Twilight (The Twilight Saga)

This is a light romance between a ordinary 16 year old girl who falls for a vampire, who doesn't want to be evil.

Twilight starts a PG rated series that's great for all ages. This is the series that started a vampire fascination that still hasn't stopped. It's great for those who have a weak stomach or those who don't like vampires at all. It's laid back and very relaxing for older adults, while still being aimed at teens. If you hate vampires and the paranormal, prepare to be swayed. Meyer opens a whole new world that we'd love to live in. Give this series a try and the next time you go to Walmart, you'll find yourself searching the young adult section. It's slow paced as Meyer paints a beautiful setting, with Bella being a daughter we'd all like to have. With romance, light comedy, and some ending nail biting tension the book is a must read.

The negative. It's very slow paced with a lot of detail. Probably too slow for young readers who need a lot of action. I don't think there is any action until page fifty. Meyer might try to write too beautiful. She must use a record number of words to describe copper hair, and golden brown eyes. I had to go by her first description because I didn't understand several of the words she used. There are many editing errors and a couple sections that should have been edited and copied to the paragraph before it. Most of them should be blamed on the editor IMO. The vampires are too powerful and too hard to kill. It seems to take a nuclear blast, or another vampire or paranormal creature.

Characters. Edward, the vampire, might be considered too perfect, but he has his flaws. He could be considered a bit of a pervert, but I don't think so. His weirdness actually adds comedy and more to the relationship. He's actually very morally sound. He's dedicated, mature, and very responsible. He's also too pushy. Sometimes I thought he was going to be one of those guys who beats his wife, but later I saw I was wrong. He's just over protective. Almost criminally so. As others have said, the side characters are one dimensional, but still very good. Most books don't show us anything of the side characters. Well most of Meyers do. It might be one thing, but at least it's something. They have very strong voices, and you'll remember every one. Even what they look like. Some new books today don't even describe the main character well. I honestly wish the books were longer to get more of them. Bella... The daughter everyone wants. Reading this story from her view makes you want to be a better person. Yes, she's a great role model for every teenage girl out there. She's very mature, responsible, long suffering, and loving. She does her homework and chores. She tries to always put her parents above herself and she isn't whiny. She's a normal ordinary looking girl with above average intelligence, and no athletic ability. She's also brave. One of the great things of this series, is that a ordinary girl, surrounded by super powers, might end up being the hero. Her flaws. Well falling in love with a vampire. She's a bit insecure, but who wouldn't be with Edward? She also lets him boss her around too much, but she is in love.

Some answers to other negative post with SPOILERS. People don't like Bella... Why in the world not? Is she too perfect? I don't think so, she's perfect to me, but falls to temptations other teens do as well. She took cold medicine just to sleep. Just the once, but the attitude is there. In later books she shows a little of a criminal side by debaiting if love should make you overlook murder. She shows she can make mistakes too. I explained my other views above. Some say she whines too much. That's not true. She mentally complains in her head about having to move to Forks. This is very believable. She came from sunny Phoenix, Arizona. When I was a teen, I had a friend move to Tennessee from Florida and he complained all the time. And it doesn't even rain a lot in Tn. Bella didn't even complain out loud! Edward picked the information from her and she admitted she hated it to him. We hear some complaints in her head over the first of the book, but it's not too much. By the end of book one she even likes Forks. Trust me. Bella comes to small town and everyone likes her... This isn't just believable, it's highly likely. It's also not completely true. First Loren hates Bella, and Jessica uses her. I'd say ninety-nine percent of new students get the same attention Bella did. They don't always get negative attention. Espescially a average looking girl. Most guys like all girls anyway. She's a novelty. Espescially transfering in the middle of the year. Plus it's a small town. Bella is also introverted. That will keep the attention up. We don't see what Edward see's in Bella... No we don't see enough. He likes her facial expressions. He's intrigued by her smell, and by the fact she's the only person ever who's mind he can't read. She calls his name in her sleep. She shows that she can be trusted. There is some little stuff, but not enough. Even so, haven't you heard of love at first sight? We don't get much, but we get a little more than that. I've read a lot of teen books and Twilight gives us a lot more in the romantic department. Romance is very hard to write and most authors do the love at first sight. The vampires are shiny... Ok it adds more PGness to the story, but I've read much worse. Some vampires can telaport to other countries, and control human minds. Some can even turn human again. How crazy is all of that? Sparkling seems minor too me, but Twilight got me started on vamps. These vampires aren't killers... The Cullens aren't. Most are. Remember this is a book best for people new to the vampire world, or who couldn't get into the violent ones. This is the book that showed some vampires to be good. Reading this book, I started trying to read the evil vampire books too, but I can't find them. I read The Vampire Lestat, and compared to this, it stinks. Lestat had character, but was also homosexual and wanted his mother. Rice put terrible details, and her story was boring a lot of the time. She had one comedy scene, and she did it wrong to where it wasn't even funny. Rice goes into everything a vampire can possibly do, but in little detail. She dazzles us, but doesn't tell us much of anything. I couldn't find Interview with a Vampire, but heard it was in the same mold. Meyer explains everything slowly and in great detail. She gives us a great idea of how much vampires can see, and how far they can hear. Bella and Edward don't progress... I'm rereading the series now for the tenth plus time, but I think that's right. They progress on some small stuff, like finding Romance, Bella liking Forks now, sex, marriage but not much. We do see huge progression in book four, and a lot of bestselling books don't have progression at all.

