twilight series

wantacookie

i know it may have been brought up before but i'm curious about wat people think?

i like the books but hate the look of the movies (haven't even seen them). i don't see why they've become such a big deal because they are only a good story! the style of writing isn't anything special!

i feel they became so popular because of the movie and wouldn't even be well known if not for that!

Agree/Disagree??

please no one bite my head off if they hate them!

Nothingcompares

I would have said the books spawned the success of the film. They were best sellers long before the first film came out. I've read the first three and I consider them quite juvenile and thrashy. But i'm a sucker for that.

wantacookie

they're quite an addictive read! why haven't you read the fourth! its worth a read!

banshee_bones

Yeah I think the books were popular long before the film, however I'm sure the film only intensified the book sales. The books are trashy and not exactly perfectly well written but its escapist stuff and if thats what your after leave your brain at the door and Welcome to Twilight!

Blush_01

The book snob in me (granted, she's very small and easily squished) was positively revolted at the thoughts of the Twilight Saga.

However... now I'm really upset I've read them all and there's nothing left. I was reading a book today that I'd been looking forward to getting my hands on for ages, and I got about half way before I had to stop, I kept getting distracted.

Yes, the books are juvenile - they're YA fiction after all. Yes, they're poor in terms of independent literary merit, they're definitely pop fiction. They are making people who wouldn't ordinarily read look at reading again though. There's a certain magic in the characters. The language is often too flowery, too verbose. I DON'T CARE. I'm officially obsessed. Can't help it, and I probably wouldn't if I could, if it meant having enjoyed them less.

Denerick

Haven't read them, don't want to read them, and will continue to turn my nose up at people who have read them.

*Scurries back to the classics section of the bookshop*

banshee_bones

Im currently enrolled in a Masters, I read alot of heavy boring serious college books every day, all the time. the twilight saga is a nice break from all that for me. Its my only one truly guilty pleasure and I couldnt give a toss!

Eliot Rosewater

Obviously the snob within me would automatically be averse to such a book. But it so happened over Christmas that I actually saw the film.Obviously the book and film are different, but assuming that theyre similar enough for the moment.

The plot is bad because its not natural and coherent. In the film the second half is taken up with this "chase" between a vampire and Bella, the central human protagonist. This chase is the result of a scene where the vampire meets Bella, and thus wants to suck her blood, or whatever. So a whole half of the film is based on this one scene. But the scene isnt natural at all: its based on Bella going on a family day trip with the friendly vampires even though shes only just met them. The bad vampire has been in the film before. So the scene isnt natural: its constructed solely to elongate the novel and create what one might call a "false plot": a plot that isnt realistic.

The characters are also pretty wooden. They dont represent something realistic and theyre too obvious.

It didnt help watching the film with an even bigger literary snob than me though! It provided laughs.

Denerick

Ha, honestly, people are welcome to read what they want. I don't really judge (Unless thats all that they read, of course ) I've my guilty pleasures too!

banshee_bones

Oh don't worry I do read plenty besides twilight! I have quite a mix when it comes to books, I grew up in a "book" house, there were over a 1,000 in my house growing up so reading has always been a thing of pleasure for me.

Twilight the film is utter gak, honestly i enjoy the books immensely but christ they really did a number on that film, wooden is exactly how I worded it in a form somewhere on here about my said feelings on the film. New Moon is marginally better, they had a significantly higher budget so with more money I think that helped, although that shouldnt be an excuse for twilight, and alot of fans will tell you that they could have done it a thousand times better even with their tight budget on twilight but there ya go!

Sephiroth_dude

I got all four books for xmas,So Im gonna start reading them after I've finished reading the dresden files books.

i-digress

The Twilight books are the literary equivalent of chocolate. Not much nutritional value but a real guilty pleasure.

I'd recommend Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead as another set of books that fall into that category.

Plowman

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buck65

i-digress wrote: »

The Twilight books are the literary equivalent of chocolate. Not much nutritional value but a real guilty pleasure.

Really?!

Blush_01

Plowman wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I guess it's probably a lot to do with what the publishers want to publish. They'll put what sells on the shelves, and vampire fiction (particularly YA) seems to be selling preeeeety well at the moment.

