Teen Reading Club

The extremely popular Twilight, by young author Stephenie Meyer, has attracted fans of all age. Unfortunately, it failed to interest or excite me, and I'm sad to say it most certainly does not deserve the bright spotlight it has received. From unrealistic, static characters to a writing style that would make Jane Austen cry, Twilight is a poorly developed, uninteresting novel. In this book review, the characters, the plot, the theme (or lack of it),and the writing style will be discussed in depth.

    In order to truly captivate an audience, a novel with likable, realistic characters is a must. Sadly, Twilight lacks characters with pleasant qualities. First of all, Bella is a unsatisfactory protagonist. She whines and whines about how horrible a person she is, but everybody in the whole town is in love with her. At her school, every girl wants to be her best friend and sit next to her at lunch; every boy wants to go out with her, and every adult comments on how mature and intelligent she is. She always does her homework perfectly, cooks better than Jamie Oliver, reassures her "immature" mother, never misses work, and pleases everyone from the teeniest toddler to the oldest grandparent. Not only is it nearly impossible to like a main character like this, it is also dreadfully unrealisic. A good character in a novel needs flaws in order to be likable, realistic, and dynamic; her absence of flaws results in a completely static person. Throughout the novel, she changes very little, remaining an egotistic young lady who is willing to abandon all her friends for a statue-like boy who lights up like a disco ball in the sunshine. Which brings me to the next most important character: Edward. Unfortunately, his personality is even more unappealing than Bella's. As emotionless as a rock, as unintelligent as a turtle, and as controlling as a stalker, he is an extremely creepy supporting character. To stop Bella from seeing her friends, he takes the engine out of her car. He tells her what she can do and what she can't do. He even climbs into her bedroom at night without her permission and watches her sleep, an illegal and selfish action that is otherwise known as "stalking". Yet, for all these dreadful things he does, Bella still likes him! It is clear that their relationship has very little foundation and depth; it started because Edward was handsome and Bella smelled like supper. Not exactly the basis for a profound, lasting romance! In addition to having main characters made out of cardboard, the novel also has an abundance of static supporting characters. They all embody single qualities and lack depth and verismo. Angela, for instance, will always be "kind and loving and selfless". Jessica is nothing but a gossipy girl who likes hot boys. They do not experience normal emotions, nor do they change as peculiar events occur. In fact, they are so insignificant that they could easily be eliminated without altering the plot. All in all, the characters are poorly developed, unimaginative, and lifeless; they completely fail to keep the reader's attention.

    The plot of Twilight can accurately be summed up it a few words: girl moves to small town. Girl falls in love with vampire. Girl gets saved from death by vampire many times. The end. Such a dull, cliched plot lacks depth and complexity, and therefore, interest. 90% of the novel involves the two main characters getting to know each other, and there are few complications and dangerous situations to inspire the reader to keep reading. Furthermore, there are no unexpected twists or unusual turns to the plot; it follows the typical teenage romance template in every situation. Way more complications and difficulties are necessary to add a richness to this novel, for it is not exciting or dynamic right now. The novel could easily be shortened to about 150 pages without losing any of the main points of the story, and it would be much more interesting and complex.

    Upon careful inspection of the novel, it is clear that the story has been wrapped around a number of extraordinarily disturbing themes. Perhaps the most obvious one is as follows: "It is perfectly okay to desert all your friends and family once you meet the love of your life: everything you do should revolve around him/her." This may shock Twilight fans, but it is the truth. Bella's behaviour follows this appalling theme exactly. She ignores all her friends the moment she meets her Eddie-poo, and every single thing she does is for him. She also condones his dangerous and stalker-ish tendencies. Not only is this a very loathsome message to put into the head of young children and teenagers, it is also hazardous: it presents the idea that stalking is okay, mysterious people are cool, and murderers are wonderful people. However, the bad themes do not end here. "People are only worth having as friends if they are drop-dead gorgeous." This novel teaches that appearances are more important than personality, and it seems to suggest that people who are pretty or handsome are smarter and better than those who are ugly. As a person who likes to find a satisfying and profound theme embedded in a novel, I was horrified at the dark themes that lie at the center of this novel.

