable argument to simply excuse his bad behavior by simply arguing, “he’s a vampire, so it doesn’t count.â€
So: abuse. What is it?
Wikipedia says:
Quote: An abusive relationship is an interpersonal relationship characterized by the use or threat of physical or psychological abuse. Abusive relationships are often characterized by jealousy, emotional withholding, lack of intimacy, infidelity, sexual coercion, verbal abuse, broken promises, physical violence, control games and power plays.
Let’s break this definition down in terms of Edward and Bella.
Jealousy – If anything, Edward’s defining characteristic is in fact his jealousy. It is his jealousy (more than anything else) that instigates his abusive acts. He admits after the engine episode that the main reason for not wanting Bella to see Jacob was in fact his prejudice and jealousy, and that’s hardly the only instance of his jealousy.
Emotional withholding – The fact that Edward and Bella are supposed to share this incredible, transcendent relationship is undermined by the fact that rather than discuss his fears and uncertainties, Edward chooses to leave Bella at the beginning of New Moon. While it’s not a crime to end a relationship, the fact that Edward chose to do so in such a cruel and unusual manner instead of explaining his feelings and emotions on the subject is pretty abusive.
Lack of intimacy – The intimacy issue is a trickier when it comes to Edward and Bella. First, in terms of physical intimacy: the fact that Edward controls every single chaste little kiss AND withholds sex is incredibly controlling. That he does so supposedly to protect her is negated by the fact that he’s more than willing to sex her up once they’re married, even though she’s still a puny, fragile human (and she does get hurt). Their lack of emotional intimacy (again, with the above point about emotional withholding) is just as damaging (as referenced by Bella’s zombiefied state in New Moon.
Sexual coercion – Again, Edward controls every aspect of their sexual lives, against Bella’s will and in fact he demeans and treats her like a child when she attempts to sex him.
Broken promises – at the end of Twilight, Edward promises to stay with Bella no matter what. Yet at the beginning of New Moon, he massively overreacts to the supposed threat of danger and decides to break that promise, rendering Bella suicidal. Maybe this isn’t traditionally abusive, but it’s unnecessarily damaging.
Control games and power plays – All the above points serve the idea that Edward’s prevailing character (served by his jealousy) is controlling. And I don’t care how ‘powerful’ and ‘omniscient’ and ‘old and wise’ Edward is, when you’re in a romantic relationship with someone one partner cannot be completely dominating and the other submissive (unless it’s a BDSM relationship, but that’s another subject entirely). It simply isn’t healthy, particularly when it’s supposed to be this ‘great love of all the ages’ and representative of an equal partnership.
2. Intentions
Let me just say this once to make it clear: intentions (good or bad) do not matter. It’s an instance of the classic phrase acta non verba, or “actions, not words.†It doesn’t matter if I tell you “I love you so much!†if I immediately follow that statement by trying to kill you. It doesn’t matter if I honestly DO love you and I STILL try to kill you; the action of attempted homicide still stands (and I’ll be charged with that) regardless of how I feel about it. If I kill someone and then say “I made a mistake†or “I loved him/herâ€, the fact that I feel bad about it in retrospect does not change the irreversible fact that I did, in fact, kill someone.
So if Edward removes the engine from Bella’s truck and then replaces it later, the fact that he replaces it later is irrelevant to the issue at hand; the fact that he performed the abusive act in the first place. I don’t care if he felt bad about it or changed his mind; he still performed the act to begin with.
If Edward only does anything “in order to protect Bellaâ€, it’s again an instance of the irrelevance of intentions. Simply put, he doesn’t have the right to upend another person’s life or to attempt to control what that person does, even if he cares about them. It is not my roommate’s place to lock me in our room to prevent me from going out and getting trashed, even if she thinks she’s doing it to “protect me†or “because she cares about me.†Likewise, it isn’t Edward’s right to decide who Bella sees, when she sees him, where she sees him, and for how long. Just because he decided NOT to kidnap Bella for the weekend a second time doesn’t make the fact that he kidnapped her for a weekend for the first time moot.
Basically, intentions don’t matter. Actions matter. Even if Edward changes his mind or feels bad about it, that doesn’t erase the fact that he performed the act in the first place. If he feels bad about it, it doesn’t mean that his character isn’t an abusive one; you don’t judge a character based on the person he is by the end of the novel (or series); rather, you judge them (and form an understanding of them) by incorporating EVERYTHING you learn about them throughout the series. So while Edward DOES change and DOES make different decisions, his good decisions don’t negate the bad ones. He performs an abusive act = he is abusive, even if he feels bad about it. Capisce?”
You can find this at:
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
Doing anything for true love doesn’t include allowing your significant other to be in charge of you, or control your every thought/ action/ etc.
Your true love wouldn’t ask that of you.
And it’s nice to be taken care, and kept safe, but we’re not breakable dolls. I understood your analogy to the fairy tales, but not everyone expects that.
Being taken care of is nice, I definitely agree, but it’s also nice to have free will, to be given some freedom, because if you’re so taken care of, so dependent on that one person, than that’s not good.
You have to learn by trying, and sometimes failing. And you can’t do that with an overcontrolling s.o.
We shouldn’t stand to be pushed off to the side, and we have come a long way. But when books like Twilight show a lack of female importance and bravery, then people can be influenced to think that’s the right way to go.
Books influence people, and if they portray that women need to constantly be taken care of, then it could do more damage than you think.
Tell me, why do you think the women are pushed aside then? What evidence is there that women are just as strong and independent as the men in Twilight?
Comparing Twilight to Harry Potter is like…
…is like comparing The Jonas Brothers to The Medic Droid!
DOES NOT COMPUTE!
DO NOT WANT!
ABORT MISSION, DAMN IT!
You Twitards spell even worse than Tara Gilesbie, if that’s even possible.
I would’ve thrown Twilight in the shredder if it hadn’t cost me about thirty bucks. Why is it so expensive?! It’s not THAT good, people! GAH!
Evidence to why Twilight’s so bad? Why should I post that? It’s already been said many times…even in the review.
I’m sure you expect me to have something witty at the end here. No.
I’m too tired, depressed, and bored to be hilarious ta-dow.
Peace out, party people!
Ha, well i loved the books…at times, but being a female fan somewhat outside the tween target audience I have to admit that i had many of the same thoughts as our article author here.
I remember at times (mainly the points referenced) thinking how could any self respecting intelligent female create such a selfish, stupid, naive self-destructive female lead and be pleased with the message that is being sent out??
Bella shat me more often than not, any girl that find herself being able to completely relate to her as a character should seek help immediately, and god save her next boyfriend. Bella is not a character to idolise, to be jealous of or to be re-created, the Bella-Edward relationship is not realistic, or even healthy most of the time! I really hope that the younger readers understand this and treat the whole story as a mixed up fantasy….I loved the first book, but as you start to read it critically, and honestly interpret what is going on, I’m sure you can atleast understand, if not be totally conviced by the point of veiw taken in this article. Well said…I’l prob keep reading them tho :p
@ Mother of a twilighter:
That. was. brilliant! well said.
@ Marissa:
i was waiting for someone to put the twilightsucks.com thread on here, and hopefully some of the fans would see where were coming from.
@Claire:
i’m glad you noticed the same problems we saw while reading. i honestly wouldn’t why a girl would want to relatr since she’s not a nice person. its fine for you to keep reading it since you see the problems it has, i’m more concerned about the people who take these books seriously to decide their life choices.
apparently now there is an actual religion called cullenism, and they actually their beliefs and prayers and what to do on certain days of the week, who to worship in the cullens.
this is honestly getting out of hand.
Marissa-
I begginning to share your point on the abuse. I however still do not find it sexist. I know I would very much like to be taken care of but still have freedom like you have stated. I understand that Bella is pushed around by Edward and still says or does anything to show that she hates it. I know she shows signs of independence later on in the series (i understand where this is coming from with the first book becasue she is compleately helpless) and also some aggresion towards Edward after he had left her. She was better after that episode, well a little, and more leanent to do what ever teh hell she wanted. Her friends have shown indepence, but they don’t really matter so I don’t why I mentioned them. The cullen girls are a hell of lot more better than Bella, and independent.
Glad everyone was worrying about me!
Mother of a Twilighter: Well written. I’m glad that you aren’t another one of those ‘twi-moms’ that are the scariest people on the planet. Just look at this excerpt:
“DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE whose life turned upside down when you read Twilight? Is your house a disaster with piles of piles of laundry in every corner and stacks of dirty dishes at record breaking heights? Have you imagined your husband is a vampire (or werewolf) and suddenly have the libido of newlywed again? Do you convince yourself that “cold cereal†makes a perfectly wholesome dinner? Is the pizza delivery boy now on your Christmas card list? Are your children free to run a muck as long as no one comes too you bleeding . . .(too badly)? Oh, you feel guilty, but that’s not enough! You still can’t tear yourself away from the book and damned be the consequences! The good new is- YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Fans of the Twilight Series in OUR STAGE of life (whether you’re a mom or not) now have a place where we can gather unashamed of our irrational obsession with vampires and werewolves. We have a place where “our kind†can relate without having to wade through all the teenage Internet code mumbo jumbo like “OMG!!! IMHO Edward is sooo Hawt!!!†(usually a dead giveaway that you should be doing your social studies homework for 3rd period instead of playing on the computer.) FYI, it was a group of 14/15 year olds that “changed†me. However, OUR world of balancing family, work, home, marriage AND…our Twilight obsession is unique, fun, and oh, so very humorous. The personal stories and experiences I’ve heard and read from women all over the world are a blast. YOU LADIES ROCK!!! …and “Twilight Moms†is dedicated to YOU!!! Enjoy this little corner of the Internet that is just for us.”
Seriously.
P.S: http://www.twilightmoms.com/?page_id=797
Oh, by the way, I started my fan fic, in case I didn’t tell you yet [I can’t be bothered checking], it’s really lame though, but the worst [and best] is yet to come.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4884137/1/
Oh, this is my description of Twilight on Urban Dictionary:
Twilight
An overrated teen sensation, released in 2005. Written by the inexperienced Stephenie Meyer, the badly presented, two-dimensional characters include the most famous Edward Cullen, who is the most perfect being ever to walk the planet. Meyer describes these sparkly things as ‘vampires’, though they are more accurately referred to as ‘meyerpires’ or ‘steroided cannibals’.
“Oh my Gosh! Have you read Twilight?”
“No.”
“OH MY GOD YOU ARE CRAZY *beats with bat*”
P.S: What’s so bad about a fanfic being ‘normal’?
I made a POLL not a quiz asking people if they thought Twilight is sexist! I never made a quiz explaining why twilight is not sexist, i don;t think it is remember? I don’t see how i ever confused you anyway!
And bu the way more people are saying it’s not sexist!
Marissa –
Again, I agree with everything you’ve said
Kendra –
The girls in your particular school do not represent the girls in the whole world. Maybe I am a feminist and see too deeply into things, but the fact is, i find it sexist, obviously marissa finds it sexist as well. And if you dont, well thats your own problem then isnt it?
Wtf –
well of course most people dont, otherwise would the book sell so well and be famous? Just because they dont find it sexist, it doesnt mean that it isnt sexist.
Claire-
As long as you can see that there are problems in it, I think you’re good to go. It’s okay to enjoy the books if you want.
But like Equus said, it’s more the people who regard the choices Bella has made as the only ones worth making.
Equus-
It’s been posted on here before, but in the REALLY early comments. I posted it again so the site could get credit, obviously, and yes, hopefully more fans will understand where we’re coming from.
And really? Cullenism? That’s just so pathetically scary I don’t know what to say.
Kendra-
Alright, I think we’re getting somewhere. I’ll admit that the sexism I happen to see in Twilight is more subtle, and that it isn’t always picked up by people. I’m glad you see what abuse is though, because that’s a serious issue, especially today.
The Cullen girls are yes, stronger than Bella in many ways, but still, the way I see it, the men dominate over them.
Rafal H-
Of course we were concerned!
That Twilight Moms thing really scares me. And I am going to check out your awesome fanfic because it is awesome. I’ll leave a review, and tell you it’s me.
I love your description of Twilight in Urban Dictionary as well! Brilliant.
wtf-
Well, have fun with that. I wouldn’t really expect you to see the subtlety of sexism in Twilight anyway. You’ve been nothing but confusing, and frankly, we’re tired of trying to prove to you it is.
Good luck with your poll, or whatever it is you’re doing.
Wai sank you Rae I laughed when I read your review [I’m staying home again cause it’s like a 45 degree day (C)]
Anything in particular you hate about the brackets? [] opposed to () ? I don’t know I hate these () they are too CURVED.
Anyway. Kay is, by the way, my friend, who goes on Yahoo! Answers and is in love with Snape and I promised her I’d let her be in the fan fic ;D
Also, what the hell is the ‘forth wall’?
ALSO Angela is a human cause she’s gonna fight a human in the HP series…I have to give us mortals a chance, too.
WTF –
You are completely confusing me. I recall your slightly manic comment a while ago when you were a Twilighter. What’s with the sudden mood change?
Rafal H-
Regarding wtf?, I’d like to know the same thing.
Oh, and I reviewed your story, of course. Over at fanfiction, I’m under the name “DogStar15″
I think everyone would like to know which side WTF is on, I know I would.
Also, I reviewed your story Rafal. Like I said in it….Let the Fun Begin.
Rafal H:
your doing a wonderful job on your story, keep it up, i’ll be reviewing it soon as well.
Marissa:
and yes it actually is a religon.
http://www.twilightlexiconforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=332
what is this world coming too? i mean seriously…
Hey, does anyone reply to the randoms on here? Everyone seems preoccupied with the regulars. DIBS ON NEXT RANDOM TWILIGHTER x]
HOPEFULLY IT’S A SANE ONE!!!!!
and I usually would, but they mostly are well random with no points at all
Wow… I read the article and it made me laugh because it’s true, you know. Dang. And for that, look at all those butthurt fangirls and boys shouting in some sort of skewered language I think is Engrish… whoa. You can tell they’re butthurt because they don’t bother typing correctly, or even stop to realize that, yes it is a book, and YES, THEY ARE FICTION. And yes… Stephanie Meyer wrote it out of fantasy over one of her wet dreams of the ‘perfect’ man, and wanted to share the world with her horrible fiction. She’s no better than those horrible Suethors from Fanfiction.net and the like. I wonder if she knows about all the bad things her painful series had brought? Seriously…
Face it… it’s a story about a bunch of mary sues, vampires, unicorns, and their neighbor’s dog, how they cause a truckload of dramus and make teenagers go: “ZOMG THIS COULD TOTALLY HAPPEN TO ME, LOLOLOLOL” Go ahead and like it, but just like it with knowing the truth about it: It’s crap. Deal.
P. S. – Sparkle, sparkle.
Tina-
You sure do sound like a stupid femminest!
Marrissa-
Yes i believe we are getting some where. I understand how she is pushed around, but she shows signs of independece in the second and third book. She happens to fight back but is weaker. Which is where I see where you think its sexist.
Kendra-
Well it’s good that we’re past the “yelling at each other” stage, for a lack of better words.
She fights back, but ineffectively, and doesn’t even put that much effort into fighting, so I don’t think she really minds being pulled around by Edward.
So yeah. I still think it’s sexist, especially in those parts, and the other times she shows a lack of confidence and independence.
Kendra – (get a life)
“Tina-
You sure do sound like a stupid femminest!”
Oh because your so smart, honey, FEMINIST is spelt that way my dear, maybe you should learn to spell before you call other people stupid. AND WHAT THE FUCK IS SO WRONG ABOUT FEMINISTS anyway. Where would you be without them ? not sat at a computer let me tell you, did you not learn your history as well ? Did you ever go to school ? Oh wait, you wouldn’t have been able to without feminists !!!!! You can’t just go around telling people their stupid, especially if you can’t get your facts right and YOU DONT KNOW THEM. Do you know her ? Have you met her ? Have you spoke to her ? NO! Apart from internet but let’s ignore that. Oh and btw you’re completely contradicting yourself as you said before you had never met any girl who would act like Bella did in the second book, and yet you said that tons of girls in your school are like that. WAIT SCHOOL
That suprises me. Why don’t you just keep your mouth shut it if you can’t get your facts right, you ignorant, fat hypocrite.
Tina –
I completely agree with you
Ellise hates Kendra-
While I’m all for feminism- and make no mistake about that- but don’t you think you’re being slightly overdramatic? Because I do.
Relax a little! No one here is trying to purposely bother you, so I suggest you stop acting like everything is a personal offense.
And while we’re on the topic of intelligence, “Oh because your so smart,”…Uh, you mean “your”. And your grammar could use some work, too.
I’m not trying to insult you, I’m merely saying that you should relax, and maybe check over your comment before pressing submit.
Kendra–
I completely agree with you on Twilight not sexist.
Ellise hates Kendra–
Yes, feminists have done alot for us and I’m thankful for that, but Marissa described your comment perfectly. It is way overdramatic. The base of your argument is that Kendra is unintelligent because of her comment about “stupid feminists” but your comment isn’t all that “smart,” for lack of a better word, either. The fact that you felt the need to attack her for her opinion by calling her a “fat hypocrite” is proof.
You could have stated your point without using:
1: vulgar language
2: personal attacks
We need a tag. To signify whether we are anti or not. I STILL DON’T KNOW IF MARISSA OR MADISON ARE THE ANTIS, I AM SO CONFUSED.
Brainstorm
Hows about
SPARKLY
and
NONSPARKLY
How about that with an IS
Marissa and Madison-
THANKS!!!! I’m glad we’re not yelling anymore Marissa!
Ellise hates Kendra-
you don’t sound so smart either. Becasue I have poor spelling, which I always have, means i’m Stupid. “sat at a computer let me tell you”, maybe you shoudl learn some grammer! That doesn’t sound right. Yeah feminists have done good such as womenrs rights. And I agree with that, but not that “Girl Power” or “Women can do everything Men can do but better” CRAP! Because face it, we can’t! I don’t like it when women alwasy get so defensive. We are just as equal, but some think we have to control everything. I don’t like the men that think women are scum, but I don’t think we should rule everything. I’m not judeing, but getting to know everybody isn’t going to happen. I have to hear their life story before I can say anything.If they are a bitch, then i will say so. Sure it probally isn’t teh real them but Its all about first impressions. And your isn’t so good!
What did I every say to make me a hypocrite?!?!?! I would really like to know. If your such a smart person, please inform me! I never said anything about being a feminist, so how come I’m suddenly a hypocrite! I’m being a bitch to Tina becasue thats all shes every been to me. So don’t say anythin when you don’t know nothing. I thought a smart person would be rational enough to know that. Yeah right!
Marissa-
Yeah I can see the abuse and controling of Edward. What he does are some of the exact signs of a further physical abusive relationship. But I don’t think Smeyer did it on purpose. Bcasue she is a women I don’t think she would try to do that. Unless she is secretly a man. I don’t know?
Rafal H–
I am a Twilighter not an anti.
Ellise hates Kendra-
You bitched and complained that Kendra didnt know Tina and shouldnt be calling her stupid and crap like that but you dont know Kendra so yuo shouldnt be calling her an ignorant, fat hyprocite! As far as im concerned, you are the one acting like a hyprocite
Marissa, Tina, Rafal, and Madison:
I do NOT like twilight! Not once did i say that i am a twilighter i just dont think its sexist! However i do agree with the whole Edward is controling and abusive thing!
Sorry the comment WT is from me!
Hi
thanks for the lovely comments. Really enjoyed reading them, everyone on this has just made my day. Kendra – You said that you were a bitch to tina because she was bitchy to you, but reading all your comments, you were the one to call Tina a snobby, catty bitch that no boy would ever want first. I remember this clearly Kendra, you’re messing with the wrong nerd 8-). So, getting back to the point, you were a bitch to her first. And since you did not read my comment properly – I will copy and paste why you are a hypocrite (more HIPPO than crite.)
“Oh and btw you’re completely contradicting yourself as you said before you had never met any girl who would act like Bella did in the second book, and yet you said that tons of girls in your school are like that.”
Btw about the thing with your fatness – it’s my pick up line cause i’m totally into you.
Your bum is so big.
I LOVE EVERYONE
Would anyone like to see a picture of me naked ?
Add may_b_l8r@hotmail.co.uk
Okay, so I’m attempting to reread Twilight…
And it’s just really painful, is all I can say.
Ellise – You are very correct and Kendra is way past the line and we need to put her back behind the line.
It actually works (Y)
Kendra – Who do you think you are to be so rude to Tina she’s done nothing wrong, You should think a bit before you actually type it babe. “Your bum is so big” Ellises cool pick up line
Thank you Megan

Finally who actually listens to me and has the same views
I love your name
I think we should exchange emails x
Hey-O.
This review has pretty much has me convinced.
I got to say, I typed in google “why twilight is a good” and somehow this was part of the top ten. My girlfriend got into it, went to see the movie with her, and laughed as 90% of the seats were filled with girls under the age of 14.
This flash animation, pretty much sums up my thoughts as I watched the movie, and especially the sparkle part, although I didn’t yell as much:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/viewer.php?id=473402&key=GnMvQnXzFtOzFxbStiN2Y1ODMxNGYxQjMzMjIrNl9xNGI2NTE7QjY5QlYxOzJWNTJiNzI1ZjcrVnFfOTUxbTk5NDUzMDc4Mw%3D%3D
After I voiced my thoughts on the movie, most twilight fans told me I had no opinion until I read the book and I wouldn’t know how great it was until I read it. I thought, “Everyone has a right to an opinion.” So now I’m here.
Anyway, Just from the article and comments posted, I’ve come up with a conclusion irrational twilight fans. Time to come back down to Earth ladies. If some stranger was staring at you with a look of disgust, while basically copping a feel at you with his eyes, 9/10 the word ‘creepy’ and ‘stalker’ comes to mind. It seems the book is favored by little girls with a complete inability to spell, type, or read what they’ve typed, and the content doesn’t bring up a strong argument. To those who like twilight and aren’t part of this group, I truly feel sympathy that you have people like this destroying your argument:
“# Anti-KellenRice on December 27th, 2008 7:30 am
you suck
# Anti-KellenRice on December 27th, 2008 7:31 am
you suck suck
# Anti-KellenRice on December 27th, 2008 7:35 am
You
suck
suck…”
That post continues to ‘suck’ for a long duration.
I also do not plan on reading twilight. To those who say I shouldn’t have an opinion because I haven’t read it, I have this to say. In my opinion, stabbing myself in the leg with a chef knife would be quite painful, however, I never have done so. According to the unconditional twilight fan logic, I should do so in order to get a valid opinion if it is truly painful or not. Not going to happen.
Ellise Hates Kendra –
thanks for sticking up for me
lol-
i never actually thought of some of the things you’ve said.
They’re actually quite true.
and i dont advise u read the book anyway
Rafal H-
I am an Anti. ‘Kay? ‘Kay. And one more time- I’m ANTI. Okay. There we go.
Kendra-
So am I. I don’t like to yell at people unless it’s for a good reason.
And I don’t know about SMeyer, but don’t you think, if she had a decent editor, that someone would have picked up on the subtle sexism?
I mean, come on! Just look at Edward, past his sparliness. I don’t know either, but seriously. You would think someone would tell her what was wrong with the book, other than:
“OMG! You wrote a book!”
WTF-
Well, to be fair, you never said- until later, that is- that you disliked Twilight either. And the ones who get defensive about it being sexist -because it is-, are the Twilighters. So relax. It was a mistake.
Ellise hates Kendra-
Um… I really don’t know what to say anymore. Other than, “You’re still being way overdramatic, and it’s really annoying.”
Relax. Don’t give yourself a heart attack.
lol-
Well said.
Rafal h-
Thanks :D! I do try ^_^
45 C? Where do you live?!
It’s not so much the fact that you use brackets instead of parentheses. What I care about is what people put inside them. Usually, people will write things that are either a: Nothing but their own thoughts or b: something that should be woven into the rest of the narration. One shows a lack of self-control (usually, the thoughts could be in an A/N, or just kept to the writer’s self), and the other one shows laziness on the author’s part. Either way it’s bad.
Aah… you might want to mention that in an A/N
Oops. Tucking Fypos. I meant to say the “Fourth wall.” To beak the fourth wall is to insert one’s own thoughts directly into one’s work without filtering it though dialogue or word choice.
AND SINCE YOU ASKED, I AM AN ANTI!
Rae: Orright ;]
lol –
Genius
Though I wish you’d have warned me so I didn’t watch it with my mother sitting right next to me. *shifty eyes*
My eye hurts.
I think this whole debate is retarded and people shouldn’t be arguing over a stupid series of books when there is better things to be arguing about! If you don’t like then then don’t read them again. It is not the end of the world. If people like it then fine let them! Theycan make there own decisions about whether the book is sexist or not! I think this whole debate is retarded and people need to get a life!
Ellise hates Kendra-
How the hell do yuo know if she is fat? I think you need to shut the F*** up before you know what the hell you are talking about!
Tiff –
Hah I got in first TAKE THAT
Read previous comments [the one yelling at people for saying ‘JUST A BOOK’].
The sexist or not thing is not an opinion, I reckon, it’s simple facts.
What if we like to debate about this toe rag of a book? What if I want to show people real literature? How’s about you save your insults for someone who cares, m’kay? Get some original arguments, because we’ve heard it all before.
Everyone – You are just being horrible poor Ellise all she’s doing is sticking up for Tina, (so am i).
Tiff – You really should think about what your saying you shouldn’t be telling Ellise to shut the fuck up, why don’t you just shut the fuck up!
Kendra – Get over yourself sweetheart
Ellise – We really should swap e-mails, that could be rather fun because your bum is so big
WOW! What a comeback! I’m impressed. How the hell would you know what I look like? You sound like a little five year old that doesn’t know what to say and they think they’re cool. Yeah great that your defending Tina! But you don’t need to be an immature retard. I’m juts stating my opinon and what I see.
Megan-
Why should I get over myself when I have done or said nothing to think that I’m being concited or whatever is going on in your head.
“Get over your self”, come up with something better. That goes for Ellise! I’m still laughing at how stupid that comback it. “You butt is big” HAHAHA
Kendra – You said that you were a bitch to tina because she was bitchy to you, but reading all your comments, you were the one to call Tina a snobby, catty bitch that no boy would ever want. So maybe you should get over yourself cause whats so special about you that you can go around saying stuff like this about people which you don’t even know ?? What makes you so great … Nothing so seriously babe get over yourself. Also “your bum is so big” it’s not her comeback it’s her chat up line.
I finger myself over Alice the Vampire
Ellise hates Kendra – Oh my god me too, i think everyone does
OKay. I haven’t talked to Tina in a while nor do I plan to in the future. Her comment was snooty so I was honest with her. If you don’t like it ignore it and don’t talk to me. Becasue I’m done with this immatue rfighting with you guys. I was not even discussing with you to begin with so butt out. I don’t have to get over myself. How do you know I’m not special. I’m not saying I’m better but you don’t know. I don’t know you or tina either but I replied with what I saw. “thats a great name you got there, wtf is wrong with you? Love is overrated anyway, and it takes someone who has really been in love to say that. well im sorry to tell you that you havent ever really been in love. ” is what she has said, I was simply repling. She was mean to WTF, so karma. Whats gives her the right to say this girl has never been in love. so don’t think I’m the only one that talks about somebody I don’t know, becasue your precious Tina does it also. When somebody thinks they ahve experience life and know everything about it becasue they’re been in ‘love’ needs to ‘get over themselves’ as you put it. So don’t preach to me. Okay! Why don’t you read the rest of tehm comments before attacking someone.
“I will copy and paste why you are a hypocrite (more HIPPO than crite.) Btw about the thing with your fatness – it’s my pick up line cause i’m totally into you. Your bum is so big.” Yeah it sure sounds like a screen name or whatever. Again I say-What a stupid comeback. You think you guys are nerds, you are really just immature douches. You haven’t seen a real nerd! You may be, but I bet I could find you a bigger one.
So before commeting about why I’m a ‘bitch’ get your facts straight. Got It!
Kendra –
you’re seriously commenting on them saying they’re nerds? and saying that you can find a bigger nerd? yes, that makes you wayy more mature. And quite frankly, i dont think i have ‘experienced life’ because i’ve been in love, because there is more to life than just love. did you ever have to grow up overnight? did you ever have to get out of your comfort zone and just be a different person overnight? have you ever experienced such a dramatic change in life that when you’re friends were worrying about boys, and clothes and the rest of it you had more significant problems to worry about? Probably not, so instead of jumping to conclusions about my life why dont you keep your mouth shut. Okay, i admit that what i said to WTF wasnt very nice, but i still dont think she has ever really been in love, and if you have a problem with that, well i dont give a shit tbh.
I couldnt help but notice something you said though,’ I was not even discussing with you to begin with so butt out.’ Thats interesting. I believe that i was ‘discussing’ with WTF, not you. So you ‘butted’ in. Just like they ‘butted’ in. Funny how you are using that agianst them when you did it yourself.
Tina, Kendra, WTF?, Ellise hates Kendra, and Megan loves Ellise but not Kendra-
Can we just stop this already? This argument has gone to ridiculous length, and it’s pointless. Yes, Kendra acted insulting in retaliation, and then you all just went nuts.
Relax people. It’s not like any of you will meet in real life, and will have to deal with this there.
Sorry for “butting in”, but this is just annoying now, to watch you all argue. Just stop and move on, so we can get back to what this article is about.
We are not argueing corr,
Just having a heated discussion
And it’s enjoyable seeing how different people react to different situations
And I was making a joke out of my comments, so you shut your gob yeah ? I joke I joke I’m not that rude, well that’s another story.
Hi my name is Ellise and I have a big bum and I am nice in real life, just certain people i am horrible to. Just to make things clear.
I LOVE YOU MARISSA
Tina, Kendra, WTF?, Ellise hates Kendra, and Megan loves Ellise but not Kendra-
I’m with Marissa. First of all, there are too many people, which makes this hard to follow. Secondly, this has nothing to do with Twilight at all. I know that this is a forum, but we were doing so well with keeping on track.
If all you want to do is call each other names, swap facebooks. I know that you probably all have them. Then you can yell and scream at each other all you want or “have a heated discussion” as Ellise hates Kendra put it.
Just, please, shut up or go away. I hate to be rude, but you’re seriously wasting space.
Thank you.
Ellise hates Kendra-
Do you want to make yourself sound even more stupid? You’re acting crazy, as are the other people you’re arguing with.
Like Rae said, “Just, please, shut up or go away. I hate to be rude, but you’re seriously wasting space. ”
Seriously. Do one or the other, because we’re all tired of non-Twilight/Anti- related things.
I agree this is stupid!
YES YES YES YES YES!
That is all. :]
Tina-
Yess i have done some of that stuff and more. My life hasn’t been a walk in the park, and you think friends and fitting in is important. News Flash: Its Not! Yes I used that against them and was wrong, my bad. but I didn’t carry out an argument with you that was stupid. I did say stuff to you that I shouldn’t have and I apoligize, but I’m not being immature about anything. I can state my opinons without saying, ‘Your fat, you butt is big’ like that has anything to do with anything. I’m a really big nerd so I wasn’t even saying anything about that.
So I’m saying this! I’m not sorry, but I want this to end. Whatever this is to end.
BYE!
I missed the WHOLE FIGHT?
>ugh.<
Actually I don’t know who is making the comments. I’m too late though. How unfair.
NO ONE WAITS FOR THE POOR AUSSIE </3
My god…
i leave for a few days and come back to this madness?!
how about we all calm down hmm? here * passes out cupcakes* now let’s get back to the debate not the arguement?
Thanks Equus! What shall your pen name be?
MMM CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING
*melts*
Rafal H is NONSPARKLY-
It really wasn’t pretty. Or fun. It was pointless, and got old really fast, because the argument had absolutely NOTHING to do with Twilight.
Poor Rafal H. Next time there’s a big, pointless fight, we’ll let you know first.
Equus-
It WAS madness, pretty much. Bad grammar and spelling everywhere, and hardly even a trace of Twilight vs Anti’s arguments.
Thank you for the cupcakes.
Hopefully we’ll get back to the debate now. It hasn’t been easy holding up the fort practically on my own.
Rafal H-
No we don’t D<! Go play with your little kangaroos!
…X3
Equus is right, anyway. You didn’t want to be there, it was dumb.
Equus- YAY! Cupcakes -eats-
What does nonsparkly mean?
anti-twilight or something else???
Kendra –
Oh dear…
Well, i can actually think of much more to say based on that comment alone, especially the having friends is not important bit, but i’m not going to as i see that a lot of people are annoyed with our fight.
Everyone Else –
Sorry guys!
Sorry chickens
May I just add that everyone who took offence to the whole you bum is so big and your fat etc etc should learn to take things as a joke. Jese guys, come one (:
Sorry for the fuss of me and my big mouth, I shall try not to use it in the future just so everyone else can be happy.
Bye
To carry on with the debate and not the arguement,
TWILIGHT IS SEXIST
Oh and by the way Marissa,
I’m not going mental at people haha x
I’m perfectly relaxed btw. not even angry, just think certain people need to be told waht I think of them.
Deal with it
Ellise hates Kendra-
Well you could have fooled me.
I know how to take a joke, but I also know when something is so immature it’s not funny. Much like yourself.
Everyone including Kendra-
I’m sorry for misbehacing
Marrisa –
I would just like to say your starting an argument by being mean to Ellise hates Kendra, so stop it please
Thanks Chicks
Megan loves Ellise and not Kendra-
I’m not starting a fight. That last one was just annoying, so I really don’t want to dive back into that.
And if someone acts immature, why shouldn’t I tell them that? You have no right to tell me what to do, just because you might not like to hear it.
Also, if you’re going to talk to someone, at least spell their name right. It’s M-A-R-I-S-S-A. Okay? Okay.
Marissa –
Well if someone thinks your starting a fight, why cant they tell you that?
Maraissa –
Listen up sweetheart because i will not tell you again, by saying
“Well you could have fooled me. I know how to take a joke, but I also know when something is so immature it’s not funny. Much like yourself.”
I must say you could of fooled me that you were being nice and not trying to start a fight!
Also i was not telling you what to do i was simply saying to EVERYONE that you were trying to start a fight i never told you what to do.
When it comes to spelling your name i’ll spell it how i want because i don’t care for you at all call me bitch features if you want because i don’t care and when i feel like spelling your name M-A-R-I-S-S-A thats when i’ll spell it your way but for now i’m gunna spell your name however the hell i want and to be honest i wouldn’t care it spelt my name Meghan becuase different people spell it differently so do everyone a favor and get lost
Love you xxx
Tina-
I don’t like to be told that I’m doing something I’m not. Now, if they said something more like,
“Okay, we really don’t need another fight, so can you watch what you say?”, I’d feel better about it. Isn’t that slightly more polite?
Megan loves Ellise and not Kendra-
How about YOU listen up?
If someone is acting immature, I will tell them so. If I was being rude, then what do you call your attitude? You’ve been more rude than I have so I wouldn’t be talking.
I wasn’t intending to start a fight, so maybe you should, I don’t know, ASK, to confirm that I was? I wasn’t. I was saying what everyone else was thinking.
I wasn’t trying to be nice, either. I was being blunt. Ever hear of it?
I’m not going to start calling people names because I know I’m better than to act on your level. I don’t care for you either, but at least I respect you. Respect isn’t that much to ask for.
I don’t care if you don’t care about your name, but I happen to care about mine. Different people do spell their names in different ways. Hooray for them. But I spell mine like you see it, and spelling it correctly isn’t too hard.
How about you do everyone a favor, and correct your grammar and spelling? And then maybe we could get back to the debate, as opposed to these stupid, pointless side arguments that have nothing to do with the article.
Stop trying to sound sweet and innocent, or whatever tone you’re going for, because it’s really annoying. This is where being blunt comes in handy.
Cheers.
Marissa – Just pointing out i’m not trying to sound sweet and innocent because i know that I am a rude, immature bitch but hey at least i can admit it.
Just to point out i didn’t call you any names i think what i called you was “sweetheart”
As for the spelling and grammar i have dyslexia so i’m sorry if i struggle to spell, Your lucky i am quite thick skinned about my dyslexia becuase alot of dyslexic people would be in tears when you are being rude about their spelling and grammar, i’m just warning you to be careful about what your saying.
If these arguments are “stupid, pointless side arguments that have nothing to do with the article.” Stop getting involved in them
Marissa –
P.s
“I wasn’t intending to start a fight, so maybe you should, I don’t know, ”
^^ God thats good grammar ?? ^^
Are you trying to say i should start a fight cause i’m a little confused can you help me out please babe ??
Megan loves Ellise and not Kendra-
You didn’t, until now.
Yeah, you called me “sweetheart” to be condescending. Clever.
And as for your dyslexia, I’m sorry to hear that. But after seeing all the other atrocious comments, it’s hard not to think it might be laziness.
Really, though, and I apologize for that. And you’re right, when I probably be a bit more careful about that. But 9 times out of 10, the person is just being lazy.
I would stop getting involved, but I feel the need to defend myself.
“I wasn’t intending to start a fight, so maybe you should, I don’t know, ASK, to confirm that I was?”
Basically, it means that if you think I was going to start a fight, you could ask to see if I was. That isn’t bad grammar, thank you very much.
Just fyi love
You can’t say that if someone is being rude then you’ll tell me, because that’s what loads of people had a go at me about
The evidence of this is here :
“If someone is acting immature, I will tell them so”
That’s all I was doing.
Megan loves Ellise and not Kendra is a lovely person, love you sweetheart
Ellise hates Kendra – Thanks babe xx
Marissa – I’m gunna end this whole thing here are now but you have the cheek to say Ellise hates Kendra is rude when you are cheeky enough to say that i’m just being lazy and it’s nothing to do with my dyslexia
I do wish this series was more than a guilty pleasure.
There’s so many things wrong with it in my eyes compaired to what beautiful work i have read, but it really has warped the minds of younger and OLDER girls around me, which makes me very sad.
A book can be bad but still likeable….but not to the point where it is almost “praised” and creates dangerous conditions.
=[
Ellise hates Kendra, and Megan loves Ellise and not Kendra-
You both are confusing me. There’s basically no point to your comments, so whatever. Let’s just end this already.
One thing I don’t get though: How was I being immature? I didn’t say you were being lazy!
Ugh. You know what? Just forget it. Let’s talk about something interesting.
Julie-
Right on.
-sigh- and here I hoped that we might ahve made some progress in getting this pointless argument out of here…
seems to me this arguement isn’t going to stop any time soon unfortunately.
WOW!
Equus- Yeah, probably.
Kendra- Who was the directed at, and if it’s me or Equuis, why is that?
Everyone-
I really would like to get out of this argument. I’m bored of it, and I want to go back to debating Twilight. I’m tired of being insulted and having to defend myself.
So what can we do about it?
should i put ‘nonsparkly’ in my pen name as well?
Equus-
Go for it.
You guys started yet ANOTHER pointless fight?!
YAY NONSPARKLY IS CATCHING ON. From now on I’ll assume you are a Twilighter if you don’t have it [unless you are new, in which I’ll pat your head like we should do to any rookie].
Excited cause I found all sorts of new MEG CABOT and PATRICIA CABOT books (Y)
It was towards the fight, not either of you too. Sorry!
Im with Marissa. I want to debate about Twilight, but what should we talk about?
Ok sorry! I will get back to the twilight is sexist argument!
The whole edward is controling and abusive is right on the dot, but the whole twilight is sexist thing i just dont agree with at all!
Do you know what would be sexist, a book about a woman who is barefoot, pregnant, and cooking in the kitchen! Now that would be sexist and i dont think twilight is aboutthat!
Rafal H-
I love Meg Cabot! Sure, what she writes might not be in depth and just kind of light and chick-flicky (cant say i know the word for it), but at least she CAN write! Seriously, for a published writer Meyer is crap. Well JK Rowling isnt that good at writing either but at least her books are very good, and actually has a decent story line. And Meg Cabot is just amazing, i don’t care how people say its childish or whatever to read The Princess Diaries, I love them
WTF-
I dont really understand the ‘woman who is barefoot’ bit. Do you mean barefoot as in no shoes on? and if so, how exactly is having no shoes on sexist? btw, its just a question, i dont mean it to be rude or anything, just in case anyone feels that way.
Tina-
I never said i have been in love! So why are you saying that you never think i have been in love!
Megan loves Ellise and not Kendra-
I wasn’t even talking to you so butt out! And no i will not shut the fuck up, maybe you should and then our headaches will go away!
Tina-
You know how working women are always on the go and dont have time to do anything else well since your pregnant you cant work! Its sexist because its portraying what women should be doing!
WTF-
Umm.. I know you never said it. I was just stating i dont think you have been in love.
Tiff –
I agree that it is sexist, i just didnt understand what ‘woman who is barefoot’ means in the sexist context.
Excuse me, but are you stupid?
Ive read Twilight since they came out and i believe that you clearly dont understand the books.
Bella is the girl you become attatched to and want as your best friend.
Edward is the man that you want to come bursting through to rescue you from this nightmare known as life.
If you clearly looked at the book through a fans eyes, you would see what a perfect escape this mythical world is.
My Best friend Samantha and I personally ADORE this world and would gladly trade our normal lives for it.
And no, we dont need phsyciatric help thankyou.
Please explain to me, HOW is Edward and Bella’s relationship abusive?
So he dismantled her truck and let Alice hold her hostage for a weekend. BIG DEAL!
If you took the book in properly you would see that he did it to keep her safe. The werewolves and the Vampires had a history of prejudice.
Maybe Edward thought that because of the prejudice, the wolves may harm Bella in an attempt to tell that Cullens to leave. He just wanted her safe.
And how can you talk about Stephenies writing like that???
Do you not care for other peoples feelings?
Because thats just selfish.
If i were you i’d look before you leap next time you write an article like this. It can hurt peoples feelings.
oh and Bella wasnt trying to kill herself when she jumped and Edward didnt want Bella to have Renesmee. He was torturing himself letting her go through with that.
So leave off peoples enjoyment in future. Its unfair.
Rafal H is NONSPAKRLY-
Apparently, pointless fights have become a trend I wish to escape.
Also, apparently defending yourself is a foolproof way to start one, because that’s how I got roped into that last one…
Oh, and Meg Cabot rocks!
CullenKd:
You want to know how the relationship is abusive? Let’s review, for the 3rd time, I think I’m up to.
“Look- this is from the Twilight source message boards, which has lots of good information- and it explains why Edward is abusive, and what abuse is. Please, take a look:
“1. Edward is controlling and domineering
2. Edward has an unequal share of authority over the relationship
3. Edward threatens suicide
4. Edward manipulates Bella into marriage
5. Edward actively attempts to prevent Bella from seeing her friend (removes engine, has her kidnapped)
6. Edward encourages Bella’s isolation from others
1. What is abuse?
Obviously Edward is not abusive physically to Bella, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not still abusive. That is, he is emotionally and mentally abusive. And the fact that he’s a vampire has nothing to do with it; Meyer is portraying a relationship between two people, and given the fact that Edward has a very human psyche (i.e. he experiences human emotions (anger, ‘love’, worry), human desires (sex), and was once in fact human) it is not a reasonable argument to simply excuse his bad behavior by simply arguing, “he’s a vampire, so it doesn’t count.â€
So: abuse. What is it?
Wikipedia says:
Quote: An abusive relationship is an interpersonal relationship characterized by the use or threat of physical or psychological abuse. Abusive relationships are often characterized by jealousy, emotional withholding, lack of intimacy, infidelity, sexual coercion, verbal abuse, broken promises, physical violence, control games and power plays.
Let’s break this definition down in terms of Edward and Bella.
Jealousy – If anything, Edward’s defining characteristic is in fact his jealousy. It is his jealousy (more than anything else) that instigates his abusive acts. He admits after the engine episode that the main reason for not wanting Bella to see Jacob was in fact his prejudice and jealousy, and that’s hardly the only instance of his jealousy.
Emotional withholding – The fact that Edward and Bella are supposed to share this incredible, transcendent relationship is undermined by the fact that rather than discuss his fears and uncertainties, Edward chooses to leave Bella at the beginning of New Moon. While it’s not a crime to end a relationship, the fact that Edward chose to do so in such a cruel and unusual manner instead of explaining his feelings and emotions on the subject is pretty abusive.
Lack of intimacy – The intimacy issue is a trickier when it comes to Edward and Bella. First, in terms of physical intimacy: the fact that Edward controls every single chaste little kiss AND withholds sex is incredibly controlling. That he does so supposedly to protect her is negated by the fact that he’s more than willing to sex her up once they’re married, even though she’s still a puny, fragile human (and she does get hurt). Their lack of emotional intimacy (again, with the above point about emotional withholding) is just as damaging (as referenced by Bella’s zombiefied state in New Moon.
Sexual coercion – Again, Edward controls every aspect of their sexual lives, against Bella’s will and in fact he demeans and treats her like a child when she attempts to sex him.
Broken promises – at the end of Twilight, Edward promises to stay with Bella no matter what. Yet at the beginning of New Moon, he massively overreacts to the supposed threat of danger and decides to break that promise, rendering Bella suicidal. Maybe this isn’t traditionally abusive, but it’s unnecessarily damaging.
Control games and power plays – All the above points serve the idea that Edward’s prevailing character (served by his jealousy) is controlling. And I don’t care how ‘powerful’ and ‘omniscient’ and ‘old and wise’ Edward is, when you’re in a romantic relationship with someone one partner cannot be completely dominating and the other submissive (unless it’s a BDSM relationship, but that’s another subject entirely). It simply isn’t healthy, particularly when it’s supposed to be this ‘great love of all the ages’ and representative of an equal partnership.
2. Intentions
Let me just say this once to make it clear: intentions (good or bad) do not matter. It’s an instance of the classic phrase acta non verba, or “actions, not words.†It doesn’t matter if I tell you “I love you so much!†if I immediately follow that statement by trying to kill you. It doesn’t matter if I honestly DO love you and I STILL try to kill you; the action of attempted homicide still stands (and I’ll be charged with that) regardless of how I feel about it. If I kill someone and then say “I made a mistake†or “I loved him/herâ€, the fact that I feel bad about it in retrospect does not change the irreversible fact that I did, in fact, kill someone.
So if Edward removes the engine from Bella’s truck and then replaces it later, the fact that he replaces it later is irrelevant to the issue at hand; the fact that he performed the abusive act in the first place. I don’t care if he felt bad about it or changed his mind; he still performed the act to begin with.
If Edward only does anything “in order to protect Bellaâ€, it’s again an instance of the irrelevance of intentions. Simply put, he doesn’t have the right to upend another person’s life or to attempt to control what that person does, even if he cares about them. It is not my roommate’s place to lock me in our room to prevent me from going out and getting trashed, even if she thinks she’s doing it to “protect me†or “because she cares about me.†Likewise, it isn’t Edward’s right to decide who Bella sees, when she sees him, where she sees him, and for how long. Just because he decided NOT to kidnap Bella for the weekend a second time doesn’t make the fact that he kidnapped her for a weekend for the first time moot.
Basically, intentions don’t matter. Actions matter. Even if Edward changes his mind or feels bad about it, that doesn’t erase the fact that he performed the act in the first place. If he feels bad about it, it doesn’t mean that his character isn’t an abusive one; you don’t judge a character based on the person he is by the end of the novel (or series); rather, you judge them (and form an understanding of them) by incorporating EVERYTHING you learn about them throughout the series. So while Edward DOES change and DOES make different decisions, his good decisions don’t negate the bad ones. He performs an abusive act = he is abusive, even if he feels bad about it. Capisce?â€
You can find this at:
http://twilightsucks.proboards81.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
Doing anything for true love doesn’t include allowing your significant other to be in charge of you, or control your every thought/ action/ etc.
Your true love wouldn’t ask that of you.
And it’s nice to be taken care, and kept safe, but we’re not breakable dolls. I understood your analogy to the fairy tales, but not everyone expects that.
Being taken care of is nice, I definitely agree, but it’s also nice to have free will, to be given some freedom, because if you’re so taken care of, so dependent on that one person, than that’s not good.
You have to learn by trying, and sometimes failing. And you can’t do that with an overcontrolling s.o.
We shouldn’t stand to be pushed off to the side, and we have come a long way. But when books like Twilight show a lack of female importance and bravery, then people can be influenced to think that’s the right way to go.
Books influence people, and if they portray that women need to constantly be taken care of, then it could do more damage than you think.
Tell me, why do you think the women are pushed aside then? What evidence is there that women are just as strong and independent as the men in Twilight?”
Oh, and there’s also this one too:
I’ve actually read the Twilight “sagaâ€, shockingly. I’ve read them all twice, to be exact, while my opinion was still mulling over. And guess what else? I’m 14.
And you asked how can I not like it? Well, let me think:
1. I can write as well- if not better than SMeyer, so she’s not all that wonderful. Way to go, Stephenie! You can write at an eighth grade level! Woohoo!
2. Bella is such a Mary-Sue it’s not even funny. She has one thing bad about her: her clumsiness. I found that be extremely unrealistic that someone so “plain†can attract so many guys.
3. Edward is abusive and annoying, rather than someone I’d want for my boyfriend.
4. SMeyer abuses the thesaurus. It’s not necessary to use practically five pages to describe how perfectly perfect Edward is.
5. It’s very shallow, because all the vampires are “so inhumanly beautifulâ€.
6. The whole Breaking Dawn book was just screwed up after Renesmee was “conceivedâ€, and Jacob imprinted on her. Can you say pedophilia?
7. Folklore and legends were butchered terribly, because SMeyer didn’t even begin to research until Bella did.
8. Twilight pretty much oozes male superiority, because Bella is always getting into trouble, and basically becomes a maid in her own house. Charlie was fine without her doing everything for him.
And if a girl were to be even slightly strong, they’d be automatically considered a plot ruining, idiotic nobody. Look at Leah- she’s a strong female, and everybody hates her.
9. The characters don’t develop. At all. And they’re not relatable to in the least.
and, just to save you from reading so much,
10. There isn’t a plot, either. It’s just an overused, boy- saves- girl, overly romantic, piece of “literatureâ€. Nothing interesting whatsoever.
It’s mostly the overenthusiastic Twilighters who have bad grammar. It’s called a generalization, so I apologize to those who were actually gifted with spelling things correctly.
Being able to read something, even if it’s mispelled, is not the point. The point is, mispelling gives people the impression of laziness, among other things.
I think I have a pretty fair argument, versus yours anyway. How is mine less legitimate than anyone else’s? It includes proper grammar and valid points.
How does that do it for you?
Clearly, we’re not stupid. And this: “So he dismantled her truck and let Alice hold her hostage for a weekend. BIG DEAL!
If you took the book in properly you would see that he did it to keep her safe. The werewolves and the Vampires had a history of prejudice.” made me want to scream.
That’s abuse. You’ve got to be crazy if you’d want someone to dismantle your car just to “protect” you.
I agree that you have the right to speak what’s on your mind.What I don’t agree with is that you are also criticizing those of us who like the books. I used to be like you but when we were forced to read the book for english I decided I would put all my prejudices and read it with an open mind, something I don’t think you did. You will find that when you read a book or watch a movie with preconceived notions you tend to get an unclear picture of what is going on.
Although I have already stated that you are entitled to your opinion, I feel compeled to defend some of what you have criticized. I have come to see Bella as someone to look up to. She isn’t at all a damsel in destress. She spends most of the series trying to convince Edward that she is not a fragile piece of glass. The only reason she has to be saved is because she is in situations beyond human control. She obviosly couldn’t save herself from the van no human could and James was a vampire if Edward hadn’t saved her Alice, Esme, Jasper, Emmet or Carlisle would have (I’m not sure about Rosalie). I do admit she is a little extreme in New Moon. Even I have to admit that doing exactly the opposite of what Edward told her to do just to get back at him was just plain stupid. You don’t get youself hurt because of some boy/man no matter how perfect they are, but I can understand that after Edward left she was completely catotonic and the extreme “sports ” she took up made her feel SOMETHING. That was why she did it not because of Edward or at least not completely.
Also the only reason all those boys were after Bella was because she was the new girl in town, a new toy. I go to a fairly large high school and even here the new student is a novelty, someone who gets a lot of attention. Everyone wants to be their friend.
Also Bella isn’t shoved into the damsel in destress role she willingly places herself there. It wasn’t really a damsel in destress role it was more of a human in destress role. Would you have a different opinion if the roles were switched and Bella was the vampire and Edward the human?
One of the very few negative things that I can say about this series is that thanks to it I may become a nun. After reading the Twilight saga my expectation in men has seriously increases and I am now afraid I may never be satisfied with any man I am in a relationship with.P.S. If your really into books with strong women you should read Tamora Pierce’s books especially The Immortals, Song of the Lioness, and Protector of the Small quartets and The Trickster’s Choice and The Trickster’s Queen.
Cullen Kd-
I too have have read the books since they came out [i truly believe I started reading them first] and I’ve read them clearly and do understand them. I liked them at first. it was a love hate replationship with these. I see how someone can be obsessed with a book, becasue I’m that way with Harry Potter and I wish it were real, but I personaly hate this book. Its an extreamly poorly written, unoriginal idea.
From Marissa:
And actually, there is abuse.
1. Edward is controlling and domineering
2. Edward has an unequal share of authority over the relationship
3. Edward threatens suicide
4. Edward manipulates Bella into marriage
5. Edward actively attempts to prevent Bella from seeing her friend (removes engine, has her kidnapped)
6. Edward encourages Bella’s isolation from others
1. What is abuse?
Obviously Edward is not abusive physically to Bella, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not still abusive. That is, he is emotionally and mentally abusive. And the fact that he’s a vampire has nothing to do with it; Meyer is portraying a relationship between two people, and given the fact that Edward has a very human psyche (i.e. he experiences human emotions (anger, ‘love’, worry), human desires (sex), and was once in fact human) it is not a reasonable argument to simply excuse his bad behavior by simply arguing, “he’s a vampire, so it doesn’t count.â€
So: abuse. What is it?
Wikipedia says:
Quote: An abusive relationship is an interpersonal relationship characterized by the use or threat of physical or psychological abuse. Abusive relationships are often characterized by jealousy, emotional withholding, lack of intimacy, infidelity, sexual coercion, verbal abuse, broken promises, physical violence, control games and power plays.
Let’s break this definition down in terms of Edward and Bella.
Jealousy – If anything, Edward’s defining characteristic is in fact his jealousy. It is his jealousy (more than anything else) that instigates his abusive acts. He admits after the engine episode that the main reason for not wanting Bella to see Jacob was in fact his prejudice and jealousy, and that’s hardly the only instance of his jealousy.
Emotional withholding – The fact that Edward and Bella are supposed to share this incredible, transcendent relationship is undermined by the fact that rather than discuss his fears and uncertainties, Edward chooses to leave Bella at the beginning of New Moon. While it’s not a crime to end a relationship, the fact that Edward chose to do so in such a cruel and unusual manner instead of explaining his feelings and emotions on the subject is pretty abusive.
Lack of intimacy – The intimacy issue is a trickier when it comes to Edward and Bella. First, in terms of physical intimacy: the fact that Edward controls every single chaste little kiss AND withholds sex is incredibly controlling. That he does so supposedly to protect her is negated by the fact that he’s more than willing to sex her up once they’re married, even though she’s still a puny, fragile human (and she does get hurt). Their lack of emotional intimacy (again, with the above point about emotional withholding) is just as damaging (as referenced by Bella’s zombiefied state in New Moon.
Sexual coercion – Again, Edward controls every aspect of their sexual lives, against Bella’s will and in fact he demeans and treats her like a child when she attempts to sex him.
Broken promises – at the end of Twilight, Edward promises to stay with Bella no matter what. Yet at the beginning of New Moon, he massively overreacts to the supposed threat of danger and decides to break that promise, rendering Bella suicidal. Maybe this isn’t traditionally abusive, but it’s unnecessarily damaging.
Control games and power plays – All the above points serve the idea that Edward’s prevailing character (served by his jealousy) is controlling. And I don’t care how ‘powerful’ and ‘omniscient’ and ‘old and wise’ Edward is, when you’re in a romantic relationship with someone one partner cannot be completely dominating and the other submissive (unless it’s a BDSM relationship, but that’s another subject entirely). It simply isn’t healthy, particularly when it’s supposed to be this ‘great love of all the ages’ and representative of an equal partnership.
2. Intentions
Let me just say this once to make it clear: intentions (good or bad) do not matter. It’s an instance of the classic phrase acta non verba, or “actions, not words.†It doesn’t matter if I tell you “I love you so much!†if I immediately follow that statement by trying to kill you. It doesn’t matter if I honestly DO love you and I STILL try to kill you; the action of attempted homicide still stands (and I’ll be charged with that) regardless of how I feel about it. If I kill someone and then say “I made a mistake†or “I loved him/herâ€, the fact that I feel bad about it in retrospect does not change the irreversible fact that I did, in fact, kill someone.
So if Edward removes the engine from Bella’s truck and then replaces it later, the fact that he replaces it later is irrelevant to the issue at hand; the fact that he performed the abusive act in the first place. I don’t care if he felt bad about it or changed his mind; he still performed the act to begin with.
If Edward only does anything “in order to protect Bellaâ€, it’s again an instance of the irrelevance of intentions. Simply put, he doesn’t have the right to upend another person’s life or to attempt to control what that person does, even if he cares about them. It is not my roommate’s place to lock me in our room to prevent me from going out and getting trashed, even if she thinks she’s doing it to “protect me†or “because she cares about me.†Likewise, it isn’t Edward’s right to decide who Bella sees, when she sees him, where she sees him, and for how long. Just because he decided NOT to kidnap Bella for the weekend a second time doesn’t make the fact that he kidnapped her for a weekend for the first time moot.
Basically, intentions don’t matter. Actions matter. Even if Edward changes his mind or feels bad about it, that doesn’t erase the fact that he performed the act in the first place. If he feels bad about it, it doesn’t mean that his character isn’t an abusive one; you don’t judge a character based on the person he is by the end of the novel (or series); rather, you judge them (and form an understanding of them) by incorporating EVERYTHING you learn about them throughout the series. So while Edward DOES change and DOES make different decisions, his good decisions don’t negate the bad ones. He performs an abusive act = he is abusive, even if he feels bad about it. Capisce?â€
Doing anything for true love doesn’t include allowing your significant other to be in charge of you, or control your every thought/ action/ etc. Your True love wouldn’t ask you to do that, even if it was for protection.
I however still do not find this book sexist, but how would it hurt people feelings? Its this person opinon.
A book series written by Stephenie Meyer that’s captured that heart of gazillions of teenaged girls around the world. It’s centered around the romance between Isabella Swan (Bella), the awkward new girl in school, and Edward Cullen, a gorgeous vampire she meets. Although the book is pretty addicting, it has to be the worse book i’ve ever read in terms of originality, clichés, plot, and writing.
Cliché #1:
The new girl in school who is awkward and clumsy and terrible at everything. How many times have we seen and read this?
Cliché #2:
The new girl falling in love with the hottest guy in school (Edward). No one saw that coming.
Cliché #3:
Despite the new girl’s awkwardness and plain looks, the hottest guy in school falls in love with her. The epitome of originality, am I right? *sarcasm*
Cliché #4:
The new girl is hopelessly in love with the hottest guy in school to the point where you want to slap her because she’ll do literally everything and anything the hottest guy in school will tell her to do just for him.
Cliché #5:
The vampire (who is the hottest guy in school), despite his love for the new girl, thirsts for her blood and struggles to control his bloodlust. Wow.
Cliché #6:
The vampire is a good vampire who doesn’t want to hurt humans, so he feeds off of animals instead. *cough* Louis from Interview with the Vampire *cough*
Cliché #7:
The vampire thinks he’s a monster and that the new girl should stay away from him if she values her life, but of course the new girl risks her life to be with him.
Cliché #8:
The new girl would rather die than not be with the vampire, which is the stupidest thing anyone on this Earth can ever say. Yes, I understand she’s madly and hopelessly and stupidly in love with him, but you only get one life. She isn’t even considerate of the family members she would leave behind who would mourn her death.
There is no plot to the story. It’s just a bunch of events that happens between Bella and Edward.
The writing in the beginning is so plain, and even though it does get better, it’s still not good.
There’s no figuritive language and not much description. The only thing the author seems to describe is Edward’s appearence. Every other freaking sentence is talking about this muscular arms or smile or face or eyes or hair. It’s like she created this book to produce a bazillion teenaged fangirls who are obsessed with Edward and don’t care about the rest of the story. There really is nothing original about this book. Nothing that the author has come up with on her own.
It’s pretty much your cliche vampire romance novel.
A very horrible book written by Stephenie Meyer which brainwahses tweens and stay at home moms into thinking that the perfect man is a controlling liar,and an old cradle robbing vampire.
In conclusion Twilight sucks!
That’s off Urban Dictionary Kendra.
Oh my God what’s with the gigantic passages I can’t be bothered reading them unless they’re funny
Rafal H-
I love Meg Cabot! Sure, what she writes might not be in depth and just kind of light and chick-flicky (cant say i know the word for it), but at least she CAN write! Seriously, for a published writer Meyer is crap. Well JK Rowling isnt that good at writing either but at least her books are very good, and actually has a decent story line. And Meg Cabot is just amazing, i don’t care how people say its childish or whatever to read The Princess Diaries, I love them
Princess Diaries…eh. I prefer Mediator and the Heather Wells Mystery series. Most of them ARE in depth, except for those targetted at younger kids [All American Girl, Princess Diaries]. Mediator I thought was deep but I’m weird. I think it’s Chick-Lit x]
At least, if MEG CABOT uses cliches [what love story doesn’t have a cliche, really], she has an original idea surrounding them [that’s especially what I love about her, her back stories are so original, like Mediator, Princess Diaries, Heather Wells], whereas Twilight is based entirely on a cliche with no original ideas besides, “Holy Crow!”
Sorry I’m hopped up on MEG CABOT. She’s so awesome.
WRITE SHORTER PASSAGES because not many people will read em [I know I won’t] because I have memories of Wikipedia and it is horrible for me. Plus it’s easier to understand.
SO COLD IN AUSTALIA NOW. But I love it ;D
Yes it is off Urban Dictionary. Hell I didn’t write that But its very true
JK Rowling is amazing what are you talking about. Way better than SMeyer or Meg Cabot.
Marissa-
Just becasue somebody has bad spelling doesn’t mean they’re stupid or or lazy! It means they stink at spelling. I’m a strong example of that. I am in english honors and have been for a while and love writing, but I have bad spelling. Woop-di-do! Doesn’t mean anything. I can still write well, I just have mistakes.
CullenKd-
Bella and EDward’s relationship is abusive becasue Bella cannot do anything without the perrmission of her domineering boyfriend! I know he is just trying to protect her and all that but just let her have some space!
Does anybody else here think Robert Pattisonis is ugly?
Oh and Meg cabot ROCKS! Espically The Mediator series! Not better then J.K. Rowling but defintely better then SMeyer!
Rafal H-
Yay, Jesse turns Human! (i’m a strange kid). The tenth princess diaries book is amazing! I don’t know why but i absolutley love it, im like reading it for the tenth time!
I do love Meg Cabots Books, I love the Mediator Series as well, I used to be completely obssesed with them
Is anyone looking forward to the 2nd Airhead book, just out of curiousity?
CullenKid –
Yes, and calling us stupid and selfish won’t hurt our feelings at all. (okay, so my feelings werent hurt, but someone else’s feelings might have been) Quite frankly, SMeyer is a published writer, of course her books are going to be critized, if she isnt able to take the critizism, then she shouldnt come out with a book. And by the amount of money she is making from her books, i dont think a few people on this website not liking her books would hurt her feelings at all
Alex –
I dont know about the others, but i watched the movie and found it completely amazing, which is why i then decided to read the books. I started to read the books with anticipation, then, i was disappointed. It took me about a month to read the second book, when i can usually finish a book that thick in about 6 hours tops. So i really wish i havent read the books now, cause i found the movie absolutely amazing, and its the first time ever that i feel that the movie is better than the book.
WTF-
We actually agree on something!
Not the Rob Pattinson bit though, i find him hot! But only at certain angles, he can be quite ugly at others.
The Mediator Series Is Amazing
btw,
my friend Catriona says that Twilight is a rip off of Interview With The Vampires. Does anyone else feel that way? I cant say i’ve seen Interview With The Vampires so i dont know
Tina-
I’m glad that we agree on something! I think Rob Pattison looks like he is on drugs, and sounds like a girl!
i tried reading interview with a vampire but it did not interest me and i have never seen the movie!
Kendra- It doesn’t matter what you’re good at. If it makes you feel better, I am also top of my class and ALSO have awful spelling. However, they invented spell check for a reason. If you’re using Internet Explorer or something else that doesn’t have it built in (like yours truly), open up a word document, then copy and paste your responses.
WTF-
He’s hotter in HP than in Twilight.
Tina-
I’ve seen Interview and read Twilight, and I can’t say it’s a rip-off. The only thing in common is the ‘vegetarian vampires.’ I can’t see any other resemblance. Maybe it’s because Interview own Twilight into the ground (I want Lestat to show up and kick Edward’s ass personally. Because he totally could.)
Kendra-
Bad spelling and bad grammar together usually equal a lazy person. And I said usually. Everyone makes mistakes, but if your message is reasonably written, than that’s okay, because everyone makes mistakes.
But if it’s written with no punctuation, or constant other mistakes, what does that tell you?
And besides, there is such a thing as spellcheck.
Rae (NONSPARKLY)-
I agree with you about RPattenson being hotter in HP than Twilight. I loved him as Cedric!
