| |
Featured Author |
|
| |
Laura Resau
Win a copy of The Ruby Notebook in our Giveaway |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Description/Synopsis: Deeply sensuous and extraordinarily suspenseful, TWILIGHT captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.Isabella Swan+s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella+s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
User Reviews |
|
| |
| Bella Swan has no personality and while Edward and Jacob are likeable, Bella is suppose to be the main character. This is deffinatly not one of my favorites! Review By Wonderland | | Plotless romance story with few likeable characters, written in disgustingly saccharine prose. Not even good enough for the escapism and pleasant few hours a good romance novel (yes, there are those out there) will offer. Invest your time in a book that doesn't insult your intelligence, because this one does. Review By Crys | | Krista's/ read and gave away. Review By mollieaj | | Shallow, unrealistic characters, a plodding pace, and sickening amounts of syrupy romance are just the beginnings of the problems with Twilight. Edward is supposed to be charming, but he's a creep, and Bella reinforces so many female stereotypes. There's some intriguing backstory about the vampires, but Meyer focuses on her dull and baffling romance story. The plot doesn't pick up until the end, and even then it's hardly captivating. The concept of Twilight could have had some potential, but Meyer doesn't know how to tell her story, and the possibilities are untapped. Its reputation amounts to mere hyperbole and is completely undeserved. Review By 24_karat_soul | | I enjoyed reading this book. I would say it is among my top reads right now. Review By Escape from Reality | Never before has necrophilia been so mainstream, and socially acceptable.
I'm beginning there, because there is something fishy and entirely unsettling about Twilight's popularity, and the small resistance that has been given to its popularity. Do you remember all the church groups that denounced Harry Potter's rise to popularity? There was furor over Harry Potter supposedly leading children down the path of witchcraft, demonology, and the sacrifice of goats on altars. Terrifying, truly. And overblown, as such claims usually are.
But then, why are the repulsive behaviors espoused in Twilight and adopted by fans not angrily protested in the same way? When you get down to it, Twilight is a book about necrophilia, in as much as Harry Potter is a book about witchcraft. Many of Edward Cullen's most devote fans have taken to the habit of trying to act like vampires, or deluding themselves into believing that they are vampires. These are often the most vulnerable kids, those who were already members of various subcultures such as goths or emos, who are drawn to the idea of being a vampire by Twilight. The mainstream press has not covered any of the horrific incidents that get reported on online forums, and you have to wonder why. These so called "vampires" will perform experiments to try and determine whether they are vampires. Most experiments questions whether the vampires enjoy the taste of blood--if they didn't, they aren't true vampires. You've probably heard of cutting epidemics, and heard jokes about wrist-slitting. This used to just be a hallmark of emos, but increasingly people have been cutting to get a taste of their own blood. Perhaps even more disgusting is the ingestion of period blood (Twilight fans are disproportionately female).
So why then hasn't there been a widespread revolt against this among religious groups? Because of agenda. You see, Twilight has a pro-abstinence message, and the existence of this seems to forgive it of any sin whatsoever. Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, and she has very handily inserted her ideology into her books. In her fantastically delusional world, it is perfectly normal for a boyfriend and girlfriend to lie together in bed for hours in their underwear, and TALK. The same religious conservatives that were condemning Harry Potter are such fans of this message that they are willing to forgive the part in which Bella sleeps with an undead abomination. Lovely.
If you dig down a bit deeper, you find abstinence to be only a part of the agenda. The rest of the book is a thorough destruction of modern feminism, starting with the concept that women can be independent of men. The question the story poses is, why be an independent female when your perfect vampire boyfriend can do everything for you? Bella is a perpetual damsel in distress, and is constantly shown acting weak and submissive. Without Edward sweeping in to save the day, she can't even walk over a patch of ice without finding herself in dire danger. One of the greatest flaws of Twilight is the utter lack of personality Bella exhibits. Her hobby is Edward. Her life ambition is Edward. Her favorite book is Romeo & Juliet, which is hardly a subtle allusion to her lust for Edward. She is vacuous, and her first goal in life is to be married. She thinks of nothing beyond this.
