[78%] 
by Always-Abby wrote:Twilight.
Dear Lord, someone pass over the asprin.
There are a bunch of reasons why I didn't like it. But, I flound a review on GoodReads that sums it all up:
"1. Lack of characterization:
Bella- Okay... I absolutely hated this girl. She was the worst female protagonist I have ever read about! She's stupid, shallow, selfish and just plain annoying! Not to mention she's pathetically dependent on Edward... I mean, come on, NO girl should be that dependent on a boy, not only is that pathetic, but it is very unhealthy. She was also a clumsy little damsel in distress who was dumb enough to get herself into situations that she couldn't get out of. I would have loved for Meyer to have given her a backbone, so she could have done something useful instead of whining and doing stupid, idiotic things that no remotely intelligent teenage girl would actually do. Not to mention the fact that she is apparently very "plain" looking... if that's the case then why are there several guys fawning over her? She's a Mary Sue, simple as that. And I hate Mary Sues.
Edward- Okay, this boy is just way too possessive and stalkerish (it is not romantic of him to sneak into Bella's room and watch her sleep! It's creepy and wrong!) Oh, and "bad boys" usually, don't sit there and say "I'm dangerous, stay away" etc. all the time.... I also hated the fact that Bella described some part of his body every other page. It was completely UNNECESSARY!! Okay, we get the fact that he's hot, Bella... now MOVE ON!
I could go on and on about all the characters... every single one of them was a flat, cardboard cut-out that did not seem realistic at all.
2. Writing style:
Purple Prose- Ew... to this... seriously, all the purple prose made me want to throw the book across the room. Enough said.
3. Descriptions:
I know I said up there that I got sick of reading about how gorgeous some part of Edward's body was every other paragraph... and if that wasn't bad enough... what's worse than is the fact that even with all that unnecessary description of him and everyone else (though mostly him, since Bella is that shallow) I still had a hard time picturing him or any of the characters in my head, for that matter. I also had a hard time picturing a lot of the setting and the action in my head as well. It's kind of sad really... there was so much description, you would think that everything (Edward especially) would be embedded into my brain, but no. That's what makes me wonder why so many fans find Edward so "hot", I never got a clear picture of him in my head to even begin to form an opinion about whether he was "hot" or not.
4. Plot:
Okay, the plot gets it's own category because it pissed me off so much. I mean, seriously... where was it?! It was nothing but sappy, gag worthy fluff between Edward and Bella until page 400 or so, when something finally happened. And, even then... it went by so fast and was not explained well at all. It seemed to me that Meyer just threw it in there, and it was only put there in the first place, so that she could point at it and say, "Look, there's a plot right there.", when people like me came around and said otherwise. But that's not a plot!! The plot should not take 400 pages to start! And no the whole "romance" between Bella and Edward is not the plot!!
6. Plot holes
The one thing that drove me absolutely CRAZY was the the fact that no one in the small town of Forks noticed that the Cullens never aged! And the "children" never graduated and went on to college. I mean, if they've been there for more than four years, than I'm assuming that someone would have noticed! I mean, the town could not be full of that many morons! Speaking of school, why in the world would they willingly choose to take high school over and over again? I know they need to "fit in", but seriously.. . that's just stupid... someone is bound to figure out sooner or later.
Oh, I love the fans response to this, it usually goes like this: "Well it is a fictional book." That's a stupid reason. Just because it's a book with vampires doesn't mean it's exempt from having to be realistic and having glaring plot holes.
7. Vampires
Like I said before, I'm a big vampire fan. But, this book is an embarrassment to vampire fiction. The vampires are pathetic, sweet, innocent, almost "misunderstood" creatures. I know that Meyer has every right to create her own idea about vampires, but come on! Sparkling vampires?! Vegetarian vampires? That's just ridiculous! All the other myths about vampires are nonexistent. The whole sparkling vampire idea just seemed to be there because Meyer wanted a reason as to why the vampires could even walk around in the daylight to begin with. The idea was just a convenient way for her to write the vampires... who, were way too human like for my tastes. Oh, and not to mention the fact that they had all the good things when it came to being a vampire, but none of the bad things (ex: they don't burn in sunlight, they sparkle, they all have certain powers, but none of them have the bad things that come with them, etc.)