Twilight won't win awards from the critics, but look at what it's done. Twilight has changed our world. Many adults are now looking in the YA sections when they never considered it before. Vampires are popular again. Meyer has opened the door the other authors with series like Morganville Vampires, Vampire Academy. Just about every new book about vampires is on the shelves because of Twilight. Vampire Academy is my second favorite and in some ways it's better than Twilight, but if it hadn't been for Twilight, I would have never bothered. Some authors are writing a vampire novel just to get interest in their own material. Like VC Andrews. And don't overlook that Twilight is PG rated. That is a miracle. How many authors can write a book anyone from eight to ninety can read and enjoy? It's hard to write a book, and even harder to write one while keeping the violence and romance clean, yet still enjoyable. In book three I wasn't even sure if Bella cut herself or not until I saw the movie! A little blood wouldn't have hurt this books rating anyway. Meyer also keeps this paranormal fiction slightly possible. I don't believe in Vamps, but it's impossible to prove they don't exist. So there is a one percent chance Twilight could really happen. That makes the book easier to loose yourself in. Twilight feels real. Harry Potter on the other hand has time travel, magical everything, and every paranormal creature you can think off. I'm not bashing Harry Potter, I just mean that series would be easier to write and keep everyones attention. The more action, magic, and sex you use, the easier the book is to write. Meyer is outstanding keeping the pages turning without having to throw action or magic at us every few pages.

When was the Golden Age of Science Fiction? The late 1930s to the 1950s, when science fiction became widely popular and many classic science fiction stories were published. The joke answer is that the Golden age of Science Fiction is 14, the age when many science fiction readers become fans. I know I read my first scifi when I was 13 or 14 so maybe they are right.

Lately scifi fandom, in which I include not just the fans but writers, podcasters and publishers, want to catch the next generation of fans and have been pushing Young Adult Science Fiction, scifi for kids in their teens and maybe early twenties. I'm not immune to this campaign so I've been reading some of it myself. First, I got Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy. It was light but okay. Then I got Twilight, the first of Meyers' books about a clumsy girl and the vampire who loves her.

My first impression of the book was that it was BIG. It was a thick book. Once I opened it I realized it was big inside. Big font. Big line spacing. It reminded me that what publishers are basically selling is a paper product. The more paper they sell, the thicker the book, the more they can charge. The actual arrangement of ink on the page is usually the cheapest part of their product. Twilight is a big book. It might be classified as Young Adult Speculative Fiction but it was great as Old People Going Blind Fiction as well. As an old person going blind I found the font and the line spacing made it a lot easier for me to read than the tiny fonts in real books. I didn't have to put on my special adjustable glasses and put it down a lot because my eyes were freaking. BIG FONTS. It was easy to read.