I’m not going through all that trouble to post a comment! =P
I didn’t find Interview with a Vampire anything like Twilight. Anna Rice can actually write and had a plot line that stuck to the traditional vampire. I love that book and also the movie. Brad Pitt is a hottie.
I think Robert Pattinson looks like he’s stoned all the time. Hes not in the least bit attractive! He’s a monkeys butt!
Okay…..I think your on drugs! What the heck is the matter with you!!??? Every girl I know LOVES Twilight except the nerds. Oh I forgot… YOU ARE ONE!!!! Go Edward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pixiface33-
Wow. Clever comeback. I’m a nerd, and proud of it. Better to be a nerd than to be an idiot. There’s nothing wrong with being a nerd, so your insult isn’t exactly effective…
Edward can go die for all I care.
Pixiface33-
There is one amazing thing about your comment: You used more exclamation points in the end of one sentance than brain cells in your head.
All in all, I may be a nerd, but you’re stupid. When your looks are gone at thirty and you’ll more or less be useless, I’ll be raking in a six-figure salary. In the long run, I win.
I love fantasy novels. When my sister in law recommended Twilight I was a little skeptical because I saw the movie and I felt that even thought Edward was (smoking) hot I found the movie to be a tad bit uncomfortable to watch….I think when she asked my opinion I said I thought the movie was out right PAINFUL. But she said the movie left out a lot and I should still read the novels. I got through New Moon…BARELY when I decided this book is not only insulting but annoying. Bella is the most pathetic character I have ever read about. It was 500 pages of her whining, crying, bitching, and acting astonishingly uneducated. But the excuse for everything was true love and the references S meyer was making to romeo and juliet were ridiculous. Bella is submissive, dependant, and has no identity that does involve her begging her man to stay. She said herself that she isn’t anywhere near his equal and she’s perfectly fine with that….why because it’s true love. I get it give up you friends, family, ambition, future, and soul…….that’s my favorite give up you SOUL to be with someone that ……wants to kill you every second. I understand the underlying half-truth of Edward must love her to put himself in constant pain…. but that is irrational and outright idiotic. So basically edward gives up nothing but a little guilt for a smell. It makes me wonder truly if he is really in love with her or is in lust with a smell. Also, the romance is outright “suicidal” that either would want to physically harm themselves to hear the others voice, or beg for suicide at the thought that he had lost her. The point of Romeo and Juliet is that their love was forbidden and in the end it was not meant to be. That I believe if twilight was to compare itself in that way it would have been fitting to it to not be meant to be….I mean like the movie I thought New Moon was utterly blubbering and depressing…outright annoying with the constant whining and crying and then unfinished. It was like Bella leaves and Jacob is hold his dick in his hand until the next blubbering book. I did not enjoy New Moon at all, I’m pissed I actually bought the book for 20 bucks and added to this craze and I for damn sure will not go see the next movie, because frankly I think the best acting in the world could not save the character Bella Swan in the least. Miserable. I can’t believe this book is making millions of dollars…..but just like I always say….PEOPLE ARE DUMB AND WILL BUY ANYTHING. How do you think the pet rock became the number one selling toy in the 80’s?
I totally want a Pet Rock
ALLIE – Good thing I read the whole thing x]
The whole JK is better than MEG – matter of opinion, but yes most people probably think so, because Harry Potter is for more ages, both genders, and has more genres. MEG CABOT writes romances for teens [though she does write for adults too] but she writes romance in with another genre, e.g: sci-fi, mystery, history, etc
She wrote a kids series though, Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls, which I read and I thought was alright, though if I was 8 I would’ve LOVED it x]
Dix – I mean, Pixeface –
What’s so bad about being a nerd? Do you have something against intelligence? Obviously.
Pixeface-
Actually the ‘nerds’as you like to call us started this book and then all teh stupid preppy bitches started to read it becasue they follow trends. Thats what they do with their life, follow other people. “OMG Edward is sooo hot! I love this book, this is the only book I’ve read. AHHH becasue I can’t read!”
Don’t talk about us awsome nerds when your useless to society.
ALLIE-
I Completely Agree
Kendra –
I must say, put behind our differences in the past, i agree with your last comment.
Pixiface33-
Whats wrong with nerds?
Sweetie, you may just be too stupid to realise, but without nerds, you sure as hell would not be sitting at a computer right now. And comparing the salaries of a pretty face such as…well…lets say a Playboy bunny, and Bill Gates, i think its obvious to who comes out on top
And quite frankly, how does appreciating good literature make us nerds anyway? Just because you’re too stupid to tell what a good book is, doesnt mean we cant.
Rafal H-
I personally think that JK Rowling isnt as strong a writer as Meg Cabot, language wise. The language she uses is quite simple, but then agian, being that way it is easier for us to get into her head, and imagine. And at least she doesnt try to cover it up by raping her thesaurus, *cough mayer cough*
But i guess that makes JK Rowling more of a inspiration, it tells us that we dont have to have Jane Austen’s level of writing to become a great author.
Well, as long as we dont add ‘he’s fast’ ‘he’s very fast’ ‘oh he is so fast’ in every other line’.
Rae-
He was better looking in HP, but i still think hes fugly!
Pixieface-
Are you on drugs?!? Do you like this book because everybody else does? I take honor in being a nerd! Hell of a lot better then being a dumb ass like yourself! Obivously you think literature that sucks is the best!
I liked the article, it hit on the problems I had with Twilight. I don’t hate Twilight, not at all, I enjoyed the story, but the characters are shallow, and Bella is only portrayed as interesting if her life is centred around a boy.
The thing that bugs me the most is the amount of hype around the novels. They aren’t written that well, and the story gets old fast. And obsessed fans- ‘twihards’, or whatever- who say that Twilight is the best book ever, and Stephenie Meyer is a great writer… wow, I could throw my laptop across the room when I read that. :[
-Katrinis
oops in my post above, it’s supposed to say “And Stephenie Meyer is the best writer”
-Katrinis
Rae (NONSPARKLY )-
I liked when you said “All in all, I may be a nerd, but you’re stupid. When your looks are gone at thirty and you’ll more or less be useless, I’ll be raking in a six-figure salary. In the long run, I win.”
Can I applaud you for that? I was giggling so hard.
WTF? is NONSPARKLY-
I’m going to forget about our argument, and say that I agree with your comment. I found it amusingly blunt. So good job.
Marissa is NONSPARKLY-
Why yes, yes you can XD!
Thanks a lot :3 Of course, I have practice. And I get to use the insults since I’ve died my hair to not-blonde!
I’m wondering if i should jump in on this debate, what do you guys think? i’m kind of pressed for time though. i might have made several of twilight fans mad (okay i did), so now i have to go debate with them, but i’m really wondering if i should get in on this one.
Equus-
Which one?
Tina –
Are my MEG CABOT fan senses tingling? Do I sense a MEGCABOT lover in the midst?!
Oh, did anyone want to know WHY I capitalise ‘MEG CABOT’?
P.S: I am loving the pixieface bashing even though it’s all been said before. Vair witty, Rae ;]
Rafal H-
Lol Thank you.
There were several i wanted to get in on.
Pixie
Alex (i think thats what their screen name was)
and a few other people.
Hell I feel like Rafal (no offenese) I’m confused on whats going on and who is debating what. But then again it could be because I’m supposed to be listening to my teacher lecture about Pride and Prejudice and the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth, so that could be why.
Also, Equus where did you get your name? I’m just wondering cuz I take latin and I was studying for a vocab test and one of the words was equus and it means horse.
Equus-
You should get in on this debate so we can all tell these twilighters what a horrible book this is!
Marissa-
Thank you! I don’t know why pixieface thinks this book is so great! I think she just likes it because everybody else does!
I think Bella needs to be killed by James, Jacob needs to fall off a cliff (or whatever they do to die!), and Edward needs to die in a fiery pit of HELL!!!!!
I dont think that some of the largest critics of the book get the point that to most teens, Twilight is just a harmless story. Yes it’s corny and we would all LOVE to slap Bella upside the head for being so clingy, needy, etc., but it’s nice just to go off into a fake reality where you know nothing is real. Honestly, tell me last time you heard that vampires and were-wolves were real and you might walk past one on the street? Hello-no one would go outside with out a gun or something if these things were real.
Are the books the best that I have ever read? No. Is SM the best author in the world, or of all time? Hell no. I know not all teens enjoy this story, and think that it’s stupid or what not, and that is absolutley fine. You are entitled to your opinion lust like I am entitled to mine. Neither one of us is more right than the other, and no amount of cap-lock usage will make someone else’s opinion better than another’s.
I would like to point out that while I think Edward is hot, (although not rob…he’s kinda gross), he does have flaws, like the whole over protective thing. If he were my boyfriend, which i know is not possible btw, i wouldn’t put up with that crap. I couln’t stand having someone breathing down my neck like that all the time.
Bella is whiny and annoying but she didnt always rely on Edward. For those of you who have read the book and criticize it’s lack of feminism or the fact that it sets feminism back at least 100 years, I would encourage you to remember the Port Angeles scene, after Bella is cornered by the drunk men. The thoughts running through her head weren’t “oh I wish I had a big strong guy to save me,” they were more along the lines of “what self defense do I know, how do I get out of here, can I run fast enough to get to safety, and how many of these men can I hurt before I get completely over taken?” The fact that Edward saves her so much is not due to the fact that she is uncapable from saving herself, from other humans at least, but because Edward is controlling and crazy and somewhat psychotic. I know this doesn’t make much sense with my previous ‘Edward is hot’ statement, but just because you know someone is a jerk doesn’t mean they aren’t good looking. That however doesn’t mean that I would ever under ny circumstances, date them.
If you haven’t read Twilight and have an overly negative opinion about it, that’s fine-it’s you ropinion and I have no right to judge it, but I think the old addage “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” comes into play quite nicely here.
And please, don’t over analyze these books. Yeah, they have some flaws, more than just some depending on who you’re talking to, but they are just stories that portray an imaginary person’s life. And all those pesky sexual references and feminism set backs? Twilight has nothing, i repeat nothing, on Christine Feehan’s Carpathian series. If Ms. Rice thinks that Twilight is horrible, she should try reading those books because they are bad.
Any comments? I really tried to be fair and I’m willing to accept some flames if any one has a solid argument against what I’ve said and not just a “Twilight Sucks, BOO!!!” kind of thing.
Liz
Liz-
I think what you’re saying is quite fair tbh
Rafal H-
Meg Cabot, is only like my favorite author of all time!
I love her
High Five!
WTF-
I personally think that, Bella and Jacob should run off together, Alice should fall in love with James(random, i know) and Edward and Jasper should seek love and support within each other in their depressing time.
I’m in a slashy mood today
Equus-
Sure, why not?
Join in with the pixieface (or whatever her name is cant be bothered to scroll back up) bashing.
Madison:
i got it from “Equus” the play. daniel radcliffe was the main character, but they had to cut it short since they just started filming the last Hp movie.
The only people I like in the books are Jacob and Charlie! Good
I am a very dedicated lover of the Twilight series. But i must admit, you are correct on all the accounts you mention. I cannot deny Stepenies lacking writing ability, nor her poorly patched together plots. But I do hold a soft spot in my heart for the series. Why? Im not sure. Maybe I fell under thier spell. I encourage you to continue to raise awareness that these books are not perfect. Poor little fangirls need a rough awakening. And i was one of them, once apon a time.
-a rare fangirl with the ability of multiple view points – Shayla
Liz – well structured argument (Y)
One thing I need to point out though, the Port Angeles scene? No matter what Bella was thinking, she never, EVER defended herself in the whole book, because Edward, the knight in shining skin, came and saved her. That is anti-feminist, because it’s saying Bella can’t save herself. I mean, saving her SOMETIMES is alright because SOMETIMES she’s in need of help, but cmon.
Anyway I like you :}
P.S:
Everytime someone chucks a hissy fit from now on, I say ‘don’t pull a Meyer’.
Shayla:
i would like to welcome you on here and to say thank you for being able to be plesant and sane unlike some of your fellow fans. =)
hope to be seeing more of your posts!
Rae(NONSPARKLY)-
Okay. I applauded you for your awesomeness.
Equus-
Jump in, if you like. We’re all lots of fun. And we’d miss you.
WTF?-
I agree. At first, it was basically unknown, then somehow it jumped into this “phenomenom”, and all the preps/popular kids started reading it, so everyone followed their example.
UGH. People are so desparate to fit in sometimes it makes me sick.
Liz-
I like you. Fair, level headed, and honest. You have some really good arguments. Well said. I’d love to talk to more people like you, but of course, that’s asking for a miracle, basically.
Shayla-
I think what you’ve said is fair, because you’re allowed to be a fan. You just shouldn’t worship the books like the Bible, or something. It’s okay to like something, as long as you know it has its faults.
Good for you for being able to see multiple views.
Rafal H is NONSPARKLY-
“Everytime someone chucks a hissy fit from now on, I say ‘don’t pull a Meyer’.”
Brilliant. Can I use that?
Of course! That’s the point! We must spread the word!
Also use that when a fangirl comes on here and starts screaming at us in caps and abusing the ! key.
OMG!
shut up everyone!!
i like twilight but its annoying me that all u twilighters r putting sooooo much effort into defending it!
and twilight haters are spending all there free time commenting this site!
go and do something else for a change!
stop talking about bloody twilight!!!!!
OMG!
shut up everyone!!
i like twilight but its annoying me that all u twilighters r putting sooooo much effort into defending it!
and twilight haters are spending all there free time commenting this site!
go and do something else for a change!
stop talking about bloody twilight!!!!!
No sé ingles… perdon! pero queria expresar mi opinion sin que los fanaticos se me echen encima y éste es un buen lugar.
Yo me compré el libro por una amiga que estaba obsesionada y me enganché pero no me parecio la gran cosa. HabÃa leido tantos halagos (especialmente en cuanto al protagonista masculino) y resulta que es una novela rosa más, y peor escrita.
Como dijeron allá arriba. No es que la pareja de Edward y Bella en concepto esté mal, pero me molesta ver que la escritora no supo escribir bien la historia. Hago un stop ahà para mirar bien, y no veo amor. Veo lujuria y es muy superficial el enamoramiento de ambos, no me parece suficiente para algo que esta vendido como “la mejor historia de amor jamás contada.†De modo que estoy decepcionada porque después de lo que habÃa oñdo decir del libro tenÃa otras expectativas.
OMG !
fermez chacun ! !
j’aime le crépuscule mais son me gêner que tous les twilighters r d’u mettant le sooooo beaucoup d’effort dans le défendre !
et les haters crépusculaires sont dépenser tout chronomètrent là librement le commentaire cet emplacement !
allez faire autre chose pour un changement !
cessez de parler du crépuscule sanglant ! ! ! !
OMG!
schließen Sie jeder!!
ich mag Dämmerung aber sein Stören ich daß alle u twilighters r, die sooooo viel Bemühung in das Verteidigen sie setzen!
und Dämmerung haters sind die Ausgabe, die Zeit festsetzen dort alle ist frei, kommentieren dieser Aufstellungsort!
gehen Sie noch etwas für eine änderung tun!
stoppen Sie, über blutige Dämmerung zu sprechen!!!!!
OMG!
皆を!ç· ã‚ãªã•ã„!
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!!!!è¡€ã®ãŸããŒã‚Œè¿°ã¹ã¦ã„ã‚‹ã“ã¨ã‚’æ¢ã‚ãªã•ã„!OMG!
皆を!ç· ã‚ãªã•ã„!
ç§ã¯ãŸããŒã‚Œç§ã‚’æ‚©ã¾ã™ã“ã¨ã‚’ã“ã¨ãれã®é˜²å¾¡ã«soooooを多ãã®åŠªåŠ›å…¥ã‚Œã‚‹ã™ã¹ã¦ã®uã®twilighters r好む!
ãã—ã¦ã‚³ãƒ¡ãƒ³ãƒˆã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹ãŸããŒã‚Œã®hatersã¯ã™ã¹ã¦ã®ãã“ã«ãƒ•リータイムをã“ã®å ´æ‰€ä½¿ã£ã¦ã„ã‚‹!
変更ã®ãŸã‚ã®ä½•ã‹ä»–ã®ã‚‚ã®ã‚’ã™ã‚‹è¡Œããªã•ã„!
!!!!è¡€ã®ãŸããŒã‚Œè¿°ã¹ã¦ã„ã‚‹ã“ã¨ã‚’æ¢ã‚ãªã•ã„!
yeah…..
i can speak many languages…..
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………….
Rafal H is NONSPARKLY-
Okay! I definitely will then.
Kanick-
Either you can speak many languages…or you can use Google Translate. One or the other. You comment(s) had nothing to add to the discussion, and your grammar/spelling was awful.
If you’re going to comment, make it something interesting, not the same thing in five different languages.
P.S., I mean “your”, not “you”. Sorry for the typo.
I agree with Milley.
Kanick – Don’t pull a Meyer.
I don’t know why you spammed the page with the languages. It was unnecessary, and a waste of time on Google translate/freetranslate.com
I for one do not spend all my free time here, I was dragged to the beach where I got sunburnt on my chest [there’s just like a rectangle of red in the middle of white] and face
*oh the horror*
WHAT DO I DO I DON’T HAVE ALOE VERA AND I HAVE NO SUNBURN CREAM HELP ME
Rafal H-
Point taken. However it makes me wonder if Twilight isn’t actually anti-feminist, which maybe it is to some extent I realize, but maybe it’s more anti-male? Bella does have a brain in her head (somewhere) and Edward has too much of one, what with all his over thinking and such.
Now guys-and sorry I know this is a stereotype but hey, Twilight is a stereotype-are generally known for over complicating things, which Meyer clearly exaggerates through use of Edward. Bella is everything a lot of girls would like to be-smart(ish), thin, pretty, although those of us who have back bones would like to keep those intact thank you very much. Anyway, character flaws aside, there are girls out there who would like to be Bella.
Edward on the other hand, is a different story. Have you ever heard a guy say that he wants to be Edward? Are you wondering why yet? You are? Good. No, it’s not just the fact that he sparkles, although that could very well be part of it. Think about it for a second. Bella’s “flaws” aren’t actually flaws. They’re insecurities. Edward, however, has 6 of the 7 signs of being a sociopath**, has some anger issues, and to top it all off, he sparkles. What guy in his right mind would want to sparkle? Oh, and you only need 2 of the 7 signs to be diagnosed as a sociopath.
Yes, Bella was only thinking about saving herself, and had Edward not been stalking her, she would have done something to defend herself. But Edward was being stupid and invasive, and therefor Bella didn’t have a chance to do anything. So is it really so anti feminist or is it more anti-male?
Sorry if this doesn’t really make sense…it sounded better in my head.
Oh and stay out of the sun, keep a wet towel on the burn, and keep putting sun screen and lotion on it, and that should help.
Liz
**Seven signs of a Sociopath
1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors-Edward and his family totally stand out of the crowd. They also have no respect for the government. I mean they still pay taxes (I think) but how do you think that they keep the gov’t from figuring out that they don’t die? They doctor documents and hack gov’t computers and all kinds of happy stuff that would land any one else in federal prison for a very long time.
2) deceitfulness-he’s not actually a human.
3) impulsivity-attempted suicide in Volterra anyone?
4) aggressiveness…indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults-He does have a pretty good reason for it, but still, killing people and/or vampires isn’t right. Plus he’s got a major temper.
5) reckless disregard for the safety of others-hello! Bella should never have been allowed to get close to him. It put her at risk
6) consistent irresponsibility-edward is responsible in what way? He misses a lot of school and condones disappearing for a weak because of the way a person smells.
7) lack of remorse…indicated by indifference to hurting or mistreating another…” (APA, 2005)-he’s got no real problem with hurting Jake
Oh, and Kanick? Go jump in a lake. If you didn’t feel strongly about Twilight in some way or another, you wouldn’t have bothered to post in the first place, and if you want us to do something better with our time, please don’t waste it with your spam.
Thanks.
Kanick-
Was it really all that necessary for you to post all that?
Quite frankly, since the article is in english, i’m assuming that everyone here can speak english, so what was the point?
Liz-
I dunno, but i think the fact that Meyer is a mormon convinces more people that the book is sexist towards females. I personally think that being able to marry more than one women is just sick.
Rafal H –
Oh dear me, i do love that saying
Kanick-
Wow i’m glad you can copy and paste!!!
kanick-
If you don’t like people talking about twilight then go away! Nobody will miss you! If youadn’t noticed this is a blog about twilight and so we can talk about what we want,when we want!
Marissa-
I hate people who are like that, its not that hard just to act like yourself, and not everybody else!
Rafal H-
I think that is my new saying for the day!
Has anybody read any Jodi Picoult books like The Pact?
Rafal H is NONSPARKLY-
I wish you luck in your conquest for sunblock.
Liz-
I think you have a decent point there, and you obviously did you research, but I don’t think that Edward was supposed to be a psychopath. He’s supposed to be the perfect boyfriend, and all that.
But I don’t know. You could be on to something.
WTF? is NONSPARKLY-
I know, right? It’s like seriously, no one is going to hate you if you stand out from the crowd a little bit.
For some reason, some people find it hard to be themselves. I don’t know why, but it sure as heck annoys the crap out of me.
And no, I haven’t read anything by Jodi Picoult, but I want to start reading her; her books sound really good!
Liz:
Hmm… That’s a very, very interesting conclusion… In fact, I see only one flaw in your argument: Meyer. I tend to be relatively good at gauging intelligence, and she is either not smart enough to pull of the psychopath thing on purpose, or an even better evil genius than I am.
Oh! And hi everyone! I’m back :D!
Rae(NONSPARKLY)-
Hello! Glad you’re back.
Marissa-
Glad to be back :D!
Rae –
WB [yes, Warner Bros]
Liz –
I know what you mean, that the male stereotype is negative, but Stephenie Meyer didn’t pick up on that, I don’t think, and you ask an average tween girl, and she will say Edward is the epitome of awesomeness [I USED TO BE THAT, YOU KNOW] and the standard for boyfriends now. They are either jealous of Bella or love her soooo much and hate Alice [they want Jasper!]
So really I don’t think the negative stereotype was meant, Meyer is just a psycho with not very well thought out characters.
I’m sorry I just feel strongly about characters in particular – that’s why I LOVE Harry Potter, the characters are so well thought out and clever, the names are unique and have a meaning to them.
Still have sunblock. If I touch it it’s so hot!
sunburn**
I understandhat you are saying in this article and that some people may think of Twilight as sexist but you also have to realize that when you are dating a super powerful and strong vampire it’s obvious that you are going to end up as the damsel in destress at some point. And as for the fact that Bella is not so plain and that many guys seem to like her, well i think thats the point of Stephenie Meyer saying she’s plain. I think she’s trying to show girls out there that being a plain jane isn’t a bad thing and it’s not really looks that count. I’m just saying this as my own opinion though. This is a very well written article and I like the way you have dug into the story to analyze the book.
This is something my friend made up about the ending of Breaking Dawn:
Edward has postponed the wedding over and over for no apparent reason.Bella sets a date and sticks to it, but the night before she catches Edward in bed with Jacob. They explain that they’ve been in love even before she’d ever shown up. Bella goes crying to Mike who is still madly in love with her, and Bella realizes he’s what’s best for her and marries him!
Two Years later:
Bella has a baby named E.J. (Edward-Jacob), and is pregnant with another. Edward and Jacob got AIDs (lots of cheating butt-sex here, oh my!), and are on their death beds. As a final sting, Bella, and Mike divorce because Mike is obsessed with having sex with squirrels, and kumquats! And that is……..
THE REAL END
P.S. Team Mike:1 Team Edward/Jacob: 0
As you can see neither one of us like the ending to Breaking Dawn!
Tina-
Your comment about Bella and Jacob running away together is really funny but as you can see above, thats how i think it should have ended!
Marisssa-
If you read any book by Jodi PIcoult you should read The Pact! It is such an amazing book!
WTF?-
Your friend’s version of BD so totally PWNS SMeyer’s pathetic excuse for a book.
And I’ll have to check out the The Pact sometime!
What a load of rubbish,….
twilights great, a good read, and if someone doesn’t like it he/she/it shall go get a life and do something else.
Rafal H-
That’s probably why I hate Twilight: There are no characters, no people, only mindless puppets. I mean, a book can have absolutely NOTHING super-special-awesome HAPPEN and remain interesting to me, as long as the characters are amazing and develop well during the story. However, if the characters suck, no matter how good the plot, it’s boring.
OMG! JKR thought out her characters’ NAMES?! That so beats my hat-naming routine… (I come up with male and female names for my people and draw them out of a bag. It’s very effective for people with no head for naming)
Oh, check this out XD: http://gejimayo.deviantart.com/art/Twilight-Abridged-115501962
nefera-
If we’ve read the books- which I have- and was disappointed by them because of the lack of plot, lack of character development, and were overall unimpressed with the “saga”, then why should we get a life?
We’re entitled to dislike something, even if it’s the “popular read”, or whatever.
Rae-
I agree with what you said about the characters. If they suck, I can’t enjoy the plot either.
I might have to try out your method for naming characters one day, if I’m stuck.
I kind of like it; it sounds very effective.
Marissa-
It IS effective. It used to take me hours to come up with original names, and just as long to come up with normal sounding ones (since the general rule was in my old school that if you used the name of anyone you knew that the character was totally based off of them). Now I just make up tons of words at once and bring out the bags when needed.
Rae-
Hmm. Good to know. Want to know my trick? I just go to a baby names website. That works too.
Marissa-
Where do you think I get the names for the list?
If I’m actually looking at the site, I have to chose one that matches their personality /just perfectly/. That’s why it took so long.
Sorry, I meant to say that that was where I got the names for normal people or names from a certain culture.
For my main character, I choose a name I like atm; like, for my very first story in my scrapbook in my massive scroll the literally went
d
i
a
g
n
o
l
like that, I liked the names Aimee and John [people in my class before]. The fads that I remember were Roxy and then…don’t judge me…Trixy. Now I am LOVING the name Melissa.
For the other characters, I just choose according to their … character. Like for the tree hugger, for some reason I like Lily, and for the boy-next-door it’s Sam, etc.
Also if I can actually FIND my thread on twilightsucks.com it’s about how all the Villians start with a V…Vadar, Voldemort, Volturi, Vanessa Hudgens…
Rae –
NICE. Did you do that?
nefera-
Since you like the book then you should go get a life! You are just another zombified gir who is inl love with Twilight! Just like everybody else!
WTF-
lol
you’re endings great
wayy better then BD, and makes more sense actually.
Rafal H-
Vanessa Hudgens
lol
Urgh, i hate that person….she pisses me off
Rae-
Well that makes sense. I can take forever deciding a name, but usually I already have one in mind when I start my story. Or I have a few names that I just narrow down.
I like to look at their meaning, and that kind of thing.
Rafal H-
I kinda like the name Trixy, but Bellatrix pretty much ruined it for me. And the name Tom, as well.
My current favorite name is Lily. And it’s not because of Harry Potter. I’ve seriously loved that name before I knew she was such a big part of the series.
I like your villians start with V thing! That’s brilliant- I never thought about it like that until you said something.
Marissa –
Yeah, I don’t. I’ve never put much stock into names, so…
I’ve actually got a character in my book named Bellatrix…
Rae-
Well, you don’t have to. You can do your own thing. It’s your story, after all.
You’ve got a character in your book named Bellatrix? Is she evil? I’m sorry, but now I can’t think of anyone not evil named Bellatrix. Or at least, it’s really hard.
Marissa-
No, she’s not evil. In fact, she’s probably the sweetest and most innocent girls in the story (One is a trouble-maker, one is a manipulating bitch, one is a total tom-boy, one is a hardened killer and the other is… well… Kat.). Of course, she’ll probably be turned to the dark side eventually, but she’s only five when the book is done with.
Bellatrix is such an awesome minion ;]
Tina-
Thanks I thinkall of the books ending were totally gay and retarded and need to be redone!
Do yuo know what i think, Flora is a really pretty name!
To join into the name-ing thing
i love the name Angelina
And Monique.
Rae-
Hmm. I guess I can see that. I’m trying really hard, mind, but I can see it.
Rafal H-
Agreed! Bellatrix was a brilliant minion.
WTF?-
Flora’s a nice name. I like the name Elizabeth. What do you think of that?
Tina-
I like the name Angelina more than Monique, but they’re still both nice names.
Marissa- lol.
Rae-
Is her nickname “Bella”?
Marissa-
Nope, Trixie.
I’m so alone. Do you think the Twilighters have backed down or something?
I donno. Maybe they’ve all gone into a coma since it’s been so long since a new book or movie.
Or (hopefully) moved on with their lives.
Sorry, the above was to Rafal H.
Marissa-
I like that name but it is too common! I know alot of people with that name or its their middle name!
I have a question for everybody! If Twilight was reversed and Bella was the Vampire and Edward was the lonely pathetic human would you still think it was sexist, and anti-feminsts? I just wanted to know what you guys thought!
I’m still here, but haven’t check the site in a while.
WTF–
Good question. Never thought it was sexist so…
Rae-
Okay, good!
Rafal H-
One can only hope that’ll happen eventually.
WTF?-
Um…It depends. Maybe not as much, but it depends on how Bella acted. Good question though!
And I know actually one person whose name is Elizabeth, and then two whose middle name is Elizabeth. Maybe it’s common in certain states? I don’t know.
Hi
also
Hi from Denise, my totally sparkly friend
Shall we try to convert her, guys?
Kudos to the writer of this blog, I see your points and I do agree with a lot of parts of what you wrote.
I’ll start with the good parts, for the sake of Twilighters *cough* twitards *cough*
Good Points:
It’s getting kids to read
It’s a way for some kids to spend some free time when consumed by boredom
Requires no thought to read it. Very, very light novel, no extremely light.
Bad Points:
Sorry to say, but all the female characters are demonstrated as either too weak to save herself, inferior to men, a pain in the neck, or too minor of a character to know whether or not she’s part of the categories I mentioned.
Too unrealistic and fake-y, seems like some sex-fantasy Meyer made up in her head… What does her husband feel about this? Does he notice Meyer obsessed with her leading male character?
Stephanie Meyer overuses words too much.
Jacob is a pedophile, he was cool in the beginning, but since the 3rd book, he got really screwed up!
Why does Bella’s life always have to revolve around Edward? Can’t she have a hobby other than reading and drooling over him?
Bella pushes her loved ones away when Edward comes in the picture, and that’s unhealthy and probably hurts her father more than she’ll ever know
Instead of taking care of their children, Bella and Edward hump like wild animals constantly while Jacob the Pedophile gets really close to their only kid.
Edward shows no emotion whatsoever other than when he throws little fits when he doesn’t get his way. In that way, he kind of contradicts himself
His logic makes no sense
A combination of an Angsty-Sue and a Gary-Stu, even more annoying than normal Gary-Stus
Getting kids to read?
Kids…meaning…10- ?
They should not be reading this crap
Eclipse was blatantly pornographic…also the morals are horrible; get married young, have devil spawn and ditch your friends and family for your first, high school boyfriend.
I agree with the light reading, because the first time I read everything I like it, but now everytime i read Twilight or try to at least I go *sigh* why, God, why.
P.S: Did you know that the term Mary-Sue is used for males and females?
WTF?-
It would depend. If Bella was a vampire and Edward was a human and he was still overprotective of her, it would be even more sexist.
If Bella was the overprotective one, first of all she wouldn’t be Bella anymore and Edward wouldn’t be Edward since that’s pretty much all there is to their personalities. And no, then it wouldn’t be sexist since there would be a mix of strong and weak females and strong and weak males and the males that aren’t macho are still loved, as are the women who aren’t weak. It would still be an abusive relationship, but the book would no longer be sexist.
Lemme see, stereotypes..
Alice – Girly shopaholic. Potential to be a ‘strong female character’ but never got close enough
Rosalie – Blonde and bitchy
Esme – Motherly type
Ah CBF. Can I ask … how the hell did Bella get these crappy anti-feminist morals with a single mum? I don’t know about it, but from what I see wouldn’t she be a LITTLE stronger, and not act like a horny 30-year-old housewife*COUGHSMCOUGHCOUGH*
is it just me, or does Meyer have something against blondes? Lauren and Rosalie are presented as vain bitches. The hell?
I know. I don’t think Meyer can construct her own characters so she preys off stereotypes.
So cold.
Rafal H –
Yeah, and she’s not even smart enough to combine several steriotypes and then bend some of the rules of each.
Rae-
Isn’t that sad she can’t even combine several stereotypes? Really, it’s not that hard. You’d think she never went to school and read books or something.
And I’m not a blonde, but I would be insulted if all the bitchy girls (Irina, Rosalie, Jane, and Lauren) were all blondes. Which they pretty much are.
Then she pretty much insults brunettes- which I am- by giving us Bella.
Is there any chance we could just burn all the copies of Twilight in the world?
Marissa-
I know. This is the thing about SMeyer, though: I don’t hate her. I just think that she’s far too stupid to be allowed to do anything but play in heavy trafic or leap off the Sear’s Tower.
lol. That’s true, you got hit with bad-protagonist! Although… come to think of it… I might have too… (I’m natureally a blonde, but I dye my hair red).
Not all, some will still survive.
Haha, wow.
Why doesn’t the comments page have different pages? XD The scroll bar is like a millimeter long.
I loved the Twilight series for personal enjoyment. I love any kind of romance novels, they’re so sweet. <3
And I think you’re overanalyzing it– your article was kind of harsh, IMO. But I do agree with some points you made like saying that it has horrible grammar. UGH. Seriously. Those fragments annoyed the hell out of me.
And am I the only Twilight fan who doesn’t like Edward *very much*? I personally find him boring and too cliche. I’d rather have a guy that makes me laugh or just completes me.
And…posting a comment with cuss words and “U SUCK! TWILIGHT FOREVER !!!!!!” or something similar is extremely immature. Grow up people.
rosieechan-
lol, I agree. We SHOULD have pages XD!
Anyway, I just have one question: You hate Edward. but love Twilight. How is that, seeing as the only possible appeal seemes to me to be the fact that they’re selling girls a ‘hot’ guy to drool over?
@ Rafal H:
Hey, I’m trying to be a little optimistic here! XD
The term is used for both for both males and females…? Thanks.
Yay! I can call macho guys Mary-sues now!
And for the obsessed fangirls, don’t you realize you’re setting up a horrible stereotype for more intelligent fans (if there are any)? And screaming out immature insults at us won’t change our minds, it’ll make us more resentful. Gosh. *rolls eyes*
Well honesty I agree with some of you point, even I am a Twilight fan!
What is so wrong with Bella n Edward relationship? Gosh.. They are in LOVE! Hevent you being in Love? Havent you feel that you need to have that person by your side as much as posible? May be you are not one of those who feel that way, but surprise! They do exist!
Everything depends on personalities, of course. There are couples that have their separates lifes besides their love, but there are also couples that are always together and depend on eachother.
I think that is not a big deal to undesrtan it. Beacouse if you dont yo can turn around your head and, im am sure, you will see that kind of couples.
It is not about a female in troubles that need a male protector; It is just a clumsy girl that have troubles with her equilibrium, it is completely normal I can asure you! Im one of the persons that have that troubles.. She has deal perfectly with it since she was in Phoenix, she survive without a male character to help her.
There you have also Alice she is incredibly strong fast ang good (just as a male could) even though she is tiny and thin. Want a prove? In Eclipse when they are practicing how to combat
neophytes, she did win against Jasper, a strong male character. If you are not convinced you also have Rosalie, she is a really good killer and fighter. In these novels females are definitely not weak!
If she were describing females as weaks then I am sure I will not being saying this.
You say that he always save her. Its not that he is just overprotective just as Jasper, it doesnt mean that “women” need protection and “men” bring them it, as a prove you have Emett and Rosalie, Rosalie seems to be weak because she is so pretty and perfect, well its not that way, even though he is exceptionaly strong he is not trying to protect her all the time even if you try to understand properly what does the book tell us about every character youll see that Emett has more probabilities to die than Rosalie because he is just strong but Rose is a crafty fighter.
Edward and Bella relationship.. Think that it is sick? Ok maybe, but havent you heard that the forbidden fruit taste the sweetest? Almost all girls had a secret boyfriend (Because their parents didnt want her to have boyfirends or whatever the reason was), ok that is not the bes thing to do but it happens, you cant deny it, and you cant deny either that it was exciting everytime you were metting him in everywhere hidden! It is exactly the same but in different circumstances. That love was forbidden, dangerous, adventorous, exciting, rules breaking and in somehow it was awesome, apassionate, sweet.. It was just their love against everything, they survive soo many things together just to keep their love intact!
Was he the only one that saved her? Havent she helped him to figured some things out? NO! If you dont remember when Victoria was trying to kill Bella, all of the Cullens were helping not just the males, and there were also the wherewolfs who has a female member (Leas Clearwater) in their pack. She did help them to discover who was behind everything, she helped him to realize that it was Victoria who was organizing Bella’s murder.
What is all your problem with the stereotypes? Firstable there is not just blondes playing bitchy roles there you have Jessica, she is not blonde but I think that she is the most bitchy there! Jane she is a really important part of Vulturis’ clan even she is blonde she is not just an empty head.. She is not bitchy she is just cruel just as the rest of the Vulturis clan! Rosalie: her bitchyness is just beacuse she have always beeing the most beautiful woman in the world, it’s not because she is blonde. Then you have Renee, she is blonde and not bitchy at all.
Is she ofending brunettes by Bella’s brunette being? I dont think so, I know she is exceedingly stupid, she is in some how strong. If she is not, then how could she resisted the humans sent when she was hunting for her very first time, even she was so thirsty and following her senses? How does she block Edward, Jane and Aro’s powerfull gift? We gotta admit it she is strong.
About al wedding drama stuff: She really didnt want to get married! She did marry him because it was treatment. Why? Because she didnt want to be another stupid gir who marry her first high school boyfriend (just as you said).
Did she abandoned her College? Not true. As you could notice all of them have studied a lot of diferent university carreers. There you have Carslile as a prove. He is a Doctor, he did study just as normal people. Even if you read Midnight sun draft (available in Steohenie Meyer official site) you will know that edward had studied in University too, he did graduate as doctor from university, Carlile is not the only doctor in the family.. What does it supose to mean? It means that she could go to College and even University whenever she want.
Now. About Jacob and Bella lovestory, everything started in New Moon when Bella was a Zombie, yes, she was because her love was gone, her life didnt have sense without Edward, but is it a Female needing a male to take a step? No.. She was in zombie state because she had built her whole life in Forks with him and his family (because I have to say it she didnt just miss Edward she really did Alice to, she was her Best Friend), they were doing EVERYTHING together, (taking they by Cullens and Bella), once they are gone it is completly reasonable she felt empty.
Then she started hanging out with Jacob (named by herself as her own private sun), who awake her, he was her friend, who wouldnt like to have a friend like Jacob? He made her laugh all the time, he was sweet with her, he was complacent.. So she started to get alive and enjoy life again she still feel incomplete but when she was by his side she completely forget it. That wasnt because he was a man, it was because he was her friend he was exactly what she needed. Even more you can realize that it wasnt because he was a man, because she said she wish he was her little brother, she never saw him as a man (taking man by someone you can fall for) until he kissed her in Eclipse.
She kissed him because she was afraid for his life, because she believed Jacob were truly going to let him die in the fight. It was not some crazy teeneger in love thinking on suicide because his love didnt corresponds him, it was a teeneger tryng above all to take off the blindness of his love.
Teenegers falling for “hot” Jacob? True
Teenegers falling for “perfect” Edward? True
Teenegers tryng to be Bella? Totally NOT TRUE
I can asure you that most of twilight readers dont see Bella as an example to follow. Believe me I know a lot of teenegers twilights fan and they do not want to be bella! What do they say then? I dont wanna be Bella, I just want Edward by my side. Just as girls who like Jacob they do not want to be Reneesme or Nessie, they want just want Jacob.
That doesnt mean that they want a “sick vampire” or an “arrogant werewolf”! They want the almost perfect boyfirend, why perfect, are they crazy? No, they just look at him as the perfect guy because he knows how to make you fall for him, he knows what to say and what to do! ANd they also like Jacob because he is the kind of guy you will never be bored with.
Beside everything I must admit I really pieced off when Bella was so strong that she could control herself for biting humans and they all thought it was because they had prepare her for it. And I really get mad with the fact that they were kind of taking credit away frome her and she didnt even notice it.
Well this is my point of view, I know maybe you will not agree with me and I dont blame everyone see it the way they like but hope will make you at least think about it
I dont like many things of twilights saga but I really like it.
An sorry for my looooooong comment but I was trying to express my self properly with my absolutly nonperfect English..
Twilight fuckig rocks you fucking tool bitch as face fuck!
ROB.. FUCK ME <3
Thank you! This is everything I’ve always wanted to say and more. Stephanie Meyer is a horrible writer who unfortunately thinks that her success means she is a good. Her success basically proves the fact that people want to read bad fanfiction with happy endings. Stephanie Meyer is terribley self indulgent, she can’t stop at three horrible books, no, she has to make fourth, and oh, a series from Edward’s point of view. Meyer’s characters fall short of a Mary-Sue, there is absolutely no personality there and a whole lot of “flaws” that aren’t really flaws, such as clumsiness and Edward’s whole “dangerous except really perfect” thing. The only one I liked was Jacob, that is, until Jacob became a mirror image of the pathetic sap Bella is.
Alright, twilight is fucking awsome! it is because rob is in it, if you read it.. well read it an see, its a twilight thing….
baha!
and rob im next in line (:
You shit faceed motherfuckkaaa! twilight is my life!!!!!
get a life, your just mad that rob turned you gaay so you make fun of his film (:
Kassie/Kaitlyn – I am fairly sure you are the same person. Go troll somewhere else.
And I’m a girl. And Robert Pattinson is an ANTI-TWILIGHTER, if you’d look at his interviews and LISTEN, not just think about how awesome his hair is. Which it is, but still.
Guy with long comment –
Your comment was too long. I CBF reading it. I hope you are an anti, so it was not required of me to read it.
Thank God for this article! I thought I was alone in the world! I can’t stand Twilight.
When it comes to rabid fangirls, I have been shoved against lockers at school, my homework torn up and even BITTEN. Yes, bitten. She yelled “I’M A CULLEN” and bit me. She broke the skin. I smashed the freak in the face, giving her a bloody nose, and I got away with it. Why? Everyone saw just how INSANE that girl was, so when she went crying to the principal I had a bloody arm and thirty witnesses to back me up. Jeez, these fangirls are getting worse.
ugh. i hate the freaky obsessed twilighters. they make the normal twilighters who can see the arguments both sides present look like idiots. if you really want people to listen to you, try being calm and reasonable and not acting like an idiot.
*cough* Kassie/Kaitlin *cough*
Andrea Gaffe-
Your comment had some…decent points, and you stated them calmly, to say the least, which most of us really appreciate.
Now, let’s get down to it:
Bella and Edward are supposedly “in love”. But there are a LOT of things wrong with their relationship. Like, it’s abusive, Edward is overprotective to the point of being creepy, Bella can’t go anything on her own unless Edward gives her permission, and helps her do whatever.
That is not love. It’s just not.
And you’re stereotyping when you say “Almost all girls have secret boyfriends”. Uh…no, they don’t. Most of the blondes are the stereotypical bitches, and yes, Jessica was obnoxious as well.
But it was still mostly the blondes. Rosalie contributed nothing useful, nor did Renee if Bella turned out as screwed up as she is. Jane? Jane is merely a puppet controlled by the Vulturi.
I’m personally offended by Bella being a brunette, seeing as I am one as well. I’m insulted that such an idiot is at all like me. She has hardly ANY redeeming traits. Bella is a Mary Sue in every way, and unlikable in most respects. Hardly relatable, in my opinion.
The wedding and college thing was screwed up. She shouldn’t have been forced to do anything she didn’t want to. And guess what happened? Bella was forced to abandon college, and play little Susie Homemaker.
It’s pathetic that Bella no longer had any friends outside the Cullens. There’s more to life than JUST them. Her fellow humans actually had a LITTLE- not much, though- depth to them, other than the perfect all the time Cullens.
Jacob becomes crazy in Eclipse, obsessing over Bella basically as much as Edward. He forcibly kisses her. That’s not good! There’s no excuse for that kind of action.
Bella didn’t deserve any credit for her role as a selfish, whiny bitch. If she didn’t exist, the world of Forks would have been a MUCH better place.
Sita-
That’s ridiculous how obsessive the Twihards are. Don’t you wish we could go back to B.T.? (Before Twilight.) I wish it didn’t exist. Then maybe this kind of thing wouldn’t happen.
Rebecca-
I totally agree with you.
Kassie/Kaitlin-
You’ve got serious issues. And I say that as lightly, and nicely as I can.
Liz-
It would be nice if the Twilighters acted calm and reasonable, but that’s pretty much impossible, save for a very few people.
But it would be nice if their comments had decent spelling/grammar, and actual points, other than “YOU SUCK! TWILIGHT’S THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED! YOU SUCK AT LIFE!”
Yeah. That REALLY gets old after awhile…
I am now convinced that all of you other Antis are stalking me… you just know when I leave the house and get all the good Twilighters before I come home….
Wonderful review! Thank you for pointing out everything wrong with her so-called “saga”.
thats so true
HAHA. funny.
too bad theres another book coming out!!
MIDNIGHT SUN.
its basicaly Twilight again, but in Edward’s point of view.
lolol.
Cannibalistic Mermaids…’sirens’. Her next book.
I don’t think she realises CANNIBAL is only valid with humans; i.e: a person who eats human flesh.
Does she mean mermaids eating humans or mermaids eating mermaids? Wtf?
She has ruined yet another has christian anderson for me.
Oh, look at this, a message from another user on Yahoo! Answers
From: Twilight lover freak!=]
Subject: TwilightLover Freak *AKA* me!
Message: Ya i couldnt put this on my asnwer so I’ll just email you!
Are you really that stupid?
Well I guess since all you read is crap i can understand!
It means your just annoying and Stupid for asking this Question!
Btw………YOU are a HATER!
Your just jealous because when you try to write something no ones likes it so your picking on a Grear Author (Stephenie Meyer ) to get attention instead!
Actually I am a good Writer considering i got commended performance on my story!
So you can Kiss IT!
For ALL those HATERs down there! i have 3 words for yall…
GET OVER IT
For that little girl down That called me Brat i have 3 words for you!
GET A LIFE
Oh I’m sorry do you even know what that means?
hahahah
Thanks for putting me in the Spolight in makes me feel a whole lot better!
I dont care if i get 20 Thumbsdown either!
Or much less get my answer deleted cause yall cant handle the truth!
haahahahahaha
=]
I already sent her a message….starting with “Sorry, but you felt compelled to send me this? You say ‘GET A LIFE’…but come on…”
Anyway. Wanna add?
I agree fully with this review. Not only are the books misogynistic, Meyer herself feels the need to bash Shakespeare. Yeah. His works are far superior to Meyer’s in every way, shape, and form.
Then us Antis (Go to Twilightsucks.com) get attacked for hating her books. Not everyone is going to like something, but the Antis can make valid arguments with numerous points and the TwiHards feel the need to repeat themselves and yell a lot. Such a shame really, so many of them were smart girls before the Twilight craze.
Rafal H-
Cannibalistic Mermaids?
Omfg…
You are kidding me.
Cannibalistic fucking Mermaids?
I’m just going to go watch the Little Mermaid now and keep good mermaid thoughts in my head.
Havent been here in a while…
Rae-
Maybe you just live in the wrong time zone. But consider yourself lucky to avoid all the pointless arguments we’ve had to deal with. You didn’t have to, lucky duck.
Rafal H-
When did mermaids and sirens ever come into this? Is that what SMeyer’s going to attempt writing next? Whatever she plans to write, remind me not to buy it.
Wow. Is that girl in a mental institution, or about to be admitted to one, because she’s crazy.
Maybe you could also say: Um…and you’re considered a good writer why?
That was almost as hard for me to read as Twilight was…
Real Vampires = Awesome-
I think you’re totally right. We Antis shouldn’t be bashed because we hate Twilight, but that’s how it goes, I guess.
And you’re right: Such a shame really, so many of them were smart girls before the Twilight craze.
That’s really true- actually, your whole comment is. Way to go.
If you met Mistress Meyer, and you could ask her ONE QUESTION ONLY, what would you ask?
I’d ask;
How do you feel about the fact that you’re sending the message to impressionable young girls everywhere that sexual harassment is alright, as demonstrated in Eclipse by Jacob Black, several times in fact?
That counts as one question!
P.S: Don’t ask the feminist question because this kick ass awesome awesome AWESOME person asked it before and she avoided the question, I’m thinking. Also she competely insulted the girl later on, implying she had no life.
This is another reason I hate Stephenie Meyer more than Twilight. Twilight itself is really, quite harmless, because although it does send the wrong morals to impressionable teens, there are other influences, and hopefully she has intelligent friends/family. But Stephenie Meyer…
Oh God. She won’t die. Twilight will fade, but Stephenie Meyer…she’ll keep doing it!
We must stop her before it’s too late!
All in favour of building a gigantic silencing ray aimed directly at Arizona, say I. All opposed, go listen to Jonas Brothers >;]
Oh that was so mean I’m sorry.
Rafal H-
I am in favour.
But i do like the song SOS, and the jonas brother version of Year 3000.
But seriously, if meyer ruins mermaids, i will personally go and stick a dagger in fucking face.
I Love The Little Mermaid btw
Ok, I’m a 17 year old girl and as many I love the series. I know the books are not the best ever written. At some parts I couldn’t help but think that I would be able to portray the characters better than the writer, sometimes I even had to stop reading because it got so bad. But I love the books anyway and that’s because I don’t take them as anything more than that, fictional books. I love fantasy but that’s it, I don’t go mixing it with reality and I don’t change my views on the world because of one factional book, for god’s sake. It’s just a story, a fantasy.
(Sorry for any mistakes, english isn’t my first language:P)
Rafal H –
personally, I’d ask her if she was planning to make her characters about as deep and interesting as muddy puddles, or if she’s just too stupid to do anything else.
Rafal H-
I don’t know what I’d ask her, but now I’m definitely going to figure that out.
Ok, so I’m not going to say anything rude. For now, if I can keep my temper.
One, if you didn’t like the first book, why did you keep reading the series? There was no point to that. You, posting this thing, was no better then half the people stating reason why they liked it. Need I say more?
Two, yes, there are some bad things about it, but there are good things. And for another thing, IT’S FICTION!! It’s a book, a lot of people are going around looking for something to hate, and that so happens to be Twilight. I love the Twilight Saga, but I don’t understand why people go around saying these thing, when it’s don’t going to do anything. Nothing anybody says is going to make the books dissapear. So, instead of writing these things, why don’t you get off your but, and go get a life!
Sorry, I lost my temper. Oh well!
Ashley –
I refuse to reply to your comment as your ‘arguements’ were repeated so many times. Also, you did not actually defend the ‘book’, nor did you contribute anything useful. You basically just told us we had no lives [though, really, you are lusting over fictional vampires…].
So, anyway, thanks for sharing ;]
I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION CAUSE I’M A CHEATER
Smeyer, why the hell do you think that fantasy is a cause for lack of research? Do you really think that, or are you just ****ing lazy?
Rafal H-
lol, that’s another good one XD!
Ashley-
Well why do u spend your time going on articles that obviously are not in favor of twilight?
People’s views are so completly interesting to read. It is amazing how many people actually care to bother to write bad comments, thats dedication. Many “adults” don’t understand the affect the Twilight series has on teenagers. I really don’t think Meyer said “ok I will write a series that will leave teenagers to feel in need of a man to rescue them, or to show how much better the male sex is.” That will be a problem all in its own. However, I do see what my peers see in the series, the most obsessed ones don’t see Twilight as a sexiest series. There is no subliminal message in the series. As much as adults want to believe that. All the series is, is a FICTIONAL story about a teenage girl that falls in love with a vampire that cares for her. Don’t over think it because when people do then others will begin to see what others don’t see. I do understand that as adults ,some tend to try to understand what the underlying meaning is of all the series but really the majority of people reading the series don’t like it for the reasons most think. Really its fiction, not real, and all teenagers need to realize is its not real life.
UCLA-
UCLA-
It doesn’t matter that it’s fictional. The fact of the matter is that young girls are impressionable. True, there are a lot of readers who at the end of the day know that it’s just a book and they can be their own person. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t just as many people who see this book as their religion. There are girls in almost all of my classes who would let their boyfriend watch them while they sleep or take the engine out of their car if their boyfriend thought it was best for them. They’re breaking up with friends they’ve had since kindergarten because their friends don’t like the book.
You’re in college, so I’d bet it’s not as bad for you, but in high school… it’s horrendous.
(For the record, I’m not an adult. I’m a teenager. But of course, now you’re going to say that I don’t know anything because I’m not old enough to be given an automatic weapon)
I can sense the sharpening of pitchforks and the lighting of torches from the Twihards. Its so depressing.
Let me ask you Twihards a question: Throughout all these comments, you make this one same statement, “IF YOU DIDN’T LIKE IT, THEN WHY DID YOU READ IT?” Well, if I don’t like cajun food, then why should I eat it? Its simple: the author was conducting an investigation (you know, its that thing where you look into something because you are curious).
As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat…and apparently, the plot of this series as well.
Oh sure, I don’t mind that its “cute” and “adorable”. Oh yes, very much so. Lets belittle women and create the unhealthiest relationship ever. It might work for Romeo and Juliet, but in our society (in which the book is set in) that kind of relationship has some serious issues where both people need to go see a therapist…or maybe just go ahead and off themselves.
And for those of you who really want to tear me a new asshole, allow me to save you the time and the effort by saying this: if you honestly are going to defend a work of fiction which portrays everything wrong with a relationship and destroys the vampire concept in its entirety, then I would gladly want to have your job. You must seriously have that much free time to get butthurt over what a bunch of people are speaking the truth about.
Have a good day.
PS: REAL VAMPIRES DO NOT SPARKLE.
Bravo, bravo! I applaud your critique. Thematic criticism aside however, what it really boils down to and what many of you have already stated, is that Stephanie Meyer, simply, cannot write well. Whether I should be admitting this is questionable… but I preferred the movie re-write as a piece of escapist fluff or “junk food” fiction as it was coined in another article I read. Using Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen didn’t hurt either. Go you good things. Critical thinking should be encouraged.
So many newbies
First of all, UCLA –
It doesn’t MATTER if the messages weren’t intentional [you moron]. Fact is, they’re there. And I’m not an adult, I’m 14, I’m a girl, I love romances, and I would have loved Twilight if it had not been for the crappy writing, the crappy characters and the crappy morals. Stephenie Meyer’s excuse for her crappiness is that she didn’t INTEND to publish. First of all, if she didn’t intend to publsih, why in God’s name DID SHE? Also, if she up and decided she WOULD publish, she should have changed the story and – oh, I don’t know – EDITED, considering this was a ‘YOUNG ADULT’ [aka teenyboppers 10-12] novel.
ALSO.
Wtf was the publisher thinking? Don’t they know good writing?
ALSO.
Did you know my 10 year old buddy ol’ pal, in her class, all the people LIKE TWILIGHT
10 year olds. Reading Eclipse. IMPRESSIONABLE 10 YEAR OLDS, BEING TOLD BY A 30 YEAR OLD SOCALLED RESPONSIBLE MOTHER THAT WHAT’S HAPPENING IS ALRIGHT.
I’d rather they listen to Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, as they should!
“Quote:
Question 12: There’s been some speculation on the internet….. about Edward being an abusive boyfriend….. ?
Stephenie: Yeah, yeah, OK. There’s a lot of stuff online that has, honestly, broken my heart recently. It is difficult to read things that take such a negative spin on something that is very personal and also makes a lot of sense inside your head. I think it’s, I have a hard time with that one because to me you have this kid, sure, he’s a hundred and something, but at the same time he’s also seventeen and it’s the first time he’s been in love. And he fully recognizes that he does things wrong, he’s very aware of that. Edward at the beginning of Eclipse goes too far one direction. In the middle he’s like, I’m screwing this up, I’m doing this wrong, I’m not being fair. He goes too far in the other direction. He never quite finds the balance because he’s so black or white about everything. But he has only the best of intentions pretty much at all times, and to think of him as either mean or controlling or having any kind of neg- wanting to impact Bella’s life in a negative way is really not how his character is. ”
He isn’t seventeen, first of all.
neg- wanting? What? What is that?
I’m sorry, but ask any abusive person and they will tell you they have the best of intentions, that they just love the person so much -.-
This rebuttal is really one of the worst. I really hate her FAQs cause she’s so bitchy in them.
“I told you once, I’ll TELL YOU AGAIN.”
“Question 1: Can Leah Clearwater imprint since she’s a girl?
Stephenie: OK. Remember number one? About how things that might happen in the future I’m not gonna answer questions about? OK, that counts.”
-.- MEG CABOT is soooo nice on her site AND so is JK Rowling.
I swear Meyer you should go take a long walk off a short pier.
Off topic;
Noticed how a lot of the best sellers or whatever nowadays are written by women? JK Rowling, Smeyer the smarmy bitch. MEG CABOT is super awesome.
Though Stephen King…Shakespeare…
BUT MARY SHELLEY.
*the debate begins*
I am not, and have never been, a Twilight fan; but we do have to remember that in the beginning, Meyer didn’t plan to publish this. It was just a way to indulge her fantasy (never mind that a woman her age should not be fantasizing about seventeen-year-old boys, no matter how long they’ve lived; she has not acted on it and we can only hope that inaction will continue). The series is shallow and mundane; most of my classmates believe it to be THEBESTBOOKEVAR, but that doesn’t mean it IS (I must impress upon enraged fans that opinion is opinion and regardless of what you type here in OMGCAPSLOCK, people are different from each other; after all, not everyone believes in the Bible, which is a much more ‘meaningful’ book than Twilight).
Meyer isn’t a great author. She is imaginative, but character development is sadly lacking in her books. To be honest, I never even figured out what Edward and Bella loved about each other; there was much ado about, well, nothing. Nothing significant, anyway. Edward was an amazingly talented OMGSOSEXY immortal being, but what exactly was Bella’s reason for loving him? Bella was a (questionably) selfless pretty girl who smelled good, but why did Edward choose her out of anyone he’s ever met in his century of life? (Which raises other questions like doesn’t he feel weird about going out with a girl who’s about ninety years younger than him?)
But, again, she wrote it because she thought it would be fun to write. I don’t know how it got published and I was appalled at the (most likely unintended) themes, but I seriously doubt she went into it thinking she would make abuse out to be okay. In fact, she says that her boyfriends were ‘nice guys.’ It’s probably an oversight on her part, or perhaps more ignored character development. It doesn’t sit well with me, but I can’t fault her for being a mediocre writer. If anything I have to fault the publishers for accepting this drivel. (Dear Hardcore Twilighters, please understand that you can like something and it doesn’t have to be the best thing that’s ever happened to the world. I like mashed potatoes, but I don’t worship them.)
But this article failed to address what I thought to be the most amazing, jaw-dropping part; this wasn’t a love story. It is a vampire ‘romance,’ but it is not about love. This so-called ‘perfect relationship’ was based on miscommunication, lies, threats/intimidation (vocal or not, Bella knows that Edward is stronger than her and can easily physically restrain her from doing what she wants), and curiosity. Within only a few weeks, Bella decided she was ‘in love’ with Edward – even though for one of those weeks, he wasn’t there; and he had continuously lied to her, which isn’t all that inspiring in my opinion. She knew next to nothing about him, but she ‘loved’ him.
Sure, she was pretty independent when she came to Forks. And then suddenly, she wasn’t. She had that big strong stalker (excuse me, I meant boyfriend) to keep her out of trouble and to dictate her every move; how fantastic! She’s free of any responsibility! Maybe she fell for him because she had the perfect opportunity to be lazy? Of course, then she only took action when she wanted to ‘protect’ the one she ‘loved.’ I mean, it must be better to die than to have to live responsibly. Or maybe that’s just me being lonely and bitter (despite the fact that I do, actually, have someone in my life). I like a good love story, and I adore vampires, but this didn’t cut it in either case (I refuse to count these as vampires; it makes me die a little inside to think of the dangerous legends from my favorite bedtime stories portrayed in this way).
So yes, I agree with this article (for the most part). But perhaps it would have been better to title it a little differently. That was just asking for trouble.
(And personally, I thought that Jacob and Alice were the most flavorful characters. Out of everyone, I liked Alice. And I keep thinking maybe the entire story would have been much more enjoyable if Bella had ended up with her, as their relationship as friends was much more fleshed-out [though that thought is silly; Meyer claims to be LDS]. My point: there are different opinions, everywhere, and this is as valid as the opinion that Twilight is OMGAWESOME. I’d like to thank the writer of this article for seeing the series as it really is.)
Alice was the airhead shopaholic – STEREOTYPEOWNED
Jacob was good until Eclipse cause then he’s a sexually harassing, selfish jackass who should mind his own business and not threaten suicide to a cheating whore slut bitchface [I don’t like Jacob, or Bella. Hmm…Jacob was based on Seth, the toerag, and Bella was based on Meyer.
HMMM]
Also I just said about the ‘didn’t intend to publish thing’
Man I hate repeating myself. Though you are a newbie
I hate internet ads. They could at least make them funny, you know, not just annoying!
Rafal H-
HA! Finally got to one before you did >D!
Anyway, I hate the “didn’t intend to publish” thing. I’m trying to publish, and it’s not that freaking easy. I had to stop sending letters because of the school year, but I’m going to rewrite my cover letter and resend stuff out. Since I’ve edited the crap out of the book maybe they won’t remember that they already said ‘no’ once…
Rae-
Yes, you finally got to one first!
Well good luck to you with the publishing thing. I hope I might get the chance one day to read your book.
wow you gurls need to just go get laid seriosly bella was a hoe and jacob would of ripped off edwards head
jeritt akin-
I don’t see why we can’t talk about it. If it bothers you, go to a different website, because there’s obviously going to be controversy over an article such as this.
This is hilarious. Someone says something obvious like “Twilight is bad” (anyone with even a modicum of intelligence doesn’t need to get more than a page or two into it to figure that one out), and suddenly the internet is bubbling over with the foamy discharge of its rabid defenders.
Now the real question is, are people really that stupid on the whole, or are we just too proud to admit it when we’ve spent way too much on a horrible book based purely on name recognition?
I was attacked again the other day; I was hit over the head with an atlas by a Twihard. I didn’t take that bull though, and fought back. She left with a black eye.
EVERYONE: GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Oh, and Kanick? Go jump in a lake”
hahha good one!
get a f***ing sense of humor.
and to the first comment reply; i dont give a shit about grammer…
so go build a bridge and stick it up ur ass!
Kui teil täidetud Mistress Meyer, ja Sa võid küsida tema üks küsimus ONLY, Mida sa küsida?
Ma küsida;
Kuidas te arvate sellest, et olete saates sõnumi Mõjutatav tüdrukud kõikjal, et seksuaalne ahistamine on Alright, nagu on näidanud Eclipse poolt Jacob Black, mitu korda tegelikult?
See arv on üks küsimus!
PS: Ärge küsida Feministlike küsimuse, sest see kick ass Awesome Awesome Awesome isik palus enne ja ta vältis seda küsimust, ma mõtlemist. Ka ta competely solvasid tüdruku hiljem, mis tähendab, et ta ei olnud elus.
See on veel üks põhjus ma vihkan Stephenie Meyer üle hämarik. Hämarik ise on tegelikult täiesti ohutud, sest kuigi see ei saadaks vale kommetega, et Mõjutatav Noorterõivad, on ka muid mõjusid, ja loodetavasti ta on intelligentne sõprade / pere. Aga Stephenie Meyer …
Oh jumal. Ta ei surra. Hämarik see fade, kuid Stephenie Meyer … ta pead hoidma tee seda!
Me peame lõpetama oma enne kui on liiga hilja!
Kõik pooldavad hoone tohutu summutisüsteemi ray mis on otseselt suunatud Arizona, öelge I. Kõik vastu, minna kuulama Jonas Brothers>;]
Oi see oli nii, tähendab ma vabandan.
SO GO TRANSLATE THAT!!!!!
LOL
kanick
None of us are listening
The Twilighters NOR the antis
Also, build a bridge and stick it up your ass? That’s your sense of humour? We weren’t being funny when we said go jump in a lake, we were serious. I think you need to understand the phrase before you go chucking ‘arse’ in there.
YOU GUYS I GOT A COMPUTER IN MY ROOM
*dies*
I am so happy.
Next is : Operation TV with VHS [I have DVD on this computer, and I buy sooo many videos from Salvos or wherever, cause I love VHS]
also Operation Get-Dad-to-Fix-Bike-Chain
Kanick-
Wow. We’re so impressed that you know how to use Google Translate. Congratulations.
You make no sense at all, you are aware of that, right? Because “go build a bridge and stick it up your ass” isn’t considered funny, I’m sorry to have to tell you.
Yeah, and really, if you see a lake, don’t be afraid to jump in it. And even if you don’t see a lake, go find one, and then jump in that one.
Rafal H-
That is so awesome! I wish I had a computer in my room…alas, I do not. And that makes me sad, occasionally.
Good luck with your other operations! Personally, I think the second one would be easier to accomplish, but you can decide.
Rafal H-
Good for you *her computer is already in her room*
Actually, to be honest, the first one would probably be easier, though I’d have to find a TV that plays VHS. My dad is so lazy.
