**If you haven't finished reading Breaking Dawn, you might want to stop reading this because I will discuss what happens.**Let me start at the beginning. I read Twilight last fall after friends raved about it. I was intrigued at first. I did read a good chunk of the book in a 5 hour span one Saturday afternoon. I wasn't really enjoying it, but for some reason I couldn't put it down. After I finished though, I realized what a waste of my time it was. I tried reading the second book (for several months), but couldn't finish it. The author, Mrs. Meyer, writes about the same conflicts over and over again:
1. Who loves who more? Edward or Bella? (I stopped caring).
2. Does Bella love Edward, her soul mate, or Jacob, her best friend? (Strange conflict considering conflict #1).
3. Should Bella be a vampire? (Yes, so this series will end).
I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the lack of serious plot and conversation considering this is written towards young adults. I just felt she could eliminate half of the novels by eliminating the repetitive dialog. Anyway, so Breaking Dawn came out a month ago. I was at work shortly after the book release and saw the book. The woman who owned it was about 10 years older than myself, had just finished it, raved about it, and gave it to me to read. I thought, 'why not, maybe the series turns out good.' (You can stop judging me for skipping the middle two books. I don't feel guilty and I had no trouble understanding the last book).
I had several issues with the book. First (and this is probably just the "scientist" in me), if Edward is a vampire, and vampires have no blood/bodily fluids etc, how exactly did he get Bella pregnant (who at the time was human)?
Second, Jacob the pedophile. Was I the only one disturbed by this? Jacob "imprinted"(fell in love at first sight) with Bella's baby who was only minutes old at the time. What? I just couldn't get past how creepy this was. I understand the author needed a way to keep Jacob connected to Bella, but this is too much. It might be one thing if he came back years later, saw Bella's child as an "adult" (as a vampire-human hybrid she would be full grown by 7 years) and then fell in love with her, but as a "newborn?" Gross. Not to mention that until recently Jacob was in love with Bella. How quickly he changes his mind. Bella and Jacob have kissed too, and now Jacob is going to one day marry Bella's child. Will Bella give her daughter kissing tips about Jacob?
Third, I was tired of reading about Edward and Bella having sex (after they were married, of course). I felt like I was reading one of those Harlequin romance novels and couldn't help but laugh at it. Here are a few gems:
'I heard the fabric tearing under our hands, and I was glad my clothes, at least, were already destroyed. It was too late for his. It felt almost rude to ignore the pretty white bed, but we weren't going to make it that far.'
'I couldn't speak anymore. I lifted my head and kissed him with a passion that might possibly set the forest on fire.'
'"Precisely. So the answer is no. I am purely full of joy, because I am missing nothing. No one has more than I do now."
I was about to inform him of the one exception to his statement, but my lips were suddenly very busy.'
'We laughed together, and the motion of our laughter did interesting things to the way our bodies connected, effectively ending that conversation.'
Wow! The above excerpts were in only one chapter. You can imagine how much more of the same she writes in 750+ pages. I get it: Bella and Edward have great sex. Move on.
Lastly, the length of the book. Bella became a vampire before page 400. What would she write about in the remaining 350 pages? I really don't know. It seems to be a blur of unnecessary dialog and plot. I wanted a good fight scene, perhaps a death or two on the "good-teams" side, something more suspenseful. When the last chapter is entitled, "The happily ever after," you can only imagine how the story will end and how much conflict there will be in the book. Mrs. Meyer has said she couldn't envision the series in only three books. Really? It's called editing. Thankfully the series is over, and I won't have to be tempted by my sometimes misguided curiosity to waste any more time.
5 comments:
You seem pretty p.o.'ed about this book. You might have understood the Jacob as a pedophile issue if you had read the other books, but it's still creepy.
But I have bad news, that wasn't the end. She was already in works for Book 5, but it was partially leaked on the internet. You may be tempted to waste a few more hours . . .
I personally am grateful. Everyone keeps telling me how great this series is - but vampires? I wasn't so sure. I'm glad to be saved the time and annoyance of these books. Although, I do enjoy a good harlequin teenage romance ;).
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Kate I loved your book review. Especially those great sex scene quotes. I am actually embarrased to say that I have read this book too. I blame it on a long layover on my way back from Brazil...I suckered and bought the book. At least you didn't buy the book. I don't feel as strongly as you do about it but it was pretty dang cheesy. And just for the record I had no idea they were teenage romance books when I started reading.
Great REVIEW! Could you please send it into the opinion section of the New York Times or something? I think someone there said they liked it.
Thanks for the review! I bought the book but after the first 100 pages of "No, I love you morest and I think I'm giving birth tomorrow even though our wedding was last Tuesday" I literally threw the book away. i.e., I threw the book in the trash can and waited for Seattle's finest garbage men to do their job. You might want to send this review to the 10 million people that enjoyed it.
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