Life is too short to avoid pleasure because you know it's not high quality. I acknowledge the predictability, self-righteousness and implausibility of the Twilight saga / characters, but the saga has won me over. There is something about her characters (maybe their vulnerability? I'm still trying to pinpoint exactly what it is) that makes me love them, even though I could happily throttle many of them to death. Meyer has made me care about them - she might not write works of literary genius, but what she does, she does well. The number of people she has made disgustingly wealthy as a result of her writing attests to that.

I spent half my time this evening wondering if the Cullen's would like Glee for gods sake. This thing is messing with my brain!

Mink

I got hooked on these books a year ago - totally agree they are brain candy. They got my sister (who was an avid book worm) back into reading after she got severe baby brain & was only reading baby mags.

They certainly are not very literary but they do create a nice break from reading heavier complicated novels. Also would be good for when you're tired, sick in bed, on hols etc.

The films are not great at all but I really liked the wolfy aspect of the New Moon movie. Twilight the movie would never have taken off if there wasn't a cult following of the books already. They'd still sell very well without the movies.

Despite the fact the books are considered tripe by some, I really enjoyed the characters as well & their individual backstories which unfold later in the series. I reckon Jacob was my favourite, grouchy fecker.

Very enjoyable series overall in my opinion.

(I'm wondering when Darko is going to jump in here & give the series a good bashing)

A series which is very good is the Sookie Stackhouse Series (made into the True Blood TV show). It's a lot smarter, sassier & funny then Twilight & is for grown ups. However, it's still very easy to read & entertaining. It's not all about vampires either which I liked, lots of crazy supernatural things going on. Plus Sookie is a far better role model than Bella!

Ave Sodalis

Great books. Highly addictive. Movie a bit of a let down in comparison but what movie isn't? Wish Midnight Sun would come out. Some of the ideas are a bit over the top, such as the fact that Edward climbs through her window to watch her sleep. Stalker, but I find I don't care. Secretly, I wouldn't mind if he watched me sleep.

Anyway, great books if not the best written. I'm a sucker for gothic themed, romantic books.:D

Eliot Rosewater

Found this interesting story yesterday over at Guardian.co.uk (the story's a year old): Twilight author Stephenie Meyer 'can't write worth a darn', says Stephen King.

There was some interesting responses, including this absolute bute by a Stephanie Meyer fan on Youtube. She accuses King of being jealous of Meyers success. Its very funny.

Dublin141

I am feeling a lot of guilty shame for enjoying those books...:o

Meyer is not the best writer and it's all very self indulgent but so what? We know it and we don't care. People like the books for what they are, no harm in that. The characters obviously appeal to people judging by the amount of crazy obsessive fans there are out there. It's nice and light and I like anything that gets young people reading. The books were a major success outside of Ireland before there was even a hope of a film so I think the films have just introduced the books to a whole new set of people. The host was pretty similar too in the way it was written so I don't think Meyer has any hidden depths yet to explore but she's already a success in her own right. I love y/a books anyway, bit of relief from the heavier stuff I read.

Team Jacob btw

Blush_01

I had to laugh at some of the comments by the "twilighters" based on Stephen King's comments. I agree with him whole-heartedly about Meyer's patchy ability to write, but she masters emotion well, her books are irrational and crush-y, and I don't really know a female who can't relate to the silly infatuation she sells. It really is about buying into the emotions of the characters and putting yourself in their shoes, it's total escapism, and I want more. Simple as.

When I watched the movie last weekend I was disgusted with Edward (how he was scripted didn't help matters either). I knew Bella would be what Meyer imagined herself to look like at 17, but where was the flaming hot, velvet-voiced Edward? Pattinson didn't cut the mustard for me - I'm not saying he's unattractive (personally I don't "get" it, but that's beside the point) but the Edward in the Twilight Saga was supposed to be smouldering, don't-look-directly-at-him-he'll-burn-your-eyes gorgeous, with a voice like melted chocolate. Pattinson that ain't. I also felt that either the editing was very severe or the script was very disjointed when it was written - it hopped all over the place without much flow and with some odd continuity issues.