I find it a tad medieval that Bella thinks nothing of a future career, or academic study, or of anything besides Edward. Edward is her man, and the center of her pre-suffrage life. And what a strange sort of man Edward is, too. In the first months of their relationship, Edward does nothing but stalk Bella, and utter creepy lines such as "I like watching you sleep." Edward is shown as overbearing and controlling, but this is not portrayed as a flaw in the books. At times Edward is downright abusive, even coming to the point of physically hitting Bella, which is coupled with the strange psychological abuse he puts her through, claiming she can't be with him, and that she should leave him forever.
The entire book is an extended analogy for forbidden sex, beginning with the allusion to the Original Sin that is displayed proudly on the book's front cover. Bella is constantly tempting Edward with her blood, which he must resist sucking her free of. When read with a discerning eye, it becomes clear that this book is about virginity. Many people know this, and are overjoyed that their daughters are reading a book which promotes abstinence and servitude.
I have no problem with the idea of abstinence, or with anyone's religious beliefs, but the double standards and sexism bother me greatly. Harry Potter contained elements of the occult, and so did Twilight. Unlike Harry Potter, Twilight was not accused of leading children down the road to hell, sacrificing virgins along the way. And unlike Harry Potter, which depicts female characters as strong, smart, and capable, Twilight promotes sexism in the worst ways possible. By giving girls the impression that they should be meek and servile, instead of active and independent. It also creates a unrealistic set of expectations, wherein Twilight fans expect any potential boyfriend to be like Edward. Guys overwhelmingly dislike Twilight because, I think, they overwhelmingly dislike Edward. I would not wish Edward on any of my female friends, and I'm appalled at the idea that any of them might be attracted to someone like him. Any guy who is watching girls sleep from out the windowsill isn't an ideal sensitive guy--he is a guy who should be taken to counseling; his behavior is clearly deviant. In general Twilight is hurtful--and it's even poorly written.
-mkbundayReview By exMachina | | This was one of the best books I've ever read. It really captures your heart to read about a love so strong it is truly a fairytale. It takes a true romantic and a person with a vivid imagination to picture these characters and to actually feel the imapct that Edward has on Bella. Can't wait to read the second book:) Review By bookmaiden_26 | | Entertaining and interesting. Review By Bubulina_Blue | | Words cannot rightfully justify how breathtakingly perfect and wonderful this book is to me. The action, the intensity, the heart-stopping love story, and the laugh-out-loud humor is so beyond admirable. When picking this up for the very first time, I was wanting just a good vampire read. Never did I expect to fall so deeply in love! It's almost unbelievable that this was Stephenie's first piece of writing. An absolute masterpiece. Review By Cullen Vampire | | OMG... the teen angst! Review By Treehugger | | Awesome book. I never thought I would love a book with vampires but I was wrong and am glad to be wrong. When I first picked the book up in the book store just to see if I wanted, I couldn't put it down. I bought it that day along with book number 2. The way the characters are written it made me feel like I was there watching everything happen. Review By crazy4reading | | An explanation of my rating: I think if I had read this book when I was 15, I would have thought it was the most brilliantly erotic thing I'd ever seen. As it is, if I hear Edward described as "perfect," "flawless," or "unbearably beautiful" one more frickin' time, I may claw my eyeballs out. That said, kudos to the author for giving us a hero whose merit really is in his virtue and integrity. It's rare to read a novel anymore where the hero is praised on his restraint, rather than his feral barbarism. Review By Heatherstone | | The fist book was amazing Review By lorettarivera | | Great series, all though i believe the finally to this series could have been better, all in all it still was good. Yes, i'm not a teen or that young to be so inthralled in this series, yet I enjoyed it very much. My neice got be started and hooked, and i think its one of the best series ever. Review By Hanora | | Amazing Book :D Review By VaMpS7 | | great book not as good as the rest but it is the first there has to be a lot of explaining done. Review By prettyandpink2 | | i love this book its the first of hard back copies i own and i could read this series over and over :) Review By PerfectMessOfAll | | Fun, not to be taken too seriously. Worth reading, if only to find out what all the fuss is about. Make some popcorn, pour a cold drink and indulge in some cheap escapism. Review By kblocksdorf |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Advertise Here |
beta
