Twilight - The Movie

Once I finished the books, I decided that I needed to watch the movie, Twilight. I had a feeling that the movie would help me visualize and appreciate the characters better.

Whenever a movie is based on a book, I always like the book better. Movies always leave out so many details. For instance, I have only watched the first Harry Potter movie. I liked the book much better. Since I did not like the movie that much, I have not been interested in watching the other Harry Potter movies.

I really enjoyed watching Twilight but more as a supplement to the book. As a standalone, I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed the movie very much. The important details were mentioned very quickly due to time limitation and hardly gave the mind time to process the information. If I had not already read the book, I probably would have been confused. Since I already knew the premise and story, I fully understood what was happening.

The result is that I loved the movie. For the first time, I found Edward intriguing. Stephenie Meyer was never able to show me why Edward was appealing to Bella. She said it many times, but I never felt it. Since I was never able to see Edward as appealing, I did not enjoy reading about Bella kissing him, etc. It did absolutely nothing for me.

I loved the way the Cullens were introduced in the film and how they entered the cafeteria. They were quickly shown to be different and not of this world. Edward's mannerisms also showed him to be not like other people. I enjoyed watching him and the other Cullens.

I noticed how the movie quickly explained why Bella left Phoenix and moved to Forks at the very beginning, which is a flaw in the book. Stephenie Meyer waited until well into the story to explain why Bella was in Forks, which only made the book confusing.

Another problem I had with the book was Edward's reaction to Bella. On page 23, when Edward smells Bella's blood for the first time, he is "hostile, furious." Those descriptions are wrong. It is not hostility. Edward is struggling to resist drinking Bella's blood. Edward has the perfect reaction in the movie.


He looks like he is trying not to smell something bad. We know that he is actually smelling something good and is trying to avoid it. He looks like he might throw up. This is the perfect reaction. Edward's reaction is not hostility or anger.

I felt like the movie really brought the characters to life, which Stephenie Meyer failed to do in the book. I like both the book and the movie equally for different reasons.

More Thoughts on the Twilight Saga

I have been reading various discussions about the Twilight books. I found this site:

http://www.twilightsucks.com

The purpose of the site is to trash the series and Stephenie Meyer. It makes for some very amusing reading. According to the first post in this discussion, "to pull a Meyer" means "to (mainly) chuck a hissy fit over nothing whatsoever." Apparently, Meyer does not react well to criticism. I also interpret "to pull a Meyer" to mean to epically fail at something.

Many discussions center around the fourth book and all of its problems. Meyer's characterization and premise shifted in the final volume, and this is a source of many complaints. During the fourth book, the werewolves are suddenly explained not to be werewolves but merely shape-shifters. I think it is odd that Meyer's werewolves are no longer werewolves. Jacob and his pack are never werewolves by definition, but that is what Meyer calls them in the first three books. I think Meyer did not realize exactly what werewolves are and made a mistake in the first three books. Apparently, Meyer has admitted that she knew little about vampires which is why her vampires are completely different from other vampires.

PLOT SPOILER FOLLOWS (Skip the rest if you do not want to know.)

I was able to accept Jacob imprinting on Renesmee even though it is creepy. I accepted it by how Meyer described it and with the expectation that no romantic relationship would occur until Renesmee comes of age. Now if I knew someone who had been molested as a child, I would not be able to accept it.

Many people have mentioned how Jacob's imprinting would come across if the fourth book is made into a movie. While I was able to accept it fine in the book, the movie would be different. Think of how it would look for a young man to be in love with a baby. At the very least, Jacob would look ridiculous. At the worst, Jacob would look like a full-blown pedophile.

On Twilight Sucks, Edward is called "Sparkles," and Jacob is called "PedoWolf." Funny.

Edward is very accepting of Jacob in the fourth book. Edward does not seem to mind that Jacob is obsessed with Renesmee. Is this the controlling Edward of the first book? I think not. Edward is mostly in the background in the fourth book except when Bella is sexually assaulting him (yuck).

I have really enjoyed reading all of the criticism of the Twilight books. I am glad that I read the books so that I could appreciate all of the criticism. It's been a lot of fun.

Thoughts on Breaking Dawn

I have finished Breaking Dawn. I did not enjoy this book very much, because I never wanted Bella to become a vampire, and I never liked Edward. I did find Edward bearable in this book, at least when he and Bella were not kissing and when he was not described as "perfect."

While the author's poor grammar quit bothering me partway through the first book, I began to notice it again in this book, no doubt because the book lost my attention at times. Bella's sex-crazed desire of Edward is just repulsive, so during those scenes, I tended to focus on the grammar and poor descriptions.

