
Now, I’ve read the first “Twilight” and instead of simply
saying it’s good or bad, I think it would be interesting to write a review that
weighs the pros and cons of “Twilight”. On one hand, Stephanie Meyer is a
wonderfully good story teller; on the other hand, she’s not a great writer.
What are the pros and cons of a popular book? Should we be happy with anything
that gets a teenage girl to read? I vote yes. Should we criticize her writing?
I’m not really sure that’s worth doing. Are her characters and situations kind
of ridiculous? Yes. “Twilight” is an interesting book, not because of what it
is. It’s a fairly standard romance novel with some supernatural stuff thrown in
that teenagers love. Now, I’m not saying Stephanie Meyer is J.K. Rowling. She’s
not. J.K. Rowling is both a great storyteller and a great writer. However,
“Twilight” brings up this interesting point. I am a great believer that not
everything needs to be masterful (if it was, we all go nuts!) Some things need
to be just good escapism, and “Twilight”, if not a great book, is great
escapism.
Now,
I’ve heard the critics of “Twilight” bash it for reasons that are serious
concerns. I will give the critics that, but I think “Twilight” deserves a mixed
reaction, not just a plain bash fest. Reviewing “Twilight”, the book, I think
there are pros and cons. Bella isn’t a strong enough female character, Edward
is kind of a stalker, they fall in love too fast (yet, a lot of teenagers in
real life do, too) and Mayer’s prose are standard, if not subpar at best. All true statements, yet on the other hand, a
reader needs to know what they are walking into. “Twilight” is for teenage
girls, who are at an age where every boy who looks the least bit attractive is
one for their hearts. An argument I don’t buy is, which I’ve heard from friends
who are critics, “Twilight” somehow promotes older men and younger girls
getting together. Yeah, Edward has been seventeen for a thousand years, but
that’s part of the appeal and escapism. He’s a vampire, and vampires do not
age. Anyone who has read better vampire novels knows this.
“Twilight”,
for those few who do not know, is about a teenage girl named Bella who is new
to Forks, a town near Seattle. She goes to a new school, where boys take notice
of her. She meets a new boy named Edward, who quickly becomes her boyfriend.
They get together, and well, they fall in deep love. I’m already cringing at
this as a twenty five year old male, but I know I will have to put my ego at
the door while reading this. I am a book critic, sure, but I’m also not a
fourteen year old girl. I have no plans on becoming a woman or a girl or
whatever. So, yes, this book wasn’t written with me in mind. So, let’s start
this interesting review. I present the pros and cons of Twilight.
Let’s start
with the pros. The pros are Meyer’s talent at creating escapism. It’s so
ridiculous what we are reading. The romance isn’t set up well enough, and we
see that. I mean, these two characters really are hormone driven teenagers, and
Meyer pretty much knows this. A simple glance across the lunch room pretty much
sets up a big romance between this vampire and this teenage girl. However, the
characters she creates are so compelling; she does a good job of selling this.
I found myself turning pages, really fast, wanting to know what happens to
these characters. I found her introduction of the Cullens sitting at the lunch
table compelling. Who are these great looking teenagers who have somewhat pale
skin and keep to themselves? They are great looking kids with something
mysterious about them! It’s not an original hook, but that doesn’t make it a
bad one.
Bella’s
narration, too, is a plus. Yes, to me, a 25 year old male, it sounds like a
whiney teenage girl. Teenage girls complain a bit, and I think that’s a natural
thing. Yes, there’s a limit, but let’s remember who we are following in this
story. Bella is a sixteen year old girl, who’s selfish mom ships her off to the
dad she’s hasn’t seen since she was a little girl, because she wants to have a
romance with a baseball player. She has to adjust to a new town, and new
friends. She has to learn to obey a new parent who she hardly knows. A teenager
like that in real life has a right to be a bit of an emo kid. Teenagers have a
bit of a right to be emo. People criticize Meyer for sounding like a whiney
teenager, but they forget, she isn’t narrating this story. Bella is. Being a
bit whiney is true to this character. I would think a teenager in her situation
would have a right to whine. Heck, I would expect her to. People say Bella is a
martyr. I think she’s just a frustrated teenager.
