And for the record, I completely agree with you about the purpose of escapist fiction and the idea that the vast majority of teenage girls are perfectly capable of recognizing it for what it is.

First of all I would like to clear up that I do not usually read books such as this, as I am much more into adult fiction (thrillers, mysteries etc.)but I picked up this book after one of my best friends who hasnt finished a book since primary school read the whole series in a week. I figured it must be at least okay for her to read the whole series, so I gave it a shot and despite the horrible writing which, as a passionate Extension English student, deeply disturbed me when contrasted with the success of the book, I found myself really enjoying it.

I did not see this story of vampire love with its knight-in-shining-vampire-skin hero as a realistic relationship, but I marvelled in the escape it provided from the real world, and after reading the books for a second and then a third time, my eyes were opened more to the story and all its implications and I really started to see Edward for the creepy stalker who watches a stranger through her bedroom window that he is, but despite this i still really enjoyed the books.

april said

I can see some validity in the points made above, but the Jacob kissing thing really surprises me. I honestly don’t remember Meyer treating that incident seriously or referring to it as “assault”, but granted, it has been a long time since I read the books. However, I do remember Bella realizing that she’s madly in love with Jacob during the other unwanted kiss. He basically tells her “I’m going to go commit suicide unless you make out with me,” and she’s all “My God, I love Jacob also”, and I was going “You have GOT to be kidding me.”

and i totally agree with this, but despite that fact, i am still drawn in.

When my boyfriend found out that I like the books, however, he wasn’t too pleased. Two of his best mates were dumped by their girlfriends because they just aren’t enough like Edward Cullen, and he was worried that I might, as these girls did, use Edward’s “perfection” as a scale to measure my boyfriends up against.

this sounds horrible but I laughed uncontrollably for what seemed like an hour. I just couldn’t believe that someone would take a fictional character and fictional relationship so seriously.

The truth of the matter is that some girls really shouldn’t read these books because they do make them delusional, but any girl with half a head should know that these books are FICTION. They are a made up story, written to offer an escape from reality, as are all fiction books. I, and many of my friends who have read Twilight, do not take these books literally, and know how stupid and badly written they are, but nevertheless, enjoy them and i actually think that if a girl has her head in the right space they can, like my friends and I, take these books as an example of what a relationship shouldn’t be like. These books could be perfect for teaching young girls about unhealthy relationships. I also think that there is no way that anyone could stop teenage girls from reading a book if they wanted to read it, and so therefore, they must be trusted to make the right choices for themselves. It may help though, if parents and children are educated about the content of the books they read, although to do this for every book, it would take a lot of time and effort.

First of all I would like to clear up that I do not usually read books such as this, as I am much more into adult fiction (thrillers, mysteries etc.)but I picked up this book after one of my best friends who hasnt finished a book since primary school read the whole series in a week. I figured it must be at least okay for her to read the whole series, so I gave it a shot and despite the horrible writing which, as a passionate Extension English student, deeply disturbed me when contrasted with the success of the book, I found myself really enjoying it.

I did not see this story of vampire love with its knight-in-shining-vampire-skin hero as a realistic relationship, but I marvelled in the escape it provided from the real world, and after reading the books for a second and then a third time, my eyes were opened more to the story and all its implications and I really started to see Edward for the creepy stalker who watches a stranger through her bedroom window that he is, but despite this i still really enjoyed the books.

april said
“I can see some validity in the points made above, but the Jacob kissing thing really surprises me. I honestly don’t remember Meyer treating that incident seriously or referring to it as “assault”, but granted, it has been a long time since I read the books. However, I do remember Bella realizing that she’s madly in love with Jacob during the other unwanted kiss. He basically tells her “I’m going to go commit suicide unless you make out with me,” and she’s all “My God, I love Jacob also”, and I was going “You have GOT to be kidding me.”
and i totally agree with this, but despite that fact, i am still drawn in.

When my boyfriend found out that I like the books, however, he wasn’t too pleased. Two of his best mates were dumped by their girlfriends because they just aren’t enough like Edward Cullen, and he was worried that I might, as these girls did, use Edward’s “perfection” as a scale to measure my boyfriends up against.

this sounds horrible but I laughed uncontrollably for what seemed like an hour. I just couldn’t believe that someone would take a fictional character and fictional relationship so seriously.

The truth of the matter is that some girls really shouldn’t read these books because they do make them delusional, but any girl with half a head should know that these books are FICTION. They are a made up story, written to offer an escape from reality, as are all fiction books. I, and many of my friends who have read Twilight, do not take these books literally, and know how stupid and badly written they are, but nevertheless, enjoy them and i actually think that if a girl has her head in the right space they can, like my friends and I, take these books as an example of what a relationship shouldn’t be like. These books could be perfect for teaching young girls about unhealthy relationships. I also think that there is no way that anyone could stop teenage girls from reading a book if they wanted to read it, and so therefore, they must be trusted to make the right choices for themselves. It may help though, if parents and children are educated about the content of the books they read, although to do this for every book, it would take a lot of time and effort.

