A Love Story Between Bella ♥ Edward
'Twilight' was written by Stephenie Meyer and is the first instalment of the eminent series. The book seduced the hearts of mostly female teenagers who were compelled by the compulsive love story between Bella, an ordinary seventeen year old girl, and the remarkably handsome Edward Cullen who holds a dark formidable secret which is anything but ordinary. Cullen is also seventeen years old, but his youthful looks are a deceiving veneer; rather he is an immortal vampire and over one hundred years old. As the saying goes, 'the course of true love did never run smooth'...but especially when your boyfriend is a savage predator who excruciatingly hungers for your blood. Meyer craftily induces the reader with tantalising suspense throughout the novel of which is truly an innovative and enthralling love story.
Twilight was predominately aimed at a teenage audience, so don't expect an elaborately written book. Meyer shrewdly engages the reader though, writing in the perspective of the protagonist, Bella, and immersing us within the natural idiom of an American teenager and providing us with simple yet vivid imagery. As Bella tentatively moves to Forks to live with her father due to her mother remarrying and selflessly not wanting to be in the way, you are swarmed with imagery of an ominous and dull grey sky and damp, oppressive air. The description of Forks perfectly mirrors Bella's distant and dull rapport with her father, who obviously means well, but lacks in conventional paternal instincts and has a rather reserved persona. Bella is hilariously disaster-prone and uncoordinated. Her incessant, amusing stream-of-consciousness of these apparent flaws are very endearing and you immediately find yourself either relating or sympathising with this awkward girl, who 'would make the cowardly lion look like the terminator'.
Much to her frustration, she is the novel new toy of the tiny high school in Forks, but sheepishly evades the unceasing attention she receives from the lustful lads. No one remotely holds her interest...except for Edward Cullen. His entrance in the film with his provocative, slow motion strut and a pout any girl would try to emulate, caused a momentous blast of oestrogen which pervaded the air of the cinema. Relative to this, Edward's entrance in the book is disappointingly understated and rather quite abrupt. Edward then sits inconspicuously in the corner of the lunch hall with his family, whom also have the advantage of obscure, unattainable beauty. The Cullens are all vampires which have been adopted by Carlisle, the ultimate good vampire who has taught them to control their thirst for blood, and quench it merely on the blood of animals rather than humans. Bella's fellow students have learnt to pay no attention to this seemingly pretentious group which openly segregate themselves from everyone else. Bella on the other hand, can't help but be fascinated by this mysterious stranger- and it seems the feelings are reciprocated. Edward's beauty is a trap for his prey- he is strong, fast, intelligent and can even read minds; all but Bella's that is.
Being able to read minds, everyone is an open book to Edward, but just like Edward's beauty intrigues Bella, Bella's hidden conscience intrigues Edward immensely. His mind becomes conflicted with ambivalent emotions; as a man he is uncontrollably attracted to her and would never want her to be subjected to any harm, but as a vampire he has an uncontrollable desire for her blood which emits the sweetest scent he has inhaled in eighty years. What follows is Edward's excruciating attempts to suppress his animalistic instinct and release the man which has been burrowed deep inside of him. Petrified that he may not be able to control himself, he tries to maintain distance away from Bella. However, whenever he attempts to distance himself, he is compelled bye her fascinating, enigmatic beauty and so 'the lion fell in love with the lamb'.
Meyer is fantastic at brewing up heated suspense which gradually leads us to the main conflict of the novel; the human eating vampires Vs the vegetarian vampires. The Cullens have fitted in nicely to the small city of Forks, but the unexpected arrival of these vengeful villains may potentially uncover their hidden identities. Amidst this, Bella's association with the friendly vampires causes great calamity of which leads to a highly disappointing and abrupt climax of which the film transcends on all levels. This deems to be a common discrepancy on Meyer's part. Towards the end of the book, the integral action of the film seems to merely be spoken within the dialogue which monumentally lacks imagination. Maybe she got a bit bored...maybe she had writer's block...or maybe she is just an unreasonably lorded authoress. The writing itself is substandard with its simple, short sentences, which acts as a parallel to the abrupt nature of the plot. Furthermore, Meyer has a tendency to lack on elaborate descriptiveness of the surroundings, but over elaborate on every single slight twitch of the character's facial expressions. On one page Edward's face is perfect, perplexed, smouldering, angry, indifferent...I was half expecting her to say constipated as she was increasingly running out of adjectives.
If you want a humorous and simple, yet compelling read, then I recommend this book. On a personal note though, this book relies on vivid imagery- of course you can imagine the agonising sexual tension between Edward and Bella, but you won't feel the intensity of it like you do on screen. Also the uncanny nature of the vampires' inhuman powers are depicted far better in the film with its spectacular graphics. Most importantly, the film compensates for the short, abrupt nature of the fighting scenes, and visually depicts the latent action which was lost in the book, but rather just spoken of in the dialogue. I'm sure most teenage girls won't dispute that either; especially the girls that were sat behind me in the cinema, who were declaring their undying love for Robert Pattison (Edward Cullen) throughout the whole damn film. So overall, what is better; the book or the film? It is a close call, but the film made more of an impact on me.