    Stephenie Meyer's writing style is one of the poorest I have ever seen from a published author. She has a tendency to repeat certain words incessantly throughout the novel, specifically these words: glowered, perfect, icy, statue, and seraphic. Over and over and over again, she uses the same words. Descriptions are also repeated; for example, nearly every time Edward appears, he is described as an ice-cold, pale, white, hard, granite, chiselled, sparkling statue. Meyer fails to offer new perspectives or new ways of observing her characters and the messes they get into, and her views are one-sided and boring. Furthermore, her choice of literary devices such as similies, adjectives, and metaphors are completely conventional. For example, the following sentence is used in Twilight: "I blushed tomato red." Big imagination, Meyer! In addition to the weak descriptions, the novel is full of grammatical errors. She frequently lets subordinate and dependent clauses stand on their own, and she misues semi-colons and colons occasionally. She even has trouble in her placement of commas. "He looked angry, furious." Not only are the adjectives in this sentence very weak and confusing, the placement of the comma is incorrect. Finally, Meyer's writing has no flow at all. Good authors are capable of connecting their thoughts and ideas together with transitional devices, even in a first-person narrative. Meyer's paragraphs lack a variety of sentence types and length, and they frequently start and end with the same words. It is not uncommon for her to write several pages with each sentence beginning with "I". Repetitive and nonsensical, this method of writing is not admirable.

    All in all, Meyer's novel needs serious work in order to be considered a good book. Drab characters, cliched plot, disturbing themes, and atrocious writing techniques need to be corrected if she considers herself a semi-decent author. Twilight, as full of faults as Swiss cheese is full of holes, is complete garbage from start to finish.

I picked up this book because the rumours and gossip about it were plentiful and I wanted to see what all the rave was about. I must admit that I was not disappointed. I loved the romance between these two and all the mystery. How they can't stay away from each other although they needed to. The only part is that it's hard to understand how their love was so strong and so intimate after just meeting each other. I also wished that Meyer could have included Edward's perspective once in a while to unravel the mystery of his character a little more. 

      Twlight is a really good book, with great adventures.  It is about a young girl who falls in love with a vampire, but it is a hard relationship becuase he's a vampie.  The vampie is Edward Cullen and the girl he likes is Bella.  I really liked how each character interacted with each other and their appeal to each other.  When you are reading this book you can really visuialize what's really happening, whether it's what each person is seeing through their eyes and just the area even.  I totally recomend this book to anyone, becuase even if you are not into romance novels it is ok becuase there is not only is romance but action, suspense and mystery, and who doesn't love vampires???

Once upon a time there were vamipres in the world. But now nobody believes it. Seventeen year old Bella Swan doesn't believe it either untill it turns out that the love of her life is one. The epic tale of the love of two who were not ment to be.

Twilight. If you've seen the movie, you've probably loved it. The book follows sort of the same storyline as the movie, but Bella is described much differently, but it is STILL an AWESOME book. I reccomend it to anyone who has seen the movie, or anyone who is into vampires, shiny people (lol), adventure, romance, and, well, people getting killed/thier heads ripped off. It follows the story of Bella (Average teen, accident prone, going out with Edward) moving to a small town named Forks, away from her mother, to live with her father, Charlie, the town police officer, who usually isn't home, so Bella not only takes after herself, but also after her father. Her new friends, Mike (chatterbox, spiky blonde hair, likes Bella), Jacob (Indian, (Quileute), Werewolf)  Jessica (long brown hair, going out with Mike), Angela (normal teenage girl, snobby, blond-ish) Eric (also likes Bella, going to dance with Angela, short black hair). Then there are the Cullens. Carlisle (Father, saved Edward, Vampire) Edward (Likes Bella, Vampire, sweet voice, enchanting, attractive) Alice (Short, black spiky hair, Vampire),  Esme (Carlisle's wife, Vampire) Emmett (Rosalie's Husband, Carlisle's adopted son, Vampire) Rosalie (Adopted daughter, Vampire) and Jasper (adopted son, Vampire). The bad vampires, James (very evil, almost kills Bella, Vampire) Victoria (not as evil, kills lots, Vampire) Laurent (not very evil, kills few, Vampire). That's a fairly long, descriptive, list of Bella's friends. This book is probably THE best book i have read in a long time.  

