msjones Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 --PACKED WITH SPOILERS-- I loooooved Jacob. I loved how much he loved Bella. Plus, he seemed like a regular person instead of a monster. I thought Edward seemed something like a cross between Rhett Butler (sigh...)and Mr. Munster (yukk). I just couldn't fall in love with all the snarling and hunting and hissing and thirstiness. And I couldn't forget his age. Ick. Â I didn't like Bella. I tried. I couldn't get over her willingness to literally die for Edward. Too pitiful, too desperate, too quick to dump her friends for a guy/man/monster. And her treatment of Jacob... She didn't seem concerned about anyone but herself. Â So, why did I read all four books? And why am I still thinking about them? What is it with that story? I typically read classics (currently Bleak House, To Kill a Mockingbird, and some Steinbeck short stories), but was prodded by a friend to quit being a snob and read Twilight. I wound up reading all four. Â I dropped a landscaping timber on my foot and I'm stuck on the couch with a purple, aching foot for a few days. So, I have time to think about all this, and am hoping someone else does, too! Share your thoughts on Jacob, Bella, Edward, the hissing, the thirst, the imprinting (!), the nudger (!), etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I only read the first two (am still waiting for the 2nd two at the library--I'm number 20 on the list--sigh), but I also liked Jacob quite a bit. It was soooo sad for Jacob when Edward came back in the 2nd book and Bella just dropped him. Â But I also like Edward. Except that he only likes Bella because she smells tasty. But I understand that somewhere in the next two books she becomes a vampire as well, and I'm assuming that after she loses her tasty human-blood he still likes her. So I guess he doesn't just like her for her tasty smell, if he's still sticking around after her transition to vampire. Â I think the books are such a draw because of some of the themes that are attractive to women/girls. The first book especially: Â 1. Normal girl moves to new town and is suddenly the most desirable girl in school. (Every average looking girl's dream) 2. 17 year old girl pretty much lives like an adult--her dad doesn't parent her at all, so it's like she's a grown up, but is only 17 (has a job, makes dinner, drives around where/whenever she wants to) 3. Best looking boy in school falls in love with her. 4. Edward is rich, rich, rich. 5. Edward is powerful and indestructible. (What woman wouldn't want a man like that? esp. along with #6...) 6. Even though Edward is powerful and strong and could harm Bella, he has incredible self-control and uses his strength to protect Bella and not harm her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Edward. Jacob seemed to selfish to me. Kissing her when she was clearly committed to someone else was icky. Edward, on the other hand, was prepared to give up Bella if what she really wanted was Jacob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillieBoy Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I'll bite! :lol: Team Edward here! I like the protective guys! I think Bella starts coming into her own in Eclipse; she is more aware of what she wants. Jacob actually annoyed me in all the books. The only time I actually like him is when he admits to Bella that Edward is like a drug and he realizes that she can't live without him. Â Have you read the first several chapters of Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edwards perspective?) on Stephanie Meyers site? That really threw me hard onto team Edward, his internal musings are great but when he becomes aware of his love for Bella just chokes me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane in CO Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Team Edward here...in fact I believe they actually are coming out with shirts that say "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob"...unfortunately I am WAY to old and mature to wear one of these  I might have DH go out and buy one for me to wear as PJ's :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 <entering room dressed in my tomato-resistant suit...> Â Neither. Â I did not like Twilight (couldn't make it past reading one of the series). The relationship is not normal (it's stalker-ish & creepy -- the kind you should get a restraining order for), definitely not something to aspire to (imo) & the writing is mind-numbingly boring. The first 150 pages or so seemed to be nothing more than simple sentences saying what she ate or did not eat at lunch & who she sat with in the cafeteria. Â And, for those on team 'Neither' like me, a friend gave me the following link which shows how the scenarios might have ended if Buffy the Vampire Slayer (instead of Bella) had met Edward. :lol: Though the video is funny, the guy makes some good points in his blog posting. Â <leaving now, while ducking tomatoes!> ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 And her treatment of Jacob... She didn't seem concerned about anyone but herself. Â That was a big issue for me. She so clearly lead him on, just 'cause she found it comforting to have him around, and then blamed him for getting attached. She really tortured him. His responses were upsetting too, but he was just acting on instinct / acting as a teenage boy. She was just cruel. ... So that upset me a lot. Â I've actually been more and more distressed by the 4th book as time has passed and I've thought back about it. I wish I'd stopped with the third! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I read them all before my daughter read them and I enjoyed them for what they were. Â They also gave us a springboard for some pretty interesting conversations. Â Dd is a writer and she was not impressed with the character development at all. Â We talked about dating and love and choices. One of the things we discussed long and hard was the portrayal of "falling in love." Bella seems to fall in love with Edward for no other reason than he is a cool, mysterious vampire. Edward falls in love with Bella against his will (shades of Mr. Darcy) because her blood "sings" to him. Neither of them seems to have any choice in the matter. The imprinting thing seems to be even more out of the hands of the participants. We discussed how this removal of choice also seemed to remove responsibility. No matter what Bella and Edward did (i.e. lying to Charlie, etc) it was excused by the fact that they were consumed the emotion they could not resist. We talked about how this can lead to dangerous thinking later in life. This is the kind of thinking that causes people to try to explain away an affair because they met someone they just couldn't resist. Â My dd is neither team Edward nor team Jacob. She is team Emmett. I am not sure what to think about that. :001_huh: Â Amber in SJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 <entering room dressed in my tomato-resistant suit...>Â Neither. Â I did not like Twilight (couldn't make it past reading one of the series). The relationship is not normal (it's stalker-ish & creepy -- the kind you should get a restraining order for), definitely not something to aspire to (imo) & the writing is mind-numbingly boring. The first 150 pages or so seemed to be nothing more than simple sentences saying what she ate or did not eat at lunch & who she sat with in the cafeteria. Â And, for those on team 'Neither' like me, a friend gave me the following link which shows how the scenarios might have ended if Buffy the Vampire Slayer (instead of Bella) had met Edward. :lol: Though the video is funny, the guy makes some good points in his blog posting. Â <leaving now, while ducking tomatoes!> ;) Â Thanks for sharing the video. It's hilarious. Â Although I read and enjoyed all the Twilight books despite their flaws, I'll root for Buffy over Bella and Angel over Edward any day of the week.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I was on both team Edward and team Jacob and could understand Bella's dilemma. I was obsessed with the books while I read them, but seeing the horrible acting in the movie (I actually laughed out loud it was so bad!) pretty much killed my interest in the series. The previews for New Moon look just as bad! I'll probably read it again someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom3tn Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I loved the books, and will watch the movies, but I agree that the acting is bad. Also, the guy that played Jacob in the first movie does not look like the right actor for the role of Jacob in the other books. I don't see how they're going to make him look like a huge werewolf. Â As for the love triangle, Bella belongs with Edward. Jacob should have just been a friend and left it at that. I read all of the books a second time, except for New Moon, because Bella and Edward were separated through most of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 ALL of my 17yo dd's friends completely hounded her to read these books. I mean, they were almost frenzied in their pleas. We had never heard of them...so, we went to amazon.com and read the book description. It ended with the cheesily coined phrase: "Love with a bite." That was it. There was absolutely no way she was going to read these. No problem though, her mind was made up before she got that far. I am proud of her. Ridiculously cheesy read. Â Â Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I absolutely adore this series. I am Team Edward all the way! I DO have a couple of Team Edward shirts that I purchased for myself and my dd from cafe press. Is it classic literatue? No. Is it fluff? Sure. I read them first to make sure they'd be ok for my dd and I read them 3 times before I handed them over to her. We were/are obsessed. Everyone of her friends had read them. I can't keep her from everything, and she's already "different" enough from her schooled friends. This is a clean, well written, discussion encouraging series. It's been neat to be able to discuss this with her and her friends. We saw the movie at its midnight premiere and now her friends are asking me to go with them to the New Moon midnight premier. It's fun stuff! Now she's moved on to the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson and she says that "Fang" rivals Edward. I think I need to read that series now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom3tn Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Ridiculously cheesy read. Â Â Yes, they are cheesy. Still addictive, though. I'm convinced that a lot of women would read just about anything if there's a good love story in it. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillieBoy Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Is it classic literatue? No. Is it fluff? Sure. :iagree: It was the first "candy read" I had in a long time! