tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post9025087200450547518..comments2024-03-28T13:14:57.470-05:00Comments on The Book Blog of Evil: Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie MeyerAmy Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00085705321950169094noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-21002034104255123322009-05-20T09:01:38.213-05:002009-05-20T09:01:38.213-05:00Interesting review!
I hated Breaking Dawn... hat...Interesting review! <br /><br />I hated Breaking Dawn... hated it with such a passion that I am still furious two weeks on. I don't know what Meyer was doing, wrapping it all up nicely like the end of a kids fairystory... but even childrens fairy stories rarely go without a battle or somebody being killed. A friend said to me yesterday "She should have ripped our guts out" and that is so right, She should have killed someone. She should have left someone broken hearted at least. I wanted to have my heart broken but instead it was painted with daisies and hearts and sent skipping off into the sunset like a bad pop song.<br />Edward became some wishy washy side kick, the whole car obsession went against the people that Meyer had made the Cullens out to be, and frankly I got the impression that Meyer had "lost the plot" - maybe she never even knew her own secret in the first place.<br />Breaking Dawn was just impossible to get involved in, it read like a parody, I cringed my way through. The thoughts of the movie make me wail, Kristin stewart spewing blood while Rob Pattinson cuts her open??? Seriously??? The book needs to be left alone... It had the depth of a 12 year old recounting an episode of the hills and I HATED IT...<br /><br />Boooooo!!AMIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12550558277289816750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-36072806216215895552009-05-19T12:13:00.000-05:002009-05-19T12:13:00.000-05:00You've got it bad, girlfriend! Although that is M...You've got it bad, girlfriend! Although that is Meyer's gift, I think--I remember feeling like that back in high school, that longing to be completely loved and understood, that kind of angsty passion for my boyfriend.<br /><br />It's that kind of love that everyone says can't last--but that doesn't mean we can't miss it, right? Meyer captured those feelings and gave them back to us, and even vicariously (and fictionally) it is a way of feeling desperately alive.Amy Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00085705321950169094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-32982211168752643292009-05-19T10:36:00.000-05:002009-05-19T10:36:00.000-05:00I haven't - the alien possession angle doesn't gra...I haven't - the alien possession angle doesn't grab me in quite the same way. I didn't realise it wasn't for teens though. I wonder if it's good... tempting. <br /><br />There is something about the emotional articulacy the books demonstrate that make me interested in her other writings. And I have to say, I'll happily read the forthcoming one, Midnight Sun, the one from Edward's POV. <br /><br />Twilight coloured glasses? Well, as I run my eye down my address box and light on a friend's name, all I can think about is his biceps, and black t-shirt. Everything seems imbued with romantic possibility. Even though it's not! I have this back of the mind feeling that a boyfriend who loves me bounndlessly is just waiting to see me, and I'm aching and counting seconds to see him - or at least I feel as if am, more like. <br /><br />I'm looking at my children with a yearning ache at their sweetness and beauty (in between the shrieking demon times, of course). Everything just feels coloured with unnecessary angst and sexual frustration! <br /><br />I'm terribly impressionable. I have to laugh at myself.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08988685736635515808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-87369840222740860472009-05-19T06:58:00.000-05:002009-05-19T06:58:00.000-05:00Now I'm really curious--how do things look through...Now I'm really curious--how do things look through "Twilight" colored glasses?<br /><br />Have you read "The Host"--Meyer's first stab at adult fiction? I haven't, and I wonder if Meyer takes that step into actual erotic writing. The teens in my life have reported that they don't particularly like it: but then they didn't like Breaking Dawn either.Amy Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00085705321950169094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-14915076095113451832009-05-19T04:40:00.000-05:002009-05-19T04:40:00.000-05:00I'm thrilled to find your twilight posts, because ...I'm thrilled to find your twilight posts, because I've just read thebooks obsessively over a weekend. Despite my keen awareness of the problematic issues of the novels, not least being the terriblerole model Bella is with her self esteem issues and 'I can't live if living is without you' co dependent romance, I still LOVED them.<br /><br />I agree about the last book - despite the possible dodgy issue of anti abortioneering (and chastity before marriage,which is not so realistic or necessarily the way forward) I liked her writing about pregnancy and babies - it seemed very genuinely borne out of her own passion for her children.<br /><br />I loved the switch to Jake, and the more complex relationship he and Edward share. Men who can understand each other emotionally? Mmm.