Bella and Edward: Twilight
I guess it is no surprise that my topic this week for the Online Book and Movie Online Fan Club is about the first half of the Twilight Saga. I have mentioned too many times on this blog (as well as over at my other blog) that I have picked them up, and was surprised that I did actually find them entertaining.
You see, I was prepared not to like Twilight.
I first had my hands on an actual copy of the book from some of the girls at work. I didn’t read it at the time – it didn’t look like any book I would usually pick up from the store. I had then read from different people’s blogs their various Twilight experiences. More of them liked it, but there are those too who found it lame. This was the most interesting review critique of Twilight that I’ve read; it’s what convinced me to go on and read.
I read Twilight twice. And I decided that I liked it enough to move on to the next. I must admit though, I didn’t particularly like learning the story from Bella’s point of view. The first chapters were dragging – I felt that the author was trying too hard to setup the climax. It got more interesting though from the middle, until the end. That made sense to me after visiting Stephenie Meyer’s website.
I don’t like Bella. I felt like she was self-centered the way she treated Charlie and her new friends (were they really her friends?). Then I realized she wasn’t self-centered, no not selfish. She was just so unwilling to like anybody, so unwilling to care. So bent on having a miserable time – on punishing herself. How many times did she mention tuning out while her new friends were around her? It annoyed me. If she didn’t want their company, she should have just said so.
Could there be really anyone as clumsy and accident magnet as she is? I am used to being called lampa. I’ve never been into sports as a kid. I’d trip and fall a lot, and that’s why I have scars all over. I hardly ever really enjoyed PE in school – I welcomed any way I could get an exemption (which wasn’t easy to get). But I was not/am not an accident magnet.
Back to Bella. I felt the author’s conscious effort to paint a picture of Bella that would be such a mismatch to the perfection that Edward was. But I could also see the hints of personality and traits that would make her his perfect fit. Strip Edward of his immortality and Adonis features, and I guess they would be a match. They complement each other.
Anyway, from the first book, Twilight, these are my favorite quotes, both uttered by Edward:
For almost ninety years I’ve walked among my
kind, and yours… all the time thinking I was complete in myself, not
realizing what I was seeking. And not finding anything, because you
weren’t alive yet.
and
just because we’ve been… dealt a certain hand… it doesn’t mean that
we can’t choose to rise above — to conquer the boundaries of a destiny
that none of us wanted.
The first one is so cheesy, but the second is inspiring, I guess. Makes me remember the line: Rage against the dying of the light. Did I get that right? Haha.
It wasn’t really the love story of Bella and Edward that I particularly liked in this book. It’s how the Cullens have bonded together. It’s how they’ve all of a sudden worked to protect Bella – not necessarily for her sake, but out of love for Edward. If I had one person who would do that for me – protect who/what I loved because they couldn’t endure seeing me without that love – I’d consider myself very lucky. I think I only really appreciated how deep their bonds are after reading this:
Alice interrupted this time, touching my cheek with her cold fingers.
“It’s been almost a century that Edward’s been alone. Now he’s found you.
You can’t see the changes that we see, we who have been with him for so
long. Do you think any of us want to look into his eyes for the next
hundred years if he loses you?”
Anyway, I could go on really. But it’s time I stopped myself.
So Alfred is reading Twilight now. He likes it – not because of the lovey dovey stuff, but because he likes vampire stories. I know he will enjoy New Moon and Eclipse even better. I’ve been trying to convince him to drop the book because he’ll go so much faster if I just told him the story. We can even go chapter by chapter if he wanted. Hehe. Looks like he’ll be reading this through from cover to cover though. Go for it my love 🙂
Until the next Twilight post. Oh, and I might read the last book tomorrow.