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Katia Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 <entering room dressed in my tomato-resistant suit...>Â Neither. Â I did not like Twilight (couldn't make it past reading one of the series). The relationship is not normal (it's stalker-ish & creepy -- the kind you should get a restraining order for), definitely not something to aspire to (imo) & the writing is mind-numbingly boring. The first 150 pages or so seemed to be nothing more than simple sentences saying what she ate or did not eat at lunch & who she sat with in the cafeteria. Â And, for those on team 'Neither' like me, a friend gave me the following link which shows how the scenarios might have ended if Buffy the Vampire Slayer (instead of Bella) had met Edward. :lol: Though the video is funny, the guy makes some good points in his blog posting. Â <leaving now, while ducking tomatoes!> ;) Â No tomatoes here. I totally agree. I bought all four books for my dd based on all the raves here....we plowed through the first one....she plowed through most of the second one.....and we tossed them all in the trash. Â And, thanks SO much for the link. It's simply brilliant. Buffy knows what to do with Edward. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 The writing and acting were both horrid, but I'm still completely addicted. Â I was sitting next to my mil at the theater when a preview for New Moon came on. My mil just shook her head and said, "I'm not interested in that," while I secretly made plans to be at the theater on opening day. I can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 :iagree: It was the first "candy read" I had in a long time! :tongue_smilie: Â What's life without a little chocolate cake following your brussel sprouts? My poor dh just will never measure up to Edward. I think I've ruined my dd against any other male after this series!:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Ridiculously cheesy read.   Geo  Did you read all of them, or just a few?  I agree, she's not a great writer. Still, I love the series for reasons I've not yet worked out in my mind. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest janainaz Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I love the series and I'm an Edward fan. Â I have never really read fiction books before, but the Twilight series really got me hooked. The writing is not great, the character development and story line is ridiculous, but I can't help it - I love it. I don't watch drama's on TV because of my kids - we stick with stuff they can watch. Reading Twilight was a nice break because it felt like it was all mine! Â Sad to say I just finished the last book. I did not want it all to end, but now I'm ready for a new series.... any suggestions?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 --PACKED WITH SPOILERS--I loooooved Jacob. I loved how much he loved Bella. Plus, he seemed like a regular person instead of a monster. I thought Edward seemed something like a cross between Rhett Butler (sigh...)and Mr. Munster (yukk). I just couldn't fall in love with all the snarling and hunting and hissing and thirstiness. And I couldn't forget his age. Ick. Â I didn't like Bella. I tried. I couldn't get over her willingness to literally die for Edward. Too pitiful, too desperate, too quick to dump her friends for a guy/man/monster. And her treatment of Jacob... She didn't seem concerned about anyone but herself. Â So, why did I read all four books? And why am I still thinking about them? What is it with that story? I typically read classics (currently Bleak House, To Kill a Mockingbird, and some Steinbeck short stories), but was prodded by a friend to quit being a snob and read Twilight. I wound up reading all four. Â I dropped a landscaping timber on my foot and I'm stuck on the couch with a purple, aching foot for a few days. So, I have time to think about all this, and am hoping someone else does, too! Share your thoughts on Jacob, Bella, Edward, the hissing, the thirst, the imprinting (!), the nudger (!), etc. Â Er, um, no. Don't make me go back there! LOL It took me WEEKS to get the books out of my head after I read them. Â FWIW, I was always partial to Edward - sparkly and creepy and stalkerish as he could be, I love the way he loved her. Â I liked Bella okay in the books. Kristen whats-her-name who plays Bella in the movies...I loathe her. She was soooo not Bella in my mind and when they cast her, it totally ruined Bella for me. Now, I can't even see "my Bella" anymore - it is just that stupid Kristen girl. Gag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cindie2dds Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 --PACKED WITH SPOILERS--I loooooved Jacob. I loved how much he loved Bella. Plus, he seemed like a regular person instead of a monster. I thought Edward seemed something like a cross between Rhett Butler (sigh...)and Mr. Munster (yukk). I just couldn't fall in love with all the snarling and hunting and hissing and thirstiness. And I couldn't forget his age. Ick. Â I didn't like Bella. I tried. I couldn't get over her willingness to literally die for Edward. Too pitiful, too desperate, too quick to dump her friends for a guy/man/monster. And her treatment of Jacob... She didn't seem concerned about anyone but herself. Â So, why did I read all four books? And why am I still thinking about them? What is it with that story? I typically read classics (currently Bleak House, To Kill a Mockingbird, and some Steinbeck short stories), but