Twilight... The first in a string of book reviews.

First thing is first... Yes I know I caved and I actually read the book. I tried to withstand the hype and finally 3 months after the first movie came out on DVD I did pick up the book and read it. Please note that was about 6 months after I purchased the book where it lived under my couch for that time.

I went into reading this book totally sceptical of the story and had basically decided I wouldn’t like it even before reading the first page. I had seen the DVD and thought "Ho hum, sappy teen romance" it really had no effect on me at all. This was despite our sous chef's total insistence that the movie was so romantic it would make me wet myself.

For the record I'm the kind of person who fights buying into popular culture. I have my own taste and I don’t like to be influenced by the general population. I don’t watch crap like Gossip girl just because my work mates talk about it in the smoko corner. In other words, the more other people like something, the less I tend to.

But... And this is the biggest of all big BUT's
I liked it
*cringe*
I can’t believe I actually just typed that, but there it is, set in stone for all to read.

This is the point where I could go on to give you a detailed reliving of the whole book through my eyes, but really you can Google it, I'm far too lazy to write what has already been written a thousand times over.

I will say, although I enjoyed the story (well except for the idea of Edward Cullen watching Bella sleep without her knowledge... CREEPY) I found that it was not as well written as I would have liked it to be.
I know it is aimed at the teens and 20-somethings but I like to think we are smarter and more literate than the author may (or may not have) thought we are.
The book is VERY repetitive. I swear there are small paragraphs that are just copied and pasted once in each chapter after they fall in love.
The author also seems to have favourite words. Chagrined for one, I never even knew that word existed till I read this book. You will find this word used through all four books, but it is less and less as the saga continues on.
To make my point very short... This is very obviously the writer’s first book. And you can tell she was not a practicing writer to begin with.
On the other hand, I guess it gives hope to aspiring writers that if Stephenie Meyer can get published and world famous then maybe there is a chance for all of us.

2 Insights or Insults:

TimT 19 April 2010 at 5:18 pm  

It could be worse. You could be one of those people who read James Joyce Ulysses, and find out that you like it. Other people won't understand you or the book. You won't understand you or the book either. After reading Ulysses, you may not even be able to understand anything else, either.

I almost became one of those people. I still shudder at the thought.

Heather 31 July 2010 at 5:43 am  

That's funny, New Moon is actually my favorite of the movies so far. I haven't read the books and I'm not jumping to it either.

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First thing is first... Yes I know I caved and I actually read the book. I tried to withstand the hype and finally 3 months after the first movie came out on DVD I did pick up the book and read it. Please note that was about 6 months after I purchased the book where it lived under my couch for that time.

I went into reading this book totally sceptical of the story and had basically decided I wouldn’t like it even before reading the first page. I had seen the DVD and thought "Ho hum, sappy teen romance" it really had no effect on me at all. This was despite our sous chef's total insistence that the movie was so romantic it would make me wet myself.

For the record I'm the kind of person who fights buying into popular culture. I have my own taste and I don’t like to be influenced by the general population. I don’t watch crap like Gossip girl just because my work mates talk about it in the smoko corner. In other words, the more other people like something, the less I tend to.

But... And this is the biggest of all big BUT's
I liked it
*cringe*
I can’t believe I actually just typed that, but there it is, set in stone for all to read.

This is the point where I could go on to give you a detailed reliving of the whole book through my eyes, but really you can Google it, I'm far too lazy to write what has already been written a thousand times over.

I will say, although I enjoyed the story (well except for the idea of Edward Cullen watching Bella sleep without her knowledge... CREEPY) I found that it was not as well written as I would have liked it to be.
I know it is aimed at the teens and 20-somethings but I like to think we are smarter and more literate than the author may (or may not have) thought we are.
The book is VERY repetitive. I swear there are small paragraphs that are just copied and pasted once in each chapter after they fall in love.
The author also seems to have favourite words. Chagrined for one, I never even knew that word existed till I read this book. You will find this word used through all four books, but it is less and less as the saga continues on.
To make my point very short... This is very obviously the writer’s first book. And you can tell she was not a practicing writer to begin with.
On the other hand, I guess it gives hope to aspiring writers that if Stephenie Meyer can get published and world famous then maybe there is a chance for all of us.

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2 comments:

On 19 April 2010 at 5:18 pm , TimT said...

It could be worse. You could be one of those people who read James Joyce Ulysses, and find out that you like it. Other people won't understand you or the book. You won't understand you or the book either. After reading Ulysses, you may not even be able to understand anything else, either.

I almost became one of those people. I still shudder at the thought.

 
On 31 July 2010 at 5:43 am , Heather said...

That's funny, New Moon is actually my favorite of the movies so far. I haven't read the books and I'm not jumping to it either.

 

Twilight... The first in a string of book reviews.

First thing is first... Yes I know I caved and I actually read the book. I tried to withstand the hype and finally 3 months after the first movie came out on DVD I did pick up the book and read it. Please note that was about 6 months after I purchased the book where it lived under my couch for that time.

I went into reading this book totally sceptical of the story and had basically decided I wouldn’t like it even before reading the first page. I had seen the DVD and thought "Ho hum, sappy teen romance" it really had no effect on me at all. This was despite our sous chef's total insistence that the movie was so romantic it would make me wet myself.

For the record I'm the kind of person who fights buying into popular culture. I have my own taste and I don’t like to be influenced by the general population. I don’t watch crap like Gossip girl just because my work mates talk about it in the smoko corner. In other words, the more other people like something, the less I tend to.

But... And this is the biggest of all big BUT's
I liked it
*cringe*
I can’t believe I actually just typed that, but there it is, set in stone for all to read.

This is the point where I could go on to give you a detailed reliving of the whole book through my eyes, but really you can Google it, I'm far too lazy to write what has already been written a thousand times over.

I will say, although I enjoyed the story (well except for the idea of Edward Cullen watching Bella sleep without her knowledge... CREEPY) I found that it was not as well written as I would have liked it to be.
I know it is aimed at the teens and 20-somethings but I like to think we are smarter and more literate than the author may (or may not have) thought we are.
The book is VERY repetitive. I swear there are small paragraphs that are just copied and pasted once in each chapter after they fall in love.
The author also seems to have favourite words. Chagrined for one, I never even knew that word existed till I read this book. You will find this word used through all four books, but it is less and less as the saga continues on.
To make my point very short... This is very obviously the writer’s first book. And you can tell she was not a practicing writer to begin with.
On the other hand, I guess it gives hope to aspiring writers that if Stephenie Meyer can get published and world famous then maybe there is a chance for all of us.

2 comments:

TimT said...

It could be worse. You could be one of those people who read James Joyce Ulysses, and find out that you like it. Other people won't understand you or the book. You won't understand you or the book either. After reading Ulysses, you may not even be able to understand anything else, either.

I almost became one of those people. I still shudder at the thought.

Heather said...

That's funny, New Moon is actually my favorite of the movies so far. I haven't read the books and I'm not jumping to it either.