It was a little slow to start. I didn't really find the girl, Bella, interesting. She seemed rather ordinary. There's a vagueness to her that reminds me of superhero comic books. They leave the faces of the superheroes sketchy so the reader can imagine themselves in that role. In the same way Bella is vague so the reader can imagine herself as Bella. It's not even clear if Bella is particularly pretty (except to Edward) but when the vampires appear, going to high school to give themselves a paper trail and a backstory that will allow them to live among humans, there are pages devoted to their beauty. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful vampires. Beautiful and irresistible so their prey cannot resist them. But this family of vampires is vegetarian. They don't eat people but Bella's vampire Edward can barely restrain himself from taking her. The descriptions of the teen vampires are very much how girls, how I, viewed many boys when I was that age. They did seem just as beautiful to me as Edward seems to Bella. I used to sit in class and covertly watch them. Edward's hard flesh was like the hardness of young male flesh as their hormones turned them, almost overnight, into something different, something alien. I hit my teenaged brother a couple of times (he deserved it) and it was like hitting a log. I hurt my hands more than I hurt him. And teenaged boys, beautiful as many are, are often monsters. So the entire metaphor of vampire = teenaged boy = monster = object-of-desire works.

Like Shakespeare has multiple layers and can be read for the plots, for the characterizations, for the sex and violence, for the dirty jokes, for the philosophy, for the language, Twilight, as simple as it is, has several layers. The entire Bella/Edward relationship is a metaphor for the relationship between teenaged girls and boys as they fight their instinct to have sex, sex that might destroy them. Maybe it's not like that today with birth control and abortion but when I grew up the struggle between guys and girls was to not have sex. The girl was supposed to be in charge of that but the better guys shared it, fought against their desire to have sex and maybe ruin the life of the girl who gave in. In the same way Edward fights against giving into this instincts and taking Bella, consuming her. As much as he is driven he fights against his desire. He also fights against her desire to become like him, to become a vampire, to lead her into damnation. He believes that he lost his soul when he was transformed and he doesn't want to be the weapon that deprives Bella of hers. The whole thing is a metaphor for sex, at least sex in the life of a Mormon housewife, which was what Meyers was 5 years ago.

Meyers has linked various works to each book in the series. Pride and Prejudice to Twilight. Romeo and Juliet to New Moon. Wuthering Heights to Eclipse. Midsummer's Night's Dream to Breaking Dawn. This adds another layer to each of the stories. In Twilight Edward, at first, seems cold and withdrawn, like Mr. Darcy, but that is because, like Mr. Darcy, he is trying to control and conceal his growing desire for an unsuitable girl. I think telling the Romeo and Juliet elements in New Moon would be too spoilery. In Eclipse, there are two guys in love with the same girl, in a relationship very much like Cathy, Heathcliff, and Edgar Linton. And in the final book, Breaking Dawn, first you have two men magically in love with the same girl then two immortal families struggling over a magical child like in A Midsummer's Night Dream. All of the connections are pretty weak but it adds a nice additional layer to the books and that lets you run the similarities and differences over in your mind.

The Twilight Saga, like Austen's novels, the Bronte sisters' works and even Romeo and Juliet, are pretty much girl books, the text version of chick flicks. Meyers is writing about love and romance at its most melodramatic extreme. I don't know that a male could tolerate them. Well, unless he got off on the idea of being the superhero protecting an accident-prone, trouble-magnet girlfriend from all the dangers of the world or secretly hanging out in her bedroom, watching her as she sleeps. (Edward takes stalking to a whole other level.) Like Austen's novels, the Twilight novels, especially the first one, have a strong Cinderella element. Most of Austen's heroines are ordinary girls, usually without much money, who get the best, richest, most good-looking guy in the novel. Like Cinderella they get the prince. Just so Twilight is the story of how Bella, the ordinary girl, gets the superhero vampire.