was prodded by a friend to quit being a snob and read Twilight. I wound up reading all four. Â ETA: Team Edward!!!! Â I dropped a landscaping timber on my foot and I'm stuck on the couch with a purple, aching foot for a few days. So, I have time to think about all this, and am hoping someone else does, too! Share your thoughts on Jacob, Bella, Edward, the hissing, the thirst, the imprinting (!), the nudger (!), etc. Â Oh, I've been trying so hard to just come to forums and search for only educational topics with my limited time since I'm still not ready for school yet, and then I see Edward vs Jacob! I *always* get sucked into to anything to do with these ridiculous books! Â I had a take-your-breath away reaction to these books. I tried very hard not to like them since I usually only read classics, also; Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, etc. I wondered so much why this fluff had such a hold over me that I had to reread them three times, read Midnight Sun, and even read The Host hoping for something similar (very different, in case you are wondering). Â I figured out it took me back to a time when my husband and I first started dating when I was a freshman in college. After six wonderful months together, we moved to different citie; and for the next 2.5 years, we could only see each other on weekends or sometimes only for a day. It took me back to my first experience with love and the pain that accompanies separation for the first time. Â Some silly stuff I loved: Â Edward's smell. I can't imagine a man smelling *sweet* but it would be nice to be intoxicated by the way someone smelled. :) Â The fact that he would protect her because he couldn't live without her. Sappy, I know, but it was fun to feel. Also, on the flip side, that she was the one in the end who was able to protect her husband and child. I guess I want to be very strong and have a man want to protect me too. :tongue_smilie: Â What I am sad about is that there wasn't more written after she was a vampire. That was very intriguing to me. I am also disappointed that Midnight Sun won't be finished, but there's always hope. ;) Â Okay, thanks for bringing this back again! Off to more serious stuff. Â ETA: Team Edward, as if that wasn't obvious! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 <entering room dressed in my tomato-resistant suit...>Â Neither. Â I did not like Twilight (couldn't make it past reading one of the series). The relationship is not normal (it's stalker-ish & creepy -- the kind you should get a restraining order for), definitely not something to aspire to (imo) & the writing is mind-numbingly boring. The first 150 pages or so seemed to be nothing more than simple sentences saying what she ate or did not eat at lunch & who she sat with in the cafeteria. Â And, for those on team 'Neither' like me, a friend gave me the following link which shows how the scenarios might have ended if Buffy the Vampire Slayer (instead of Bella) had met Edward. :lol: Though the video is funny, the guy makes some good points in his blog posting. Â <leaving now, while ducking tomatoes!> ;) Â No tomatoes from me! I'm not sure I 'liked' the books either. Â I agree with the stalker-ish & creepy thing. I would normally have put a book like this down, but something about it kept me reading... I didn't read them all at once. I put each of them down for long periods, but always came back and finished them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 That was a big issue for me. She so clearly lead him on, just 'cause she found it comforting to have him around, and then blamed him for getting attached. She really tortured him. His responses were upsetting too, but he was just acting on instinct / acting as a teenage boy. She was just cruel. ... So that upset me a lot. I've actually been more and more distressed by the 4th book as time has passed and I've thought back about it. I wish I'd stopped with the third!  Yup. I thought she was plain old MEAN to Jacob by leading him on. When she jumped out of the car and ran back to Edward... Just. Like. That. Right then, I knew I could never like her. Heartless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 You know, she wrote a book that skipped the rest of High School and moved on to getting married and the fight with the Volturi. The publisher said she couldn't just skip High School in a teen novel so she shelved the original sequel and wrote the rest of them. Â In the unpublished book Edward never leaves, the Jacob thing doesn't happen, Lorrant stays with the Danali clan and fights with the Cullens against the Volturi exc. I wish I could read that book, I think I would have liked the sequence a lot more. Â Interesting... I think that makes much more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 I read them all before my daughter read them and I enjoyed them for what they were. They also gave us a springboard for some pretty interesting conversations.  Dd is a writer and she was not impressed with the character development at all.  