Ahhh I cbf DOING ANYTHING fanfic or blog or whatever. I’m reading Sarah Dessen – I’ve heard she’s a lot like MEG CABOT, though really she’s more like Margaret Clark, who I also love. She’s good though ;]
YOU GUYS
HARRY POTTER SLEEPOVER
Everyone’s invited, even the Twilighters, though you’re not allowed to talk about Twilight in the sacred Harry Potter Sleepover as it is reserved solely for chatting with HP characters, and Luna gets a little iffy when you talk about sparkly vampires, because come on, they are ridiculous [her words, not mine]
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090321174200AAnH5bF
Rafal H-
Well, I guess that’d do it. Good luck either way.
I love Sarah Dessen. And Meg Cabot. Which book are you reading? I’ve read This Lullaby, Someone Like You, and Just Listen.
I might check out the sleepover if I have time later.
Oh my God. I have to say I love this article. I am so adding it to my list of Favorites and I’ll show it to my Twilight obsessed friends.
What. the. f*** it is just a bloody book. It is about a guy that is beautiful, romantic and to top it off a sexy vampire! It is just girls saying that they wish their boyfriends were like that! I dont blame bella for going into zombie mode in new moon because when he left I kinda went into one myself. it is a book series that is soo bloody good that it hurts!! stop being a weenie and shut up!
Bloodylife –
Romantic? I see, stalking is romantic, I gotcha. I don’t understand how you’d SEEK OUT a vampire do be your boyfriend. Why would you WANT a vampire to be your boyfriend, to make it difficult for the both of you? I mean, you could fall in love with em, but come on.
We are not being, as you so eloquently put it, ‘weenies’. And no, we won’t shut up.
We shall…we shall not be moved! *sings*
Anyway you seem a bit extreme so I suggest you douse yourself in cold water and read some MEG CABOT, who is not quite as graphic as Eclipse, unless you want her to be, and who – I know, it comes as a surprise after Meyer – CAN ACTUALLY WRITE.
WHOA. I KNOW. Tell me about it.
Anyway.
Anyone read King Dork? by Frank Portman? my friend is making me read it. And there’s NOTHING TO DO online anymore so I just keep this page open and read at the computer desk which is NOW IN MY ROOM
*halleluleigh*
I like songs with ‘zoot suit’ in it. Zoot Suit Riot, Mr Zoot suit. ANyone know of songs like that? No, they do not have to have zoot suit in it.
Throw back a bottle of beer…
Rafal H-
My god… where do you live? That was up at midnight 0_o
But because of that you beat me to her D<!
Oh well, lol.
And yes, I do know Zoot Suit riot. I love that song <3
I Love Miley
LOV3 YOU MIL3Y!!!
lulz
Stop trolling you guys
Rae –
AUSTRALIA
I can’t believe you don’t know that
THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION IN OUR RELATIONSHIP :'(
Rafal H-
But trollinz iz FUN 8D!
Oh yeah… I forgot ^^;
…. Nothing to say but BLOODY BRILLIANT!. (Sorry for that i get somehow happy jeje)I applaud this article! Greetings!
Where’d everybody go?
Andrea Graffe-
Its not love its down right stalkerish!
Im back everybody! I went on vacation for a week and i did not have a computer, and i almost cried *sniff sniff*! Anywhoo what is going on!
Marissa-
If you like Sarah Dessen you should read The Truth About Forever its an awesome book! Although i did not like Just Listen as much as i liked some of her other books!
Review of one dumb person
nc –
lol
that’s the best you can do?
1) Oy, kids who pound on the caps lock: THIS DOES NOT GET YOUR POINT ACROSS BETTER THAN LOWERCASE OKAY?!?!?!??!
Please, learn to type like someone with an IQ above your shoe size.
2) Yes, those of us who dislike Twilight understand that it is “just a book.” At the same time, The Grapes of Wrath, My Antonia, The Great Gatsby, and The Scarlet Letter are all “just books” – and I’ve spent an entire year in an AP Language and Composition class analyzing them. If it’s required for me to analyze the classics in my high school career, then I think it’s okay for me to analyze the other books I read. So please quit your whining.
3) Just because Bella does a FEW things (like punching Jacob in the face) that aren’t ultimate in fail doesn’t mean that she is, overall, a strong female character. Stop nitpicking and learn to look at the big picture.
4) This. Is. An. Opinion. Article. The author doesn’t have to say “what I think” or “in my opinion” because that is implied in the name “opinion article.” To everyone who criticized the title: Grow up, get over it, cry me a bloody river. This isn’t second grade, so stop with the BAAAAAAAWing every time someone doesn’t spit sunshine and unicorns. This article never once went out of line, and the title was nothing more than a pun on vampires sucking blood. For the love of god, let’s be mature.
G.Zuss-
Great commment. I especially liked how you said “just because Bella does a FEW things that aren’t ultimate fail doesn’t mean that she is, overall, a strong female character.”
I really thought that was well said.
Hopefully you might stick around?
I wonder why did you read all the 4 volumes if since the 1st you were terrified by it. I read first two volumes and I’m a fan
Oh, it’s not a mistake, I’M REALY A FAN! And I have lots of arguments for this.
You said that it’s an easy literature. Hmm… I agree, it’s easy indeed, because you must be retarded not to understand the message of the book… But to “Insult at every level!” Wohow! I don’t think that if this book series insulted readers the popularity was be the same! In that case, people should be disgusted – like you, but you are in minority.
For me, this book is only a storry, pure fiction, and the characters are not examples for my life, they are not role models for me! It’s interesting the way that girl thinks and feels at every stage of her relationship with Edward. I also recognize that I found myself in her situation many times – not totally, but sometimes I think that every girl has at least one similar thought with Bella.
There are also exceptions, but you can’t deny as a girl that you never been in love. The vampire is only symbol of perfection and mistery but everyone knows that it’s not comparable with humans.
The book doesn’t “dazzle” anyone, it’s only a fantasy of the writer.
And the second novel is realy captivating. I couldn’t left it from my hand until I finished it.
As I read more love novels I found many times descriptions of some characters feelings. Maybe in first book the “deep love” part is a little exaggerate – all it’s the same :)). But damn it, I like the style! Who had before the courage to fill 300 pages with a girl fantasy and lust?
And now, I want to say something that may compromise all my integrity: Why should I read a romantic novel with 3 quarters fiosophy if I can read one totaly romantic and sweet?! The author gave the readers exactly what they wanted.
PS Sorry for the spelling mistakes. My english is not perfect.
Sylvia –
I disagree that Kellen is in the minority. Have you taken a census or something as to how many people like Twilight and how many people don’t [that have read it]? twilightsucks.com has SO many users, and that’s only that site.
Girl fantasy and lust? Courage to DO THAT? Dude, that’s not courage, it’s pure laziness. MEG CABOT can put in girlish fantasies [occasionally] and definitely lust, but she can also adjust her characters to be – I don’t know – GOOD ones, have a plot, a really awesome one actually [her ideas are very original] and BE A GOOD WRITER. This point seriously pisses me off.
Romantic and sweet?
Dude..
they…met each other…knew each other for 2 days…proclaimed their spectacular love for each other, vowing “I’d rather die than live without you” after…TWO DAYS.
also stalking, sexual harassment, sexism, incest, paedofilism and overall male dominence is not romantic, nor should Meyer portray it that way.
GOD. I’m sorry Sylvia I’m up for a debate with a Twilighter but your points seriously annoy me…
i lovet his so much!
Where did everybody go?
Rafal
Maybe some of my points are to personal and not suitable to argue with negtative ideas. But I swear there is nothing in this book not even close to sexual harassment, incest and pedofilism!
The incest means a nasty relationship between father and child – I’m sure that if I’d found this thing in the book it would make me sick! But between Bela and her father is a normal relationship – as can be in their circumstances…
Pedofilism? The same answer.
I think that everyone can imagine the agresivity of vampire is quite normal… I didn’t met one yet but according with general perception, they are not very shy and good natured… They are “designed to kill” (reply from first book :)).
Maybe the book has some weak points – I’m not blind to miss them but I simply don’t take it too serious.. It just relax and entertain me! And I’m sure that last two books will not be exceptions.
I am back peepz (my new word, dont ask)
G.Zuss –
Agreed.
Sylvia-
Can I just say to everyone who says ‘why’d you read it if you didnt like the first one’. Okay, we bought the books under the impression that they were ‘amazing’, when we read them, we were disappointed. But since we already bought them, and they arent exactly cheap, we might as well read them to see if they get any better so that they fulfill the ‘awesome’ criteria.
And by the way Sylvia, agreeing with everything that Rafal H said, i just wanted to point out that Kellen is probably not in the minority. You’ll be surprised to see how many people have started hating twilight now.
Rafal-
I agree with everything your saying but i don’t get the whole ‘incest’ thing! Would you mind elaborating that for me, please?
testing comments
God, comments was being a bitch so I couldn’t post
incest – sexual intercourse between persons too closely related to marry wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
I’ll give that one to you but your definition was incorrect
paedofilism – pedophile: an adult who is sexually attracted to children wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Edward is 108 Bella is 17 Jacob is 17 or something ‘Nessie’ is 7 Don’t tell me that just because they LOOK 17/7 it’s okay. Don’t be so shallow – we know that Smeyer is but save yourself. And how healthy is it to shag someone you thought was your uncle once?
P.S: Sprayed my fringe green, and the back yellow/gold and purple. WORLD’S GREATEST SHAVE HIT MY SCHOOL
I’m okay with the whole Twilight craze. I’ve only read Twilight & Eclipse & will get to the other two when I feel like it. So far, all I have to say is that the main idea of the plot did have a good amount of potential for improvement, but seeing as the writer herself agreed to writing this story mainly to just fulfil her own fantasies in a way, I’m obligated to have the sense to not take ANY aspect of this story seriously. In an absurd way, it can be viewed as if the author were sharing her dream with a whole lot of others.
I’m a teenager myself & almost everyone of my classmates have already read or are currently reading the Twilight series, but I can swear that as much as I enjoy whiling away idle time with these books at hand, they aren’t an influence at all on most teenagers. We’re taking them for exactly what they are. A fictional & rather unrealistic romance meant to rescue us from boredom.
There are just a bunch of few coo-coo-in-the-head fans that actually buy into these stories & start mirroring the protagonist’s behavioral pattern with hopes of unearthing an Edward Cullen of their own.
If you hate it, why don’t you just steer clear of it & save yourself the pain of enduring it?
Yes, I do agree that Meg Cabot is a far far more better writer in comparison. Then again, after The Mediator series, I’m as biased as biased gets.
Though I do agree with one thing. If you absolutely loathed the first book itself to it’s core, then why bother with the second or the third or fourth one at all then?
Oh & btw Rafal, I don’t intend to get into a verbal match with you or anyone at all, for that matter, but eventhough I can’t remember the exact amount of time after which Bella & Edward’s romance took off, it was definitely much more than just two days. I’m guessing that you’ve sort of mixed up the first book with it’s movie adaptation.
Thank you, reasonable adult (there’s so few of you left in this poor, poor world). This article of yours really made my day. I, a high school teenage, hate the piece of trash with a passion and I’m really getting sick of hearing about it in my school. I don’t get how so many people just do get the negative side of those books- especially since there’s no positive side to begin with.
The only thing that I think is lacking in this article is Meyer’s issue with proper grammar and her raping of the wonderful holy book we called the thesaurus.
This girl is chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagriiiiiiiined!!!
Fine, it was 4 days [I swear it was]
IN answer to your question;
I did not hate Twilight the book to the core first time I read it. I like EVERY book I read when I first read it…it’s only when I read it again – yes I’m an reader-againer – and analyze it I LOVE it.
With Twilight, I was about to re-read the first book, and I was like…”WTF. Stupid Denise, how could she have suggested it to me!!!”
Anyway. I like you cause you like MEG CABOT ;]
Rafal H-
Heh. You reread books too? I know what you mean. The first time, you kinda just get a feel for it, what it’s about and that kind of thing. But then, when you read it again, you pay more attention to the details and figure what’s so great about it.
Meg Cabot is infinitely better than SMeyer.
*napolean dynamite YES*
I have fellow MEG CABOTeers here!
True, the series doesn’t do anything for woman’s rights or anything. But that obviously wasn’t what Meyer was trying to do, was it?
I read the series, and it was some time ago, so I can’t recall everything perfectly. I think Bella’s discription of herself is ‘plain’ just to show that she doesn’t have much self-esteem. True, there’s no excuse that Bella isn’t able to figure out that she’s all that after wooing the majority of the school. She falls in love with a dangerous boy. So do a lot of teenage girls, that’s why gangbangers are able to get girls in highschool.
Here’s why the books sell. Not everyone is smart. How many teenage girls that read this give any single thought to Bella’s strengh (or lack there of) of character? Truth is, it’s a love story with a little twist, and the readers just want to be entertained. These books satisfy readers in some way, and of course not everyone is going to be happy with the results. Sorry.
Kudos to the author of this article. Though there may be some points I don’t agree with, the point is you MADE MY DAY.
It was a surprise for me to see that people on this blog have contradictions in their oppinions but don’t “fight”, use insults, injuries and all type of language I saw on other blogs.
Keep reading Twilight or… something else, as you like!
Raymond-
I think that’s a very good analysis, actually.
Wonderful article. Thanks for giving voice to all of us who are so exasperated by the insanity of this ridiculous fad. Really! I’ve reccomended this to all of my not-so-pro-Twilight friends, and we’ve gotten a lovely kick out of it.
But, not to be a pest, does anyone know of a critique by an “official” critic, beyond the one featured in the Washington Post? I’m writing a research paper to illsutrate the deterioration of gothic literature via a comparison between Meyer’s Twilgiht and (of course) Stoker’s Dracula. And that means I need very solid sources, and as great as this review is, I’m hesitant to use it- I’m not so sure my school would be willing to consider this a “valid” source.
Anyone care to help a struggling English student out?^^
Raymond –
Er…I don’t really see what this has contributed. Basically you’re saying teenage girls are stupid, and go out with gangbangers, or something (?)
We have further issues with the book than just the terrible story. I can give you a list, if you’d like.
Catt –
Sure, I’ll ask it on Yahoo!
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090330234904AAM2zCs
Oh, doesn’t Stephen King count as an ‘official’ critic?
I don’t know why he wouldn’t! He’s a brilliant author, and no stranger to the world of darker novels; I’d even go as far to say he’s one of the key founders of contemporary horror.
Actually, I followed your link, and I took a look at the article about his input on Meyer’s writing skills… I’ll definately use it! Thanks very much. ^-^
i pity all the people who criticized the twilight series. know why? it only shows that you guys are all intimidated and envy for the success of the series that even harry potter series can’t overrule it.
(correct me if i’m wrong) if i’m not mistaken, the writer of this article is an avid and die hard fanatic of harry potter. if you read the twilight series without any negative feelings about it and write a critic with pure “professionality”, you will not end up with this kind of review. if you’re real intention in writing this article is to critic, you should write something good and positive about the whole book.
i think you need to read some good and equal critics to level-up your sense of writing.. c: peace..
harrylovesedward –
S.Meyer is a crap writer.
So, no, i do not envy her. I love harry potter, and i loved the twilight film, so it’s safe to say that i started reading twilight with no negative feelings towards it, but the books were absolute crap. No wonder Robert Pattinson hates them and the director refuses to direct the next movie no matter how much they’re paying her.
Harry Potter can’t overrule the Twilight success?
If i remember correctly, Harry Potter is wayy more successful than Twilight is. It is a world success, the books sell out quickly all over the world. Twilight however, is merely a success in countries whose main language is English.
Rafal H-
I love how Stephen King thinks these books are crap.
Tina-
You took the words right out of my mouth, and probably worded them better.
harrylovesedward-
In what way are we intimidated by SMeyer? Sure, some of us might want to be an author one day, but just because another author, who writes total crap, became very successful doesn’t give us less hope.
In fact, if anything, it gives more hope, because if a crappy writer like Meyer can be published, then so can someone else.
Harry Potter has been translated how many times, to how many languages? Uh, more than Twilight. Twilight is hardly popular worldwide, unless the country’s main language is English, like Tina said.
When I first read them, I too had no hard feelings. I was looking for something else to enjoy. And I did, the first time, because I usually wait to judge until I’ve had time to think things over.
So when I did, I decided that it was crap. Because it is.
Critiquing is supposed to be somewhat negative. It’s no one’s fault except for Meyer’s that there’s more bad to Twilight than good.
Therefore, your points are pretty much all null.
I have to say that Twilight is the ‘Worldwide bestseller” or something, that’s what it says on the books, though TBH I think the Twilighters are cheating and buying more than one book.
harrylovesedward:
Dear GOD. How many times have we heard ‘you’re just jealous’? A lot. Though this one seems to have used a more complicated “Envy”…where’d you learn a word like that?
Also anti-Twilight =/= Harry Potter fan. You moron. I don’t even understand your argument. Are you saying that, if we like Potter, we can’t like ANYTHING ELSE POPULAR? Well, I’m screwed, cause MEG CABOT SEEMS PRETTY POPULAR ATM.
“if you’re real intention in writing this article is to critic, you should write something good and positive about the whole book.”
First of all, it’s critique [I hope it is or I look stupid]
SECOND OF ALL
Your comment makes no sense. go to Google, define: critique…it means to POINT OUT PROBLEMS. And if shee just put something positive and super-awesome about every book, Kellen would not have readers, nor would she be a critic.
Goddammit i hate you people it’s so annoying.
Look at the people that are yelling at me here [I’m 20RH10]
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=ppF3SAx6-SI
*swears*
Rafal H-
I think the twilighters are definatley cheating
Because, I lived in China before, and none of my friends in China have heard of Twilight, so I know for a fact that it is not a world wide bestseller.
So either the fans are cheating, or the book is just bull-shitting us. Then agian, the whole book is basically a load of crap, so it wouldnt surprise me
Yeah I 110% agree with everything you said. When I first read the books I thought they were okay but then as I was reading them I couldn’t help but notice that they got worse and worse as they went… Either or Edward isn’t a REAL vampire. Dracula and Lestat are and I do not think that they would approve of twilight if they indeed existed…
Rafal H-
You don’t look stupid; you spelled critique right.
Tina-
I’m glad Twilight isn’t a world-wide bestseller. It doesn’t deserve that kind recognition.
HAHAHAHA. Someone obviously had some haterade this morning!
Man, oh man, your article cracks me up!
You are seriously making a big deal out all this aren’t you?
If you don’t like the book, NO ONE CARES. LOL. Self-centered enough to think anyone really cares? HA.
& no crap Einstein. Bella’s pregnancy was sped up because it was half vampire, half mortal. So get your facts straight honey (:
Ammy –
Well obviously people do care, otherwise this page wouldnt be full of comments. And obviously you care enough to leave a comment.
I love how there seems to be a small flame war going on. Reminds me of The Dark Knight fanpeople and Miley Cyrus fanpeople’s arguing.
Hey, Ammy.
I think she knows why the pregnancy was sped up. I don’t think that’s what phased her.
I think it’s the “RIPPED THE BABY OUT OF HER WITH HIS TEETH” part.
Or the “Look, it’s an adorable newborn half-breed, I SUDDENLY LOVE IT AND WANT TO SCREW IT.” part.
And that’s not even going into to the fact that the whole book is a cute cover story for supporting the idea of abusive relationships and the ludicrous notion that women are nothing without a man.
I think you should grow a half a brain before you begin forming opinions on books, dear. Actually, why did your caretaker even let you on the internet? You could hurt yourself!
Tina in regards to Ammy –
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY
Also if you care to visit Twilightsucks.com, the site with the REAL ANSWERS to Twilight’s so-called science, it’ll explain how nothing that happened in Breaking Dawn was remotely possible in the way The Bitc – I mean, Smeyer – explained it. SHE COULD’VE JUST SAID, “VAMPIRES ARE MAGIC, WOO,” but no, she had to think, “K, I will prove my Biology 101 teacher who failed me in High School wrong!” and tried to make her idiotic logic [I made a rhyme!] make sense.
Also there could never have been ‘half mortal, half vamp’, it would have, according to Meyer’s logic, to have been a complete vamp.
SO THERE.
Clearly all of you don’t get it. Twilight is facetious! I mean, its got to be, right?
Meyers is pointing out, quite well I might add, the idiocy of such a young and immature love. Its so clear!
These two lovers, similar to Romeo and Juliet, have a relationship based on pretty much nothing. Stephenie Meyers, like Shakespeare did, sets out to show the futility of such an immature love, except Meyers “one-ups” Shakespeare by making the love, that is based on nothing, not futile! Their immature love blossoms as an immature love for possibly eternity! She’s a master of satire.
In the beginning, when I finished the first book I thought, much like many of you, that this was a very poorly conceptualized piece of fiction. I vowed not to read the next three. Luckily ,however, I threw the book on the ground and spat on it. But beneath the pile of spit I saw what I had not seen before; the apple. I realized the truth of it all and understood.
The apple is a symbol of Bella’s choice of whether to partake of Edward (the forbidden fruit) or not. With this completely going against the events of the book and the love between sweet sweet Bella and the dashing Edward I realized it was a work of satire. Why else, if not for satire, would Meyers create characters whose attraction to each other is based solely on features that have nothing to do with choice. Masterful.
If you don’t think its a work of satire consider this: imprinting. For those of you that don’t know (which I can only speculate all of you know) imprinting is when a wolf member of the Quileute tribe suddenly and with no say in the matter finds his/her soul mate.
Meyers deliberately puts this concept into play to emphasize the kind of relationship that Edward and Bella have. It’s a perfect relationship without need of choice. Meyers is so good.
I can only hope that one day I will be able to write a short piece of satire so masterful as Ms. Meyers as to be recognized by a select few.
Tucker! –
wow, just wow.
twilighters are even more pathetic then i thought they would be
Tina is NONSPARKLY?-
Since i made it hard to understand, i will explain it. I was being sarcastic in saying that Meyers is so smart that she she deliberately made a love story based on non-choice as a way to poke fun at naive teens who believe love is an instant phenomenon and not something that is built on trust and faith in one another. I used sarcasm to emphasize Meyers flaws in character and plot.
Reread my post and it should become clear. Looking at it again, however, i should have added more explanation marks! Read carefully.
ok first off i have read all the books, went to see the movie i was a true fan but like all things i grew out of it. These books give teen girls something to read they are “fluff” books, just for fun and to indulge in. Yes they are silly and unrealistic, but it gives us a fantasy that complex and challenges the norms of society, be diffrent, follow your heart, fight back. No they are not the best written but it gives a story that teen girls have been apparently hungering for she, Meyer simply filled that void. It is not teaching them to act certain ways, it is showing them that books can be ENTERTAINING and can open your eyes to a whole new world.
Tucker!
Your second comment is belittling and insulting – I thought you knew that for the most part antis are actually SMART and understand sarcasm.
Also I understand your annoyingly long post – I just never laughed, because you took a leaf out of Smeyer’s book [literally] and decided not to research and make false assumptions about ‘Belliet and Edwardeo’s’ romance.
*groans*
When is Madison coming back? She was a smart twilighter.
btw Sportsandlove101 on Youtube is a really stupid twilighter, I thought you should know should you encounter her.
Rafal H is NONSPARKLY-
My assumption was that “antis” would understand that my comment was sarcastic in nature. But it seemed that Tina is NONSPARKLY? didn’t quite understand my vague sarcasm. Hence the comment which you perceived as belittling.
If by research, you mean read the books; then i have researched. I felt that Bella and Edward’s relationship is based not upon the other’s personality, but upon superficial things. It seemed to me that Bella and Edward’s relationship didn’t blossom into love, it just started out as some amazing love.
They just seemed to be in love with each other before even learning and understanding each other.
ha “Belliet and Edwardeo”: slipped past me, just got it.
Tucker! –
to be honest.
I didnt get the sarcasm in your comment
but i find it hard to find sarcasm via commenting if people dont add exclamation marks and make it sarcastic.
so i take back the pathetic comment
i know i’m a little late on the commenting, but i think its so funny that when you don’t agree with someone’s opinion, you are seen as closed-minded. And then, when they decide to dislike you and reject your opinion, it’s because they are right, and CLEARLY not closed-minded.
Enlightened thoughts on bad books — I’m glad you’ve stirred the wrath of the fangirls, it means you’ve wounded them. Keep up the work, viva la resistance, etc.
hannah –
as long as you listen to our arguments and have a reason for your opinion, you aren’t closed minded. If you, however, are one of those assholes on Yahoo! Answers Religion and Spirituality, then you are the most narrow-minded, pathetic scum of the Earth and I would not hesitate in shooting you with a paintball in the heart at close range.
Jack –
viva la resistance!
oh, in regards to the paintball thing, I’m referring to the atheists on Yahoo! Answers, not the nice people.
I am so sorry to say this but there is a new Twilight book coming out.
Yay… Now we can read the same idiotic plotline (or lack there of) and romantic drivel but from Edward’s point of view.
I can see how this might be interesting in the second book where he is off on his own without Bella. But I don’t see how Meyers can make the first book last more than 10 pages without her constant comments on how perfect Edward is (Bella has only been described as plain so I doubt she’ll have Edward swooning like Bella did). I suppose she could have Edward be totally vain and have him praise himself.
Gods! I just have to point this out does anyone remember the part where Bella fainted when Edward breathed on her?! SHE FAINTED, SHE ACTUALLY FAINTED!!!!!!!
i like you guys. both the pro twilight people and the anti twilight people. its great. its wonderful.
zzkayla –
fuck.
i thought she wasnt publishing it?
did she decide to eventually?
Tucker!-
thanks, i guess
hannah-
It’s nice to know that we aren’t always viewed as close-minded. If you can see both sides of an argument, I think it’s a really good thing.
So…stay open- minded, otherwise, as Rafal H said, we will have to and will not hesitate to break out the paintballs.
Jack-
Long live the Resistance!
zzkayla-
She’s STILL publishing Midnight Sun? Oh for the love of god. That woman is nuts I tell you. Completely off her rocker.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could go back to B.T. era ? (Before Twilight)
Or, maybe, by some miracle, she WON’T pulish it. I would like that very much.
Tucker!-
Well, I have to admit, this page does make for some excellent entertainment.
Lets not forget that Bella showed a lot of bravery by going to face James (the devil character) in the first book in order to save her mother. Yes she needed to be saved, but what’s wrong with getting a little help form your friends? I opened the pages of Twilight knowing a lot of the critisims about it and was determined to hold fast to those view points. I had to re-read it because a lot of the character dynamics baffled me. I was drawn to the story and the characters, but I couldn’t figure out why. Upon the second reading, I see a lot in Edward and Bella that I had essentially missed the first time throuhg – from their wry wit, to how Bella is actually smart in school and how, when faced with a rag tag team of muggers, she is actually prepared to defned herself. Edward’s possessiveness really comes from protectiveness, which is bad to say in most cases, but its acceptable here because they live in a world where death seems to have Bella’s home address. He has to go to such great lengths to keep her safe. His behavior on a normal human in a normal human relationship would seem out of sorts at best, but because this is not the normal world in which they live, its almost reasonable. How else do you act when the world is trying to kill the girl you love all the time? And he never physically or emotionally abuses her. And any time he honestly steps over the line (usually in regards to Jacob) he apologizes and doesn’t do it again. In fact, he makes a point to give Bella as many opportunites to choose Jacob as possible. My point is that sometimes you need to look beyond symbolism and just take the events at face value; these fake characters live in a fake world where extreme lengths need to be taken in order to stay alive. Also, it was Edward who encouraged Bella to go to college, despite the fact that she didn’t want to because she never saw herself as smart enough (despite having been in advanced placement classes in Pheonix). She admits she’s obssessed with Edward, an expeirience that is new to her (he’s the first boy she ever wanted) and knows somethign is wrong with it. of course, none of this excuses her behavior… It would be NICE if bella were stronger, more independent and has interests outside of her love life, but she doesn’t. Shes not perfect nor is she meant to be. Shes simply a teen age girl trying to grow up. What girl doesn;t feel insecure at times? Plenty of teenage girls feel inadequate when comparing themselves to prettier, seemingly more talented people. I think what we see here is a depiction of how some girls feel in high school when it comes to first love – obssessing, idolizing, etc. And Bella’s depression when Edward leaves isn’t necessarily unrealistic. When your heart is broken, it can hit you like an anvil. You CAN be really depressed for months. But she started to come out of it with the help of her friends before Edward even came back in to the story. And frankly, Bella “throwing herself “at Edward is not too far off from the way many hormonal teenage girls act. At least she was 18. And Meyers made a point not to have gratuidous sex in ehr novels for the sake of her young audience. If Bella plays the tempress who would throw herself at her boyfriend, she is a jezebel; if she has sex with him as her husband, she’s still to be critisized. What you have her do? Would you rather she remain a virign? What would that symbolize? No person is born confident and strong. They must under go trials to become better. If Bella were perfect and always did the approvalable thing, no one would be able to relate her. She relateable because she is flawed.
Now on to Edward – Edward never took any choices away from Bella. Even when he wants to keep her safe, he makes a point of giving her a choice to associate with him and continue associating with him each time thier relationship went to a higher more serious level. This is further explored form his own point of view in the draft of Midnight Sun that meyer’s posted on her offical website. Its Bella who chooses to join his lifestyle (to me, a symbolism of adulthood since Edward and his family are old and wordly), even after realizing a potential alternative in Jacob Black (although his forceful antics didn’t sit well with me, I don’t see it as rape, but rather the arrogance of young boy on the brink of adulthood who still has a lot ot learn about girls and how to behave). If you’re going to sructinize for symbolism, then I would see Bella’s initiation in to the vampire world as a sort of man-communing-with-nature notif – Edward is an animalistic hunter who is constantly balancing himself between the civilized and uncivilized world and many of his confessions happen in the woods, as do Bella’s run in with the werwolves. It is only when they find love with each other do they find their balance between both worlds. And finally, the scene where Bella gives birth is faintly reminiscent of that of Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights (minus the gore, but what do you expect when giving brith to a vampire/human hybrid?): she dies, but is essentially, reborn. Where in Catherine Earnshaw was forced out of a perpetual childhood state and “born in to adulthood” through her daughter, also named Catherine, who would grow up and actually be able to be an adult and embrace a heathy love with Hareton Earnshaw, Bella is able to be reborn as a vampire and essentially enter adulthood. It is as this adult that she is strong, not weak like before when she was “childlike” and is able to commune with nature the way Edward does and live between the tamed civilization of Forks and the untamed wilderness of the forest. You can find symbolism if you want to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s really whats meant to be taken from the experience of reading Twilight and its sequels. I don’t think that this is what Meyers was going for. That doesn’t mean its not a dissapointment to discover that a book has no deeper layers. I looked desperately for something substantial under the fluff but frankly I gave up and re-read Wuthering Heights instead. Now those are some characters I wouldn’t want any teenager to emmulate! Where as Heathcliff saw with arrogant eye (as defined by Marylin Frye) at least Edward honestly looks at Bella with the “Loving Eye.” He sees and loves her self as a being seperate from him and I see no evidence that he strives to define her through terms relating only to him. It’s Bella who wants to be a vampire, not Edward. But again, I don’t think Meyers meant to write something for girls to take seriously (after all its about f-ing vampires for God’s sake). There are other books girls could take too much to heart but they are considered classics (would anyone wan their daughters acting like Cathering Earnshaw or Juliet Capulet?) but no one worries about girls trying to act like those characters. It’s just not an issue. So why is it an issue here? I would hope that any parent out there would guide their child enough so that they don’t look to any books to define themselves ultimatley. That’s something that should come from within and from their own personal experiences, not the fancies of some author .
I’m sorry, Bianca, I do actually have a life, and though I do come here like everyday, I am not going to read all that.
And if you’re GOING TO MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT THAT LONG at least split it up into paragraphs and throw in some jokes.
Also, it doesn’t matter about Midnight Sun, although it’s my favourite book because it HASN’T BEEN PUBLISHED. The book is the SAME BOOK AS TWILIGHT except it’s more deep with the whole stalking thing. That seriously scared the hell out of me.
Stupid, unoriginal, unresearching greedy bitch Stephenie Meyer…
I forgot to add ignorant.
I’m back….did ya’ll miss me? or even remeber me?
Since I don’t feel like taking the time to read ALL of the comments that have been posted since I last checked, please tell me that there have been some, at least ONE, Twilighter who was sane enough to debate.
Madison
OF COURSE WE MISSED YOU
if you read my comments I am forever moaning about where are all the sane Twilighters
I think there were some, but either their comments were too long or they went overboard with the sarcasm and pissed me off with their insulting-ness.
;]
AMEN!!!
Thank you! That’s all I can say! I’ve been waiting for someone to speak up about how pathetic and sad that book was!
And to all those who keep defending this immaturely written book for love desperate teenagers; GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SKY.
These poor people are just TOO obsessed over the book to
see the truth; IT’S CRAP.
I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion but in this case these girls are being brainwashed… This is just not right!
Okay, I’ll hush now.
Sigh
Madison, come talk again
There is nothing happening!
You guys, if Edward knew all along that the werewolves were vampires, why did he prevent Bella from seeing Jacob – PERHAPS ALIENATING HER FROM FRIENDS?!?!?!?!
And also, if they are really shapeshifters, SAM COULD’VE CONTROLLED HIS PHASING, AND SO, THEREFORE, IT REALLY IS SPOUSAL ABUSE.
OWNED.
I have to say I’m a twilight fan. I could go into detail as to why but I wont. However, I would like to say I really liked this article. It was really funny and I can definitely agree. I’m almost out of my teens and I’m not impressionable enough to expect Edward Cullen to magically step into my life, but I can imagine, if I had read this years before in high school it might have had a negative effect on me. I liked the books but I’m not here to argue for or against there worth. I have plenty of my own complaints to make about the books. Simply I’d like to say that rest assured there are at least SOME twilight fans (yes I know others) who are willing to admit the flaws in the books and some of these serious issues. I will continue to enjoy them and I’m more than likely to read them all a second time, but I could easily agree with this article.
Can I just point out that I have a friend who is 10 years old and most of her friends and people in her class have read and like Twilight.
Oh, but don’t worry, age doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter about anything *COUGHSEXSCENECOUGHCHAPTER8INECLIPSECOUGH*, because, you know, kids aren’t impressionable and don’t take influence from any of their surroundings.
Bianca-
i seriously cannot be assed to read what you wrote.
Madison-
I dont know you.
lol
but i was late coming here so thats my excuse
what does nonsparkly mean?
it means anti-twilight, because I am lazy and cannot remember any of you guys’ names, like Marissa and Madison and I didn’t know who was anti or pro
SO
SPARKLY = TWILIGHT
NONSPARKLY = ANTI-TWILIGHT
k.
kanick, aren’t you the psychopath that likes Google translate?
Sigh. I walked past a girl with a copy of Twilight the other day in the library, and I picked up a copy of Jane Eyre to read. She called out to me: “Have you read Twilight?” and I said yes. I added that it wasn’t my thing and that I preffered other books. She snatched Jane Eyre from my hands, threw it down and stomped on it. I said: “Hey, that’s what I did to Twilight!” I picked the book up and dusted it off, borrowing it out. Luckily I haven’t seen her since. Psycho.
Thank you, thank you for this awesome review. It’s good to know that there are people who weren’t brainwashed by the Twilight series.
Hi i’m no speank english(read)verygood….i be tradution this artig!!!
thank you!!.
Madison-
WE MISSED YOU VERY MUCH!
To the general audience-
Okay, let’s review a few things: Twilight sucks. A lot. So props to you who know that.
(Sorry I’ve been out of touch! The site was down for me yesterday, so I needed a way to address the latest commenters.)
I haven’t read a book in over 10 years. I read all 4 novels in a weeks time and I’m ready to bring reading back into my life again. Stephanie Meyers has been an inspiration to me because I always HATED to read but now my whole world has changed and I’m ready to embrace it.
Thank you Stephanie for opening my eyes and to use my imagination again. I thought my mond was broken….V
I haven’t read a book in over 10 years. I read all 4 novels in a weeks time and I’m ready to bring reading back into my life again. Stephanie Meyers has been an inspiration to me because I always HATED to read but now my whole world has changed and I’m ready to embrace it.
Thank you Stephanie for opening my eyes and to use my imagination again. I thought my mind was broken….V
Stephanie Meyers is the William Hung of novel authors…
Replying to “Vamp-Hunter”
Are you kidding me? I was just joking around! This DOES seem self-centered, whether she’s a critic or not.
My “caretaker”? Wow, I’m sorry, but how do you even “hurt yourself” on the internet? Guess you would know. Seriously.
I just like the book, and people who don’t, it’s all good. I can see where you guys are coming from.
Even though I’m a Twilighter, I am really ashamed by the Twilight fans on this page, you guys are giving us a bad name!
Although there’s lots of debates about feminism and Bella is just a damsel in distress, there have been a lot of positive impacts on young girls’ lives too. There was even a girl who was on the verge of suicide, until she read these books. It’s crazy, but it happens.
It’s not like one day, Miss Stephenie Meyer woke up, and decided to write a story to show that women were less equal than men, and so on and so forth. She was just inspired by a sort of dream she had, and began writing.
But you guys definitely have a good say on the “writing style” if you don’t like it, or whatever it is.
Me on the other hand, I still like Twilight.
It’s just not one of those typical books.
Oh & “Vamp-Hunter”, babe, YOU grow up. Ha.
Seriously. Vamp Hunger?! HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Whoops, Hunter* not hunger. Hahaha(:
Vutterfly –
If Stephenie Meyer brought so much inspiration to you, why can’t you spell her name right?
Twilight doesn’t count as a book to read, because it has no literary value – you read it just for fun, and it’s entertainment, but taintedentertainment.
Marissa & Madison –
*CHEER*
WELCOME BACK TO YOU BOTH
I am so bored. MY goddamn internet isn’t loading South Park – HOW AM I GONNA DO MY SIMPSONS PUZZLE (which, by the way, is a spot the difference. Yeah. THE PICTURE ON THE BOX IS DIFFERENT) NOW?
It’s like 1000 pieces
but if I finish it i’ll feel so accomplished
P.S: It’s holidays in Australia, I’m not just crazy though that does add to it.
Rafal H –
no, i am not.
p.s. do u live in oz?
but thank you for explaining the sparkly/non-sparkly concept to me.
Rafal H-
I’m sorry my spelling error disturbed you and that you did not accept my opinion. But it did truly mean something to me and will never be forgotten.
~V~
Vutterfly –
please.
kanick –
you’re welcome, and yes, I do live in the land down under ;]
Vutterfly-
What, exactly, encouraged you to read those worthless rags that a teenager could have written?
Ammy-
I’ve never heard about a girl on the verge of suicide until she read these, and I would know, as there a fair amount of Twilighters at my school.
To be honest, I don’t believe it. Such a mediocre story isn’t something to stop suicidal thoughts. Just no.
I haven’t heard of any positive things regarding it, sorry.
And yes, it basically is one of those typical books that get way too much hype over nothing.
Rafal H-
Thanks!
It’s good to be back.
I’m sorry to hear your computer is being mean to you though! No fun. I bet you can finish it.
Yes, I like Twilight as book just as much as I like any other book. Personally the books that I’m obsessed with are those by John Grisham, The Pelican Brief=Love, but anyways I’m only here cuz I want to defend a book that I find good.
Sorry for the random post, but I feel like being random.
“Millions of books sold who cares what this lady says !”
That doesn’t mean the Twilight books are good litterature
*sigh* You still have much to learn
Hi! My computer’s fixed! What did I miss ^_^?
oh, i just read Ammy’s comment
Ammy –
so you’re saying another psychopath read the book?
Look, I don’t believe that story, and if it’s true that girl has serious issues.
If I were so depressed I was suicidal, Twilight wouldn’t help, sort of the opposite.
Ah see if I say anything it will be ‘rude’ *sigh*
seriously the stereotype demographic for this book are all the people I HATE, the popularbitchestweenykids and psychopathetictwi-moms.
Question for all you Americans –
why do you think the entire world hates you?
THIS IS A NONBIASED QUESTION I’M SERIOUSLY ASKING YOU.
Ok, some maybe like twilight and some don’t. Please respect others opinions, not everybody’s opinion must follow yours. And please..the guy ( or girl) who started this is the most sucking person i have ever met!! F— YOU!. YOU SHOULDNT POST SUCH A THING!!! THE TWILIGHT SAGA IS AN ARGUEMENT BUT HOW YOU CAN SAY UNTIL IT IS SO BAD? CAN YOU WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS? Yes..i like the twilight saga…..BUT IF YOU CAN’T WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS THEN NO SAY ANYTHING LOL!!! STUPID! F_ _KING FELLA!!! YOU ARE A SON OF THE BITC_!!!
Rafal H-
I donno. I don’t.
Twilighter-
First of all, please take some English classes. If this isn’t your first language, then I’ll give you a bit of credit, but something tells me it is so go back to first grade and come back when you can make cohesive sentences.
Secondly, please notice the hypocrisy of what you just wrote.
i dont get why people are so mad over twilight. it eats crap for breakfast.
TWilighter –
so. respect your opinion….
yet you don’t respect out own.
Back the fuck off miss bitch.
Sorry you guys I’ve been watching South Park…
twilight is the worst thing ever printed. At my school, there are these dumbass girls (and one faggot boy) who are obsessed with twilight. They wear all kinds of twilight shit and i feel like hiring someone to “pay them a visit.” I also heard that there is a Twilight store in Phoenix, AZ. I wish i had an RPG or some C4 to blow that shit hole to hell. Oh wait, i forgot, hell would reject those twilight freaks and that piece of shit store
I have no life
You guys
I CAN’T DOWNLOAD
I hate reading books online and I have to wait for tomorrow to read a bunch of Janet Evanovich’s
I AM HAVING SOUTHPARK WITHDRAWL
AND YOU CAN’T WIN THE 4 SUITS LEVEL IN SPIDER SOLITAIRE. IT IS GODDAMN IMPOSSIBLE.
Perhaps climb off your soap box for a moment because I think the air up there is getting to your head. It’s nice to be idealistic and all that, but I believe you’ve overlooked the very important point that the book is fictional. It is not a guide on how to live your life or behave in relationships. It is not a tribute to feminism or an in depth guide to the biology of vampires.
It’s nice to jump on your high horse and preach your ideals to the world, but don’t you think you’re taking this all a little too seriously?
The book was written for entertainment value. It didn’t entertain you, and I’m sure there are plenty of other people who weren’t fans. But like any other novel you can name, this isn’t going to suit everyone.
Yes, it was aimed at impressionable teens, but I DO wish people would give kids a bit more credit than expecting them to emulate every action the see on television or read about it a book. If someone is honestly THAT stupid they deserve what they get. I know that I was perfectly capable of separating life from fiction when I was that age, sorry if you weren’t. It romanticised a relationship that is FICTIONAL. I’m sure the minute some teenage girl finds herself with a vampire for a boyfriend she’ll stop and say “gee, what would Bella Swan do?”
Pop Culture is swarming with images and ideals that are completely warped and unhealthy. Girls are bombarded by images of stick thin models in sexually suggestive clothing and poses, they are exposed on a daily basis to television shows depicting sex and drugs as the norm. Perhaps you should spend more time worrying about those things being a negative influence on young people than a story.
oh, and a side note: all you Twilight fans who have nothing more productive to say than “fuck off! You’re a stupid bitch!” etc… please be quiet, you’re not helping. >.>
Amber- yes, we know that its fictional. However, that doesn’t change the fact that enough people DO take it as a guide to life that it scares me.
Heh, heh. Yes, most teens are that smart, however because of the fact that stupid people now tend to live to a ripe old age because of modern medicine and have about ten kids that actually survive, intelligence is becoming an all-to-precious commodity. Smart people can’t do anything about them because we realize that the world is already too damn overpopulated and it would be “wrong” to sterilize anyone too dumb to tie their own shoes despite the fact that it is unquestionably better for the human race to do so. So, in short: no, most teen girls ARE that stupid. Sorry. And they do deserve to kill themselves over a fairy with a blood fetish because they’re total dumbasses (if you’ll excuse the term). However, most of them are also too mentally challenged to actually do it right, and just sit there whining about how they can’t get their boyfriend to wear body glitter (and really, can you blame him?) thus inconveniencing everyone else. And since we can’t just throw a “meet the author” party and then fill the room with noxious fumes, we have to cut off the whining at it’s source: The book that has driven these guys out of Abercrombie and into the dark secluded corners where my friends and I like to hang out because “real Edwards don’t like the sun” (I actually got that as a response when I asked them what the hell they were doing in our spot. Sad, isn’t it?)
And I don’t care about that stuff because those kind of girls stay out of the way and tend to attract asshole-ish guys, thereby screening them out and making it easier for people like me to find nice ones.
So, no: I don’t really care about them anymore than one would care about an infestation of roaches. However, you have to at least acknowledge the fact that they pretty much are pests. They contribute nothing positive and annoy everyone else.
My god, I just realized how many run-on sentences were in that…
you pepol are all stuped twilight is so cool and Stefeny miers is a cool person unlike you pepol
twilightlover09 –
thats rich coming from a person who cant spell ‘people’, ‘stupid’ and ‘Stephenie Meyer’.
Amber-
Exactly, teenagers are influenced by what the celebrities and supermodels are doing. So they would be just as easy influenced by Twilight, which is basically everywhere right now
twilighterlover09-
Are you serious? Coming from a person who can’t even spell the SIMPLEST of words correctly, it doesn’t mean much. How about you go back to kindergarten, repeat a year, and then rewrite the comment, correctly.
Until then, no one will take you seriously.
AMber –
you are the classic ‘twilight defender’. I don’t like them, because all they say is kids are never impressionable, are never influenced, the book is fictional, and throw in some snide remarks. I am very open about my insults, you TWILIGHTER. (joking jeez)
twilightlover09 –
you are obviously a troll.
This article is pure gold. (And the Twilightards that try to defend their “handsome and oh so perfect” -pukes- Edward and their beautiful Mary Sue –oh sorry, “Beautiful Swan” with comments that can hardly be read are very amusing. ) “you pepol are all stuped twilight is so cool and Stefeny miers is a cool person unlike you pepol”. Very mature, twilightlover09. Do us all a favor…Please learn to spell “Stephenie Meyer” correctly, and then come again. C:
Everything>Meyerpyres.
‘Nuff said. -3-
“IF ITS SO FUCKING BAD WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE LOVE IT ?
ITS NOT SEXIST A GIRL WROTE IT ? BELLA IS IN LOVE I KNOW PEOPLE WHO HAVE KILLED THEMSELFS OVER IT BEFORE. AND YUO FORGOT TO MENTION HOW BELLA IS EDWARDS WORLD ! HE WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HER SHES A QUEEN IN HIS EYES ! GET A LIFE.”
ROFL -falls off chair, laughing-
Sparklepyres r ttl awesum-
Lol! When did someone write that XD?
Sparklepyers r ttl awesum-
Heh, that’s great. How long ago was that posted?
I, personally, am disgusted that people, especially other girls, actually like these books.
The quality of writing is poor, the characters are shallow, there are TYPOS in the book, and there never is any sort of conflict.
When I went out and bought Twilight at the reccomendation of almost all my girlfriends, I was expecting something that would treat me as though I was mature.
I was wrong.
The novel portrays Bella as a naive, generally foolish girl lusting after a SPARKLING vampire.
Dear god.
Us girls raised on this kind of garbage- where will our Margaret Atwoods be? Our Brontës?
They will be gone, thanks to trash like this.
Thankfully, I was able to return that piece of garbage to my local bookstore and instead I got “Call of C’thulhu” by H.P Lovecraft.
Now that is literature.
Sera-
I agree with you 100% on that. Especially the “Call of C’thulhu” part. That’s an awesome book and an even better role-playing game.
I freaking love this review i swear to god i couldnt have put it better myself. It’s in every public blog and journal i have and ive just started posting it everywhere. I’ve been looking for a great review or at least some funny Twilight jokes that make fun of it but once i seen this it blew everything out of the water.
Thank you!
I just love it when the indignant people come in.
Personally, I am shocked and appalled that such literature is allowed into our school libraries. To think of all the horrendous …
then they go on in vain, not actually mentioning Twilight just being personally insulted by it.
Have we gotten any of these yet?
CRAP.
YOU GUYS.
WHAT DO I DO
Situation;
I lent my friend a book,
the book is due today,
i cannot renew it as it has holds,
I can’t get the book back until next week because it’s school holidays
*sob*
Rafal H –
South Australia?
No, Melbourne,
best water in the world.
haha ok,
In response to well everyone I guess,
Many girls are being influenced by this book. I will agree with you on that, but not every person who likes Twilight is affected that way. Let’s say the Twilight Saga didn’t exist, those girls that allow it to become their lives would instead be more obsessed with something else, something that could be horrible. No matter what tween/teen girls have always been and will always be impressionable. It’s life. And I guess I’ll have to sound like the classic “Twilight Defender” by saying that it is only a book. If girls are thinking that this is real life and thus not being able to differenate reality from fiction then there is a bigger problem concerning the girls who are allowing Twilight to become their obsession.
Just out of curiosity, why has Twilight been deemed so innapropriate when Romeo and Juliet has not? You have to see the simalarities between the two stories. In both, the female lead isn’t exactly that outgoing, and the male lead is rather obnoxious. Not to mention that in R&J, the characters actually kill themselves. Correct me if I’m wrong but actually commiting suicide is a little higher on the list of bad things you can do than almost committing suicide.
Secondly, both couples not only fall madly in love with each other almost instantly, but they’re not really supposed to be together. They also both include someone who gives the male lead the wrong info about his lovers “death.” Rosalie and the messenger are both mistaken in saying that their respective dead girl is, in fact, dead.
And yet, R&J doesn’t come under half as much fire as Twilight does. Can someone please tell me what’s wrong with this picture? Plus, R&J is required-REQUIRED-reading for every high school age student in America and in other places in the world.
Is it because R&J is some sort of classic and is therefore immune to all of these accusations, or is it because Twilight is new and has gained popularity quickly? (Either way, I think SM pretty much stole the story line, but that’s beside the point.) And if teens are oh-so-impressionable, shouldn’t R&J not be taught? Because I’m thinking that it definitely shouldn’t be, what with so many features in common with Twilight.
Anyone got a good answer for me?
Oh, that’s all just so true!
There’s one other thing that just makes me hate the book. Edward actually breaks in into Bellas room. At night. While she’s sleeping. And he’s even oiling the… Damn, can’t remember the word. The things, where the windows and so are hanging on. Oiling it, so he can break in without Bella noticing it.
If someone would do that to me, I’d totally sue that person. I can’t understand how Bella can think it’s “romantic”. And how Meyer can even write such stupid things. It’s like she’s encouraging abuse of women through their boyfriends/husbands.
I actually liked the first book, weren’t able to read the second one, but read up on it. The third one was…weird. And I wished to throw the fourth at the next Twilight-Fan crossing my way. I fail to understand how people can think that these books are romantic…
I have to applaud your article; it’s an amazing insight, and what I’ve been telling people all along.
Also I think the people attacking you should realize all you’re doing is voicing your opinion, and therefore they have the right to voice theirs, but realize you’re not stating it as fact rather an observance or literary breakdown.
But I have to point out to those who refer to Twilight as a saga, it’s not a saga. A saga is a piece of Norse literature, or a story that follows a family. Stephenie Meyer is not Norse, and Bella and Edward are not a family until Breaking Dawn, so it cannot be a saga in any definition of the word. Meyer and her agent have labeled it a saga to make it seem more unique when in reality it’s not.
Also for those who think that people should realize its fiction and that it doesn’t really effect people they are wrong. There have been incidents when Twilight fans attacked people, over the fictional story. And I have to point out that there are plenty of kids out there who are impressionable and can be influenced by anything and everything. It may just be a book but everything can be taken the wrong way.
Mimi-
Sorry. I didn’t know the actual definition of the word ‘saga.’ I was just going off what it has been called. Also, there may have been attacks from Twilight fans, not that I’ve even heard of them ever, but that’s the same with all of the things that people obsess over. Have you ever heard of the Beatles?
Madison-
I wasn’t targeting anyone specifically based on my comment about a saga, it’s a common misconception that is common among the general population seeing as it was Meyer and her literary agent who titled it so, I wasn’t targeting you at all, I’m sorry. And I recognize that there have been attacks from Twilight fans, as is the case with most obsessions so Twilight is not alone. However point I was making was that a lot of people are using the argument that fiction doesn’t influence the reader, or that the reader should be able to differentiate between fiction and reality. When this isn’t true. Everything and anything can influence a person, just look a Mark David Chapman, he was so influence by the Catcher in the Rye that he shot John Lennon. It wasn’t the argument that only Twilight fans are violent it was a rebuttal that those who say fiction has no influence over a person was inaccurate. Because everything and anything can influence a person for the better or for the worse.
Liz- I do! The reason is, as you thought, that English teachers somewhere down the line decided that it was all right, as long as it was written a long time ago. So, yes, it is because Romeo and Juliet is a ‘classic’ that it’s immune.
Of course, there is also an element of justice in Romeo and Juliet. In that story, they both end up dying because they were stupid. In reality, R&J isn’t a love story: it’s about the folly of youth. Also, like I said, it’s for an English class. Any book in an English class is torn apart so much that a: how horrible it is becomes obvious and b: no teen girl would ever want to base their life upon it because it just gets so boring after you dissect every freaking line. Twilight is so effective because no one makes its themes horribly unappealing.
For the record, though, I’m not totally sure it’s required. We did Julius Caesar in my English class.
Marissa is NONSPARKLY —
I know, but just because you didn’t hear it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I heard this story on the news and it’s a good day when something like that happens.
I’m just saying you can’t say the book is completely and utterly bad in all ways possible.
And I, as an educated Twilight fan, know that it isn’t always 100% amazing either.
But I’d rather look to the positive than the negative.
Rafal H is NONSPARKLY —
Same to you.
And not all people who like these book are “popularbitchestweenykids” or “psychopathetictwi-moms.”
Thanks.
I agree with Liz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gd point, romeo & juliet is way more dramatic, and it has many of the the bad qualitles that twilight has….
let’s all pick on shakespeare!!!
I agree with Liz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gd point, romeo & juliet is way more dramatic, and it has many of the the bad qualitles that twilight has….
let’s all pick on shakespeare!!!
Liz –
Goddamnit. Why do people constantly compare Smeyer to Shakespeare?
Difference is Shakespeare has a moral at least [teenagers are stupid] whereas Meyer makes it seem like it’s okay. This is why I want to wring her neck.
Besides, Romeo and Juliet was WELL WRITTEN and is…wait for it…a GOOD story.
*eyetwitch* You see the similarities because Meyer ‘based’ *COUGHUNORIGINALCOUGH* her story on that, and many other better classics.
Madison –
You’re right. You do sound like the classic ‘Twilight Defender’.
In answer to your question NO I DO NOT HAVE PMS I am just super pissed at that prick Richard Dawkins. I’m in a mood >.>
I’m gonna go rape our data allowence…
Hey!
I have to admit that after reading this review and most of the comments I kind of realized that the whole series was written utterly bad.
I think I didn’t saw the writing flaws until you pointed them out. (maybe the lack of vocabulary was too obvious to miss) Well the extreme romantic stuff really bothered me throughout the books, but overall I liked them. Not because of the writing style and romance crap, obviously, but because I am a huge sci-fi fan and vampires of course get my attention.
Although she jammed together quite a lot of myths, she also incorporated them in a very interesting story. Huge warewolfs, people friendly vampires, the Incredible Hulk like strength and impenetrable skin, unfortunately unavoidable good looks and all the extra abilities.
If she would let out that teenage love crap, this complete saga would be a very interesting, 100 page, vampire novel.
Since I really don’t care about all the Romeos and Juliets and Heathcliffs and all the other romantic stuff and all the bad writing … well all that is left are vampires and warewolfs and they are just, well, cool
You guys
I’m going crazy
I’m cold
I’m tired [my brother keeps waking me up and the HUGE storm this morning woke me up]
I can’t really be bothered writing right now without the complete plot crafted
and tiny details acting as an impediment to my writing
and
and
and
I’m watching something
But I want to do something WHILST watching
cause i always do that
like spider solitaire
But i’ve given it u p
I am seriously considering suicide because I’m remembering all my embarassing-to-the-point-of-dying moments
Rafal H-
Yeah, that happens to everyone. The cure for having a shitty day is either going back to bed or listening to hyper dance music until nothing matters anymore.
Rafal H-
I’ve found that chocolate also helps. A lot.
Marissa-
AH! You’re right! How could I have forgotten cocolate! Oh yeah, because there’s almost never any at my house ^^;
Rafal-
I see your point, and I promise you I wasn’t trying to actually compare Shakespeare and SMeyer, or their works, I was just wondering why, with so many of the same themes, Twilight was so debated. Shakespeare is the better author by far-like WAY far. I like Rae’s answer, though.
Anyway, eventually my curiosity will get the better of me and I’ll ask a question that everyone will totally dissect and kill me over. I look forward to that day for some reason….
Liz –
Thanks. I’ve actually answered that question before, though. lol
rafal H?
why the hell r u writing your suicide notes on a anti-twilight forum???
how old r u anyway?
Because, kanick, I have no friends, obviously, and you are my only human contact.
you guys are funny.
“Blame Canada, Blame Canada!”
“They’re not even a real country anyway.”
Oh and because I have to COMMENT and vent and I get reported anywhere else xD
Also, Richard Dawkins is a prick.
I hate that guy. Like, really hate him.
More than Stephenie Meyer, even. Can you believe that? Now you know the extent of my passion.
I understand your views, but this seems a very biast view on these books. These books are not aimed for everyone, and may be enjoyed more by someone in the age-range it is meant for. Teenage readers must love these books, they are written with such deep meaning. Fiction. Do all books have to be so serious and factual. No. Presumably, you are not coming from a 15 year old’s view.
Liz –
I personally find Romeo and Juliet pathetic.
But quite frankly, it isnt as debated as much as twilight is because its taught at school, and it is set in the 19th century (or 20th, i dont know). It isnt impressionable because it was set in an so-called ‘uncivilized’ time, teens noticing this fact, dont tend to look in to the story, or read it for pleasure. Its not entertainment, its just like any other piece of work you have to do at school.
Anna-
I dont really understand what you’re saying tbh.
And not coming from a 15 year olds point of view? I believe most of us here are around that age mate. (i just have a thing with that word recently)
Anna-
I’m almost 15, however irrelevent that is, and I hate them. I don’t know where the deep meaning part comes in, because, uh, there is NONE.
How is this a biased review? I don’t see how age is relevent either, because there is a site for MOMS who love Twilight. Which, in my opinion, is very, very pathetic.
Liz and Tina-
Well, for one thing, Romeo and Juliet is better written, and has something called plot and development. It may have a crappy ending, but at least there’s a reason why.
Shakespeare is a great author, because many things he wrote about are apparent in today’s world, if you look hard enough.
That’s my opinion, anyway.
Anna-
Alright, I won’t be fifteen for a little over a month, but I’m close enough. Allow me to say this: I hate those books, consider them poorly written, and agree 100% with the writer of the article.
Kellen Rice, THANK YOU! I am sorry that you got quiet a bit of hate mail but even if you opened up one individual’s eyes, it is a good thing. And all those “adults” out there who claim teenagers are well versed, well rounded and will not be influenced, I hope those “How dare you!!! F.. U Edward is Perfect, U SUCK!” letters gave you some sense.
Liz (and also Tina),
Shakespeare died in 1616, not in 19th century, hence it is a very old story and in its historical context and based on the characteristics/preferences of the society and audience back than, it does not bother me that Juliet was 13 (Juliette’s mother tells her she was already married settled by Juliet’s age) and Romeo is 17 and they end up committing suicide. The story is more about the consequences of hatred and the passions of turbulent teenage years.
HOWEVER, in this day and age, the story of Twilight DOES bother me. I did not even start reading Twilight with a prejudice. I was looking for something escapist, a nice light read, I didn’t know anything about Twilight until one day my friend and I decided to see a random movie and we happened to see Twilight. I thought it was cute and charming, but once I completed the first book, Edward’s lead in the relationship and Bella’s lack of personality made me VERY uncomfortable.
As mentioned in the article, in the second book I saw SOME character development with Jacob and by the third book, I got so mad, I closed the book and decided to never go back. The unhealthy and abusive pattern of Bella and Edward’s relationship was extremely obvious and all of a sudden Jacob was a jerk and I thought I could not be the only one noticing that! After that I googled “edward is abusive” and realised there are people out there who recognized the abuse.
I am sorry, fiction or non fiction, it bothers me this stuff is fed young minds and many people, including grown up women, are incapable of identifying abusive behaviour.
Gabrielle
Anna –
As you can see most of us are smack dab in the targetted demographic for Twilight (well, the demographic they claim, not the real one which is pathetic housewives who obsess over Edward and go on twilightmoms.com and talk about how they want to take Taylor Lautner’s virginity =.=)
And there is no deep meaning in Twilight. Like, none. At all.
Rafal H-
That part about the Twilight moms and Taylor Lautner is…eugh. But it’s true, which is the scary part.
Sometimes I really pity him.
Gabrielle-
17th century.
Even Better
Marissa-
I agree that its a better story and everything.
Its just that i dont believe in love at first sight and fate and destiny and stuff like that, which is why i find romeo and juliet pathetic.
I dont think it helps that we just had to write a thee page essay on it . lol
Tina –
I don’t really think R&J has anything to do with love. There was no fate or destiny. It was just stupidity. Labeling the story a romance is one of the worst crimes we could have done to it.
Romeo and Julliet is classified as a romantic tradgedy.
I think the conection with twilight is that Bella is human, Edward is a vampire; its forbidden love.
S. Meyer also said that the apple on the cover of the twilight book symbolised “forbidden fruit”
that is also the case with R&J, and Julilet is a Capulet, and Romeo is a Montauge.
Oh and also, if u remember tybalt capulet (juliet’s cousin, who romeo kills later on) but he is kind of like Jacob Black, in the sense that he is like Bella’s Cousin, and he Hate’s Edward, just like Tybalt hates Romeo.
Now, as most of u know, i waas a total twilighter, but since i have been reading the other comments and actually thinking about it, i am becoming more and more anti-twilight.
Rafal H-
do u mean Richard dawkins who wrote the climbing mount improbable thingo?
yeah, i hate him to…..
oh and by me previous comment, i ment to say that i think S. Meyer has copied Shakespeare……
kanick –
she ‘based’ New Moon on Shakespeare
I don’t know why she didn’t just kill them like he did, but there you go
She also threw in some other, better classics; wuthering heights, jane eyre, anne of green gables, others I cannot remember, merchant of venice.
She thinks she is actually a good author that can pull them off.
anne of green gables?
she actually told people that she based part of new moon on that???
WTF??????????????
and i must say, in all the interviews i have seen with her, i am liking her less and less….
whateva! i luv all the books and i think there totally amazing! just coz you guys don’t have any imagination doesnt mean the rest of us dont!! Lets see you guys write a book better than this and ill be the judge coz the twilight series are the besr books ever!! bye
There totally amazing because S. Meyer stole other people’s ideas
kanick –
Aye, but the problem comes when people forget about the tragedy, savvy? (Sorry, to much Pirates) Most people I talk to about it are like “Oh mai gawd! It is totly teh besst lurve stori eva!” But It’s not. I mean, the Iliad seems at least, if not more, romantic to me.
And on a side note to everyone, don’t you love the person who said that WE have no imagination? Especially since that was right under the comment about all of the books Meyer stole from. I think I’ll take her on, though (because I’m willing to bet my ABBA collection it’s a she). The link that I turned my name to goes right to my story. It’s not even the good version, but I’m pretty sure it’s better than Twilight.
Rae –
Gd points.
r u scottish, coz u said aye!!!
And i am also willing to bet that “WTF” is a girl, most likely under the age of 16. Her Slang is a dead give away
kanick –
No, but like I said, I had just been watching Pirates of the Caribbean (if you’ve seen it, you should understand)
Yeah, I had figured that, too.
Tina-
I believe in fate/destiny, but I don’t believe in love at first sight. You can’t possibly know that someone it for you the moment you first see them.
You might get the feeling you’d like to meet them, if they seem nice, but not love them.
Your entitled to own opinion, of course. I’ve never read Romeo and Juliet, so once I do, I’m sure I’ll be able to…I don’t know, form a better opinion, you know?
wtf!!!
I have an imagination, actually. And I don’t see why your opinion is any better than anyone else’s. Because it’s not.
Rae-
Oh yeah, I love being told I have no imagination. Absolutely love it. And Pirates are awesome, by the way.
kanick-
About that psycho, yeah she’s probably under 16, with no more intelligence than a block of wood, which is besides the point…
I forgot to add, the fact that at some point Edward rebels and starts killing bad people reminds me of Dexter. There is nothing moral or acceptable, it is just as bad as killing innocent people. S Meyer expects us to nod our heads like Bella and think how noble Edward was even during his most turbulent times. Please.
Gabrielle –
Even if Edward did start killing random people, all those teenage twilighters would not think any less of him!
Rae –
Yeah, Pirates of the Caribbean is a good movie!
Nonsparklys –
I don’t think the phyco will come back, what a shame since we have all be giving her such good feedback!
Edward doesn’t rebel and start killing random people. He only kills those who were coming to kill his own family. Also, if Edward started to kill random people, I’m pretty sure that not as many people would like him as much as they do now.
Madison-
Yes he does. He runs away not long after he’s turned. And of course, everyone forgives him and pretends it never happened.
I second that, Rae
wtf!! –
actually, I like to think I have an overactive imagination, which is the cause for my paranoia and the reason why I sleep with a torch under my pillow (in case a burgler comes I usually have my hand under my pillow and can bash his head in if he comes close to me, and also if there’s a blackout and everyone panics)
Also, I am working on a better book, I’m 14, I’m not a miracle worker, for chrissakes.