Here is a sentence from page 480 that stood out as particularly awful.

I was about to take advantage of the fact that he hadn't gotten around to setting me back on my feet and that his wits-scramblingly beautiful face was only inches away when he said, "We're lucky Esme thought to add an extra room. No one was planning for Ness—Renesmee."

What a mouthful. The sentence is awkward, but the worst part is "wits-scramblingly." Enough said.

Now let's prepare to puke. This is how Bella sees Edward on page 482.

I could really appreciate him now—could properly see every beautiful line of his perfect face, of his long, flawless body with my strong new eyes, every angle and every plane of him. I could taste his pure, vivid scent on my tongue and feel the unbelievable silkiness of his marble skin under my sensitive fingertips.

I am just so happy for you Bella... not.

Here is another sentence that sounds bad from page 679.

They came in a rigid, formal formation.

A "formal formation?" Eliminating "formal" would have produced the same mental image without sounding stupid. Isn't an editor supposed to fix problems like that? Or, did the editor fix even worse problems? Could the books have been worse before they were edited?

I could have marked hundreds of poorly-constructed sentences throughout the four books. Rather, I spent my time enjoying the books. It was during the moments when I found the story less interesting that I paid more attention to the grammar.

I enjoyed the books, but not as much as I could have. The author's endless mentions of Romeo and Juliet and other literature convinced me that Edward and Bella were going to die (By death, I mean cease to exist.). I dreaded the ending since I thought it would be full of destruction. Oddly, it isn't. I think the author should have dropped all of the references to literature and let us figure it out for ourselves.

The final "battle" scene in Breaking Dawn is all talk and no fighting. Literally. The Cullens and the Volturis reason out their differences instead of fighting. How lame. The Volturis go back to Italy, leaving the Cullens to live in peace. How does that resolve anything? The Volturis could always come back as soon as the book ends and destroy everyone. It reminds me of those Friday the 13th movies in which Jason is "killed" at the end of each movie yet comes back to life at the beginning of the next movie.

Several aspects of the plot are excessively creepy, like Renesmee's birth and Jacob's imprinting, but the events didn't upset me as much as they did a bunch of people. I guess I wasn't as bothered because I expect those types of events in books that involve vampires and such, so I was not surprised.

What I found missing in books 3 and 4 are Bella's high school friends. Her friends are no longer important after the first book. Bella's friends make a few appearances here and there throughout the last three books, but the characters are missing from most of the plot. I would have liked to have seen one or two of the teenagers, like Jessica or Mike, bitten by a vampire and pulled into the main plot. How about killing one or two of them to add some conflict? Speaking of conflict, the final "battle" scene would have been more effective if some fighting would have occurred with a few vampires destroyed. It just fell flat.

I could say a lot more, but I'm going to stop here for now. I did enjoy reading the four books, but probably not enough to ever read them again. I have some more thoughts which I'll cover in my next post.

Thoughts on Eclipse

I didn't write many comments about Eclipse, but here they are.

Eclipse is definitely a better book than the first two books. Edward is finally somewhat likable. I say "somewhat" because I have found him repulsive from the beginning. I fail to understand why Bella wants to be with someone whose body is cold and hard. She shivers from the cold when she is near him. Now that is a turn-on. I think not.

I like Jacob better than Edward, and the author tried to put a conflict in place in which Bella had to choose between the two. Tried, because the author has made it obnoxiously obvious from the beginning of the first book that Bella is hopelessly in love with Edward and destined to be with him. Yuck.

I like it when Bella spends time with Jacob. That is the best part of the second book, and it is the best part of the third book.

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Unfortunately, I had a growing sense of dread as I read this book. I felt sad because I was pretty sure I knew where the story was going. My gut feeling told me that I would not like the ending of the fourth book. I felt like I needed to prepare myself. I ended up okay with how the fourth book ended, but it still could have been a lot better. My next post will contain my thoughts on Breaking Dawn.

Thoughts on New Moon

These were my thoughts after I finished reading New Moon.

I really like how Jacob and Bella's relationship was developed in this book. Even though Jacob is less likable after he changes, I still like him. I can understand why Bella likes him. The author did a good job with Jacob's characterization and with Bella and Jacob's relationship. The best part of the book is the time Bella spends on the reservation. Jacob is my favorite character.

