Comments on: Vampire books and the women who love them

By: Alicia

Alicia — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:22:34 +0000

Yay! I’m so very happy to hear that I’m not the only educated person wasting away her summer reading this series. ;) I confess that few things have brought me more pleasure in the last few weeks than curling up in the backyard with these silly books. That being said, I completely agree that the “control” factor makes Edward a lot less endearing. I, myself, am on “Team Jacob.” No kidding. My sister bought us shirts. Sigh…

By: regan

regan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:13:02 +0000

I just read in Entertainment Weekly that Ms. Meyer’s has a book on her computer that is a complete retelling of the tale from Edward’s point of view. She says that right now “it’s just for her” but that she might feel the need to share it in the future.

By: erinmak

erinmak — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:24:25 +0000

I, too, have wondered about the Mormon influence in the books, and I can’t help seeing it everywhere. For example, Bella is choosing between a mainstream human life with a marriage that would end in this world and a marriage of eternity that will never end. That’s at the core of Mormons’ views about marriage, from what I understand (i.e., if you marry a non-Mormon, you’re only married until your corpses lie in the ground, but if you marry a Mormon, you’re married for eternity).

As an aside, I read the excerpt from Breaking Dawn when I finished Eclipse last night, and apparently it’s not a rehash from Edward’s perspective. It seems to pick up where Eclipse left off. I wish I could find again where I had read that it was a retelling of the saga from Edward’s perspective. Oh, well.

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:46:10 +0000

I completely agree that the series breaks down rather disappointingly in the third book. And oddly, part of what’s great about the second book is that Edward’s missing for most of it.

If you’re looking for something completely different but equally enjoyable from the YA section, check out The Mysterious Benedict Society. Otherwise, I endorse Midnight’s Children as one of my all-time favorites. Magic nose powers! Killer knees! Fun times.

By: regan

regan — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:07:03 +0000

I’ve been holding off on reading Eclipse because I’ve been dreading the way that Edward’s control over Bella might play out. Stephenie Meyer is Mormon and that makes me wonder if she is pushing the church’s “husband above yourself” in a subtle way through out these books. Perhaps she doesn’t even mean to have their relationship play out this way, it might just be the only way she knows relationships to work.

(disclaimer: I’m not saying Mormon relationships are abusive. Just that with the Mormon folks I know, the husband is always the decision maker for the family and tends to “guide” the wife in her personal decisions)

I’m also sprinkling in some “real literature” between Twilight books. Not sure what’s up next, but it won’t be teen fiction :)