Also, Stephen King wrote much, much better books, sold many, MANY more copies of his books – yet you do not accept his opinion.
HMM!!!
omg,
everyone on this site is so young!!
i cant talk thought…
haha
kanick –
It’s ’cause young teenagers are the dmographic that tend to have the ability to go on the internet and have the most time on their hands. Younger kids probably don’t have a computer (and hopefully haven’t read Twilight), and anyone older probably has a job or a signifigant other that takes too much of their time for them to really get on much.
What a relief to see your review! I am the coordinator of a family violence program and after hearing numerous people (adults) rave about this series I watched the movie just to get a feel for what it’s about. I was totally appalled that people having been touting it as a love story. In fact I’m using it to show a group of high school teens what abuse looks like. I hope that all of you who are questioning this series are telling people around you of an alternative perspective on the Twilight phenomenon. We owe it to young people everywhere to question the archaic assumptions about love, women and relationships put forward in these books.
Fine, he may have done that. I forgot about that, but he’s changed overtime. The fact that he has changed from being a bloodthirsty newborn vampire who only thinks about killing in order to quench the thirst for blood to a vampire who knows that killing is wrong, hence why he hunts animals, is reason why people have forgiven him. It’s the same thing as a murderer going to jail for a certain amount of time and being released a changed person. Yes, he committed the crime and there is nothing that can change that, but after reflecting on his actions is a changed man and knows that what happened was wrong.
I love both The Twilight and Harry Potter series. I am “anxiously” wating for the Midnight Sun series as well. We already know Bella’s POV and maybe now will be able to see what Edward has been thinking all this time when Bella notices he stares out the window or seems to be in thought.
I’m sure people will be slamming this too when it comes out. Kellen Rice, you must be a lonely person who needs to bash other people’s work. I feel sorry for you. You must not know what love feels like and certainly don’t recognize love when you read it.
How sad you must be.
I totally agree. thank you for saying all that! But you orgot to add, that actually Bella and Edward’s relationship is only based on appearance. I mean, red back book 1 the only thing Bella loves about Edward is his BODY! The word gorgeous and velvet voice must have been repeated at least a good thousand time! And Bella has no personality (not that Edward as much either mind you). Still. We only know that she is clumsy, plain and loves old love stories. Yeah, that toally describe someone. Ah she is stubborn and “helplessy in love” with Edward. And as the serie goes on, it became worst.
BD was the most horrible booo I’ve ever read. I was SO bored. Bella was COMPLETLY Mary-sued and the End was really unbelveable (as was the whole book in fact). I mean she got evryhting at then end ? Super beautiful, super vampire that doesn’t even need human blood, super vampire who save ebryone, who could ave a chil -_-‘. Yeeeeeah…
Ugh and what mae me laugh so much was : 1) how se-obssesed Bella was. i Mean a good part of the book was about that.They even get a samll home (present from the cullens -_-‘) where they could make love ” for a 10 years”passion. -_-‘.
Bella ? Typical Amercain ? I hope not. I’m not American, but I would feel really bad if I was one. A beautiful/wonderful picture of the woman, of love and of marriage to. I mean, the only reason she is getting married to Edward is because she wanted to make love to him -_-(. SCrew School/college/her family etc…Her needs came first XD
Oh and she didn’t really invented anyhting. vampire is a good vampire who doesn’t want to hurt humans, so he feeds off of animals instead.+ Vampire who feels that he shouldn’t be alive, that they were some sort of atrocities and who doesn’t want that for anyone+Vampire a bit lonely, who come an go, leaving his family when he has enough ( Edward)…ANNE RICE! That is exactly what LOUIS does. -_-‘.
That’s not the only thing = the fact that vampire can’t have children because of the man . That was ANNE RICE’s idea inspired directly from the Myth of Osiris
There are many more things that SM directly took from Anne Rice even in her characters. Anne Rice was a genius!
And the way she writes…Poor writing qualities. Terrible. -_-‘
Something I didn’t understand. She created the concept of “sparkling vampires” XD. Then why did she wait until teh very end of BD to say that Jacob and co were not werewolves but shape shifters ?Why ? Sure they became werewolf anytime they want but she could just have said that she also invented this sort of wewolf! Since she changed the vampire mith, she could have cha,ged that two! Why wait until the very end of BD to crush evrything she has written so far about Jcob (especially in BD where she wrote a lot about him) to then siad ” Oh no they are shape shifters” sorry evryone -_-‘.
STOP THE MARY SUE! AND THE DEUS EX MACHINA.
I’m pretty sure fan become more fan not because of the book, but because of the fandom and of the fanfiction….I know some of my firend became twilight obssedes due to the Fanfiction (htank go, BD was so horrible that they were disgusted by the whole thing XD)
This is to Pam who watched the movie rather than read the book.
READ THE BOOK. The movie left so much out (thanks to stupid director Catherine Hardewicke, I’m not slamming the actors just the director) and even added some things that were not even in the book. Edward and Bella get to know each other over time. Bella even states there is much more to him than just his face.
Edward loves her and wants to protect Bella. Edward is not some abusive boyfriend who beats her or abuses her in any way. Edward Cullen will never buy a six pack and get drunk or high with his friends, he would never beat her or make her unhappy. Her happiness is all Edward cares about. There is nothing Edward Cullen would not do for Bella. How is that abusive?
For you to use the movie (who was badly edited) to show what abuse looks like is wrong in so many ways. I’m sorry, but I’ve read all four books and the first chapter of Midnight Sun several times and I don’t understand where you feel that Edward Cullen is an abusive boyfriend.
I would love for my daughters to meet someone with his qualities who would go at any length to make sure they are happy, safe and loved.
Patty-
Oh dear. Bella and Edward got together over about a week’s worth of time. Why? Because Bella liked the way he looked, and Edward thought she smelled good.
What a base to a relationship.
Before I go any further, know that I have read the book, and am in the determined “age range”.
Do you know what abuse is? Abuse is:
Example 1:
Anti: “Edward is abusiveâ€
Support for this argument includes the following (and this is just a quick list):
1. Edward is controlling and domineering
2. Edward has an unequal share of authority over the relationship
3. Edward threatens suicide
4. Edward manipulates Bella into marriage
5. Edward actively attempts to prevent Bella from seeing her friend (removes engine, has her kidnapped)
6. Edward encourages Bella’s isolation from others
Now, I’ve found that the most common argument in rebuttal for “Edward is abusive†is “But he only does it because he loves her†or “He’s trying to protect her†or “His intentions are good†or “He recognizes that he makes mistakes/overreactsâ€.
I’m going to address these arguments in two parts. First, in terms of semantics; that is, the actual actions and consequences in the series, and second I’ll deal with the abstraction of intentions versus actions.
1. What is abuse?
Obviously Edward is not abusive physically to Bella, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not still abusive. That is, he is emotionally and mentally abusive. And the fact that he’s a vampire has nothing to do with it; Meyer is portraying a relationship between two people, and given the fact that Edward has a very human psyche (i.e. he experiences human emotions (anger, ‘love’, worry), human desires (sex), and was once in fact human) it is not a reasonable argument to simply excuse his bad behavior by simply arguing, “he’s a vampire, so it doesn’t count.â€
So: abuse. What is it?
Wikipedia says:
Quote: An abusive relationship is an interpersonal relationship characterized by the use or threat of physical or psychological abuse. Abusive relationships are often characterized by jealousy, emotional withholding, lack of intimacy, infidelity, sexual coercion, verbal abuse, broken promises, physical violence, control games and power plays.
Let’s break this definition down in terms of Edward and Bella.
Jealousy – If anything, Edward’s defining characteristic is in fact his jealousy. It is his jealousy (more than anything else) that instigates his abusive acts. He admits after the engine episode that the main reason for not wanting Bella to see Jacob was in fact his prejudice and jealousy, and that’s hardly the only instance of his jealousy.
Emotional withholding – The fact that Edward and Bella are supposed to share this incredible, transcendent relationship is undermined by the fact that rather than discuss his fears and uncertainties, Edward chooses to leave Bella at the beginning of New Moon. While it’s not a crime to end a relationship, the fact that Edward chose to do so in such a cruel and unusual manner instead of explaining his feelings and emotions on the subject is pretty abusive.
Lack of intimacy – The intimacy issue is a trickier when it comes to Edward and Bella. First, in terms of physical intimacy: the fact that Edward controls every single chaste little kiss AND withholds sex is incredibly controlling. That he does so supposedly to protect her is negated by the fact that he’s more than willing to sex her up once they’re married, even though she’s still a puny, fragile human (and she does get hurt). Their lack of emotional intimacy (again, with the above point about emotional withholding) is just as damaging (as referenced by Bella’s zombiefied state in New Moon.
Sexual coercion – Again, Edward controls every aspect of their sexual lives, against Bella’s will and in fact he demeans and treats her like a child when she attempts to sex him.
Broken promises – at the end of Twilight, Edward promises to stay with Bella no matter what. Yet at the beginning of New Moon, he massively overreacts to the supposed threat of danger and decides to break that promise, rendering Bella suicidal. Maybe this isn’t traditionally abusive, but it’s unnecessarily damaging.
Control games and power plays – All the above points serve the idea that Edward’s prevailing character (served by his jealousy) is controlling. And I don’t care how ‘powerful’ and ‘omniscient’ and ‘old and wise’ Edward is, when you’re in a romantic relationship with someone one partner cannot be completely dominating and the other submissive (unless it’s a BDSM relationship, but that’s another subject entirely). It simply isn’t healthy, particularly when it’s supposed to be this ‘great love of all the ages’ and representative of an equal partnership.
2. Intentions
Let me just say this once to make it clear: intentions (good or bad) do not matter. It’s an instance of the classic phrase acta non verba, or “actions, not words.†It doesn’t matter if I tell you “I love you so much!†if I immediately follow that statement by trying to kill you. It doesn’t matter if I honestly DO love you and I STILL try to kill you; the action of attempted homicide still stands (and I’ll be charged with that) regardless of how I feel about it. If I kill someone and then say “I made a mistake†or “I loved him/herâ€, the fact that I feel bad about it in retrospect does not change the irreversible fact that I did, in fact, kill someone.
So if Edward removes the engine from Bella’s truck and then replaces it later, the fact that he replaces it later is irrelevant to the issue at hand; the fact that he performed the abusive act in the first place. I don’t care if he felt bad about it or changed his mind; he still performed the act to begin with.
If Edward only does anything “in order to protect Bellaâ€, it’s again an instance of the irrelevance of intentions. Simply put, he doesn’t have the right to upend another person’s life or to attempt to control what that person does, even if he cares about them. It is not my roommate’s place to lock me in our room to prevent me from going out and getting trashed, even if she thinks she’s doing it to “protect me†or “because she cares about me.†Likewise, it isn’t Edward’s right to decide who Bella sees, when she sees him, where she sees him, and for how long. Just because he decided NOT to kidnap Bella for the weekend a second time doesn’t make the fact that he kidnapped her for a weekend for the first time moot.
Basically, intentions don’t matter. Actions matter. Even if Edward changes his mind or feels bad about it, that doesn’t erase the fact that he performed the act in the first place. If he feels bad about it, it doesn’t mean that his character isn’t an abusive one; you don’t judge a character based on the person he is by the end of the novel (or series); rather, you judge them (and form an understanding of them) by incorporating EVERYTHING you learn about them throughout the series. So while Edward DOES change and DOES make different decisions, his good decisions don’t negate the bad ones. He performs an abusive act = he is abusive, even if he feels bad about it. Capisce?
Again, thanks to the wonderful maintainer of http://twilightsucks.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
That would be abuse. Even my own mom agrees that it’s a slightly abusive relationship, and she LIKES the Twilight books. I hate them, and I know it’s an abusive relationship.
I don’t know where you learned about morals, but you clearly missed an important lesson.
I wouldn’t want my boyfriend to be this way. Sure, being protective of me is good, as is wanting me to be happy, but not the way Edward is.
I’ve heard stories about how he sets good standards for boyfriends, which may be true, but look above. I don’t want a monster for a boyfriend who lives to look after me.
There’s a little thing called independence.
So there you go.
Why on Earth are all these Twilight fanatics commenting just to bust the authors chops? Have they nothing better to do? Why aren’t they burying their little noses in their Twilight books rereading it for the 47th time.
Oh, that’s right, because apparently we’re so narrow-minded that we need all these apparently open-minded people to tell us that we’re wrong and they’re right and we’re just flat-out mean!
Dear Lord, where did I go wrong!?
We get it, you love an extremely insufferable series. There’s tons of you.
Guess what, we don’t like it and there’s tons of us too. Leave us and our points of view alone unless you’re going to have some Epiphany and come to the dark side.
Jesus-fucking-tap-dancing-Christ.
[and to all those people who say their relationship ISN’T abusive: How would YOU feel if your boyfriend debilitated YOUR-I repeat-YOUR. Not his. YOURS- automobile so YOU couldn’t go see someone he saw as a potential threat? Yeah, exactly, STFU.]
Madison- It shouldn’t matter. Murder is murder. It wasn’t like they were crimes of passion, either. He thought it would be better to go be a killing machine. Oh, and by the way, what happened to “vampires are unchanging?” Is it one of the “This is always the case… except when it isn’t” laws?
Madison,
It is not “may have happened”, it is in the first book, feel free to look it up. I see your point on people serving their sentences, however, Edward did not face jail time. It does not matter which mythical creature he is, us human beings are very magical wonderful creatures too. Many people who murder do regret their action right away and just because they regret it doesn’t mean they don’t have to go to jail. SMeyer tries to make the action look less evil by saying “oh well, he only killed bad people”, and the fact that you don’t remember such a disturbing fact shows she succeeded. Evil or not, murder is murder.
Patty,
K. Rice is criticizing the book because it is sexist and glorifies an abusive relationship. Her and the rest of us who agree with her points do not criticise it to piss you off, we are concerned. As a woman, I find the story extremely offensive and just like you have the need to declare your support for the book, I would like to speak against it, Please grow up and deal with it.
Marissa has some very good points. I have mentioned it before, not everyone who is abusive calculate how they are going to hurt the other person. Sometimes abusive behavior happens because the abuser thinks he/she is doing what is best for the other person, yet the behaviour is still abusive.
The only time a person CAN prevent you from doing something you want is when that person is your parent AND you are a minor. Edward is not Bella’s parent. and I do not care if he “allowed” bella to go later on. The dynamic of their relationship is disturbing. Edward is a vampire and he lives with a vampire family and she got almost killed by a family member, yet you guys are still buying the “well werewolves get mad, so there” explanation. You just don’t see the logic gap…
Marissa,
For someone who hates Twilight, you sure know a lot about the books and the characters. Do you have some frustration you need to vent? There are other books you can read you know. Better yet, why don’t you go hang out with your boyfriend, that is if you have one?
It’s just a book and all you are doing is making it out to be more than what it really is. What’s next, book burnings and hate speeches.
Eva,
I do not think you grasp why Madisson wrote her comment.
Well, let me speak for myself. I actually started reading Twilight because I wanted a nice light read and didn’t know anything about it, so I was not prejudiced AT ALL. After I read the first book, as I mentioned before, the fact that Bella was so passive and Edward had a huge lead in the relationship made me uncomfortable. However, in order to make up my mind and have an educated opinion, I had to read the other books.
She is writing this NOT because she just hates a book and she needs to vent but it is because she is CONCERNED. We are all concerned that young women are incapable of identifying abusive behavior.
or decent fiction…
I meant Marissa, my bad…
EVA-
I’ve read the books before, and I didn’t really have a hard time knowing the characters and plot, as they’re so simple, it’s really quite pathetic. And besides, that long part was curtesy of twilightsucks.com message boards.
I am frustrated that so many people can’t read into it enough to see that it is an abusive relationship. And I don’t actually have a boyfriend, but I know I’d never want one like Edward.
I wouldn’t make a hate speech, though I don’t think I’d say no to book burnings. But I’m not sure you really understand my point. I’m not just ranting to rant. I’m ranting because abuse is something real, something very real that could happen to any of us. And to say that a mother wants that for her daughters, frankly quite scares me.
Gabrielle-
Thanks for clarrifying, and backing me up.
I think you’re quite right in saying that Edward is not Bella’s parent, although he acts more like one than Charlie does anyway.
You’d think it was a bad thing to be concerned about abusive relationships, it seems.
Great article, I couldn’t read all the commentaries, but some of them are good.
I just have to add, I don’t know if anybody did, the great disappointment that is the end of the last book. When you would just expect that (finally!) there would be some action, a real battle, they all just… talk out their problems. And then EVERYBODY lives happily ever after.
Even children’s fairy tales are more realistic and dynamic.
Male here. Excellent review. One thing I have noticed: All women and girls who have submitted to this craze constantly throw this in the teeth of girls who dont like Twilight: “Omg your never gonna get a boyfriend your sucha loser bitch blah blah blah”
Id just like to say i’d prefer a rational human being with a brain to a batshit insane fangirl. And if you tell me to dress up like a vampire i’ll call the cops.
TwilightSucks Kthxbai
Patty –
No, Patty, you [swearword], she’s a critic.
GOD I HATE YOU PEOPLE.
Btw, abuse is not just beating, or getting high and drunk, or rape. If you thought about the facts and got your conclusion from there, not begun from the assumption Twilight is awesome, then you would realise that. This is like those goddamn atheist debates; they aren’t trying to get the facts. They’re trying to prove something unprovable, and they’re not starting from the beginning they’re beginning NOW, and moving backwards, only looking at evidence that supports THEIR statements, ignoring everyone elses.
Sorry about the continuing atheist bitchings. I just hate fundamentalist atheists.
EVA –
you are, honestly, just a bitch. Go away.
Can I just add that I do vent here though for some reason it never has anything to do with Twilight, but in my defence there was never anything going on then.
Can i please say
no UNJUSTIFIED insulting of people/authorsofcertainarticles?
I mean
only looking at evidence that supports THEIR statements, ignoring anything else.
Rae–
I know murder is murder, but the fact that he has basically tormented himself for a century over the fact is like him going to jail. If you’re going to hold that over his head, then you’re going to have to hold all of the murders that vampire, werewolves, etc… from other books/series over their heads too. He said it’s how they are programmed, its in their blood to be a killer. The fact that he is trying to change that and fight against shows that he has changed.
Gabrielle-
I agreed that it had happened in my last comment. I’m sorry, but unlike some of the people here who are fans, I haven’t read the books in a long time which is why I couldn’t remember the fact that he lost control as a newborn. I’m not condoning murder at all, but Edward killed “evil people†who were trying to kill his family, the people that he loved and cared about. You may say that “evil or not, murder is murder,†but don’t you think that if someone was literally coming after you to kill not only you, but also your family that you would fight back. You may not kill them because they’re humans, but in Twilight it wasn’t. You can’t put vampires in jail because it won’t hold them or stop them from coming after you again, the only solution is by killing them. I may not have read the books in a while, but I’m pretty sure that during Twilight Edward only killed those who were trying to kill his family.
I TOTALLY disagree with EVERYTHING you have said, Kellen. Reading your article and the comments made me so mad. I mean, I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but whatever. I’m a teenager, and Stephanie Meyer intended The Twilight Saga to be for young girls like me and my mates. All of my friends totally LOVE the entire series. And some of the comments! What is WRONG with you people?!?!? Putting comments that make you sound like you think Kellen Rice is a Goddess, that you worship her! COME ON!
Why don’t you just stop critizing everything Twilight related, instead of wasting your time.
Just get a life, why don’t ya.
I’m glad I got that off my chest.
Rafal H,
You’ve made it apparent that you are illiterate. I know she’s a critic, you mongrel, that doesn’t mean I have to agree with her. Just like I dont have to agree with you.
It’s a FICTIONAL book and Edward is a Vampire!! He’s not real, his behaviour is based on the fact that he’s a mythical creature.
It’s not the Twilight fans that have nothing better to do, it’s you people who have nothing better to do that need to trash a GOOD STORY.
EVA-
Wow. You need to back off with the insults, because we came here first, and there’s this little thing called the First Ammendment. Ever hear of it? Great.
And also, EVA, Rafal H is one of the best debaters here. She’s hardly illiterate.
Twilight isn’t a good story. It sucks. Badly. So just like you don’t have to agree with our opinion, we don’t have to agree with yours.
Romi-
Let’s face it, the whole series was a total let down. And it had the potential, idea-wise, to be a great, gripping, epic saga, and yet we wound up with this pathetic excused for a published literary work.
Bryn-
If you’re reading this, props to you. I’d rather be a “rational human being with a brain to a batshit insane fangirl” any day. Brains= good. Last time I checked, anyway.
Kookie-
You’re allowed to disagree, obviously. But why does it make you mad? It’s an opinion, an honest one, that some people agree with. I don’t see how that’s so wrong.
I’m a teenager too, and these books are made for our age group, yeah, I get that. A lot of my friends aren’t actualy in love with them. Amazing, right?
We don’t worship Kellan Rice, but she’s been the first one to speak up against Twilight and gain attention about it, so naturally, because we agree- and are in the minority- we worship her. That makes TONS of sense.
We’ll get lives when you get lives. Until then, bye.
Rafal H-
Fundamentalist ANYTHINGS are evil.
Madison-
Okay, I can see at least that much, however there should be some doubt, especially since he continues to kill people without even a thought of morality or the fact that he is ending the life of another human being. I know he’s trying to change, but trying is not always the same as succeeding. His family I could understand, but Bella’s just like “Oh he won’t hurt me :D!” Yeah, all kids say that when they get tiger kittens.
i think the twilight saga is amazing and awesome soooooooooo shut up!!♥
i think The Twilight series is amazing and awesome!! soooooooooooo guess what: SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!
Madison,
Sigh… I am going to address this one last time. I am NOT talking about murder in order to protect the family. In the first book, he explains to Bella that when he was a “younger” vampire, he went through a phase comparable to teenage rebellion when he rebelled against his mom and dad, he didn’t wanna be a “good,vegetarian” vampire, he wanted to be a real vampire and he left the family and lived like a “true vampire” for a bit.
He said since he could read thoughts he couldn’t bring himself to kill everyone so he only killed people who had evil thoughts. Well, I don’t know if you watch Dexter, he is a psychopath with a little bit of a conscious and he does the same thing, I don’t know if you’d be ok with your daughter dating him…. The author is trying to make you shrug and say “awwww poor eddie, it’s ok, they were bad people anyways” and skip to the next page and boy oh boy is she succeeding. Yes, he indirectly saved random victims, I repeat I am NOT talking about when his family was in danger this happened when he REBELLED AND ESCAPED from home, BUT his motive was not saving victims, it was to quench his thirst.
Yes, it would have been absurd to put him in jail but than the isn’t the whole “they were bad people anyways” at least slightly disturbing and absurd by itself?
I am curious why anyone would remember his romantic lines but not a disturbing fact like this .
Madison,
My apologies for getting frustrated with you, I read your comment too fast and didn’t realise you said “he didn’t kill random people during twilight”. However, I still stand by my comment minus the “sigh”
Kookie,
You are getting mad because you have identified yourself way too much with Bella and fans like you get mad as if your own boyfriend is getting attached. Hence the insulting the author personally and telling “SHUT UP!!!!!”.
One last time people, we dislike twilight and we are speaking out because it is GLORIFYING AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP AND MILLIONS OF TEENAGERS, even some grown ups ARE EATING IT UP! We are not here to simply diss a book we do not like, we are speaking up against SEXISM and ABUSE that girls like you ARE NOT ABLE TO IDENTIFY.
And of course it is intended for girls like you, it is a good age for the author to push her own beliefs on you, to make sure you will remain as plain and clueless as Bella and learn husband abiding ways, get married and pop a kid before you are twenty.
typo, should be “getting attacked”
EVA –
had you read my comment, or actually, read yours, you’d realise that I was replying to your ‘go get a boyfriend’ thing’, which is the basic assmption that anyone who likes Twilight will have a boyfriend, or that anyone on an online forumthingiemugum WON’T have a boyfriend…
Hang on a second, EVA, aren’t you on a onlineforumthingiemugum?
Marissa –
aw, shucks
Rae –
I agree! But no one cares if an atheist is fundamentalist, because if they are they are totally smart and awesome and have no ulterior motives than trying to stop people shoving their beliefs down their throats, which is so completely hypocritical since THEY are shoving their non-beliefs down our throats.
See hating Twilight is fun. THEY hate religious people and are intolerant bastards. Hating religion gets you no where.
*eye twitch* I’m sorry I just really hate Richard Dawkins followers. Charles Darwin is cool, he said religion and the theory were compatible and what not, Richard Dawkins is a prick who assumes all non-religious people are illogical morons.
DAMN I HAVE TO STOP RANTING ABOUT THAT.
Gabrielle–
No I don’t watch Dexter, but Dexter and Edward are different. Dexter is a sociopath who despite his best intentions is killing people who haven’t been given their due justice and therefore taking justice into his own hands. Edward, on the other hand, is one: a newborn vampire who has yet to control his thirst for blood and two: because of this lack of control tries to make it more humane by killing those with horrid thoughts. Again not condoning what he did. Readers of Twilight aren’t reading it for the little facts of “omg he killed this many people.” I mean hello it’s a vampire love story, you gotta expect some unjustly killing.
Gabrielle-
I have nothing at all in common with Bella and any other of the characters, and don’t even have a boyfriend.
In case you cannot read, I did not put “SHUT UP!”
I do not think Twilight is abusive at all, but you might be right on that I am unable to identify sexism and abusive relationships cos I’m not in one myself.
People must realise that it is purely an fictional book, not to be taken literally, OR to have articles wrote about..
Marissa-
I DO have a life, a wonderfully great one, with many fab friends and family.
I was just putting my opinion, and you’ve put yours.
End of.
Unlike some of you,
I like the Twilight saga and movie but i’m not OBSESSED with it, I juste like it alot.
I do agree with some of the things that most of you had said, but I do think that Twilight deserves a bit more praise than what most of you have given.
That is my opinion, and I hope you respect that,
Emz xx
Eva –
Go down to superdrug, and buy yourself some chill pills mate. Theres no need to shout at Rafal H. Seriously, with fans like you and chula, its no wonder that people are starting to hate twilight.
Kookie-
Wait, you get very angry over an article and you expect us to believe that you have a life? Wow, could have fooled me.
Marissa-
Seriously, people these days, if they want to know why its an abusive relationship cant they just scroll up? Thats like the 3rd time you’ve posted that explanation.
Emz-
I respect your opinion.
its good to see that there are some twilight fans out there that arent crazy
Wow. I havent been here in what, a few days? And so much has happened. I have a distinct feeling that the wtf above isnt the same WTF as before
Tina-
Please, everyone has an opinion, so respect mine and everyone elses and we will respect yours.
Twilight is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it.
I love it, and I appreciate that some of you don’t.
Now, please, lets end this debate once and for all.
Rafal H-
Well, you’ve got to stand up for your comrades, right?
Tina-
It’s practically impossible to find anything posted even two weeks ago.
And people don’t like to listen, so what else would you expect me to do?
Emz-
I respect your opinion. Good for you, for keeping sane.
Kookie-
Well I’m glad you have a wonderful life; I do too. So in the future, don’t tell us to get what we already have.
Telling us to get a life is so old and overused, really. If you want to insult us, at least be more creative.
just coz i like twilight doesnt mean u have to say crap stuff
correct – im a girl
correct – im under 16 (im 13)
incorrect – i have read the book ( ive read all da books)
i just think dat twilight is good and no way has stephanie copied otha peoples ideas and if so many people like it den it obviously cant be rubbbish. oh and i think breakin dawn is the BEST book out of dem all!!
p.s. stephanie meyer pleeeeaaaasssseeee can you finish writin midnight sun.
Madison- He left of his own will. Carlisle was already helping him control it.
And yes, I would expect the killing. I would also expect the mortals who learned of it to at least THINK about it now and then.
Marissa, you wrote :
No I don’t watch Dexter, but Dexter and Edward are different. Dexter is a sociopath who despite his best intentions is killing people who haven’t been given their due justice and therefore taking justice into his own hands. Edward, on the other hand, is one: a newborn vampire who has yet to control his thirst for blood and two: because of this lack of control tries to make it more humane by killing those with horrid thoughts.
Ummm, that sounds pretty similar to me… They both have an extremely strong psychological need to kill. I do not believe Edward’s is physical because he CAN survive on animal blood, he will not die, which is comparable to Dexter just killing animals instead, but it just won’t cut it (which he does when he is very young to suppress his urge). Dexter acknowledges his urge and he does NOT have the best intentions at all, just like Edward, at least he thinks he is doing the more humane thing by directing his urge to criminals…. and unlike Edward, people acknowledge Dexter is sick in the head, what you see is what you get, but Edward for some reason is supposed to be this amazing individual….
and OF COURSE, I expect killing in a vampire novel but what I find disturbing is the author trying to make it look ok and just brush it off… After all her Edward wouldn’t look so dreamy and charming to teenagers if she didn’t put that “bad people” line.
Kookie,
just in case YOU cannot read, let me copy paste what I wrote:
ou are getting mad because you have identified yourself way too much with Bella and fans like you get mad as if your own boyfriend is getting attached. Hence the insulting the author personally and telling “SHUT UP!!!!!â€.
I made a referance not only to you but also “the fans like you who get mad”. You did not write “shut up” but you did get mad, you said so, and insulted the writer by saying the author is lonely and bitter, which by the way, even for a teenager is a extremely immature and sad comment.
Also, in order to identify with a character, there is no rule that says you have to be like her, The fact that you choose to come here and admit you are “mad” with the writer shows you have already made your personal connections to the story.
LOL I meant MADISON, I am tired, keep confusing your names gals:)
Gabrielle, I’m sorry to oppose you, but I disagree that Dexter and Edward are alike. Though they are both psychopathic morons who kill for fun, Edward did it because he is a biologically inaccurate vampire and Dexter has a disease. Personally, I didn’t know who the hell Dexter was for so long, I thought he was Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, which I used to watch all the time when I was a kid, it was so awesome
I agree with the whole
romanticising
every single bad thing
he killed people when he was a ‘kid’
“oh, it’s so cute he has the self-control to stop now!”
he stalks and watches Bella sleep unawares
“aww, he’s so in love”
Jacob sexually harasses her
“oh, he can not keep his lust in check!”
anyway,
marissa –
yes, we must keep up with the comrad-defending
wtf!! –
Go away. You’re confusing me. Or else, change your name.
OH
Can I just add
that this piece is obviously a freaking critique of the Twilight series
and Kellen Rice is not ‘bitching’
She is writing an article
as a journalist
seriously. even you should realise this.
>doin’ a bridge building contest, any tips, I can only use 50 popsicle sticks :D<
Kookie-
You respect our opinion?
Last I checked, telling us to go get a life isnt respecting anybody.
Nor does it show that you appreciate our opinion.
Hypocrite.
Marissa-
I wasnt complaining that you posted it, i was just saying that people should scroll up instead asking why it is an abusive relationship over and over agian.
wtf!!!-
Just because many people like it, doesnt mean that it isnt rubbish.
Many people supported Hitler in the beginning as well, look how that turned out.
Rafal H-
I loved Dexter’s Laboratory as a kid as well
His sister is awesome
and i agree with you.
Tina-
Ah, okay. I couldn’t tell. I guess that’s one of the downsides to not being able to hear tone of voice.
People are lazy, unfortunately, and you have to admit that it’s pretty difficult to find anything posted beforehand.
Tina-
Yes, I do respect your opinion.
But, by the sound of it, YOU don’t respect ours.
I would appreciate it if you stopped calling names like ‘hypocrite’.
Now, please. This is getting childish.
I am trying to be respectful and reasonable, but YOU are not co-operating with me.
I apologise for telling you to ‘Get a life’, so please.
I’m not begging, or pleading,
Twilight is just a book.
A fictional book, with ficional characters.
I never got angry at the article Kellen Rice wrote, I was just expressing my opinions.
I bet I can guess what you are going to post next.
Kookie –
You are being a moron. You are being a hypocrite. You are not being helpful, nor are you contributing anything to this comments page, besides that of ‘it’s a fictional book, it’s a fictional book’ which have have, frankly, heard a million times.
You’re the one being childish.
*pokes tongue out*
Tina –
do you have any idea why Dexter has a russian accent?
Marissa-
Fair enough
Kookie-
Should i post your first comment agian?
“I TOTALLY disagree with EVERYTHING you have said, Kellen. Reading your article and the comments made me so mad. I mean, I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but whatever. I’m a teenager, and Stephanie Meyer intended The Twilight Saga to be for young girls like me and my mates. All of my friends totally LOVE the entire series. And some of the comments! What is WRONG with you people?!?!? Putting comments that make you sound like you think Kellen Rice is a Goddess, that you worship her! COME ON!
Why don’t you just stop critizing everything Twilight related, instead of wasting your time.
Just get a life, why don’t ya.
I’m glad I got that off my chest.”
Wow, that is just the most respectful thing to others in the world dont you think?
Shouldnt we all follow your example and treat you with the same ‘respect’?
Rafal H-
I have no idea what so ever.
Maybe he’s half russian??
Have you read the Air Head book by meg cabot btw? I’m so looking forward to the next one!
Tina-
Look, I realise what I said on my first comment was a bit out of order, and I’m sorry, why can’t you just accept that?
I never said anything against you as an induvidual.
Rafal H-
Like I’ve said to Tina, I’m sorry. Calling me a moron and a hypocrote is not helping at all, THAT is childish.
*pokes tonge out*
Tina-
Being half-russian wouldn’t be enough, though since you get your accent from what language you spoke as a child.
whose dexter?
If I’m Honest I Have Read All The Books, And I Enjoyed The First Two (Breaking Dawn Was Shocking And Eclipse Was Nothing To Rave About), But There Not That Great.
I Completely Agree About Bella Swan’s Character From The First Chapter, I Didn’t Like Her, She Was Whiney And Irriatated Me. The Only Thing I Liked About The Books Was Mainly Edward Cullen, You Can’t Help But Fall In Love With Him A Little.
But Yes, Poorly Written, Annoying Pathetic Characters, Weak Plot And Not Compared To Harry Potter Might I Add
Charlotte-
Can I just ask why you have put capitals on every single letter you have wrote?
That was a bit random, sorry.
Just curious.
Kookie-
I can accept that if you had apologized before hand.
But you didnt, and then you were saying how you respected and appreciated our opinions when you obviously didnt in your first comment. Considering the fact that you put in one of your comments that you never got mad at what Kellen Rice wrote, when you blatantly did, is known as hypocricy my dear.
Can I just point out that you did talk to me individually
“I am trying to be respectful and reasonable, but YOU are not co-operating with me.” That was aimed at me, i believe. And as i have said before, you were not being respectful or reasonable
You also wrote ‘But, by the sound of it, YOU don’t respect ours.’ No honey, i just don’t respect yours, I was talking to YOU, not to all the Twilighters so I don’t understand why you put ‘ours’. There are a lot of twilighters whose views i do respect, one of my best friends loves twilight, but she is a reasonable twilighter, along with a number of twilighters that have commented on this page.
However, the first comment you posted was to say how we supposedly ‘worship’ Kellen Rice, how there was something ‘wrong’ with us, and also how we should ‘get a life’. Why the hell do you think i would respect you after what you have said about us non-sparklys as a whole?
Rae-
(i am just addicted to that word!)
urmm….
maybe he watched russian TV or something?
Dunno mate
Kookie –
Will you get some real arguments, or real insults at least?
Tina –
*shock horror* of course I have! The wait is tortrous…I hope that’s a word…
Charlotte –
Though I Once Wrote Every Letter With A Capital, it’s annoying now so quit it ;D
It’s not the whole capital thing, it’s just because it’s distracting to what you’re trying to say.
Tina in regards to Rae –
LOL
Like Selby!
Tina-
…… I give up trying to reason with you.
*jumps in unexpectedly*
Kookie –
seriously, you aren’t reasoning with anyone, you are just being annoying. As far as I can see, you have not said ANYTHING out of the basic Twilight-defending lines, and not much of them, either! You’ve just been basically arguing about who is MORE IMMATURE.
*clears throat*
Rafal H-
All right then, what ARE the basic Twilight-defending lines, seeing as you think you know so much about it?
YOU are also being annoying, and I am getting a ickle lickle bit fed up with people calling me names. I’ve been reading YOUR comments, and YOU are’nt contributing much to this page either. All you go on about is un-Twilight related things!
I’m sorry if that is harsh, but I am fed up with you pushing me to the limit.
Rafal H-
I know! theres like another 68days left or something, according to my local waterstones
Kookie-
You werent reasoning at all my dear.
And if you have a problem with whatever’s going on in this page, press the little red cross at the top right of your screen.
There, perfect
Okay, I finally saw the Twilight movie yesterday, and I actually think it was severall hundred times better than the book. It wasn’t great (the special effects and Eddie’s make up SUCKED), but there seemed to be more of a plot, and the fangirling was actually mostly cut out. The movie still has nothing on Harry Potter, but I can understand why some people like it.
The only thing that really bugged me was that Carlisle didn’t sound Brittish.
Oh my god, i just realized how many typos that had 0_0
Sorry about that, folks
Rae-
Why did it bug you that Carlisle did’nt sound British? They live in America, don’t they?
But then again, it did say in one of the books that he was from Britain…
Kookie-
Carlisle is British name. Also, in Twilight, they point out the fact that he WAS born and raised in England (I believe he lived in London, especially since Meyers wrote the book). I would also be content if he sounded like he was from the Carolinas, since historians belive that was how they talked in 17th century England (it’s true), but it was just WEIRD.
I quite agree with the article.
When I first read Twilight, the below par writing was the first thing that struck me. Being a big fan of fantasy and vampires, I read the series and the 2nd big thing that struck me was that there really was no character development. For example, in Harry Potter (which are a much, much better series) all the characters grow, develop and what is important is they face the challenges and witness death of their friends/family… which I personally feel is very important for the book/plot/characters to grow. Similarly … Vampire Academy characters grow, the book improves as the plot moves on. But unfortunately, in the Twilight saga, no one dies (i’m merely talking about creative purposes) and the climax that is built up through out the book fails to happen.
Having said that, I would like to add that they were an easy read, and the movie was good too. So while i’m not anti-twilight or anything … I do think the books have glaring mistakes. SMeyer is no JKRowling. JK rocks!
Being only in high school and reading the books over the last summer, and being completely dissapointed with it, this made me giggle because it’s true. Hehe. I just don’t like how Smeyer writes…at all. But hey, I’m different than most girls. And have different tastes. I’m not afraid of touching Tarantulas or snakes (I find them cool actually), I’d rather read a real book with GOOD writing instead of gossip with text messaging, and I’d rather smile at the sun than lay in a fart smelling tanning bed.
I thank thee Kellen Rice, I thank thee.
and I forgot to add another thing – Twilight sometimes resembles fan-fiction .. .a perfect world, where no harm befalls the characters, no one dies, the guy and the girl actually love each other, just like that … and no Greek tragedy … i’m all for tragedy!
@Beeswax
That reminds me, the book reminds me of something that would be on quizilla.com or fanfiction.net. Something that even a 12-yr old could write….
@ Amelia
Honestly, i think I’ve read stories with more plot and character development on fanfiction.net
Kookie –
Honey, give it up. And I DO know a lot about it, since I have no life and basically spent last summer arguing online with Twilighters.
The times when I go on about non-Twilight related things is when no Twilight-related points come up and I’m bored. I don’t mind if you think I do not contribute, but honestly, fuck you. You’re starting to piss me off.
Basic defences:
“It’s JUST A BOOK”
“I’d like to see YOU write a better book!”
“There are worse books”
“You’re just jealous of Meyer/Bella/[insert character name]”
“You have no life/boyfriend/friends”
“You’re fat!”
“OMFGTWILIGHTISAWESOME*clamps hands over ears*”
“not everyone is influenced by a book”
“it’s not real life”
“it’s written for entertainment!”
“Meyer didn’t INTEND to publish”
“Guilty Pleasure”
“keep your opinions to yourself”
“you just think too much like everyone else”
“you only like it cause it’s popular”
“If you don’t like it, why did you read it?”
“If you don’t like it, why are you bothering?”
“You haven’t it read it, so you can’t diss it!”
Basically a whole lot of contradictions and shallow assumptions.
twilight sucks
i agree
Rae-
Ah. I see your point now.
Rafal H-
If you don’t like it, why did you read it?
Rafal H-
yup, that is basically the twilight defending shit.
Rae-
I know! the movie was so much better than the book, at least Bella had a semi-personality in it.
Kookie-
And that is another basic twilight defence.
The easiest thing to say is, how can we know if we like the book or not if we havent read it?
And some people liked the book the first time they read it, but the second time they caught on to the lack or plot, bad grammar and punctuation and abusive behaviour and stopped liking it.
Others like me, read the first book, thought it was alright, read the second book, found it completely sexist and boring, and couldnt be motivated to read the third book, resulting in 15pounds spent on shit literature when they could have spent it on buying a lush dress in the Sale from Zara
Does that answer your question?
Reading through that list agian,
‘Why did you read it if you dont like it’ is already on the basic twilight defences….
LIKE OMG YOU GUYS SOOO SUCK……YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GOOD BOOKS….ITS JUST A BOOK GET A LIFE
Sorry, I just wanted to see what it was like to an insane Twilighter. I think my IQ dropped a little now that I wrote that. So glad to be a sane Twilighter.
Tina-
I was being sarcastic.
Kookie-
well it wasnt very good sarcasm
since we are on a forum, we are typing and no one can hear each others tone of voice, you might want to make your sarcasm a little bit more obvious, by stating that you’re being sarcastic after the ‘sarcasm’
Maddison-
We’re glad you’re a sane Twilighter as well. My IQ drops every time I have to even look at that type of comment.
I forgot to add “Keep your opinions to yourself”, which is almost always followed by “I think Twilight is awesome” which is also an opinion.
Kookie –
look, if you’re gonna be here, can you at least make a freaking point?
LOL You guys, you know how there are 8 million Twilight sucks websites, including, of course, http://www.twilightsucks.com which has so many members?
ihateharrypotter.com; the person that made it didn’t seem to complete it, and states ‘i don’t hate Harry Potter, i hate it’s fame, there are other books that are better that deserved the fame’ or something.
I just find that so full of WIN
Tina-
Shut up. You are starting to annoy me.
Rafal H-
OMG!!
Why would someone dedicate a website to their hatred of Twilight?!?!?
Kookie-
Honey, i got here first, if i’m annoying you, you can leave.
Cause i’m not shutting up.
And its the same reason that people dedicate a website to their love of twilight.
Rafal H-
8 million?
wow, they’res more twilight haters than i thought there was
Tina-
I’m not gonna shut up either, or leave, so your just gonna have to get used to that.
Sorry. *sarcastic smile*
Rafal H-
That’s great. And I love the part about ihateharrypotter.com is unfinished. That made me smile. Triumphantly. XD
Kookie-
If you’re staying, than you’ll have to get used to us annoying you. Okay? Okay. Glad we got that cleared up. Tina is perfectly entitled to her opinion, as are you. Deal with it already.
Everyone –
No. No annoying of Kookie. No more noticing or acknowledging Kookie, unless Kookie (I’m sorry I don’t know your gender) brings up a vaild point about Twilight.
Beginning….
NOW.
Tina –
Yeah, there are a lot of Twilight haters. I wish I could do a poll, so I know if there are more haters or lovers. the neutrals don’t count, nor do the people who haven’t read it.
Rafal H-
I am a she. I have brought up a valid point about Twilight. I am saying that I love Twilight.
One thing, though, Eclipse gets me really annoyed, cos if Bella loves Jacob so much, why doesn’t she just go off with him instead of Edward?
Apart from that, I’m just stating that I love Twilight, so do my friends.
So there.
Marissa-
Fine. Whatever. But I’m not going anywhere, either.
Lots of people annoy me in life, so I already have dealt with it.
Marissa-
You deal with it too.
Kookie-
well you’ll just have to deal with me being here then won’t you now? And you’ll just have to deal with no one acknowledging you
Starting.
Now.
Marissa:
Thank You
Rafal H-
You should make a poll
Twilight is a very controversal subject.
Tina-
I have dealt with you, seeing as you contradict everything I say.
YOU deal with ME.
And I don’t care if no-one acknowledges me, that just means you are being weak and have given up.
Wow, some people think too highly of themselves
Tina
YOU JUST ACKNOWLEDGED HER
Quit it
If there’s one thing I learnt in my primary school VAN VISIT, it’s that BULLIES ARE COWARDS and they are looking for a REACTION
You guys, for my enrichment class, I have to think of an ad to make, and I’m brainstorming atm (we aren’t making it yet, just thinking) and I want to do one for twilightsucks.com! Any ideas for it, or any other ad-ideas? I don’t want to film myself btw because I’ll look ugly on camera.
Rafal H-
I’m not a bully!
Why can’t you stop being so childish?
I love Twilight.
If you’ve got a problem with that,
Then thats your problem, not mine.
OK i thing ya’ll should probably stop the cyber fighting now. Geez i;m gine for a little while and all hell breaks loose.
Kookie- from one twilighter to another arguing your opinion with the antis here just will NOT cut it. you need actual facts and a good argument, and not the standard ones either. if twilight is anit-feminist like any anti will tell you it is, try and spin it around and try to make the males look bad. For example look at my March 9 2009 post. Sure it was dissected and discarded by most of the antis here, but it was an original argument, and believe it or not that makes them like you.
So come up with something original and you’ll have less of the petty arguing to deal with.
Everyone take a deep breath, smile at each other, and get over it. Better? Good!!

Has anyone ever wondered whether or not Kellen has read all the stuff that gets posted here????
hey my real name is charlotte!!
♥
Liz –
I dont think she’s read it all theres a lot to read i havnt bothered readin it all!! lol
Rafal H-

Actually I was talking to the air around me
Or my History homework, which ever you prefer.
I think twilightsucks.com would be a good idea if you dont wanted to get pounded by the fangirls that go to your school, lol.
Liz-
Thank You!
I think someone should realise that when a fellow twilighter says their arguments are crap, they’re crap.
Tbh, I don’t think Kellen would be bothered to read through everything, i wouldnt if it was me
You know what I was wondering?
You know how there are tons of crazy fangirls on this page? What if they’re best friend was anti-twilight? What would the fangirl do to their best friend? I’m happy to say that my best friend is a reasonable twilighter
p.s. Does anyone have any summer food ideas? Because I need some for our Enterprise Project, and the theme is summer foods. It has to be easy to make though
It would take far too long to read over all the comments to check if this one has already been said and then I would most likely forget it out of anger or annoyance, so please forgive me if I waste your time. I am not a fan of Stephanie Meyer.
I am a fan of a story that has its faults (ones that I would openly admit too). The reason I enjoyed this novel was because of a love story that triumphed despite the dangers and conflicts (no matter how poor YOU might believe they were).
I myself admire Edward. I do not admire his temper or jealousy and in light of what Ms. Rice said, it is embarassing admitting I like him. But what I truly (along with several other thousands of teenage girls) like is the idea of a guy who is smart and as devoted to Bella as she is to him, because Ms. Rice forgot to mention in her first article that Edward was depressed as well. And I will confess, being good-looking doesn’t hurt either.
In response to the commentary on anti-feminism and abuse, Bella is without a doubt whiny. She is annoying. But a lot of us can relate to feeling out of place and inferior. To other girls, such as the character of Rosalie, not guys. Bella holds her mother on a pedestool, so seeing her great awe of vampires shouldn’t be shooking. Because, once again, she is in awe of Alice too. She mentions Alice’s grace numerous times, in addition to Edward’s great looks.
But the other women are in no way beneath the men. Alice, Chelsea, Bella, and Jane are given extreme powers and valued (in Alice’s case, liked) by most of those who surround them. Rosalie and Heidi attract men, and despite the fact that their beauty is the bait, it does show feminine power. Note that Rosalie enjoys mechanics, usually portrayed as a hobby for men. Don’t forget Kate, Maggie, Siobhan, Renesmee, Tanya, Leah, Renata, and I think their are others. I am extremely feminist in my views and can’t stand it when I’m playing soccer with guys who seem to be of the opinion that they’re SO much better than me. And if you want to make this point, look at nearly any cop show on television and you will find evidence of women being underestimated or portrayed as the only sympathetic one on the team. These shows have good ratings from newspaper critics and fans alike.
Edward’s family being vegetarian isn’t one of the weak points of the novel. It’s one of the strong ones. They’ve lost chances at some of the things most valued in life, and they fight every day against their thirst. Their respect for humanity and will to not harm those who are weaker than them is respectable, if not desirable.
And I do like the sparkle thing. Sorry, I just do, and not because of it increasing their looks or being incredibly cheesy. In the first three novels the Cullens fear the Volturi. They don’t dare risk the secret. To do so would ruin them in the eyes of the community as well as endanger them. It’s equal to some painful death in the sun and as reasonable as being burned by the sun.
In response to the topic pretty much right above this (or it was when I started writing this), one of my closest friends despises Twilight. I fnally managed to convince her to reread the novel, and she still hates it. Despite heated debates, there are no problems with us. I use her like for the show “Tales of the Abyss” and one of its characters ‘Guy’ as ammunition to tease her if she starts insulting Twilight. I highly doubt there are too many of us Twilighters who would put even THAT book above our closest friends.
Other faults, I must attest to, due to the fact that they are the result of Stephanie Meyer’s lack of writing skills. Jacob’s attitude adjustment and imprinting on Renesmee are bad, as well as Bella’s complete adoration for Edward. Bella is whiny. But that doesn’t diminish the love story.
*Sorry for my use of the Caps Lock key. I know from when the article first came out that the Antis dislike that, but there were a few words I felt a need to emphasize.
Tina-
No problem.
Rafal H-
Okay. I will now no longer acknowlege her. That is, unless a decent point is brought up.
Alyssa-
Well, I’m glad you can at least see the faults of Twilight. It’s perfectly to like it that way. Just don’t turn it into a religion.
Now. I agree with what you said about wanting a boyfriend to be devoted and smart. That’s good. I want that too. But the level to which Edward takes it is absolutely ridiculous. He hardly lets Bella take two steps without his permission, or his assistance. Not cool. That’s stupid, if he can’t let her do that much.
Also, the girl characters are hardly important. And yes, they’re weak. Big deal if they’re vampires; they’re still not as tough as the men, the way Meyer presents her story. Some of them have potential to be stronger, but honestly, they’re so shallowly written it’s hardly even funny.
I think that the fact that Meyer is awful at writing actually DOES in fact diminish the love story. I don’t see why either of them are attracted to each other. It’s basically like this: Bella thinks Edward is pretty. Edward thinks Bella smells good.
Such a gripping saga.
And about the Caps Lock key: emphasizing your point isn’t a problem. Just type out your whole comment in caps. That’s what annoys us.
“I myself admire Edward. I do not admire his temper or jealousy and in light of what Ms. Rice said, it is embarassing admitting I like him. But what I truly (along with several other thousands of teenage girls) like is the idea of a guy who is smart and as devoted to Bella as she is to him, because Ms. Rice forgot to mention in her first article that Edward was depressed as well. And I will confess, being good-looking doesn’t hurt either.
In response to the commentary on anti-feminism and abuse, Bella is without a doubt whiny. She is annoying. But a lot of us can relate to feeling out of place and inferior. To other girls, such as the character of Rosalie, not guys. Bella holds her mother on a pedestool, so seeing her great awe of vampires shouldn’t be shooking. Because, once again, she is in awe of Alice too. She mentions Alice’s grace numerous times, in addition to Edward’s great looks.”
I’m afraid to say that Bella is made to SEEM out of place and inferior, while she is so obviously made NOT. Like Kellen says, she is the object of not one, not two, count ‘em, five boys’ attention, including the hottest guy in school, and some of the other HUMAN catches.
Alice is a freaking stereotype, yet again. She is the shopaholic girl.
Can I just point out, no refererences were made to a WOMAN’S intellect (besides that of meyerpires in general), but several were made to men’s, (Edward and Carisle), while all the women in the story were either:
-Bella, who was the most pathetic excuse for a strong female protagonist…ever.
-Rosalie, whom I actually like, since she is the only one with a personality, but is ALSO a stereotype (Meyer has something against blondes). She is on the arm of the big burly man.
-Alice, who, like I said, is the shopaholicgirly stereotype.
-Esme, who is the motherly-woman type.
Also, Bella, who acts like a thirtyyearoldmormonmother, by the way, I think should have been influenced by her mother, who is a single mum! I always figured that single mothers are a TEENSIE bit feminist and these ideals reflect on her daughter, who is a total whore.
Whoever wanted summer foods –
FRUITS. Anything to do with fruits. If you live near California, ORANGES. Orange and poppyseed cupcakes, something very light because I don’t think many can ‘handle’ heavy food/cake in summer, something water-melonny, em..
sorry I’m bad at cooking. Mr Pudney, my food teacher, looks very grim whenever i ask him for help.
I can help with other homework, though
Oh I’m sorry I re-skimmed
“Note that Rosalie enjoys mechanics, usually portrayed as a hobby for men. Don’t forget Kate, Maggie, Siobhan, Renesmee, Tanya, Leah, Renata, and I think their are others”
I refuse to point out the spelling mistakes.
When the hell did Rosalie up and decide she likes mechanics? Was it for Emmett, or something?
Kate – all we know about her is she is besotted by Edward. Her entire personality is based on a GUY.
Maggie – I forgot who Maggie was, but I’m sure she’s a whore, too.
Siobhan – BACKGROUND CHARACTERS DO NOT COUNT!
Renesmee –
1. She is like, 3
2. She is going to grow up to be SEVEN YEARS OLD, and screw a guy she used to think of as her uncle.
How very feminist.
Leah – The ONLY feminist in the story is a total bitch. (Rosalie is also a bitch, come to think of it)
Renata – Isn’t she that one that hangs all over Ari or whatever the old guy’s name is?
Tina-
I can see your point, but I don’t think you can see mine.
Liz-
I will TRY to take your advice but SOMEONE (menioning no names) makes me so mad.
Thanks anyway.
Rafal H-
Yeah, I really feel sorry for Renesmee in SMeyer’s screwed up world of Twilight.
Only being seven years old forever would suck. Badly.
To Marissa’s comment this morning at 11:36, Renesmee will grow to physically be about 17, whereas she’s supposed to grow even more mentally.
To Rafal H:
I noticed after I posted the comment that there were a few careless spelling errors. I’ll try to more careful about that.
In response to your points:
-You admitted that Rosalie has personality. And I truly think that she enjoyed mechanics not because of Emmett, but because it was something she could do and not be the supermodel brat everyone thought she was. She enjoyed working on the cars because she found it to be relaxing, not because Emmett might think it was elongating her legs or something stupid like that.
-As to Kate, you’re thinking of Tanya. And both of them are strong independent women. Tanya likes Edward, but once he and Bella are together, she doesn’t try to be “The Other Woman.” She deals with her grief over the death of Irina all by herself now that Kate and Garrett are together, and that has got to be pretty tough. Kate is the one who can electrocute (that is probably not spelled correctly) others simply by touching them. Which she uses to help train Bella numerous times, and she shocks Edward and Garrett with it. Despite ending up with Garrett, he doesn’t dominate her. He actually falls for her first.
-Maggie could tell if someone was telling the truth. She was a member of the Irish coven with Siobhan. They’re both background characters. But neither of them is beneath some man. Here’s an excerpt from page 609 of Breaking Dawn: “Siobhan-a woman of immense presence whose huge body was both beautiful and mesmerizing as it moved in smooth undulations- was the leader, but she and her hard-faced mate, Liam, were long used to trusting the judgement of their newest coven member. Little Maggie, with her bouncy red curls, was not physically imposing like the other two, but she had a gift for knowing when she was being lied to, and her verdicts were never contested.”
-Renesmee and Jacob is sick, but it’s there. And I was referring to her powers and the fact that nearly EVERYONE likes her, which even Meyer’s “Mary Sue” Bella didn’t achieve.
-Leah isn’t a bitch. Reread Breaking Dawn to see that she’s hurt but that she cares about her pack, especially her brother. And she eventually accepts the Cullens. If I’m moody, I can be a bitch to my parents and sister. She lost a guy she was hoping to marry to her cousin. She has her rights.
-Renata is weak. Undoubtedly. However, she doesn’t “whore” herself to Aro. She protects him, and sometimes Marcus and Caius, using her shield. A power that is very useful to their safety. So, yes, she falls beneath men, but she is a woman with a very strong power.
And some other women I was too lazy to talk about before:
-Renee was a loving mother who gave Bella so many opportunities, as a single mother. Whether you approve of her parenting techniques or not, Bella respects her and Renee was a loving mother who provided a happy environment.
-Angela is smart. She’s shy, but she has a great mind. You may view her shyness as anti-feministic. I don’t know.
-Jessica and Lauren actually, while anti-feministic, do portray real girls in today’s society and you can’t blame Meyer for that. Blame MTV, or Pansy Parkinson.
-Zafrina of the Amazon Coven and her illusions are extremely powerful and note that her coven is completely made of women.
-Carmen (Denali Coven), Emily (Sam’s imprint), Tia (Egyptian Coven), and Esme don’t have powers, but they hold their families together. They are historical homemaker wives, but they have talents. And no matter how old-fashioned, they think independently.
-Sue Clearwater takes her husband’s place in the Council. I believe she works at the market and she holds together a crazy, healing family. While you may argue that she needs Charlie by the end of the series, it’s actually suggested that she’s caused a huge change in him. In my mind she’s fierce and would go to the end of the world for those she loves.
-By a comment on Stephanie Meyer’s part, Didyme (Aro’s sister) is the reason for Marcus’ depression. Imagine the impact she had, not to mention others were happy to be near her.
-Chelsea (of the Volturi) is the only reason the Volturi can mantain rule over their Guard. Without her, they’d fall apart.
-Victoria is getting revenge, and she does need male help to do it. But she’s clever. Laurent tells the Cullens she’s a force to be reckoned with (not in those words) and he’s right. She’s clever and knows how to work others and manipulate them for her goal. Cruel, but powerful.
-Maria was the vampire who created Jasper. She won numerous battles (admittedly with Jasper’s help). She was clever and like Victoria knew manipulation. Unlike Victoria, she wasn’t getting revenge.
-The most abusive/submissive relationship in the book (in my opinion) was Amun and Kebi of the Egyptian coven. But Meyer frowned upon it. Not clearly and with words, but with this tone that I could feel as I read the novel. See page 609 of Breaking Dawn.
-Jane. That’s all I need to say.
And, using the index at the back of Breaking Dawn, 26 of the 52 vampires who had some active part in the novel were women. And 12 of them had powers.
rafal h –
are u good at history?
i really dnt no 5 things that r a disadvantage 2 scwotters wen they had the enclosure in the industrial revolution.
im not a huge HUGE fan of twilight ( my best friend is waayyy more) but i like the idea dat it happened to a girl dats not special in any way and is ordinary but i hate in da book wer she says hes so georgous etc becuse it sounds like dats all she loves him 4!!!!!
ok guys im changin my name now ok
ok dis is my new name
(R)
(R)
Alyssa-
Mentally, she’ll still be 7, at least for a while.
And, while you provided examples to state your point- very much appreciated by the way-, let me say that Meyer may have set up her female characters to be strong, possibly, but didn’t elaborate enough.
Her characters are all weak and unrelatable. Renee wasn’t a good mother, because who honestly abandons her kid to be with her new husband? A mother should stay with her child. Bella is not being self-sacrificial, and Renee is being undeniably selfish.
The female characters are all superficial, annoying- except for Leah and Rosalie-, and weak. Meyer uses more a “tell, don’t show” policy, whereas, it should be a “show, don’t tell”.
The most abusive relationship was Bella and Edward. End of story. I’d suggest you look up abuse, because their relationship certainly isn’t heathly.
Marissa-
I’ll press further on one point, because it’s clear I’ll be wasting my energy to type out any other arguments. You have your own opinion, and while I don’t agree with it completely, your reasoning is certainly sound given some facts.
At just a few weeks old Renesmee began to talk, showing that her mental acceleration exceeds even that of her speedy physical growth. So I’m pretty certain that she won’t be 7 mentally for too long. Heck, by the end of the book she was probably 5 mentally in the short period of a few months. I could be wrong. Quite honestly it’s not an undisputed fact. And I highly doubt that’s one question whose answer will ever be certain, just like most of the questions posed by this article. Because there are definitely numerous defenses that are contradictory for each of our sides.
U STUPID PPL!!!! HOW CAN YALL SAY TWILIGHT N THE OTHER BOOKS SUCK!!!! IT HAS SUSPENCE, LOVE SCENES, N MORE. IT MAKE ME WANT TO READ MORE N MORE N MORE I WISH IT WOULDN’T STOP BEIN WRITIN FOREVER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE N IF I HAVE TO BECOME A VAMPIRE, EVEN IF THEY AIN’T TRUE, I WOULD BECOME ONE N LIVE THE REST OF MY ENTERNAIL LIFE READIN TWILIGHT BOOKS, N NEVER EVER EVEEEEEEEEEERRRR GET TIRED OF THEM!!!! SO I SAY………. ———————
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Sarah-
Ok. Right. I love Twilight too, BIG TIME, but theres no need to say it like that. Ok, maybe I put someting out of order of my first comment, but I’ve learnt from that, so don’t go round accusing people’s dislike of Twilight.
That must sound a bit weird coming from a Twilighter.
All I’m saying is try to make your point in a respectful way.
I would’nt get tired of them, either.
Twilight ROCKS!
Alyssa-
I’ve been reading though your comments, and they are quite interesting. The way you typed a commentry on each of the women characters, I agree. When you put it like that, it makes them seem like they DO have personality.
(Not that they didn’t in the first place!)
Alyssa –
Can I just point out, Tanya (sorry about the mistake) in the atrocious Midnight Sun (forever will the phrase be connected to immature and unprofessional writers) DID try to feel up Edward, or something, (she was all pouty when Edward said NTY to her), and I stand by my previous *slut* statements.
Angela –
I like Angela, but not as a character in a book. She is completely simple minded, she’s just too perfect. Oh, happy days, I love my life and I’m going to take care of my brothers and give my parents some tea, my name is Angela Brady!
Jessica and Lauren – Pansy Parkinson is portrayed as a negative character, you know. Bella is portrayed as ms heroine. Jessica is a bitch, but she is realistic. Lauren is, surprise surprise, A BLONDE. WHat’s this grudge against blondes?
Anyway, all stereotypes. I actually liked Jessica – she’s realistic, isn’t perfect, even though I wouldn’t like her in real life, she’s a good background character.
Though, trust Meyer to base EVERY SINGLE THING in her book on cliches and stereotypes.
Victoria – she is getting revenge…for a guy.
The only time she fights, it’s for a guy.
Sue Clearwater – PLEASE!
Womeninvolturi – don’t count as they all submit to Aro’s will
Zafrina – my theory is that Zafrina was added after Meyer got a bunch of critiques even her angelic *coughassholecough* brother couldn’t filter and protect her from, telling Meyer her freaking characters were FREAKING sexist, so she through in Zafrina and the all-women covent.
Hem.
In regards to the whole Renesmee thing –
I realise Stephenie Meyer thinks that looks are everything, so it’s alright for, say, a 107 year old to shag a 17 year old, or a 17 year old to shag a 7 year old, as long as they LOOK the right age, but emotionally they are not matured.
I know you think that reading and writing are the basic requirments for age-definition or something like that, but EMOTIONALLY she has no idea wtf the world is on about, and personally I think Renesmee will be a spoilt brat, just like her slut mother (Y)
wtf!!/Charlotte-
I’m sorry. I literally cannot understand what you wrote. Rephrase…perhaps Google translate has 1337 speak now?
I’m serious.
Sarah –
Honestly, what the hell was all the crap that made me scroll for 2 hours? I wish that if someone is trolling they could do a good job! Parodies are the only good source of trolls! Gah!
God, it’s 20 past midnight. I AM BEING FORCED TO SHOP TOMORROW. I HAVE TO GO.
But…Michele Jaffe…so tempting…
With the Volturi women:
If you follow your boss’ orders, does that make you a weak woman? Because they may not be paid, but it’s pretty much a job since they get blood, which is the most important thing to them. Imagine you work as a lawyer for some big firm headed by three much older men. You are a young woman with talents and are extremely good at your job. Does that make you any less of a woman?
Alyssa-
Physically, Renesmee will be seventeen. Possibly, she might be mentally seventeen as well. But like Rafal H said, emotionally, she’s got no chance.
You gain emotional maturity by years of experience, most of which Renensmee will never get. But of course, Meyer will portray her as the brightest kid ever to walk the planet. Because Meyer isn’t realistic at all.
Realistically, Renesmee should not exist. It’s not biologically possible. Of course, then everyone will shout at me, “IT’S FANTASY!”
Renesmee is yet another example of Meyer’s many Mary Sues throughout the book.
And since you commented again on Volturi women, let’s think about this, eh? Those women succomb to everything Aro, Marcus, and whatever the last guy’s name is.
Following your boss’s orders isn’t bad. Being controlled by them is. The only thing they get out of their job is blood, which apparently isn’t that hard to get, seeing as the nomads do just fine without the Vulturi to get their food for them.
That lawyer part is hardly relevant; they’re two different things. You are less of a woman if your boss= your god. You are not less of a woman if you do what your boss tells you to.
Sarah-
If you want us to take you seriously AT ALL, at least comment something maturely. And not in chatspeak. Honestly, just relax, and I don’t know, maybe TELL us why you love Twilight so much.
Just a thought.
Okay, my last post before I head upstairs and to sleep.
Even men become completely obsessed with their jobs. No, their bosses aren’t gods, but for several months this winter my dad left the house at 6:30 am and came home at 8 or possibly 9 pm from work. And if they are obsessed, it’s due to Chelsea’s power (yes, she is a woman) and the men of the Volturi are equally affected by it, so it’s not as feminist as you may believe it to be.
