Revelations

I've discussed "Twilight" at great lengths with a friend of mine who started as a super-fan and has recently realized that she doesn't like it. I'm quite sure we've both spent hours discussing the subject at random intervals, the most memorable occasion being in a Target store. God, I loooove Target. Anyways, I am seriously needing to blow of some steam regarding Stephanie Meyer and the Twilight series. But it has been bugging me and Christy as to why we began to hate it so much.

I just figured it out and feel compelled to add this post. It took 4 books and countless wasted hours, but I now understand why I dislike the Twilight series so much. It is the author's complete lack of skill in creating multi-dimensional characters.

First let me explain that I continued to read the series in part, because I have a hard time quitting a book. To top it off, each book ended on a cliff hanger so you felt compelled to find out what happened. What a waste.

Anyway, the author creates a 17 year old character, Bella, that acts and thinks like a 30+ year old. That's conveniently explained away by saying she's an "old soul." My belief is, this adult author didn't have the skill to write a first person story from anyone else's point of view but her own. Then in the 4th book of the series this 17 year old, now a 19 year old becomes a vampire. That's a major transition. Most vampires in this series go through a year or more of being completely feral. Besides that, immortality and almost indestructibility would bring some major changes to the psyche. But no... Bella makes the transition almost wholly herself. This is written off as a unique skill to Bella. Again, my belief is, the author didn't have a clue how to write any other character than herself so she basically used dues ex machina... the lazy writer's tool. It's a miracle... no change.

And in my view, those beliefs were solidified on page 674 of "Breaking Dawn"... the 4th and final book of that series that I will ever read since I've been told it doesn't end on a cliff hanger. On this page, Bella, the 19 year old girl who was not a particularly fine student or ever went past high school, had this thought. "Edward and I had not had a last grand farewell nor did I plan one. To speak the word was to make it final. It would be the same as typing the words The End on the last page of a manuscript."

How is it that she would know what typing The End on the last page of a manuscript would feel like? Unless you've done it, it wouldn't resonate with you and therefore you probably wouldn't think to use it as an analogy. As I suspected the main character is nothing more than a projection of the author.

Whew! It's been eating me up why so many of my peers think this is the greatest series ever and I can't stand it. Character and dialogue are my strong points and what I value in a story. In Twilight the characters have no depth. They have no dimension. This is why I dislike these books so much.