So there are at least three layers to the Twilight Saga. It makes it all a little better. Gives you something else to read into it no matter how preposterous the story is.

Of course, I loved them, though I am kinda disgusted about that. Teenaged love, the vampire and the virgin. God, how ridiculous is that? Yet as soon as I finish one of Meyers' books I start rereading the parts I like best then reread the whole thing. After six days I'm almost through my third reading of Breaking Dawn. I don't know why her books ring my bells. They make me feel kinda manipulated but still I find them addictive.

This summer Meyers also released the scifi book Host which I recommend. It is pretty straight forward scifi about an alien parasite living in the brain of a human and changed by it. The parasite finds herself loving the people that her host loved and driven to be with them. In a sense it's a rewrite of I Married a Monster From Outer Space but without the sex. No sex before marriage in books by Mormon housewives! I've already read it three times too. I try to blame that on the nice big font!

Well, at least it's over. It will be a while before Meyers can get another book out and until then I can pretend I have better taste than this. Though I'm not embarrassed about liking Host. That one was okay.

I usually do not read books labeled "young adult." I am an adult, many years away from being young, (except at heart!!), and, with a few exceptions, i.e., the Harry Potter novels and "Where the Wild Fern Grows," I read literature for grown-ups. To my delight Stephenie Meyer has created an extraordinary young adult series - which I love (!!) - "The Twilight Series." "Twilight" is also the title of book one. And what original, delightful novels these are - even for someone who prefers her/his literature a bit more sophisticated. I could not put the first book down, literally...and will begin book two, "New Moon," as soon as I finish writing this review. Believe me, there's a reason that more than 10 million "Twilight" series books are in print. They are addictive!

As an aside....I did see both "Twilight films," "Twilight" and "New Moon," which are now playing in theaters or on DVD. The movie versions are outstanding and true to the original storylines. The movie characters really resemble those I had in my mind's eye as I read and imagined what Ms. Meyer's world, and the folks who people it, look like. And the books' characters, especially Bella and Edward, are amazingly well depicted. Although all four books are on the market now - great Christmas presents for those uninitiated in "The Twilight Series" - there are 2 more films in the making to complete the movie series.

Isabella Swan is seventeen - a typical teen, good looking but somewhat clumsy. She is adapting herself to her long limbs and changing body. Her parents have been divorced since "Bella," as she is called, was a baby. She and her Mom live in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, where she has few friends. Bella is shy and is somewhat of an outcast amongst her peers. She is a moody and private person. But she gets along with her mother - miracle of miracles for an adolescent girl/young woman. Bella is also this stories narrator, so the reader experiences everything from her point of view.

Each year she visits her father, Charlie Swan, the chief of police in rainy, dreary Forks, Washington. These annual visits have been more of a torture than a treat for Bella. The constant rain, boredom and loneliness would get anyone down, except for those used to life in Forks. She has only three friends there - Jacob Black, a Native American of the Quileute tribe, (also a teen - and a handsome one at that), his father, Billy Black, and tribal leader Sam. All three are absolutely fascinating and original characters. They have known Stephanie since she was a toddler. The 3 of them have always regaled her with ancient Quileute legends.

Bella's mother, Renee, is about to travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player, to Florida for spring training. Bella has little choice - she can move with her mother and stepfather to Florida, or go to Dad in Forks. She decides to go to Dad so as not to be a third wheel in her newly wedded mother's marriage. Bella, is not a selfish person. She tends to consider others' needs before her own, a trait that can bring her joy, but can also endanger her life.