This is one of my favourite books in the world! I would reccomed it to many people but one thing I didn't like was how simple the vocabulary was, for this reason, Harry Potter is better than the Twilight series but Twilight is still a very good book! The relationship between Edward and Bella is  discombobulating at first but it soon blossoms into something extravagant! 5 STARS PLZ!

The hype about this book was definitely worth it. Once you start this book, you will begin to indulge in a breathtakingly good story about the almost forbidden love between a vampire and a normal girl. At first, you only get to learn about the mysteriousness of Forks. However, as you continue through the book, their relationship will only capture your interest even more. Highly recommended book!

I just finished reading Twilight. it was an awesome book. i couldn't put it down. i borrowed it from a friend and didn't know it would capture my interest as greatly as it did. but after reading it i am eager to read the sequel new moon. i also want to watch the movie Twilight. i heard they cut out some really good scenes like the blood test. i wonder how it actually is. i go to washington like in every three weeks and imagine the whole story being depicted right in front of me. i am totally a die hard fan now!

Twilight is the first book in the series. This book is about a girl (Bella Swan) who dousn't really fit in and is moving away from her mother in Pheonix, back to her dad into the cold,rainy Forks, Washington. Where she meets this Boy named edward cullen and they fall in love, but little douse she now that soon her life will change forever and and all that she knows will change, just from meeting him, and that soon she will have to go through pain and heartbreak to be and save with the one and ones that she loves. This is a romantic novel but has its moments of scary events. I hope you enjoy this book as much as i did!!!! Thanks so much for writing this stephenie meyer!! :) <3

Wow, where to start? Twilight, the most talked about book of the year after hp, ladies and gents. The famous book created by Stephanie Meyer, bring her depiction of vampires, tradegy, love and triumph all smooshed into a 4 book series. Now there are the haters, the people who like the books(average) then there are those who, let's just say its not love but more of an obession and here are people's usual reviews about them:

The haters: Its a horrible plot, Stephanie Meyer should not be considered the next J.K. Rowling. Edward is completly ridiculous, you will never find a guy like him quit fantasing. Vampires, Vampires, Vampires, all way shown in the wrong sense. Their suppose to be evil and kill humans and DON'T SHINE IN THE SUN. Now this is the big thing twilight haters get to, Bella, the bland, dull and spoiled protagonist. She complains and whines yet loving a man who is not human but immortal, oh dear. The plot mostly consisting of their romance and being together forever and Edward always saving her. Then there are the werewolves, now the suprising thing is twilight haters tend to like the werewolves from what I've known and read, so Jacob is a huge thumbs up =) Now moving on to the other readers.

The average. Now the average are just those like myself, who have enjoyed the book and think its pretty good, I mean something different, a change from the HP series. My quick little opinion here about HP, its just really awful, I'm sorry, love the movies, but really not a fan of the books, so you could say I'm a hypocrite, but I've only come to give my critique =) So anyways, those of us who like Stephanie Meyer's twist, maybe some of us like Edward and some prefer Jacob, whatever the case the one thing most of us agree on is with the haters, is Bella. Yes she has the 2 hottest guys, and yes she is clumsy more so and spoiled and complains but hey, she's the protagonist, and its hard to have a story with out one right? Moving along, werewolves are awesome, we love them, and the other vamps like the Voltri, their cool, not really sure if their good guys or bad guys but you know if their not on team Cullens and team Werewolves their bad news =P Overall, the average of us support the book, maybe we have our certain doubts about it and possibly agree with those who hate the book, but again, its a change, something new, and yes it might be over exaggerated ocasionally but ya know what,so was HP.

Last but not least we have what we like to call "obsession"

Now obession never has to be a bad thing but at a certain point it might bug some people out and tend to get on their nerves. So basically these indiviuals really really love the book and talk about it everywhere they go and say it s the best book ever to those who disagree a lot. They love all the books and the characters, maybe a few dislikes they don't like but overall they love it completly!

These are all just based on opinons I've seen and heard and been told over the years. Honestly I'm okay with Twilight, it really does suck to see Twilight get bashed on a lot for the writing, I mean you know its what that own person thinks but I mean couldn't it just be like, things Stephanie Meyer could fix or improve upon possibly?I'm only saying this now because The Twilight series has been so popular yet so disliked by many who think its just rubbish.

