Reading Twilight
“Have you read Twilight?” my friend asked, showing me to a book on the library shelf. I ran my finger down it’s spine and picked it up carefully, taking in the creased cover. This book had been through many hands before I had picked it up yesterday.
“No,” I replied honestly. There had always been a sense of hype around the book, and I has basically knew most of the plot before I had even read it, which took out the necessity of reading it.
“Oh,” said my friend — we’ll call her Bouillabaisse, “well, you should.” I looked at the book again, and took in the simplistic front cover, that almost enticed you to read the first page. Hm. Bouillabaisse looked around cautiously. “But just telling you,” she said, her voice lowered. “It’s weird.”
That figures. But I read it.
Let’s just say: I didn’t hate it.
Some people dislike the slow writing style at the beginning (it quickened near the end), but I actually didn’t mind it. It was easy to follow, and I actually appreciated it. I know. Things like that I didn’t mind.
There were other things — and reading from a 2023 perspective, that didn’t really sit well with many of us. For example, Edward watches Bella while she sleeps without her knowledge. That is not OK. Robert Pattinson, who played Edward Cullen in the films, called Edward the kind of guy, who if you met in real life, would be an axe murderer. Grim.
The age difference, is also something to keep in mind, as Edward has fallen in love with a girl 90 years younger than him. Oh- and the ‘sparkly vampires’, to be honest, I was a bit affronted that Edward was all sparkly, but it’s better than Edward bursting into flames because that would be very sad…
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Bella is also a bit harsh to Charlie. She leaves him — says the same words as her mother when she left him — and expects him to forgive her. To me, that gave me such second hand sadness on Charlie’s behalf, although it seems as though they made up.
The writing, however, is encaptivating. It leads you wanted to keep flipping to the next page. What would happen next? In the time that I am writing this, I have reread the book about 2 times. It’s different, and it’s unique.
There was also that insanely clever line — the one that begins “about three things I was absolutely positive” — and I think you know what I’m talking about that there. (If not, you can search it up, and it will be there.) That was written so carefully and hilariously — in fact, it is considered one of the top 10 best Twilight quotes ever.
The ending was also really sweet — she goes to prom and has a normal human life with her friends and a vampire. Aww.
“Hey,” I said to Bouillabaisse later today. “I read Twilight.” She turned to face me. “It was very… cute.” If that was the word to describe a 104 year old vampire falling in love with a teenage girl.
“Yeah,” said Bouillabaisse.
And — I end with a quote from Twilight. I don’t know why, but here it is: the third last line on page 246.
“Silly Bella,” he chuckled.
Thanks for reading ❤