It is in Washington that major changes effect Bella's world. Once installed at Forks, she is not reticent about expressing her displeasure to Charlie, who would do anything to make his daughter happy - except move away from his home. When she begins high school, the lovely Bella, the new kid on the block, surprisingly finds herself very popular. With all the attention she receives, she is quickly befriended by a several students. Unused to being the center of attention, she is dismayed to find that many boys/young men compete for her favors. And she begins to enjoy living with her easy-going, somewhat introverted father. But Bella, who is more embarrassed than flattered by her newfound popularity, has eyes for only one boy - the dazzlingly handsome, aloof, charismatic, Edward Cullen. He is the most beautiful person she has ever seen, with his golden hair, and his dark brooding eyes - even his voice is mesmerizing. Edward is the youngest son of the mysterious and reclusive Cullen family. He and his four siblings, also noticeably beautiful, sit apart from the others, at a separate table, during lunch....but they never eat. He watches her intently, but alternates between interest in Bella and what appears to be anger at her.

When Edward and Bella are assigned to be lab partners in chemistry class, he avoids working with her or even looking at her. As a matter of fact, he is downright nasty. However, when an accident almost ends Bella's life, Edward saves her in a most non-human way. It is than when Bella discovers that Edward and his family are "benevolent vampires" who have vowed never to drink human blood. They hunt animals, and the blood of deer, mountain lions, bears, etc., is their source of sustenance. They don't eat - except for animal blood - so they dine in private. They do not sleep, and of course, they all have the usual vampire super human powers...and then some. They are all extremely sophisticated, accomplished and alluring. They can walk in daylight but their skin gleams and glitters in direct sunlight. These strange and potentially dangerous beings, unlike the characters in most vampire fiction, seem to have hearts and souls. So as not to give themselves away, they are happiest when it rains and is dark and misty outside. The head of the household, Carlisle, is a respected doctor in the community, whose citizens have no idea that there are vampires in their midst, although Jacob and his Native American tribe know.

So Bella and Edward grow close as friends, and then they fall intensely in love. They yearn for each other - and although the word "yearn" may sound corny, it really describes their feelings for each other. "Twilight" is labeled "young adult" because there is no culmination of the couple's strong sexual attraction. They do not have a sexual relationship. However, there is much sensuality here and plenty of erotic kissing. Actually, I think the abstinence gives the feeling of more passion than usual - more sexual tension. Edward is a gentleman and also fears that intercourse with Bella might harm her...him being a super strong vampire and all.

As Bella says, "About three things I was absolutely positive: first, Edward was a vampire; second, there was a part of him -- and I didn't know how dominant that part might be -- that thirsted for my blood; and third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him." Bella also discovers the reason behind Edward's initial hostility toward her. He is torn between his desire to love her and the desire to devour her. He is afraid his vampire nature might become stronger than his self control.

I do not want to give the plot away. Let it suffice to say there are multiple storylines and much danger here - to Bella and her family. And there is love. Plus, the Native Americans are more than what they seem.

Whatever flaws there are in this novel, (it IS fantasy fiction!), the magical narrative overcomes them threefold! I am thrilled that I have 3 more books to read in the series. This one is exceptional! Jana Perskie

As a working professional mother I have little time for reading, so I am (and perhaps always have been) a literary snob. When I do find time, I stick to the classics, fiction and non-fiction, and, more recently, again due to time constraints, short fiction of highly regarded authors. E.g. my most recent read (before Twilight) was "The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia" and selected writings of Mark Twain (wonderful) and Dorothy Parker (nice but disappointing). With an English teacher and would-be writer as a mom, I had easy access to the best stuff quite early on. My favourites as a teen definitely included science fiction (Asimov, Huxley, Bradbury). Among other things, I also read everything by Hemingway (considered a "lightweight" by some?). Point being that prior to starting the Twilight series, the closest I ever came to reading popular best-seller was about 20 yrs ago (an Ayn Rand, to see what the fuss was about). However, be forewarned that, as you will see below, I address the question on a very personal note.

Why did I start Twilight? My 13 yr old daughter seems finally to have started to "graduate" from Manga (whew!) to the vampire romance genre. She now tells me bedtime stories about incredibly powerful but disturbingly anti-social female vampire girls, and, frankly, I was getting a little worried. I thought it was time I sampled the fare she was reading. I said to her, "Give me the best you've got, " and it only took her 30 seconds to find her copy of "Twilight" and hand it over. That said, she doesn't even come close to being among the more obsessed fans.

