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holacaracola Since: Apr, 2012
04/27/2013 16:00:45 •••

They're horrible people

I had my first encounter with Twilight when I was twelve. I loved them. I dreamed that I was Bella and she became a role model to me. I read them again to see if they were as bad as people said.

They were worse.

Now, when I look back, I feel ashamed of myself. I read the books in Spanish the first time, and you can clearly see that the translators did their best to tone down the Purple Prose, the bad writing, and even Bella's bitchiness.

However, the book reads like an immature housewife's wankery - probably because it is. We're supposed to believe that two strangers meet at school, are nothing but rude towards each other, have a total of two conversations - both of which aren't even in friendly terms - and, somehow, they've fallen in lurve. Jeez.

I guess I could deal with that if the protagonists weren't so unlikable. Seriously, Bella is a classical Alpha Bitch, or Bitch In Sheeps Clothing, if you will. She whines all the time that she has no friends, yet she doesn't do anything to make friends. Everytime someone at school is nice to her, she dismisses them. Jessica, the girl who talks to her and introduces her to everyone, talks too much and her hair is big: she's a backstabbing bitch (despite that we don't ever see any proof of that). Mike, a guy who makes sure that she finds all of her classes and happens to have a small crush on her, is a puppy dog. Eric, who acts just like Mike but is ugly, is the overly-helpful chess club guy. Lauren, who is the only one who sees the bitch in disguise, is EVUL and has an annoying voice. Actually, S.Meyer later Retcons the reason for Lauren's attitude as Lauren being jealous of Bella, when it's pretty clear that it's because Bella is a bitch and she's obsessed with the Cullens. She's incredibly shallow, too: she considers Mike and Eric to be practically stalkers, but Edward, who is actually a real stalker, is perfect in her eyes - because he's PRETTY, which we're reminded every five sentences. We get it, woman, Edward is hot. Will you bang your fictional character already and move on to the plot? Oh, that's right: there isn't any. Edward is even worse, but at least we don't have to read tings from his perspective.

Asger Since: Feb, 2011
04/10/2013 00:00:00

Yeah that sums it up pretty well.

Smeyer's anti-human stance is just fucking bizarre, with any non-vampire being unworthy of Bella-sue's time.

kay4today Since: Jan, 2011
04/10/2013 00:00:00

"The worst thing is, Bella is Smeyer's Author Avatar, so that means Meyer is a horrible person."

A-class reasoning there.

MrMallard Since: Oct, 2010
04/10/2013 00:00:00

I can agree with this whole review barring that last line. Most likely, Ms Meyer played up the stereotypical popularity role dominant in American high-school fiction (think movies like Mean Girls and such which deal with the social hierarchy of high school). Saying that the author is a bad person because her Author Avatar is a bad person is like saying Jeff Bridges is an alien because he played one in Star Man.

terlwyth Since: Oct, 2010
04/10/2013 00:00:00

Why aren't you more horrified of Edward? That guy stalked Bella,stole her car engine,keeps tabs on who she is friends with,abandons her,...and is arguably just as if not more emotionally manipulative than Bella.

And yeah that last line sucks

JobanGrayskull Since: Dec, 2011
04/12/2013 00:00:00

I'll meet you halfway on that last line that everyone keeps picking on.

It doesn't mean that she's a horrible person, but it does speak volumes about what qualities she considers ideal for a character. Anyway, that's hardly unique to Bella. Edward, her perfect-man-character, has just as many questionable characteristics that are simply ignored or treated as positives.

How about this: Bella is an author avatar, therefore Smeyer is at best misguided about what constitute positive qualities, and at worst a very similar person to Bella IRL.

MrMallard Since: Oct, 2010
04/12/2013 00:00:00

And the last line has been deleted.

TheDogSage Since: Apr, 2009
04/26/2013 00:00:00

You've never read the unfinished 'Midnight Sun', have you? I listened to a comedy reading of it, and that did little to remove the fact that Edward plots the murder of his entire class so he can eat Bella, later plots to get her at home alone that screams RAPE, and later casually thinks about the genocide of the Quileute tribe because Jacob talked to Bella.

marcellX Since: Feb, 2011
04/27/2013 00:00:00

While I agree it was too much, the author does make an interesting point. Why if almost everyone else is kissing the ground she walks on would someone act that way towards her? with motives that seem reasonable to people using logic, but to neither the author or the character. I get the feeling that maybe some of these things were taken from her life experience, and some of this characters, specially the less explained ones, are just people Meyer didn't/doesn't like, be it due to selfish views or otherwise and in turn were demonized here.


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