Cecilia D. (ceci9293) reviewed on
Truly, this is not really a very good book. But then, in all honesty, I have to add that I couldn't put it down. I read it in a day and immediately reached for the second book.
It's fluff for teenagers and for anyone who likes being transported back to those teenage days of feeling different and alone and misunderstood (even though EVERYONE felt that way.) There is the fantasy of the beautiful, mysterious, dangerous boy and the suspense of secrets and mortal threats. Meyer's writing style pulls you in and doesn't let you go. Like a soap opera, it's addicting, and once you've put it down you feel a little ashamed...
The characters are shallow and actually poor role models for the intended pre-teen audience of this series, in my opinion. Bella allows herself to be defined solely by her relationship with Edward, abandoning her father, her friends, and her aspirations for a future just to be with him -- who wants their teen daughters to idealize THAT? Edward is masochistic, self-pitying, and shows some alarmingly controlling and even abusive behaviors toward Bella -- again, NOT the kind of "Perfect Man" image I would want in my daughter's romance-starved teenage heart. The entire book puts an enormous amount of weight on the "virtue" of being beautiful and never allows any of its characters to dig beyond that in search of something truer. I guess that's okay though, in a genre where the immortality given grants immortal beauty along with eternal life.
Kudos to Meyer for her brilliant ability to transport the reader into her story, to let the reader replace Bella with herself and live vicariously a crazy, whirlwind adventure. I just wish she had idealized some more admirable lessons as she did so.
It's fluff for teenagers and for anyone who likes being transported back to those teenage days of feeling different and alone and misunderstood (even though EVERYONE felt that way.) There is the fantasy of the beautiful, mysterious, dangerous boy and the suspense of secrets and mortal threats. Meyer's writing style pulls you in and doesn't let you go. Like a soap opera, it's addicting, and once you've put it down you feel a little ashamed...
The characters are shallow and actually poor role models for the intended pre-teen audience of this series, in my opinion. Bella allows herself to be defined solely by her relationship with Edward, abandoning her father, her friends, and her aspirations for a future just to be with him -- who wants their teen daughters to idealize THAT? Edward is masochistic, self-pitying, and shows some alarmingly controlling and even abusive behaviors toward Bella -- again, NOT the kind of "Perfect Man" image I would want in my daughter's romance-starved teenage heart. The entire book puts an enormous amount of weight on the "virtue" of being beautiful and never allows any of its characters to dig beyond that in search of something truer. I guess that's okay though, in a genre where the immortality given grants immortal beauty along with eternal life.
Kudos to Meyer for her brilliant ability to transport the reader into her story, to let the reader replace Bella with herself and live vicariously a crazy, whirlwind adventure. I just wish she had idealized some more admirable lessons as she did so.
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