Twilight: book & film talk, news, etc. — Page 2

Hmmm. Sadly, could go either way. I've been avoiding the books after having read an interview with the author when I had never heard of the series before. She seemed way too wholesome. I'll see if they're at the library, though.

I don't think Bella's a mary-sue exactly, she's just dull. She's too boring to be too perfect. Edward on the other hand...

---

Mary Sue doesn't have to be perfect, she just has to be an idealized self-insert of some sort. Her ordinariness is just another overplayed facet to make her more extraordinarily relatable.

Exactly. "I'm just so ordinary! How could this beautiful, stunningly perfect, immortal person ever want me?" With the constant reassurances that she is so much better than ordinary, when, as readers, we don't see many reasons why, and the eternal damsel in distress setup, Bella is the ideal Mary Sue.

Which, I guess, isn't necessarily a bad thing given that that's the most appealing aspect of this sort of story. It doesn't make for a strong protagonist, but half of the fun is imagining yourself into it. From a feminist perspective it's kind of horrible, but I almost don't care.

I liked the book, though. It really is a romance novel minus the smutty parts plus some (not too edgy) vampire-related angst.

Updated On: 6/22/08 at 03:55 AM

Not that anyone cares about my progress through the series, but 200 pages into New Moon, I'm thinking about throwing in the towel. Could Bella be anymore irritating or unhealthily obsessed? I think that problem is that we're supposed to accept that Bella and Edward's love is EPIC and their estrangement is a truly horrible thing when there's really no foundation to it in the first place (except that he's hot, and she's "endearingly" hapless and saveable). The result is that it seems like Bella's suicidally depressed and wallowing in ridiculous amounts of angst for months because her high school boyfriend broke up with her.

New Moon is so maddening. Especially how Meyer actually builds a believable relationship between Bella and Jacob, and builds Jacob into the only likable character, so she essentially has to engage in character assassination to knock him down enough to salvage Edward/Bella.

How does everyone feel about the cover art for Breaking Dawn?

After excessive badgering by my librarian best friend, I finally agreed to read Twilight. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, but then I couldn't put it down. When I finished last night and realized that I had no other books in the series in my house, I actually tried to read it online at Amazon. Definitely addicting. I'm going out tonight to buy the rest. It's amazing how quickly these books suck you in.

Alright - as a fan of both series, I love that Dumbledore/Alice saying.

---

Noooooo! No team Jacob!

---

ok, i'm like 50 pages away from finishing eclipse. and they're good... but... they're not spectacular. like, give me laurell k. hamilton any day. or kim harrison. or kelley armstrong. they were good... but yeah. i still don't get what ALL the obsessing is about.

Haven't you been reading this trhead? They're not good at all. But they are compulsive. Are you a Harry Potter fan? 'Cos we're looking at a similar thing here - literarily = kinda pants, fanwise = ridiculously popular, emphasis on ridiculous. If you like the idea of vampire/school-girl romance and you're not above reading fluff, then pick up the first one from the library. Because if you like vampire/school-girl romance and fluff, then this will be RIGHT up your alley!

I don't get how anyone could love Edward. :/

Hey, anyone here read Sarah Dessen books? 'Just Listen' is probably my favourite book aimed at teenage girls since EVER, and Owen Armstrong... now *there's* a book character totally worth getting a dorky crush on! *sigh* :)

---

Updated On: 7/16/08 at 05:23 PM

They're not good at all. But they are compulsive.

Weez, you've got it exactly right. I'm not a big fan of the genre or even the writing of this series, yet I can't put these books down. I just need to know what happens. Odd how it works like that.

So, this 'fanpires' person shows up very recently, and wants to critique other artistic endeavors with phrases like 'majorly sucks' - but embraces THIS schlocky junk?!?

Duly noted.

I love it when the idiots are easily identified from the get-go.