<br /><br />And I'm a sucker for a good happy ending.<br /><br />I have to admit I found your blog searching for Twilight and erotica too - glad to see I'm not the only mammy doing that! I'm interested in the ideas you and your commenters are discussing aout the emotional and erotic content - I certainly found it so. I was really surprised by the depth of response the very non explicit scenes aroused in me! Not to mention getting totally sucked in by the romance of the engagement scene! Gah, what's wrong with me?:D<br /><br />I'm not sure the Gateway thing is so awful, though yes, the internet and fanfic are new issues, too accessible, sure.<br /><br />Should she have gone further? I know I'd read an adult version in a flash. <br /><br />These novels undid me a little. Against my better judgement. I'll admit to seeing things through frustrated and Twillight coloured glasses since I read them.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08988685736635515808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-68887590001568375942008-11-15T12:12:00.000-06:002008-11-15T12:12:00.000-06:00I'm not sure what compelled her to leave things th...I'm not sure what compelled her to leave things that way. I thought about this a lot last night after I first posted and it really changed the way I feel about these books. (I'm not sure what it is - where I'm at in my life maybe, but they've really gotten under my skin). I just know it was a letdown, and felt rushed on the author's part, everything tied to quickly into a pretty bow. There really is no where else to go but into the sunset for these characters, except into the fertile minds of all the young daydreamers hooked by Twilight.<BR/><BR/>What really came upon me last night was that she does a huge disservice to all the young female readers, setting up this perfectly average girl to fall in love with this unattainable-in-real-life standard for male perfection, and then making him unbearably chaste and protective of her virtue. Young girls everywhere are now fantasizing about an Edward Cullen of their own that will never exist, perhaps putting themselves in very risky situations trying to see if the one they're with meets Meyer's high standard. Girls that age romanticize intimacy in a way boys that age are incapable of. What a shame Bella didn't have an older sister to guide her, caution her, share with her how unusual Edward Cullen really was, appreciate the rarity of his restraint. I felt Bella took his character as a 'bonus' on top of his dazzling beauty, without letting the reader see that Edward's outward beauty was the most normal part of him. Meyer's attempt to bring this topic to the story through Rosalie's narrative on her 'birth' felt flat, too little too late, to easily set aside as Rosalie's own bitterness and jealousy.<BR/><BR/>I obviously still have my own baggage to work on with regard to these themes. Thanks for talking with me about it. I look forward to looking over your book list in the future!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-34777415626584418542008-11-15T11:23:00.000-06:002008-11-15T11:23:00.000-06:00Yes, I agree--I think the "clean eroticism" of the...Yes, I agree--I think the "clean eroticism" of the first 3 books is why they are so popular--like a gateway drug to the novels they sell at the grocery store. The ones with purple cursive titles and people barely keeping their clothing on.<BR/><BR/>Maybe Meyer just tied everything up with a happy-ever-after bow as a way to cut down on fan fiction? What else is there to do with these characters?Amy Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00085705321950169094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22396877.post-73815482333066444022008-11-14T18:32:00.000-06:002008-11-14T18:32:00.000-06:00I posted this comment over on another entry, and t...I posted this comment over on another entry, and then realized it was from February! Pardon the cut and paste, I think the comments still apply.<BR/><BR/>i have read all 4 books (44yo mom of a 5yo) the books are definitely for the younger set, and you can tell they are written by someone of a strong faith (auth is mormon) - they almost squeak they're so clean.<BR/><BR/>there are however strong erotic aspects - for someone with a more ahem varied life experience than a 12 year old, they just leave me glassy eyed and frustrated, finishing the scenes in my head.<BR/><BR/>all the adult female readers i've spoken to about this agree. it's like a gateway drug to the hard world of fan fiction, which is full of stuff that turns my stomach, to see her characters abused like that. And it's all just a few clicks away to all those curious tweens left hanging by her innuendo.<BR/><BR/>I would like to see what a more experienced writer could have done with this concept, for a slightly more mature audience. it's hard to write a book filled with this much sexual tension in every chapter, and still call your audience "tween."<BR/><BR/>I felt her wrap up in book 4 had been written by committee - trying to please everyone, and really pleasing no one at all. the characters she set up to be real and so easy to identify with, ended up in a walt disney happy ending, with no sacrifice or real conflict to have earned it. When everybody gets everythign they want, you have effectively killed your readers. What happens after the happy ending? who cares? they're happy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com