Genre: YA fiction, Fantasy, Romance
Published:
Pages:
Rating: 4/5 stars (but not without faults; I'll explain it all!)
Introverted tomboy Bella Swan has just moved in with her dad in the rainy town of Forks, Washington. After failing to fit in with the bubbly students at school, she soon becomes enthralled by one particular student, Edward Cullen, and his tight-knit family who all harbour a dangerous secret: they are vampires. As Bella and Edward grow closer together, Bella moves farther away from the human world, and becomes more immersed in the world of fantastical creatures she never knew existed.
When I first read this book, I hated it. I found it boring and cheesy, which is weird considering I was ten years old. Perhaps I age backwards. When I picked up this book again, I flew through it, because I found it incredibly entertaining and a huge pick me up after a hefty number of reading slumps. Now, I'm not saying that this book is free from problematic elements, and is the perfect representation of romance. However, I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy the book. It just seemed like exactly the thing I needed after a pretty anxiety filled winter break and a need for escapism. So, we end up with a pretty positive rating, but some worthy criticism to bring up.
I think we should get one thing out of the way first, and that is that I am Team Jacob in the first two books, and Team Edward in the last two. Both males seem pretty unlikable otherwise. Edward is wise beyond his years but in a creepy way, which makes him seem more like a father figure to Bella rather than a lover. (My professor brought up some Freudian analysis in this lecture that blew my mind). I found Edward's dialogue the funniest, because he just seems so pretentious the entire time. Even though I didn't necessarily take this book seriously, I still enjoyed it in the way that I interpreted it nonetheless.
I actually find Bella pretty misunderstood in this book. Everyone is so quick to judge her, however she is a sheltered teenaged girl forced to move into a community she does not want to be apart of. I think she found a true family structure in the Cullen's, and for that, I don't blame her for falling in love with Edward so fast.
Jacob was adorable in this book, again, not saying he's perfect, but he has a lot of innocence in the first two novels that made him my favourite character. I think all of the werewolves are pretty likable characters, minus the whole imprinting thing. But we'll save that discussion for the later books.
I think the reason I have found to really enjoy the series this time around is because I have matured enough to know the problematic elements and to certainly not ignore them, but I have also been able to recognize that this romance should not be taken seriously. I read these books not expecting to swoon over the romance, and because of this, I just found it overall entertaining and perfect to cozy up with on a cold winter day. I didn't go into it expecting to be moved, instead, I allowed myself to just have fun with it and laugh at the parts I knew were meant to be written as serious.
I hope this review makes sense. What I'm saying is, I know the books aren't perfect, but because I recognized that, I enjoyed them more. We'll be getting into more hefty discussion over the rest of the series, as characters change and my professor goes into more detail.
Have you read Twilight? What did you think?
Emily @ Paperback Princess
