Why I Hate Twilight Too
April 7th, 2009 by Vanessa
In case anyone doesn’t know (my mum and my brother read this and the whole vampire romance thing may well have passed them by) Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series are an incredibly popular series of books about a girl called Bella who falls in love with a vampire called Edward. As you do.
I’d heard masses about these books and witnessed on several occasions the frantic requests by teenage girls (and grown women) for the next in the series, seen the stories about obsessive fans but hadn’t got round to actually reading the book. So, a couple of months back I took Twlight home and settled down to discover what it was that was so fabulous about these books, to see if I too was swept up into the magic of books which have spawned an enormous number of fansites.*
And I wasn’t. Mostly I was irritated, sometimes I gasped in utter horror at the clunky writing and the utter blandness of Bella, the central character, and sometimes my eyes widened in disbelief at the way that abusive, controlling relationships were portrayed as A Good Thing - I wanted to point out to Bella that if your boyfriend is creeping into your bedroom to watch you sleep, that’s not loving and caring, that’s stalking and you need a restraining order. Just because your relationship is chaste (clearly Meyer thinks that sex is bad as that’s a continual overtone running through the book) doesn’t mean to say it’s healthy. And what’s with the glittering – sheesh!
I’ve been meaning to write about how much I hate Twilight for a while but I was beaten to it last month by Eve at the marvellous Vulpes Libris blog. I completely agree with her feelings about the books. And before anyone starts pointing out that it’s a fantasy and it’s escapist and not meant to be taken seriously – I know! I know it’s not real, that vampires don’t exist, that’s it’s just Stephenie Meyer’s teenage daydreams, that people don’t really glitter, but I also know that girls of 10 and up are reading these books and absorbing the subliminal and not-so-subliminal messages about female inferiority and how Bella is to blame for the possibility of Edward losing control and killing her. And I’m very uneasy about books that give the message to young girls that abusive relationships are ok, and even desirable.
* WRT to the fansites, I suppose it explains why Breaking Dawn won the children’s category of the British Book Awards the other evening, which is decided by public vote – Stephenie Meyer’s fans outnumbered J K Rowling’s (Beedle the Bard being another of the shortlisted titles).
Thank you!
I thought it terribly clunk prose, too.
Romance yes probably not the vampire thing !! glad I passed by.
Don’t forget that wonderful part of the book where Bella talks about Jane Austen, and ‘how wonderful it must have been to have lived in the seventeenth century’ ;) xx
Hahaha Vanessa :) You are so right on this one!
I know, as a kids Bookseller, I should be championing reading no matter what… but sometimes you just have to draw the line! This should never have been a kids book really, it should have been one of those adult books that teenagers read (like Flowers in the Attic!!!) then it wouldn’t be in the children’s section, in their chart and it wouldn’t be sitting on the tables next to Inkheart and Skulduggery Pleasant!! And then far-too-young children wouldn’t buy it and nor would their trusting unsuspecting parents.
Arrggghhh… I’m getting mad all over again. Yay for spreading the word though :)
I did not get past the first chapter. Send me some of your slush pile instead Vanessa!
I completely agree that Twilight was awful. I read it because a friend said it was good for a laugh which it was at times. I laughed a lot during the glittering description. Though the thought of reading the second one makes me cranky, Bella’s love of her stalker is beyond creepy. I also found Bella’s lack of personality disturbing. Plus the fact that she was completely ignoring her friends so that she could daydream about a boy that sneaks into her room and watches her sleep. I would be getting a restraining order personally. Ok now I’m getting cranky thinking about it, the message that this book sends is horrible.
I would point out that I do also read your blog and was quite interested in the Twilight series and what you thought. My year 11 form group (mainly the girls) have been trying to get me to read this but so far I have found other things more important to read, like Swallows and Amazons! And I won’t touch this book with a barge pole now thanks to your feedback. Although in the film there is a cute guy who plays the vampire (so my form have mentioned). x
So there’s a girl and a vampire – but where does the greengrocer fit in?
