Twilight (Twilight, Book 1)

I've read many glorious reviews for this book and some pretty bad ones as well. I think this book and this series does an excellent job of getting your imagination working as well as sitting kids down to read, which is no easy feat these days.

I for one enjoyed this book. However, I am all for romance novels.

I am a librarian and avid book reader with a fondness for Young Adult literature. Twilight had me recalling the reading I did as a 13-14 year old, as it has many of the hallmarks of gothic (not goth) romance: The young woman arrives at a new place uncertain and out of place, and meets a sophisticated man who seems to initially dislike her for reasons hidden to her. The unlikely duo develops an attraction, with a fair amount of internal angst by the female and misunderstandings/conflicts to complicate things. Then the female comes to some kind of peril (perhaps supernatural) and the gentleman saves her.

That being said, the book takes these elements and turns them into a thoroughly modern page turner with a supernatural twist. It is not formulaic and is very engaging--the internal dialogue of Bella rings very true to me with the intensity and roller coaster of emotion of falling deeply in love for the first time and navigating the personal and social conflicts that can come with that.

There is an interesting dichotomy of Bella's strong independence within her family and in general with her helplessness (for lack of a better word) with being in love with Edward (to the extent she forgets to breathe frequently around him). But then first love can feel just that engrossing and intoxicating.

I can relate to that feeling, but I found myself at times impatient with Bella's prolonged inner turmoil (as I would be impatient with myself if I could revisit some of my teen years). And the romanticism and flowery words of Edward's character was at times too exaggerated for me.

The vampire thing to me does as Buffy the Vampire Slayer did--it takes the perils and pitfalls we deal with (especially as teens) and amps them up to a higher level--the issues are the same, just played with at higher stakes. So don't let that scare you off. For me it was a fun read.

Be aware this is the first of four books, but you won't be totally left hanging if you don't read further.

Here's the best way to get through this flaccid tale of young love: every time the word "eyes" appears, take a shot. You'll be well and truly sloshed every ten pages but it makes reading "Twilight" a whole lot easier. Good grief! This writer needs a darn good editor. Take out all the teen introspection and endless descriptions of eyes, hair, faces, and hands, it would be half as long -- and that's a good thing! Very disappointing.

As of the date of this writing, I haven't finished the book yet (about 3/4 of the way through) but I did want to write a quick review on my thoughts so far. I had heard much about this book and it was very hyped up for me, being described as "the next Harry Potter for teenage girls!" I knew it was a love story involving a young girl and a vampire and for awhile, I stayed away from this book because of the fact that it was a love story, being a harsh critic of them (I find most of them way too sappy *coughnicholassparkscough*) and don't usually read gothic-type novels involving vampires. But I caved in because of my curiosity and I have to say...this definitely isn't bad, so far. There is a lot of dialogue that sounds like its from the Victorian age and the writing will sometimes meander into the overly soap opera-ish romance novel territory (the author spends too much time describing Bella's desire for Edward and how perfectly beautiful he is - there are only so many times one can describe the "beautiful pale marble of his skin" before the reader says "I get it! He's a hot vampire."). But I disagree with the negative reviews - I don't get the sense that the author intends for Bella to be the absolute perfect protagonist and traditional heroine. She portrays her very well as a socially awkward, flawed and introspective teenager who just happens to fall in love with a vampire. I could relate to Bella's character and understood why she did, what she did. I can even see why they fell in love so quickly, a point of contention amongst earlier reviewers. They're teenagers - quick to fall in love (and just as quick to fall out of it!). I do agree with the earlier comment regarding the pacing - it's a bit uneven, in the sense that the first half of the book is a slow, careful buildup of Bella and Edward's relationship and then all of a sudden, with the end of a baseball game, the book quickly becomes an action thriller. Seemed a bit choppy to me but perhaps the author wanted to jar her readers into finally realizing that not all vampires are sweet and civilized and that they really are dangerous. There are definitely some questions I have that haven't been answered yet and some things in the plot that don't quite make sense (I would like it if the author had explored more fully the reasons why the Cullens are they way they are and what really motivates them) but I haven't finished the book yet so maybe there are more details left towards the end. But I am enjoying the book so far, it's an entertaining read and though there is not a *whole* lot of depth to the novel, its good enough for me to recommend to others. As far as the hype, it's deserving of a recommendation but as far as literary classics go, this one it certainly is not. If I could give 3.5 stars, I would for this book.

When I originally heard about this series, I was like cool another Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But instead there is this insipid girl risking her life for so called love. The casual way she risk her life is misleading and dangerous, I was totally underwhelmed. I literally read the book out of stubborness and boredom but I was repulsed by the simpleness of Bella. To me it seems to encourage suicide.