So, you can perhaps see why I am incredibly embarrassed to say that I was mesmerized. By the last page of Twilight, I had the uncanny feeling of having relived adolescence, moment by moment... the naivety, the foolishness, the illusions, the hormone rush. Meyer's rendition of first love, and of infatuation (even the kinds we sometimes experience beyond teen-hood), was nothing short of vivid. I think I may have held my breath throughout all of chapter 13 at the acuteness with which she rendered the powerful and foreboding emotions and physical interplay of first sexual encounters of youth. (I was intrigued to learn that this chapter came to her is a dream that inspired the book.)

Edward - the (dark) prince charming - is a strikingly accurate metaphor for nearly every girl's actual experience with the "first big crush", with his dark side accentuating the universal (and particularly adolescent) thrill of first sexual forays as an exercise in the forbidden. As girls, in real life we are usually utterly and naively convinced that whoever is the target of affection, and frequently undeservedly so, he is somehow perfect in every way, not to mention a strong and wise protector. Meanwhile, unless I'm mistaken, in real life, most adolescent boys in the equation are abused of the same notion, proudly and naively strutting hand in hand with the girl, posing as her knight in shining armour. Other aspects of adolescence that Meyer brings home with incredible immediacy (and which often form the crux of criticism) are the banality of the banter and the self absorption and lack of maturity or focus of the characters (had you chosen your future career path by the age of 16?). While this may contribute, in part, to a two dimensional characterization of Bella and Edward, I think another part of the problem is that the some readers, young and old, may be loathe to remember or admit that we really were (or are?) that way. Didn't we mistake sarcasm for wit, arrogance for intelligence, possessiveness and brooding for declarations of love? Didn't we play stupid verbal games and have petty arguments over nothing, rooted in inexperience and insecurity about our first close ties beyond the family circle? Weren't we shamelessly inflicting our moods and emotions on our beau, often for no other reason than to experiment with their effect on another human being?

Bella? To those who say Bella is boring, I fear that some folks probably do think that a bookworm who isn't on the "most popular" list, doesn't like parties or dressing up, blanches at the idea of going to a prom or early marriage and doesn't need a bevy of friends surrounding her is boring. I submit that vast majority of adolescents, and other humans, are more like her than not. Tell me, what were the redeeming graces of Holden Caulfield in "Catcher in the Rye". Classic or not, the book cast him as infuriatingly self-absorbed and mindlessly insensitive to those around him. Some readers have criticized Bella's character as flawed for so callously using Jacob. Perhaps, also, we're ashamed to admit that we all (male and female) likely had a Jacob in our lives at some point. That person we dated on the "rebound", because they were there, because they were such a kind and likable person, but who didn't inspire in us the passion we though love should be all about. There is scornful criticism that Bella is so shallow that she had nothing to live for, by the second instalment, once Edward leaves. Again, I wonder, have so few of us experienced something akin to the agony Bella went through at the jolt of our "first big break-up"? I know I did - it took me a year - the best way I can describe it is coping with a death - a death of my illusions, perhaps. Much later, I could see more clearly that, although he was incredibly handsome, muscular and brilliant (no, really!), he was actually over-domineering and there were misogynistic tinges to his sheer (and intoxicating) adoration of me. While away at grad school, I got a call from my mother when my sister got that fateful phone call from her first big love -- I was told she literally had to be scraped off the kitchen floor and carried to her bed. This isn't just a girl thing, mind you. I spoke not long ago with a friend about how her son, a good student, fell completely apart at such a time, to the point of failing out of high school. He's been trying to recoup ever since. Did Meyer really get that so wrong?

If we're lucky, we mature to realize that passion and love are not synonyms, that infatuation is suspect - a drug that seriously warps the senses. If we're lucky, we were able to emerge from our first big break-up as a stronger, perhaps wiser person. If we learn from our mistakes, we realize that the kind of person we fall in love with in high school is a far cry from the one we seek out when we're 25 years old, or 35 years old, that the ones we really ought to marry are the Jacobs or even the Mikes out there. But that's life, not fiction.