This book was one of my favorite books! There are lots of  events that you never expect. There are 454 pages. I think that there are a bunch of dramatic events in the story... At first i thought that it would be a boring book, but when i read it, i thought was was like the best book i ever read. Now, I just love the series. :)

I saw so many people reading this at my school, I decided to borrow my friends' copy and see what all the fuss was about. When i read the first line, I wasn't too sure. But after reading a few pages, I got just so hooked. I read this book in a few days. I immediately got the rest of the series. I love the chemistry between Bella and Edward. I have already loaned my Twilight Saga books out to my grandma and my mother! Although this book may not be for some, this is definately a book that I would be surprised if not liked.

My love for this series aside, I think it was a really great book. It was well written, and Stephenie really shows how her character Edward has to struggle with his love for Bella without losing control, of killing her. While, all Bella wants is to love Edward to her fullest potential. I think it shows the life-long struggle of couples that shouldn't be together, but don't care what others think. If they're happy, they're happy.

Some of my friends are obsessed with it.. some totally hate it. For me, i'm in the middle. I watched both the movie and read the book. (I enjoy the book better.. the movie is just... too... uncreative.) Anyway, the plot is amazing.. but at the same time.. i don't 'know .. it's just a little bit too long and at parts,  alittle boring. I like the characters, Edward and Bella, they are cute together.. but thanks to the movie, it destroyed my imagination... I not only read the other three books, but I had to imagine them as the actors in the movie. I couldn't imagine my own world of Twilight anymore.  The good part though, is that at some parts.. it gets really, really exciting. Vampires are suppose to be horror, but Meyer makes it suddenly so romantic, so heart aching. So see my deal? I'm totally in the middle... i'm not obsessed or totally against it. (I don't see why people made such a big deal out of this.) However, for those absolute haters.. give it a try.. don't get annoyed with the obsessed people (i did at first) But give it a try.. maybe, just maybe, you will change your mind like i did.

   I personally strongly disliked his novel.  Being not terribly enthusiastic over romantic literature, I found the plot development and character development minimal, which is accented by the fact that the story line is stretched over a period of four books, when it could be presented far more rapidly and excitingly over the course of one, or even two to push the envelope. I found it quite typical for a vampiric romance, which is enthralling for many people, but not for several others. While the novel would be adept reading material for most teenage or pre-teen readers, those looking for a challenging or remotely exciting book should probably look somewhere else.

I was surprised when I couldn't put this book down after starting it. Stephanie Meyer does an incredibly job of captiring the main charater's POV perfectly and realistically- even with a supernatural theme. The simplicity of her writing style integrating imagery flawlessly is rare in fiction and a definate gift.

         In my personal opinion this book went on too long, Stephanie took to many pages to get to the point, i thought the basic story outline was alright but i did not enjoy this book.  Bella Swan is a girl who falls in love with a vampire to the point where she can not stand to be separated from him.  The vampire who stole Bella's heart is Edward Cullen.  Bella and Edward go through all kinds of "adventures" which have predictable outcomes.  I think that this book was not worth the read.  Some people may have enjoyed it, but i could hardly finish it.  Stephanie, i applaud you for making a bestseller but next time make it about something more interesting

This book was SO amazing!I didn't think that I would like it but I really did!I think that if anyone wants adventure,romance,or suspence to read this book.Every that I've talked to that has read it loved it!Read it!!

For me, I thought that twilight was a really nice book. It's not all filled with literary devices and stuff but it has a unique storyline which captures a beautiful setting of fantasy, vampires and what-not. I really like the characters also. However I didn't like the way they set up the movie in comparison to the book. The movie was so dark and gloomy and that for some reason was not exactly how I imagined forks to be like. But in general I read all 4 books in this series and I wish there was more! 

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer is definintly a unique book of its kind. I have read nothing like it , it makes you feel like you are experiencing everything that Bella goes through. Twilight has a perfect amount of adventure and romance that it mixes well together to make an awesome book. I would absoutly recommend this novel to anyone who loves to read about vampires, adventure and/or romance. I loved this book and i hope you do too. Even if it doesnt seem like your type, you might be surprised when you are unable to put it down.