To Renesmee, she does need experience in the world. And with a grandfather who’s a doctor and another as a policeman, and all those friends of her parents introduced in Breaking Dawn, I’m pretty certain she’ll get a chance. Because if Bella is truly as selfish as you all believe her to be, she’ll be sending her daughter away for privacy with Edward and her daughter will be out there in the world, meeting other people and seeing other cultures. Just an idea.
Alyssa –
I’m not saying she’s anti-feminist cause she has a male-boss. I’m saying that she ISN’T feminist for fighting, as it was always for a man, or lead by a man.
Kick James’ ass, Victoria!
God.
Also, Bella is a whore. Renesmee will be totally screwed up.
Bella. Whore. Selfish. Bitch. Mary-sue-in-theory.
Anyone else?
Btw you guys
just in case I disappear for 3 weeks
I’m going to Europe
I SO HOPE I AM
But I need to get a passport made BY TUESDAY -.-
(it’s sunday night btw)
WISH ME LUCK!
Rafal H-
Good luck.
Rafal H-
Ooh! Where are you going? I’m going to Greece for two weeks this summer. I’m so psyched to go.
OhMyGod. i COMPLETELY agree with you.
the Twilight so calles Series is TRASH!!
can’t believe i wasted so much time of my life reading it !!!!
keep up the good opinions!
This person has actually written everything i have been saying for the past few months. The worst decision i ever made was to read this series. COMPLETE CRAP!!!!!!
Well, I didn’t make it to North Holland. Perhaps some of your good-lucks were bitter?

Cause you didn’t want to see me go, right? Cause I’m so special
So, no drug/sex/chocolate capital of the world
Star-
Reading The Twilight Saga doesn’t actually take that long.
And, as a insane Twilighter, I should know.
What good opinions? Are you saying that you don’t respect Twilighters opinions? Just because you don’t like it?
I WAS going to say that that is your opinion, end of.
But then I re-read your comment.
Well, that is just sick, man.
“What good opinions? Are you saying that you don’t respect Twilighters opinions? Just because you don’t like it?”
No, dearie. She is saying that in her opinion, anti-Twilight opinions are good. She isn’t saying she doesn’t respect other, non-good opinions.
It’s all a matter of opinion.
rafal h – wer do u live?
Rafal H-
And I am saying in MY opinion, it sounds like she doesn’t respect Twilighters opinions.
In MY opinion, anti-twilighters opinions are not good.
So there. *pokes tonge out*
Rafal H-
Anyway, I thought you said that you weren’t acknowledging me?!?
Stephanie Meyer has EMBARRASSED me as a vampire lover & im sure im not the only one she’s offended/embarrassed. She’s completely mutilated vampire folklore and i h8 her 4 that. Sorry twilight lovers but u guys can do SO MUCH BETTER. What kind of vampire *sparkles* during the day?! N to u “twihards” (more like twitards) go to hell 4 h8ing twilight critics. we have to put up with your drooling and orgasming over just the word twilight (that may be refering to the time of day instead of the book) so get the fuck over it. and i what im sayin is hurting ur feelings(or SMs feelings) what are you gonna do about it?! you can’t change my hatred for this bullshit dubbed “Twilight” so dont waste ur time trying to convince me otherwise.
Threaten me? be my guest, u twihards are all the same & can’t pull ur own weight. how would i know that? Duh, you read twilight stupids.
I would have to agree that the twilight saga isn’t the best peice of work out there, however, I believe that your critism is unfair to the author. Considering that Twilight was her first book, not even really meant to be a book, and that Breaking Dawn was her last addition to the story, I think that her writing style has improved majorly.
One thing that you obviously are not taking into account, is that the books are all written in first person. It is difficult to portray an honest opinion of ones self, and how you see yourself is different for everyone. I agree that the series could use some serious editing, and that the happenings within it are fairly random. However you are being very unfair to a first time author.
As for all of the twilight fans. We get it. This article is insulting to the author. Well, guess what? It was supposed to be. Giving the article’s writer the pleasure of yelling at her, well, be my guest.
I get that you’re fans of twilight. Ok. The series is over. Move on to other books. Read MANY other books, but MANY other authors, and then come back and read twillight. Compare and contrast their writing styles.
Once you have read more than teen novels, you’ll realize, ‘oh my god. there are other talented people aside from stephanie meyer’ and it will about explode your head. She is an author. She succeeded. She deserves the same FUCKING amount of respect as any other decent human being. Dont glorify her to a fucking god, because that’ll just piss him off (speaking from a not religious point of view here)
I get that you like twilight. I do as well. I’m a major ‘oh my god he’s so hawt’ twilight fan. I am a WOMAN, and I have HORMONES. That is all that you need to be attracted to twilight, in my opinion.
Twilight is not the center of the universe. It’s a damn good book for a first time author, who managed to cast a role of damn impressivly ‘oh my gawd he’s hawt’ characters. Get over it.
Amber-
Yes, I know there are many other talented people aside from Stephanie Meyer. I think we all realised that ages ago, my dear.
Most people have read MANY other books by MANY other authors.
We all started to do that from a very young age.
No, Twilight isn’t the centre of YOUR universe, but for many other people, especially insane Twilighters, it’s part of it. And I’m not afraid to admit that I am a insane Twilighter.
Get over it.
Wow, Tina really has made a impression on me.
I just gotta say i agree with my sister. I personally think Meyer’s could’ve done better with her book. plus the movie kinda sucked. ok im kidding it really sucked!
I COMPLETELY agree with you! I’m so happy that there are other girls out there who actually have self esteem and think more of themselves than Stephanie Meyer portrays us to think! There is just one more thing I would add to your report though: the boys in the book never do any chores and it’s considered Bella’s “responsibility” to do all of the cooking, cleaning, ect. In New Moon, when Bella stops doing the chores, Charlie, being the lazy bugger that he is, refuses to help, and the chores just don’t get done! REALLY-Who does Stephenie Meyer think she is? After the publication of THIS series, it’s going to take forever for teenage girls to achieve high levels of self esteem!
IF YOU WANT TO FORGET ABOUT THE BOOKS THEN STOP WRITTING ABOUT IT . AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT IT
I THINK YOU’ VE GOT IT ALLLLLLLLLLLL WRONG ITS A BOOK
I DONT SEE WATS WRONG WITH IT I HAVE READ THEM ALL AND QUITE ENJOYED MESELF SO IT YOU WANT TO FORGET ABOUT IT THEN BUZZ THE HELL OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yout an abosalute looooooser!
what there are about 3 people IN THE WORLD and about 5 million that think your wrong………..
If twilight was THAT BAD, that 5 million who love it wouldn’t love it now would they? so i say YOUR DUMB and just one of those who have no sense in love at all. Its not like there IS vampires (i wish there was) and its not like that 5 million girls are actually going to to what bella did, its just a story that romantic and so what if its make belives??????…… cant we all have a bit of fantacy in our lives or do we all have to be stunned mullets that sit at our dumb compiter all day discusing stuff we dislike….. like YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Becy-
I agree. I have been trying to get that point across to other people but they just don’t listen, so THANK YOU for saying that.
Katherine-
‘After the publication of THIS series, it’s going to take forever to get teenage girls to achieve high levels of self-esteem!’
Excuse me?!? Never mind Stephanie Meyer, who do YOU think you are! And what the hell are you on about? Self-esteem doesn’t have anything to do with Twilight, my dear.
Zoe-
Good for you for saying that!
becy-
Why does everyone say that if you hate the books, just get over it? We’re allowed to express our opinions, funnily enough.
So chill out a little, and maybe reread the article in order to find out what the Antis agree on as wrong.
Just because you’ve enjoyed something doesn’t mean everyone else has. We’re allowed to dislike it if we so choose.
Zoe-
Okay. Let’s think about this: You said “If twilight was THAT BAD, that 5 million who love it wouldn’t love it now would they?”
Well, the Nazis though Hitler had the right idea with eliminating all the Jews from Europe. Some people didn’t agree with that because it was IMMORAL. Like Twilight.
Insulting anyone won’t help you. It makes you seem childish and immature.
If you want fantasy, why don’t you try Tamora Pierce, The Chronicles of Narnia, or Harry Potter, or something else? There’s lots of great fantasy books.
Okay then.
Katherine-
You’re absolutely right. It’s nice to have another Anti around here. I’m really not looking forward to the generations of girls whose self-esteem will be lower because of Twilight.
Ugh. I wish this hype would just die down, and move on to something better.
All you twitards are such losers. Stephanie Meyer made it seem so much like that if you never get over the guy he’ll come back to you! and that if you get suicidal he’ll MAGICALLY come back to you because he LOVES you *cough not cough cough*. all these pre teen and teenage girls who read that shit think that if they get all moody and depressed that its okay cuz bella ended up back with her man. these girls are gonna need some serious therapy when their lives didn’t turn out like twilight. and becy, we can’t forget about the books and the movie because stupid fucks like you dont shut the fuck up about twilight. and shouldnt you be on a twitard site? Zoe, you spelled “absolute” wrong(dumb fuck) and the reason all those losers like twilight is because 1. they have real bad taste and 2. you guys are brainwashed into thinking that its good.
to put it bluntly YOU SUCK
“I THINK YOU’ VE GOT IT ALLLLLLLLLLLL WRONG ITS A BOOK”
becy, YOU got it all wrong! if its a book then get over it! no matter what book is written its gonna have critics–im a critic so get over it.
i dont have anything against fantasy, in fact i love it! i used to be a twlight fan but then at around the second book i couldn’t take it anymore. even at the first book i was getting annoyed, twilight made me DEPRESSED. i got over it and moved on with my life.
becy, kookie, and zoe…
GO TO A FAN SITE AND STAY THERE!!!
if you dont like what we say, get your ass out of here and drool over twilight somewhere else. you knew you’d get mad if you came to an antitwilight site so why’d you come anyway? im not on a fan site, this is ANTITWILIGHT so that means that i can freely vent my hatred here AWAY from losers like you.
Hello! I totally agree with everything you put. I think Meyer is one of the worst authors in the world. Like Harry Potter this story is attention grabbing and figuratively fed to its reader. The difference is that Rowling can write. So, I do admit the story is interesting…the last books I read were about finding a husband in New York, working in New York, and having a bitchy boss in New York. I’d have to say that a fantasy love story was refreshing, at least for me. The way I look at Twilight is very similar to how I view crummy reality tv. It entertains me and helps fight against boredom. I don’t take any of it too seriously, and I definitely don’t idealize any relationship or person. Maybe its because I’m 20 and have been in actual relationships? Edward Cullen is a handsome prick who would hate a goofy immature girl like me. I do confess to liking Robert Pattinson though…
I thought I would put in my own two cents.
“Twilight is just escapist fiction, get over it!”
I don’ t have a problem with that. What I DO have a problem with is that Edward and Bella’s romance is glorified to be the greatest love story that ever existed.
“If you think Twilight is so bad, then why did you continue reading it?”
It must be so bad that I thought Meyer would actually get better. Yup, totally taboo.
“Don’t criticize Meyer unless you write a book as successful!”
You don’t need to be a chef to tell that food tastes bad. Same goes for novels.
In my eyes, Meyer only got the fortune and fame because 16 year old teenagers creamed their pants over Eddy Sparklepire Cullen OR good marketing. Just because it’s popular DOES NOT mean that it is good. The books preach sexism(Bella turning into a vegetable when Edward left her, thus showing us that she can not function unless a big, strong, sparkly man saves her), abusive relationships(Edward takes out Bella’s engine),in Twilight, no plot whatsoever until page 300 or so, inconsistencies on Meyer’s part(explaining her vampires with science),and no character development(the few characters who were developed get ‘raped’ by Meyer in later chapters, particularly Jacob Black).
I applaud this person for stating their opinion.
I applaud you on this article, for many reasons not the least of which being the absolutely hysterical reaction it’s evoking form the “Twitard” community. This piece illustrates pretty much every problem I have with the Twilight series as well and the stunningly poor influence it is for young women. Feminism aside, suggesting that it’s not only acceptable but desirable for a man to be so controlling over his professed “true love” is damaging.
If this was merely poor literature, I could forgive it. I read horrible trashy romance form time to time just for an “escape.” After all, dessert is a necessary ingredient in life, it can’t all be peas and carrots. But this cross the fine line between “laughably bad literature” and “promoting blind stupidity.”
And as for the Twilight fans who’ve read this article and are screaming for blood, proclaiming that Ms. Rice has no right to criticize the Twilight books, can it. If 300,000 websites can sing the praises of Stephenie Meyer and her little miscarriage of literature, then Kellen has the right to state her opposing opinion as well. The fist amendment guarantees us the right to free speech, not the right to free speech as long as it’s all sunshine and rainbows. This post is a personal opinion and well-argued one and the claims of unnecessarily vitriolic rhetoric are unfounded. I would like to point out that the article is not written in all caps as many of the detracting comments are.
True, Kellen didn’t have to read Twilight, but at least in doing so she was able to write an informed opinion.
Howdy
I was away for a couple of days for camp
the entire length of my legs and thighs are literally COVERED in bruises and cuts and mosquito bites :'(
I won’t get into it.
Kookie –
I wasn’t acknowledging you unless I wanting to make a rebuttal or if you made a sensible comment.
“# Kookie on May 6th, 2009 8:06 am
Amber-
Yes, I know there are many other talented people aside from Stephanie Meyer. I think we all realised that ages ago, my dear.
Most people have read MANY other books by MANY other authors.
We all started to do that from a very young age.
No, Twilight isn’t the centre of YOUR universe, but for many other people, especially insane Twilighters, it’s part of it. And I’m not afraid to admit that I am a insane Twilighter.
Get over it.”
Wait, so you are saying Twilight is the centre of your universe, and that you are insane?
This explains a lot.
Oh, Jesus Christ. Why do we keep attracting the idiot Twilighters? becy…wtf is that? zoe’s doesn’t even make sense.
Christine Lopez
I’m glad you appreciate the gravity of the situation, but you’re coming on strong. Not all Twilighters are morons, it’s a stereotype. My friends are Twilighters *chokes* But they also like Mediator, so that’s a plus
LOLWHUT –
Yay!
Banshee –
I agree, the responses are somewhat hilarious
Alright I’m gonna go lean back and read some Sophie Kinsella (hoping it doesn’t run out, even though I only have like 2 pages left), try not to concentrate on my pulled/sore/aching muscles, DOMs, serious back pain, mosquitobiteitchiness, basic humiliation at camp, or being, yet again, pissed off by Richard Dawkins/stupid-school-kids-who-think-they-are-the-shits-but-don’t-realise-they-are-fucking-morons.
Christine Lopez- While you have a right to your opinion, could you please not insult the intelligence of those of us who are Twilighters. Despite being in the 8th grade I have had a 4.0 GPA for the past two years (and between the two of them I have taken 8 high school credit courses) , have taken the SATs twice (and done better than my father and cousins who are pretty darn intelligent), and scored in the 95 percentile on the National Spanish Exam as well as getting honorable mention in the National German Exam. I have read Tamora Pierce, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, Stuart Hill, and so many more. I didn’t say all that to brag about my intelligence, but because I dislike it a lot when my intelligence is looked down upon because I’m a Twilighter.
Alyssa-
Quite frankly
no one wants to know your life story, and no one really cares.
Alyssa –
whilst I appreciate you making your point, you seem like you’re showing off.
I seriously doubt anyone who likes Jane Austen, Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis and has a real view of REAL literature would like Twilight, unless of course
1. They are so pressured by their own, smartypants lives they need a scapecoat, so they read Twilight because that’s OKAY TO READ as everyone else does.
2. They have no lives.
3. They have a warped mind
4. they have only just read twilight and do not realise it’s idiocy.
I’m sure there are more points but I am seriously so sick atm.
Tina –
are you okay?
Btw, my new word IS appreciate.
I was angry and annoyed. So, yeah, I kind of showed off. Sorry. But I HATE it when Twilighters are called idiots because we choose to like a book that someone else dislikes. The antis have expressed that same distaste. And, to Rafal H, the first half of the first answer was correct, but the doing it because of other people, not so much.
Alyssa-
Well, sorry, but your fellow twilighters dont exactly give you a good name.
Rafal H-
I’m fine, why?
Alyssa-
I’m glad I’m not the only Twilighter round here. I was beginning to feel a little on my own.
Tina-
What do you mean, ‘well, sorry, but your fellow twilighters dont exactly give you a good name’, to Alyssa?
Alyssa-
Yeah, I get annoyed too. It’s our life, our opinion, and if they don’t like it, then that’s their problem, not ours.
That sounds weird, doesn’t it?
WOW! Y’all got to chill-ax (chill and relax).
It’s great that some of y’all enjoy reading Twilight….but in reality…this is not exactly the best place to display your support…partially because…as stated in other blogs…this website is antiTwilight.
It’s quite halarious to read how worked up you get over a book. But, to be honest…there’s much bigger fish to fry and battles to fight then the one on here. If you’re a Twilight die hard fan that’s fantastic…but go find another place to express your approval…because on here you’re primarly going to find negative feed back. I’m not interested in ever cracking open Twilight and reading such material. (Only reason I’m on here is because a friend told me of this website to check out.)
And Alyssa…you’ve actually proved your folly by saying you’re in 8th grade. When you get out in the real world…people won’t give a darn what you did in your younger years. Sounds like you’ve achieved many successes but what good is recognition if you haven’t truly proved yourself outside of school and studies?
Anywho, that’s my two cents. Remember don’t stare a bull in the eyes if you’re just all hat and no cattle. (My way of saying don’t pick a fight if you’re all talk and not much else).
And y’all mind y’all’s language…little kids could be wandering on random websites, including this one, and add a whole bunch of new words to their innocent vocabulary. Keep that in mind when you go all high and mighty and get caught in the moment when you’re blogging.
Tina –
I just mean your answers a little more cutting then usual
Hey, do you live in Washington/New York/New Jersey? If you do or know anything about them, can you add me on MSN? rafal_94@hotmail.com
I need an American correspondent
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA –
why so serious?
Rafal H-
Ahh, i see
well its exam week so i’m a bit stressed really
And i’m from England so I cant help you, sorry
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA –
agreed mate
Rafal H-
Well, I’m from PA, so I know a few things. I could try to help, but I don’t have AIM. I email, so if you want, I’ll give it a shot.
Tina-
Good luck on exams!
Marissa –
where the hell is PA?
Tina –
I completely understand. How old are you?
I’m quite excited I know another english person. If I ever go to England, I’m gonna be a total nerd and go to King’s Cross Station, take a photo of me in between platform 9 and 10
ADD ME ANYWAY, MY FRIENDS ARE BORING. All of you
(joking to any friends who may be stalking me atm)
Good luck on your exams
As the aussies say,
ciao!
by the way you guys
any idea where i can watch Blast From the Past free online? Like, without downloading a program to watch it on?
Stupid Blockbuster…
Rafal-
PA is short Pennsylvania, and it’s a state in the US in case you were wondering
Rafal H-
Umm, sorry if this sounds offensive, and I understand that I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but, umm, well- I don’t know how to put this-, but it sounds like your stalking Tina.
Before you get mad, lemme explain.
Well, you give her your MSN address, which, quite frankly, now you’ve put it on this comment board, anyone could add to their contacts list.
You ask her where she lives, and how old she is.
Sorry, that is just what it looks like from my point of view.
No offence intended.
I understand if you will completly hate me forever now.
Marissa-
Thank You
Rafal H-
Just to point out i don’t think your stalking me, because even for a small country, England is a pretty big place with many different countys and many people called Tina.
And I’m 14, turning 15 this year
how old are you guys? im thinking that the majority of you are 11-18(?). and you twitards need to seriously get a life and go to a fan site. you’re not gonna change our feelings so get lost. to be honest Rafal H. i dont care if im coming down on these people too hard, they shouldn’t be on an anti’s site so there. sorry if i offended ur friends too but i seriously cant stand you peoples.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
i love you! but you’ve seen the dark side of me at my current age.(Ahhhhhh!!!!!) oh well
so yeah
“What do you mean, ‘well, sorry, but your fellow twilighters dont exactly give you a good name’, to Alyssa?”
Kookie, maybe tina means that Alyssa is a stupid annoying kid that annoys even her comrads. cuz even if she were an anti she’d annoy the hell out of me(since she’s a show offy little hoe)
Tina, happy upcoming birthday(whenever it is:)) my birthday is tomorrow(yay!)
and i am SO jealous of you Brits. i wish i could be living in england right now since my country is majorly embarassing me.
one more thing…. Rafal H. have you tried Googling or YouTubing that show or whatever it is? i’ll check if it’ll come up and if not, sorry…
Rafal H-
Like Liz said, PA is short for Pennsylvania, a state in the US. It’s close to Washington D.C., New York, and New Jersey, so if you want to give it a try, just say so.
Tina-
No problem.
christine-
I’m turning 15 this July. I’m very excited. Happy birthday to you, by the way.
hey i didn’t know anyone was online right now!
Christine-
I turn 15 in November, but thanks anyway
And Happy Birthday for tomorow
I’m from Mexico and since the first time i saw this movie i said myself: “Danm, two hundred years of feminist movement went on the toilet”.
Kookie –
LOL, you have a vivid imagination.
1. I asked her where she lived, as in, WHAT HEMISPHERE, at least, because I am fascinated by non-Australian things (and Australian things, actually)
2. Well, I’m sorry for asking her age. It was wrong and rude of me and I beg your forgiveness.
3. I don’t care about my MSN, because I already have 593 randoms from Habbo (way back when), and because I am freaking bored as I cannot find BLAST FROM THE PAST ANYWHERE because Blockbuster’s a bitch, I give my email out randomly
Besides, I don’t think I’ve ever written a -novel- that’s set in Australia. Well, except one, but it’s a kids book so it doesn’t count. I need overseas correspondents!
Well, at least people I know from overseas. Then I can SAY I have overseas correspondents.
Jesus it’s 8.00AM and I haven’t even dressed for school
THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT KOOKIE :'(
christine –
happy birthday
I’ll recycle the birthday song I made up for Mars (creator of twilightsucks.com)
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
S&M is kinky
And she’s a bad author too.
No one ever gets my S&M jokes
Lenin –
Bounjour
Rafal H-
I have been know to have a vivid imagination. Most kids do.
It’s not my fault at all. Only YOU made yourself late, and no-one else.
hahahahahhahah fuck you bitches
…Wow. Why is it that so many Twilight fans are so immature about critique? Why do you guys keep burying your heads in the sand? You people really need to face that fact that not everybody adores Twilight. We all the have the right to freedom of speech: you can talk about how great Twilight is; we can discuss how much we dislike it. In truth, you’re coming off as brats by the “fuck you’s” and “go to hells.” There’s nothing wrong with liking Twilight, but throwing hissy fits when other people state the opposite is really immature, and you’re also making other Twilight fans look bad.
Geez, what’s so wrong with people critiquing Twilight? Not everyone adores the book just because it happens to be a best-seller. Some of you crazy Twilight fans are making others look bad, have you ever thought of that? All the “fuck you’s” and “go to hells” are going to make people change their minds, and it certaintly isn’t going to make us think any better of you.
Kookie –
please, God, when will you understand sarcasm?
P.S: I hate Richard Dawkins
Twilight is a poor excuse for a literary creation. In fact, it tarnishes all literary works of young adult fiction with it’s patheticness.
I agree with all of your statements regarding the book and also gleefully point out how the few Twilight-lovers that showed up here to defend their disgusting and disturbing excuse for a novel have no actual points as to why your wrong. They just say you are because ‘you are’.
A tribute to the insanity associated with this horrific book.
You know what ya stupid idiotic lunatic author?!! You need to get a life, you’re going down to every little detail that maybe Stephenie Meyer herself did not notice. FYI, her writing is very descriptive and very entertaining. Yours is just plain wrong and you write like a preschooler! You’re like Perez Hilton’s evil twin! You’re a freak that has issues and you need to go to rehab! Oh, why don’t you check in to rehab now?! Because you need it! If you don’t like , then shut the heck up!
let me just explians thing im one of the cast from twighlight and this movie was hard we but alot of effort into it we spend all day all night just working on it and we dont appricate you’ll talking so bad about it dont you’ll have a life especially you christine okay
Jannah-
You seriously need to chill out. It’s not a crime to hate a book, and then criticize it.
I seriously don’t get why so many Twilighters think it’s illegal to find a book annoying, badly written, and overall, just really, REALLY bad.
Relax. It’s not the end of the world.
Christine Lopez-
I admit, I was pretty irritating (even to myself) in that one post, but calling me a hoe is a bit of an overreaction. That’s where anti-feminism comes in. As a generation (or at least, my generation, I’m not sure how old you are) we use extreme expressions about fellow females. I mean, even if you insult some guy, you say “son of a bitch” which is more insulting to his mother than he himself. So before you start breaking down Twilight into some garbage where women have no rights, please remember that there are so many more worse ways women are represented in this world.
Howdy y’all.
Y’all twitards are so dumb that if I nudged yur plate to the left you’d be a starvin’ to death. And thanks to that lizzy my attention was called to that laughin’ fool (HAHAHAHAHAHA). Like his/her sayin’ and the large usage of “y’all”. Damn lizzy, you sure use some expressive language to that harmless little bugger. I agree with them except for that last paragraph.
Ain’t it dangerous to use y’all yur vocab in one sentence, lizzy. Bet ya almost had a mind overload.
Unknown, yur sure as hell full of crap.
HEHEHE.
Marissa-
I seriously don’t get why non-twilighters always critizise us Twilighters for liking a book that you don’t.
Laughin’ Southener-
What do you mean, Twilighters are so dumb?!?
That’s just plain RUDE!
I find it really annoying how any time a Twilighter insults the intelligence of the antis they’re ranted about, but the antis somehow don’t think to extend the courtesy they want when speaking about us Twilighters’ intelligence. I have eyes, and if somehow my “stupidity” lead to some milk landing in there, I’m pretty certain my hands could find it. If we read four 500 or so page books, turned on a computer, found this website, and read the article, we’d probably know if our plates had been moved, thank you very much.
Kookie-
I don’t mind if someone likes Twilight. I just don’t like it when someone goes crazy over it and practically worships Twilight. Nothing is without fault, INCLUDING Twilight, and it seems that many forget that, and claim that Twilight is the best thing that ever happened, and forget all its faults.
Truth is, it’s not, and there are a lot of bad things about it.
That’s what bothers me, actually.
And actually, there are a lot of rude Twilighters out there. You haven’t been exactly polite the whole time, have you? I didn’t think so.
To “Katherine on May 6th, 2009 8:43 pm” She was right. The boys in the book never do any chores. But it is not necessarily Bella’s “responsibility†to do all of the cooking, cleaning, and etc. Charlie just doesn’t really care. He’d be fine with pizza, as shown when he offers numerous times. He just doesn’t know how to cook and Bella doesn’t want to starve. He probably wouldn’t mind cleaning or doing the laundry, Bella just beats him to it. In New Moon, Bella doesn’t stop doing the chores. That’s what worries Charlie into giving her an ultimatum. And even after reading this series, I’d like to note that none of the people I’ve talked to have had their self esteems lowered.
Marissa-
I don’t mind it when someone doesn’t like Twilight, it just gets me annoyed when they start to insult Twilighters.
As well as bad things about it, there are also a lot of good things about it, i.e. the plot, the characters, the romance…
There are a lot of VERY rude non-twilighters, too. Including you.
Never forget that.
You never actually made your point. What is it exactly that you don’t like about Twilight? What’s so bad about it that caused you to join this comment board?
Marissa-
Also, why does it bother you? Cos it’s not your problem if someone worships Twilight, is it?
Why must y’all comment ’bout how none stupid yur are? Ha, it must bug ya when sumone’s gone ranting off ’bout y’alls lack of intellegence. Yet, the thing is, if y’all got all the way to this here website (kudos to y’all) and find these here comments….why stay? Now that’s what stupidity I was referin’ to. This bashin’ ain’t gonna stop even when y’all keep a cryin’.
I hate Twilight and love this article. I find it hilarious that so many of the fans on here don’t even bother to address the issue of the abusive relationship. For anyone with eyes, the relationship between Bella and Edward is clearly unhealthy, and it doesn’t take much to argue that it is, indeed, an abusive relationship. A perfect boyfriend doesn’t control your life, nor does he boss you around and constantly decide what’s best for you. A perfect boyfriend respects your opinions, wants you to have friends and a life outside of him, and treats you as an equal. Edward does none of these things.
And no matter what fans say, these books have an incredible amount of sexist elements, purposeful or not. Hell, even in the Cullen family, Alice, the supposedly strong female character that makes the books not sexist, has the special power that is least reliable and therefore least desirable. Edward can always read minds (with the exception of Bella, because she’s so darn special!), but Alice can’t see everything in the future and even if she can, it can change. So why does the supposedly strong female vampire get stuck with the special power that has a weakness? Why doesn’t Esme work in some way, instead of existing only as a mate for Carlisle?
I don’t have a problem with themes like sexism, racism, and prejudice in a work of literature, because they provide problems that need to be addressed. However, Twilight NEVER addresses the sexism it is steeped in. If Bella ever got mad at Edward for patronizing her instead of rationalizing that its “for her own goodâ€, that would be one thing. But to be mad at him and his shoddy behavior and yet never address it is quite another. She could stand up to him every third time and it would be a vast improvement. But no, Bella exists simply to be with Edward. That’s not OK.
Finally, the fact that their relationship is clearly abusive is horrible disturbing when you think of how many young, impressionable girls read these books. Here’s a hypothetical situation: a 13 year old girl love Twilight and reads the books all the time, and is convinced that Edward is the perfect boyfriend. Her first boyfriend seems really sweet, until he starts telling her that she can’t hang out with her guy friends any more. Will she realize this is a huge warning sign, or will she think about how much Edward loves Bella and the fact that he does the same thing to her?
Christina:
For your last paragraph, you’re assuming that this 13 year-old girl has Bella’s characteristics. She does have some similarities to girls in general, but we are not so much like her as to act exactly like her.
Second, what’s so bad with Alice’s power. It isn’t necessarily unreliable. The future changes. So what?
And last, Esme did work. In New Moon, it distinctly says that she was renovating a house in Alaska. Maybe not in Forks, but she can work.
Kookie-
I don’t like having to hear about people worshipping Twilight. And when I happen to come across someone who really does love it, I’m like, “Why?”
I don’t insult anyone without a reason. Liking Twilight isn’t a reason to insult someone, but if they start going at me insisting that Twilight is the best thing ever, I’m obviously going to say SOMETHING.
I’m rude sometimes, but I’m also polite, for the most part. Don’t forget that. I never claimed to be perfectly innocent, for the record. And you haven’t been polite this whole time either, just saying.
As for the good things- what good things? I don’t see a plot, other than Bella mooning over Edward the whole time.
There is no romance. Bella thinks Edward is hot, and Edward thinks Bella smells good, and wants to eat her. They’re both idiots.
The characters are shallow, stupid, uninteresting, and the girls are clearly lower on the totem pole than the men.
In all honesty, it’s very sexist and badly written. But the trick is to dig deep enough into it, instead of just reading on the surface. Most Twilighters I’ve met only read on the surface, so to speak. They don’t even consider that Bella and Edward’s relationship is abusive.
What point did you want me to make?
But it seems that no matter what I say, or what anyone says, you will proceed to find fault in every little thing.
Whatever, though. I said what I need to said. And if you need more reasons, go to http://www.twilightsucks.com.
Marissa-
The characters are not uninteresting, stupid or shallow. Each and every one the the Cullens have a background story. Just look at Jaspers story with the newborns, and Carlisles.
And as for your ‘badly written’ statment, I doubt you could write a better book that has been turned into a movie.
Ahh, whatever. I’m going to go and watch Twilight to calm me down.
That TwilightSucks website is utterly pointless & useless. Completly rubbish whatsoever.
Kookie-
Yes, the characters are in fact stupid, shallow and uninteresting. Just look at Rosalie. Perfect example of shallow. And, shockingly, I don’t care about Carlisle and how he “figured out there was a way to remain humane”. Congratulations. Any idiot who wanted to could have figured that out.
Most characters are just shadows of people. Unimportant, non-relatable, and annoying.
And as for my writing, who even cares? I like to write, and I’ve been told I’m good at it, actually. So maybe one day I will write a book and have it published. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to get it a movie deal.
But I’ll be honest, if Stephenie Meyer can do it, then anyone who can string a sentence together could, because she’s really THAT PATHETIC.
twilightsucks.com has some great arguments as to why it does suck. But if you need a direct link to my favorite one, go here:
http://twilightsucks.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=twilight&action=display&thread=638
I really don’t understand you at all, you know that?
Sorry you guys my internet imploded all over the place for a couple of days
Jannah –
you have issues. I don’t blame you, as you are obviously a Twilighter.
Alyssa:
“I find it really annoying how any time a Twilighter insults the intelligence of the antis they’re ranted about, but the antis somehow don’t think to extend the courtesy they want when speaking about us Twilighters’ intelligence. I have eyes, and if somehow my “stupidity†lead to some milk landing in there, I’m pretty certain my hands could find it. If we read four 500 or so page books, turned on a computer, found this website, and read the article, we’d probably know if our plates had been moved, thank you very much.”
WHAT?
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
WHAT PLATE? WHAT MILK?
Kookie –
”
Marissa-
I don’t mind it when someone doesn’t like Twilight, it just gets me annoyed when they start to insult Twilighters.
As well as bad things about it, there are also a lot of good things about it, i.e. the plot, the characters, the romance… :D”
1. There is no plot.
2. The characters are almost the WORST THING ABOUT IT, in my opinion. They are HORRIBLE, and I swear this has annoyed me so much, that is the stupidest comment anyone has ever made about Twilight, that the characters are a GOOD aspect.
THEY AREN’T!
3. The romance i.e: an abusive relationship love-triangle between mssluttymcslutslutswan, mrabusivestalkersparklepantscullen, mrsexuallyharassingpedophileblack.
”
There are a lot of VERY rude non-twilighters, too. Including you.
Never forget that.
You never actually made your point. What is it exactly that you don’t like about Twilight? What’s so bad about it that caused you to join this comment board? :(“”
1. Yes, there are rude antis. However, either they are rude because you are assholes/completely annoying in the first place, or they are just rude in general. This doesn’t make their view any less important, though to ME it does, it shouldn’t in general.
2. Marissa has made her point SEVERAL times, and just does not care to repeat it (like me). If you want to hear her original arguments, use that scroll button. I’m here for FRESH arguments, which I honestly do not see anywhere.
“The characters are not uninteresting, stupid or shallow. Each and every one the the Cullens have a background story. Just look at Jaspers story with the newborns, and Carlisles.
And as for your ‘badly written’ statment, I doubt you could write a better book that has been turned into a movie.”
*chokes on spit*
Marissa, have you read the other article, “Twilight, a follow-up and a promise”? Let me paste a bit of it here.
(http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/23/twilight-a-follow-up-and-a-promise/)
” I decided to listen to those like ‘Melissa’ who demanded that I “write a bookseries[sic] that is that popular and, in [their] opinion, genious[sic]†before earning the privilege to criticize Stephenie Meyer’s dismal oeuvre.
You know what? They’re right. What right do I have to dislike a published novel? How dare I exercise my 1st Amendment rights and express my opinion about the Twilight series without also having sold 1.3 million books in a single day?
And what about all of those who agree with me? They aren’t allowed to dislike the books either if their own work hasn’t yet spawned “millions†of fan-sites.”
You don’t need to be a cook to tell someone their food SUCKS.
And no, not in a good way.
Kookie, please do not try to argue about the characters. The ONLY character with a SEMBLANCE of personality would be Rosalie, but since that whore Meyer has something against blondes, Rosalie turned out evil, shallow and bitchy,
STEREOTYPE, ANYONE?
Every fucking character in that story is a bullshit character. Jacob was alright, then he turned into a werewolf (so, at the end of New Moon/going on to Eclipse) and became a total dickwad, so no, Kookie, I’m gonna have to disagree with you.
I’m sorry, but characters in stories are (in my opinion) the most important thing – if you don’t like the characters you can’t like the story, for me. And fuckingbitchfacemeyer has the worst characters I have ever seen, not to mention the worst romance, ‘fantasy’, HORROR (hah!), humour…I would say the worst plot, but it’s non-existant so I cannot lie.
Peace out, glad you missed me,,
P.S: I am liking the heated exchange with Kookie & Marissa. Kookie, you’re a girl aren’t you? Damn, I would’ve gotten you two together.
Unless you swing that way…
Rafal H-
I was replying to a comment posted by “Laughin’ Southener on May 15th, 2009 9:37 pm” where she said that if she moved a Twilighter’s plate just to the left, we’d be unable to find it. Sorry, I guess you missed that one.
hey, just saying, what if somebody wrote a better book than twilight and there was adventure, humor, and action. Plus it was about vampires? I would think that would be awsome! But he, or she, had less experince than Meyer? What would u say? But the book was awsome. (The reviw was awsome!!!!! )
Rafal H-
Good to have you back. But I think I’m going to be staying away from Kookie, though I’m glad you’re amused.
Brianna –
it’s happened. Her name is Lynsay Sands.
Katie MacAlister also wrote a vampire romance, but since technically the romance wasn’t between the vampire and the girl it doesn’t count.
Same thing with MEG CABOT, in Prom Nights from Hell, a bunch of short stories. That whore Meyer also put in a story, but I didn’t read it. The publishers wrote ‘from five amazing authors’ or something along those lines on the front…why did they put sstephenie meyer in it, then?
Rafal H-
Size 12 is not fat is soo good!! Aww, Cooper makes me smile
I’m reading Size 14 now, what happens between Heather and Cooper??
I havent read prom nights from hell yet, is it good??
And Oh My God!! Being Nikki comes out like, in the next two months! I’ve been waiting for the sequel of air head for like, umm, ever!!
And I’m reading the Heather Wells mystery series
(sorry if this is a bit random, but i have no one else to talk to about the series)
Marissa-
Just ignore Kookie, I do.
Tina –
Heather Wells series?
I CANNOT TELL YOU
YOu’ll have to read it
I only read MEG CABOT’s story in Prom Nights from Hell and yes her one is awesome.
And Tina, you don’t ignore Kookie, you provoke him
Rafal H-
So caring and everything
Aww… Cooper’s great
Rachel is such a bitch in size 12!! argh! Mrs.Whats Her Face made me laugh when she hit her with that can of stuff
I try my best to ignore him, not really my fault if he gets provoked that easily
And oh my god, we had world war 2 day at school today
I love old people! they are so cute
you twitards so suck balls. and im not a feminist just because i dont like twilight romance, it sucks and its unhealthy romance. SM is the feminist cuz she makes it seem like us women are helpless without our men.
thank you thank you its so stupid how people are judging twighlight its jsut a movie and a book its not reality hahhahahahha !!!!!!!!
im being series
like lizzy is saying its just a movie its not reality and i agree with her and im for sure one of the cast southern person we work day and night iust dont get it
christine lopez-
what?
lizzy –
if it’s just a movie and what not, why are you here?
Exactly.
unknown –
is this another one of those racist things?
Look, I know you guys are trolls, you make it too obvious.
hey rafal, what?! by the way thanks for the happy birthday song, that was really sweet of you. i don’t totally recall what i was thinking on my last comment but its antitwilight, i can tell you that.
anyways glad you had veterans at school today they really are cute (^^) so yeah… Kookie’s a guy?!
I just remembered a proof that the women are intelligent, though some of you will probably argue that it was a rarity. Alice figured out how to trick Edward’s mind-reading by translating documents or such into other languages. If you want the proof, I don’t have the page number, but it’s at the graduation in Eclipse.
Alyssa –
I recall this, but…nah.
christine lopez –
actually, I think Kookie is a girl, I just forgot for a second. sorry, kookie.
Lizzy
Are you truly as dumb as the words you write? If it is just a book, then what the hell are you doing on here?
I like conflict, and as long as y’all continue to speak your mind, I’ll speak mine. Hahahahhahaha.
Unknown
Ha…really. You’re being series…that would be serious.
“…we work day and night iust dont get it”
First off, what the hell is iust? Yet another mistype; I doubt the cast of such a movie would be so careless, or would they? Because of cast members like you, the movie sucked. Hahaha. That’s called sarcasm…so I don’t stupid responses.
Secondly, y’all would be no longer working on the movie because it’s already out in theaters.
It’s quite halarious to read your attempt to make a stand for the book and movie by impersonating one of the cast. I doubt the stars/cast of the movie would care about a blog that critiques the movie. I mean seriously, if you had just made a movie you wouldn’t give a damn what some people on a blog thought.
Alyssa
Doubting the intelligence of women and being a feminist are completely different. You can believe women are smart without being a feminist. Before you argue more asinine statements you stupid broad, ascertain that you comprehend the entire meaning of the words being used. In other words: shut up before you reveal how much intelligence you lack.
Rafal H
Stop being sexist.
I’m a fan of twilight and new moon but not the rest. I’m completely open that some people hate it and that’s fine they’re allowed to. But what I don’t like is how you think that all of us Twilight lovers are all unintelligent little teenagers who only have 2 brain cells. It’s not true. I’m 16 and i’m 9th in English in my entire school. And i’m an overachiever and I still love Twilight. I also don’t like how twilight haters think that we’re so enrapt in wanting a perfect edward. it’s not true, we know that it’s a story, we know it’s fictatious, we also don’t like how bella becomes so addicted to Edward but haven’t you been in love? it feels like that sometimes! And if you dare say that “you’re only 16 you can’t have been in love” that’s just not true, you’re not me, you haven’t lived my life. Some people mature faster than others. And i’m also a strong independent young woman, i’ve never had a boyfriend and i don’t want one, i’m perfectly fine by myself, just because i’ve read twilight doesn’t mean that I want to be like bella. You can hate twilight all you like but just don’t say that you’re more intelligent than us because we like it. Keep an open mind,
xo
Kookie –
Enlighten me; how am I sexist?
Word Of Advice
Twilighters, yur opinions are not wanted on here. When will y’all understand this!? This IS AN ANTI-TWILIGHT WEBSITE! Why do you care ’bout what some guy/gal thinks about you ’cause you read certain books. Seriously, this website is to rant against y’all and the book. Do you realize if you stop defendin’ yurselves ‘gainst a mob that uses words as weapons and that are trapped behind a comput’ screen, that this subject will be soon forgotten? Half the reason that people are on here is to cause conflict. I call y’all foolish because y’all keep a comin’ on here for more. More conflict, more name calling, more bashing. Aren’t y’all tired of it? It enterains me. We aren’t the ones that get bombarded everytime we post a comment…it is you.
Emily-
A lot of us do keep open minds. I don’t judge intelligence based on whether or not you like Twilight. I tend to not like to judge people at all, for the most part.
Most of our complaints are the non-intelligent Twilighters who do want everything you mentioned. And unfortunately, they seem to dominate the fandom.
That’s all. It’s not a personal insult to you.
Thank you for this article. For a while, I thought I was weird that I was the only one who didn’t think this series was the best thing since sliced bread. I lose respect for those who tell me they loved the series, not intentionally though. It just happens.
These books were horribly written and I think the movie was awful. She had such simplistic syntax and no character development. I agree with an earlier comment that said the only redeeming character was Jacob Black. Until he became a jerk.
I can understand why people argue that it’s just a book, it’s fiction, people know the difference. And yet there’s teenagers, waiting for an Edward Cullen in their lives. Truly and honestly they do. And I didn’t realize it until I read this article, but Bella’s and Edward’s relationship is very unhealthy.
This article, along with all the comments made, are opinions. Feel free to argue them but do it intelligently.
“Laughin’ Southener on May 22nd, 2009 9:36 pm”
First, I remember a post several days back (maybe even weeks) where antis claimed that the Twilight women weren’t intelligent. I wasn’t saying intelligence is the base of feminism. Though, if I did get that confused, that doesn’t make me a “stupid broad.” It means I associate feminism with a woman who has most if not all values that are beneficial. And while not dictionary perfect, it can be a reasonable connotation.
Then to your post (today / yesterday?), that was kind of contradictory. If you like the entertainment so much, why are you telling us to leave? It may be anti-twilight, but surely one of the antis posting here has at some point gone on a fansite and expressed their opinions.
Welcome back, Marissa.
Alyssa
Keyword: a- a post, not numerous. The majority of antis just say that all Twilighters are dumb–most without a valid arguement. However, that is besides the point. And why would I know what someone one posted a few weeks ago? Seeing as you have been on here for more weeks then I have, you should know that I have not posted anything but just ten days ago and do not review what others have said in the past.
Secondly, if then you were not associating intelligence with feminism, then your post was unnessary. It was random and irrelavent to the prior posts.
Thirdly, I called you a stupid broad, not because you were associating intelligence with feminism. No, I called you one because, like some of the other Twilighters and antis, some of the posts you write are pointless; such as the intelligence related one. Once more, no one was arguing that Twilight women are unintelligent. Rather they were discussing why they consider people sexists.
You apparently didn’t understand what I meant by it entertains me. I was using the term very loosley and rather facetiously. (ie “It is funny how y’all keep coming on here”…I’m not seriously going to laugh). I do enjoy conflict, but some of the defenders of Twilight continously post stupid comments that can not be debated. (ie “But what I don’t like is how you think that all of us Twilight lovers are all unintelligent little teenagers who only have 2 brain cells. It’s not true. [Emily]” Well no duh you should have more than two brain cells….and besides that, no one is acting like that is all you have.
By no means did I post this to such a smart 8th grader. (sarcastic)
The term “dumb” and “unintelligent” are being used as colloquials. It is the same as saying “you’re dumb because you like Barney”. Well, you’re really aren’t dumb, now are you? Then again you might be if you take that literally. The statement is just expressing someone’s disliking of Barney.
However, bravo, you are now debating….rather than just pointlessly talking. See, this I do not mind.
[…] http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/ […]
Laughin’ Southerner:
Sorry for the misunderstanding. But I did find the post that I was thinking about. “Rafal H is NONSPARKLY on May 1st, 2009 12:12 am.” It was like a day or two after when I came, and stated that there was no evidence of the women in Twilight being intelligent. Sorry, that one just came into my mind and I found in an important point to make.
BRAVO BRAVO!!! i love your vocab my laughing southerner
oh and Alyssa, thanks for making the point that some antis are going to fan sites to harass fans there. Antis, stay away from those fan sites, its simply stupid and disrespectful. although i don’t especially like fans, they are human beings just like every one else and i don’t approve people actually going out to get them and make their lives miserable. i have never harrassed anyone on a fan site and i have no intention of ever going to a fan site to do so. any ways, i am currently pissed off because i know a budding new writer who was writing vampire love novels even before S.M. conceived twilight and she(my new writer) finally finished one of her best books. she had someone else critique it and the critic said “Well your writing is very descriptive, imaginative, and VERY romantic however, it will never be as good as twilight… so you might as well give up.”
WHAT A BITCH!
first off do not compare an intelligently written piece of shit with unhealthy love relationships to a young author’s new much better masterpiece. needless to say, i beat the little bitch’s ass(with words of course) so much she cried.
Rafal H-
Thanks.
I would just like to address a few of the points presented here…
First of all, Edward is not refusing to let Bella see Jacob Black because he is jealous. He is doing it because he fears fo her life.
Second of all, Sara (a long time ago up there) pointed out the fact that the inequality between Edward and Bella does not stem so much from their gender differences, but from the fact that he is a vampire and she is a human. A plethora of strong, likable female characters appear in the books – Alice, Esme, and eventually Rosalie. The main antagonist (Victoria) is deadly! I think the real difference is a human/vampire difference and not a boy/girl difference.
Finally, I highly suggest that some of you check out the partial draft of “Midnight Sun” by Stephenie Meyer…this details the first book from EWARD’S point of view, and in it he is nothing towards Bella but admiring and protective. He calls her brave, beautiful, selfless, and spunky. He actually feels as though he is the lucky one. He also takes on the role of her “protector”…make what feminist argument you will, but she needs one….she is a human involved in a world of monsters.
Kaye –
HOLD ON A MINUTE THERE, KAYE
Didn’t Edward know ALL ALONG that Jacob was not a werewolf, but in fact a ‘shapeshifter’, and therefore he was NOT a threat to her life?
OUCH.
Your second point – I have done that so many times I seriously am sick of it. No. I refuse to. I will just say that you’re wrong wrong wrong and ignore your points just like the Twilighters.
Your last point; sorry. That’s just a horrible point. You do realise we uncover even more evidence of stalking and general creepiness?
Christ.
ALSO, the vampire-human thing, I got 4 words for you, buddy.
Lynsay Sands, Katie MacAlister. Authors of GOOD Vampire Romances, who actually manage to be feminist while still human.
(you idiot)
I’m kidding, I’m sorry.
K I have to write a newspaper for Writer’s Workshop, and I’m gonna do a book review instead of a film review, and I’m doing – you guessed it – Twilight. I’m going to be uber-bitchy in this, wanna help? Do you know how many words a real newspaper’s book review would be?
i havent been reading the previous blogs but i happened to come across Unknown’s comment and i would like to comment back even though it may be too late. first off, you dont have a life unknown since you have come to a negative twilight site. you must have really sucked in the movie since you have time to come to anti sites when other peoples might be sending in offers for other movies. so im thinking you have no offers which means you suck as an actor or actress. so what acting school did you attend? if you have problems with characters you should try improvisation exercises to rev up your imagination. or maybe youre just an extra who got on the directors’ nerves who is way in over your head thinking you are a main character. i actually know kids and young adults who can act better than you probably have. well, it doesnt matter any way i dont care about how bothersome the movie making was, it sucked either way.
Kaye, you are a loser.
“she is a human involved in a world of monsters.”?!
what kind of monster glitters?! oohhh, very scary. and its gay that bella is the damsel in distress needing edward to rescue her all the time. i hate stories that insist the heroine(?) is always getting into trouble, that all these horrible male and female monsters want to hurt her(not a “heroine” then hmm?). ugh, that is lame core to the max. if edward really loved her, he would leave her alone since he’s bringing her into a monster world.
Rafal H. for the review you could comment on how unhealthy the relationships are in twilight. and i apologize, i do not know how many words a real newspaper book review would be.
hey does anyone know any french teachers? mine is moving to Georgia to get married and i don’t wanna get stuck with some grouchy old man.
I think I need to stick up for Kaye here, because her points aren’t as stupid as they have been represented.
The fact that he’s a shapeshifter makes him more dangerous than a werewolf. While Jacob can still think, his transformations aren’t limited to full moons, but rather when he’s angry.
I think the sparkling doesn’t make them less dangerous. The fight between James and Edward for example.
I agree with her that there are strong women. And if you really want to point out the vamp guys as apparently outdoing the women, then the human guys kind of sucked (Though that’s not much of a defense, is it? yikes.) In general it was weak humans as compared to strong vamps/wolves.
And Bella isn’t represented as a heroine until Breaking Dawn, when she’s a vampire. For the rest of the series, the vampires and wolves she meets are both the protagonists and the antagonists. She’s just the narrator who happens to be the lucky in-love one and the un-lucky clumsy one.
Christine, sorry about your friend. That’s unfair to her. And if it’s as good as you think, you should tell her to continue. Because no matter how much you hate “Twilight,” so many vampire boooks are being published as a result and anything that good would be easy. Maybe next year everyone here as an “anti” will be off supporting her (him?). Maybe even some of us who like Twilight.
And Rafal H., while I have nothing against you expressing your opinion in your workshop, please, please, be fair towards Twilighters and try to understand why it’s liked so much. That the idea of love triumphing over all that danger and unlikeliness is uplifting, not because the guys are “hot.”
Alyssa –
I disagree.
And I do understand Twilighters. I simply think that while they think there are positive aspects of Twilight, the negative FAR outweighs it.
Omg, you guys. My WRITER’S WORKSHOP TEACHER LIKES TWILIGHT. I asked her why in numb shock and she goes, “It’s light and fluffy” and I nearly vomited.
Jesus Christ. It’s happening.
hey Rafal H. don’t take shit from that teacher, i wouldn’t. write whatever the hell you want, its a free country(you are american right?).
Alyssa, nobody can be that “accident prone”. its true that some people are more delicate than others but humans naturally have a sense of survival and you can’t always wait for your knight in shining armor, you just gotta stick up for yourself sometimes. if Bella were real, she would have to have been in a safe house at all times or she would have died as a child. i admit, i can’t stand the sight of blood, but i deal with it even when i do get lightheaded and or feel like vomiting.
and main character or heroine or whatever the fucking shit she was…she IS A DISGRACE to all women.
wow, i really never saw Sarah’s comment on May 1st. what a loser who has no life. she’d be one hell of a fat ass vampire if all she did was read twilight books. i have a favorite book series too, but i don’t wanna read it all the time.
Alyssa, i hate to admit that i actually like you(when your not bragging about your genius and don’t accuse me of disliking intelligent people because my bff is a genius and she’s 16). but what i was gonna say is try to understand our points on why twilight sucked(see you don’t care just like we don’t) but think about it,
even you wouldn’t want the guy of your dreams watching you 24/7 (from the first book)
and bella must have been screwed when she was on her periods since she’s so mortified of blood
there are so many other drawbacks to the twilight series and take into mind that i wasn’t always an anti…
Of course I would be creeped. Seriously creeped. And the periods never were explained.
The reason I like Twilight, and I’ve kind of been a bit repetitive with this one, is the idea of all those obstacles being overcome. It’s a story that’s easy to play around with.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the FanFicton page for Twilight? I’ve never really snapped out of the fandom because I read a lot of stories based on the characters. And that’s a suggestion I have for you. The characters are a lot more likable in most of them, and a great deal of them are better written.
But I can see a lot of the points you make. And when I first came upon the article, I felt like an idiot. But I think there are moments (however rare they may be) that make up for most of the faults.
Alyssa –
I believe Smeyer – after realising, yet again, that her stories MAKE NO SENSE, – made up some bullshit about dead blood. This of course proves the extent of her idiocy.
I’m sorry, Alyssa, you can defend Twilight and I will listen, but I seriously hate Stephenie Meyer with a passion. Don’t ask why, the answer is WAY too long. Let’s just say she’s a stupid-whore-who-can’t-write-to-save-her-life-the-epitome-of-evil-bitch.
Anyway.
Your last sentence; if the moments are so rare – which they are, so rare they are non-existant, like her plot – they would have to be supremely awesome to make up for her faults which are just massive. I cannot see may awesome moments.
As an “older” reader of the Twilight Series, I absolutely agree with your opinion. I would also like to add there are very strong Mormon undertones in the books as well. First off, the fact that Bella is dependent on Edward and Jacob, to the point that she doesn’t hardly think for herself-they make the decisions. She’s just the “girl” that loves them both.
Also Edward being a 108 year old virgin? Come on, he couldn’t find anyone in 108 years to fit the bill. This reeks of the whole purity ideals. Oh, and he sleeps in Bella’s room everynight and they do nothing–Yeah right-not in the real world–Maybe in the Mormon culture.
Not to mention the whole imprinting scenes. That is definietly Mormon ways of long ago. That is truely pediafile in nature. I don’t care how good looking the wolf is.
Young girls have not had enough life experience to see all these little hidden messages. I just hope that the new director is able to take the books in a more modern and less Mormon way. After reading the fourth book, Edward (who is supposedly the best looking guy on earth) comes off more like Kirk Cameron. And Bella is at peace with giving her child up to Jacob when the time comes. Mormon writing as it’s best.
First of all this is a fictional book. That’s why its in the fiction section. I’m a twenty year old female and i love the saga. Edward is a vampire, and vampires dont exist. Why would you complain about how its not possible for him to have a baby, or how real her childbearing was? Its not real. Seriously. You stupid feminist take everything you can and make it all about gender. She loved him and he loved her. He protected her from Jacob because he though as a new werewolf he would hurt her not because he was abusive. He left to protect her. I feel like you didnt read it at all cause if you did you would have gotten these main points. Also Bella wasnt trying to commit suicide nor did Meyer ever encourage it. She went cliff diving which everybody in La Push there was no danger in it at all. Please don’t be so close minded the next time you want to rip someones books a new one.
1) A female heroine who always need a
boy to rescue her.
Now I will advocate a woman being
confident, independent, and not waiting
around on a guy to rescue her. I do not,
however, think there is anything wrong
with encouraging men to naturally step
into that role. I (and I hope other
women) would prefer men who gladly
serve women. Also, Bella never
expressed an interest in college. In
reality, it was Edward who pushed so
hard for her to get an education. In
addition, I believe the eternal life
of a vampire implied she could go to
school at any time. Edward however
believed it to be a vital human
experience.
And then I am curious as to when the
original Eve began begging Adam for
sex.
I will though agree with other points in
this paragraph. First, I cannot for
the life of me, believe that Edward
would remain a virgin for 108 years.
This coming from a solid Christian and
I (at 25) am a virgin. But to be honest,
while I hope I would maintain my
convictions, I think much of that has
come from the fact that I haven’t had
a boyfriend (not by choice). Put the
temptation in front of me and I can’t say
the answer would still be no. Make it a
guy who doesn’t even believe in God? And
has been alive 108 years? Yeah right!
The relationship is indeed very
unhealthy. I find it odd actually (or
an example of poor writing), that while
Edward supposedly refuses to allow
Bella to become a vampire, he is
willing to discourage all her other
friendships.
2nd paragraph:
I too would have liked to see some insight
into the “zombie” months of Bella’s
life. To be fair, however, Meyer has
always said she is a fan of happy endings
so it would be odd if she actually
included a depressing section.
This idea of being so in love as to fall
apart does seem ridiculous to me. I
have watched friends fall apart but not
to such extremes and I agree it is a
very unhealthy idea for teenagers. But I
will also argue that there is nothing
wrong with desiring to fall in love.
True feminism is the belief that every
woman should have both the right and
the opportunity to become exactly the
woman she desires to be. It seems though
that since for so long, women’s roles were
in marriage and childbearing, the idea
that a woman could want to do nothing
more than love and be love is horrendous!
In reality, while we should encourage young
women to explore their options, I don’t
believe that just because a teenager falls
in love means they are throwing their life away.
New Moon paragraph:
Thank you for acknowledging the quality
of Jacob Black’s character. So many
focus only on Edward in depth and Jacob
simply as a question in a quiz or vote.
Yet I strongly feel he is a quality
character.
Eclipse paragraphs:
1) I will agree with a unhealthy
relationship between Bella and Edward.
The abuse angle I would have to consider
more carefully. THe initial decisions
he made are wrong but Bella does talk
to him about it and he realizes how
extreme he has been.(and how wrong)
2) Jacob’s first kiss with Bella is
assault and really should have been
acknowledged as such by Bella. That
second kiss, when Bella decides she
loves him too, was not forced. (I
suppose one could argue that he
threatened suicide but if Bella quit
kissing Edward’s ass all the time, she
would have seen Jacob’s trickery.) But
that second kiss, she allowed and even
acknowledges that Jacob will press his
luck (and lips).
3) The Bella in love with Jacob concept
I understand better than the writing
of it.Jacob was there for her during
the most difficult time of her life (take
issue with that as you may). That
creates a bond between people. Even more
he is her confidante, particularly
when she is upset with Edward. How
many affairs have started because either
a man or woman found someone who
listened to their grievances? I also
think part of Jacob’s appeal is that
he takes the effort to know Bella’s
personality. He knows that one smile
is happy while another means he is
about to get punched. Edward may have
to get used to not being able to read
her mind but I’ve never felt he tries
as hard as Jacob. Jacob cares but he
cares much more like a 17 year old.
Breaking Dawn paragraphs:
I understand to a point the argument
against the pregnancy. However, there
are a couple key arguments. First,
Meyer drops hints in other books
that humans could be impregnated by
vampires. Second, so many people seem
to want to act as though the rules of
this cast must follow human rules. But
the book is fictional and fantasy.
Therefore, Meyer is allowed, by all
means to break the rules for the point
of her story.
I do think the birthing scene is
horrific.And seriously, how do they
expect to film that scene? Rob Pattinson
is really going to go down there and rip
Kristen Stewart apart with his teeth? Yikes!
And I agree. There was so not a climax
in this book. Again, though, Meyer did
say several times that she is a happy
ending sort of author and so I don’t
think we could expect a real battle
royale.
To sum up, I do enjoy the books. For me,
they are a fun escape, a world that is
entertaining for a short time. I agree
that it would be much preferrable if young
girls dreamed of being Elizabeth Bennett
and dreamed of marrying Mr Darcy (a genuinely
flawed gentleman). Unfortunately, most
teenage girls go through an obsessive
phase where the real world doesn’t
exist. (Mine involved Taylor Hanson)
But I will also say that if young girls
are going to obsess over a character,
there are worse options than Edward
Cullen. I would rather young women believe
that men are supposed to be gentlemen
then to simply write characters like
Edward off as fantasy and go out with
the guy who is going to use them and
dump them. Is there anything so wrong with
setting sights high?
The real fright to me is these Twilight
moms who have become so obsessed.Truly
disturbing.
My final point though, is that I believe
the books, if recognized as a lighthearted
fantasy read, are enjoyable. That really
is the key. To take the time to seperate
fact from fiction and learn or enjoy
accordingly. Enjoy the escape into Forks
by all means. Just don’t start acting
like you can live there. THe real world
is so much better.
I agree with your last point whole heartedly. Just escape to Forks and don’t act like you live there. That is excellent advice. However, there are thousands of young fans that are over taken by Meyers writing.
I’m really very shocked that someone older in the writing community has not taken these books apart. Maybe they have and I just haven’t read it.
Yes these books are fantasy and fiction, but interweaving one’s religious beliefs throughout this story is wrong on so many levels. The whole concept of the Cullens as a group of their own, eludes to the Mormon culture. The fact that Edward hasn’t had sex and won’t til he’s married (even though he’s 108 years old) is also of the Mormon faith. Also the fact that Bella didn’t even know she wanted a child, but of course has sex for the first time and gets pregnant on her honeymoon. Are these things wrong for young women, maybe not. But this is not the way the world works.
Again I will say the “imprinting” thing is wrong on so many levels. I don’t care if a wolf pack teenager is extremely good looking and protective of a small female child, in truth, he’s just waiting until he can have her as a woman. That is wrong in everyway. If nothing else that screams of religious cult like behavior with old men taking a 12 year old as a wife.
Young women are so influenced by these books that it concerns me that the younger girls will begin to believe in these ideas. With young girls spending so much time on the internet and older men just laying in wait to talk to them, it’s a very scary problem in today’s society. Again I genuinely hope the screen writers and director take serious thought before applying Meyer’s words into scenes for these movies.
I personally don’t want to see a very good looking teenage boy or young man, playing the a two year old child, know that he is waiting for her to grow up a little so he can have her as his mate.
Pedophilia in hiding with young, popular, and attractive actors.
Lisa:
A lot of your argument is correct. The pedophilia (sp?) is sick. I would have preferred that Jacob imprinted on Tanya or someone else, since that was an important plot device linking him pernamently to the Cullens. Maybe even some Forks High School student would have worked, or preferably Leah, since he would have gotten over Bella and let their friendship be the most important thing. It actually did terminate a lot of fans’ liking for Twilight.
As to Edward still being a virgin, undertone or not, it does work. In 1918, he wouldn’t have slept with a girl yet. And for the next 90 or so years, he’s a vampire. He can’t just sleep with some random woman and risk losing control and therefore killing her.
Rafal H:
I hate Stephanie Meyer too, but my reason is because of her fit over Midnight Sun getting leaked. It’s leaked, and soem readers thought it made up for some problems with Breaking Dawn, finish the story!
And I’m too lazy to reread “onlymystory”s comment, but I think I agreed with like, 95% of it?
I’m a teacher so am well aware of the importance these books have in the lives of impressionable teenage girls. They literally eat that stuff up without an ounce of critical thinking applied to what it is they are reading. I read the first one, out of curiosity. Found it a hard slog, could barely get through it. To say that the prose is turgid is an understatement. I attempted the second one and found it even worse than the first one. I gave up on the third and fourth one. I just wasn’t that interested. I did end up seeing the movie and preferred it to the book only in that it was quick, you watched, and then thankfully it was over.
Christ.
Kayla –
you’re one of those whore fans who think they’re so super awesome and that it’s just fiction, blah blah blah, and therefore it has no influence or importance in the real world, disregarding the fact that millions of impressionable teens are reading the book.
YES, THEY ARE BLOODY IMPRESSIONABLE. I ACCEPT IT MYSELF THAT I AM IMPRESSIONABLE. Especially considering that the people reading this toilet paper are hormonal (either housewives or adolescents or bloody 10 year olds) and therefore more vulnerable to this stuff.
ALSO considering that most of the girls reading this don’t usually read, and therefore do not acknowledge that perhaps the book wasn’t good enough to be published, or they make excuses for Meyer since they aren’t well read enough to realise the shittiness of her books. I for one, when I first started reading books, I accepted everything in it for fact (not the fantasy stuff but the plausible stuff), and I never thought that a book could be BAD. I always loved every book I’ve read, though of course some more than others. Twilight’s proven to me that books can SO be bad.
onlymystory –
honestly, like I’m gonna read all that?
Wow Rafel, so you will take the time to read multiple comments so you can then insult people’s viewpoints yet when someone actually takes the time to write a thoughtful response, its ignored. Lovely.
And on the working Mormonism into the books…believe me, having grown up surrounded by Mormons, I have plenty of issues with that cult, but many authors add their beliefs into books. I think the first problem is how its worked in. Lord of the Rings has elements JRR Tolkien’s own Catholicism and JK Rowling has added traditional Christian ideas. They do it well.
