"Twilight"

OK, OK: I just finished "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer, and I just don't get it. Long, boring, drawn out, so so so talky. And so cheesy. I can't stand the way Edward and Bella talk. It's as if every statement is a thesis with a reason why, a reason why not, and then finally all rationale is ruled out by their notion of love for one another. Bella always needs to be saved. Edward is perfect beyond perfection, and the only diriving points of the book is when will it be official that Bella knows Edward is a vampire, and I'm sorry, 200 pages of waiiting is too long. And then the main conflict comes from a character who just appears and exists for no other reason then provide oomp to the world's longest short story. I mean, really: give me a red pen and I could have edited this book down to a tight 100-200 pages.

What I did like was Jacob the werewolf. Whereas Edward plays verbal games with Bella, Jacob tells it as it is. When Jacob appeared the book "sparkled." I also liked Carlyle's story and the seen in the sun.

For a book written by a Mormon, with an apple on the cover and a biblical quote in the beginning, it is suprisingly free of much religious/spiritual undertones. But there is one part that got me thinking.

On page 308 Bella and Edward talk about where vampires come from, in which Edward states: "Where did we come from? Evolution? Creation? Couldn't we have evolved in the same way as other species, predator and prey? Or, if you don't believe that all this world could have just happenedon its own, which is hard for me to accept myself, is it to hard to believe that the same force that created the delicate angelfish with the shark, the baby seal and the killer whale, could create both our kinds together?"

To which Bella delicously states "Let me get this straight-I'm the baby seal, right?"

This one passage opens up a great discussion into creation and the nature of God and the environment. But, alas, I read this book quickly, not to find out what happens, but so I can finish it and get it out of the way, so I can read a book i have really been liking "Wicked." But more on that later.

"Twilight?" Try "Twi-NOT!"