Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

Alex is talking about a scene in Eclipse.

The vampires in Twilight have extremely strong teeth filled with venom. They do not have fangs.

 

Ah, I haven't finished Eclipse yet. I am about half way finished. I will purpose ignore that part if I have not already, hehe.

 

While reading the first three I was in love with it. But after looking back on it, I realized how 'bleh' it was. Oh well, at least I didn't buy them. =p
And yeah, I saw the movie. I was more disappointed with Jacob's actor than Edward's. D= I was hoping he'd end up with Bella instead. [He's my favorite.] Isn't he Sharkboy from Sharkboy and Lavagirl? @__@
I was pleased with Jasper, though he looked like he was about to snap. Which is why I loved him xD
And Laurent's actor was hot. x]
The movie had decent eye candy. ;3 And I like it better than the book. ^.^

 

I finally just got through about a hundred pages of Twilight. Normally I can see what editors see in a book, even if I don't like it. This time, I have no idea how it even got a full manuscript request. All the reasons for why things happen are so clumsily put together

 

Agreed, the only reason I can't read the whole book is because the quality of the writing is poor.

 

I hate those books. I read the first one and absolutly detested it. But i'm not one of those people that is just going to hate it for no reason. I've got reasons.

1. Her writing is very hard to get through. It's just terrible.
2. Bella is such a Mary Sue. She has no personality whatsoever and whines about everything. And when she's not whining she is gushing over how beautiful and super sexy Edward is.
3. Edward, he is the most perfect person in the history of ever. He never gets hurt by anything. He is borderline abusive, I would say that thats his only flaw.
4. The plot has been used millions of times before. (Forbidden Love)
5. This asn't anything against the books but, I i'm sick & tired of hearing about it and seeing the cover. People love Edward so much its just terrible.
6. As a vampire enthusiest I can't stand a book where they sparkle in the sunlight. They sparkle. Really? Where do you even come up with something rediculous as that. And if you come up with it please don't even try to get it published.

 

I feel the exact same way Lysner. I've even bashed Twilight so much I was pinned to a wall and yelled at by a friend of mine...It was just messed up. I spent a long time hoping for a good climax and end to the first book, and then I was very disapointed with the end. Meyer's plot and writing style were plain, bland, and boring.

 

Geez guys, hasn't Twilight Bashing gone out of fashion yet?

 

Hasn't Twilight gone out of fashion yet?

 

This is no different than Eragon bashing, Harry Potter bashing, Star Wars bashing, ect. ect. ect. The truth is that these people have done something that none of us here has been able to do, create a story that has captured the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of people. The stories have fulfilled their purpose and then some. The entire point was to entertain, and hopefully to stir the imagination. They did that, therefore they qualify as good stories, no matter how technically proficient the author is, or how much you hate the dialogue.

Your complaining is about the same as saying that they painted the golden gate bridge the wrong color. Who cares? The bridge is standing. The bridge is providing a safe and convenient shortcut across the bay. It's doing it's job and it's doing it spectacularly.

Who cares if it wasn't done by one of the "masters" of the craft? Stephanie Myers has proven herself by the only important standard, book sales. People are reading her books. The fact that it is so widespread shows that the stories touch something in people's hearts almost universally. Ignoring that fact is arrogance at its worst. Even if you can't enjoy the stories at least respect them for what they've done and allow others to have their enjoyment.

 

No. it's just popular. Popular and good are not mutually equal. Just because Twilight is popular doesn't make it a good story. It certainly has the story telling magic that some better written books lack, but I will never call it good because frankly it isn't. A story to be considered good must be good. And a good story likewise is not automatically popular. They are popular and it's completely separate from being good.

Twilight = not good (of course, that's opinion).

I applaud Meyer for making it big, lord knows she must be rolling in the royalties by now and good for her but I'm not going stay she's written something remotely good simply because she's hit it big time (Paris Hilton made it big and lord knows she's everything but good).

 

Just because she wrote these books doesn't mean I have to like them. Just because the Golden Gate Bridge is standing and getting people across the bay doesn't mean I have to like it. Its not what it is doing its how it is doing it. I completley understand that her books are selling but to me it irrelevant. Saying that a book that sells makes it good is like saying that a record by a bad atist that sells qualifies as good music. And trust me, anyone who can write a story or novel at all gets respect from me.

 

A bridge that stands up is good. A bridge that falls down is bad. A stove that heats your food is good. A stove that doesn't heat your food is bad. A computer that allows you to get on the internet and use a word program is good. A computer that doesn't turn on is bad. You follow? Something is good if it does what it was created to do. Something is bad if it doesn't.

These stories were first and foremost created to entertain. They do that. That makes them good. Same thing with records. Just because Metallica would not hold up in any concert during the baroque period does not make them a bad band. It makes them different.

Just how good the bridge is is determined by how long it stands and how much traffic it can get across. How good a stove is is determined by how quickly and efficiently it can heat your food. How good a computer is is determined by how fast its internet connection is and how much processing power it has. In other words, just how well can it do its job?

How well does Twilight entertain?

 

What is amazing is that this was the first novel she had ever written. She wrote it over one summer, submitted it, and it got accepted. Plus, she says the characters were constantly on her mind, that she could hear their dialogue and it was just a matter of trying to get it all down on paper fast enough.

