Sunday, May 3, 2020

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Twilight
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 5, 2005

Format: Hardcover
Price: $22.99
Page Count: 544
ISBN-13: 9780316160179

Reading Level: Grades 9 and up (ages 14+)
Lexile: 720
Interest Level: Grades 11 and up (ages 14+)

Annotation: Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father and meets a very handsome boy at school. A very handsome boy who is not human.

Plot and Content Summary: Bella moves from Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her father, Charlie, so her mom can travel with her new husband. At her new school, she attracts a lot of attention from boys, but the very attractive Edward Cullen seems repulsed by her. Bella is distraught, wondering what she did wrong—is it the way she smells? After Edward saves her from a car accident, Bella knows something is up. But finding out who Edward really is might put her life in danger.

Evaluation: The writing was mediocre and the plot a step up from that, but I understand the appeal. There is fun in the mystery of Bella living her life "on the edge"—any second, Edward could kill her—but the romance is quite cringe-worthy. Edward likes Bella for the way she smells, and Bella likes Edward because ... he is good-looking? Even if the attraction is there, there is no reason to believe it should escalate to love that quickly. Aside from that, it was interesting to learn about Edward and his family's history of becoming vampires and how that world operates.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Bella learns about vampires and how they live their day-to-day. There are a lot of dangers to being in a relationship with Edward, but Bella decides that it is worth it. This is not meant to be looked at as admirable, but perhaps reflects our human nature and our desire for things that are not the best for us. We want what we want, no matter how harmful those things can be. Seeing this from an outside perspective—looking at Bella and the decisions she makes—may help us identify our weak spots.

Issues Present: Twilight has been challenged for being violent, sexually explicit, and "unsuited to age group." Toward the end of the book, it is a thrilling set of events that follow Bella and the Cullen family as they are hunting down and running away from a pair of vampires. It does get violent, but readers are not likely to copy it. Teens can handle it—and if they cannot, we have to trust that they will stop reading! Also, it is almost laughable that adults have called Twilight "sexually explicit"—the furthest that Edward and Bella go is kiss.

Book Talk Ideas:
  • Does Edward treat Bella the same before and after she finds out that he is a vampire? Why do you think so?
  • Does Bella treat Edward the same before and after she finds out that he is a vampire?
  • Discuss Bella's relationship with her father, Charlie. Is this "normal?"
  • Why do you think Bella and Edward want to be together even though it is dangerous?

Genre/Subgenres: First person narratives; Paranormal romance; Supernatural

Readalikes: Wake by Lisa McMann; Firelight by Sophie Jordan; Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon; Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater; Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

References
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