The second problem is in the religion itself. I would hope that regardless of one’s own beliefs, they can recognize the value of another religion. But there are those that have thousands of years of history, tradition, and even logic behind it…and those that are based on aliens.
Still, I would ask is the problem that Meyer, like so many others incorporated religion into a story or that you disagree with Mormonism and see it as so much worse? I’m not saying either opinion is wrong, just asking which one is really the issue.
Onlymystory,
I don’t feel that I have a problem with Mormonism per say, but I do have a problem with the way these books are influencing young women.
Trust me I’m no feminist, I love to have a door opened for me, however, in these books, Bella it seems is the only one who does the cooking and cleaning. She also has a boyfriend that has her kidnapped and watched by her sister, so she will stay put and do what she’s told. Even though she does leave, it still is part of the story. Not to mention that Edward is 108 years old and Bella is 17? The whole purity issue is obvious with Edward being a virgin and of course Bella has to get pregnant on their honeymoon. I would even go into the apparent fact that Edward wanted to get rid of the pregnancy, but of course Bella, was willing to put her life in danger to have the “baby”.
My biggest problem of all, is the imprinting issue. It’s just wrong. I work in the child protective field and this issue should be screaming pedophilia to all. But it is disguised as “young good looking men” waiting for their soul mates to grow up. If that is not part of the Mormom heritage and religious cults in general, then I don’t know what is.
There are so many men on the internet laying in wait for young girls. I would hate to think, but it is a reality, that they are telling them they are their soul mates even though they are older. And when that situation happens, we all know how these young girls end up. Either missing or worse dead.
The fact that Ms. Meyer’s has young children herself, has me questioning why she would put anything like that in her books. I’m seriously wondering how these actors are going to play the imprinting part, when the time comes to shoot those scenes. No matter how these scenes are filmed, the audience will be left knowing that these young men are just waiting for the little girls to grow up so they can have them sexually.
onlymystory-
Uh, why should Rafal H even bother reading yours? Half of is restating the article. Which we’ve already read.
onlymystory –
yes I do take time to read multiple comments
But if they are too long then I simply assume they are rambling as I cbf reading them.
I read the second part of your thing; you’re one of those Richard Dawkins people. Disregarding whether I have a religion or not, I HATE Richard Dawkins people, because they are like the most frustrating intolerant people in existance.
Tell me you aren’t one of them. Those people that go around harassing people on things like Yahoo! Answers.
Marissa –
Thank you.
exactly
Uber depressed to find that a potential Richard Dawkins has found their way here.
1. The fact that a literary work is fictional does not discredit any arguments for its merit or lack thereof. That’s ridiculous.
2. Adding the politically correct phrase “everybody is entitled to their own opinion and I respect that, but you shouldn’t slam/criticize/vocalize a negative opinion about what I like/disagree with me” doesn’t make you open-minded. That’s retarded.
3. Name dropping famous classic feminist literature and authors alone doesn’t cancel out the fact you’re currently part of a fad along side millions of other impressionable young girls that glorifies an arguably anti-feminist, weak and negative role model. That idea makes bunnies cry.
I’m familiar with Richard Dawkins but I’ve never considered myself to be anything like him. At all. I would never want to be either. Could you maybe explain why exactly you think I’m a Richard Dawkins person?
And to the reading the comment first, sorry, maybe I overreacted or wasn’t clear…I just meant that if you weren’t going to read something there’s no point in commenting on it. As in, if you didn’t want to read my comments on the article, why comment that my post was too long and you’d never read it? Just don’t comment on it.
DLL: If you weren’t responding to me, feel free to disregard this but I wanted to respond to your comments.
1. I didn’t mean to say that being fictional leaves no room for a discussion on the merit/or lack thereof of a book. I just assumed discussing the merit of fiction in general was a different topic. And I was simply trying to remind some that Twilight is fictional. Yes, people are influenced by fiction all the time, for good or bad. It just seems some are forgetting that it is fiction.
2. I know this must be referencing someone else, I don’t remember saying something like that.
3. I wasn’t trying to name drop by mentioning Jane Austen. Another poster had mentioned that so it was the author in my head at the time. I also didn’t and still don’t think that liking classic literature cancels out the fact that I like Twilight. I still love Twilight. Just because I disagree with parts doesn’t change that. Also, most classic literature was the fad of its day. Not all, but most. Dickens, Austen, Flaubert, etc…all were the JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer of their day. Popular culture. And I do wish you wouldn’t lump every lover of twilight together as impressionable idiots. Loving a book doesn’t make one impressionable.
[…] me most, though, was the way characters fit oh-so-neatly into traditional gender stereotypes. This review sums things up nicely: First and foremost, the books present a female heroine who can hardly take a […]
onlymystory –
I commented to inform that most of the ‘regulars’ here and most newbies would not be bothered reading that, ESPECIALLY since there aren’t any paragraphs or anything so it all seems to be one big blob of…ness.
Can we get over this?
Also, I apologise for the Richard Dawkins thing (Richard Dawkins is basically the worst possible insult for anyone), because I misread what you wrote, which I tend to do when I stay up all night reading Lynsay Sands.
Goddamnit I have to stop DOING THAT.
Already over it! Gosh, I’m relieved to know I didn’t really come off like Richard Dawkins. I might have to find a vampire to actually kill me if that was the case.
I also was typing in notepad on that first reply to make sure it saved and I could have made the paragraphs look shorter haha!
Rafal H-
No problem.
onlymystory-
Okay, seriously, why would make the paragraphs look shorter? Just type them in, and space them out. If you had done that, the comment may have looked a bit more put together.
Marissa-
my computer has a habit of shutting down so I usually type responses or emails in notepad and copy and paste. but I was watching a video at the same time so to see all that I was typing and see the movie, I had been typing
like this in notepad so that the
paragraphs didn’t go fully across
the page.
So the comment came across a little convoluted and I didn’t pay attention until I’d submitted it and it looked like it does
thank you so much for writing this. its the absolute truth. rock on!
WRITING FROM SCHOOL.
Anyone know where I can find the audio of the Nicorette No Gary song? I sort of need it. Something I can save and overlap on Movie Maker?
Thank you!
P.S. Emily and Cristina say hi
“I could give a thousand reasons why Mrs. Meyers books are ridiculous, but I don’t have nearly enough space here. Let’s just say that she has ruined Vampire and Werewolf mythology and taken the average human female down to her lowest, most self deprecating proportions. Shame on you, S. Meyers, for taking all of womankind down a notch with your “heroine” who is a needy, selfish, clumsy, whining, soulless celery stick of a human being.”
Pure poetry. a friend on another anti site posted this on that anti site.
it really breaks my heart that people actually like that shit, i hope that they see the immorality and stupidity of these books. so did S.M. do well in her english classes? i really do feel bad for the guys that read(or may have been forced by girlfriends) the twlight series, they have to put themselves in a girl’s place?! damn that must be a bother “Hey, im being carried to the nurse’s office…buy another dude?!!”
alright, this may be very bad of me, but frankly i don’t give a crap.
onlymystory—
… what?! a word of advice; gather your thoughts together BEFORE you post your comment. you have succeded in further irritating me today so congrats.
please, give us the SHORT version on why you like twilight even though you don’t agree with parts of it.
Christine- My thoughts were gathered. This is a nearly year long discussion. I can post a comment as long as I want to and as others have pointed out, all you have to do is choose whether or not to read it.
And immorality is completely subjective to the basis of one’s own morals. I’m sure Stephenie Meyer would consider her books to be very moral as they adher to her own. Arguing that a book is immoral is a subjective and biased argument that only lasts so long. An argument on the quality of writing or something like the breakdown of feminism is a much more productive argument.
Rafael~I’m not good at finding quality downloads on random sites but Microsoft Zune has that No Gary song. If you haven’t already found it.
Onlymystory–
(that was not meant to be a friendly smile).
so…whats the short version on why you like twilight? i was making a request even though it was not in the form of a question. and i was giving you a small word of advice since your comment was…something else if i may say so? you don’t have to take my advice if you don’t want to so why don’t you take a deep breath and read what people say before replying
After being forcedly led to believe this was a good series by a few obssessed friends, I tried it, and got halfway through the first book before having to stop in the fear that my eyes would start bleeding from the exposure.
It.
Was.
Shit.
I am fourteen, and I seem to be one of the few in my age group (that I know of) that has enough common sense to realise how completely overrated the books are, and how this crap passes for good literature is beyond me.
I loved this review, and one point I’d like to add …
Twilight fans need to learn to type in a gramatically correct, properly punctuated and properly spelled way. Example of your average Twilight fanpost:
“HOW DARE U SAY THAT ABOWT EDWARD HE IZ SO HAWT!!! FUK U ALL 4 SAYIN THIS STUFF ABOUT TWLHGT!!!”
Yes, they cannot even spell the name of the series. But I will stop now, in the fear of getting off topic or risking being flamed by a rabid fan …
christine lopez –
I beg you, get over this thing with onlymystory, it’s honestly stupider than some of my fights here which is saying something.
Where’d Kookie go?
I miss Equus ;[
Okay, I know I still love Twilight despite being willing to acknowledge its problems (or some at least), but my sister who hates the books sent me this link. I’m so tempted to get the “Team Tyler’s Van” shirt. Haha! Priceless!
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/members/products/index.aspx?s=2456557_6748359
Whoops, meant this http://www.cafepress.com/MusicBlend/6748359
alright then, i apologize for picking a stupid fight. i was just having a bad day yesterday. but anyways how did all these new people find this site? besides googleing something negative about twilight…
I found it because i was reading some of the comments on ew.com about the New Moon trailer and someone mentioned really liking this essay and that Ms Rice has some good insight. So I wanted to read it and see what I thought. I like hearing other sides because I hate being a blind fan or hater of anything. I think its better to know the pros and cons and then still make my own decision.
I’m not sure, but I’d guess a few others made their way from that.
I just like blogs/forums especially because they help me develop a better argument or change things about mine. Or at the very least, understand some of the frustration of others.
Christine-No worries about earlier. I tend to get over stuff pretty quick and I have a bad habit of getting riled up.
Was there a current discussion going on before us newbies screwed things up? What about?
Rafal H-
I miss Equus too. :-[ I wonder how she’s doing?
Marissa –
we appear to be the only regulars now, aren’t we? Rae and Madison are gone.
WAHH
I found this link by this girl posting it on Yahoo! Answers in answer to an anti-Twilight thingie. I actually got the ‘Twilight a follow up and a promise’ link (SO funny by the way) and I eventually found this place.
Hey so I write for Portrait Magazine and we’ve been trying to work on new ideas. We’re thinking about doing a like pro/con article where we take a topic from popular culture (ie Twilight) and one writer will take the fan side and one the anti side. I’ll be doing the anti side on most articles. Anyway, I threw Twilight out there as a starter so I could use some ideas. Obviously I have a few things to start with but as true Twilight haters, what would you consider the top 3 problems with Twilight and why? And I’ve figured out the regulars will give good answers but I’d really prefer no “because it sucks or Stephenie Meyer is stupid” answers please.
I’ll post my side here too so you can rip it apart and tell me where i’m being too soft or wrong (or if I’m lucky, right on the money).
Rafal H-
Yeah, I guess we are. That’s sad.
Blah. I miss them.
I found this site through a friend on LiveJournal who posted the link. I read it, was amused, and the rest is history.
onlymystory-
Okay. Top reasons I hate it?
1. It’s badly written. The mechanical errors are numerous, stupid, and show signs of a bad story altogether.
2. The characters, and their personalilties. She writes Edward to be this “knight in shining armor”, totally perfect. (FYI, no one is perfect.) Meyer seems to have no problem with the fact that it’s an abusive relationship.
In fact, she emphasizes how lucky Bella is to have him.
And Bella’s just pathetic. She can’t do anything on her own, needs Edward there, doesn’t mind him stalking her, etc.
3. Finally, I hate the fandom. Or the crazy people in the fandom, who totally idolize Bella and Edward as the best couple ever. I hate hearing stories about girls who dumped their boyfriends because they wanted someone more like Edward.
Yes. That’s basically why I despise Twilight.
Basically.
Hope that helps.
i hate twilight because it really makes females look so pathetic and that they can’t take a step out their door without having a man save you. im 18 years old and ive been through my share of bad relationships and i try to help younger girls realize that as women we are not helpless. it really annoys me that these 11-16 year old girls blow me off because they think that some guy is always gonna be there to protect them. and it really pisses me off that stephanie made vampires seem like such peaceful creatures. i loved vampires because they were beautiful dangerous creatures…
Okay, so far then…
1. Poorly written story from a grammatical standpoint alone.
2. Meyer’s concept of the characters and their personalities does not line up with the execution of her writing. A prime example is that she claims Edward is the perfect man, a knight in shining armour but the reality is he is abusive, insensitive and distant.
3. It encourages women to rely solely on men to provide and care for them.
(On this one, can I ask do ya’ll think there’s a problem with a woman desiring the kind of guy who wants to take care of her? Or is it the fact that any sort of independence on Bella’s part disappears and she exists only for Edward/Jacob? And consequently sets her up for failure if she’s ever left by the men in her life.)
4. The fandom. The problem isn’t in the fact that people like the book but the obsessive nature. Whether irrationally hating those who disliked it (for whatever reason) or going so far as to dump a boyfriend for not being Edward, many of the fans live in a fantasy world. One might argue that events such as Twilight Proms merely encourage such behaviour. (My observation)
5. The destruction of vampire mythology. There has long been a fascination with vampires because of their mysterious, beautiful, and deadly nature. Meyer’s brings them to our level (nearly), thus damaging centuries worth of history and literary works.
How am I doing so far?
Also, I’ve heard mention of the changing of werewolf mythology but the 4th book describes the Quileutes as being shapeshifters rather than actual werewolves. Does this take away that complaint or is the fact that its only a few sentences, easily overlooked, compared to 3.85 books that change werewolf mythology still a problem?
I appreciate the help too. I’m one of those people who likes to be right. So even though I still enjoy Twilight, if I’m writing a con side, I fully intend to convince people not to read it.
Besides, if less read Twilight, more can read my book haha.
okay alright stop it already christine lopez we get it you dont like twighlight alright then stop trying to start fights your making a fool out of yourself im sorry but its true we all get it you dont like you dont like twighlight we get
Unknown~First, try to make sense. Second, they’re reiterating comments because I am writing an article and I asked for reasons why they don’t like Twilight. Shush. (And take a spelling, punctuation and grammar course. I believe those are called English courses.)
Seriously, who gives a shit about some fucking gay ass teenage vampire love movie? It sucks ass, I heard. If they made Twilight kind of like Brokeback Mountain, it would be hysterical and I would be just laughing my ass off. Gay vampires and shit. The movie Twilight seems so gay and I wouldn’t wanna watch it. That actor who was the vampire, he looks so gay. Fuckin’ queer. I would make a movie about people killing bloodsucking zombies like Resident Evil and House of the Dead. But I would go star in a movie where I’m the protagonist and I get to kill zombie looking vampires with not just pepper spray filled with garlic and a big ass flashlight, but with a fucking chainsaw splattering their blood all over myself. And this untitled movie will be directed by none other than Quentin Tarantino.
onlymystory –
instead of the werewolf thing specifically, I suggest you put ‘total destruction of various cultures’, because for THIS list we need to save space as there are a LOT of a reasons.
If you click on my name you’ll go to my anti-twilight livejournal thing and you’ll see one of the ones which has the PLOTHOLE list. So add “NONE OF IT MAKES ANY BLOODY SENSE” to the list.
Also, does purple prose count as the first point you said?
Also I hate Stephenie Meyer cause she’s an up-herself whore who has no idea how to take criticism in order to become a better author, and also I hate how she treats her fans, making them pay for book signings, cancnelling the bullshit midnight sun..
Oh, yeah, add ‘immature and unprofessional’.
Also add “BAD BLOODY MORALS”, even UNINTENTIONAL morals
Add….’no plot or character development, the basic elements of a novel, not even a GOOD one, just a NOVEL IN GENERAL.”
Um..
yeah, that’s it …
FOR NOW. There are undoubtedly more, but I am eating chips atm and I cannot think straight with so much deliciousness around me
Haha, yeah I’ll go in more depth on the lack of a plotline and purple prose. I sort of lumped that into one sentence with the first point. That’s something I recognize even. (Course I like the Jonas Brothers so the amount of stuff I’m willing to overlook is disturbing. :D)
Stephenie Meyer charges fans for book signings?!?! I did not know that. I’m so pissed off now. I mean seriously! I do readings at local schools and I freaking donate copies of my book for the library. And I’m not a big seller so its money out of my pocket. What a bitch!
onlymystory-
Yeah, I’d say you’re off to a good start.
For those of you who read what Stephanie Meyer said about her writing/ the books/ etc. Before you got that information, did it ever occur to you that she may have INTENDED to put those themes into the books? If only to ellicit discussion amongst the fans/ literary public/ anti-socialites? I have read the series (as well as many many posts regarding it) and I find it to be interesting, not so much in the story itself but in the reception of it.
Adolescent confusion, suicide, pedophilia, distant relationships, abuse in many forms, the whole feminist argument, and the list goes on. What an interesting piece of work. If she hadn’t written books that, apparently, inadvertantly contained these themes…would the public be discussing them as openly as they are?
You people have just given me a brilliant scientific idea. I should write a book with taboo and contentious themes to generate responses and websites. Then I will translate it into the four languages that I am fluent in so that I can analyze each and every grammar and spelling mistake, as well as public comments on morality and the themes that I ‘unconsciously’ inserted into the book(s). Thus giving me a method with which I can ascertain the true rate of the intellectual, moral, and communicative evolution of a good portion of the human race. Perfect!
Or, I could sit on my ass on a couch or chair, in front of a computer, and bash writers, who’ve been brave enough to publish their work, until it’s time to go get fast food for supper because I’m too lazy to cook real food. Sound familiar?
Kat –
I know this is hypocritical, but you need to get a life.
onlymystory –
what books?
Hey Kat-I am a published author and optioned screenwriter. I’m gonna take my right (according to you) to critique another writer.
Rafal- Its called Dream Peddler. Fantasy but more in a Narnia style genre.
Oh, and I’m sure you all will be happy, you’ve managed to change one of my arguments. I know I said its fiction and so Meyer can do what she wants…I still hold that an author does have the right to break away from reality but I will adapt that to say an author’s fantasy must be consistent throughout a series. Changing tactics in one book and justifying it (or attempting to) outside of the series doesn’t cut it.
I’m also considering the idea that even if there is not a legally binding canon( like Star Wars has), if there is a widely accepted and utilized literary canon, one should adhere to it unless creating a completely separate world. As in Meyer can have her sparkly vampires but she should have created a different world for them and respected centuries of established vampire canon.
The best depiction of vamps in literature will always be of the classic nature (Stoker’s Dracula, Streiber’s The Hunger), even if the story settings or characters are modernized to fit a demo.
Twilight obviously missed the memo on the key elements of good storytelling, even if the series and films are going to make a billion dollars. Most modern entertainment is of the empty-calorie type, but this series even fails on having enough substance to want to take the first bite.
While I credit Meyer for trying to do something “original” (even if the whole series comes across as a rip on Harry Potter, using vamps instead of wizards/magic), she’s alienated many fans of the genre. Her writing is lazy, and is more in-tune with someone still enrolled in a creative writing course.
The film (the first) is even worse. You can’t turn poop into gold, but you can certainly spray paint it.
Kat-
Stephenie Meyer isn’t that smart. Why anyone would want to write a book like that- especially for the reasons you mentioned- is an idiot.
In my opinion, anyway.
So good luck with that.
Vampire-Of-Brooklyn-
Yeah. I agree.
Hey Kat,
The fact that all the taboo themes are in these books is because of Stephenie Meyers Mormon upbringing and the Mormon culture of long ago. Google Mormon practices of the beginning the century or the ending of last century and it will all be there.
The fact that Edward is actually 108 years old and Bella is 17 is the first wake up call. Not to mention that Edward is 108 and is still a virgin? Give me a break!
Then she diguises pedophilia with young good looking men that wait for infants and toddlers to grow up so they can have them? That is sooooo wrong on so many levels. I’m dying to see how they’re going to portray some of the wolf pack as pedophilies. That’s all you can call them. It’s a Mormon thing. The old men would pick out the young girls and then marry them when they thought they were old enough. But even Ms. Meyers has stooped to a new level when she had Jacob imprint on Renesme the day she was born.
Ms. Meyers has young children herself, specifically boys, so I guess portraying young women and babies the way she has, makes no difference to her.
Lisa-
That’s probably likely.
Ugh, this is so true and thanks for the warning on the “Birth-Scene”. I’m ure if I read that, I would puke and be sick for a month.
I admire that you were actually able to FINISH the books! I onlt got through a chapter and a half before I lost half my brain!
I hate to repeat myself, but the 108 year-old virgin thing derives from the fact that when Edward was changed in 1918, he would have been a virgin. Since then, he’s been a vegetarian vampire: aka no sex. Maybe why he comes off as anti-feminist? Because he grew up learning that women were to be protected (however you may view that), not play toys? Deosn’t justify it, just explains it. While there’s no problem giving verifiable comments on the plot, think about the other side first please and see that there aren’t necessarily plot holes.
Oh, onlymystory, I’m going to see if I can track down your book.
onlymystory –
I’ll look for it
I didn’t get the canon thing. I’ll interpret it best I can.
I think that, if she decided to bastardise what authors have worked so hard to achieve the last few years, she should’ve at least called her pansy ass meyerpires something DIFFERENT and…un-lame.
Alyssa –
I am, grudgingly, retracting from the age issue (NOT WITH JACOB AND RENESMEE, WITH WHAT’S HIS FACE AND MS WHORE-SUE) because and ONLY BECAUSE Lynsay Sands always does it and while she isn’t perfect Lynsay Sands is still awesome and I’ve decided to accept the age thing,
EVEN THOUGH
Edward ACTS like a freaking 108 year old grandpa who needs to seriously get a life.
I –
Okay never mind, I can’t really be bothered arguing atm cause it hurts my head (I shoud stop staying up all night reading ebooks, yeah?)
Anyone read Sherlock Holmes? Everytime I start reading it, I LOVE it, but then I get distracted by Lynsay Sands or MEG CABOT or Michele Jaffe and leave it until it’s due (and trust me, it’s ALWAYS reserved *twitch*), which it is tomorrow.
;[ Think I can make it? I’m up to the measuring-the-strides thing
I love Sherlock Holmes, its awesome. Was just on Baker St a few days ago.
What I meant by canon was that like with Star Wars, anyone who writes a book about Star Wars has certain rules to follow. And they are legally binding rules. But with the vampire world most authors still go by these same basic rules about vampires but Meyer changed a lot of that. So she broke from the canon.
that is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard!!!
On the canon thing: No offense, but I’ve got the feeling that if she had stuck to the regular rules you antis would be saying that there was a complete lack of originality and a waste of time. If the Cullens weren’t “vegetarians” you’d ask why Bella would love such awful creatures and why Bella would be special enough for them to change (because they would need to).
I wasn’t addressing anyone in particular. But you can suck it, I don’t really care.
Alyssa –
I disagree. We don’t need to LOOK for faults in Twilight – they are already there.
Besides, sparkly vampires isn’t original anyway.
DLL –
Right back at ya
onlymystory –
That whore.
Rafal H-
I would add something, but I’m pretty sure you’ve covered anything I was going to say.
I’m not saying there aren’t faults. And I’m not necessarily saying that you look for faults. One question: where did you find a sparkly vampire book?
Marissa –
I was thinking the same thing
We have a problem here
Alyssa –
Not book, but the idea has been tossed around.
OHMYGOSH. i dont care who it is that wrote this article, they made themselves sound stupid. yeah, everyone can have their own opinion, yeah yeah yeah, but all the critisism you wrote is just STUPID! like, stop critisising the story, shit. Maybe you shouldnt have read it. if you didnt like the first one, why the hell did you read the rest of them?? keep your nagative comments to yourself.
the book is excellent, and i dont give a damn what any of you have to say.
thanks.
Danielle –
Every single thing you just said has contradicted itself. Therefore, I refuse to listen to you and your idiocy.
Danielle, you definatly just presented youself as the exactly as the author said the fans of the seres would react. Well written article. Also, Fuck, I am sick of hearing about this book.
yeah, some of you need to chill. if you want my opinion–and i dont give a fuck if you dont cuz im putting it down anyway– both sides of this issue are somewhat right. i agree that twilight is a creepy, over-hyped, and somewhat disappointing(i was realy looking forward to that final fight in breaking dawn) series. But then sometimes its hilarious, like in the first movie. I too thought he was really sweaty until kristen delivered her line “You’re beautiful!”.
But the point is that some of you take this way too serously. For example, the internet is free. Kellen can write what she can cuz she can. And for the people that were wondering why she kept reading the book even though she hated it…why did you keep reading the article? and why did you take the time to leave a comment? Because you wanted to voice your opinion, like kellen.
So chill, let everyone do what they want to do.
It’s not the teenagers that concern me; it’s the parents that seem utterly entranced by this series. They are adults who have been through school, where they are at least likely to have been force-fed some writing of actual quality, so they should be able to pinpoint the quality of the writing in “Twilight” as well. Their adult sense of judgement, combined with this experience, should therefore allow them to at least admit that by all standards “Twilight” is crap.
Adults who claim to be avid readers support the “Twilight” series, which suggests to me that they might suffer from some literary form of the disorder pica. Saying “I read because I love reading” while defending Twilight is like cheerfully exclaiming “God, I love to eat!” through a mouthful of dirt.
P.S. I’m seventeen years old, I just sat through an entire school year of hearing about those books, and yes, I needed to say that.
I think any book that someone reads is going to have an impact. Twilight isn’t alone in that matter. And there are bound to be negative aspects. Yes, this book has reached more people, and it probably has more faults. But while its popularity is exaggerated, so is its problems since so many antis are tired of hearing about it all.
Alyssa –
What?
So, Twilight has more faults, and more of an audience, and therefore it has more impact…
But…
Well, anyway. I don’t think the problems are exaggerated in general, only when old school antis get seriously peeved at naive teens thinking they know everything, but even then, I just need to tell you ONE MORE TIME:
ANTIS DO NOT NEED TO LOOK OR EXAGGERATE TWILIGHT’S FAULTS. Stephenie Meyer seemed to have picked up ‘How NOT to write a book’ and followed every single one of the steps.
Hmmm… I notice a trend… all the twi-tards with no arguments to back up their childish screams write in capital letters… is this to try and make a strong point?
Look, you morons have totally missed the point of this great article and are only proving the points that have been made. “TWILIGHT IS ENTERTAINING SO WHO CARES ABOUT FEMIN-THINGY OMG EDWARD IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND HE LOVES BELLA SO MUCH”
Look, this book has changed your ideals and given you the all wrong ideas. I’m a teenage girl myself and I am embarrassed that you people are giving out the image of unintelligent, screaming girls who can only enjoy a book if it’s blatantly sexual. You can’t accept a different opinion, even from a person who has written a great report; a person in the journalism industry. So, if you have no arguments to back up your capitalised nonsense, DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL!
P.S. I love this piece – you are my hero, Kellen Rice.
P.P.S. HARRY POTTER TRUMPS TWILIGHT.
Katie,
Have you noticed that often in the antis’ replies, there are degrading insults about the intelligence of those who enjoyed reading Twilight. It is a phase which we will grow out of, it’s happened to me with Harry Potter, the Icemark Chronicles, the Underland Chronicles, and lots of others. I will always enjoy Twilight, as an escape from reallity (which I know it is), but that does not make me any less intelligent.
And as to the screaming, it’s nature when someone insults something you like to be a bit peeved. If someone says they don’t like your favorite food in the world, I would bet on a 75/25 chance that you would try to convince them to try it. You would point out all you like about it. I don’t know if that example makes sense to you? I’m not very good at that type of thing.
Oh, and you’re right, the screaming does need to stop.
Lol, I agree with you.
What I find funny is seeing all the Twilight lovers chuck a big skitz over people not liking Twilight.
Twilight would actually be a really good series if it was in the good hands of an author/movie director.
Yeah, I think people sometimes over exaggerate with the faults of Twilight, as it is just a fictional story, but then again, people are too wound up in Twilight to realise that it is actually quite sick (e.g. when Edward stalks her and watches her in her sleep. Not stalker-ish at all)
Don’t get up me i just wanted to express my opinion(:
First of all, you can stuff your sexism bullshit. Stereotypes (male, female, racial, archetypal) have plagued all medias forever and always will. Sometimes to good effect, sometimes to bad. But sometimes the stereotype fits, sometimes its just funny. This idea that characters should be ‘censored’ so as to avoid being racist or sexist or whatever is retarded and anyone offended without it needs to wake up.
Rant over now; I agree wholeheartedly with every other point you’ve made on the Twilight series. I actually feel slightly disgusted whenever I hear about Stephanie Meyer. I’m not sure whether she’s just churning out a ‘product’ or whether she actually believes her writing is literature, but either way, it annoys me that this series exists and that so many worship it.
I know people of age 17ish that are using this book as a basis for study in their English exams. My English teacher facepalmed.
Alyssa –
These are stereotypical replies from antis to stereotypical posts from Twilighters. It’s not our fault the majority of Twilighters HAVE A LIFE and don’t really want to spend their time arguing here, but the ones that don’t come (like me, minus the twilighter part) and scream profanities and insults (I hope profanities means what I think it does).
Besides, most of the antis here are veterans from various Twi-HP wars – e.g: One on Yahoo! Answers. we’re tired of it. WE DESERVE RESPECT, DAMMIT, WE’RE INTERNET-OLD!
And…um…what were we talking about?
Paul –
You are so obviously a white male.
Rafal H.
I’m sorry, but my brain like completely went wacko a moment ago and I don’t know why, but could you please rephrase your statement. Sorry. I feel like a complete idiot right now.
You said something about antis saying Twilighters have no brains
These responses are from STER-E-O-TYP-I-CAL antis and they are responding to STER-E-O-TYP-I-CAL Twilighters. Unfortunately, the Twilighter stereotype is set off much more usually than the anti one. The stereotype for a Twilighter is an unread Tween who thinks…well, TWILIGHT is good literature, and there are so many things wrong with that sentence I can’t begin to describe them to you.
And I was saying after that the antis who say stuff like that are usually the more ‘experienced’ ones and are so ubertired of stupid twilighters annoying them they just assume all Twilighters are stupid, which is wrong.
Or else they’re newbies and they’re annoying.
Or else they’re trolls.
This, quite plainly stated, made my evening. Glad to see that people recognize how utterly sick and cheesy these books really are.
<3
Listen to this – this Twilighter answered my question with the usual ‘you’re pathetic, you asked this question, you obviously have no life’ so I said ‘you like twilight, you obviously have no brain’ – I was just kidding, obviously (Hi, Alyssa) but she took it personally and atm we are having a message war. This is the latest (I’ve just called her a bitch)
Dude, you know nothing about me, or the type of person I am. I’m not a *****, so you have no right to say that. And my insults didn’t count — they weren’t something that you could “defend” *cough* insult back *cough* yourself with it. So YOU get over it. Really, i could go on forever. We both know I’m right.
*giggle*
Both know I’m right? Do you KNOW how old that is?
Please, honey. I can call you a bitch as much as I want, because you were rude and insulting, and no matter how much you defend yourself, I seriously do not give a crap. You need to go do debating or something and get a real argument.
” And my insults didn’t count — they weren’t something that you could “defend” *cough* insult back *cough* yourself with it.”
So,
I cannot defend my own insults (which were justified as it was simply self defence), and yet you can…
Okay, fuck you, now you’re just pissing me off with your hypocritical Twilightness.
Rafal H-
Well that sounds like a jolly fun way to start off the summer.
Not.
Hope it ends soon for you.
come on,,,ithere are millions of woys to make a bood thing look bad, you sure wanna sell..the book..beside being the top on the teens list, ARE ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD, even if you dont like the characters or plot(which is awsome), the book has strings that make you read it to the end, the twilight serie is really good, but you obviuosly need A BRAIN to actually get it, get lost!
Marissa –
It’s winter. What upside down weirdo world are you in?
Nydia –
*blinks* what?
Rafal H-
The Northern Hemisphere, funnily enough.
Marissa –
MARISSA, STAND ON YOUR HEAD, QUICK, OR ALL THE BLOOD WILL RUSH…TO YOUR HEAD!
oh wow.
first i would like to say,thanks for this reveiw.
it sends a bad message to girls.
and twighlight,its obseen!
Why should I do that?
Cause you’re in yspot yvrut dnal!
Rafal H-
Haha. I am not in “yspot yvrut dnal”. Why don’t you stand on your head? Because I’m right side up. I don’t know about you.
i think that the books an the movie are the best !! Half of you don’t like twilight beacause you never had any one love you like edward loves bella.Stephenie Meyer is my hero. I think her books are really good.What teen does not like twilight ,only the ones that dont have good choices in movies and books.Kellen Rice wrote an awful review.All I have to say is that this review sucks and not in a good way.
Marissa –
I know I’m right side up, because in Space there is no direction, and I dibs right side up, so go do a handstand
twilightlover –
How old are you?
Props for spelling the author’s name right.
Also that last line has been used too many times to be funny, but nice try.
And also, the insinuation that
1. I don’t have a good taste in books/movies
2. I haven’t…’been loved’ by someone like Edward
=
1. Your opinion.
2. I thank God every day for that.
i agree with twilightlover this review sucks and not in a good way she is rreally right about this review the books and the movies and stephanie meyer is a hero no doubt about it
Rafal H-
I’d really rather not. So I’m not going to. But guess what? I’m still right side up.
twilightlover-
Uh, why would you WANT to be loved by someone like Edward? I’d be seriously creeped out, to say the least.
And let’s use our heads here, because this article is a matter of opinion. And we’re free to express our opinions, unless you forgot that.
Lastly, I’m a teen, and I DON’T like Twilight. How ’bout them apples?
Read this review out of interest as my daughters currently reading the fourth in the series, then listened to the audio books to see just what offended her & you know what? I’m so glad tere’s no chance of my daughter reading any articles by this woman in the UK as she has a definite chip on her shoulder, sound like she stalks the discussion boards on imdb & makes a point of singling out popular movies & then slating them – whatever floats your boat love!!!! Seriously she is surely old enough to distinguish fiction & fantasy from real life!!!!! There’s worse things going on in s Stephen King book, but i won’t get her started on that!! I found nothing offensive or anything making me think i should watch out for my daughter developing notions of suicide or illbeing. The internets a wonderful thing, but it is subject to abuse by iidividuals like this reviewer who use their position to transmit their warped viewpoints to the masses,, enuff said!
This article addresses twilight in a manner that I find extremely amusing and refreshing. Twilight has numerous flaws, but what is even more disturbing is the responses made to criticism of the series.
The idea that a book should not be criticized by anyone other than another writer is ridiculous. The very act of publishing a book should be considered license for readers of the book to give criticism. Saying that a reader should not be able to criticize a book is comparable to saying that a someone should not be able to review a hotel unless they have managed a hotel chain, or that they should not be able to review a restaurant unless they cook professionally.
The fact that a book is fictitious does not make it any less open to criticism. It also does not mean that it won’t affect the real world. The argument that it will not is empirically denied by several events in history. We can thank Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame for the fact that Notre Dame de Paris is still standing. Another prime example is Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin; which polarized the issue of slavery. These two books were very much fictional, yet still had large effects on real life.
The comparison of Edward and Bella’s romance to that of Romeo and Juliet is based on a a flawed view of Romeo and Juliet that society today perpetuates. Romeo and Juliet were not the perfect lovers. All there was between Romeo and Juliet was lust, and foolishness. They “fell in love” overnight with no real idea of who the other was. That entire story started with Romeo moping over his last “love” who did not wish to be with him. He felt that he was worthless because of it and spent days is seclusion moping. He only caught Juliet on the rebound and was suddenly “in love” with her. That is a relationship as unhealthy as that of Edward and Bella, so the comparison does do it justice; just not for the reasons provided.
drbeat –
Surely since you have a daughter you are old enough to distinguish the difference between a hate speech rant and an honest book review?
I hate it when all Twilighters assume that if you don’t like Twilight, you are automatically; stupid/ugly/bitchy/boyfriend-less/fat/revenging/bored(actuallythelastoneistrue).
Alyssa, reckon thinking you have no brain is bad? I have been called so many names by people I’ve never met, honestly.
Also, Ms Mom, I don’t believe for one minute that a SANE MOTHER would let their 10 year old child read Eclipse-Breaking Dawn, which is sexually explicit to borderline pornographic.
At least, for innocent 10 year olds it is.
And…yeah, Twi-Mom, I hate Twi-Moms, a lot. A LOT.
So. Go fuck yourself, eh?
>Respect my elders my ass!<
drbeat-
I’m guessing your daughter isn’t that old yet. Maybe somewhere in the 10-12 range?
In which case, I’m asking, Why would you let your daughter read Twilight at that age? It’s too young to distinguish real life from fantasy, a lot of the times.”
Sure she might be extremely bright or whatever, but that’s too young.
And, uh, if I were you, I’d look past the “OH MY GOD! I LOVE EDWARD!”, and attempt to look for some depth in the story. Maybe a redeeming quality in a character.
Oh wait. There is none.
And not only are there plot errors, but there are technical errors as well. Fragments are not sentences, although Stephenie Meyer is having us believe otherwise.
Your post was nothing more than a rant, rather than a book review. This review was a book review, rather than a rant. And guess what? They’re allowed!
No. Way.
Twilight moms need to get a life, basically, and move on to bigger and better things than Twilight. Trust me, it’s not that hard.
I think Twighlit is an amazing series. I did not like Breaking Dawn much though. Preety nasty. And Twighlit is getting old now. Im on the warrior cats series.
I used to lovvvvvvvvvvve twighlit. its so old now.
fuck you only my story my grammer is awsome bitch ass motherxxxxer ur fucken story is wack it doesnt make any sense twightlight is a fucken story its not life if it was lif then talk sht its just a fucken movie get through ur head bitch
unknown-
Wow.
How am I supposed to read that? No one has any idea what you just said.
Would it kill you to actually seperate your sentences? Seriously, I get that you apparently don’t like review, and whatever else.
That was the most pointless comment I’ve ever even seen. Why did you even bother posting that?
unknown –
Did you like, JUST finish the South Park movie?
AWSOME ARTICLE i totally agree twilight sucks twilight sucks twilight sucks twilight sucks twilight sucks twilight sucks twilight suckstwilight sucks TWILIGHT SUCKS long live harry potter
AWSOME ARTICLE i totally agree TWILIGHT SUCKS long live harry potter
LONG LIVE HARRY POTTER
LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG LIVE HARRY POTTER
DIE TWILIGHT WITH AWODDEN STAKE IN YOUR CUT OFF NECK SHAPED LIKE A CROSS DIPPED IN GARLIK SAUCE DDDDIIIIIEEE LONG LIVE HARRY POTTER
that last comment hade quite a few mistakes allow me to refraze it DIE TWILIGHT WITH A WODDEN STAKE SHAPED LIKE A CROSS AND DIPPED IN GARLIK SAUCE SUNK INTO YOUR CUT OFF NECK DDDDIIIIIEEE .:D :DLONG LIVE HARRY POTTER
GO KELLEN RICE!!!!!!
Eli:
Why does it have to be a competition between Harry Potter and Twilight? Both are two of my favorite series and it isn’t necessary to compare them to each other. They are two different stories. Harry Potter- wizards at a magic school going against a mass murderer or whatever. Twilight- a love story between a human and vampire. And as for the wooden stake comment: Garlic and religion have no effect in the Twilight series. Did you actually read it, or are you just being critical with no personal knowledge?
Eli-
One post would have sufficed, even though I agree with you.
anonymous-
People are quick to judge. You know this, don’t you? Some peple love competition for the sake of competition. And the comment concerning garlic and religion apply to the vampires that were actually well written in this world.
Meyer decided to horrendously destroy what is known as a vampire, because hers are “special”.
For the record, I’ve read all the Twilight books, and there is no competition between them and Harry Potter, because frankly, in my opinion, Harry Potter is so much better, it’s not even funny.
Eli –
Chill, eh? We don’t want them pesky Twilighters going on about the stereotypes.
anonymous –
_sighs in annoyance_
Everyone –
You guys, I really think we should review whether it is accurate to call Twilight ‘literature’.
define: literature
Google: creative writing of recognized artistic value
Aristic? Nope.
Creative? Definitely not.
Value???
Hell no.
Rafal H-
I thought that we already decided that Twilight shouldn’t be considered literature.
Ah, well.
You’re definitely right on the mark.
This war between anti and lovers is just sooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny! As much as haters made me laugh, lovers too! I haven’t read the series… and don’t plan to either. Why? Because I don’t care. It’s just no my type of novel.
It’s just plain lucky that I don’t obsess over something. If it’s good book, i’ll just think: it’s really exciting, I wanna know what happens next… no point in affiliating yourself in pros or cons groups. Same thing goes if it’s a good video game.
That’s true, actually, antis (excludingmyself) are actually quite funny, even though sometimes they don’t know it.
Is it because we’re just uber sarcastic?
You could not have said it any better!
I have to admit, that when I first read the books, I became a lover instantly. When I think about it now, I seriously have no idea how that came to be, and what the hell was wrong with me at the time! I mean, I am a lover of Jane Austen, and Stephen King, etc. I love good books! And then…STEPHENIE MEYER?! Thank goodness, I came to my sense before long, and can finally see it for what it really is. There is no character development, Bella is completely….Ugh, I can’t even describe how much she annoyed me. She is so piny, and dependent on everyone, and please…Going through a mass depression for like 7 months!? Ahhh! I can scream just thinking about it!
I can happily say, I got out of the “Twilight Cult” Before it was too late. (Because that’s what it is! a cult!). Lets see how many other girls come to their senses!
@ Rafal H :
No, it’s because you have to repeat the same arguments over and over again! And the what do the lovers do? Repeat themselves again. It’s a vicious cercle.
Rafal H-
I think you’re funny. Sometimes. Well, it’s mostly the Twitards’ reactions to your comments…
Either way, I’m amused.
Zhao-
When people repeat something, it’s usually to get a point across. It’s not our fault that Twilighters don’t listen to anything that badmouths their “precious Twilight”.
Steph –
Me too. And I apologise to all the Stephs, Bellas, Edwards and Jacobs in the world who are now cursed with the once awesome name.
Marissa –
I’m takin’ that as a compliment. I find you funny because of your chandler-like mimicking “you-and-your-PRESHUSTWILIGHT”
_giggle_
Anyone know about Zelda the video game? The new one is named “Twilight Princess”. It’s horrible to think that SOME people think it’s related to Twilight.
Zhao –
It’s so annoying. SO many things are called Twilight (ORIGINALITYMEYER), perfectly good things, and now they are ruined. Mediator 6 is called Twilight (CAN I POINT OUT THAT STEPHENIE MEYER SEEMS TO HAVE COPIED THE ENTIRE PLOT OF MEDIATOR THOUGH SEEMS TO HAVE RUINED IT SOMEHOW AND ALSO HAS NOW STOLEN THE NAME?) and that whore can’t ruin it, but seriously, Im sick of having to explain “ITS NOT TWICRAP” all the time
Rafal H-
Okay, take it as a compliment. It was one. Sort of.
I love your sarcasm.
I am just super grateful my parents decided to name me ‘Stephanie’ rather than ‘Stephenie’
My friend has the last name cullen. Poor thing, everyone wants her to call her kid edward!? Wha?!
BTW hate it when people compare Harry Potter and Twilight. Harry Potter is so much better!
I have these characters, Edmund Collins and Izzy Bird, Edmund is a emo-stalker and Izzy is a slutface-snob,
I reckon Smeyer stole the idea from me.
I’m totally suing.
Heh, mabye secretly teenage girls WANT to be the helpless damsel in distress. Maybe thats why its so popular lol.
Anyways, explain how in the story, Bella is so plain, yet in the movie, she’s quite the stereotypical high school queen.
And the books are such horribly and pointlessly named, it looks like meyer just google’d “list of cool words”, they’re totally unrelated! Twilight doesn’t even relate to the plot at all, which is more like the beginning rather then the end… the beginning of a horrible series.
Bella is not plain the book. She is an upherself whore (literally) who snobs off everybody.
Cook1e =
I’m not quite sure I understand that last bit, but it sounds anti-Twilight so RIGHT ON!
This is a very well-constructed breakdown that brings up many legitimate points and backs them up with thorough explanations. It’s rather endearing to see that a young woman like you has not allowed herself to be brainwashed by the travesty of a series that is ‘Twilight’. I have seen its ill effects on the minds of a great many of my peers…the results are nothing short of horrifying.
What disappoints me is that so many of these Twilight fans, both die-hard and casual, are willing to try to put you down for your efforts. It’s one thing to have a disagreement in opinion; it’s another to effectively put fingers in one’s ears in the face of genuinely well-founded criticism. It’s easy to say that Twilight is only a book series and is not worth venting over in such a fashion, yet when I see hordes of young girls fawning over the detestable (and often two-dimensional) characters from this ‘saga’ to a point of obsession and appear so ignorant of English literature that they are willing to claim that said books are ‘really good’ or taking it a step further, ‘one of the best series ever!’, I’d say my concerns are perfectly justified. I want to believe in mankind. I want to see signs in the world that can convince me that my all-consuming cynicism is ill-founded and that I shouldn’t give up on the rest of humanity. Twilight is one of many cruel indicators of just what is wrong with the overwhelming majority of my species.
It is pure garbage. I simply cannot stress how unworthy of success these works are without turning to profanities. Why, you may ask? Well, I think this essay and many other similarly-themed examples express that well enough, but to give a brief summary of my own: because it’s a purple prose-ridden mess that was clearly written to satisfy the self-indulgent fantasies of the twisted mind of it’s sexually-repressed hack of an author. It is more akin to amateur fan fiction than professional literature. Meyer professes to have created her characters as inspirational figures for young girls, yet presents her protagonist as a spineless man-dependent wreck who is in an abusive relationship with a dominating older partner, yet she seems unable to realise this through her jaw-dropping levels of naïveté and outright stupidity (which is odd when Meyer alleges that she is an intelligent and capable young woman). Edward’s mentality is more akin to a deranged stalker than an ideal significant other for Bella, yet is presented by Meyer as nothing short of the perfect gentleman and the relationship between the two characters as unquestionable ‘true love’. Now, I don’t have problem with abuse being portrayed in literature. However, when the true nature of the relationship it is never addressed or otherwise made unmistakeably obvious to the reader, I cannot help but find it somewhat unnerving, especially when the masses of impressionable girls that worship this character seem blissfully unaware of the implications of what they are reading and sometimes even consider Edward to be the bar to which their current or potential boyfriends should be compared.
It’s not only the thematic/conceptual aspects of this series that makes it a perfect target for critics – there are also the semantic aspects to consider. I have already brought up the notorious ‘purple prose’ and I think this particular recurring feature in Meyer’s writing has been suitably ridiculed to death by this point. Not only are Meyer’s nauseatingly-excessive descriptions nothing short of jarring, but seeing how often she ends up recycling words (often to unnecessarily describe the very same figure at a different stage in the book), it seems Meyer not only cannot live without a thesaurus, but cannot avoid levels of repetition one would expect from a rushed piece of bad fan fiction even when she has one at her disposal! Taking a step away from this area now, let’s focus on a term that Meyer has a certain difficulty in grasping, namely ‘coherence’. Many fans of the series argue that because of it’ fantastical nature, preserving realism is unimportant and thus the logical hiccups that plague Meyer’s writing should not be open to criticism. Ok, let me use this as an example; let’s say you are watching the film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Now, we reach the scene where Aragorn leads the Army of the West into a heroic charge at the Battle of the Morannon in a final gambit to divert Sauron’s attention from Mount Doom, giving Frodo a chance to reach the summit and throw the One Ring into its fiery depths. At this moment, while the host of men surges forward dramatically to meet their foes in combat, a shiny pink elephant bounces across the path of the oncoming soldiers while humming The Blue Danube, never to be seen or addressed again for the remainder of the film.
Ridiculous image, isn’t it? But wait – Tolkien’s Middle Earth is a fictional setting and The Lord of the Rings is a fantasy book, so this senseless episode is perfectly acceptable, right? Of course it isn’t. I know I am deliberately being somewhat extreme in my example, but the point is crystal clear; writing fantasy does not grant the writer the excuse to simply jot down any whimsical thought, regardless of how much it meanders from what has been established. Twilight’s status as a fantasy series does not make it exempt from following the basic concepts of structure and consistency; they are novels that serve to explain a fixed storyline in a fixed setting created by the author. They are not random streams of consciousness (although sometimes I do wonder…). As such, Meyer’s failure to obey guidelines and examples of ‘factual’ information that she has previously established as ‘true’ is not excusable. The case is likewise for her failure to add a reasonable degree of logic and realism to her invented science, notably the convoluted nature of her vampires’ biology, in addition to her appalling background research when adding pieces of real-world information to her work (for instance, creating fictitious mythology for an existing Native American tribe, even borrowing mythological features from cultures and attributing them to unrelated ones situated thousands of miles away). This is simply poor writing, no matter what perspective one chooses to view it in.
Anyway, that’s my touching on the problems with the books themselves out of the way, so I shall end this with a defence of the attitudes commonplace among us critics. We are ourselves slammed for writing such long essays about our criticisms, yet surely the very fact that we can write such essays with little difficulty concerning said criticisms indicates how flawed these books probably are? We get criticised for wasting time on books that shouldn’t be worth the effort, yet fact remains that there are a multitude of delusional teenagers who genuinely believe that these works are exceptionally good pieces of literature. Is the wish to enlighten our fellow man truly a contemptible cause? Our motivations are benevolent, not matter the harshness of our methodology. There is little more degrading for a person with a capable mind, who has every reason to be confident in his or her ability to assess, than to be put down for failing to ‘respect the opinions of others’. Opinions are neither constant nor unchangeable. If they were, the concept of the debate would not exist in the first place. By attempting to prevent us from offering our observations on these subjects, you only prevent any possibility of helping another to learn something that they may never have noticed otherwise. It may be difficult to accept, but opinions are not inherently equal, mainly because they are so dependent on knowledge and understanding on the part of the individual. Let’s also not lose sight of the trends commonplace on each side of the argument – Twilight critics tend to be objective, whereas its defenders tend to be subjective. The critics will tell you precisely why Twilight is overhyped and dismantle counterpoints in a rational and well-informed fashion, whereas the defenders are more prone to being reduced to throwing out profanity-ridden sentences with full caps lock and multiple exclamation marks, often with laughably poor spelling and grammatical structure, even with the most basic of English words and expressions. Of course, there’s another subgroup of defenders who end up simply giving up and saying ‘Whatever, it’s my opinion and nothing is going to change that’. Well, if you are in this category, let me ask you this – has it ever occurred to you that the reason why you can’t provide a good counterargument is not because you want to respect the feelings of others, but simply that your valued ‘opinions’ are not as well-founded as you thought? That perhaps it could do you good to register what has been presented before you and take a moment to step back and re-assess your initial opinion? I strongly suggest you give it a shot – who knows? It may actually do you some good.
cook1e-
Plain girls don’t have five guys falling for her. Life doesn’t work that way. Bella is a snob, and lacks self confidence because people don’t “get her”.
She wants to be away from them. They’re “below her”. Not worth her time.
Dan-
Long and wordy your comment may be, you’re right. It’s pure garbage. Right on.
Marissa is NONSPARKLY –
The sad truth is that Twihards can’t absorb *anything* unless it’s endlessly hammered down on them…
Hey guys, you gotta see this if you wanna good laugh. She’s definetely a twitard, not twilover. Is it really this bad?
I love how anti-Twilighters talk in their self-righteous tones. Like, with the implied sighs at the end.
“It’s very sad that these Twilighters cannot see past what society presents them…sigh…” (translation: I KNOW BETTER!!!)
“I love how anti-Twilighters talk in their self-righteous tones. Like, with the implied sighs at the end.”
Then I shall repeat myself:
“Is the wish to enlighten our fellow man truly a contemptible cause? Our motivations are benevolent, not matter the harshness of our methodology. There is little more degrading for a person with a capable mind, who has every reason to be confident in his or her ability to assess, than to be put down for failing to ‘respect the opinions of others’.”
It is easy to discredit us for being ‘self-righteous’, yet the cold fact remains that when examined objectively, we are the ones who present the most legitimate evidence in favour of our argument based on point & explanation reasoning. In other words, effectively-speaking, we tend to ‘win’ the debates far more often. By the end of the discussion, we are still using logical analysis, while our opponents tend to reach a point where they cave in and resort to irrelevant ad hominems, much as you have just done yourself, even if they actually contribute nothing. Yes, we are self-righteous, but should we really bite our tongues for the sake of respecting opinions, even if it means shoving our intellectual gifts aside and denying the potential granting of knowledge to others? Of course that is not acceptable.
“By attempting to prevent us from offering our observations on these subjects, you only prevent any possibility of helping another to learn something that they may never have noticed otherwise. It may be difficult to accept, but opinions are not inherently equal, mainly because they are so dependent on knowledge and understanding on the part of the individual. “
Dan. I’m an anti-Twilighter. I just find the general vocabulary of antis amusing.
Holy C#@*p!
I just watchd that youtube vid. WTF!? Lol, some people get so worked up about some things.
QUOTE: “Number One, Stephenie Meyer, is a GENIUS!”??????!!!!!!!!!!!????? Oh My god, what is the world coming to!
SM is basically a first-time author, who wrote about something which is based on her repressed sexual tension. I mean, it’s not like the whole ‘Vampire falls in love with a human’ is some ground breaking idea she had. ‘Dracula’, ‘True Blood’…Several stories spring to mind. Most Vampire stories these days are love ones.
Did anyone notice that she used the word ‘Grimace’ a thousand times in every book?
Dan-
Sad, but true.
zhao-
Scary video.
Zhao –
I refuse to click, because I’m scared, but is it that nuttymadam one?
Steph –
YUS. Along with murmur and chagrin and icy and –
oh, God, why does no one listen to George Orwell?
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s a parallel to our narcissistic society in which teens strip and show their bodies on myspace at 14… and everyone’s focus is on the short term results and not the long term.
Sure it would be AWESOME to be a vampire for a while – but forever? Frivolous sex, consumerism, stock market risk taking, etc – are all caused by an overzealous society hell bent on success in the short term and self destruction in the long term.
Oh – I also want to add many of these critiques are coming from a female perspective, illustrating the abusive aspects of Edward and the relationship.
Well how about the fact that Edward can run a million miles an hour, stop cars, etc? It gives an unrealistic standard for what these teenage girls will want, along with an impossible standard for boys to live up to to be Edward for these little nutcases.
Greg – I guess so. These books have set such high standards for tweeny-boppers, so in about 10 or 20 or even 30 years (Yes, bearing in mind the brains, and maturity levels aren’t exactly sky high) time, there r going to look for a guy who stuffs his hand over his mouth every time he looks at her. Oh, and pretty much stalks her from dawn to dusk.
Would you all agree that Twilight is pretty much a cult? I would!
to Rafal H :
yep that’s her….
Greg
_laughsmyassoff_
That’s exactly what I was saying! About the self-righteous anti-Twilighters.
Frivilous! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
No offence
Zhao: She’s a freaking psycho
Steph:
the psycho ‘cullenists’ are the cult. Not Twilighters in general, as most of my friends are, sadly, Twilighters, but are not psycho they just do not accept most books need a plot…
You know what? They AGREE Jacob/Edward are freaking crazy and bella’s a whore and whatnot, but they still like it
WHY?! WHY?
ATTENTION PRETENTIOUS ART SNOBS:
The crap on the Eastlink is not art, no matter how much you stand around it with champagne glasses with your noses in the air so as not to smell how much bullshit you are spewing.
Thank you. That is all.
You know what, Twitards? Shut your stupid mouths before you further smear your already terrible reputation.
So you’re allowed to tout Twilight as the Bible because it stars a gay disco ball who’s supposedly better than your boyfriend, but we’re not allowed to think it’s a bad book because it actually IS a bad book? The problem is YOU – you can’t take the fact that your precious series falls apart at the seams under critical analysis, and you resort to mud-slinging in a vain attempt to salvage the pieces. Getting riled up like that only makes you sound like an idiot; small wonder that some Antis think that Twilight fans are fools.
Kellen, major props for being unafraid to boast your opinions, and especially for stomaching the shit that was Breaking Dawn. That takes some serious gumption, believe me, and this is coming from someone who almost never leaves a book unfinished (well, THAT record ended with Breaking Dawn, actually).
Note: Those first two paragraphs were (obviously) directed to the Twitards who posted some time ago. I’ll admit I probably should have specified that, but hey – I was angry, and that made me stupid. Sorry. >_>;;
Anony Mouse –
First of all, I already DIBSDED the ‘anonymous’ name, look at my website.
SECOND OF ALL, you must chill the fuck out, as you are being extremely insulting and unhepful, and while sarcasm is a great trait in an anti-Twilighter, it does not bode well for anyone to be like that.
Can you say stereotype?
Thanks for the contribution
look first of all u lifeless person if u werent interested in this book then y did u freakin waste ur time writing this piece of shit and this proves tht stephenie meyer is not the one who duznt have a life there r more ppl like u!!!!!
OMG a twitard!!! Can’t even spell!!! “duznt”. Haha!!!
I’m sorry for stealing your title. As to the angry sarcasm, I believe I already noted that particular problem, so your advice for me to “chill the fuck out” is duly noted.
Good lord…after reading all the bad Twilight reviews recently, I was hoping that people were starting to come around and realize how terrible the writing really is. Now I come here and see all these ravenous Twilight fans who don’t know how to type tearing the author of this article apart for stating her opinion, and it floors me.
For anyone who’s mad about the tone and the sarcastic title, it’s called “having a sense of humor”. Get one. And for anyone on here who has actually given some good, reasonable counter-arguments to this article and defended Twilight well (I don’t know if anyone did this, seeing as I haven’t read all of the posts yet), good for you. I read all four books and while I didn’t rage over them like a lot of people have, I did recognize that this was not good writing (just from a technical viewpoint) and that the only merit in reading it for me was the fluffy romance stuff. A lot of people read the novels and admit that while the writing is mediocre, they’re addictive as crack, and I understand these viewpoints.
Now, about the abusive relationship in the book.
Yes, it IS the textbook definition of abusive and it IS affecting young girls negatively. A lot of people have countered that it’s “just a fictional book” and impressionable teenagers are smart enough not to be influenced, but almost all of the people saying that are impressionable teenagers who have been influenced. I mean, seriously, you can’t come up with a better counter-argument? It isn’t a personal attack when someone says that the books aren’t good, it’s just that in their opinion the books are good. And again, from a technical standpoint, the writing just is NOT good, no matter whether it’s fiction, historical, or sci-fi. If Twilighters could accept that and just leave it at, “Well, I’ll like what I want to like and I think it’s a good book series” then anti-Twilighters could leave them alone and not call them book-starved idiots. I could probably elaborate on a lot more than this, but I don’t want this comment to get too long.
Well, there’s my two cents. Take it as you will.
What the heck?!?!?! If you have a problem with a certain series of books(And YOU know what series im talking about) no need to be self-centered and ruin everyone else’s injoyment of the twilight series. I mean, kids are gonna learn this stuff anyway, why not get a head start??? I am TEN , and I know what im talking about. I like the series. It gives some sentemental value. If you dont like it you can suck my ass!
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What stuff?
You mean, how deciding between a sexually harassing pedowolf and a sparklepants abusive stalker is so utterly romantic? Cause that’s the only lesson I can see coming out of Twilight.
Did we drag you to your computer, tape your eyes open and force you to read this article?
What do you even MEAN, self-centered?
Sentimental value? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT SENTIMENTAL MEANS?
YOU ARE TEN, THEREFORE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT? These books are sexually explicit! Where is your mother/guardian? Why is she allowing you to read this books?
Fucking twi-moms!
P.S: as to that last ‘point’, nty.
I began rereading Eclipse last night and in the first pages it talks about Wuthering Heights. Bella says the only relief to all their horrible qualities is the love they have for each other. I haven’t read Wuthering Heights myself. But… it’s something to think about.
Also, yesterday, I was trying to refind this site and I found another comment page and I would like to quote one of those, though I don’t know the exact words. “Edward truly loves Bella. It would be different if he were some dumb player who didn’t care about her, but he does.”
Rebuttals are welcome.
anonymous-
I’m curious. What signs are there in Twilight that Edward actually loves Bella? He’s obsessed with her, because she smells good. Stalking isn’t a sign of love, oddly enough.
Being overprotective to a point of taking apart someone’s car so they won’t be able to see a friend isn’t cool. That’s abusive. Overcontrolling.
I don’t know what goes in Edward’s sick mind, and I doubt I want to know, but I don’t see where “love” plays into anything. It doesn’t.
excuse me, but what twi-moms?
are*, sorry bout the missing word!
I agree. I mean, where is the proof that Edward loves her?
What annoyed me (Yes, I happen to have MANY friends who are utterly obsessed with this book, and insist on quoting it ALL the time) was during one of the books, when Jacob asks her why she loves Edward – Was it the money, or the good looks etc. – and then she comes out with that she loves him because he was the most UNSELFISH and LOVING person she would ever meet. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think when Stephenie Meyer wrote THIS part of the book, she seemed to have forgotten the billions of pages where she spends explaining every minute detail of Edwards beauty, and how UNBEARABLE his beauty is etc etc. It just annoys the crap out of me. What kind of guy stalks a girl, and then dismantles her car to stop her seeing a friend? That is not love. It is obsession to the max. Do you think that Twitards would like some guy stalking them and watching them sleep? But I guess you can’t really tell them any of this, because the second you try to, they all shove their fingers in their ears, and refuse to believe how atrocious this series really is.
anonymous –
seriously?
I don’t think much of that actually makes sense.
Zhao –
Twi-moms are horny 30yearold+ housewives who love Twilight and want Edward to save them from their sexless marriage. They are slightly crazier than regular fangirls, screaming, wanting to ‘rid Taylor Lautner of his virginity’, let their kid read the sexually explicit Eclipse and Breaking Dawn – not 14+ year olds who could handle it, TEN YEAR OLDS – and are basically fucking crazy.
They have their own website, look; http://www.twilightmomsforums.com/
I can’t find that crazy thing I posted before…hang on…found it!
“DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE whose life turned upside down when you read Twilight? Is your house a disaster with piles of piles of laundry in every corner and stacks of dirty dishes at record breaking heights? Have you imagined your husband is a vampire (or werewolf) and suddenly have the libido of newlywed again? Do you convince yourself that “cold cereal†makes a perfectly wholesome dinner? Is the pizza delivery boy now on your Christmas card list? Are your children free to run a muck as long as no one comes too you bleeding . . .(too badly)? Oh, you feel guilty, but that’s not enough! You still can’t tear yourself away from the book and damned be the consequences! The good new is- YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Fans of the Twilight Series in OUR STAGE of life (whether you’re a mom or not) now have a place where we can gather unashamed of our irrational obsession with vampires and werewolves. We have a place where “our kind†can relate without having to wade through all the teenage Internet code mumbo jumbo like “OMG!!! IMHO Edward is sooo Hawt!!!†(usually a dead giveaway that you should be doing your social studies homework for 3rd period instead of playing on the computer.) FYI, it was a group of 14/15 year olds that “changed†me. However, OUR world of balancing family, work, home, marriage AND…our Twilight obsession is unique, fun, and oh, so very humorous. The personal stories and experiences I’ve heard and read from women all over the world are a blast. YOU LADIES ROCK!!! …and “Twilight Moms†is dedicated to YOU!!! Enjoy this little corner of the Internet that is just for us.â€
…seriously.
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! Someone at last is speaking the truth about those books! Love the break downs you did for each book.
I agree with all of these points against the ‘Twilight’ series, but I still love the books anyway. They’re just unrealistic fantasy, which is what makes them so entertaining.
And the books really shouldn’t be read by the under-15’s (I’m 17) – they mightn’t realise that this is just fantasy and could get hurt in real life…how about some kind of warning on the front cover (especially ‘Breaking Dawn’, because that made me altnernately giggle and retch in the rude bits)?
People are just so obsessed with this book. It promotes abusive relationships, pedophilia, and crazy stalkers. lol
Besides, what is so great about Edward being so ‘PERFECT’ anyway. I mean, I would go CRAZY if I was dating someone who had no flaws, and did everything right.
I am very glad I have found a website where I can vent my frustrations! lol XD
I hate people who agree with all the points, that Twilight is evil and impressionable young teens are influenced by it and it’s evil-ness, yet they still love it.
Therefore they are aware participants in the murder of literature…
ACCOMPLICES
WANTED: Stephenie Meyer
Dead or Alive
For thesaurus rape and attempted murder of literature.
http://pics.livejournal.com/anneonemouse/pic/00002kff
Rafal H-
Nice Wanted poster.
rafal/steph\marissa\zhao go die in a hole
[…] put it simply, dear reader, I was horrified,†says Kellen Rice of Blast Magazine. “Not just by the sickeningly purple prose or the lack of general writing quality, but the […]
Twilightlover –
The hole was a nice touch. Is dying in a hole worse than dying not in a hole? You’re gonna end up in a hold anyway, in the end, right?
MY THE GUY NEXT DOOR BY MEG CABOT JUST CAME IN THE MAIL FROM EBAY I AM SO HAPPY.
twilightlover-
Um…yeah, I really don’t care. Is that the best you could come up with? I mean, we’re all going to die eventually, and as Rafal H said, we wind up in one anyway.