Greengrocer! Don’t get me started on that cover Carpo! The portrayal as Bella as an Eve character who is responsible for Edward killing her because she tempts him with the forbidden fruit! Even before you start reading the book/Meyer herself is indoctrinating readers with the message that if your boyfriend kills you it’s your own fault because you brought it on yourself.
can we also talk about how creepy werewolf ‘imprinting’ is? Jacob falls in love with Bella’s child when she is just a few days old, knowing that he is going to marry her when she is older. It’s basically pedophilia.
What is with the need to create compound names also? ‘Renesmee’ ‘Carlie’ ew.
OH and I almost forgot, those WONDERFUL messages about abortion and how wrong it is; even if you are harbouring a vampire child that is trying to kill you from the inside, don’t you DARE have an abortion, and just look at how everything turns out just right in the end because you didn’t.
Vom.
I think it so annoying how much Bella is in lover with Edward. She goes freaking emo for like a year because of him. HELLO, get over it. This series has gotten out of hand. People make it seem so great but when I was watching the movie I couldn’t stop laughing at how stupid it was. I read the whole series way before it got popular. Rob Pattinson is a very weird vampire the way he acts and looks.
thats how I feel. haha :)
I wrote on another blog–I believe it was the aforementioned, “Vulpes Libris”–that I read the “New Moon” book during a vacation period where I felt that I just wanted to relax, tune out the world, and dive into some light-hearted reading for the immediate future. That I work in the Social Services field serving mostly women, made it even more pointed that I needed a break from hearing about depression, abusive/controlling young-adult relationships, educational/career underachievement, parents who don’t know how to communicate with their children, social isolation–the list goes on.
So, I get this book because I enjoy the whole “vampire mystique”, and because I’d heard the swells of youth, and even grown-a$$ women, yowling over the “wonderfulness” and “magic” that is this series. Now, I want to add that I’d seen the “Twilight” movie BEFORE I bothered to get “Moon”. But you know how Hollywood can turn a “good” story bad, and a “bad” good….yeah. The movie wasn’t awful — the softball game scene was a little goofy–but what the heck. Popcorn movie. Not worth $10 bucks, but you live and learn.
What I didn’t expect from the BOOK was how incrediably AWFUL, EXCRUCIATING TRIVIAL, NAUSEATINGLY BLAND, and yes, CLUNCKY the writing is. There was absolutely nothing to look forward to in this book. Bella needs help–intensive medication and psychotherapy. Her father is in need of serious parenting/communication classes. Her absent mother, needs her head checked—(if I had a dime for every time I hear about a mother choosing a new boyfriend/husband over the welfare of the child…). And Edward–aka “Marble Eddie”, is a potentially violent nutter, ala Ted Bundy.
And then Ms. Meyers. What can one say about her?? I can only wish that she enjoys all the $$$$ she made by imbuing her female audience with the idea that it is all right to surround yourself with “characters” like those portrayed in the book.
The book didn’t enhance my vacation, needless to say.
Sorry for the long rant. :-)
Can you tell I HATE how this series is being promoted to young minds??!!
I read the first book with little knowledge of the series, recommended by a girl who said that the books were awfully written but quite fun. I didn’t quite realise at the time just how awful it was (This was last October or so, I was thirteen then) but I remember feeling confused as to why I felt no affection whatsoever for Bella or Edward. I read the other books, enjoying them because they are (I feel) fun reading if you don’t take a word of it seriously. After the first book, I hated the two main characters the whole way through. Edward is bland and creepy, Bella is a sulky, white-faced martyr.
I remember telling my mother “Stephenie Meyer writes like she has totally let go of the plot line. She needs everything to be perfect.” The thing that has been annoying me most is Renesmee. May I ask WHY a vampire baby would grow any faster than a human baby? It’s so obvious that it’s only because SM didn’t fancy the idea of writing three months (or whatever) of a NORMAL baby – eating, sleeping, crying and being natural! No, for the book to be good EVERYTHING had to be perfect for Bella. No annoying, needy babies – an independent, walking, talking, beautiful child. Which makes the whole thing even more sickening. Plus, Renesmee is majorly creepy.
I am sick of hearing girls yelling TEAM EDWARD! In the classroom. Have they all lost their brains? These people are intelligent, but the book seems to make them let go of this entirely. It’s so aggravating.