 

Some stoves/bridges/computers are better at their job than others. And just because I make a bridge and it doesn't fall over doesn't make it good. How do you know there aren't a hoard of architectural flaws in it that will make it vulnerable in later years? I-type levies hold back water, like they should which by your logic makes them good, but they certainly failed when Katrina hit making them not good, merely functional to a certain degree. Just cause the bridge stands when it's finished doesn't make it good it just makes it functional. Twilight functions as a story but it doesn't meet any standard for being good other than meeting dreams of some insanely senseless unending romance story with loads of annoyance from it's main characters.

Have you read it? I'll tell you it may keep you reading till the end, but by the time it's done and you look back you usually have this empty feeling that something is missing (namely anything with a remotely last longing entertainment value). It's like a movie you'll watch once and never feel like watching again even though it wasn't outright bad just because you feel no desire to read it again.

Again of course that's opinion. Some people will probably read it three or four or five times for all I know. But I still say it's just popular. It's really not good and I find nothing remotely good about it. It achieves a strong level of immersion which I do think is a strong point and something mysterious I have trouble figuring out myself, but in the long run feels like a waste of my precious time.

PS: Sorry. I have to listen to hoards of girls around here talking about how great this story is and with my not liking it it makes me testy on the subject XD.

 

Well, good night. This has been fun guys. I'll check back in tomorrow probably.

 

First of all, I just want to tell you that i'm gaining alot of respect for you duing this debate, you give good arguments and seem to be neutral, so I respect that.

Second, Twilight entetains differently to different people, so thats whee its different from a bridge/computer/stove. A bridge holds up all the same to all people, a stove cooks the same to all people, and a computer runs the same to all people.

Twilight didn't entertain me in the least, it was deffinatly a page turner but I think that page turning quality was more because I was waiting for something entertaining to happen rather than because it was entertaining.

I think it's entetaining to some (mostly girls) because it hit a spot about that "perfect boy" that all girls deam of.

So, why did you find it entertaining?

 

i have to agree with you lysner...i kept waiting for something entertaining to happen too. perhaps its because i was spoiled with harry potter and lord of the rings. *grin* i haven't seen the movie yet, though, and i don't plan to. somehow actors never seem to have the essence of the book characters.

 

Thanks. I'm also gaining respect for you especially this.

As for my enjoyment of the books, I read them all over the course of a few days back in January and haven't touched them since. The first book was very fun and addictive, mostly because of the romance story (guys need the love too )and the new take on vampires. It was mostly momentum that kept me going through the other two. I actually started finding both Bella and Edward to be extremely annoying, and after the three hundredth time the author described Bella's reaction to being around Edward without any significant change, I wanted to throw the book against the wall. My reaction to the books basically evens out to indifference, and that's why I haven't even picked up the fourth one yet.

I just don't like to hear someone bashing something as a backlash to its popularity. (Not saying you do or don't, but that seems to be the reason behind a whole lot of this kind of thing.) It's not enough to dismiss something as just being popular and having no substance. The masses are not just some mindless pop culture eating machine. They are made up of many, many, individual people who each have their own likes, dislikes, and personal issues. Unthinking consumerism can only account for a fraction of something's popularity because only a fraction of people are truely unthinking. The rest has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the personal needs and wants of the individuals.

Those needs might be as simple as wanting to watch someone who seems to be stupider than them (Paris Hilton) or the need to feel like they were in a deep committed relationship where the other person means more to them than their own life. (Twilight and pretty much any other romance.)

The reason these things wouldn't entertain you is because you either don't have those needs at the moment, or it fulfills them in the wrong way. It's along the lines of having a working stovetop and wanting a cake. The stovetop will heat food, but for a cake you really need to use the oven. Sometimes what you really need is a footbridge, not the Golden Gate.

If something is popular with a lot of people it shows an underlying need for an entire culture. Entertainment is the canary of society. It warns when we have a need for love, or that we are developing a dangerous affinity for violence. It shows that at the moment we feel sexual crimes are more evil than violent ones, ect.

 

What social conflict does this girl have for dating a vampire?
Is she hated for it?
Is it kept secret and she loses friends?
Or does her life improve and his goes downhill?
None of these. Nothing happens to anyone or their friends.
This is like a book made to make you feel good, its a book written to play off a girls fantasy of the perfect boy.
What is this nonsense about eating wild animals instead of humans?
Um, vampires suck blood...that is what a vampire is, vampires prey on humans, vampires like human blood.
Twlights problem its simple, not to complex plot...makes its complicated and complex in every way.
And a good solution to Twilight would be:

 

Dude, that would be awesome, especially if it's right before the happy ending. They all walk into the sunset and BAM BLADE!

 

Makes me tempted to write something where some serious vampire violence occurs in Twilight. That would've made it better...

 

lol!
I like your enthusiasm for Blade in the Twilight series.
I was trying to make the point that there needed to be some action. I felt like this book was a lullaby rocking me to sleep.
Even when some good parts happens[if I can call them good parts] I felt I was slowly being tortured to death.
Of course this my opinion.

 

Could we not bring Blade into this?

 

I think the guys find him hot. We have Edward, they have Blade. ;-)