Search - Twilight (Twilight, Bk 1)

I picked up this book when I was caught at the local mall for a few hours with nothing to read. Having read/heard a lot of hype about this series I decided to give the first book a shot. While not a huge disappointment, I was not as enamored of the story as many other people seem to be.

Set in the Pacific Northwest, Twilight is the story of Bella Swan, who has relocated to the very small town of Forks to live with her father after her mother remarries a younger man and moves to Florida. Coming from the hot and sunny big city of Phoenix, Forks is quite an adjustment for Bella. She becomes mildly obsessed with the Cullen family, a seemingly picture perfect family of overwhelming beauty and all just a little aloof. When Bella finds Edward Cullen is in her biology class, and seems to have taken an intense dislike to her she is bewildered by his behavior. After Edward seems to have a change of mind about her Bella becomes involved with him not knowing what the secret is that he and his family are hiding; not realizing that it is more terrifying than she could imagine.

I found this book an easy read, but rather simplistic. There was not a great deal of character development, especially of Bella, who seemed to be defined only by her feelings for Edward; which seemed to be expressed by more synonyms for the word beautiful than I have ever read before. Most of the other characters were also fairly one dimensional. Once Edward’s secret is revealed his characterization seems a bit more developed, but the romance just didn’t ring true for me; frankly I couldn’t figure out what Edward found so attractive in Bella. I tend to doubt I will read any other books in the series, but I never say never.

This book is pure, decadent cheese. It is brain candy for the middle school girl in all of us. My book club read it and they all scoffed, but I ate it up. I read the first two in days and pre-ordered the third one at 3 in the morning when I finished the second.

Fun for grownups too. As a fan of Anne Rice, I had a real curiosity about this series as it's popularity grew. I thought I'd give Twilight a try even though it has been labeled as a "teen novel". The novel is a lightning fast read and puts you into the headspace of a 17 year old girl very well. I can see why it's popular with the teen set. It stirred up some memories for me of what that first real infatuation feels like as a teenager - so what if the heartthrob happens to be a vampire? Unlike Rice's Lestat, Edward is a vampire with highly evoloved feeding ethics living with a coven vampires who are like-minded, making for an interesting twist. The ending was a tad melodramatic for me, but that was the only reminder I had of who the author's intended audience is. I've just gotten New Moon and am looking forward to seeing how the relationship between Bella and Edward evolves... I'm not a real fan of the whole Vampire subgenre of romance novels, so I am hoping that Meyer is clever enough to keep the spark between the characters without resorting to cliches.

I was going to resist this series because vampires are about as far away from my thing as you can get. Plus I wanted to be the only person on earth who hadn't read it. I hate to say it, but this was a guilty pleasure and I loved the story. I thought the writing was a bit choppy but eventually I got used to it. Good story, can't wait for the movie, I hope it is as good as the book.

good romance novel. Not a lot of action

Awesome