Move Over Harry Potter

I didn’t read juvenile fiction when I was a juvenile, so you can imagine my surprise that I’ve recently enjoyed so much fiction geared toward young adult readers. Perhaps I’ve hit my second childhood?

During the first adolescence I read books like Exodus by Leon Uris, Hawaii by James Michener, and various classics – Dickens, Bronte, Salinger. Plus Taylor Caldwell’s massive tombs and Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt’s gothic romances and well, biographies and histories and…. You get the picture.

But when Harry Potter came along, I was sucked into the series along with the international mass of readers who have turned Harry’s creator into a billionaire. Did you hear? J.K. Rowling tops Forbes list of wealthiest authors with a whopping 300 million earned just this PAST YEAR?)

Over the years I managed to withstand Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Anne Rice’s vampire series and Buffy and Angel and friends. But now, I find myself stuck on, of all things, a vampire teenage love story. Well, the girl is seventeen when the story begins, the guy hmmmm more like seventeen for the past 100 years. Yes, I’m talking about Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Bella and Edward.

I’ve heard the rumblings that some of Meyer’s fans have turned on her, are in an uproar about the final book (Breaking Dawn) of the series. Jane, a reviewer at the blog site Dear Author breaks the series down this way: “I totally loved Twilight, was less than enthralled with New Moon, watched the wheels fall off the bus in Eclipse, and now have come to this sad and somewhat crazy conclusion.” She speculates that Breaking Dawn reads more like a compilation of fan fictions.

I’ve heard that Bella ends up with the wrong guy. I’ve only read the first book, so I didn’t know that there’s another guy vying for Bella’s affections. As soon as I get my hands on the second book of the series, New Moon, I’ll have a better idea of what the hubbub is all about. I’ve also heard the hype and read the first chapter of the unfinished manuscript Midnight Sun released on Meyer’s official website. This manuscript posting resulted from the actions of a trusted friend posting her copy online, breaking copyright infringement laws willy nilly, not to mention damaging a friendship. In Midnight Sun the author ventures into telling the first book (Twilight) from Edward’s point of view. From reading that first chapter, my interest is definitely piqued.

Even if I never read another book of the series (like that’s going to happen!), I am amazed to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this little play on Romeo and Juliet meets Moonlight (TV series) and (now I’m revealing age) the soap opera Dark Shadows. Ohhhh Barnabus how we loved you back in the 1960s – and how our mothers worried that our little Ids would be damaged by such an evil-worshipping soap opera. What is it about young women (and not so young) that ‘bad boys/men’ seem irresistible. In my mother’s day it was Valentino and later Clark Gable of Rhett Butler/Gone with the Wind fame. In my mother-in-law’s day, it was Bogart, Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley, James Dean. Come to think of it, there seemed to be an abundance of bad boy heroes and celebrities during the war years and into the 50s. Having raised two sons, I’m not sure who the baddie romantic interests were of their generation – Sean Penn? Rockers like Axel Rose?

But, back to Twilight. If you have not heard of this book, let me ask -- Where have you been? If you have, then you’ve probably already read it at least twice. The premise seems like a straight forward girl meets boy with all of the angst and moodiness of adolescence. Bella Swan – I know, I know, a little to Hans Christian Andersen-ish-- has exiled herself to a dark and dreary spit of land in the rainy Pacific Northwest: Fork, Washington. (Put a fork in it, it’s done!)

She moves back to live with her father, a man who lives for sports and fishing. Bella exiled herself to give her flakey mother freedom to forge a life with her new love. Bella has been the adult in the family since she was old enough to walk, living with, protecting and trying to please her dear old mum who absconded with her baby daughter to Arizona, leaving a bewildered and heartbroken husband behind. Bella, one of those rare heroines who can not only kick butt, but can also cook and clean and do domestic chores, lives to nurture. She takes care of people and even when behaving like a sullen teen, she wants people to like her.

A review posted by Sarah on Smart Bitches site describes Bella well and hits on many of the series’ weaknesses. Sarah writes, “But what really bothers me is the degree to which Bella subsumes her identity at every turn. She inserts herself into her father’s home by doing the things that will make him happy…. She inserts herself into Edward’s world by doing the same - the biggest show of spine she has is asking a shit ton of questions, but mostly only with his permission to do so.”

On Bella’s first day at the new high school, she sees a group of beautiful students sitting together, isolated from the majority of the student population. They look like an exclusive club of Greek gods, perfection. Bella’s new friends quickly inform her about the Cullen clan, a group of five foster and adopted children of a much admired surgeon and his wife.

The first meeting between Bella and Edward -- one of the Cullen kids -- goes less than perfect. His attitude toward her was described as “if looks could kill.” Of course the biology teacher assigns them as lab partners, forcing the young couple together for at least one class a day. The problem, we eventually discover is that Bella has the sweetest blood and Edward wants nothing more than to taste her, ravish her, kill her. At the same time he’s frustrated because Bella’s thoughts are the only ones he cannot read and he’s developing an overwhelming need to protect her. Well, since this is basically a romance, you can imagine that they figure out how to be together without any blood shed. An interesting byplay involves Bella accompanying Edward home to meet the little family – all vampires of course. All on edge for fear they can’t stop themselves from ‘tasting’ little Bella.

The author creates engaging characters. Bella is charming, strong, sarcastic and vulnerable and not over the top. Edward too is believable, a thinly veiled image of a rock star, right down to music that makes a girl’s head spin. He’s moody, but not melodramatic. A bit angst ridden, but he’s been living with raging teen hormones for a century, so maybe his extremes are to be expected. Thankfully no flashing fangs or red eyes and no, he does not turn into a bat. For the most part the writing is even, the pacing works, and the storyline fraught with a comfortable balance of difficulties and light moments to provide readers with a satisfying diversion from the harsh realities of life. This is, after all, a fairy tale.

Meyer, unlike Rowling, has serious problems with her fan base. Writing a series can be a fun indulgence until readers take ownership and turn into a raving mob when the series fails to meet their expectations. I suppose that is one of the pitfalls of success. Perhaps Meyer watched Rowling and decided that when ending a series everyone should be happy and all dangling story lines should be neatly tied up to form a happy little knot – thus the fairy tale “Happily ever after” ending. She may have gone overboard with that concept, I couldn’t say -- yet. But when it comes to the first book in the series, Twilight, I think she’s written a winner. -- Clio

 

Note: Opening Nov. 21, the movie based upon this book and with the same title will debut. Check out some of the trailers.