LIS 722: Week 9

Week 9: Horror
Book: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

You know, Twilight wasn't so bad the second time. Really. I think I did all my eye-rolling the first time I read it over Christmas break, right before I saw the movie. Four times. As far as the storyline goes, yeah, it has holes that a double-decker bus could drive through, but hey-it could have been much worse. I still like the movie better, though.

Twilight= girl moves to Small Town, Washington, starts at a new school, eyes up a really good looking guy who just happens to be a Vampire (who's a vegetarian & sparkles, for goodness sake), then gets into trouble that said Vampire has to help her out of, falls in love with him & wants to become a vampire too, meets his family (also vegetarian sparkly Vampires) who play baseball, but who are confronted by bad vampires (presumably neither vegetarian nor sparkly, & who want to eat girl), escapes, but offers herself up as a sacrifice to the bad vampires so others may live, doesn't end up dead, but does have to go to prom in the end. Yep, that about covers it. I knew she'd live, but that's only because there are 3 other books in the series, and well, my momma didn't raise no dummy.


I know that there are plenty of people (not just women) who yell about how misogynistic Twilight is, but you know, I don't know if I agree 100%. I agree that Bella should've taken more opportunities to tell Edward to go jump in a lake when he got all Mr Bossy-Pants at her, sure. But as far as saying that it seems that Edward had to constantly be Bella's rescuer, well, maybe so, maybe not. I'm not sure she would've had a fighting chance against the guys in Port Angeles, and I'm definitely sure she wouldn't have had even a ghost of a chance against James (the bad Vampire guy). Seriously, there's something to be said for bringing more than a knife to a gun fight, yes? And as far as I'm concerned, since it was Edward who got her into the mess with James, it's only fair that he be the one to fix it.

I liked the movie better mainly because I didn't have to keep reading about Edward's beauty. Well, that, and part of it was filmed in Oregon, in the part where I used to live, and it was great being able to see what used to be home. I'm not sure why exactly this was classified under 'Horror', unless it was because of the Vampires and hints of Werewolves. When I think of 'Horror', I think of Stephen King's Christine or some of his other ones--the ones that when I read them, I didn't want to go to sleep at night.

Overall, one of the better books I've read this term, and one that I know is popular across a wide span of patrons. Do I think it's going to be a 'classic'? No. But it's good fun nonetheless.