Teenagers like that have a right to
feel a bit rejected, have a right to complain a bit. She can write bad poetry
about her situation. An unfair comparison people make is between prose in Harry
Potter and Twilight. Harry Potter is told in the third person, and Twilight in
the first person. Bella is narrating the
tale, not Meyer. If Harry Potter was told in Harry’s point of view, instead of
Rowling, he would sound like Bella. Harry, like Bella, would sound like a mistreated
teenager, who doesn’t feel in control, and considering neither is in a great
situation, they have a right to complain. Understanding where a character is
coming from is important, and besides, she’s not trying to connect to an old
foggy like myself, she’s trying to connect to a teenager trying to figure out
their raging hormones and puberty. How many times have you looked back on your
teenage years and can’t believe what you wrote in your dairy? How whiney did
you sound? It’s the same thing.
Another
pro to “Twilight” is its sales. Like Harry Potter’s sales, anything that sells
books to kids is a good thing. I rather my kids read both “Twilight” and “Harry
Potter”. Heck, they are reading. That’s never a bad thing. Is “Harry Potter”
better than “Twilight”? From a literary point of view, yes! Does kid’s
literature have to be held up to the standards of the New York Times Book
Review Section? No. If we hold young adult literature to a standard that high,
kids will never read. Most kids, first and foremost, want to be entertained,
not enlightened by some deep, Pulitzer Prize worthy prose piece. However, I was
talking to a librarian and she noted that a lot of adult writers are now
writing young adult novels, and they often aren’t very good at it. Meyer is
good at speaking to the teenagers in a language they can understand. I however, when I was younger, I did read
some books I found rather deep (Perks of Being A Wallflower is great, but
looking back, is a bit melodramatic in places), and that’s a skill. I’m not
saying give Meyer (or Rowling) the Pulitzer. No way, but respect their talent
for being able to do what a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist might not be able
to.
Now,
onto the cons. “Twilight” is poorly written at times, and on a rather low
level. One of the merits of “Harry Potter” is that it doesn’t talk down to
kids. “Twilight”, at times, does feel like it’s pandering to its young female
audience in the writing department. The book uses a bit too many terms that
sound like an adult trying to sound like a teenager. Seriously, Meyer sometimes
sounds really ridiculous in the phrases she uses. We know this is a teenager
narrating, but we also know this is a grown woman writing it, and sometimes a
little self awareness would pay off. This would also have helped the book have
some of the crossover appeal “Harry Potter” had. “Harry Potter”, at times but
not so much that it ends up being like an episode of “Community”, really did
have this self awareness to it. One of the reasons I think adults read Potter
so much is because it did wink at the audience sometimes. Rowling has this dry
humor Meyer doesn’t. I don’t know if that’s a British thing, because Meyer is
American. However, “Twilight” does lack that self awareness which might have
made the book better. At times, the book takes itself a bit too seriously.
Another
con of “Twilight” is the fact that Bella isn’t really the strongest female character.
Hermione Ginger, in “Harry Potter” is a strong female character that Bella Swan
isn’t. Bella is in love with Edward to the point of it being a bit ridiculous.
Like, too much of her not being able to live without him is really silly
sounding. Like, they do fall in love way too fast, but her strong desire to be
with him forever sounds a bit silly. I don’t look forward to the day I have to
tell my future daughter (if I have one), after her breakup with a first
boyfriend, that no dear, you and him are just misunderstanding hormones.
“Twilight” sells the idea a bit too strongly that you and your high school
boyfriend are meant to be eternal souls. I can see this book making it harder
for parents to explain to their kids that no, you and your boyfriend, are both
in high school, and will probably move on in college. Bella, in book two,
doesn’t even want to go to college or turn eighteen, because of her eternal
love for Edward. Yeah, I understand this is a fantasy, but eternal love in your
high school years is often a fantasy.
