Twilight

I have spent the last three or so years avoiding this book and the films, but when Twilight was shown on television a month or so ago I decided to watch out of curiosity. I found it quite terrible, but decided to read the book to see if it was any better than the film.

Unsurprisingly it isn’t. I don’t even know where to start when it comes to Twilight. The characters have absolutely no depth to them at all, especially the main character Bella. In fact the only thing about her personality that shines through is that she is a rather rude and spoilt girl. She actually says “ew” when she experiences snow for the first time, and spends the first half of the book trying to avoid the people in school who are actually making an effort to befriend her. In fact the only thing she seems to care about is Edward, a boy who is constantly rude to her from the moment they first set their eyes on each other.

The relationship between Bella and Edward is unhealthy from the start, and that’s before she even finds out he is a vampire. It isn’t natural to be that obsessed with a guy, especially one you have just met. Their entire relationship seems based on a teenage girls idea of a “perfect” relationship, with a man who just can’t keep away from you. It is not the type of thing one would expect to be written by a married women in her thirties. I can completely understand the comparisons people have made between Twilight and badly written fan-fiction.

One thing I did find interesting in the book was the background stories of Edward’s family, something you do not learn much about in the movies. The character of Alice I particularly liked, though I would like to have learnt more about her past and less about Bella and Edward staring into each others eyes. Why Meyer chose to have the vampires sparkle I will never know. Vampires are meant to be dark dangerous creatures of legend, not sparkling in the sun for absolutely no reason at all. Why did they do it? Some kind of skin disease?

The moment Edward started going on about what a creationist he is was the final nail in the coffin.

I may read the other books someday just to see if they get any better, and out of sheer curiosity. I have a lot of better books to read before then though. And the thought of having to read the other three somewhat feels me with dread.

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