Twilight Book Review

Twilight has become a pop-culture phenomenon, one which I completely ignored until recently. Like with the Harry Potter series (which I eventually fell in love with), I didn't want to be one of the early adapters who jumped on the bus just because everyone around me was adding to the buzz. I had seen the Twilight trailer in the theatres last summer and had written it off as another lame teen flick with very little to say - and that was the last I gave it any thought until it showed up in office conversation.

From time to time, I find it useful to give in and watch a certain TV program or read a certain book just so that I have conversation currency with the people I see every day. In this case, there are two women in my office whose company I truly enjoy who were both taken with the series, so I finally decided to give in and borrow the first book. I knew that the series was intended for young adults, which I didn't hold against it since some of the best literature I've read is directed to that audience. However, I went into the series with very little expectation, not even knowing the basics of the plot.

I was shocked and somewhat embarrassed to discover that early on in the first book, I was captivated by the images I was given and the way the storyline was woven. The star-crossed lovers theme is as old as the hills, and yet the twist of involving the supernatural world completely sucked me in. I had never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, never been drawn in by the promise of vampires (Interview with a Vampire may be the one exception), and I was tearing through this story like there would never be another day to read.

I wanted to know more about Bella and the things that drove her - her feelings, and I was intrigued by Edward and his obviously difficult interest in Bella (really, in a teenage relationship it's hard enough to get anything to go smoothly - and that's without the challenge of wanting to kill the one you love). Maybe it was the intensity of their seemingly doomed love at first sight experience that so caught my imagination, or the description of the two stubborn personalities that made up the main characters...but the end result was that I couldn't wait for the second book.

I understand what the nay-sayers see - the books aren't technically the greatest writing the world has ever seen. And it's not a book that's really intended to set either character up as a role model - Edward has some stalking tendencies that, if you took the fantasy element out of the story, would be extremely disturbing (sneaking in the window to watch her sleep, anyone?) while Bella becomes so obsessed that she blows off all other experiences and relationships. But the book isn't intended to be a moral guide to teenagers - it's not only fiction, it's fantasy! At a certain point, once you've suspended reality I think it's key to suspend it all the way and just see the world as the author intended you to see it.

And in this case, while I was surprised at how attached I became to the series (I expect I'll write something on the three other books and the movie here shortly), I think that it's not a bad thing to find an escape that allows you take a step away from real life and enjoy the romance and adventure of characters who spark the imagination.