An aspect of their love I do like, though, is
the sexual tension but the decision they constantly make to wait and not do the
deed. Too much media is focused on teenagers getting it on and acting like it’s
not a big deal, and in Twilight, it’s a very big deal and Meyer’s conviction
(could also be due to the fact she’s a Mormon, but that’s not really fair),
that teen sex is dangerous (and in this case, would result in a bite from a
vampire) is actually not a bad message for teenage girls. A bite from a vampire
is a really good metaphor for the unhealthy results of teenagers doing it a bit
too early.
However, she keeps describing Bella
as a plain girl, up to the level that we really don’t understand Edward’s
attraction to her. Edward is like a teenage model, and Bella is a plain looking
girl. That big gap in the way they look makes the book feel a bit too much of a
fantasy. Meyer didn’t need to make Bella look amazing, but she could have added
a detail like beautiful eyes or Bella is a star athlete. I don’t want to sound
shallow, but everyone, not just teenagers, thrive on some kind of attraction
that’s physical. Bella never really gives us something about her that would
attract the hottest guy in school. That makes the book seem like a fantasy for
teenage girls that’s a bit unrealistic. We don’t really understand why Bella is
dating this guy. This guy can have any girl he wants, and Meyer doesn’t really
make anything stand out about Bella. She’s not super smart or attractive in any
special way. I’m not trying to be shallow, but the guy with model looks is
going out with the girl with model looks. This is high school, and yes, I know,
Edward has been in high school for a thousand years, but still.
Another con I feel is Meyer’s
unreliable writing. She doesn’t know how to incorporate back story the way
Rowling does. The story of the vampires, with Edward talking about Paris and
his past, and his parents dying, and the bite that changed his life, feels kind
of pointless, and should have been something the editor should have either cut
out or something Meyer should have left as a mystery to the reader. A more
mysterious back story would have created some mystique around the character.
Also, the Cullens are way too successful. Even their adopted father looks like a
model, and he’s a successful doctor. That’s kind of a plot hole too. A vampire
can’t be a doctor. They go insane around all that blood. Also, they own nice
cars. Sorry, I just don’t buy vampires being this successful. They have way too
many issues to do this well in society. I haven’t even started on the other one
who tries to win Bella’s heart yet, either. Jacob, her Native American friend,
who can transform into a werewolf, is also vying for Bella. Meyer puts too much
of this supernatural stuff without proper pacing and mystery around it which makes
the book come off as cheesy. Also, Edward and Jacob, these two great looking
guys, sorry I’m just not buying that they are battling for this very plain
human girl.
So, what do we make of “Twilight”,
and if I were to grade it, what would I give it. I think it’s better than a
“C”, but not quite an “A”. I would give it a B. Meyer deserves credit, because
if she wasn’t a great storyteller (which she is), no one would buy this story.
However, her storytelling is really compelling even if her writing isn’t really
that great. I think writing a compelling story is a real skill, though, and
it’s always valuable to write to a younger crowd. What critics don’t get about
books like “Twilight” is that “Twilight” isn’t a great book by itself, but more
of a waiting station for kids to get hooked on reading. The language is easy,
the story is simple and entertaining, and also, what critics don’t get it that
not everything needs to be masterful. “Harry Potter” is a masterful story, as
is “War and Peace”. Yet, do we need everything to be a masterpiece? No,
sometimes we just need brain candy. If an adult is reading “Twilight”, then
it’s just brain candy to them, simple as that. Sometime to help them escape their
everyday life. If a kid is reading it, then it’s just a fantasy for them
crafted perfectly for them. Stephen King criticized Meyer as “not being able to
write a darn”, and that might be somewhat true. He went to praise J.K. Rowling.
However, Meyer and Rowling are in the same business. They are in the escapism
business because no one is going to Hogwarts and no one is falling in love with
a vampire. Both are fiction, but fiction is important, because society needs
theses stories. After all, what is a society without stories? It’s real life,
and lets be honest, at times, it isn’t much fun.