I have finally finished reading the dumb yet entertaining teen novel - "Twilight" (published in 2005. And yes, I know, I'm always slow ;p).
My conclusion is, I confirmed this is not half as good as "Harry Porter" as per my taste (so if you wanted to give this a chance, don't buy it, just get it from me). I can still remember how I stayed up whole night because I just can't put "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone" down. However, it took me days to complete "Twilight". But, of course, I shouldn't compare this to Harry Potter. The targeted reader of these two is totally different. JK Rowling most probably started with age 5 ~ 15 in her mind (but surprisingly ended up having the whole world, 3 ~ 80, go crazy) while Stephenie Meyer clearly targeted at young adult only. I can easily connected with all the fun and fantasies in Harry Potter but there are too many things about "Twilight" that I couldn't connect with. (of course, obviously, I've never learnt to like Hollywood teen movies and I can never understand US high school culture.
When I first started, I actually enjoyed it. The opening is quite interesting: Bella moves from sunny Arizona to gloomy Fork to live with her father. She gains instant popularity at her new high school—with the exception of the beautiful Edward Cullen and his siblings. Even though I already knew that Edward is a vampire, it's still fun to speculate about what exactly is going on—why does Edward seem both drawn and repelled by Bella? What are a bunch of vampires doing impersonating students at a small town high school?
However, now I'm not sure if I still want to continue on 'New Moon'.
First of all, Bella's infatuation with Edward is annoying. She keep on commenting on Edwards 'perfect face,' 'amber eyes,' and 'perfectly-muscled chest'. Sigh.... Why does Stephenie wasted a good 100-something years old vampire with 17 years old humanity? If I were to write a novel with a 100-something years old vampire, I will make him the most attractive man in human history. Think of it, a guy with 100 years old wisdom and 17 years old humanity!! He can be extremely wise and still young at heart. He should have developed the most loving character after 100 years of perfection. He can be thoughtful and playful at the same time. He can be a gentleman (from humanity) and wild (from his vampire family) at the same time. He can excel in playing at least a few dozen musical instruments, excel in various arts, excel in every sports that human have ever invented, because he has more than 100 years to practise! He knows almost anything and everything on earth because he didn't sleep for the past 100 years and he should have spent all those sleepless nights reading and studying and experimenting! And with all these possibilities, the only thing she can think of for Edward is 'beauty'????
Secondly, James the villain, is too forgettable. We started to know about 'You-Know-Who' at the very beginning of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and there are so much anticipation about 'You-Know-Who' throughout the whole story. The merciless "tracker" vampire, James, on the other hand, appear in "Twilight" very sudden at the 2/3 of the story (maybe Stephenie suddenly realized that she forgot to give her hero some real challenge and her story a climax). James is supposed to hunt human beings for sport, and supposed be unusually gifted at what he does and always gets what he wants. However, there's not a single paragraph describing how James and the Cullen family fight! Out of suddenly we knew that he is set on fire and thus permanently destroyed. So anti-climax!
And the worst part is, the books end with EDWARD TAKING BELLA TO THE PROM!!!)
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