Personally, I disagree with turtle689. I found that the series was WAY better over four books, because that way it's not all "action! fight! character falls off cliff! so-and-so dies! ow! fight to the death! ow! stab! murder! ow!", which after a while would get really annoying. This way more insights are provided into the characters and there feelings. The story develops more naturally, and thus the action doesn't seem forced. From the first word, the story is enthralling. I don't think the writing is simplistic, I think it's just a way of writing that doesn't rely on frills and therefore seems raw and realistic, but not in a "oh, so sad, what a bummer story" way. It's really exciting, but balanced out with dreaminess, romance, and a sort of surreal feeling. All in all, I think this is a completely scintillating book, and anyone who likes enthralling, scintillating, romantic reading should DEFINITELY read it. And even if you aren't a romance fan, this is definitely worth a try! 

This is an awesome book and a great start to the twilight series books. This book is fantastic because it is about a human and a vampire coming together and doing things you would have considered to be dangerous. I recommend this book to everyone, it is easy to understand. Although it is long you will not want to put the book down until you are done reading it. That is how interesting this book is. It is a love story with a bite to it.

Altogether I loved the Twilight Saga, but I didn't like how in the books Bella just suddenly falls in love in an obsessive way. It wasn't a forced love or anything, but the *love relationship* of Bella for Edward seemed unnatural. I still haven't decieded if that's good or bad because Heeellooo? vampires = unnatural. So I did like Bella got rescued by Edward during the whole sliding truck part.  Very nice. I really loved Alice she just seemed like an adorable bundle of joy kind of character adding the visions and vampireness of Alice gave her a kind of hidden depth :D. So the book was great-ish to me :D not horrible, but it does stand out in a unique way that isn't bad or good. :D

You know, I wasn't really sure what to think of this book. I mean, with the all the fans, I figured I'd give it a go, and I didn't dislike, however I don't think that it lived up to what I expected either. The plot wasn't bad; vampires were kind of a new character when 'Twilight' came out, but Edward seemed a little too perfect of a hero in my opinion. He seemed flawless aside from the whole vampire thing, but being a vampire is what appeals to readers as the dangerous protagonist. The chemistry between him and Bella seemed almost immediate and a little unrealistic. It seems bizarre that they would just instantly attach. Aside from that though, the action in the book was intriguing, and I was moderately entertained while reading it. It had some exciting parts and I can see why the romance would appeal to so many people. All in all, not a bad book, but not absolutely stellar either... 

Not impressed at this series at all. 95% of the content is Bella moaning about Edward, pondering how Edward can be so perfect and describing the same thing over and over again..which is the majestic, liquid-topaz eyed, muscular Adonis Edward Cullen. Writing style was simplistic and dialogues were so stiff they could have poked someone's eye out.

In addition, I'm no grammar police, but this series was saturated with mistakes here and there.

If you are the type that wants the guilty pleasure of a vampire falling madly in love with you...then fall into Meyer's spell. But if you are not the type...read something else.Seriously

When I first heard of this book, I thought no way.. Vampire books are not for me! But after reading it, I now know why everyone adores this book! You get in touch with the characters and it's even fascinating to learn about vampires. Anyone who is up for a good read, should definitely pick up this series of books!

it took me quite a while to actually read Twilight. I got the first book from my school library right before Christmas. I finished it in about two days and tried to find the other three books somewhere. It took me until boxing day to find the series, I bought them all, and read them all, within two weeks. I've now read them about 16 times (each). It took me a while to start but I can not stop. I like the "new age" romance. It is definitely set apart from any other book on the  market right now, but I would totally suggest it to anyone who asked.

 Twilight is the best book I have ever read. It is impossible to put down. I finished Twilight the day I got it it was so good. I love how Stephanie Meyer describes the things in the book it's like the story comes to life in your head. Twilight is just disaster after disaster for Bella and it just makes you want to keep reading.

To tell the truth I didn't find this book to very good. I thought that the characters were shallow and the plot could use some help. This book I think is much to popular, for how good it is. To tell the truth I wouldn't recommend this book to people. I think the Stephenie Meyer has created a book that most girls can't handle.