We talked about dating and love and choices. One of the things we discussed long and hard was the portrayal of "falling in love." Bella seems to fall in love with Edward for no other reason than he is a cool, mysterious vampire. Edward falls in love with Bella against his will (shades of Mr. Darcy) because her blood "sings" to him. Neither of them seems to have any choice in the matter. The imprinting thing seems to be even more out of the hands of the participants. We discussed how this removal of choice also seemed to remove responsibility. No matter what Bella and Edward did (i.e. lying to Charlie, etc) it was excused by the fact that they were consumed the emotion they could not resist. We talked about how this can lead to dangerous thinking later in life. This is the kind of thinking that causes people to try to explain away an affair because they met someone they just couldn't resist.  My dd is neither team Edward nor team Jacob. She is team Emmett. I am not sure what to think about that. :001_huh:  Amber in SJ  Interesting post.  I was shocked to see one of my 4th GRADE STUDENTS reading these books. When I discussed it (very briefly) with her, I got the sense that most of the 'issues' we adult women have with the book were going straight over her head.  Still, I agree that there is almost nothing about Bella's behavior that I would like to see my daughter emulate. I wouldn't want the Twilight series to be the first 'romance' my daughter read. I found it hard to cheer for Bella. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 I absolutely adore this series. I am Team Edward all the way! I DO have a couple of Team Edward shirts that I purchased for myself and my dd from cafe press. Is it classic literatue? No. Is it fluff? Sure. I read them first to make sure they'd be ok for my dd and I read them 3 times before I handed them over to her. We were/are obsessed. Everyone of her friends had read them. I can't keep her from everything, and she's already "different" enough from her schooled friends. This is a clean, well written, discussion encouraging series. It's been neat to be able to discuss this with her and her friends. We saw the movie at its midnight premiere and now her friends are asking me to go with them to the New Moon midnight premier. It's fun stuff! Now she's moved on to the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson and she says that "Fang" rivals Edward. I think I need to read that series now! Â I agree that the books could lead to lots of good discussions with teenage girls. And I enjoy some fluff now and then. I told my husband these books were like cotton candy; they look big, but you can squash them all down into a few yummy bites, eat them up in a hurry, and still want more. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 ALL of my 17yo dd's friends completely hounded her to read these books.I mean, they were almost frenzied in their pleas. We had never heard of them...so, we went to amazon.com and read the book description. It ended with the cheesily coined phrase: "Love with a bite." That was it. There was absolutely no way she was going to read these. No problem though, her mind was made up before she got that far. I am proud of her. Ridiculously cheesy read.   Geo  Do you ever do cheesy? If not, I can see where you wouldn't be able to tolerate this. I can enjoy some 'cheese' now and then, and this was my cheese serving for the year, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) Do you ever do cheesy? If not, I can see where you wouldn't be able to tolerate this. I can enjoy some 'cheese' now and then, and this was my cheese serving for the year, I suppose. Â No, never do cheesy...I have "lack"-tose intolerance.:lol: Go ahead and indulge, I'll just watch from a distance.:ack2: Â Geo Edited July 27, 2009 by Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamturner Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 This series totally consumed my life and I loved the story. Yes, there were flaws but I love those hopeless love stories like Romeo and Juliet, etc. I just finished Midnight Sun today and I'm sad that it isn't going to be finished. That had the potential of being the best book of them all! Â My dh and I were huge fans of Buffy and Angel so the whole vampire story line and "good" vampires were not completely foreign to me. However, Twilight is so different. Â I will say that Jacob bugged me and I didn't like how Bella kept hurting him. So I am on Team Edward. I think S.Meyer should write more to the series perhaps when Bella's daughter (Renessme, what a crazy name) is grown up. I actually want to read the series again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmsmama Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 I think S.Meyer should write more to the series perhaps when Bella's daughter (Renessme, what a crazy name) is grown up. I actually want to read the series again! Â I too hope she writes more in the series! I'm team Edward. Jacob always came off as too boyish. I like the idea of Edward living through over a century and all that he would have experienced in those times he lived through; also him waiting all those years for his one true love and then finding her. There are other things I like about Edward as well, but those two things really stand out to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 *sigh* Â I just watched Twilight with dd12 the other day - I'd been reluctant to let her see it, but after reading some reviews and realizing it wasn't really this nasty horror movie type thing, I decided we'd try it out... Â We BOTH loved it. :D Â (as a matter of fact, it's 5:20am and I'm about to put it on again to watch myself while the kids are both still in bed LOL) Â So - I saw the preview for the 2nd movie.. looked around online and saw that there were more books... went to the bookstore, figuring I'd grab at least the second book, if not all of them. Prolly all of them.:lol: Â Â Â .........and discovered they were written in the 1st person. :ack2: Â As much as I want to read them - I can't STAND novels done in the 1st person. Â Why why why WHY did she have to go and do them that way?? Grrrr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) :lol: Oooh, now I want a Team Edward tshirt.  