And to end with a totally shallow point, ROBERT PATTINSON IS SO NOT CUTE! He looks like a murderer!
[...] on from my ‘Why I Hate Twilight’ post, about 4 people sent me this link overnight. Seems it isn’t just a few of us who think [...]
Okay, first of all, you obviously have no imagination. it’s just a book! a book for readers who actually appreciate stepping into a completely different realm. FYI, you don’t HAVE to read the damn thing; if you hate it so much, then put it away and don’t give it another thought. don’t put down the writer and henceforth the readers who it enjoy it. not to mention the characters. if you think you can do any better, than i suggest you cease the judgementality and WRITE YOUR OWN!
and one more thing: the way someone writes a character(s) is their own style. there actaully may be people who are a lot like Bella or Edward. this isn’t a perfect world, so not everything can satisfy everyone. putting down the creator and those who enjoy it is what i concider bullying.
i am aware you are entiled to your opinion, but so am i!
OK YOU LOW LIFE WHO THINKS THAT YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO READ THE BOOK OR SAW THE MOVIE. NEWS FLASH: YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY PERSON. SO WHY DON’T YOU JUST DROP BECAUSE I LOVE IT. AND YOUR THOUGHTS REALLY DON’T MEAN MUCH TO ME. YOU ARE ABLE TO POST YOUR THOUGHTS BUT SO AM I.
Hi Mia and Erika,
You are, of course, both allowed your own opinion, but so is Vanessa. Not liking a book and saying why is not “bullying”; it is expressing a view. And actually, we did really have to read it, being good booksellers.
Additionally: by “people who are a lot like Bella and Edward”, I’m at a loss to know whether you mean vampires, or people in unhealthy relationships…
Erika, if Vanessa’s views don’t mean much to you, then why on earth did you bother commenting?
For future reference, your arguments are undermined by bad grammar, spelling mistakes (“judgementality” isn’t even a word!)and inappropriate use of the caps lock.
In short, we have left both of your comments up because you have made yourselves sound ridiculous.
WOW! Its so good to know that other people who have read the book didn’t like it! I agree with you 100%! Twilight sucked! :O
Writing in all caps makes you immature and doesn’t get your point across. I did not read the books and had no interest in watching the movie all of my friends swooned over, claiming they wanted boyfriends like Edward. Mind you, we’re 20 years old. I decided to watch the movie recently, just to see what all the hype was about, as I find neither character remotely attractive or interesting. Edward is a pale delusional creepy man with bad hair and crazy eyes, and Bella is pale and depressing. It wouldn’t kill Bella to smile sometime, either. I absolutely hated this movie the entire way through. I thought that glamorizing abusive relationships and creepy stalkerish men was the main agenda of this film and it’s creators, and realized that many women are already into that. Think of all of the abusive relationships you know, what does the woman in the relationship tell you? She tells you she loves him and he “protects” her, etc. I saw a huge parallel to this movie, and it sickens me. Its “escapist” but to what? This isn’t a fantasy, it’s a reality that unfortunately many women have, and cannot seem to get out of. I don’t expect anything more from this generation anyway, people seem to be eating up anything that comes at them, mindlessly of course.
I grew up reading JK Rowling and Darren Shan. Which lead me to read other books as well. I think they are both awesome writes and their imagination goes far beyond Stephanie Meyers.
I took me a few years to get to the end of both series…like 10 to be exact. Twilight has been around only 5 short years, and being a crappy bad written novel, it’s gotten a lot of liking among teenagers. I think people read it because the plot is too simple. The series is easier to understand, you don’t learn while you read, seeing that the vocabulary isn’t rich. The ones who fan about it, are people with the same problems, or the ones who still have to develop their own personality.Some people like crap, looks, and only a few characters. The rest of us, who are picky with movies and books, enjoy a much bigger and talented cast, a plot that has not been fried and when it gets cold, it’s re-fried. We’ve seen Underwold, and other films which is just vampires and werewolves. Twilight doesn’t fit into the picture, if it does, it’s in a corner where it says “Worst Saga”