This review is for all of the Twilight books. Heart-renching maybe, frusterating, yes. But for me the frustration was caused by Bella and her attitude. She was far too dependant for my taste and I almost quit the series because of that. But I was interested in the supporting characters so I kept reading. If you are an extremely independent woman and believe very stongly about woman rights and freedom, don't read this book it will make you angry. However if you ignore Bella and Edward this is actually a good story line! I must also warn readers out there that this book was not loved for it's literature. Stacy Meyer doesn't have poor English skills, but is perhaps not the greatest writer out there...I found the entire story written like a script, like it was written for a movie. Yes I know Bella was the main charecter, but it was ALL about her. A rather self-centered story. The other characters were so static! Shocking really :p Stacy Meyer could do better as a movie-writer because she describes her charecters the same every time they appear. I think I understand why Twilight became so popular, its like a soap opera, because nothing ever changes in the Twilight world, not the charecters, not the sloppy plot, not the setting (or lack of). Like a cheap soap opera with bad actors.

this book wa really cute and intence. I liked it cause it wasnt your typical vampire novel with tons of killing and blood.

shows that anyone can meet someone, and thats rough begining will smooth out.

Really awsome book even though people think there isn't a good plot. I couldn't put down the book. They need more of an in depth description of the characters but other wise its good.  I wish they would put more of the good parts in the book into the movie.

I like reading Twilight because of Bella's everyday, get things done way of living in the beginning of the book. She's just a smart, clumsy, high schooler at first. For me the problem was how she pretty much threw her life away after she met Edward. She gets obsessed over a pale, too polite vampire. 

In other words, I liked the book before she met Edward, sadly, after about 20 pages she meets Edward and the rest was just blah. I didn't hate it, I just wanted things to be a little more realistic.

I also think that if a girl from today met Edward and had him for a boyfriend they would dump him quickly.  (most)Girls today are polite, but they do get into trouble and they don't always act like perfect little angels. Unlike unrealistic, perfect Edward. I think girls today would get bored. Maybe not all girls, but I would. I would want him to act like a person, like a boy, not like a saint at all times.

BUT, there were parts of this book that I did like, for example: The Baseball Game, and the part where Bella goes back to Phoenix. Stephenie Meyer CAN write, but sometimes she makes things too mushy and too slow.

I do know many many manymanymanymanymanymanymanymanymanymanymanymanyMANY girls who absolutely LOVE this book, I am not one of these girls.

For me Twilight is a pretty good book, that I reread every once in a while.

---12pickles

I absolutely adore Twilight!  I'm not as upsessed with it as some people, but I must say I am a little.   I love Stephenie's style.  I'm not sure why, but forbidden love is such a good topic to write about.  Stephanie has an awesome style, that ALWAYS leaves you wanting more!  Twilight is my 2nd favorite book in the story.  It's full of romance, action, and suspense.  I recommend this book to everybody!   

Well, I absolutely loved this book! It was soo amazing from the beginning to the end. This book was recommened to me by my friend who is crazy about twilight. When I started reading it I instantly fell in love with it. It's a fairly easy read but it has to be read carefully inorder to have the best experience with it. My favourite part is when James comes into the story and how Edward's family does everythin they can to protect Bella from him. Reading about vampires is different because they have different qualities. For example Edward could read other people's mind which is pretty interesting. They cannot be killed easily and can travel really fast. The part that I didn't like was when James tricks Bella into coming to the studio and she goes. The end of the book was left open ended ofcourse for the next book in the series called the new moon. However if you watched the movie first and the book later. There are going to be several more details included in the book than there are in the movie which means the book is the better option. Like they say the only guy that can actually love you forever is a vampire. I would give this book a 5 out of 5 and recommened it to everyone!

I started reading this book after all my friends were because thats all they were talking about and i got interested i now own the who saga and am completly in love with this book

I read Twilight long before it was exceedingly popular and enjoyed it. I was around 12 then, and I still like it as light reading every once and a while, but I don't think it deserves to be so hyped up about. Stephenie Meyer's writing is poor and unoriginal, stereotypical at the very least. The idea is mediocre and completely anti-feminist (anyone notice how Bella almost never drives when a man is in the car?!?) and the worst thing is that this book has now been re-made by at least a million different authors and put on my school library shelves! The number of Twilight knock-offs I've seen astounds me. Why can't people write original works? It seems that all "new" writers are interested in is making money off of Stephenie Meyer's undeserving fame. 2000ish pages about an unhealthy self-destructive relationship that lasts an eternity. As if the world needs another one of those.