Although, and this is not to cast aversion on your daughter, I can’t quite imagine telling my mom I was into the sex scenes in any novel, let alone this one.

Is it possible that these books are being over-analysed?

Yes, definitely.

on the one hand I’m saying Meyer is a terrible writer but on the other hand, she must be good enough to have enjoyed the success she’s enjoying.

I think this is true of the majority of highly successful novelists, whether you’re talking Barbara Cartland or John Grisham. The whole notion that a writer must be a brilliant literary stylist to be “good” or to deserve their success is a fundamentally snobby and elitist one. If they tell a story that people want to hear, and that many people enjoy, they are good enough to deserve their success.

…there is also more action in that last book as well which I suspect eventually overshadows the Bella/Edward sex scenes by the end of the book.

The sex scenes are basically non-existent. The reader never actually gets any descriptions or depictions of the physical act itself–all the action takes place off-stage. All the eroticism is implied. Frankly, I felt a bit cheated, after plowing through a few thousand pages of build-up.

A curious thing really, on the one hand I’m saying Meyer is a terrible writer but on the other hand, she must be good enough to have enjoyed the success she’s enjoying.

Anyway, I just asked my daughter why she enjoyed the books so much and her answer was: the action. She found the silly Bella bits stupid and was more addicted to the vampire fights and adventures than anything else and this seems to be true of most of her friends.

Is it possible that these books are being over-analysed? I’m not sure that teenagers have garnered the same meanings from parts of these books that I have just read here. I don’t even think I interpreted the books in that way. In fact, I mostly enjoyed the action passages as well and really didn’t focus on the other bits too hard because I didn’t rate the writing as worthy of hard thought.

These books to me are a very light escape if you’re an adult reader, and a pure adventure escape if you are a teen. Yes, the fourth book is a very sharp twist away from the innocence that is common in the first 2-3 books but there is also more action in that last book as well which I suspect eventually overshadows the Bella/Edward sex scenes by the end of the book.

There are many things that annoy me about these books, Bella agreeing to marry when her heart wasn’t in it, Edward making a deal to get her to marry him, and Jacob using emotional guilt trips to try to change Bella’s mind are a few examples but I agree with another commentator here, I just put those things down largely due to a shallow writing style.

I think that’s why the current crop of YA books for this generation of teenagers tends to be darker and more disturbing. The teen years tend to be angsty and angry and sexually fraught, which makes girls much more receptive to something like Twilight , or even even VC Andrews.

Anyway, I’d rather have girls reading Stephenie Meyer than, say, Cecily von Ziegesar and the Gossip Girl series. I think their materialistic, vapid plotlines are stupider and crasser than sparkle vampires and werewolves. To me, those books are today’s Sweet Valley High .

A personal bit: I was quite the reader as a child. I read tons of fantasy, kidlit classics like “Harriet the Spy” and others, and….the Sweet Valley twins books (my dirty little secret). It pains me now to admit this, but I was heavily drawn into those books and would feel bad about the fact that my life wasn’t as perfect as the Wakefield twins, that my parents were divorced, we had little money, and that boys didn’t flock to me like bees to honey. I can actually remember bawling about that a few times. (This is pretty embarrassing to admit now.)

I don’t know if it means that I was “unhealthy” or maybe just dumb as a post (probably the latter), but I do think that those ridiculous books influenced how I perceived male/female relationships. I considered myself ugly in my early teen years, and I most certainly did not have gorgeous guys swooning all over me like Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, and it made me feel very worthless at times. Now I’m not solely blaming my adolescent self-esteem issues on the Sweet Valley books, but I do wish I could travel back in time and smack my 13-year-old self in the head and be like, “For God’s sake, those books are idiotic and have no bearing in reality whatsoever.” In fact, sometimes I wonder if my extreme cynicism when it comes to romantic love stems from the major contrast between love as I imagined it to be at that age and the disappointing reality I’ve discovered as I’ve grown older. Not that my grown, rational self believes in that silly stuff, but it may be a sort of subconcious, irrational reaction. I expect one thing, I get another, and I become extremely embittered and angry about the whole thing. Anyhow, that’s a bit of a digression.

Basically, I’m sure most young Twilight readers will be fine when it’s all said and done, but I also believe they are getting their first vicarious taste of love and sexuality through these and similar books, and I wonder how it will influence them later in life.