I don't like my vampires to be blood thirsty monsters that kill everything in sight. But, I also don't want them to be so pathetic and innocent either. The only two vampiric qualities that are there are the ones that are well known among everyone: drinking blood and being immortal. Otherwise, the Cullens are disgustingly human like.
I think the thing I have the problem with the most is the fact that Meyer has never seen any vampire movies/t.v. shows are read any vampire novels. If she had, I would have been able to respect her ideas more because at least then she would have done her research. It's quite obvious that she had no idea what she was doing when she created the vampires in this story.
Where the vampires are concerned, this novel is an embarrassment to vampire/supernatural fiction.
8. Messages
I am somewhat appalled at the messages that this book sends out.. they are so anti-feminist, it's disgusting:
1. It's perfectly okay to have no goals or aspirations or even an education, just get yourself a man and he'll take care of you.
2. It's also perfectly okay to like someone because of their physical features... this is not love people, it's lust! They have nothing in common! He likes her because she smells nice and she likes him because he's hot.
3. When you have several guys fawning over you pick the hottest one of them all because looks are so very important.
4. It's okay if the guy you love sneaks into your bedroom and watches you sleep at night... that's completely normal and romantic... not the the least bit creepy or stalkerish.
9. The Obsession:
Well, this gets its own category, mostly because I just don't understand what all the obsession is over... it's a book, and a poorly written one at that. I run across girls all the time arguing over who Edward "belongs" to... it's pathetic and kind of scary. He's a book character... he doesn't belong to anyone, but Meyer, since she's the one that created him.
This was obviously a fulfillment story that I would expect a preteen to write on her livejournal. This is not a book I would expect a thirty something year old women with a
college education to write and actually attempt and then succeed in getting published. And, it was a degree in English... seriously, I would have expected much better from someone who had that degree... since she spent college studying books and analyzing them etc. you would think that she would know how to write one the proper way...
Meyer could have made this book great, but no... instead she took the easy way out: a cliched, simple, overused plot and added vampires to it(as if that made it any different).
Honestly, I've read better over on fictionpress.com... and that's really sad, because most of the authors over there are between the ages of 14 and 26 and are amateurs in the field. Maybe, if Meyer had posted this up there first, it would have been a much better story because the good writers over there would have set her straight. Maybe then, I would have been able to get through the novel, because it might have actually been good!
And, oh just for the record... Twilight is NOT the next Harry Potter, nor is it better than Harry Potter... I say that not only because JK Rowling actually has talent, but also because they are in completely different genres and can't really be compared.
Though, it does make me sick to see Harry Potter even mentioned in the same sentence as this piece of crap... (unfortunately, that couldn't be avoided in this review) and it's an insult to JK Rowling to have her amazing writing compared to the horrible writing of Stephenie Meyer..."
That was a monster post, Abby, just huge. I have to give you props because they were insightful and cutting. Liked em!
I wish Meyer would have stopped after the 1st book, Twilight. The rest seemed to ruin everything, I mean, there is only so much fiction that someone can take. I read Twilight because our teacher initially asked everyone to read it for extra credit and I admit, I liked it, I was left with a warm feeling of contentness like “Wow, vampires. Interesting”. The next three books were next to impossible. Sometimes, sequels should just stop somewhere. So I give it a 5.
Ms. Steph made it into a money-making cow machine putting book after book out, not paying attention to the less than lived up to books or the wearied fans. That is what I call selling out ethics. I wish she hadn't done that. Such a day ruiner.
My favorite part of your whole speech was that there is only so much you can hear about Edward. “Edward’s hair, Edward’s eyes…so gold…so bronze, so beautiful! I’m lost in them! I look so plain! So gorgeous! I look like such a simpleton standing next to him. I’m cutting myself out of the picture now!” (Ah…I thought that was hilarious. Simply hilarious)
The protagonist, Bella, is based of Stephanie Meyer, I am not even kidding. You take a look at Meyer, and that is her exact description of Bella. Yes, if you look at her picture, she is plain-looking but she later became popular in college and everyone liked her and where throwing themselves to go out with her which is what I bet everyone wishes would happen to them some day. (Hah!)
The book was written mainly like a fanfiction and many younger kids like it so this book was mega Fanfiction paradise so that had a huge factor appeal. But too much FanFiction makes your stomach hurt like after eating too much Krispy Kreme.
Much better than those generic happy endings!!!