What is important to note is that this book should not be pigeon-held as a typical, cliché teenage love story, or a stereotypical gothic vampire novel. Twilight has been widely described as "a vampire book for people who don't like vampire books'. Sure the immortal vampires depicted as a perfection of beauty along with their inhuman powers are extremely cliché- like, but the originality of the love story between the most disparate nature of this savage strong predator and weak, vulnerable prey is truly fascinating.
Twilight was predominately aimed at a teenage audience, so don't expect an elaborately written book. Meyer shrewdly engages the reader though, writing in the perspective of the protagonist, Bella, and immersing us within the natural idiom of an American teenager and providing us with simple yet vivid imagery. As Bella tentatively moves to Forks to live with her father due to her mother remarrying and selflessly not wanting to be in the way, you are swarmed with imagery of an ominous and dull grey sky and damp, oppressive air. The description of Forks perfectly mirrors Bella's distant and dull rapport with her father, who obviously means well, but lacks in conventional paternal instincts and has a rather reserved persona. Bella is hilariously disaster-prone and uncoordinated. Her incessant, amusing stream-of-consciousness of these apparent flaws are very endearing and you immediately find yourself either relating or sympathising with this awkward girl, who 'would make the cowardly lion look like the terminator'.
Much to her frustration, she is the novel new toy of the tiny high school in Forks, but sheepishly evades the unceasing attention she receives from the lustful lads. No one remotely holds her interest...except for Edward Cullen. His entrance in the film with his provocative, slow motion strut and a pout any girl would try to emulate, caused a momentous blast of oestrogen which pervaded the air of the cinema. Relative to this, Edward's entrance in the book is disappointingly understated and rather quite abrupt. Edward then sits inconspicuously in the corner of the lunch hall with his family, whom also have the advantage of obscure, unattainable beauty. The Cullens are all vampires which have been adopted by Carlisle, the ultimate good vampire who has taught them to control their thirst for blood, and quench it merely on the blood of animals rather than humans. Bella's fellow students have learnt to pay no attention to this seemingly pretentious group which openly segregate themselves from everyone else. Bella on the other hand, can't help but be fascinated by this mysterious stranger- and it seems the feelings are reciprocated. Edward's beauty is a trap for his prey- he is strong, fast, intelligent and can even read minds; all but Bella's that is.
Being able to read minds, everyone is an open book to Edward, but just like Edward's beauty intrigues Bella, Bella's hidden conscience intrigues Edward immensely. His mind becomes conflicted with ambivalent emotions; as a man he is uncontrollably attracted to her and would never want her to be subjected to any harm, but as a vampire he has an uncontrollable desire for her blood which emits the sweetest scent he has inhaled in eighty years. What follows is Edward's excruciating attempts to suppress his animalistic instinct and release the man which has been burrowed deep inside of him. Petrified that he may not be able to control himself, he tries to maintain distance away from Bella. However, whenever he attempts to distance himself, he is compelled bye her fascinating, enigmatic beauty and so 'the lion fell in love with the lamb'.
Meyer is fantastic at brewing up heated suspense which gradually leads us to the main conflict of the novel; the human eating vampires Vs the vegetarian vampires. The Cullens have fitted in nicely to the small city of Forks, but the unexpected arrival of these vengeful villains may potentially uncover their hidden identities. Amidst this, Bella's association with the friendly vampires causes great calamity of which leads to a highly disappointing and abrupt climax of which the film transcends on all levels. This deems to be a common discrepancy on Meyer's part. Towards the end of the book, the integral action of the film seems to merely be spoken within the dialogue which monumentally lacks imagination. Maybe she got a bit bored...maybe she had writer's block...or maybe she is just an unreasonably lorded authoress. The writing itself is substandard with its simple, short sentences, which acts as a parallel to the abrupt nature of the plot. Furthermore, Meyer has a tendency to lack on elaborate descriptiveness of the surroundings, but over elaborate on every single slight twitch of the character's facial expressions. On one page Edward's face is perfect, perplexed, smouldering, angry, indifferent...I was half expecting her to say constipated as she was increasingly running out of adjectives.
If you want a humorous and simple, yet compelling read, then I recommend this book. On a personal note though, this book relies on vivid imagery- of course you can imagine the agonising sexual tension between Edward and Bella, but you won't feel the intensity of it like you do on screen. Also the uncanny nature of the vampires' inhuman powers are depicted far better in the film with its spectacular graphics. Most importantly, the film compensates for the short, abrupt nature of the fighting scenes, and visually depicts the latent action which was lost in the book, but rather just spoken of in the dialogue. I'm sure most teenage girls won't dispute that either; especially the girls that were sat behind me in the cinema, who were declaring their undying love for Robert Pattison (Edward Cullen) throughout the whole damn film. So overall, what is better; the book or the film? It is a close call, but the film made more of an impact on me.
What is important to note is that this book should not be pigeon-held as a typical, cliché teenage love story, or a stereotypical gothic vampire novel. Twilight has been widely described as "a vampire book for people who don't like vampire books'. Sure the immortal vampires depicted as a perfection of beauty along with their inhuman powers are extremely cliché- like, but the originality of the love story between the most disparate nature of this savage strong predator and weak, vulnerable prey is truly fascinating.
