Georgetown Independent

Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: sizzlingpopcorn.com

I was never a Harry Potter fan past the age of 12. To really enjoy a book like those in the Harry Potter series, one has to believe that Harry's world, full of magic and wizardry, exists somewhere. But at 12, I was shocked by one of two truths I would have to face every time I read and inhabited the world of "the boy who lived": either Harry Potter and the world he offered was all a sham or, since I still went to a normal middle school and had not received a mysterious letter beckoning me to Hogwarts, Harry Potter's world had passed me by all together, and I was a Muggle. Unwilling to decide which reality I favored, I closed myself off from Harry Potter's world.

My dislike for the fantasy genre continued until this summer, when a friend recommended the Twilight series. My reaction to Twilight was the same as all other Twilight fans I know over the age of 15: a period of disgust upon learning that the book was best described as a vampire love story, followed by immediate obsession after reading ten pages. This obsession morphs into an all-out addiction that forces the subject to read all four books in the series in as little time as humanly possible. Finally, the craze culminates in Twilight withdrawal when the books are finished, in which the addict finds his or her normal life foreign and meaningless.

What is most surprising about the addiction is that it is rather difficult to decipher what makes the books so addictive. The premise is strange: a vampire who is forever seventeen, Edward, falls for a human of the same age, Bella, on the first day she steps foot into the local high school in a small American town. The writing is simplistic and at times deprecating to the college students who read it; when my little brother saw me reading the books, he looked at me with disgust and reminded me that "eighth graders read those." The attraction between the two characters is somewhat disgusting; the studly vampire is not attracted to Bella's beauty or brains, but rather the scent of her blood. It gets even crazier when a group of werewolves is thrown into the mix, as well as evil vampires, who, unlike Edward and his family, do not abstain from preying on humans. However, millions of fantasy and non-fantasy lovers alike have been held captive by the books.

Avid reader Kaitlin Donohue (COL '10) says that her attraction to the books is Edward Cullen. The author, Stephenie Meyer employs countless, overly descriptive phrases like, "a marble tribute to some forgotten pagan god of beauty" to describe Edward. Not only does Meyer pile on the Adonis and supermodel references, but her Edward is also dangerous but sweet, talented but humble, rich but conservative, while her Bella is merely a normal human. In the Harry Potter series, Harry lives under a staircase and the watchful eye of his horrible family; this world is almost as foreign to many of the book's readers as the magical world of Hogwarts. However, Bella is nothing more than an average teenager living an average life until she catches the eye of a vampire.

Perhaps the book's draw is not Edward himself, but the fact that someone like Edward is head-over-heels in love with someone like Bella who, in turn, is someone just like me or you or any teenage girl, the book's target audience. Twilight fan Meredith McGrath (COL '10) agrees: "There is nothing unusual about Bella but something extraordinary happens to her. It's what people dream about for themselves, because Edward is this seemingly perfect person who loves her for who she is." Bella and Edward's love is so sappy and sweet that it simultaneously makes readers weak in the knees and the stomach. For example, the couple exchanges "I love yous" after hanging out like twice. She has vivid dreams about him and calls out his name in her sleep. He saves her, repeatedly. All of this goes down before they even contemplate having sex­-a shout-out to the author's Mormon roots.

However, Meyer's work does not impress all readers. Colleen Reding (COL '10) struggled through the novel: "I had really high expectations. I was disappointed because I thought the plot was super-predictable. The author's descriptions were deplorable. I was unimpressed by the story. I would have liked more detail. I struggled to finish it and there is no way I would read the rest of the series because I do not care about Edward or Bella. It is definitely not the new Harry Potter." Reding did admit that she might have found the books more interesting when she was a young teenager. As that demographic lines up for copies, it is hard to deny that Meyer has developed a large following.

Whatever the reason behind the craze, the response to the books is overwhelming. For the latest book release, bookstores across the county held late night release parties complete with costume contests, makeup artists, dancing, live radio broadcasts, snacks, trivia, heated debates over which of Bella's love interests she should choose, and even, perhaps most creepy of all, a bite radius contest at a St. Peters, Missouri Borders bookstore. For this particular contest, fans bit into apples and had their bite marks measured. One lucky reader was even flown to New York, met with Meyer, and received the first copy of the newest book at midnight as part of a contest. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, the books' publisher, released its largest first printing in its history, 3.2 million copies. With a movie soon to be released starring some total hotties from The O.C., and, most notably, Robert Pattison, who played super-hunk Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it appears that America has only begun to sink its teeth into Twilight.

Review of Breaking Dawn

The final installment of the series was received by lines of readers on midnight book-buying splurges and sold 1.3 million copies on its first day, but was the story juicy enough to quench the thirst of Twilight fanatics one last time? Set in rainy, small-town Forks, Washington, this book begins where the third left off, with evil vampire Victoria defeated, and still-human Bella caught up in a love triangle between werewolf Jacob and her vampire fiancé, Edward.

Bella struggles to grapple with her coming wedding, and Edward's lavish presents: a credit card, a flashy ring, and a Mercedes. The only gift Bella wants is to be transformed into a vampire and take her place in the Cullen family as Edward's saucy soul mate. After the wedding, the plan is to change Bella into a vampire, but like the Twilight books that came before, if only anything was that simple.

Unlike its predecessors, Breaking Dawn is broken into three parts, with Parts One and Three narrated by Bella and Part Two by Jacob. Hearing Jacob's side of the story is difficult at first, but necessary as the drama progresses into what can only be described as mayhem. Stephenie Meyer attempts to tie all the loose ends provided by the other three books into one, perfect happily ever after with vampires, werewolves, and humans all at peace with one another. To do so, she creates a storyline that strays from that provided by the earlier novels and any sense of reality, with twists and turns that thrill and disgust the reader.

The book reaches its peak in the middle as Bella experiences the consequences of an unnatural love between vampire and human (think the worst outcome of sex for a girl, EVER) and Jacob's devotion for Bella is tested and changed forever. However, the book crumbles at the end as Meyer struggles to create a sappy, sweet conclusion that satisfies. The ending is so perfect it is revolting and worse, boring. Instead of the action Meyer fans are accustomed to, readers are sickened by a storyline that sputters and falls flat.

If you are a Twilight fanatic or an innocent bystander who happens to pick the book up by chance, reading the latest installment from cover to cover is inevitable, but readers are left wishing Meyer did something more captivating to end a series that has such a captive audience.

Palmer is Arts and Entertainment Editor and an English junior.

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