Falling In and Out of Love with Twilight

*No spoilers here. Although, I must warn you, if you haven't read the book yet, you better get on it before some loud mouth in a public place ruins it for you, as my co-worker just related today at lunch!*


I can’t believe I’m allowing myself to dedicate two blog entries to this topic especially since I’ve devoted precious little time to other books that I really love and deserve blog shout-outs, but alas, it must be done. For all of you Twilighters out there, I’m afraid you will be delighted and disappointed by the explicated opinions below.

My enthusiasm motivating this blog entry arises mainly out of my excitement over the new movie that’s due this fall. I’d forgotten all about it until I was browsing Stephenie Meyer’s homepage after I finished her final installment and found that trailers have already been released. (View above by clicking on "Videos" tab!) Despite my recent disillusionment with the fourth book, I am still in love with the first three and am, therefore, excited by the pending movie. Although, I don’t know if I’ll be able to bring myself to actually see the fourth movie, if it gets that far. (Which I’m sure it will, since movie-makers are guaranteed repeat audiences of screaming teens handing over their life savings before you can say “Edward Cull—” . . . swoon.)

As I mentioned, I was horribly disappointed by Meyer’s last book. It read like a first draft. The fact that she's not an experienced or necessarily gifted writer is so blaringly obvious that it's painful. She still managed to create some moments of surprise and fascination as with her other books, but these small moments were so wrapped up in idiocy that I couldn’t even enjoy them. Before you get angry, I just want to say, I think the book could have been a masterpiece, if an editor would have taken the time to help her cut down to the meat of what was good about the story—which would have made it shorter than Twilight.

That said, I’m still glad I read it. It’s nice to know the end of the story, even if I didn’t like it or how it was told. It is true that the reason I disliked the book so fiercely is because I expect a lot of Meyer. I enjoyed her pace, tone, and storytelling so much in her other three books, that I was just astounded that she could not produce the same in the conclusion. If you’d be interested in my full review, you can find it here.

Back to the positive—I had my doubts about the movie. It would be pretty easy to slaughter the story with a horrible movie, I think, especially considering some of those love scenes that brought me close to gag-age in the book. But, I am genuinely excited about it. The screenwriting has serious potential, it seems. (I reserve the right to retract my optimism.) At least from the previews, it seems like it could turn out to be quality. Hollywood, Please don’t ruin my image of Bella and Edward. Here’s hoping!

On a different note, I do like the music she puts up on her site. I’ve made an abbreviated list of my own from her playlists for the different books. She’s a little obsessed with Muse, which I just have a hard time getting into.

Addendum
Ok, now I feel really bad for trashing on Meyer so much. Truthfully, I do think she is a good writer in some respects, I just went into her fourth book expecting the same caliber as her other books, and it just wasn't up to snuff, for me. But, I still think she's wildly creative, and I am very happy that I've bought her books. I'll give her another shot. There, now I feel better. =)