All the makings of a teenage sensation. If Stephenie Meyer hadn't written this so well, you would think that she's the ultimate marketing person. She would have made Kotler proud. The target audience: Teenagers, aged 15 or below. The Positioning: Scary meets Romance. What could be more irresistible than a high school girl who finds the illusive passionate love of her life in a vampire, who 'wants' her equally desperately.Ms. Meyer delivers and more, with a lot of style and substance. There is loads for those looking for blood-sucking stories. And enough (& more) for those hopeless romantic girls (& guys?).
In short, Twilight delights and lives up to all the hype. It's a well-told story, evocative in places, dark in others. It's got a good mix of teeny-bop romance & yet it flows well enough to capture a 30yr+ nostalgia for some of the years gone by (though there definitely were pages when I rolled my eyes over, saying.. oh god, that's such a chick flick!)
I've always felt the power of a story is in the characters it develops and how real the reader can visualise them, and Twilight does that. It portrays Bella very clearly (although sometimes a little too helpless for my liking), and her mother, and her dad. Very early on in the book, you get a good grasp of who she is and why she is the way she is. It paints Edward & the Cullens really well too. You are almost convinced that there could be 'benevolent' vampires. The book gets the portrait of the fine mid-point between good and evil right.. you can see the shades of black & red throughout the book and the story takes you through the highs & lows of Bella's journey of finding her love amidst the centre of evil and pain.
In short, for all those vampire story lovers, this is definitely next in the series of modern writing linked to the topic, after Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. If the Historian combined Travel, History & Horror to produce a scary masterpiece, Twilight definitely has created the next genre that combines, Romance, Youth & Horror. Nicely done & will be looking forward to reading the next in the series.
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ReplyDeleteAgree with the part where it takes you back in time to the heights of the crushes and passions we have had when younger. As for the character development - i would have to say Bella's is the best since she thinks of herself as plain, is a klutz, cant dance and is yet hopeful about the perfect guy . I think this is what has drawn girls and women from the world over! We empathize with Bella
ReplyDeleteThe sequels, definitely not worth reading - prose was never Meyer's strong point and subsequent ones lack imagination too. Look fwd to hearing your views tho
You may want to read Midnight Sun (unfinished) which is Twilight from Edward's point of you. Meyer has reversed the perspective but has mainly done a find replace synonym exercise of the Twilight content!
Thanks Pandora for your comments. Agree with your woman's perspective on Bella's character. What a pity the sequels didn't live up to your expectations. Will definitely review them once I read them. And I am very intrigued about Midnight Sun. Need to pick that up too. Will read and let you know what I think of it too
ReplyDeleteMidnight Sun is not available in the stores -it is an unfinished draft
ReplyDeleteYou will find it on this link along with reasons as to why it is incomplete:
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html
Enjoy reading!
Thanks for sharing Pandora, though seems like Stephenie Meyer is upset about the draft having leaked out
ReplyDeleteNice review neo .. But u always were a true romantic ... I remember in RI the sketch of " get out of my dreams ... "
ReplyDeleteAs for the book .. You are right aboutthe descriptions .. but I thought it dragged a lot in places
Diff strokes for different folks