What is it with that story?The writing is just tolerable (by which I mean better than Magic Treehouse) but certainly not good. The plot development is terrible ~ think about how the most important conflict is so quickly introduced and resolved in the first two books: James in the first and the Volturi in the second. The character development isn't great either. What really drew me into the first book was the sexual coming-of-age story thinly veiled by vampire mythology. Edited July 27, 2009 by jplain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 You know, she wrote a book that skipped the rest of High School and moved on to getting married and the fight with the Volturi. The publisher said she couldn't just skip High School in a teen novel so she shelved the original sequel and wrote the rest of them. This makes complete sense to me. I haven't read the 3rd and 4th books yet, but the 2nd seemed to be nothing more than a space-filler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjones Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 I do see the Edward appeal that y'all have described. Rich, powerful, protective, gorgeous, thoughtful...what more does anyone look for in a man? Â Except that he wasn't a man... so maybe my real problem is that I wanted a regular story -- not a vampire story. The whole vampire thing was too icky to me. I didn't like the hissing and snarling and hunting. Â What did the rest of you do with the hissing and snarling? Ignore it? Or does that sort of thing appeal to you? :confused: Â And what about the he's-really-almost-100-years-old thing? Not creepy to you? Â And, other than her smell, what do you thing Edward LOVED about Bella? I never saw what was so extra-ordinary about her. (There's that pesky character development thing...) Â And the other thing that would just jolt me out of the story each time it came up what Bella's willingness to essentially become a murderer. (I know, I know, a vegetarian murder -- but still, someone who REALLY WANTS to kill people.) And her willingness to hang out with lots of other murderers. At the end, they had to make sure the visiting vampires didn't do all their killing locally -- remember? And that didn't seem to rattle Bella at all. Â I think, in the end, it may not be the question of Jacob vs Edward, but the problem I had with Bella. She just was not a sympathetic character for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 *sigh* I just watched Twilight with dd12 the other day - I'd been reluctant to let her see it, but after reading some reviews and realizing it wasn't really this nasty horror movie type thing, I decided we'd try it out...  We BOTH loved it. :D  (as a matter of fact, it's 5:20am and I'm about to put it on again to watch myself while the kids are both still in bed LOL)  So - I saw the preview for the 2nd movie.. looked around online and saw that there were more books... went to the bookstore, figuring I'd grab at least the second book, if not all of them. Prolly all of them.:lol:    .........and discovered they were written in the 1st person. :ack2:  As much as I want to read them - I can't STAND novels done in the 1st person.  Why why why WHY did she have to go and do them that way?? Grrrr. The book gives you way more information than the movie and I liked it a lot better. If you are going to read the books you can't skip Twilight just because you saw the movie. I get annoyed with first person when the person is Jacob but it serves a purpose on a number of occasions. If you read through Midnight Sun it is from Edward's perspective but of course you get to "hear" what everyone else is thinking too. Heh - funny you mention not skipping the first book because I watched the movie... upstairs on my side table is the last HP book (Deathly Hallows) - which I bought to read because I just took dd12 to see the newest movie (Half Blood Prince) and wanted to know what came next. I've never read the other books. :lol:  I'm debating giving them a chance. Several people who've read them have said I ought to try... so I may. I'm not sure why I've always had such a negative reaction to novels written in the 1st like that, but.. eh. Maybe maybe.  Dd12 just asked me not 2 min ago if I would wake her up after dh leaves for work so we could watch it again. He thinks we're nuts. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I don't like Bella and I like my vampires with a soul. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Â I'm debating giving them a chance. Several people who've read them have said I ought to try... so I may. I'm not sure why I've always had such a negative reaction to novels written in the 1st like that, but.. eh. Maybe maybe. Â . . . and guess who came home from the mall with the four of them? ;) Â Now to rewire my brain. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I don't like Bella and I like my vampires with a soul. :) Â Woohoo! Is that an 'Angel' reference I spy?! I LOVE(d) Angel! Â I really enjoyed the Twilight series. Definitely fluffy, but everyone needs some fluff now and then. I would have a hard time picking Edward or Jacob. Jacob came across as immature and pushy and Edward could be controlling and creepy. If I absolutely had to choose, I think it would be....Jacob :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Forget Edward and Jacob. Just give me ERIC!!!! Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â From Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books in case you haven't read them. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 If I had to choose I would pick Edward. Even though I would be reading and think how romantic he is and then I would think, eww, he is 100 years old and she is a baby in comparison. But he was so charismatic, and sparkly, and I am a sucker for the knight in shining armor. Â Jacob irritated me. He knew what he was getting into and he would still go off and sulk. Â Bella, is the most annoying person on the face of the planet. Whiny, selfish, just awful to the people around her. Â That said, I did enjoy the brain candy while I was reading it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeacherZee Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 If I had to choose I would pick Edward. Even though I would be reading and think how romantic he is and then I would think, eww, he is 100 years old and she is a baby in comparison. But he was so charismatic, and sparkly, and I am a sucker for the knight in shining armor. Jacob irritated me. He knew what he was getting into and he would still go off and sulk.  Bella, is the most annoying person on the face of the planet. Whiny, selfish, just awful to the people around her.  That said, I did enjoy the brain candy while I was reading it.  There. That is exactly what I would say!:D  Oh and I am currently reading Midnight Sun.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Originally I would have said Team Jacob, but I am 70 pages from the end of Book 4, and I no longer think I want to pick either side. Â The writing is terrible, but if you read fast, you can generally get through all the grammatical errors to the story. Plot and character development are also questionable. Â I found the ending to the love triangle incredibly unsatisfying. I wanted Bella to sacrifice Edward in the tradition of classic star-crossed lovers, recognizing that he was not human and realizing the benefits of humanity, like Tuck Everlasting or giving him up in the name of morality like Jane Eyre. There was no sacrifice, little internal conflict and zero question of who Bella would choose in the end. Not nearly on the level of some of literature's most fascinating couples - not even close to as interesting as Heathcliff and Cathy whom Meyers desperately wants to emulate. Â An engaging read, but to be honest, most of my enjoyment with the books has come in trying to figure out "what went wrong" with the series and why I felt so unsatisfied by the story-telling. Personally, Book 4 is so crazy it ruins whole series for me and I am left feeling like Meyers had a lot of wasted potential with these stories. That being said, I'll probably still see the movies :D! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainbows Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Forget Edward and Jacob. Just give me ERIC!!!!               From Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books in case you haven't read them. :D  Sigh....I do love me some Eric :D (but Edward would do too lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmsmama Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I am soooo a Carlisle fan. I think they picked a perfect actor to play him in the movie as well. I wish they would have picked a different Bella. I really liked who they chose for Alice too as she really was a lot like I would have pictured her from the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Oh my. I'm a bit over halfways through the first book..and.. wow. *grin* :D Â Cadam, you were quite right - they kept the general 'plot'..but they changed so many things! Left out so much - and, even though I'm only halfways through the first, I have to say.. Edward has much more..personality? in the book! (Not positive if I have the word I want. He has personality in the movie, but.. it's not the same. Argh, dunno if I'm making sense :tongue_smilie: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vettechmomof2 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Forget Edward and Jacob. Just give me ERIC!!!!              From Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books in case you haven't read them. :D  Yes! Eric is a definate, at least form the books. You know the author always had him pictures in her head as the Viking King from 13th Warrior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 My teenage self would have preferred Jace from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series; City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass. Â Â Amber in SJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Â And what about the he's-really-almost-100-years-old thing? Not creepy to you? Â Â Â Nope - and he's just young compared to Carlisle at three hundred and some.. Â Besides - it's not like he looks and/or acts like a 100 year old man. Not by a long shot. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Â What did the rest of you do with the hissing and snarling? Ignore it? Or does that sort of thing appeal to you? :confused: Â Â Â Maybe. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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