Twilight: An American Tragedy

I"m goint to start doing book reviews. It's fun, I love books, I love writing, and now I can combine the two.

     I am an avid reader. I love and read books voraciously, one of my better vices. Literature is my life. So, when my younger sister told me of the book, Twilight, I decided to take a look. She raved about how awesome it was, a wonderful book worth reading. I decided to look past the fact that it was rated young adult, (after all, there are some books for the younger crowd that have proven themselves to be great books, such as the Chronicles of Narnia, and The Golden Compass). I love vampire fiction anyway, and with that in mind, began reading Twilight.

     It was one of the worst experiences in my life.

     I have this compulsion, a personality quirk if you will. I have to finish reading a book, and book series. Even if the books prove themselves to be terrible, and shoddy. However. Twilight was the exception. It took all of my strength to finish reading that book. An ordeal that left me drained, and scarred for life. I won’t be continuing the series, as I am not fond of pain.

     It is beyond me why this book is so popular. For one thing, it is badly written. Written in first person, the book is a prime example of how first person can be abused, and mangled. Most of the book is a minute by minute account of the dull life of the main character, Bella. However, I could overlook the way the writer writes...which is terrible, if the story was good. And If the characters were compelling, and were able to show me their world, and make me feel for them. Twilight, was none of those things.

     What attracts people to vampire fiction, is the struggle of good and evil. Are vampires automatically damned? Are they trading away their souls for immortality, and twisted perfection? Is such immortality a perverse imitation of God’s plan for eternal life in Heaven? Are they evil, or is it possible for a vampire to be good? The sun (God’s light) denies them. They feast on human blood every night, when they were once human themselves. The moral quandary of vampires is what makes vampire fiction so great. Good and evil battle within every story, an eternal theme that replays every day within our lives and imaginations. Vampires eternalize that struggle, that age-old battle, within their very beings. A battle that means their soul, or the loss of such.

     Twilight manages to destroy all that is good about vampires in one foul swoop. In Twilight, vampires do not burn in sunlight. No, such a mark of evil would ruin the god-like perfection of Twilight’s vampires. Instead, they glitter in the sun. Glitter. That is perhaps one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. Instead of vampires, we now have angst ridden, depressed pseudo-angels. So beautiful and perfect, their kisses can make you faint, and no doubt their farts smell like fresh-baked cookies. The sun makes them glitter so prettily, sort of like how all those kiddie shirts have words written in glitter these days. The battle of good and evil does not exist. While the vampire, Edward, bemoans the fact that he is a vampire, the absolute perfection of his being takes away from such apparent ‘suffering.’ In fact, it makes him seem whiny, and irritating.

     Bella, the main character, is an attractive teenage girl, who moves to a new town. She is unaware of her attractiveness, so as to give her clichéd character some depth. Bella has pale skin and dark hair, as heroines of vampire fiction must be pale of skin and dark of hair. She listens to classical music, and reads classic books such as Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, her musical and literary choices an attempt to show how ‘unique’ and how much of a maverick she is. Bella doesn’t care about the ‘popular’ things in high school, again another trait to show us that Bella is really cool without trying, which makes her extra cool. This poorly written attempt to make Bella into an interesting and multi-faceted character, falls short, as Bella has as much depth and personality as a sheet of paper. Her character really has no interests or personality, beyond her obsessive love with the vampire Edward. In fact, it seems the only point to Bella’s life is to love Edward, as teenagers know so much about being in love. This is worse then an over-dramatized teenage romance, I could almost appreciate that. This is a soap-opera...with vampires.

     Edward’s character is absolutely perfect. A god among men. His beauty is overwhelming, and constantly noted, so we don’t forget how amazingly beautiful he is. To prove how awesome Edward is, he doesn’t hunt humans. No, Edward hunts mountain lions. It’s nice to know that we have perfect god-like vampires killing off an endangered species, as humans aren’t doing a good enough job of it. He falls in love with Bella, and her scent, which is beyond me. Edward’s character is portrayed as a perfect being. He has lived far longer then Bella, making him far beyond her in emotional and mental maturity. Yet, he loves her, a flawed human who is still little more then a child. Which makes Edward, a pedophile.

     All the characters are flat. Nothing is there to allow for the reader to connect with the character, to share their pain and love. Edward and the other vampires are too perfect, having the power of powers. A reader finds it impossible to identify with such absolute ‘perfection’. In fact, it is annoying, as how can there be any trials to overcome if the character is so perfect and amazing in every way? Bella has nothing to her character beyond love for Edward, she is just a card-board cutout to further the ‘romance’ of the story.

     The twisted farce of ‘true love’ that Twilight parades about is disturbing. A generation of young girls now believe their only goal in life to fall in love with ‘Edward.’ The main character, Bella, isn’t even liked by Twilight fans, as she is competition for Edward’s love. Twilight has created a female character that reflects poorly on the gender, diminishing all respect toward women, and showing women to be weak-willed creatures always in need of rescuing. Twilight essentially tells young girls that the only point to a girl’s life is to get a boyfriend. Find the perfect man, gain ‘true love’...and that’s about it.

     All of the above combines into what is one of the worse books in literature. It is a soap-opera, full of clichéd, trite bullshit that is enough to make someone stop reading for good. There is nothing original or creative to the book. In fact, no one likes the book because they think it is original, or a good read. They like it for Edward, they want to be Edward‘s girlfriend. Congratulation Stephanie Meyer, you have convinced young girls that their only purpose in life is to be a girlfriend for Edward. I’m a romantic myself, guilty as charged, but there was no real romance to this book. Only a bizarre obsession between two characters, both of whom have personalities that are about as interesting and multi-faceted as a potato. This is not romance.

     The book is a travesty toward vampire fiction, and romance in general. It is a sad state of affairs when a bestseller is so horrible, that there is absolutely nothing of value to it, beyond a nice cover picture. I hope that the younger generation eventually turns to better books, ones that have an actual point. A story, a message to tell, something that connects us all with a common theme, and characters that reflect our own short-comings and accomplishments. Unfortunately, that won’ happen while Stephanie Meyer continues to write kiddie slash fiction. Perhaps all the money she gains from the books, book merchandise, and movie is worth what she has lost in artistic integrity. May all the gods of literature have mercy on her soul.