Twilight

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Citation: Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. Little, Brown, 2008.

Plot:


Bella is new in Forks living with her dad and notices an aloof pale guy at lunch. Her friends tell her this is Edward and that basically he doesn't date anyone at their school. Bella is also friends with Jake, who lives on an Indian reservation. Jake shares the myth of his people, and how they used to transform into werewolves and hunt the 'cold ones'. Jake also warns Bella against the Cullens (Edward and his family). Bella does some research, and figures out that Edward is a vampire. Edward opens up to her, explaining that he only hunts animals, not humans. They have a crush on each other, despite Edward being the living dead and all. Edward introduces Bella to her family, they play baseball, and a pack of vampires stumble upon their game. They also notice Bella is a human and that they'd like to eat her. Bella is now being tracked by a pretty bad vampire, so she tells her dad goodbye and pretends she is moving back to Phoenix. In Phoenix the tracker vampire finds her, lures her away from the Cullens, and attacks her. Edward finds her, the Cullens kill that vampire, and Edward saves Bella and takes her to the prom. Also, he promises to never leave her again. Which, we all know, he breaks in the next book.


Review:

These aren't my favorite books, because if you really think about it, it all is a little crazy. And maybe even stupid. But they are addicting, and a huge part of tween culture right now. They're  mostly appropriate. I mean, there's some sexual tension (or a lot of sexual tension), but as for actual content? Meh. It's not that bad. I mean, I would vote for more. I think that'd make it a little more interesting. There's a lot of contention over the Bella character and what she represents as far as strong female characters are concerned, but I think if you just take Twilight for what it probably is, a mind-numbing book about young love and supernatural creatures, without thinking too awfully hard about anything then it's probably fine. And whether you're a fan or not, the tweens (mostly girls) are. And that makes it worth being aware of them. 



Reading Level: 12 and up (depending on the tween)

Series Information:

Followed by:

New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn

Similar Titles:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Host
Hunger Games