Author: Stephenie Meyer
Title: Twilight
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Supernatural (vampires)
Note: nothing in common with the film.
Bella is 17 and decides to have her next school year with her father in foggy Forks. She does it only because her father had always lived alone and to give him a chance to be with his daughter. However, it appears it is way more difficult to adjust there after she has always been used to the sunny Phoenix. Until one day Bella sees Edward and the others of the family Cullen. Then Forks becomes a nicer place to be, but she doesn't see the danger behind the sparkle...
(a bit of preface before starting. If you are in a hurry go to the next paragraph)
We all know the story behind Twilight. However I, (as unbelievable as it can be) am reading it for the very first time. I know. I know it is very unlikely to have left any people on Earth to have never read the saga, but here I am! I finally got to the famous Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, The book is almost 500 pages and it took me a little bit more to read it, and that's why I didn't post for a while, which I am sorry for. But, hey, I managed to give it the needed time to absorb all the cool stuff around it.
And to begin with, I will give you a piece of advice:
Never, Never read the Goodreads reviews before reading ANY book!
This can ruin your dreams, literally. And I am glad it only happened to me once. (not this time, though) I say it because after I read Twilight I wanted to see whether the others think of it the same I do. So, I scrolled down and saw only negatives! One and two stars one after the other. There were very little above two.
Which I was very surprised by. Do you remember when the book came out and the fever that caught all the teenagers, and even the older ones (my aunt count too)? And when the movie came out? Then the people were literally crazy, and I, as a fresh teenager then was the truest Twilight fan. (btw, only movie fan) So, yes, it was kind of strange to see so many negative reviews about a book that made such a boom.
Now, I will stop with the talking about other people's opinion, because you may have been confused wether I liked the book. Well, liked it! Not that much to give it all five stars but I liked it as any other good book, and plus one star for the good old times when I was Twilight fan to death and everything in my head included vampires. And this way there we have 4 stars.
Before I had only watched the film and to admit, they have very little in common. Recently, they streamed the film on the tv, and I've just finished the novel, so I could immediately say any detail that was changed in the adaption. I, f course, noticed all of them, and for any other person it may seem kind of stupid to fall for the little details, but for a bookworm its the most irritating thing in the world! now, I will not start the endless arguments between book and film, because it's something else I am writing for. Just know that the film is not equal to the book! (as almost every time)
Now to business.
The book is retold by Bella's view and at the very beginning, I didn't like this one., for it felt unfinished. I needed more details and Bella has poor appearance. The whole thing is, that I wanted to know how the other characters felt and the author's choice makes me think she chose the easiest path. Furthermore, after the acquaintance between Bella and Edward, her thoughts became too girlish and overly teen. As the ones, every girl gets with her first crush. This is the only thing I could forgive for to all the ones who gave one or two stars at Goodreads and I understand what they had in mind with "Bela's slobbery thoughts".
The other thing is, that the plot is too prolonged. Even from the beginning and until the last 50 pages, you can feel how there are a lot of words for little things that happened. No, there are not long and wide descriptions of nature or the sunset, but there are long descriptions of the main character's feelings. Here I need to drop a line - I think that Meyer hadn't known hot to continue ner novel, so she makes some scenes everlasting. Maybe she didn't draw a plan of the novel and immediately started to write, which made her blocked sometimes. But for the last fifty pages, she may have admitted to herself that Twilight has to have something not-ideal in order to make it interesting and worth reading. And that's the only way I explain such phenomenon as Twilight - one long, long development of character feelings, and then very little of adventure in the very end. So, if you are an adventurous reader - Twilight is not for you.
Fortunately, these are the only (two0 things that I can say I didn't like. And now - why I liked it?
Despite that, the plot is enlonged, the author gives us the perfect thrill about Edward and Balla's relationship. At first, I thought it was happening too fast and easy, but then I relaxed and accepted it as it is. For me, the main characters' love is equal to a children's for it is unforced and without hesitation. And such a thing is not seen in every book. In most of the cases, the questioned ones need way more time to accommodate to each other. And that's why I liked how easy it all happened with Bella and Edward.
And obviously, they are in the center of the story, but this didn't stop me from observing the other characters, too. And the one that caught my eye was Jacob. We all know what he is in the film and how much attention he gets there. Well, in the book we have only three little meetings with him. Maybe Meyer had tried to make a love triangle, but I didn't feel it like one because Jacob was no rivalry to the vampire. That's why I so badly wanted to know what the other characters thought...
Otherwise, the plot may be told to be well arranged, if we do not count the prolongation. And Stephanie has made all the needed so the reader is full and never hungry to know how the thing happens or why smb does smth.I mean that she has answered all the questions that appear during the reading at the accurate time, so everything about the new (the vampires) is cleared. That way the plot feel completed without and plot-holes.
It was really hard for me to rate Twilight and I was really torn between 3 and 4 stars, however, i chose 4 in the hail of the old good times when I was sworn Twilight fan. I am happy I read the book, but I do not think it is good for a second try. Twilight had its own time and popularity, which I think started all the searching for vampire and werewolf novels, so this makes the book important to the literary history.
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