Rafal H-
Let me know how it is! Lately, I’ve been becoming more and more addicted to reading Meg Cabot.
WOW!!! im so glad you wrote this article!
Meyer has no talent as a writer!!!
The twilight series is sooo corny and cheesey.Its a kinda cute series….if your 12 maybe LOL
twilightlover: Wow. That really hurt. Just a question, how old are you? Actually, don’t bother telling me. All Twilight lovers have the brain of a 10 year old.
Now people, you see how I didn’t go off at her? That is because I have something called MATURITY (Sorry for my capsrape)
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Twilight is garbage
Steph –
Not all of them, just most of them
Marissa –
BESTBOOKEVER. Like, ever.
1. Guy next door by MEG CABOT
[skipping all the other MEG CABOTs as there are too many]
2. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
3. Somewhere around the corner by Jackie French
4. Holes by Louis Sachar.
This list goes into infinity, but Twilight is not mentioned at all, besides Twilight {Mediator 6} by MEG CABOT. Twilight is simply not counted as a ‘book’.
Okay, I probably shouldn’t have said that, as a lot of my friends like the books. Let me rephrase
“All ‘Twitards’ have the brain of a 10 year old”
6 days!
u are so stupid this is a book is fiction if u don like it don read it…you read too much in to the book is just a story for you to enjoy…stupid bitch
wow, i think this piece was amazingly written. i haven’t read the books and have no desire to. I have heard about them and they dno’t sound interesting to me at all, and I definitely don’t plan on reading them after this review. I truly feel like this series isn’t that great and i’m glad someone wrote an entirely honest review that was well written.
You are stupid: if you ‘do’ like the series, then why would you bother searching ‘Twilight sucks’ on google, and then creating an account, and commenting?
Basically, you are stupid
Rafal H-
Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.
you are stupid-
Um, you’re supposed to read into books. You’re supposed to find meaning in them. That’s what their for, along with entertainment, shockingly.
EVERYONE-
My birthday is this Saturday!! I’m so excited!
I’m turning 15. It’s going to be awesome.
Marissa –
HAPPYBIRTHDAYINADVANCE. It’s probably…what? Thursday over there? You guys are so behind. It’s Friday, and you are so lucky because seriously
in Australia
you have to be 14-9-months to work, right
EQUAL OPPURTUNITIES MY ASS. No one employs 14 year olds
_burstintotears_ so unfair. I have to wait till October.
Though I applied everywhere I could think of, and I volunteered at Vinnies (charity place, St Vincent de Paul’s) for work experience (and of course my….niceness)
So, I’m gonna stop complaining, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARISSA
Check it out:
http://www.paradisepastries.com/img/harry_potter_cake.jpg
Rafal H-
YAY! Thank you! It’s now Friday, although it was Thursday yesterday.
That cake looks delicious.
I’m volunteering over at a retirement/assisted living home, but yeah, it kinda sucks when you’re only a little too young to get a job. Grr.
IT IS OFFICIALLY SATURDAY IN AWESOME-LAND (aka oz)
Give me a second and I will retrieve your present.
http://www.coolquiz.com/myquiz/myquiz.asp?QuizNum=38488
Haha.
That’s an awesome quiz. I shall have fun playing.
Thank you for the present!
First off I would like to say YES!. You are right on all accounts. I would like to read more twilight (I dont even capitalize it anymore) things that you write. Your opinions of this series are intellegent and I admire them. Maybe you could write reviews for all the books individually. Just an idea. Thank you for not being afraid to voice the truth.
A weird thought crossed my mind… What if a twitard girl had a baby with a normal guy or twitard guy? Would if be a twitard too or half-twitard? I wonder if this sickness is genetically transmitted. lol.
Lol, or maybe an ‘I am legend’ situation.
Instead of people getting sick from the cancer cure, instead, they are bitten by some rabid Twitard. Then everyone starts biting each other, and in the end there is only one person left.
TITLE: I am seriously F***ED
So, do you think I could get an oscar for that? lol
Zhao –
I never liked the term ‘twitard’, because it is degrading to retards to be compared to these assholes. I just say ‘Twilighters’, eh?
If it was genetically transmitted, the next generation is doomed.
Hey, if you were born in 1994 you’re the last of Gen Y, right? And then the rest of it is the iGeneration. Yekgh.
To those lovers of the series who feel frustrated by the application of “feminist” critical tools to “harmless” fluff books, I can sympathize with what may seem unnecessarily harsh or overly analytical investigations of books that are meaningful to you, that you have enjoyed. But I feel very nervous about the argument that “they are just books.” Or just romance. Or just light reading. While the books may be fiction, the people reading them are real. The books appear on the shelves of a world that is real. That’s why they matter, and why the ideas they present or suggest matter.
Fiction has an effect that is not fictional. What we read influences us in ways that we are often not immediately conscious of. The models of people, lives, relationships, and so on, that we see in books affect our own models. If I read of something a boy says to a girl in a novel and the girl sighs and thinks it’s romantic, and I sigh and think it’s romantic, then something has been slightly altered or reinforced in my idea of what is romantic. If the boy says, “You ugly cow,” I will probably be dismissive of it and think, That’s not romantic at all. But if the boy says, “Let me take care of you,” the subtle controlling message in this statement may have a subtle impact upon my own ideas of whether maybe it’s sometimes nice to have someone take care of me, especially a boy, instead of thinking, But I can take care of myself and I’m glad to be able to do so. And if this concern seems overly sensitized to feminist issues, these are issues for a reason and it’s not the individual example so much as the cumulation of such examples in this book that is alarming. I imagine we all, when we’re in love, male or female, want to take care of the person we love and enjoy being taken care of, if it’s in a reciprocal way. But when a book like Twilight consistently develops a relationship where one member is passive and the other is controlling, in a way that aligns with the kinds of male-dominated relationships that have contributed to domestic abuse–well, then the concerns of feminists about male-dominated relationships become more pertinent.
Books don’t necessarily affect us directly or obviously, but they do affect us. Especially if they are books that we have loved. And because these particular books are directed toward a teenage audience that is at a key point in developing its ideas about womanhood, relationships, love, sex, personal choices (and that is also especially vulnerable to the influence of fictional models of such things, since most of us begin as credulous and become more critical with experience) and because they have been so immensely popular and are being read by an entire generation of young women and men, even the most subtle and unconscious implications of its politics or ideologies become important.
So, yes, it is annoying to have people intrude on a very seductive story about the very beautiful feeling of loving and being loved for the first time with discussions of role models and moral responsibility, but these things are very relevant because so many young readers may be affected by their reading in ways they don’t themselves fully realize or appreciate. And those readers are a very important part of our culture and it’s therefore appropriate that we all think hard about what other ideas have been slipped into the sweetness of Twilight.
I am a fan of Twilight, but I can see where it’s thought to be anti-feminist. A really good fantasy book I just read was “Wildwood Dancing” by Juliet Mariller and while there are some more mysogonistic (spelling?) characters, there are also some really strong women in that one. I do think that in essence, having someone to protect you is nice. It’s always seemed to me that when a woman’s choices begin to be domineered, that’s the problem.
bleu –
Another example of the pretentious.
[…] resenha é em sua maior parte composta por traduções do artigo “Twilight†Sucks… And Not In A Good Way, de Kellen Rice e contém spoilers. Contudo, também há diversas adaptações e opiniões […]
CREPÚSCULO AMANHECER, LUA NOVA, ECLIPSE. AQUI VOCÊ Jà FICA SABENDO O QUE VAI ACONTECER NO FILME QUE AINDA VAI ESTREAR! « Bombas da Tv o –
…indeed.
or else, I disagree.
Hey me and my friends love this article! We are teenage girls stuck in this twilight fandom and it is so annoying! In fact we loath twilight so much and agree that it is so idiot that we are preforming a twilight spoof and when we put it up on Youtube (whenever that might be) we would like to put a link to your website so that others who think like us may enjoy your comment. Lastly you’re acticle was ten, no on hundred, no wait one billion times funnier and cooler than the entire Twilight series combine. We are new fans.
Love
The Forth Hour Lunch Table Traveling Troupe & Groupies
The Forth Hour?
other than the non-making-sense, I like it!
What is your problem with the books, good god have you no Imagination?
you say you have read Harry Potter, how can you (as a student of literature) find that better then Twilight? As much as i like J.K.Rowling her writing style is nowhere near as good Stephenie Meyer!
Silver-
Actually, it’s pretty easy to say that JKR is better than SMeyer. Why? Because it’s true. Simple as that.
thatt’s a nice post. Yuki’s are good too… All I want to add is : you totally forget to talk about Bella’s (and, mind it, Wanda’s) total unselfishness. They both jump on EVERY BLOODY OCCASION to sacrifice themselves for the others. Never mind if they have to be killed in the process.
The subbtle way it was describded disgusted me : it appears to be a good and caring behavior.
Holly crap on a cracker!!
Edward is as much as a vampire as Naruto is a ninja.
Meaning he is not a vampire.
Twilight is terrible.
Go read some Anne Rice.
(I’m currently reading Interview With a Vampire. Pretty cool!)
Also.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Twilight
Because ED is pretty awesome.
Silver –
psycho.
Neomie –
I don’t understand?
I couldn’t agree with you more. Twilight sucks. No plot. No substance. The biggest piece of garbage I have ever read that wasted so many hours of my life. GO HARRY POTTER.
Ugh, I hate it when people constantly compare Harry Potter to Twilight.
The thing is, i don’t go around waving my ‘Hate Twilight’ flag because I think it’s a bad book. Believe me, I have read many bad books in my time! But the fact that Twilight is being considered a ‘phenomenon’ and fans are literally ATTACKING non-twilighters is why I am writing here.
By the way, at least J.K Rowling doesn’t insist on repeating how gorgeous her leading man is the entire time!
My friends/enemies-I-have-to-talk-with are always going on about Twilightiness, to provoke me. And they’re always bitchy about MEG CABOT cause I’m sort of obsessed.
SO ANNOYING
Steph-
About the mentioning of the lead male character’s looks, Meyer writes from a female point of view who is in love with the male, Rowling writes from a limited third person, so if she has anyone’s actual opinions or thoughts, they’re Harry’s and he’s not going to be thinking, “Oh yeah man, I’m sexy.” And his green eyes like his mothers are commented on a lot, though it could be argued that”s a plot device.
I do think that physical characteristics do play a lot in both series, not just Twilight. The difference, I must admit, is that Rowling’s statements have much more to do with plot. Though, in Twilight, all the vampires are supposed to take your breath away. In the book Alice said it and in the movie Edward said it, but these vampires are particularly “designed” to draw in their prey, from their looks to their voices, to “Even my smell draws you in.”
I just needed to say that Edward and his family’s looks are in essence just as essential as the Weasleys’ red hair and Snape’s bizarre hooked nose. That having been said, Meyer did not need to make her fandom drool every few pages.
I totally agree with the fact that these fans are simply nuts. I have never not wanted to read any book(s) as much as these and I am a vampire fan. The craze of it all is what turned me off. Also, from most of the reviews I have read, it seems that Meyer couldn’t write her way out of a paperbag. To those crazies that say “It’s only a book, stop analyzing it so much” I say “EXACTLY!” Get on with your lives and realize it is only a damn book/movie people – Edward and Bella don’t exist and if you think they do, you are as deluded as the crappy author of this trash.
Bunniemagyk:
Please respect us a little bit. Four of five people who sat at my lunch table last year read it. One of them hated it, especially Bella’s whininess. Two of them liked it, but never got obsessed with it. One of them read the Wikipedia articles and was completely turned off. I am the only one of us who REALLY liked it, and quite honestly only the vast outline of a “Vampire-Human” love beating everything they have to face is what appeals to me.
The people who believe there are no faults do need to face the facts, but don’t generalize anyone who reads the series and likes it. It’s unfair and if I were to say something like “Anti-Twilighters are narcissistic pains who have never loved anyone.” you would most likely be furious.
anonymous –
when you have a valid, or even true point, then I will listen to you. Please read the series you are going to comment about, if it’s HP or Twilight I don’t care.
P.S: Don’t read Twilight
Btw, you’re being pretentious again
And I wouldn’t be furious, I would be laughing because that’s exactly what a Twilighter would say! At least the ones on this thing (henceforth known as forum)
I think the author is one lucky chick. That’s it. LUCKY.
Get enough people to say eating crap tastes wonderful and the next thing you know everybody has a turd sandwich in their hands.
That is what a Twilight fan looks like to me. Someone eating shit, loving it, walking around with a shit-eating grin, offering it up to anybody with a working mouth.
SORRY! Eating fecal matter is nauseating and will make me sick. I know better. You would think everyone else would too.
Reading Twilight should be a Fear Factor challenge.
lmao, I agree. I’d rather eat the bullants…
LMAO, Man, I watch those shows thinking I could do any of that stuff.. Now I am not so sure…. *Pretends to quivers*
“Standing on
Solid rock
Standing on
sacred ground
livin’ o-on
Borrowed t-i-i-ime
and the winds of change
are blowin’ down the line”
Solid Rock by the Goannas – if you’re Aussie and know your history you’ll totally appreciate it. Not to mention the kickass tune.
Yo, Rafal H is NONSPARKLY!!!
What are wanna b cool people doing these days bsides trying to diss on ten year old kids that are probobly more intellegent that you? I probobly have a longer range of vocabulary that you could dream you had. How bout you get your head out of yur butt and try to find something more intertaining than dissin ten year olds!!!
P.S.
Damnit, some people should take in that people like twilight!!!!
P.P.S.
I mean nothing rude but i would like you and everyone else not to diss me or twi-moms.People should be able to like books without having to explain.
Stupid twi-dissers
Why-dont-you-find-out-my-name –
Please, show case some of this vocabulary.
By the way you have not defended Twilight in any way, but I do like your last sentence.
Woah. Who knew a book could spark so much, well, pointless debating. Then again, I do love debating that gets nobody anywhere.
First of all, all the people who like the book that are saying, “THIS ARTICLE IS AWFUL,” and not giving reason to why it is awful really need to realize that they sound very stupid and closeminded. (I thought I would throw that out there)
So, I really, REALLY disliked Twilight. I could barely finish reading the first book. There was no climax. There was a negative climax or something. I don’t really know how to explain it.
Then, there was Bella getting pregnant. FAIL. Vampires don’t really have the bodily fluids to do that to someone.
It also innacurately depicts vampires. VAMPIRES DO NOT SPARKLE…THEY CATCH ON FIRE, BURN AND DIE. END OF STORY. (Sorry, I had to.)
I’d argue more but I don’t really have the time or the need to debate and make an idiot out of myself. I just thought I would throw out a few points/opinions.
Chubanana –
chyuh.
MARISSA WHERE ARE YOU? I’m not the only one left am I?
DON’T LEAVE ME :'(
I’m going to admit; I enjoyed Twilight. I know there are way too many books that are better than Twilight but I liked it because it was a fast and enjoyable read. (But Breaking Dawn was…I don’t know anymore. -__-)
Don’t worry, I’m not going to diss your article. I actually agree with most of your points. Like Twilight being sexist and Twilight being filed with purple prose. .__.
I just wanted to say that I am ashamed to be called a Twilight fan because of all the other “twi-hards” who can’t defend Twilight while being mature about it. Seriously guys, if you want twilight-haters to show you and Twilight some respect, learn to respect their opinions too. Really, don’t comment when you have nothing good to say. -__-“
Okay, I’ve got a few things to say to all these comments (Which by the way, took an extremely long time to scroll through D:). I didn’t get a chance to read all the comments, but I think I’ve got the gist of this argument.
To the all Twilightfans:
I don’t get why you keep saying “KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF and IT’S JUST A BOOK” :
Are you serious? This person is just expressing her opinion, which she can do if she wants to. This, on the whole, is a book review (no matter how sarcastically anti-twilight it may be), which many people write for many books. Good and bad book reviews are printed in the Newspaper everyday, but you say nothing about negative reviews of books in there. Just because Twilight is your favorite book and is really popular doesn’t mean other people can’t say something negative about it without having no life.
Also, I really don’t see what you guys want here. If someone writes a book review saying they read all the books and hated them, you comment saying, “Well, if you didn’t like it why’d you even bother reading it?” but if someone writes why they don’t like Twilight and haven’t read the books you say, “YOU DON’T GET IT YOU HAVEN’T EVEN READ THE BOOKS!”
So can someone clarify what exactly you’re looking for in a negative Twilight review? Because as long as Twilight is popular, there will be negative reviews, so you’ll have to deal with it.
(SIDE NOTE: I’d just like to point out Robert Pattinson has bashed Twilight various times, and I’ve NEVER heard any Twilight fan say anything about negative him. Hypocrites much?)
I’d also so suggest writing in complete grammatically correct sentences. I understand you’re angry someone is dissing a book you like and you REALLY wanna let them know how you feel, but try. Most people have trouble taking you seriously if you TYPE LKY DIS ND US ALOT UV EXCLIMATIONS LYK THIS!!! !!!!!!! ! ! ! Try arguing your side a little better than “I LUV TWILIGHT IS REALLY GOOD SO SHUTUP AND U CANT MAKE ME HATE IT.”
Personally, I don’t like Twilight, and I get you like it. For whatever reason you do, it’s okay. I won’t ask you why you like it, because that’s just opening an argument. But please, understand other people have a right to their opinion too, meaning the author of this article is allowed to say she hates Twilight in a sarcastic and slightly rude way if she wants. Maybe it offends you, but that doesn’t mean she has to keep her opinion to herself.
Twihards and Twilight trolls, I have nothing to say to you besides you’re pathetic and childish.
To the Twilight haters:
Please, all of you, get off your high horse. I’m having trouble seeing you from way down here. You all think you have the most logical opinion about Twilight, and that makes you seem like you think you’re obviously right in any Twilight argument. It makes you act annoying to the point of obnoxious in your comments. We get it: You’re super duper smart and know how to use the big words they’ve got in the dictionary.
With most of you, it’s never enough to say “I just don’t like Twilight,” or “I disagree, Twilight isn’t a good book/ movie”. I get that some crazy fans ask you to explain why, because they can’t fathom how someone could hate it, but you don’t need to say it to everyone.
It’s practically backwards now in Twilight arguments. You’re asking fans why they like Twilight,–and don’t say you don’t know that’s inviting argument. It is, we both know it. They’ll say why, you’ll find a fault or bring up your “Edward is abusive” rant and then Twilight fans will get mad, because just as you don’t want to be convinced to become a fan, they don’t want to be convinced to dislike Twilight.
Maybe it’s true Twilight isn’t the most educational or feminist or logical book around, but people like it and if they’re not crazy fans, let them be. This thread is full of people arguing every Twilight fan for their opinions. Understandably, the capslock raging ones should calm it down eighteen notches, but really. The author of this article was spot-on with some points, but the sarcasm and unwillingness to even poke in one nice comment about the series bothers me.
I’ve seen it said on this board and I’d just like to answer: JUST BECAUSE YOUR OPINION IS/ SEEMS THE MOST LOGICAL DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS RIGHT. IT WILL NEVER, NEVER, NEVER BE RIGHT, BECAUSE IT IS AN OPINION AND AN OPINON CAN NOT BE FACT. PLEASE HAMMER THIS INTO YOUR BRAINS. THANKS.
Wow, I’m so going to get flamed for this.
YOU LOONIES!
Twilight is amazing!!!! SHUT UP!
TWILIGHT DOESN’T SUCK, YOU DO!
Twilighters never cease in amusing me. If you’re going to swear at the author of the review (which is awesome), and if you’re going to rape your caps lock key in saying how ‘FRIGGN AWESUM!!!” Twilight is, at least give a proper reason why.
All I’ve seen is – We’re allowed to like Twilight if we want, because we’re allowed to have an opinion, so shut up and keep your opinions to yourself (erm…no hypocrisy at all, there) and Edward only stalks Bella, removes her car-engine, is abusive and controlling because he ‘luvs’ her and ‘luv’ completely justifies all that (according to your logic, you can do anything under the name of love, even murder) and ‘ You’re just jealous because Stephenie Meyer is a better writer than you (just like you need to be a great musician to judge music and an expert cook to judge food). And then there’s the occasional you’re jealous of Edward/Bella, you have no love life, you’re fat, you’re ugly, etc.
Guys, are you trying to make yourself look like idiots? You honestly look like a bunch of unintelligent fools. But I’ll credit you – I lol’d when I read some of the comments. You’re just proving the author’s point, you know. It’s a stupid book for stupid people.
Twilight fangirls amuse me.
If you didn’t read the book, they say, “You can’t judge it if you haven’t read it!”
And if you DID read it, they say, “Well, why did you keep on reading it if you hated it so much?”
Apparently we lose either way.
So. Anyway.
I read Twilight.
Reasons I hate it:
– all major characters are Mary Sues with no personalities
– sparkly vampires? Really? Seriously?!
– no plot. I can’t find it anywhere.
– redundant adjectives
And I could go on, but I don’t feel like it. Too lazy.
In short, I think Twilight sucks.
The end.
Natalie –
If they ask me why, I tell them. If they don’t, and ask “Do you like Twilight?” I say, “No, I like GOOD literature,”
I tell everyone online because…it’s an online discussion forum…where you…discuss…perhaps you don’t understand this?
If someone asks me, and I say no and they say they DO, I ask why because I cannot fathom why a seemingly intelligent person would say such a thing. I am a debater, I will always find faults in arguments. I feel particularly strong about Twilight since it affects MY demographic.
This article is an epic win! Twilight was one of the most sickening books I have ever read, not to mention that edward watches her while she sleeps and the complete raping of vampire lore. the twitards reactions to this are hiarious too, but this article is genius
Such a beautiful review.
I just read the articles you wrote on Twilight and have to agree with you 100%. As a 40ish year old, married, mentally sound woman, I was addicted to the books. It was a special blend of literary crack, like a Harlequin romance written for 13 year old girls, but with no sex, no plot, and no grammatically and structurally correct prose. The pages HAD to be turned, however, and even though I found both protagonists repellent (I actually stopped reading at several points in each book, and just screamed at the lunacy that WAS Bella), and I read all four books.
Now, after saying that, I have to say that Stephenie Meyer made J.K. Rowling look like the next Emily Dickinson and the Twilight series as literary works compare to the Harry Potter series as Harlequin romance “novels” to the complete works of William Shakespeare.
The only thing I can say about that fiasco of a movie is that I laughed like a hyena throughout it. Catherine Hardwicke, for whatever the reason (as I’m sure there are so many reasons she did this) chose to film this entire movie in a weird, sickly greenish blue tint that made me want to vomit.
Girls, ladies, whoever reads this…just remember that losing your identity for a boy is not romantic. And me saying that does not make me a bra-burning feminist. Just enjoy the books for what they are…appetizers. After you’re through reading them, go read some of the great works of fiction, heck go read a magazine. We like it that these books made you read, but don’t oversentimentalize it.
Tracy, did you literally scream? Because then I’m afraid you cannot be called mentally sound. Other than that, you go girl!
This was hilarious. I absolutely loved this.
My opinion:
Twilight fans – when faced with a valid, well written and reasonable argument – will hold down the cap’s lock, and ‘scream’ such things as: ‘OMG UR SOOOOO JELUS OF EDWARD ND BELLA!!!!!!!!’ or ‘ U JST DNT UNDERSTAND ITS A BOOK ITS NT REAL!!!!’. Then proceed to inform us that Edward’s abusive behavior is a result of him ‘loving her’.
The other thing that annoys me about the series is the sheer amount of plot-devices! None of the characters are actually developed. Including the main characters.
The lack of factual content. The tribal legends and such.
and the total lack of Alice’s history. Now, you’ll argue that it was because she was always kept in the dark, but, to anyone who knows literary techniques, it was clearly a cop out. She didn’t want to have to think up another history, Esme’s was poor enough.
I totally agree. That’s what I’ve always wanted to say, and now you’ve said it. Great! I don’t understand why the whole series is so popular. It’s not very well written and the characters are pretty distant. And all the teenagers are repeating “Oh I love Edward Please Edward come and take me Oh EDWARDDD!!!!!” all the time -.- So annoying.
This book is for nigger spics. Everyone who likes it should kill themselves.
putas –
what the hell are ‘nigger spics’?
she’s completely right u idiotic fools who support that moron meyer clearly are the reason the world is so filled with stupid women. U read and like nonsense. U r nonsense. I enjoyed ur article and the clear points it brought across. Clearly u rn’t a shallow mindless fool like the rest of these morons.
Rafal H on July 26th, 2009 11:40 pm Why-dont-you-find-out-my-name –
Please, show case some of this vocabulary.
By the way you have not defended Twilight in any way, but I do like your last sentence
——————————————————————————————-
Thank you????
I found this review very eye opening.
I sat down with the first book around two weeks ago and was amazed by every situation. It made me feel like I was a part of the story, I was there and I felt everything they felt, I desperately turned every page to make sure that the book wasn’t coming to an end. I was terrified over the fact that this book would in fact end.
I too, fell in love with this Edward Cullen. I still feel pain now (even after I’ve realized that the whole situation is so incredibly stupid) when I think of him. Someone exciting and unbelievably beautiful, I was blinded by him.
Then I read the second book (New Moon) and something happened. I began to sympathize with Bella. I felt her desperation and I connected with the book. It became real.
Now, as a fellow teenager I don’t always feel very happy. In fact: Sometimes my own desperation, anger or sadness can be unbearable.
And then this book.. It had a very bad affect on me.
Bella who had an exciting and adventurous life, everything I, myself would want.. had lost a lot of her fear of death. I found myself crying at the end of the book, when Edward tells her how much he loves her and.. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I would never have my own Edward.
I was in an awful state the next few days and I was jealous of everything Bella had experienced. I wanted her life and I knew that I couldn’t have it.
I mean: This book made me want to be someone who constantly was in danger. Someone who even jumped of a cliff.
I had a terrible feeling in both my gut, heart and mostly.. mind. I had to make myself shut what I had read out. And I didn’t care.. I still loved the book, even when it made me want to lay down and never get up again. .
I later got my hands on eclipse and was very uneasy the closer I got to the end of it.. and it wasn’t because I was afraid of the book ending. -Something was just wrong.
So I later go in on wikipedia and read the reviews and I find the answer to the question that is hurting my stomach. None of Bella’s relationships (with both Edward and Jacob) where healthy. I found this reception and as I said: It was very eye opening.
I still long for someone like Edward, I can’t help it… But I feel very upset. I was completely obsessed by the books, so obsessed, that I missed the obvious.
I’m very easily affected and I blame myself for feeling so unbelievably unhappy for so long, meanwhile I longed for a life that wasn’t even a good one..
I just had to say this all who deny the fact that this book has a bad influence on those who are easily affected or those who aren’t quite happy with there lives as they are.
I don’t think I can bring myself to read the fourth book.. I feel like the story was gone out of hand.
Fearne (: – I totally agree
Emma – Yeah, it messed with my mind to. Some books just shouldn’t be read…
You’re right about Twilight, but you don’t have to shove Mary Woolstonecraft and Elizabeth Bennet down our throats. You’re educated. We get it.
For one Bella is a very pro feminist character. She shows it when she decides to go against what Edward said for her to not go see Jacob and she choses to do the household chores on her own. Charlie never forced that on her in the books. Plus Bella is no modern Eve. The only “crime” she committed was falling in love! The love was never forced upon her! Stephenie Meyer is a brilliant author who wrote nail-biting and suspenseful romances. You must have read WAY to far into it, the only way you could determine that the Twilight Saga is anti-feminist is by having way to much time on your hands. Also, feminism is about the choices a woman makes!!! This will not traumatize millions of teenage girls. It is a FICTIONAL love story that had millions of teenagers flipping the pages to find out the ending. No sane teenage girl will jump of a cliff just because her boyfriend left her. Plus, in New Moon Bella wasn’t some crazy suicidal teen. Edward is just a fictional character, for pete’s sake!!! And, not all Twilight fan are air-headed, pathetic, needy, and stupid as you think we are!!! Twilight is truly a fantastic saga! We love Twilight!!!!!!!!
why is that when we don’t like something, we are told to “keep it to ourselves”? It’s ridiculous, and not realistic…I mean, how many people have never ever said “I don’t like~~~ or I hate ~~~”? It’s our OPINION and if you [twitards] can’t respect our opinions, KEEP IT TO YOURSELVES. Happy now? Yay now let’s all live in harmony 8D
Gianna and Cristina,
boy oh boy, where shall we start with you two
Let’s see what Arzim from TwilightSucks has said about all these brilliant points you brought up to defend your dear twilight books.
About Choices,
You said : “She shows it when she decides to go against what Edward said for her to not go see Jacob ”
Arzim said: “feminism is about the RIGHT be treated and judged the same as those of the XY persuasion, to have the same opportunities, and to have the right of freedom of will the same as any man. in one word; EQUALITY. So, it’s not so much about choice as it is the EQUAL RIGHT to choose ”
So Looking at the example you gave, Arzim has already argued :
“On the surface, it seems like an empowered decision… however, why does she stay with Edward despite his abusive actions? Why does she submit to his attempts to control her behavior the rest of the time? She doesn’t like his behavior. She doesn’t appreciate his attempts to control her, yet she exhibits NO SENSE OF EMPOWERMENT and Meyer treats the event like Bella’s ‘BREAKING A RULE’ (Edward’s rule) rather than having the right to do as she pleases.”
It’s like living in North Korea and choosing to start some public demonstration against Kim Jong Il. Yea, I can CHOOSE to do that, but in the end, it’s just going to get me into trouble (it’s a doomed choice. It’s a false trap. ) I don’t have any REAL power (just a false sense of power in Bella’s case). Ultimately, I am under Kim Jong Il’s rule.
—————————
Just some other fun little things to point out:
“No sane teenage girl will jump of a cliff just because her boyfriend left her.”
Now the problem is that this Twilight craze is creating a lot of INSANE teenage girls who are WILLING to jump off (and it’s OFF with TWO Fs) a cliff for some shitty, illogical reason like a boyfriend leaving them.
And now, the most important points you brought up “Edward is just a fictional character, for pete’s sake!!! “. Yes. Edward is FICTIONAL. So what’s with all the obsession now?
“And, not all Twilight fan are air-headed, pathetic, needy, and stupid as you think we are!!!” -agreed. So maybe these traits don’t apply to you but they do apply to take their time to personally attack people who are NOT into twilight (not saying you guys are personally attacking but other people have been known to).
Thanks for the great article. I totally agree with you.
It’s sad that the comments have degraded to the level of flame war over the past year. There are a number of important points in the article that anyone, regardless of their views on the books, should read and consider critically. Makes me wish civics classes were still mandatory. Perhaps then we’d have the skills to disagree with some civility.
I hated that book so much I could finnish the first one. I just had to drop kick it across the room.
Sry typo “couldn’t finish the first book”
Further more that book ruined the vampire myth for me. Vampires are undead, blood sucking monsters. NOT SPARKLY FAIRYS!!!!!! In my opinion Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the best vampire book period.
Gianna and Cristina –
LOL. I’d go on, in vain, about how completely idiotic your arguements are, but I have to go have dinner. If you read above you’ll see, since EVERYONE’S already made those arguments.
Ranting Writer –
Broke the canon ’cause she thinks she writes GOOD.
Silly Stephenie Moron…
anyway you guys are kind of amaetuer haters/lovers and your arguements are extremely overused so I’m going to sign out as the FINAL VETERAN OF THE TWILIGHTSUCKSNOTINAGOODWAY COMMENTS PAGE,
If any of the other old comments people wanna talk to me email rafal_94@y7mail.com my spam-email and I’ll get back to you
Hasn’t any one noticed that the books are fiction? People say that Vamps don’t sparkle. So have they had conversations with vampires then? It is fiction get over yourself.
5 reasons Twilight sucks
Twilight sucks, and I thank you
Why is Edward hanging around high-school girls, anyway? And what’s with the weird imprinting-thing with the werewolf and the half-vampire hellspawn baby? Wait, how does a vampire even begin to procreate? If the vampires are nigh-invincible, since they don’t die in the sunlight, are super fast and strong, and live forever, why haven’t they just conquered the whole planet? Also, giving a c-section with one’s teeth does not sound sanitary…or safe. The fact that Edward was watching Bella while she slept was also preeeeettyyy weird.
In other words, I personally don’t like the books very much, and I wish there were some rational explanations for some of the strange things that go on in those pages. Sure, it’s fiction, and crazy stuff happens in fiction, but in this case it feels like things are just being made up on the go. Especially the part with the whole vampire physiology and the weird half-human vampire baby thing and how it grows up all fast-like.
Anyway, great review!
Disclaimer: Even though I mean what I’m talking about, I would like to say that I am entitled to my opinion, so if you are going to bash me, you have to get in line because my sister has several years reserved on my head. Also I am sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors.
I personally thought that was a good review for the Twilight series. There are valid and well thought out points for the series in general. While I’m sure Twilight and all its sequels are good books for young readers, I feel that they seem to be quite ignorant of what is really going on.
Sometimes when you are immersed in a book, you might be too lazy to be aware of the big picture and what is behind that picture. While I know many people read this for entertainment, there are obsessed fans that really annoy me.
Many of you rabid fans tend to write in capslock with a large amount of shouting implied, not to mention quite a few misspelled words. I understand if you really like this series but getting obsessed over something in a negative way that might isolate yourself from society and reality are quite troublesome to yourselves, your friends, your family, and more than likely to the very thing you worship.
While I know that there are many sane fans of Twilight, I feel that the sane and intelligent people are being drowned by hordes of the more ignorant, rabid, and extreme fanatics. These kinds of people is what drives quite a few people to avoid reading Twilight lest they turn into what they percieve as mindless drones.
As I have said before, I know that not all Twilight fans are possibly insane fanatics, but this is getting out of hand.
Even though I have tried reading the first book, I could barely hold it properly because it scares me. It’s the kind of fear you get when you are doing something wrong or you feel like it’s something you don’t want to do. When I finally got around to trying to read it, my thoughts were like, “Why am I reading this? I know this is a library but this book isn’t all that great like one of my classmates said it was. I know it’s only the first chapter, but where’s the action?” and similar thoughts.
Since then, I have not really been able to understand why people obsess over it. I mean sure, Edward Cullen is a very “Adonis-like” character, but what else. Does he have the capability, no the potential to actually try to get along with Bella with something besides physical looks?
I know that playing the piano is nice but I would prefer it more to hang out doing normal stuff (i.e. watching a good movie, talking about random stuff, going to an arcade, and possibly pranking my little sister). Also another question: where is the talking about intererests, hobbies, and random stuff? I can understand that being one’s soulmate is nice and all, but that should mean that you and your “soulmate” are capable of hanging out.
A lot of people might be ignorant about what makes a healthy relationship. A basic healthy relationship is based on trust, respect, and/or precious memories (not necessarily romantic). Humans are social creatures that enjoy socializing and hanging out with one another, unless of course they have a social problem. Usually if you are interested in any relationship, respect is the cement that keeps it together.
However there are cases when there is no respect for a partner and despite that the partner will blindly stay in that relationship. I am talking about Edward and Bella’s relationship. Even though many fans claim it’s not abusive, it is.
While fans also say that Twilight is not anti-feminist, Meyer shows a lack of strong female characters. Bella is the type of person that would disgust me. It’s not her physical looks, it’s that she is so stupid and lacks any common sense. I doubt that Bella is what fans claim her to be, since if she had all of these positive traits, they went down the toilet along with any brain cells she had.
Feminism is basically saying that women are not weak, that they are the equals of men. This came to be because sexism meant that women were inferior to men and were only needed for taking care of the house and kids.
However in these current times, we know that women are perfectly capable of doing most things men can do, along with things that most men cannot do. The relationship between Edward and Bella changes from feminism to sexism because Bella is just letting Edward do what he wants with her. It’s more of a master-pet relationship than a relationship between a man and woman who care about each other.
Also, a lot of the logic of the series is flawed, Since Meyer claims that these vampires can be proven scientifically, I do not understand why they could possibly exist. If they are scientifically proven, there should be rational, coherent, and logical reasons as to why. Instead of the typical “supernatutal” explanation, Meyer gives her readers a flawed illogical explanation.
Lastly when a Twilight fan says that the book is fiction, if it’s fiction it shouldn’t have the power to take over your life. If you go through abrupt changes, then yes you have been affected. However there is hope if you can tell yourself none of it is real. The Twilight Saga is a four-part book series, only that and nothing more.
Thank you for your time,
iKira
P.S.
The name is an anagram, it is kind of easy so if you figure it out good for you.
This angers me greatly…why are there so few individuals who understand the purpose of Romeo and Juliet? All consuming love? Passion? It’s a PARODY. Please don’t talk about the wrong messages in the play…it pains me. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet to point out how stupid and foolish teenage infatuation was. It wasn’t an epic love story, it was a tragedy brought on by the foolish actions of two lust-struck teenagers. Don’t believe me? Romeo and Juliet fall in love the night they meet, Romeo because Juliet has a beautiful shape, Juliet because Romeo kisses “by the book”. Their reckless and thoughtless actions result in their own deaths and the deaths of two family members. This ^ is why the play is so famous.
Meyers fails. Who argues on the fact that her book is fiction–made for a delightful getaway–when the book has so many negative and subtle messages and is targeted at such an influential audience? I’d excuse Twilight as an adult novel, but does anyone notice the little Twihards running around like a cult? Dear lord, and Cullenism…read for enjoyment if you wish but please, please consider what subtle and not so subtle messages are being fed to these little girls. Superficiality, the opinion that one is not complete without a soulmate, child breeding (jacob and renesmee), encouraging lying to one’s parents for the sake of one’s “true love” and leaving them without thought for the promise of being with that “true love” fo eva and eva….
This book is labeled YA. It’s target audience is young, impressionable, teenage girls. I’m surprised there are mothers out there encouraging their children to read this.
-Rant is Done- -Apologizing for Length- -And Repetition- – :0 -
Thank you so much for this. You are my hero. I’m definitely linking this everywhere.
Question: Is there a good way to suck? I’ve never seen a Paris Hilton video, so I wouldn’t know.
Second, here’s a sad little trivia: Stephanie Meyer was an English major. D=
I totally agree with the Kellen Rice.
In fact, I agree so much I’m going to do a little rant of my own.
I see this a lot around the internet (On places like DeviantArt, Youtube, etc). “You Antis think you can shove your opinion down our throats, make fun of us and hurt our feelings, but it never works. We will stand our ground!”. Oh, how can I POSSIBLY say that this isn’t a hypocritical point of view?
Look around the internet. Look on Anti websites such as TwilightSucks.com. People are being ATTACKED by fans because they said that they didn’t like the books or movies or that they don’t worship Sir Sparkles and Cullenism (Oh yeah, it’s a RELIGION now). A young girl watched her little fish get stomped to death because she didn’t like Twilight. And WE’RE the ones who are shoving our opinions down THEIR throats?
Youtube, oh boy, the meeting place of the hardest Twilight fans you will, fortunately, never see. Look in the comments section of Anti-Twilight videos. The arguments between Antis and fans that you will find are completely contradictory to the quote above. I will now give you a lesson. Antis vs Twilight Arguments 101.
Twilight fans that get enraged by Anti videos or comments will argue their view with hilarious illogical points. They will often claim that “It’s a love story!” or “OMG itz just ficton u dont hav 2 anayse it!”. Most of the time they will get trounced by the logic of experienced Antis.
When things don’t go a fan’s way, they will begin to target personal things about the Anti (Looks, hobbies, love life, etc). They will claim that the Anti is “Fugly” and jealous because “EDWARD IS PERFECT I NEED MY EDWARD TO COME SWEEP ME OFF MY FEET!!!!!!!!1!!!11one!!111eleven!!!sparklesapple”. Don’t take these petty insults to heart if you ever find yourself in this situation. They are just the screeches of hopeless fangirls that will spend an eternity waiting for their “Edward” to come to them, and ignore all other boys that they meet.
End lesson.
“Edward Cullen has raised the standard for boyfriends everywhere”. I just had to laugh when some fan posted this comment on Youtube. Although it is funny, it is actually true in some places. Girls want their boyfriends to be just like Edward. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if a fan actually asked their boyfriend to sprinkle glitter all over himself so that he sparkles. There are engaged couples having Twilight themed weddings. I really feel sorry for these unfortunate couples. In ten years or so they’re going to look back upon their wedding day and realise just how idiotic it was.
Okay, now I’m going to start ranting about the REALLY BAD Twilight fans. I know I’m going to piss off more than a few people, but I don’t care. I need to get this off my chest.
First off, Cullenism. A few rabid, foam-mouthed fangirls were so affected by Stephanie Meyer’s poor attempt at a romance novel that they actually started a Religion based on the Twilight Saga. What did they name it? None other than Cullenism. Members of Cullenism worship Edward Cullen, the books, the movies and anything else that has any relation to Twilight. Tell a Cullenist anything and they can immediately relate it to Twilight. Yes, they are indeed that obssessed with it.
Last part of my rant, and also the one that I found most shocking. Whilst roaming the internet I discovered a page on an Anti website. In the page a pregnant woman shared her opinion of Twilight with fellow antis. A rabid fangirl (Probably a Cullenist) also discovered this page and left a comment claiming that which can only be put into words. “This bitch deserves to miscarry her little hellspawn babies for not liking Twilight”. I fixed the spelling because if I hadn’t then viewers would not have been able to read it. I was absolutely appalled and also horrified by the fan’s words. I can’t describe how the Anti must’ve felt when she read that comment. A few days after, the comment was deleted and the fan was banned.
Twilight is turning the minds of pubescent girls -and boys- into jelly. Their fragile minds are being manipulated by Stepenie Meyer’s tragic attempt at a romance novel that promotes Paedophillia, disobeying parents, putting one’s self in harm’s way, and all for the sake of being with their true love.
What is true love? True love is the feelings between two people that were destined to be together. They are a match made in heaven and their love shall be never-ending. Twilight has influenced pubescent girls into believing that their true love shall be like Edward. They wait for their Edward to come to them and marry them, without knowing that their true love could be right in front of them. Some girls will never find true love, and although Twilight gives them hope that their is someone out there for everyone, it also sets them up for disaster if they never find their true love.
If this is what Twilight does to these poor unfortunate people, then I will never EVER allow my kids to read the Twilight books or see the Twilight movies.
Forgive me for the length, but I had a lot that I needed to get off my chest. By the way, this is my opinion and my opinion only. This represents how I see Meyer, Twilight and it’s fans, not how others see them, so don’t come to me saying that I think that my opinion is the only one that matters. I respect fans’ opinions but I believe that this whole Twilight thing has gotten seriously out of hand.
Hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.
I agree completely. 100% right and if it wasn’t, the twilight kids wouldn’t get so wild up on it but I have to admit, kids are like that [I’m talking about the ones who are obviously kids or immature, not the ones who stated kindly ‘I don’t agree with this’]. Notice how the discussion was calm until a few twilight fans under different names showed up. That’s how you know the age range
I think it’s funny how the same people are coming on her with different names and defending Twilight. That is hilarious. By the way I’m not saying all the twilight fans are doing that, just some; I’d say those ones are about 12-15 and they prove your point.
The problem is the ones who read twilight think thats how it should be in real life. I can’t say how it is for other countries but the teens in the US are insane over it and think this is exactly how it should be in rl. Shame too but unfortunately its true. Teens [well the majority of them but not all] will believe anything nowadays, at least here in the US, not sure about other countries’ teens.
Twilight is one of my favorite books, and not just because of the crowd and popularity. infact, I loved it before all that. i’m not popular, I’m didn’t read it to become popular. I read it beacause it looked unique, and it was. I’m a ten year old girl, and my mom always told me I was mature from my age. Of course she would say that because she’s my mom, but still…
My mom died a year or two ago. I noticed that she was in the middle of one of these books. It was New Moon. I decided to pick it up from where she left off, where Jacob was kissing her. I read the whole book on. Then, I begged my dad to go get me the other two books from the series and we went to the movies to see the movie. My mom already had Twilight book 1. You see, I loved twilight because of the style it was written in, the plot, Jacob, Bella, and more. I loved it because it was funny to laugh about how weird Edward was.
I belive that life shouldn’t be wasted with writting about the things you hate. My mom was 33 when she died of breat cancer. You live a short life. I think you shouldn’t waste your life. Have you read Twilight? Yes, there are better vampire books out their. But who cares really? I have come across so many people saying ” I don’t like it because I am wasting my time bacause there are better books about vampires.” but hey, I’m not talking about the other vampire books on those shelves.
I’ve also seen things like “Twilight and the sage sucks because of the cast Stephenie Meyer chose.” well, I may be too young to know this, but I don;t think Steph was the one that picked out the cast. Besides, they look the most like those characters. Sure, Kristen slacked. She didn’t add exitment like the rest. Sure, Robert is really ugly without the make-up. Who really cares about looks?
When I came across this page, I didn’t feel like “whatever who really cares their losers.” I actually came across this, and I accept you opinion. So please, oh please, don’t be mad at me… okay? And when I become an author, I will respect yours, too.
Yeah, I know I’m too young. Yeah, I know that this may of not made sence. But that was my mind.
What I don’t understand is Twilight’s continued popularity when people who don’t like the series are articulate on the subject and people who do like the series tend towards the grammatically incorrect over/under capitalised youtube commenter type. If you don’t know what I mean, there are more than a few examples of each below.
I’m not saying don’t read the books. I, like Kellen, read them out of morbid curiosity and found they were (definitely) not for me. But I do grant that I could see the appeal of them for people who don’t read books for love of books but rather as a medium to a story/fantasy world. There are many of you and it’s not a disparagement.
But ultimately I cannot keep silent when I hear these works being called “good” books. Shocked as you all may be by this I’m afraid “good” is not a term of opinion. There are certain criteria, some particular to genre, some universal, that must be met or attempted in order to merit that praise of “Good”. Twilight, sadly, meets very few of these.
Twilight may be entertaining. It may be romantic. But it is not Good. So to all the self proclaimed “Twilighters” out there I say, keep guilty pleasures guilty.
Ohmigosh, you are SO right. I actually gave Twilight three chances – I read the first three books, and by the fourth one came out, I almost started crying. I didn’t know it was the last one, and I was like, “When is it going to be OVER?!” It became instantly popular three years ago when I was just in seventh grade. All the girls were reading it and gushing about how ‘hot’ Edward Cullen or Jacob Black was. It seemed interesting, so I gave it a chance. And what a waste of time it was. Bella has absolutely no personality, which is a definite no-no in a book. Edward Cullen is the same, so I guess it makes sense why they’re the ‘perfect’ couple.
Poor Jacob though – To like Bella, out of all the girls in the world. That’s really sad, and besides Alice, he was the only character I liked.
I honestly don’t get how it’s a hit. All the girls won’t stop talking about it, fantasizing about how ‘wonderful’ it would be to be in a relationship with a ‘hot, perfect’ vampire and play the damsel in distress all the time. “I’ll let him bite me anytime!” They would say, and I would have to try so hard not to barf. Like, ew.
Yes, he sparkles in the sun. That’s SO interesting. He’s perfect! He’s pale! He has supernatural strength! He’s so smart, it’s unbelievable! He ONLY sucks animal’s blood – so of COURSE he’s not a murderer!
Oh, shut up if you’re a Twilight fan. You’re entitled to your opinion, and so am I, but unlike you guys, I won’t start SCREAMING and saying, ‘HE’S HOT, SO THERE!’
Like that’s a reason.
Vampires are ruined. It’s horrible now. I used to love vampires when I was little, but anytime anyone thinks ‘vampire’ they think of ‘Twilight’. It’s all about pale, ugly, creepy guys who we all love because they’re HOT and they care about their girl SO much.
On the other hand, the movie was decent – Sure, the guys caked on the makeup and Robert was ugly, but hey, he’s a good ACTOR, and that’s all that matters. The cast made the movie watchable and enjoyable, so I can’t wait for New Moon. I hope Kristen Stewart will continue to portray Bella as a girl with a personality.
kudos for the view !!!!
[…] The most popular article in the history of Blast and its dozen or so blogs is and remains titled “Twilight sucks… And not in a good way.” […]
First off I like the twilight books. They are self-indulgent fantasies.
I’ve enjoyed some of the criticisms of the books (cracked.com was especially hilarious although self-servingly inaccurate).
The books are not terribly well written but I wasn’t looking for the great american novel in reading them. This stuff is brain candy. And brain candy doesn’t warrant the degree of passionate hatred and debate that it has sparked. You’ve poured too much of your impassioned intellectual critique into this article.
The Twilight Saga simply doesn’t warrant it.
An aside in defense of Stephenie Meyer – the woman is no Jane Austen but that doesn’t mean she deserves to be maligned so passionately. The woman got rich writing escapist romantic fantasy. Don’t resent her so much. It’s unattractive.
So… I went through as many comments as I could stomach, and one thing held true; fans of the series don’t know how to type. At all. Which is fitting, since the entire series was useless tripe.
I read all four of them, did it in 2 days. Bang bang bang, no stops in between. What I saw was exactly what this blog post laid out. Unhealthy abusive relationship, anti-feminist ideals, and Mormon morality.
The first book? Entertaining. The second, annoying. The third I can barely even remember, that’s how good it was. The fourth was truly the worst thing I’d ever read, and I’ve read some really terrible books.
But the thing that bothered me the most? Sparkling vampires. There was a big WTF to that. Vampires don’t sparkle, and they don’t love teenaged human girls (unless its for eating). Vampires are savage creatures of the night that feast on unsuspecting humans. What happened to real vampires?
I despise this series, not only for all of its ridiculous religious and anti-feminist notions, but for the direction it’s taking the paranormal/fantasy genre in. People are going to want to make the ‘next’ Twilight, and that I cannot abide.
Girls, there are far better books out there. Go to your local library and pick up something good. Stephanie Meyer is one of the worst authors, and you’ll eventually come to understand that. R L Stein’s YA novels were lightyears ahead of this trash 10 years ago.
Also, stop comparing J.K. Rowling to Stephanie Meyer. Rowling actually knows how to write.
People who are upset about the way she expressed her opinion, or who don’t agree with her opinion: Stop bitching and go write your own damn article defending your different point of view. You have a right to go out and post your pro-Twilight series opinions too. So do it and quit whining in the comments.
<3
Hopefully the whole ‘Nessie can’t exist’ thing was settled, but if not, I’d like to add what I haven’t already seen:
Nessie grew to term in three weeks. You realize that Bella’s stomach cells would not be able to reproduce enough to keep up? She would be split in half.
Sperm are cells, not fluids. Yes, you need sperm in semen to procreate. Venom is a fluid, and kills cells. Sperm dies in about three days, and needs to be kept at a certain (high) temperature, or it will mutate and become impotent, and Twilight vampires are really, really cold. Besides, to create sperm at all, the testes have to perform mitosis. Hear that? Testes frozen in time cannot perform mitosis. No sperm.
If you have a difference in chromosome number, you cannot reproduce together. There will be a chromosome or two without a matching one. If this is the case, the baby is either automatically aborted by the body or mutated (Down’s Syndrome is caused by an extra chromosome).
If vampire males can reproduce, they need mitosis. The thing is, to reproduce, females don’t need to undergo mitosis. Females are born with all the ova they will ever have. They just need to ovulate. It still stands that they cannot carry the baby to term–however, they should be more able to conceive than the males by any stretch of the imagination.
Also, do you think cats could reproduce with cat-sized rats? No? Well, I don’t know why. They probably share about as much DNA as humans and vampires. Also, humans are vampire prey.
Vampires sparkle (?!) because their skin cells are ‘hard and reflective like crystal’ (quote taken from Smeyer’s website). Wouldn’t they shine in artificial light? Or light that comes through clouds? If you have a diamond on a cloudy day, it is not completely dull. It is still shiny.
And have you ever heard of a little thing called cellular respiration? In short, it’s how every living thing on the planet obtains energy, by transforming oxygen and sugar into ATP, which is basically cell food. Cellular respiration is the only purpose for the respiratory system, the main purpose of the digestive system, and one of two purposes for the circulatory system–the other being the immune system, which Twilight vampires don’t need. Yet Twilight vampires require blood, but don’t need to eat or breathe. Is leaving it at that sufficient?
Also, I can negate the whole ‘it’s fantasy’ argument easily. Smeyer herself says that while her werewolves are mostly fantasy (understandable–while vampires are laughably easy to make make sense and follow most lore, werewolves are incredibly hard), her vampires are mostly based off of science. And there you have it folks. Smeyer has rendered herself defenseless to any and all inconsistencies being thrown at her.
Take middle school biology, Smeyer. I’m an eighth grader, and I know this stuff.
I am a huge Twilight fan, I am not going to lie about it. I, like Emma above, found myself wanting my own “Edward” and wondering why I was not able to have it. Then I brought myself back to reality and realized that everyone has their own “Edward,” just in different forms, and not quite so “perfect.”
The thing that was most bothersome to me is realizing the age group these books were written for. For older girls/women, I have no problem with the books because they/we are at an age where we know and understand that it is fiction and unrealistic. But, when my 10-year-old asked if she could read them I was shocked and immediately told her no. She has continued to ask and I have yet to give in and just keep hoping she doesn’t find them at her school library.
It is extremely scary to me that girls so young are interested in such things because I am not sure they will understand the fiction of the book. Because of this are we are going to have thousands and thousands of adult women in 10 years who refuse to get married because they cannot find someone exactly like “Edward?” I do not want either of my daughters to live like that. Besides the relationship being an unhealthy one, it is an unrealistic one.
While I enjoyed the books and have read them all the way through more than once, I feel that as mothers we should be aware and preventative with what might happen to our daughters if they believe in an “Edward” relationship.
I am a huge twilight fan, I am a teenager, I found the twilight series in my schools library, but they do have year 9+ on them, so i think that is about right, but i think that you are right to not want your 10 year old to read them, i’m not completely obsessed with the whole twilight thing, but i do like it a lot. I do have a boyfriend called edward lol, i don’t think he’s anything like ‘edward cullen’ apart from his name is similar, but i’m not going out with him for this reason at all, i suppose i thought having a perfect boyfriend like edward cullen and everything would be great, but now i’ve actually got someone in my life i’ve realised personally that this is better than some fantasy character from a book, that will never happen. lol
First of all I am a lover of the classics (Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, etc.), and I will admit that the Twilight Series is not the most brilliantly written. However, I must say that most of you are underestimating the love between Bella and Edward. It is much more complex and intense than you average “puppy-love”. They are both wise beyond their years (Edward quite literally). And Bella, although self-conscious and insecure, is strong, intelligent, and independent, even though she is fiercely devoted to Edward. I think that Stephenie Meyer herself pretty much sums up the feminist argument…
“When I hear or read all of theories about Bella being an anti-feminist character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else’s real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it’s a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I am. Also, she’s in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don’t think so.
In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can’t do something solely because she’s a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. “You can’t be an astronaut, because you’re a woman. You can’t be president because you’re a woman. You can’t run a company because you’re a woman.” All of those oppressive “can’t”s.
One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women’s choices. That feels backward to me. It’s as if you can’t choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can’t have in order to be a “real” feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.
Do I think eighteen is a good age at which to get married? Personally—as in, for the person I was at eighteen—no. However, Bella is constrained by fantastic circumstances that I never had to deal with. The person she loves is physically seventeen, and he’s not going to change. If she and he are going to be on a healthy relationship footing, she can’t age too far beyond him. Also, marriage is really an insignificant commitment compared to giving up your mortality, so it’s funny to me that some people are hung up on one and not the other. Is eighteen too young to give up your mortality? For me, any age is too young for that. For Bella, it was what she really wanted for her life, and it wasn’t a phase she was going to grow out of. So I don’t have issues with her choice. She’s a strong person who goes after what she wants with persistence and determination.”
im a big vamp fan….so the only reason i actually took a look at this book was becuz i thought its a vamp book….well turned out its jus some cheesy..trashy…romatic chic book…not even a good one…….
personally i think peole who enjoy the book r mostly girls…teenage girls….naive…not with much brain…..theyll realize dat when they get a bit older….hopefully…..
and btw u can totally guess the story…….
Lila—
Meyer, as a really poor writer, has this problem where she *tells* us that Bella and Edward’s love is complex and that they’re “wise beyond their years” and that Bella is a strong, independent, intelligent young woman, while failing to actually ever *show* them being any of these things. I am not prepared to accept that a boy and girl who I can see quite plainly would never have looked at each other twice if he wasn’t really pretty and she didn’t smell delicious have the most pure, most true love imaginable. I’m not going to accept that Bella and Edward are intelligent when the pair of them act like total morons for four books. I find it difficult to pretend to myself that Bella is independent when her behaviour would actually have her diagnosed as having full-blown Dependent Personality Disorder. If I told myself these things were true I’d have to be rewriting the entire series in my head.
Yeah, I think some of Meyer’s comments are a reasonably accurate description of what I personally consider feminism to be. So? It’s completely irrelevant to the Twilight series. Bella does not make her own choices. Most of them Edward makes for her—where she’s applying for university, when she’s going to visit her mother, what friends she can see and when she can see them, what car she’s going to drive. If Bella opposes him at all, she does it without letting him know she’s doing it, and all the while fears him finding out. Any decision she does manage to make without Edward telling her what to do is still done with the consideration of how he will react and how it will affect her relationship with him at the forefront of her mind. If you can honestly read, to give one example of many, the scene in Eclipse where Bella is all but crapping her pants at the thought of what Edward will say about her sneaking out without his permission to see her best friend, and still call her a strong, independent feminist role model who feels entirely free to choose to do what she wants, there’s really very little I can say.
I think that this article is so true! I have read the Twilight saga twice so it’s clear that I love the books but it’s true it’s not written the best it could be. They did suck me into the story but some of the characters really annoyed me. I think that Bella, as said in the article is too perfect pretending to be not perfect and Edward is this controlling over-reacting mess of jealousy. I did like the books and would suggest them to people but i would tell them to be prepared for annoyance.
Oh well, excuse me, but : some one here read these books ? because… by what I see, were not all who commented here that read … and, woow . I reeeeally, reeeeally think this is something rude and stupid .
WHY ARE YOU ‘DESTROYING’ (using words) A BOOK, IF YOU NEVER READ IT ? AND WHAAAAT IS THE PROOOBLEM IF ALL TEENAGER LIIIKE OF SOMETHING ? C’MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON GUUUYS ! Nobody here has never been a teenager ? anyone here ever experienced a moment that would very much like something that was fashionable ? WHAT IS THE PROBLEM ? and by the way, the book IS VERRY COOL . if it was not a cool thing, the world would not be in crisis with vampires and werewolves . please, NOT HYPOCRITE !! oh, yeah, I believe that this is just jealous . and if someone like a ridiculous thing (from your point of view), IS THE LIFE OF IT, YOU DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT .
AND to the publisher’s blog, the matter was really good. you write very well, sorry I do not agree with you. but, instead of doing what you are doing, because it does not matter one more … “creative”?
só mais uma coisa: vão se fuder . vocês são ridículos . achei pura escrotagem, pura inveja na boa, não leve a mal . PORRA, e o que a autora te a ver se o livro dela está fazendo sucesso e ela está multimilionária ? é o trabalho dela, ela fez bem feito e ganhou uma recompensa . CARALHO VEI , porque vocês esculacharam ela assim ? na boa, acho que não precisava disso .
então,
HEY FUCK YOU ALL .
oooh ! and these books were written FOR teenagers . Was the target audience of the author. Theeen, again, I repeat: what is the problem, and what you have to do with the lives of others?
A LOT OF HYPOCRITES.
and I’m sorry for the language mistakes ;p
okay so i think the twilight saga is great..i may only be 13 but i can have opinions.okay adults are always trying toget us toread right? so this great series comes out and you just put this book downlike we are doing something wrong by reading them..does that make sense? no..i don’t think that people should call us “morons” just because we read a book thats stupid. i see nothing wrong with this series..i mean its suspenceful with action and a hint of romance..i mean who dosen’t like that? you say that they are feeding little girls or teens the wrong things in this book..HELLO! its fictional not real okayno sparkly vampires no werewolves and noaverage girl in between allof that!! that annoys me that you think we are gonna go jump off a cliff cause we are depressed or because we are trying to think of our boyfriends..nooo.. and why can’t teens read it because bella jumped off a cliff or because there are no scary, gruesome, bloodsucking, killer vampires in them like previous vampire books? i mean really..i think not so give us a break please..hey i may be 13 but i am entitled to an opinion
thankyou..
i totally agree with you somebrasilion..this book is written fo TEENS so that means that adults dont really understand what we understand because teens are not going that deep into the book like you adults do obviously because i,a 13 year old, see nothing wrong with it like some of you peopel who are probably adults..so thank you somebody who agrees with me on this subject
SomebraSilian, as far as I can tell from your post, you’re suggesting that Twilight haters haven’t read the books (we have), that we’re jealous (we’re not). So that’s that bit sorted.
The problem with *anyone* liking something like Twilight is that it teaches people that abuse is romantic. Kellen Rice explains it quite extensively in her article. I suggest you read it.
cutiepie—in what way does putting down a stylistically and thematically dreadful book not make sense? It doesn’t matter in the least if the book is fictional. Take away the sparklepires and you still have an abusive relationship which is being portrayed as something romantic. The fact that you see nothing wrong with a series in which stalking, mind games and controlling behaviour are portrayed as good things and becoming catatonic and then suicidal is portrayed as a healthy reaction to a break-up makes it clear that you’re entirely incorrect when you say you’re not going to be affected by it.
As for your comment about the target audience, way to miss the point. No, diehard fans of the series aren’t reading deeply into it at all. They’re reading Bella harping on about how romantic and amazing and perfect Edward is, and reading other characters telling Bella how decent and clever and insightful she is, and thinking that they *are* these things, when a closer look shows that they’re really, really not. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE PROBLEM IS.
And trust me, there are plenty of adults who are just as duped by this book, and plenty of teens who are disgusted by it.
I only read the first book (my young female cousins were all into it) and I was appalled by the neediness of the Bella character. There are so many people writing such good fantasy out there, it’s a shame.
A friend sent me this. I thought it was pretty cool. Unfortunately you only get a few chapters a week. But if you like the genre …
http://www.thedarksidechronicles.com
Kellen Rice pwns all.
Thanks for writing this, made my day.
The fact is that no matter if twilight is fiction. do you think the book is setting a bad example to society? for teenagers and what? my point is this. if you have a teenage daughter (imagine having to grandchildren) and do not want it to be influenced by this saga, you take care of it. if you want to be a CULT (or goes through one), be! and be happy! let others read what they want! read is a great thing! we should all read, and a lot!
Now, when teenagers “evolve” and realize that the twilight CAN BE sucks, good for him! but if it grow up, and keep thinking twilight it’s a great book, good for him TOO! You know ? what is the problem ? fuck off guys !
well … and about the girls who are like “edward cullen is the perfect guy, i love him, robert panttison is like edward, OOH I LOVE YOU ROB blablabla …”,(I even know a few, haha) but the point is this … for those who’ve read the book knows that Edward is a super romantic guy, loving and wonderful. and the thing he most wants is to make bella happy. what is the dream of all girls. BUT NOT JUST TEENAGERS’S DREAMS. many adults also enjoy the book. and they remain the businessman, or lawyer who is just wanting to have a edward cullen for it. SERIOUS. WHAT WOMEN DO NOT WANT A MAN THAT DOES IT ALL to make you happy?
understand? this is the point, is where I’m coming!
and the author. WTF? I still think it is jealousy. because the book COULD NOT MAKE SUCCESS? because it is bad and poorly written? and so? what counts is the story! is possible that no one learned it. what matters is what goes. OKOK, the book is not just things “exemplary”, but the magic of the book. and that is what this book is for everyone, and for each one. as well as a poem, can be written in a napkin, with illegible letters, but what he will say is much more important.
and of course all teenagers would envy of Isabella Swan. she has two beautiful guys, in love with her, and are able to do it all just to let her happy. ONCE AGAIN: SOMEBODY, SOME WOMAN DONT WANT A MAN, OR BETTER, TWO MANS IN LOVE (LIKE EDWARD E JACOB) WITH HER ?
well … I think I’ve said too much … but keep saying
A LOT OF HYPOCRITES .
Oh I forgot: hannah, when I said “some one here read these books? Because? By what I see, were not all who commented here that read” I was not talking with you. I mean, I’m talking with those who do not read. and if you read it … just think before ;D haha
dã
sombraSilian—
I have read the books, and Edward Cullen is not “super romantic, loving and wonderful”; he is a condescending, controlling, psychotic stalker. This is not romantic and it is horrifying that a generation of girls are being taught that it is. It isn’t that Twilight is stylistically a disgrace to literature, it’s that it’s dangerous, and it is not good for anyone to believe that a relationship like Edward and Bella’s is one we should aspire to.
Why would we be jealous of Stephenie Meyer? If this was a jealousy thing, why wouldn’t we target the far more successful J.K. Rowling? The storyline in Twilight is just as terrible as everything else; it’s Bella and Edward gazing at each other and pretending that their superficial obsession with each other is love, with supporting characters thrown in for the sole purpose of illustrating how special they both are and a few wildly inconsistent “plot” details that Meyer tacked on when she realised that NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED throughout the whole of her books. Twilight haters aren’t jealous. They think Twilight is a godawful series. Deal with it.
And no, thankfully, there are quite a lot of sane teenagers who are not envious of a whiny, dependent, idiotic doormat who falls for men who emotionally abuse her.
Finally, you clearly don’t have the slightest idea what the word “hypocrites” means, since you haven’t used it in the correct context once. I’d suggest you leave words you don’t understand well alone—Stephenie Meyer certainly should have done.
TWILIGHT DOES NOT SUCK! IT ROCKS! SUCK THAT!