Moral message? Should Bella do so much sneaking around behind her father's back? Get real. Apparently, even a Mormon has to own up to the facts of life. Some readers are infuriated at the happy ending, that Bella doesn't pay for her self absorption and doesn't have to grow up. Instead, girl gets boy back and marries prince charming, and right out of high school, no less! Where's the college and career ambition? In this, too, I'm fairly forgiving, even though I explicitly raise my children to expect to go to college and beyond and, like Renée, hope they will marry late enough to know reasonably well what they're doing. Aren't fairy takes supposed to have happy endings? One reader argues that fairly tales are supposed to teach a moral lesson and that, even if viewed as such, this one doesn't. Well, find me one single fairy tail involving a Prince Charming that teaches girls to be strong, independent, and assume responsibility for themselves. No, the ones with Prince Charming in them are sheer fantasies about the impossible; commoners making good -rags to riches in a feudal era. I might add that the classics are also littered with women who ultimately fail, even on the somewhat rare occasions (think, Ana Karenina, or for that matter, even Kira in "We the Living") when they appear to be headstrong and intelligent. I'm intrigued to say, that my daughter's own made-up vampire stories feature extremely strong and stubborn girls who don't fall for the guy at all, but rather ignore or rebuff his adoring advances. That is bound to change. Perhaps, the one redeeming grace is that with so little emotional guidance out there, the story might help kids realize, when their turn comes for the inevitable heart wrenching experiences, that they aren't alone.

Writing? I won't begin to try to argue that Meyer is a literary heavyweight - but certainly a cut well above pulp fiction. A good writer is not supposed to "stoop" to clichés, right? Yet, it has struck me - although I could be giving Meyer too much credit -- how does one write for and about teenagers, in a setting of back-woods middle America, in an authentic and accessible voice without writing in the vernacular? Teenagers simply don't sound like Shakespeare, or Updike. Like the clothes they wear, they usually talk (and think?) in a way (maddeningly, to some) that reflects the latest in pop culture. Another feature of good writing is creating tension and suspense, and that the characters are well-developed so that the reader can be interested in them and want to know what happens to them and how they confront the inevitable challenges the story inflicts on them. On both of these scores, Meyer is very good. The only character I didn't get a feel for was Emmett, the brawny one (and discovered that a delightful passage revealing his playful side had hit the cutting room floor). I believe that an attachment to the characters is what drove me (even more incredulously) to the sequels. I also wonder whether I was driven by the prurient interest akin to following soap operas (another thing I've never done). Finally, one of my more personal prerequisites for decent fiction (and one that I always stressed when critiquing my mother's manuscripts for her) is that it allows the reader to see and feel the story. On this score, by using a seemingly simple blend of dialogue, body language, and sensory perceptions, I found Meyer to be right on the mark. For my part, I was living the story as I read.

I have, by the way, read Harry Potter and other prize winning youth literature to my kids, hoping to stoke their interest in books (and kept reading after putting the lights out). It did nothing for my son; Potter's a fantastic read, but we were perhaps a bit put off by the British vernacular and boarding school thing. For what it's worth, my daughter is now an avid reader, no thanks to Harry Potter. The turning point for her a few years ago was our discovery of the quite silly Melanie Martin series. She realized that books didn't have to be serious but could be humorous and fun. Sure, I'm a chagrined that my daughter hasn't graduated to more classic fare, but I'm confident that will come.

Is the series worth the time? I found the time, somehow, in the small margins of my otherwise very busy schedule, and I'm not sorry I did. Rather, I'm mostly mystified, and a little embarrassed at how it hit me like the proverbial truck (run over by Bella's pickup?). Am I simply more of a sucker for a good love story than I ever imagined? (I cry without fail at the end of Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, but oddly, not when they die, but at the exact moment the Friar realizes what a mess he's made.) Would I have been a shameless addict to soap operas, were I not "over" educated? Like much of reading, in general, the Twilight experience is so very personal. Try it and see.