I finished Breaking Dawn today, and I think I'm more relieved than anything. No more Twilight books. Hurray.Yes, it sucked me in, but this book was more like watching a train wreck. I couldn't stop reading no matter how ridiculous it got. And just when I thought it couldn't get more ridiculous, I got through a few more chapters and found even more reasons why these books drive me crazy.
Sorry, this might be blasphemous to a lot of you who are crazy Stephenie Meyer (SM) fans. I guess I am one, too -- a fan. Just not crazy. She puts enough redeeming qualities in her books to tilt the scale towards making me want to read whatever else she writes.
If anyone cares to know how I feel about the Twilight books, including this one, read on. There aren't any spoilers. I'm not that cruel. I'll start with the things that drove me nuts so I can end on a good note.
Why these books drove me crazy:
Repetition. SM repeated things over and over and over . . . and over. And gave way too much detail about everything else. There are a few classic paragraphs that grace about every other page: "How beautiful Edward is", "How Bella would absolutely die without Edward", and "How Bella feels unworthy/not attractive enough/too clumsy/too mortal for the love that Edward has for her". I get it. You only had to say it once or twice.
Bella. The main character herself drove me more nuts with each book I read. She's overdramatic, recklessly self-sacrificing, and would be more at home in a Jane Austen novel. She is 18, so I'll cut her a little slack.
Predictability. Most of the characters in the book are very one-dimensional and extremely predictable. If it weren't for the crazy twists and turns in the plot, she would have lost my interest after the first book. I like to be surprised when I read.
Why I couldn't stop reading them:
SM's imagination. I loved the way she characterizes vampires and werewolves. Similar to the Harry Potter books, SM created a whole other world of creatures that no one knows exists. She put in so much detail and history, it almost has me convinced they're real. Almost. And after reading all the books, I feel like I'm a vampire/werewolf expert. Don't you?
Edward and Jacob. I felt torn between these two. And the fact that Edward is ridiculously good-looking was nice, too. It's going to be hard watching "Cedric Diggory" in the movie.
The end. Probably the only other reason why I lasted this long was because I had to know how all of this crazy crap ended. I hate reading books or watching movies of which I never find out the resolution. Even if they're way cheesy. I have to know. Now I do. And on a side note -- the end of this book did redeem itself from the ridiculousness of the prior 600 pages.
10 comments:
I think I know what you mean. I haven't gotten my hands on Breaking Dawn yet, but I'm excited just to know how it ends. Putting up with some of the other stuff is worth knowing what's going to happen.
ps- If only I could go to Idaho next week... but I hope y'all have a good time!
I confess a slight - slight - interest in Meyer's books, partly because she's LDS and partly because of the whole keeping up with the latest in pop culture thing. The trailers I've seen for "Twilight" have been pretty terrible though, and reading your dislikes about the books reminded me of some of the low points from the previews I've seen. However, there's talk that the movie will be pretty faithful to the book, so if the movie's terrible I might just stay away from the books for good. I'll probably wait until December before I make up my mind one way or the other.
I SO know what you mean about 'No more twilight books'. I feel the same way as you do - it wasn't the greatest book, yet I couldn't put it down. Probably won't read it again, but at least now I know how it ends. The end kind of ruined it for me...not exactly how I saw it ending. That is all I will say.
I am, however, re-reading Harry Potter now. I am on the first book, and it is way better this time around. You catch on to so many little things/people this time around. I highly recomend reading them again, if you haven't already! Just trying to clear my head of vampires & werewolfs.
Uh, oh....let's hope Christal doesn't read your post!!! She just might burn you at the stake:)
Thank you!! I got so carried away commenting that I may just have to post about this one :)
Bryan, give the first book a shot. One of the guys down the street read it and thought it was pretty good. Out of the four, it was probably the best one. And I have yet to see a movie that actually did a book justice.
You are so on my BURN at the STAKE list!!!
I dont know if we can be friends anymore. Nat I thought I knew you and you just go and ripe my heart out like this.......how could you!!!
:)
Hehehe you know I love you, and I share some of your point about the books too. Bella is WAY anoying at times and I all ready have a good idea in my head about how hot Edward is I dont need to keep hearing it. Anyways I love the books but Im also one of thoses people who has to know what happends. Also I hate realy life drama but I love reading about it LOL.
@Natalie: I've heard consistently good things about "Twilight," but I'm still reticent. I don't like the thought of starting a series without finishing it, but I've recently been burned by Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. "The Golden Compass" was a marvelous book, but by the end of "The Amber Spyglass" I was wondering why I'd wasted my time with it all. Just a mess.
There are a few analogue examples on the movie side as well. The latest installments of both the "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" series have me wondering why I'm even keeping the first two movies in my library.
I know, I'm so unadventurous. :) I think I'm still going to err on the side of caution though and wait a little while - at least, till all the hysteria cools down a bit.
As far as the book-to-movie adaptation is concerned, I guess one reason for my lofty expectations is that Meyer has been closely involved with the project, unlike J.K. Rowling with the Harry Potter films or Tom Clancy with the movies based on his books.
I agree with your repetition pet peeve. That definitely drove me bonkers! About the last 200 pages, I was wishing it was done so I could get on with life-- dishes piling up, laundry spilling over, toys all over the place, etc!! Tonight I just layed on the couch watching tv, wondering what to do with myself! haha! Overall, I liked how it ended. I would have been mad if someone would have died!
Oh, and about the vampire/warewolf expert. We were watching this documentary thing on vampires last night and I kept thinking, "that's not true; that's not how it works." Then I was like, "Oh wait, I've been reading too much!" It was an interesting documentary though. People claim to be vampires today and there was a woman who drinks blood. Pretty gross!
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