Twilight

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Twilight
Stephanie Meyer
2005

The Summary
Twilight tells the story of a young girl named Bella Swan, who moves to Forks, Washington, with her father, and begins a complicated love affair with Edward Cullen, a vampire.

The Good
Meyer's book provides you with a simple and easy-to-read format, allowing you to finish it within an afternoon and enjoy the rest of your evening mulling over the quirks of her writing.

More importantly, it promises to offer a unique take on the age-old vampire legends, which, depending on your perspective, might seem like a breath of fresh air.

The Bad
By the same token, the simplicity that Meyer features in her writing can certainly detract from the overall story and mood of Twilight.  Granted, while many of the central characters in her novel are vampires and possess centuries of tradition behind an unchanging facade, that doesn't excuse Meyer's entire lack of development and perpetual use of static characters.

Meanwhile, Meyer receives a gold star for using such creative license in her novel and introducing her audience to the wonderful world of reading; however, I can't done the transition of the vampire from delightful Gothic terror and Creature of the Night to the emasculated horror that terrorizes Bambi in the wilds of Washington and befriends teenage girls.

(Dracula had three wives, controlled ravenous packs of wolves, and terrorized villagers on a nightly basis, not to mention he was a sadistic psychopath, who gleefully slit throats and drained people dry.  Edward Cullen is a far cry from the monstrosity we all know and love in Bram Stoker's work.)

Besides this, the plot appears exceptionally linear and juvenile, not to mention redundant.  This idea of ill-fated lovers has been done before, and done much better.  (Might I suggest Shakespeare?)

I won't say Twilight has absolutely no merits.  It serves as a perfect spring board for introducing young readers to books or as a short vacation from substantially more complex novels, but, honestly, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone over the age of thirteen.

The Ugly
Bella - and her narrative - possesses a bland uniformity, an annoying monotone, that bored me to tears.  It's not that I didn't enjoy some parts of the story, I just really couldn't stand Bella Swan.  So, if you prefer a little depth to your narrator and some meat on the bones of your plot, you probably won't fall in love with Twilight.