What has bothered me since the beginning of the first book is Edward. I don't quite see why Bella is so smitten with him. Or, I know why, yet I don't feel it at all. I don't care that much about Edward and Bella's relationship, which is kind of sad since it is the most important relationship.

Edward likes Bella because her blood smells good. I get it, but it does nothing for me. Bella likes Edward because his breath is sweet, he is beautiful, and he is just perfect. Blech. I really don't see why Bella likes Edward. She wants to spend forever with him? No, wait, maybe not. Edward asks Bella to marry him, and she says "no." What? She wants to be with him forever, but she does not want to marry him? What is that girl thinking?

I am sickened by how silly Bella acts when she kisses Edward. She kisses him and then loses control of herself to the point of trying to force herself on him. Please.

PLOT SPOILER FOLLOWS (Skip the next paragraph if you don't want details.)

The climax of this book involves Bella and Alice racing to Italy to save Edward from stepping into the sun in an attempt to make the Volturis destroy him. Edward thinks Bella is dead, so he decides to end his existence. For some reason, I did not care. This must be because I don't care about Edward. It just seemed so lame. Yawn.

At the end of New Moon, Edward, Bella, and Jacob have a confrontation. Jacob is clearly torn and hurt, as is Bella. Edward is just... there. Why should I care about him?

I went to Amazon.com, found New Moon, and looked at the reviews. I was interested to see whether anyone else has some of the same problems I do, so I went to the "one star" reviews. Ah, other people don't see the attraction in Edward. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

As I read this book, I realized that I do not like the direction that the author is taking the characters. Edward never felt right to me, yet it was obvious from the beginning that Edward was the one for Bella. I would rather see Bella with Jacob.

Despite the nagging feeling that I will not like how this series of books ends, I enjoyed reading New Moon. I did not notice the horrible grammar so much in this book since the book kept my attention, although not so much near the end since I did not care about Edward.

Thoughts on Twilight

I have finished reading all four of the Twilight books. I waited until I was finished with the last book before posting any of my thoughts. Most of this post was written before I read the other three books. I have mentioned my primary observations without going into any great detail. I admit that I agree with much of the criticism from the reviews on Amazon.com. The reviews are quite entertaining, and some of the reviewers are quite good in how they present their views. The "one star" reviews are particularly entertaining.

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I have now read the first book, Twilight. The book is an engaging read, but at the same time, I can see where the book could be better written. During the first chapter of the book, I wanted to know exactly why Bella left Phoenix. I gathered that it had something to do with her mother and a man. It was not until page 48 that Bella explained that her mother had remarried and wanted to travel with her new husband. Bella left Phoenix to live with her father so that her mother would be free to be with her husband. Why did the author not state that in the first chapter? Why omit that information?

I despise it when authors choose to be mysterious in the opening chapter regarding explanatory details that are vital to the reader understanding the main character. It served no purpose to hold back that information. I was less confused about Bella once I reached page 48.

The grammar and composition really bothered me during the early part of the book. Way too many sentences end with prepositions. We all do that when we speak, usually, but I try not to do it too often when I write since I know it is not correct grammar.

This sentence from page 118 annoyed me:

As they finished eating, people started to drift away in twos and threes.

Pronouns should not be placed at the beginning of a sentence before the subject to which they refer. Notice that I avoided ending that sentence in a preposition. It's not that hard, you know? Now I'm not being a snob. The average written communication on the internet is usually informal, but I have higher expectations of published books. I feel like the author should have used much better grammar.

I noticed that the grammar no longer bothered me by the time I was halfway through the book. At the time that I was reading this book, I was not sure if the grammar was better or whether I was just not noticing it. Now that I have read all four books I can state that the grammar was bad in every part of all four books. It bothered me less because the story had finally captured my interest.

The author's descriptions are awful. Near the beginning of the story when Bella first sees the Cullens in the cafeteria, the descriptions are confusing. The author uses too many pronouns, like stating that "he" was looking at Bella without any explanation of which "he" at the table was the one looking at Bella. Three of the Cullens are male. I knew the author meant Edward since I already knew the basic premise, but it was too vague and confusing. If I had not already known, I would have been totally lost.

Did the author not reread the manuscript for clarity? Did the editor not read the manuscript? How does a book with so many errors get published?

Despite all of the grammatical errors, I greatly enjoyed the first book and quickly began reading the second book.

The Twilight Saga Collection

I have been hearing about the Twilight books for quite some time and have been curious. With the movies, I have heard even more about them. I went to Amazon and read the beginning of the first book. It is engaging. I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present and have bought the boxed set of four hardcover books.

Have any of you read them? Did you like them?