This was fantastic. The sexism was the first thing that came into my mind when I began to read the book. Also, have you noticed how even the humor, not just the romance, is cheesy? Or is that just so inevitable for a novel of this caliber that you didn’t want to waste time explaining? Haha! You’re an amazing critic. I can’t wait to hear more from you.
all i can say is wow!! 2 kellen and 2 all d rest of u against twiligth .ya’ll r truly amazin
ok so i may not be a twihard but i’m not a ‘twi-hater’ either. i am in my late teens and i happen to like d series. i like it alot actually. really and truly i dont c anything wrong wit it…i read it, enjoyed it and continued wit my life as normal. i like edward but now i dont automatically wish my bf was like him…he’s quite d opposite actually lol and i love him jus d same. really ppl i dont think young girls who read this stuff suddenly think that every boy must b like d perfect edward for them 2 date or like…come on…give them more credit than that.these girls r young and immature…they’re having fun wit it so let them…not because they put up something sayin ‘edward raises d standards 4 all future bfs’ mean they live by that rule and expect real boys 2 b like edward. they want something 2 obsess over, ok. d bk is romantic, edward is ideal…they like that.like they say-braincandy. they’ll get over it so focus on some other more important world issues ppl not over a group of girls who’ll grow out of it in a few yrs.plz.ur wasting ur time. A generation of girls is not lost because of twilight…not even stephanie meyer has that power.
another thing…this feminist sexism thing thats comin out of d bk proves that u ‘educated’ ppl truly want something 2 talk about. seriously? if thats wat u get when u read twilight ur sad. bella cooking 4 her father, playing d damsel in ‘distress’, kellen:’can barely take 2 steps without needin a male to rescue her’??! THATS sickenin. like someone said in a comment b4 u ppl modify d definition of sexism and feminism by tryin 2 project wat u want 4 all girls and women onto them. u defeat d purpose and carryin us back to that place where we cant make a choice of our own without us being ‘disempowered’ if d choice doesnt suit ur fancy. edward is overprotective…that proves that he and d relationship isnt perfect so u contradict urselves…no relationship in real life is perfect…and o yes i forgot…’she all but craps her pants at d thought that edward would find out’. if a man had said ‘now she’ll kill me if she found out’ it’d b a-ok but if a girl says ‘ooooh!! he’s gonna b so mad!!’ she’s oppressed and emotionally abused!??? try helpin women who feel trapped in real abusive situations rather than bashin on an innocent fictional bk…o and while ur at it…do get a life.
Twilight Neutral
But sickened by all d senseless bashin
reallyppl???? —
Wow, well, that was barely coherent. Extreme text talk is always a great way to convince people to take you seriously; well done.
Honestly, your post isn’t neutral; it’s an example of yet another fan missing the point. Edward is not an unattainable ideal. He is everywhere in real life, in the form of stalkers, emotional abusers and psychopaths. How you can actually read comments like “Edward has raised the standards for boyfriends” and *still* not believe that this series is having a hand in shaping young girls’ ideas of romance is beyond me. Are you in denial, or just not very bright?
I don’t know what the hell *your* idea of sexism and feminism is but I can assure you that it isn’t Twilight haters who are modifying it. Bella doesn’t make choices. Edward makes them for her. She doesn’t want to drive home with him? Tough, he wants her to and he’ll drag her to his car if she tries to escape. She doesn’t want to apply to a certain university? Fine, he’ll forge her signature on the application. She wants to see her best friend? It’s not happening unless Edward wants that, and if she doesn’t like it, he’ll disable her car and have his sister keep her under house arrest. She’s said she doesn’t want to go somewhere? Okay, then he’ll go over her head and get her dad involved so she has no choice but to go. And she’ll never oppose any of this, because he’s always got her best interests at heart, just like both abusers and those who are abused claim in real life. There’s no modification or projection on our part going on at all; this stuff is all right there, being frighteningly obvious.
At what point in my comment about Bella’s fear of Edward’s reaction to her seeing Jacob did I say that it would be okay if it was a man who was scared of a woman in this situation? Bella, upon seeing Edward’s car behind her (you know, in the scene where he tailgates her all the way to Angela’s house for no other reason than to intimidate her and make sure he knows *exactly* where she is, ever the expression of true love), is genuinely terrified of Edward’s reaction to her doing something completely innocent and reasonable. Never does she think “How dare he treat me this way?” She describes herself as “chicken”, too afraid to “face” him, and on her way to see him she describes herself as “jumpy”, “anxious”, “nervous”, as though *she’s* the one in the wrong even though she is SEEING. HER. BEST. FRIEND. and Edward has absolutely *no* right to stop her doing this. It’s a scene that clearly illustrates the level of control Edward has over her. It would be as much of a problem if their roles were reversed. It’s still abuse and control no matter whether the man or the woman is in the position of power. Only at no point in the Twilight series is Bella the one with the power. She’s the archetypal submissive little woman the entire way through.
Women in real abusive situations? Like, women who are being stalked? Women whose partners stop them seeing their friends? Women whose partners mess with their heads? Whose partners belittle them? Women in relationships with people like Edward? Hey, how about we try to stop more women getting into this situation by opposing something that insists that these things are romantic? Or, in conclusion: yes, really.
ESTÁ BEM, não vou ficar discutindo com esse tipo de pessoa, metida a superior ao resto do mundo . parece que você não lê as coisas direito . e aproposito, sou uma psicologa formada, trabalho a 10 anos nessa área e bom, gosto muito de twilight . não soa exatamente como você o descreveu aqui, hannah . tenho duas filhas adolescentes . CREPÚSCULO NUNCA INFLUENCIOU ELAS DE UMA FORMA RUIM .
ah, e edward não é um cara romantico ? pode não ser pra você que já é velha e não sente mais o “tesão” da paixão de quando se é jovem . se você leu atentamente e sabe tanto assim sobre crepúsculo “dona hannah metida a superior”, você sabe que uma das falas mais conhecidas do livro e do filme é quando edward diz para bella: você é minha vida agora, bella .
isso, faz qualquer teenager “pirar” .
mas não vou discutir .
porque TODO MUNDO tem que ler livros que tenha realmente um conteudo (não que twilight não tenha) culturistico, ou que seja escrito por grandes autores .
mas, não podemos ler nada que desafie a imaginação (isso foi ironico) .
OK does not I’ll be arguing with such people, stuck-up than the rest of the world. seems you do not read things right. and aproposito, I am a psychologist trained, working 10 years in this area and good, I like twilight. does not sound exactly as you described here, hannah. I have two teenage daughters. THEY NEVER INFLUENCED TWILIGHT OF A BAD WAY.
oh, and edward is not a romantic guy? may not be for you that is old and no longer feel “horny” the passion when you’re young. if you read carefully and know so much about Twilight “hannah housewife stuck-up than, you know that one of the most famous speeches of the book and the movie is when edward tells bella: you are my life now, bella.
it makes any teenager “go crazy”.
but I will not discuss.
because everyone has to read books that really has a content (not that twilight has not) culturist, or is written by great authors.
but we can not read anything that challenges the imagination (that was ironic).
To be blunt twilght sucks tommy lee’s balls. The book has no redeaming value other than wating hours reading the millions of pages of a less than mediocre novel. stephanie meyer is a complete failure at writing. I am in the eighth grade and I have written better essays for social studies class than this failure. I’m not great but I know a million people who can write a story just as terrible as her’s. The next problem is that rob pattinson is a douchebag. He tries to act all modest and calm but he is just making himself look like an even bigger dick that before he opened his stupid mouth!!! And does anyone else think that what those two have is a healthy relationship?! It is telling people my age that you can attempt suicide just because you want to be with someone who watches you sleep! ALL NIGHT!!!!! And what is all this crap that twilight has outsold harry potter? IT IS WRONG AND THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT ARE THESE BATSH*T CRAZY FANS!!!!! The fans are friggin’ maniacs on crack. Its pretty dang sad when anyone with a computer and more ideas than common sense or writing ablility can slap together what they call a novel! Who should I be more mad at? stephanie meyer? rob patinson? the people who published the book? the batsh*t crazy fans on crack? I am so fuming I don’t even know who to be more mad at!!! Also “EDWARD” IS A RAPIST!!! One more thing before I go if you’re wondering why I dind’t capitalize edward, stephanie meyer, rob patinson, or twilight it is because they are such a failure that they don’t deserve to have their names/ tiles properly cpitalized!! I do not respect them enough to do so. The bottom line? twilight sucks. Plain and simple. It will end up being like titanic. It will earn a lot of money, be forgot about, and then years later tennage girls will say, “oh my god. I can’t believe I used to like that.” If you are a twilight fan I am glad you took the time to read this and possibly get a wake up call.
somebraSilian—
I don’t see why you being a psychologist is even the slightest bit relevant. Although, at what point in the psychologist’s training you expect me to believe you had were you taught that an ad hominem attack is an effective way to persuade people round to your way of thinking? Because, you know… it isn’t.
I didn’t “read it right”, huh? Let’s see: Edward follows Bella without her knowledge, climbs into her room to watch her sleep, leaves her near-suicidal after telling her he doesn’t love her anymore, blames *her* for the consequences because she believed him, forbids her from seeing her friend, disables her car, keeps her under house arrest, messes with her head by alternately telling her that she should stay away from him and that she can’t survive without his protection, wants to forcibly abort her baby and offers her to Jacob to have sex with without her knowledge or permission. These things all happen. These things are all abusive. These things are all portrayed as romantic in the books. Therefore, the books portray abusive behaviour as romantic. There’s really not much to get wrong there.
I’m eighteen. I’m younger than you if your story about being a trained psychologist is correct. It probably isn’t, since your post is more in line with the comments of thirteen-year-old Twitards who aren’t able to logically defend these books and have to resort to petty insults, but that doesn’t change the fact that your assessment of me is dramatically wrong. “Housewife”? “Stuck-up?” Please. There’s nothing that indicates that these things are true of me in my comments. I’m a teenage girl who appreciates competently written books which promote healthy messages, and who actually doesn’t go crazy for a guy who is such an obsessive, dependent loser that he has no life whatsoever outside me. “Housewife” and “Stuck-up” aptly describe Bella Swan, though, and the suggestion that she and Edward are remotely passionate or “horny” is hilarious. It’s the most boringly chaste and cold (pun intended) relationship I’ve ever read about.
And oh, look at how you’ve contradicted yourself—teenage girls aren’t influenced by Twilight (because, if you even have two teenage daughters, of course they must be representative of *all* teens) and yet they all go crazy for Edward? On the one hand you’re trying to tell me I’m wrong to believe that people will fall for Edward Cullen; on the other hand you’re suggesting I’m strange for *not* falling for him. Do you see how that doesn’t work at all?
Are you seriously suggesting that Twilight challenges the imagination? Just… read a good book. Please.
There are young people in the world consuming media involving violence, racism, gun crime etc. and these people go out and commit crimes because of what they have watched on tv or read in a book. That is what is important, that is what we need to be worrying about. There are always going to be a group of obsessive people who choose to create these ridiculous ideas just to be different, but Twilight is a fictional book and fans know this. Think about it, if twilight fans see Edward Cullen as charming, sweet and aspire to be in a relationship with someone like this they aren’t going to go out with someone controlling and aggressive because of the book are they! You’re pathetic, really, you are
katie—
“There are young people in the world consuming media involving violence, racism, gun crime etc. and these people go out and commit crimes because of what they have watched on tv or read in a book. That is what is important, that is what we need to be worrying about.”
There are a whole range of issues with this statement. First, the implication that anywhere near as many people are going out and committing gun crime because they read a book in which the protagonist shot someone as there are people who think that Edward Cullen is a romantic ideal is ludicrous. Second, you highlight “racism” as an important issue… but sexism isn’t? You brush off sexism in mainstream media as a “ridiculous” idea “created” by “obsessive” people in order to “be different”. Um, what? Racism and sexism are as bad as each other. Third, if you can find a piece of mainstream media which explicitly promotes violence or racism that hasn’t caused uproar, let us know. I don’t think you’ll find that you can. We have a mainstream piece of media right here which explicitly promotes abusive behaviour in relationships—and you don’t think that’s a problem? Of course it is.
“Think about it, if twilight fans see Edward Cullen as charming, sweet and aspire to be in a relationship with someone like this they aren’t going to go out with someone controlling and aggressive because of the book are they!”
I’m going to have to juggle my list of least logical defences of the Twilight series ever about a bit. I mean, really, this makes no sense AT ALL. If Twilight presents controlling and aggressive behaviour as charming and sweet, which it does, and fans believe that it is charming and sweet and aspire to be in a relationship with someone like that, which they do, then they are aspiring to be in a relationship with someone who is aggressive and controlling, and yes, it’s because of the book. That you think it’s “pathetic” that this worries people is worrying in itself.
I feel truly sorry for the people who think this is a good example. And for you, Silian. If you don’t care about other people, you will die old and alone.:D And even if you don’t, there will be a place for you. . . I personally am not a fan. I started reading the series, but had to stop so that I could return the books to my friend in one piece. It is all fake love!!!! Even those of you who don’t believe what I do, listen to this. “Love is responsibility.” –Pope JP2 I truly believe this. If you love someone, are you going to let them do things that will get them hurt? Of course not!! Go ahead and try to make me sound bad, but you’re only going to make the argument turn against you. Ciao!
P.S. Bram is SO better than Steph.
Dude, all our past comments have been deleted! A shame, our debates were pretty good. The old gang were really funny too. All the anti-Twilight veterans are sort of over it now, though we’re all still fighting the good fight.
BEST. ARTICLE. EVER.
Marry me?! You have eloquently said what I have been trying to explain to my friends for months. THANK YOU.
I enjoyed this article because it answered some of my questions about why this series is popular. I especially loved the comment section. Why read Twilight when you can read through a heated discussion about why Twilight sucks. *shrugs* Perhaps thats a pleasure of a different kind though.
My heart/mind goes out to the angry feminist who are angry about sexism. To them I would pose that for the majority, sexism is not so much taught as it is natural. If you have a mind, male and female alike: ours is a different kind of people, we are separate from the lot animalistic lunacy we see in others. To what group of people are you posting your arguments? Those that can understand already know, while those that don’t could never appreciate your articulate thoughts. Of course I mean your ability to reason, not your facts as that is what I visited this site for.
*drowsy* I wanted to offer my words of comfort to the women who are fighting against sexism. I think the whole thing is beyond help, so try and understand that it’s not women like you who are the majority. The same is true for men like myself. I think we have political problems because of great gaps of intelligence between people, groups of people, cultures, and the like.
I used to think that I hated women, but I’m beginning to realize that what I hate are idiots pretending to have important knowledge who go on to change culture to represent their ideas. I love intelligence and I value it in any race, culture, and gender.
I’m not speaking of the IQ test seeing that I tend to score poorly on those(well the ones offered online at least). I am speaking about the ability of a person to understand, communicate, solve problems, and be reasonable while being responsible.
Yeah, Twilight isn’t your biggest threat, it’s the people that love it who we all should worry about.
MEEEEEE—
“If you love someone, are you going to let them do things that will get them hurt?”
The sad thing is, this is what a lot of Twilight fans say Edward does for Bella. Only Edward’s “protection” of Bella means denying her of any independence whatsoever.
Rafal H—
Your previous comments are easily accessible by pressing the “Older comments” button and changing the page number in the web address to get back to the beginning, and also, are you aware that your talk of “the old gang” and “anti-Twilight veterans” who are “over” it makes you sound elitist at best and kind of a douche at worst?
Hobo with a beer bottle—
Liking Twilight does not automatically mean you are void of intelligence. I admit my reaction to “I like Twilight” tends to be “I’m not sure I know how to talk to you”, but that’s not because I think they’re stupid. The people going “OMG HDU TWILITE DOESNT SUCK U DO & U R JELUS DAT U CUDNT RITE SUCH LITARY GENIOUS & YOUR DA RESON DA WORLDS SUCH A BAD PLACE!!11one!1″ obviously are going to have their intelligence seriously called into question, but there are plenty of fans who aren’t like that, and plenty who, contrary to your point about making people see our view, are reading articles like this and going “Oh, yeah. I hadn’t thought about it like that.” Even the ones who read stuff like this and continue to defend the series aren’t necessarily unintelligent. I think people who try to justify Edward and Bella’s relationship are absolutely 100% incorrect. I also think that people who believe in God are incorrect, but I don’t automatically believe all theists are unintelligent because their version of the truth of an issue is radically different to mine.
Even if they are the illiterate, intolerant, omg-u-suck fans, the series obviously came before they developed that attitude. Frankly, I couldn’t give a toss about people liking stylistically crappy books, but these books teach that something very dangerous and more importantly very real is a good thing, and people are listening. No one, regardless of intellect, should end up with a controlling man because a book they absolutely adore has convinced them that this is romantic. That’s why I’ll continue to complain about it until the hype goes away.
I see your point.
Although, Edward is an emo flip-flopper from what I’ve read of the series. ;D
AFF, ENTÃO QUE SE FODAM .
Everything is explained. HAHAHA, a Teenage Drama Queen. OH GOD, HOW TO MAKE ME LAUGH.
bye .
I have honestly read the entire series. It made me sick. Yes, Twitards, it sickened me. I was utterly appalled by the open displays of sexism and unoriginality. I am twelve years old and I have written three books, none of which are published because I don’t want a cult following my writing. My three books are not a series, they all deal with different characters and plot lines. One is called Willow Way, another is Kip the Color-Changing Kitten, the final is called Raise the Dead. I have portrayed sexism in ONE of my characters, who is dubbed “The Master”, just to make it clear how different he is from the other characters. I was inspired to become an author by my great love of HARRY POTTER. I never, ever want to read SMeyer’s bag of sh*t again, I burned my copies. Worst 50 bucks I ever spent.
Again, praying for ya, Silian.
Owwww, you hurt meeeee. . . Give me a break, can’t you come up with anything more insulting? Really, at least try. Edward is a vampiric sequin.
That’s my new favorite thing to say.
[…] of losing my faith in humanity and partly because I’m just not sure what else I can add my well-documented thoughts on this series. “Ha ha, Edward’s still creepy and blank-faced!” just […]
WOW…seriously?? The novels are FICTION. Reading them is not going to make you smarter (thats for sure) but it’s a lot better than drinking, drugs, watching tv, gaming, internet, sex, porn, etc. What’s wrong with having an imagination and getting people to read something (besides gossip magazines and crap on the internet). I was surprised that I was even stimulated by the novels, but now I remember what it’s like to actually dream once in awhile. It’s amazing what that can do for your mental state of mind, even if it is over a stupid book. So, thank you to Stephanie Meyers for having an imagination and keeping it simple so people can fill in the blanks themselves. There are worse things in life and I’m just glad to see young (and old) people passionate about something that actually involved reading (and the use of their brain). Many people are suffering in their lives with issues much worse than those that you speak of that (are supposedly) in the book. If you ask me, it is what you make of it. Give people a little bit of credit!! Obviously there are NO vampires, people know that it’s not a real story. They understand that the feelings that the characters have are a result of them being “vampire” or “wolf” not human. So that obviously sets those feelings apart from “real life” feelings. People that DO think it’s real…well it’s just a symptom of their problem (NOT the cause). Come on! There are worse things in life! If people want to get passionate about FICTION vampire books, good for them. They are reading for these books for fun, not to gain some sort of grasp on life or love. (Let those girls try to find something in real life similar to the books…not going to happen.)
The character “Edward” seems possessive if you take it out of the context of the book. But, here’s the thing…there are a lot of characters that when taken out of the context of a FICTIONAL story, would look different to you. Do I need to give examples…I mean that is the whole point of the story. So, if you really want to talk about real life, then you have to ask yourself, if someone was trying to kill you, wouldn’t you want your boyfriend to be a little more protective of you? I mean…its just silly how insignificant these debates are about sexism and abuse. You can’t take a fictional story, pick it apart, and then try to compare it to real life. Lets say you were driving drunk (putting yourself in danger), would you be THAT upset if someone you loved was following you home that night? if you are trying to make a valid point (or argument), it needs to be relevant to the subject of discussion. You can’t make something out of nothing, and you definitely can’t sound smart when you are trying to compare a fictional story to real life. Both extremes of Twi-hards and Twi-haters (or whatever they are called) are disturbing. You are both walking the same line, just on different sides. Totally crazy. Just think about it. You are just as passionate as they are, only your passion stems from hatred and fear. Good luck with that.
Though I agree with the basic premise, as well as the overall criticism, I do take issue with one portion of this piece.
Fuck Elizabeth Bennett and any of Jane Austen’s other heroines. Goddamn, I really hate Austen.
hey i ove some of you guys….. and yeahh twilight realy sucks…
meyers has no idea of what she was writting about…
while writting this shit ,she messed up coke ( the drink).. with the white substance….
burn that fucking book or use it to feed the pigs
reallyppl????
Your response and it’s styling is most peoples inherent problem with this book. Stating Meyer is a “good” writer begets crap like your response, you’re in school, and if you’re half as smart as you seem to think you are learn to write!
I read this article out of curiosity, and I actually enjoyed reading it than Twilight. And to be honest, I didn’t read the whole series, and didn’t even get to finish the first book either. So I guess I don’t have the right to judge the book fully, but I do have some insights with regards to the chapters that I was able to read, so I’ll just focus on that.
Personally, I hate the way Stephenie Meyer wrote it. All I read was Edward this and Edward that. Obviously, Bella’s world revolves around him. It’s so idealistic by the fact that such man exists. Even if you say it’s fiction, still I’d prefer something that invokes a similar feel with reality. It’s way dragging. That’s one word that perfectly describes the book. Maybe that’s why I got sick and tired of reading the entire book. I just don’t want a character that dwells upon a guy so “perfect”. Of course as a human, I too have ideals, but I’m not that idealistic either. I’d rather be in between idealistic and realistic. The book is not even near the Harry Potter series, and I’ve read the entire seven books of J.K. Rowling! Yes, it’s pure fantasy, and yes the protagonist there was a bit annoying sometimes, but the humor, the action, and the plot were written exquisitely that there’s no way that the value of Twilight can be compared with the value of Harry Potter.
Furthermore, I’d rather play video games than read the entire Twilight series. Some video games (like the Final Fantasy series!) possess far more brilliant storylines than this book. Such video games have even more depth than Twilight, believe me! (And don’t argue with me by saying that there’s a problem with gaming with regards to violence because I’m not pertaining to those games at all.) Oh and even better, I’d rather read technical articles about evolutionary programming algorithms than waste time reading Twilight; I’d get more from those paraphernalia than with Twilight.
One thing I did get from Twilight though: more vocabulary. It could help others expand their vocabulary (though one could get that from other books as well).
The thing that really showcases how horrible Stephanie Meyer’s writing is the vampire birth scene. A baby is being chewed out of a girl’s womb, and yet, somehow, Stephanie Meyer made it BORING! It’s literally just “Oh. He used his teeth to cut through her newly indestructable skin. Good thinking Edward! Boy, that baby sure is cute.”
Twilight fans: You have are total hipocrites if you think Twillight is a good romance book when you haven’t even heard about Jane Austin
Thank you Kellen, for this article.
Oh, I liked the books. But while I read them I changed some scenes in my mind, so they could look more appealing. For exemple, a boyfriend who hates to kiss his girlfriend is surely homossexual or “affectionphobic”, so I just imagined them making out like a real couple. Vampires do have canines, thank you. And then I started to ignore some miserable facts, such as: Bella’s submission. How Edward couldn’t get tired of proving Bella his -obsessive- love. The whole sparkling thing. The fact that Bella completely forgot about the existance of her mother ( I just think that one email per month is not enough). And a few other things.
And so I bought Breaking Dawn. They would finally have sex, woohoo! But no. She did not described it. For God’s sake. I’ve waited three damn books and nothing? Ok, the after sex think was kind of fun. But really, no comments. So I kept on reading the book. It had no action at all, (and then came one more thing I ignored: how could she be pregnant if he was a vampire? Details, details.) but I had to finish the reading. The baby came, it’s name was specially tacky but it was kind of cute. And after a million pages what do I find? Action! Yey! Or at least the beginning of it. Fine, they had to fight, but Bella didn’t know how to do it, so she asked Edward to help her. That was when I stopped reading for good. I couldn’t ignore it one more time. It was the worst and the most ridiculous scene for me. Edward’s obcessive protection was too much for me to handle it. He refused to teach her because he “couldn’t see her as an enemy”. Go fuck yourself, please.
I’m a teen brazilian girl, and that’s why I couldn’t love twilight: I’m a girl, not a slave.
I loved your review, it put into words exactly what I thought when I read the books. I am glad I downloaded the books instead of buying them, it read even worse than a 14-year-old delusional wannabe Goth’s livejournal entry. I’m all for everyone being entitled to their own opinions, but I have to say, I am a bit disturbed as to why so many girls (and judging from movie reviews in the papers, women waay out of their teens as well) are so in love with this book/movie. The books are not only badly written (I’ve read better work grading amateur compositions by children) but present a wholly disturbing and unhealthy view of relationships and love…Is that what women really want?
So, first of all.
Someone said that the books were targeted for the teenage audience. That is false. Meyer SPECIFICALLY states, many times, that she wrote the books FOR HER!!! In fact, there was never meant to be a publication of them.
Secondly, Meyer does have an English degree. However, she does not have a CREATIVE WRITING English degree, but in fact one in Literature. So calling in her educational background holds no ground for your argument. Just because a person has a degree in English does not mean that she or he can write.
Lastly, Cullenism is a cult. In the literal definition of the word – “a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.” So when people say that the fans of Twilight are members of cult’s one cannot really argue the issue. A religion is defined as “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.” In NO WAY is worshipping a book a religion.
I am sorry if this sounds as if I am attacking the person who mentioned that it is a religion. I am not. I am merely stating that one cannot be upset when people refer to them as cult members; those such as Miley Cyrus. While I am not a fan of her (at all), I cannot argue her statement that Twilight fans are (some people) in a cult. They are brainwashed.
I am not sure the last thing made sense…
MEEEEEE—
It’s less “flip-flopper” and more “completely bipolar”, but in essence, yes, that’s about right!
SomebraSilian—
So… I can’t win either way, then? If I’m not a dried-up old maid who can’t remember the passion of my teenage years, then I must be a teenage drama queen, obviously lacking the maturity that comes with growing older? And both would be purely because I’m not a fan of Twilight? The fact that you’re incapable of producing an actual logical argument is really nothing to laugh about.
Tracy—
Give me a high quality television programme, of which there are many, over a poorly written book which promotes a shallow and unhealthy ideology any day. The only one of those that I think the Twilight series is automatically better than is drugs.
Twilight is completely unimaginative, and it’s a sign of bad writing when a reader has to “fill in the blanks”. If a story does not string together coherently and the characters are completely one-dimensional Mary Sues, that’s not cleverness on the part of the writer. It’s laziness.
And AGAIN, a Twilight fan missing the point. Read the following very carefully: NO ONE IS TRYING TO SAY THAT PEOPLE BELIEVE VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES ARE REAL. Are you honestly so naive that you think you can’t find *anything* from the Twilight books in real life? Yes, you can, in the form of stalkers and abusive partners. Those people are Edward. Those people often say they have or even believe they have exactly the same motivations as Edward. Edward’s behaviour does not magically not count as abusive just because you put in a vampire versus werewolf context. Edward thinks Jacob is dangerous so, despite the fact that Jacob has at that point given Edward absolutely no reason to believe he is a danger to Bella and Bella herself insists there is no problem, he prevents her from seeing him at all costs. It’s easy to find the real life parallel—a boyfriend doesn’t trust a friend of his girlfriend despite her knowing the friend far better and prevents her from seeing the friend even though she insists that she wants to. That’s not okay because he does not have the right to tell her what to do or isolate her from people she cares about, and neither does Edward. Bella’s her own person, and whether or not she sees Jacob is her decision to make. Either Edward is being controlling or he honestly believes Bella is not mentally competent, which puts a whole new sickening twist on their relationship.
The relationship we see in the Twilight series is absolutely comparable to real life relationships, only a real life Bella/Edward relationship would be one step away from being the reason that women’s shelters exist. It’s the very fact that it’s fiction that means Meyer can get away with insisting that such relationships are healthy and even ideal. Yeah, there are bigger problems in the world, but that doesn’t mean that abusive relationships aren’t a problem and that things which glorify them should be okay. Discussions of sexism and abuse are certainly not insignificant, and it’s frankly insulting that you suggest that they are.
As for your comment about driving drunk, you might want to heed your own words about making things relevant to the discussion. What on earth does driving drunk have to do with anything? Edward’s doesn’t follow Bella because she’s drunk; he’s following her either so that he knows exactly where she is or to let her know that he knows she’s disobeyed him—or, in other words, to intimidate her. Both of these things are abusive. There’s no running away from this fact.
?????—
The problem is that Edward’s not an unattainable ideal—if girls were moping about the fact that they couldn’t ever find their own Edward and there really was no chance that they’d ever find someone like him, I’d think “Grow up and get over it” and never think about it again. It’s the fact that there’s every chance that they could find their own Edward, and he’ll be far from the embodiment of perfection Meyer makes him out to be, that is so bloody terrifying.
I’d be really careful about gaining vocabulary from Twilight, too—Meyer clearly does not know the meanings of half the words she uses.
Emily—
As soon as someone takes steps to publish something they have written, it is no longer for them. Meyer may have written it “for herself”, but as soon as she knew it was going to be published for a young adult audience, she had an obligation to make it suitable for a young adult audience. That wouldn’t hold up anyway because she knew that the second, third and fourth book were going to be published before she wrote them.
I’ve just learned two very important things after reading trough this text and these comments:
1 – There’s a very long text in the internet who points the obvious fact that twilight series sucks. I guess it will come in handy when some fangirl ask me “why it sucks”, and I’m not really in the mod of cursing stuff.
2 – Psychologists make horrible literature critics. I never went to a psychologist in my life (always thought they were manipulative sons of a bitch), and now I’m proud of it.
I read the Twilight books and discovered -much to my horror- that to be a ‘lovely, wonderful and scintillatingly perfect boyfriend’, I had to stalk the person I love, watch them while they sleep without their knowledge, tell them how bad I am for them and how I desire their blood, glitter in the sun and run at the effing speed of light.
Or to be an ideal girlfriend, I had to be a beautiful, helpless, pathetic female that needs my boyfriend to walk me through life step-by-step even though I didn’t act like a mental retard before I met him.
Unfortunately, not every guy is a creepy ninja pedo, or can scale walls to gawk mindlessly at their girlfriend while she sleeps. And not all guys are really bad for your safety as a lot of them are more interested in protecting you, not endangering you then rescuing your swooning ass. And if your date wants your blood, go home. As for sparkling, you twilight fans simply cannot be serious. If your man is sparkling, he’s probably gay, wearing glitter which usually implies gayness or both. And running at the speed of light would not only cause a sonic boom, it would completely destroy your legs. Not to mention the G-force would splatter art you.Or be a beautiful, helpless, pathetic female that needs my boyfriend to walk me through life step-by-step even though I didn’t act like a mental retard before I met him
Not every girl is externally beautiful. We get what we get and if your girlfriend isn’t as ‘beautiful’ as shallow, pathetic Miss ‘Beautiful Swan’ get the fuck over it. Your girlfriend probably has a personality. If fact, she probably has the brains Swan-girl lacks, too.
Personally, I prefer girls that are tough, smart and actually a challenge, not necessarily the prettiest but definitely the coolest. Therefore Bella was the biggest turn-off ever for me. She’s the exact opposite of what I like, she was putty in Edwards hands from the very start. Bella shows little commonsense and even less personality. For the entire book, I was looking for some clue that this girl wasn’t a vegetable. And I failed miserably. I continued to try and read the next two before I realized I just couldn’t bring myself to search anymore. I didn’t read the final book but heard of the impossibly conceived spawn and Edward and Bella’s ‘kinky’ violent sex and decided my mind had saved me some trauma and loss of brain cells.
And honestly, Jacob was half-decent until Eclipse, then in her latest book turned him into a freaking pedo like Sparkles. Ludicrous, really.
So really, Stephanie Meyers painted an unfair stereotype for every twilight fan’s boyfriend/girlfriend to live up to and I can only be thankful that my friends have the commonsense these terrifyingly abundant fangirls seem to lack in copious amounts.
Kelly, even though I LOVE your review and your are right on the money on almost everything except for one little thing. Honey, this novel is not about a vampire or a damsel in distress. In fact, how can something so simple be so overcomplicated for you to analyze? Read between the lines. This novel is so popular and will remain so popular due to one thing and one thing alone: SEX. It is about sexual tension. When we read it, we are not thinking: will he eat her (and I mean will he suck her blood here
That is not the question! We know he will not kill her. The question is: when and how will he do her? We know he will, we just do not know when. The whole series reads like a teenage porn. Think about it: 800 something pages of foreplay. He touched her lips, she looked away, he kissed her, then pulled back… Sorry, I cannot write anymore – I need to go hunting for some pumas before I can continue otherwise I will start screaming: “Bite me, Edward!”. By the way, Robert Pattinson is SO HOT – I would not mind… okay, I need more than a couple of pumas. An elephant, perhaps? Anyway, here is the deal: an erotic fantasy of a middle-aged woman are written out. He is not abusive. He is every girl (or almost every girl) erotic fantasy. And if you have never fantasized about being … by the strong, smart and handsome guy who wants nothing but you… I will never believe it. Because all of us get an arousal from being WANTED. (Another hunting break). Here are two more things: she wants him (badly) and he says: later. It makes any woman… guess: starts with an H and rhymes with corny. Not only that: he makes her any possible wish come true: Mercedes Guardian? Here, honey. You don’t want Harvard? How about Dartmouth, I will fill out the applications. A 10-carat diamond shaped like a heart? I have it just for you, dear! Where in the hell is my vampire? I want one too!!! Why is she the lucky one! I don’t care if he rips a motor of my old car – I want him no matter how many people he kills and how much of my blood he sucks! Oh yeah, an important point – the novel is written from the first person so I can fantasize about being with him! Nice touch! And last, but not least: sex sells. Here is the perfect formula for you: there is a boy. there is a girl. They should not love each other because (he is a vampire. She is an alien. Her mom is Sarah Palin, etc. – see how far your fantasy can take you). But they fall in love. LOTS of sexual tension. He is stinking rich, kind, educated, smart, plays piano/bagpipes, wears Armani suits/G-string/loincloth/whatever – and he WANTS you and nothing but you. She is – okay, ideally me, but could be anything – preferably an ordinary girl like me. More sexual tension. Some impossible, horrible problem on the way. He saves her (me). Happy finale. Publish. Make a movie and sell the merchandise. Enjoy life.
P.S. If I had 1,000,000,000,000 dollars (sorry, math was never my strongest point) I would give them all away just for the mere opportunity to meet my Edward/Darcy/Romeo/Robert Pattinson. Sorry, off to the woods again, hunting forever!
Kelly, even though I LOVE your review and your are right on the money on almost everything except for one little thing. Honey, this novel is not about a vampire or a damsel in distress. In fact, how can something so simple be so overcomplicated for you to analyze? Read between the lines. This novel is so popular and will remain so popular due to one thing and one thing alone: SEX. It is about sexual tension. When we read it, we are not thinking: will he eat her (and I mean will he suck her blood here
That is not the question! We know he will not kill her. The question is: when and how will he do her? We know he will, we just do not know when. The whole book reads like a teenage porn. Think about it: 800 something pages of foreplay. He touched her lips, she looked away, he kissed her, then pulled back… Sorry, I cannot write any more – I need to go hunting for some pumas before I can continue, otherwise I will start screaming: “Bite me, Edward!”. By the way, Robert Pattinson is SO HOT – I would not mind… okay, I need more than a couple of pumas. An elephant, perhaps? Anyway, here is the deal: this is an erotic fantasy of a middle-aged woman in writing. He is not abusive. He is every girl’s (or almost every girl) erotic fantasy. And if you have never fantasized about being … by the strong, smart and handsome guy who wants nothing but you… I will never believe it. Because all of us get an arousal from being WANTED. (Another hunting break). Here are two more things: she wants him (badly) and he says: not now, I have a headache. It makes any woman… guess: starts with an H and rhymes with corny. Not only that: he makes her any imaginary or impossible dream come true: Mercedes Guardian? Here, honey. You don’t want Harvard? How about Dartmouth? I will fill out the applications for you. A 10-carat diamond shaped like a heart? I just happen to have one for you, dear! Where in the hell is my vampire? I want one too!!! Why is she the lucky one? I don’t care if he rips a motor from my old car – I want him no matter how many people he kills and how much of my blood he is going to suck! Oh yeah, an important point – the novel is written from the first person’s view so I can fantasize about being with him! Nice touch! And last, but not least: sex sells. Here is the perfect formula for any writer: there is a boy. There is a girl. They should not love each other because (Pick your own reason: he is a vampire. She is an alien. Her mom is Sarah Palin, etc. – see how far your fantasy can take you). But they fall in love. LOTS of sexual tension. He is stinking rich, kind, educated, smart, plays piano/bagpipes, wears Armani suits/G-string/loincloth/whatever – and he WANTS you and nothing but you. She is – okay, ideally me, but could be somebody else – preferably an ordinary girl like me. More sexual tension. Some impossible, horrible problem on the way. He saves her (me). Happy finale. Publish. Make a movie and sell the merchandise. Enjoy life.
P.S. If I had 1,000,000,000,000 dollars (sorry, math was never my strongest point) I would give them all away just for the mere opportunity to meet my Edward/Darcy/Romeo/Robert Pattinson. Sorry, off to the woods again, hunting forever!
It’s fiction. At least people are reading.
I use to think Twilight was an alright series, but soon realized that all the charactes are Mary Sues/Gary Stus. It’s really pitiful when that happenes- I mean can we have some realistic flaws? Some character development? Some plot? It’s not that hard. Twilight is fanfiction. Very bad fanfiction. Lord knows how it managed to get published.
Kellen – Good points well made.
Everyone else – she is expressing her opinion, let her get on with it.
That’s all.
I never read any of the Twilight series to be honest, but I gotta admit that this critique is convincing.
I will never forgive Stephenie Meyer for daring to put the insufferable Bella Swan in the same league as Literature’s most beloved heroines such as Juliet Capulet, Elizabeth Bennet, Anne Shirley and Catherine Earnshaw.
If anybody else noticed, the “sub-plots” in her “books” are always shadows and echoes of the stories surrounding whichever of the above characters are mentioned in them.
I love the dark mystery behind the romance, but Meyer seriously, seriously mishandled it and in effect distorted whatever innocence and purity that could’ve been borne from that.
Oh, and by the way, don’t think the plot of a mind-reader, a vampire and a human girl is so original. Read Charlaine Harris’ 2001 series The Sookie Stackhouse novels. You’ll be surprised.
VB—
It’s not about sex. The author is a “straitlaced” Mormon. Her description, not mine. The supposed erotic tension (which I personally don’t see, perhaps because a) Edward and Bella have no actual chemistry and b) Bella makes frequent references to Edward’s cold marble body and having sex with a piece of stone doesn’t really appeal to me) is accidental.
There are plenty of characters written in first person who have—shocker—actual personalities of their very own. Making a character so one-dimensional that people can paste their own idealised selves over her—which is probably what Meyer was using Bella for in the first place—isn’t a “nice touch”, it’s shitty writing.
The rest of your post is frankly insulting. Thank you so much for making it clear what all of us girls really want! It’s great that you see fit to suggest that every female is as shallow and dim and needy as you’re making yourself out to be! Let’s look at those exchanges the way they really happen in the books. It’s not “Mercedes Guardian? Here, honey”; it’s “You won’t take the car? Fine, I’ll destroy your old one that you love so that you *have* to use this new one that you feel totally uncomfortable with!” It’s not “How about Dartmouth? I’ll fill out the applications for you”; it’s “Since you don’t want to apply to the universities I have chosen for you, I will forge your signature and completely ignore your wishes.” It’s not “I’ve got you a beautiful 10-carat diamond”; it’s “I’ve seen that you have a gift from a boy I’m jealous of and I’m determined to go one better”. This, along with plenty of other examples, is abuse, plain and simple—and if you want a controlling, obsessive stalker for a boyfriend, well, you are most welcome to one, but don’t start insisting that all girls, myself included, want one too.
“TWILIGHT DOES NOT SUCK! IT ROCKS! SUCK THAT!”
– jessice
And you wonder why men don’t respect women…
Don’t get me wrong, not *all* women are stupid [Hillary Clinton, Marie Curie, our dear author, perhaps?] but this is one of those cases where 95% of you screw it up for the rest.
Oh, and twilight is gay. That’s right, gay. It’s been my throwaway insult of choice for fifteen years now and I’m not giving it up just because of gay rights, which I *do* support, but I digress…
The main characters don’t have sex until what, the fourth book?
Super, /super/, Jonas-brothers-gay. Totally unacceptable.
OH MY GOSH U SAID THAT ABOUT TWILIGHT THE HOLIEST OF BOOKS GO TWILIGHT GO TEAM JACOB GO GO GO
Bravo. You’ve done two things remarkably well here: You managed to read the twilight series. (I was about 3/4 of the way through the first book when I decided I just couldn’t take it anymore. I gave up and decided to read something that has a storyline instead.) Second, you’ve written an entertaining and accurate critique, done so well that everyone who comments here in support of twilight would look stupid even if they didn’t use chatspeak.
I agree completely with what Rice has stated. Though I admit to liking the books, I was irritated with Bella the ENTIRE time. She is constantly complaining and is pretty much useless when actually doing something important comes about. Edward is the perfect image of ‘suicidal pyscho stalker’, as if he cannot have his way, he impairs Bella to his liking, which includes keeping her from her friends and pretty much dominating every aspect of her social life. She gets pregnant by Edward, who was supposed to be dead for 107 years, and then she gets turned into a vampire. What the hell??!! I recently finished reading Stoker’s Dracula, and I can unfortunately see how the image of today’s ‘ideal’ vampire has deviated from Dracula.
ok seriously all u twilight haters r immature…heres a smart thought 4 all of u who hate twilight so much …stop wasting your time going on websites to talk about sumthin dat u hate it only makes us (twilightlovers) know dat u have no lifes..LOL
PEACE
TEAM EDWARD 4 LIFE
& IM NOT ASHAMED OF IT!!
Ok, I just have to comment after reading “Mrs Cullen”‘s post – for starters – the Twilight books are so abysmally written that it is actually painful to read them. The vampire loves human premise can be worked with but Meyer’s writing ability and her choice of plot is shocking. Bella screams Mary-Sue in every line and Edward? Well, he’s one step away from wife beater.
Second – MRS CULLEN – a little advice. If you’re going to pick a fight about the literary value of a book then a) don’t do it with a writer and b) learn how to spell, not use chavvy “text-speak” and claim yourself as the wife of a fictional character.
To the writer of this article – I cried with laughter, everything you said was true.
Ok, I do admit I loved the New Moon movie for its lush use of nature-photography and I loved the wolf’s designs but Bella is such a stupid little girl that seriously I have always wondered why Edward and Jacob really love her.
I understand their aggression towards each other as both of them are blood-bound enemies and that was a cool aspect of the book. But that’s the point Meyer’s movies are doing better than her books because annoying Bella isn’t talking in them. Bella patronizes everyone and I feel bad for her so-called golden retriever friend because seriously he looks genuine.
I won’t lie some scenes in the movie I did love and were exciting but they didn’t include Bella or her hormonal crazed relationship with Edward. And the author of this article is right Bella screams damsel so badly that I could literally vomit. In fact, I felt she should have a relationship with Alice; who seems actually great than Mr. Asshole Cullen. In fact, Edward does nothing – true I did like the scene of their reunion minyus hormonal petting/kissing and I found some dimension in the Volturi and the scenes which feature the Volturi and them interacting but that’s the thing! I found myself cheering on the antagonist Victoria and found Bella’s depression something like poverty porn.
I loved Jacob’s sensitivities but even in the film he acts too rough at times. In fact I would only rewatch the movie to see him. Bella abuses him – literally- saying Edward is only the one and stuff. I mean the guy loves you and is there for you I mean Edward is so screwed that he didn’t take care of anything and though understandable his “breaking up” with Bella it kinda becomes screwed rather than compassionate.
I don’t also get Meyer’s anti-human shit. She wants Bella to be vulnerable ’cause she’s human but still give her awesome powers! @_@
And I don’t mind the cocktail dress and shoes that did pique my interest a bit because that is something dashing that I couldn’t imagine Bella stupid to have but I did like the cinematography of the movie but I found myself lured more by a subplot.
Twilight had good concepts in fact concepts that I love Vampires, Werewolves, Secret Societies but as someone said that this becomes a backdrop for Edward/Bella romance which is so superficial that I felt vomiting over them. Edward should just lay Jacob.
Though I am curious to see Eclipse for what happens next I am not dying for it. Visually speaking the movies are beautiful and that’s the only temptation. Bella’s idiocy is stupid – the cliffhanger of the second movie was good but would only apply if the answer wasn’t so obvious.
And why does Bella have to be a vampire? I mean can’t she remain human.
What I did admire about the movie was they showed some gruesomeness of werewolves and to be honest I agree with the writer the genuine forbidden love angle would actually be with Jacob as their relationship is genuine. But as usual even abuse is put into a light pat on the back.
Emily’s face is screwed as she shows no resentment of it. She kisses her fiancée as though everything is peachy. God, when the world loose its common sense.
Overall, Twilight had potential – it still had good concepts but it was shallow. I’d only see the movies to entertain myself when I want entertainment that is superficial but visually nice and to laugh at Bella and Edward’s suffering and hope Victoria does kill them all. Overall, as a story with good plot it sucks.
^_^
At the risk of sounding completley childish, can’t we all get along? Twilight’s not my cup of tea, but if you like it then I won’t hold it against you. It has done some good things (Yes, I hear you haters ask ‘what?’) it has gotten people back into literature and also created a new genre (paranormal romance) also not my cup of tea, but, meh.
I don’t think there is anything either side can say to change the other side’s mind in this matter. If you believe Edward is a controlling, abusive stalker, good for you. If you think he’s the best thing since sliced bread, fine. But seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if that opinion means raping people, then it must be stopped. If it’s your opinion of a novel, then live and let live.
You know,I think you went way to much into that sexist part…I mean,I just think you should have payed more attention to the book itself,like the atrocious writing style and so on….I speak simply as a fellow literatue student
Oh,and by the way,the birthing scene is the only scene I really enjoyed in the series,has that primal Clive Barker carnage to it….
Book Freak, I don’t remember anyone raping someone over Twilight. I think you’re blowing it out of proportion.
Anyway, opinions can be wrong. Edward has shown several signs of being abusive, and he is a stalker. Also, how can Twilight get people back into literature when it isn’t literature? Oh, and sadly, no. We can’t all get along. I wish we could, but we can’t.
As a business major, there was only one thing I could think about after I got tricked into watching the awful movie (I have not read the book, but it sounds worse). I couldn’t stop thinking about the fabulous amount of money they made from making that horrible excuse for a film. Take a few unknown actors, throw them in a few cheap sets somewhere in Vancouver (it is cheaper to film there) with no special effects…. and get millions off stupid teenage girls in merchandising and movie tickets. Now that’s brilliant.
I COMPLETELY AGREE W/ MRS.CULLEN
IMMATURE IDIOTS
TWILIGHT IS ABT A BEAUTIFUL, PASSIONATE, AND MOVING DECISION THAT LEADS TO A THRILLING STORY OF A “*PLAIN*” GIRL
AND I TOO AM IN TEAM EDWARD FOR LIFE
SO STOP BASHING HIM
I LOVE HIM
you said to stop making articles that say twilight sucks but maybe the fans shoud stop making articles that say twilight is awesome Becouse BOTH of them are annoying
@teamed: I’m sorry, I couldn’t understand half of what you were saying. By the way, ever heard of freedom of speech? Also, people might take you more seriously if you didn’t have everything in all caps.
Oh well… I really knew that there are no absolutely the same tastes of two different people. Somebody likes twilight somebody doesn’t. But there are a lot of fake-haters, which are doing in fo lulz. That’s my appinion. Yep, and sorry my English, ???? ?? ?? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ?? ?????? ?????????? ???? ??.
And what you’ll say about ‘Avatar’, I wonder?
ZOMG!
twilight is cooler than u!
lyk, ur just jelous that your not a vampvamp!
To kanick:
How old are you? If you’re in middle school or below, I fear for your future English grades. I have several friends who use chat speak so much that they can barely spell. If you’re in high school, I feel sorry for your English teachers (and other teachers, for that matter). If you’re anywhere above that… Well, this goes to all of you who are thinking “dis is jus intrnet i can do w/e i want :PPPPPP”. (I feel ashamed for having written that.) Yes, you can do what you want, but don’t expect anyone to take you seriously if you can’t even spell “like.”
Anyway, kanick, “twilight is cooler than u”? First, you don’t even know who you’re talking to. For all I know, you’re a lazy couch potato who spends all day watching their computer monitor so that they know the moment that an alert from a thread comes in. Second, I find it hard to believe that 400 pages of “edward is sooooooooo prettyful!!!!1!!” can be cooler than anyone.
Yes, there was a time when I was a big fan of Twilight, when I just turned thirteen. In fact, before that time, I thought my friends were being silly for fawning over a book. I insisted that Harry Potter was way better than Twilight (an opinion which I still hold now). Then I wasted $60-$80 on the series and, more importantly, six months of my life that I can never get back.
To Book Freak: I agree, there isn’t much that you can say to convince the other side to change their opinion, but there IS a chance that they’ll grow out of their obsession (I did.), but that takes time. All but one of my friends grew out of their obsessions, too, and that one friend only mildly likes Twilight now. If you really want to get someone out of their obsession, you could try having them read REAL romantic literature (ex. Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, or, if you want to start out small, get Vampire Academy and work your way up from there – VA was the trigger that slowly made me realize that, yes, there IS better literature than Twilight), or any literature, for that matter.
Back to you, kanick: “vampvamp”? Seriously? If you’d even simply said just “vamp”, that would’ve made it slightly better. And, no, I am not jealous that I am not a “vampvamp.” The closest that I’ll ever get to drinking blood, animal or human, is from the meat juice from steaks. I actually like being out in the sun, thank you very much, and I wouldn’t like to spend that time sparkling or burning. And, yes, I adore sleeping.
By the way, sorry to break it to you, but vampires don’t exist. Sorry.
here’s another article in the same vein.
http://seriousstache.com/2010/04/04/serious-stache-film-in-review-twilight-new-moon/
[…] And now for the not-so-good part: Blast also has a new Twilight series review from blogger Kellen Rice – who was less than thrilled with the the books. To read her review, click here. […]
This article sums up my complaints about the “Twilight” series for the most part. To be perfectly honest, I loved the series when it first came out. What turned me off was the big to do over the movie and the last book. It seemed like everyone got into it then. Unfortunately, I happened to go to an all-girl’s high school and so got sick of the blatant worship of the series. I never could speak my mind because I feared for my life.
To all the little Twihards:
Why do you want a guy who stalks you or takes your car apart so you can’t see someone because the guy said so? Why do you want someone who is so bipolar, it’s not even funny. Edward is supposed to be the new Byronic hero, but why? He has everything his dead little heart desires, and yet he broods and has a martyr complex the size of Jupiter. He has no reason to feel this way.
Compare Edward to Lestat and you get blown away: Edward is emotionally abusive and generally flat with an over-sized ego and is prone to bizarre, random moodswings and never seems happy. Then there’s Lestat… where do I even begin? He’s a narcissistic megalomaniac who thrives on being an attention whore who borders on being a snotty, arrogant douchebag. What’s important is the HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS. Anne Rice wrote his personality this way on purpose. He even lampshades it himself by going off on tangents about how pretty he is. The biggest thing for me is that Lestat doesn’t sparkle, he doesn’t have to, he’s just that awesome.
There you have it, if you want to read vampire fiction, read Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles”. Just try it and see how much better vampires can be.
By the way, Edward Cullen… David Bowie called, he wants his glitter back.
okay twilight fans, if your going to complain about articles like this then why do you come on them. obviously YOU have no lives if your searching the internet to tell people about how they dont have lives.
the book isnt about vampiers its about fairys.
I just want to know if the twilight lovers have nothing better to do that google twilight stucked just to find people to tel they are haters?
All I can say is WOW! That article was outstanding! Also, I have to disagree with some of these people who have felt the need to express their opinion, oh joy (Not that I don’t respect their opinion, but they are getting too far into this!). We understand it’s fiction: Vampires and werewolves don’t exist. I understand this is the internet, but we still have freedom of speech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech
It sums up the definition of what freedom of speech is.
ANYWAY, I thought about the influence on girls around early teens. I asked my 12 year old neice, who absolutely loves Twilight (bleh)whom she would want to be. She non-hesitantly yelled Bella. When I asked her why, she blantly said, “She has Edward and Jacob! I want them both too!” I then asked her about the girls in her grade, and how they feel. She said, “Brittany said hi, and they love Jacob.” I asked why, and she said HE’S SHIRTLESS A LOT! That just freaked me out. Frankly, I don’t think just because a guy is shirtless and he so happens to be “adorable” that he should be judged on his looks. He turns into quite a jerk in New Moon, but I asked some girls, and they forgive him. UNBELIEVABLE!!!! They don’t like Edward or Jacob. They like Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, proving another point! They say Jacob Black is hot, when in fact, they don’t know that. They don’t know who Jacob Black is, and they ASSURINGLY don’t know his appearance.
Anyway, I can’t continue. I have probably crossed the line, and will have Twilight fangirls all over my back. I’m practically stepping on hot rocks right now. Need I say it: I LOVED this article to itty-bitty pieces! I was disgusted by the fact that some people disagree 100% with this article. I believe they put in facts that could be agreeable with all of the sides. -TwiFans, Twilight mediums, and TwiHaters alike!-
-Don’t get on my back about this, It is purely opinion-based,
-Don’t reply with anything bad to say, unless there is some good with it!
-I love this article, just try to change my opinion… IT WON’T WORK!
-I understand the quantity of CAPS in this comment. I usually don’t mean yelling in this, so don’t yell back!
-Don’t be offended by this TwiFans, I applaud you for sticking with this offense to non-literature.
-TwiHaters, don’t tip over a car in revolt. (YET!)
-HAVE A NICE DAY/NIGHT/EVENING/AFTERNON/MORNING/BIRTHDAY/SUNDAY-SATURDAY/WHATEVER!
– TIMELESS… OUT!
@Composer13:
Thank you very much! Really, people? We have nothing better to do than sit around on the computer saying TwiHaters have no life, and they wish they were a “vampvamp”… (points to Kanick). Sorry, but I don’t see how I could POSSIBLY want to be a “vampvamp” (which is actually more likely to be a fairy!), and would want to be a “sparkly killing machine”. Hunters do the same thing every day, except they eat the animal, not just drink their petty blood! May I say, Composer13, I agree with you totally, and I’m glad someone has the courage to stand up for their beliefs.
Seriously? SERIOUSLY “mrs. cullen”? and you tell people who hate twilight to have a life? do you mean you have one? you call yourself mrs cullen, you probably waste hours a day (if not the whole day) thinking about how much you love a person, sorry, a vampire who doesn’t even exists and you say you have a life? you call yourself a twilightlover and you are calling people immature? you call your thought smart yet you are wasting time in an anti-twilight website to talk about something you hate (and that would be people who hate twilight in case you’re not following). Did you really think through your comment? Just for the record, I don’t hate twilight, I just think it’s really stupid, I read, I liked it for a while, and I got over it, and so should you. And by the way, please get a life.
PEACE
one more thing, I’m really ashamed for once liking twilight, thank you kellen rice for opening my eyes, people who call themselves twilightlovers really freak me aut, I’m afraid for the future of humanity
For the love of… I swear I facepalmed the idiotic Twilight fans’ comments. Okay here goes, I don’t want to be a grammar nazi but…
MsCullen: Seriously? You think haters are immature? For expressing themselves? Freedom of speech, madam. Although I would prefer it to be restricted to people who can write English, not txting L33T crap. Please! And if Stephanie Meyer is literature, then Shakespear is crap (not happening). You think I’m jealous of her because she’s famous? Why would I be jealous of a person who writes about emo,gay,sparkling vampires (also her sexual fantasy)? I would rather prefer to not have so much money and “fame” that gets me all smug and crap.
teamed: Dude seriously, learn to write without pressing/raping “Caps Lock”. No, it doesn’t make you get your point across easily, you don’t seem “angry”, you are acting like an idiot. It makes people want to writhe in pain. I couldn’t even understand what you were trying to write.
kanick: What the F**k? How old are you? Are you even writing in proper English? No wait… crap, obviously not! Also, getting high for insulting “people with no lives” -oh but we do have a good sense of humor and can critique some random piece of crap- is not recommended. It makes you look like an idiot. My suggestion? I suggest you write in Caps Lock for every first letter in a sentence, punctuate it correctly and separate your ideas with periods, commas when needed, or other marks. If you do not know how to use a keyboard, then what the hell are you doing in the Internet?
Ink: Thank you for not raping my eyes with “Caps Lock” or “txt cHaT”. In my eyes, you are quite sane and fairly smart. But I suggest you stop reading Twilight before it poisons your mind like the other three above which I have already written about. Once you love a person for the first time, you will forget about it completely, it happened to a person I know.
I was seriously laughing out after reading this article and the comments from the hormone crazed teenagers angrily replying to the “twilighthaters”. I almost peed when I read the statement from “mrs. cullen” and the other obsessed fans expressed their thoughts. Sure, at age 17, I have read all of the Twilight books and even seen the movies, but my reason is actually logical. I read Twilight and books like it for mindless, fast paced reading. Sometimes it feels good to read a book that you don’t have to search between the lines to find the anwsers. If I want to read something with actual literature gain I will pick up my copy of Pride and Prejudice, East of Eden, White Oleander or a book by Ellen Hopkins. Twihards need to chill out, because just like the obsessive groupies for Grease, you will get over Twilight and move on with your life. After all, it’s just a book, not a biography.
a wonderful and entertaining article i must say! yes twilight is a thoroughly anti feminist and sexist!i read twilight when i was 17 and instantly fell in love with edward cullen….you see i was a hormonal teenager.i fantasized about his looks and stuff.then in the later books i realized how wrong i was….edward is a controlling,abusive stalker and is so cheesy that i want to puke….bella’s world revolves around edward only….their relationship is solely based on physical attraction and lust and nothing else…. but i did like the character of jacob black…. yes he did kiss her forcefully but only because he was desperate and wanted to do something to make bella see sense.. he was in love with her and there she was throwing away her life without thinking just so that she could be with edward forever….. so i think jacob was in some way justified in kissing her…he wants to somehow let bella stay human….so jacob was the only reason i continued reading twilight but then came the disturbing imprinting thing….it is sick and i don’t know what meyer was thinking…. is being a slave to your imprintee in any way romantic??!! and way to go meyer for ruining my favourite character’s life….is imprinting on the love of your life’s child going to solve the problem!breaking dawn was disturbing and in the end i was so grossed out that i just threw the book across the room!
overall twilight sucked but i like jacob black!
and one more thing that bugged me was how casually they speak of killing animals! mountain lions grizzly bears???!! IMO its better to kill humans than innocent animals…. humans are cropping up like mushrooms go kill them and leave my sweet innocent animals alone!!1 f**K u twilight!
apoorva, you are really gonna criticise twilight and tell peope to kill other people? the reason you didn’t like it was because edward and his crappy family killed innocent animals? join usa army or something, like people were instigated to kill animals because o their thirst for blood after reading the book. If you wanna criticise at least get some good arguments. Go hug a three inthe rain forest, join green peace, join the skinheads if yo so bad want people to die, idiot
This article was so true! But you forgot to mention the fact that Jacob is a Pedophile because he imprints on Renesmee (And her name too… ugh). Also how Bella didn’t have to lift a finger to raise the kid and how it just grew up on its own. I mean come on!
Twilight is boring… Meyer Sucks!!!! I tried reading the book really… but there’s just nothing after all those “EDWARD IS SO HOT” lines.
MEYER novels should die. And to think people (TWI-TARDS) think she’s better than J.K Rowling and Anne Rice?!!?!? ha!!!!!
ok,ok lets assuma twilight is not a big piece of crap and Meyer is an awesome writer, tell me this:
WHAT DOES EDWARD DO WHEN BELLA GETS HER PERIOD?
For you twilight lovers I feel like I have to explain that every woman has a cicle and bleed from, you know, down there.
Ifany ofyou can tell me what happens when Bella gets her period and why Edward, so unbelievebly thirsty for her blood, contains himsel from atacking her or even from atacking her bathroom trash to eat her tampons.
And, by the way, I’m brasilian, and the stuff she writes about Brasil(or Brazil if you prefer) are pure nonsense, it’s like she just invented words to sound portuguese, and by the way, they really don’t.
I have wandered through the comments on here and *shrink* although I have read the books and seen the movies- I completely agree with the author of this blog and also laughed hard when I read the post by YOUHAVETOREADTHIS!
Yes- as I read the first T/L book I marvelled at the constraint of the Cullens attending Forks Highschool where (I assume) there is a roughly 50% contingent of female students and teachers- all due to mensturate at some stage. Jasper especially- a paper cut sends him manic- imagine all those bleeding women.
A male friend of mine and I discussed this scenario with some jovility…he suggested that they would see Tampons as juicy sweets with strings—ew.
I think the problem with the thing is that it’s so badly written.
I personally found Edward interesting(*) in book 1, *because* he seemed so messed up. Esme was awesomely creepy as well, for example – the problem is that they were not *intended* to be creepy.
I would have liked to read this story written as two (or a dozen) messed up people who try to live their lives the best they can. I would have liked it if it were creepy, sad, a little disturbing, but *on purpose*. But this thing is all that, while trying to sell us that it is OMG the sweetest love ever.
(*) not in the “OMG I luv U!” way, but in the “hmm, interesting character” way.
Thanks God we live in a world where everyone is free to read and like whatever he/she wants to.
I read all books and I’ve seen the movies, I ENTIRELY agree there are gaps on Twilight Saga. So why it got thousand of people looking foward to see it and to read the books?
In my opinion (no need to HATE me, but if someone does, I don’t care at all) Bella is an average girl who has the love of a so-called “perfect” man, whom she is also in love with. Just to begin, nowadays, this is not easy at all! Girls identify with this. All girls and even women want to be devotedly loved. What it implies is another point. And for me, this is where the gaps start.
An excelent aspect that this book “teaches” and no one mentioned is that it breaks the idea that only girls who are said to be “full of qualities” (beautiful, smart, extroverted and so on) are going to find someone who will love them. Bella is neither of these things, she’s plain and common in every single way, but she has more than TWO nice hot guys who want her. Isn’t it what we really would like to see in reality? Instead of having all this estereotyped skinny models with all the glory and fame?!
P.S: I’m not fat, before you think so. ahahaha!
Kellen Rice sucks!))))
Kellen Rice sucks!
Fuck you, Kellen Rice
Twilight sucks, the books and movies sucks, and twilight moms are disgusting.
Someone mentioned before getting a life to those who hates Twilight? All those Edward and Bella lovers should definitely get a good life and fuck with someone too for the matter. I just learned one thing with Twilight.
The average so called society loves it because they’ve got no brain left anyway. I mean, just to know some people loves shit like Lady Gaga makes me want to puke. Same people are loving such trash. Society loves trash, authors abuse and delivers it.
P.S > http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/329/a/6/Twilight_Moms_by_InLoveWitEdwardC.jpg
For that comment: “get a life” … Twilight fanboys/girls should definitely change their perspective of what good literature, cinema and culture are – Including when it comes to vampires. Oh yes indeed, what a way of raping such nice creatures with some hormoned, pale, emo teens.
Interesting article. It made me laugh at times, and there were parts I certainly agreed with.
Admittedly I read all the books (in exactly a week) and have seen all the movies way too many times to count.
However, I (thankfully) realize how terrible the movies and the books are. Not well written, shallow, and the movies had very poor acting.
But I still enjoyed them. They are mere pieces of entertainment, and they did their job – entertained me.
I think you went a LITTLE overboard with the sexist line of thought. Some girls really DO want to not go to college, and just get married, and have a family, and be a stay at home mom. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, and I hate the fact that these days I’m almost ashamed to say that is what I want. Don’t get me wrong, I see your point… and there is plenty of sexism and whatnot…
But these are just fictional stories meant for entertainment… let the girlies have their fun
That’s not truly clean news
but thanks anyway. Great blog by the way.
My biggest problem with this book was, that it’s plain boring.
I’m not the type who reads a lot of romances, so I thought throwing some vampires in it would make the whole thing more interesting
Well, it didn’t.
Honestly I just stopped reading at some point.
Amazing!!!!!!! I’ve never read such blatant truth in my life!! I am 17 and surrounded my idiotic fantisisers that insist they are in an “edward bella” relationship. Well I guess some people like disfunctional relationships…
[…] Also, just look at how feminists have embraced Hermione and ripped on Bella again and again and again. […]
[…] Also, just look at how feminists have embraced Hermione and ripped on Bella again and again and again. […]
Utter and complete bull shit. I’m sorry if I am not as simple minded as the rest of the people thinking this review makes any sense at all. If you have actually read the books the writer of this article has taken out points that could make the book look bad. Not to mention I’m sorry but for four books to only give you like 5 examples of what you don’t like and if you read the books you would notice none of what happened was at all in the way you make it seem. I think there is something seriously messed up about your head, and you are just jealous or crazy or something to feel the need to pull apart this series written by a great author just to make yourself feel better. The only person making women’s rights go back 200 years would be you, making women look uterly stupid and hmm what is that word for someone who can’t at all feel good about themselves unless they can somehow tear someone else down and are completely insecure? Guess that is good enough.