So who knew that I would spend my Christmas vacation reading the Twilight saga? This all started because I was under duress in the Vegas airport when it shut down DUE TO SNOW and caused me to spend the night in the airport, wait in line, wait on hold with southwest airlines, wait in another line at 3.30 in the morning and finally get to houston 31 hours after leaving my house in pullman, running only on about four hours of sleep in about a 54 hour time span. Obviously, sleep deprivation was preventing me from thinking clearly. But I digress.
I only picked up Twilight because I was in the airport and couldn't sleep and needed something to do besides stare at the tarmac. So I bought it, started reading it, praying that it would put me to sleep but getting no such outcome. First, let me establish this: whoever told me recently that this series would be better than the harry potter series...well, i didn't believe them then, and now, halfway through the fourth and final book of this so-called "saga" (read: melodrama!) i can't imagine what they were thinking and why such foolishness would come out of a person's mouth. So no, these books are in no way brilliant or good. However, I will say that they are addictive. Why? Because you just can't seem to get to the end of one and not want to know how it's all going to end. So, I've been sucked into this Twilight series and as I said previously, I'm halfway through the fourth and final book. This is significant for two reasons: one, I've read three books (and if you're familiar with this series, you know these books are not of the 250 page and you're done variety) in about 10 days. It'll probably be 4 in two weeks and well, considering how mentally exhausted i was at the end of the semester, i would have laughed at anyone who said i would have done this much reading in so little time -- and if i had planned to do this much reading, you can bet i would have been reading harry potter instead; two, i'm halway through this book and i'm so glad that i'm almost done. Why?
The answer: I'M ALMOST DONE! this means that at least i'll know how it all ends and won't wonder if i would have really liked the series if i'd just read the books instead of just seeing the movies. i'll be "in" on all the conversations about why the movies do or do not suck because of what they do or don't leave out or completely make up in the move to the silver screen. and I AM a bibliophile, so even though i've wanted to throw new moon and breaking dawn across the room and never pick them up again, i can't help admitting that there's always a sense of accomplishment after finishing a book, a little high, no matter how bad the book is. and no offense to stephenie meyer because really, i admire most authors, even when i'm not completely adoring of their work. and to her credit, she's put a lot of thought and imagination and planning into these books because truly, everything she's done in these books have been done for a reason. but--on the other hand, could the foreshadowing be any more heavy handed? i mean, freshmen in an introductory lit course couldn't even miss the foreshadowing it's so blatantly obvious. and well, then there's bella. i'm always perplexed when authors give us a heroine/hero that we're not 100% sure that we like. i'm not really sure that i like her. no, i take that back. i'm pretty sure that i don't like her. not completely. she's might irritating. should i like her? edward is so much more likable. even jacob is more likable. the whole plot of breaking dawn--well, i won't ruin it for those of you who will eventually see the movie (which, i gotta admit, as i'm reading the book i keep thinking how this will be made into a movie) or plan on actually reading the books--anyway, as someone who enjoys writing fiction herself, i can't help but pick at the twist in plot that's occurred or the narrative strategy she's employed in the book. i so wouldn't have gone this route with the story. why? probably because i'm not into melodrama and also, well, i understand that i'm reading a vampire story, so off the bat, it's not plausible, the world in which it's set in is not plausible, but this plot twist--it makes it really hard for me to continue to suspend my disbelief. or my irritation for that matter. even more, i thought the first book was okay--certainly better than the movie, but that was a given, right?--but then i really didn't like the second book, but then i thought the third book was the best so far, thinking that she'd (meyer) had finally gotten into the writing zone but the last book, well, suffice it say, i have about 350 pages left, and it's going to have to work really hard to redeem itself. i suppose the flip side of this argument is that don't authors want to evoke an emotional response in their readers? i may not be happy with the plot twists, but at least i'm not apathetic, right? AND I DO KEEP READING which maybe says more about her talents than my good common sense or literary tastes.
hmm...i don't know how it's going to end (though my gut tells me that the smart money is on a happy ending because well, don't all melodramas end happily?). i may be driven to blog about in a couple of days. who knows? what i do know is that if you have a recommendation for a book i could read before the end of my Christmas break that wouldn't make me feel like i was wasting my reading-for-fun-time which is practically an endangered species in my life...send it along.
1 comment:
BAHAHAHA @ SO MANY THINGS ABOUT THIS POST.
i am glad you'll know how it ends, too, since i want to talk to somebody like-minded. i too believe that they are COMPLETELY FREAKING RIDICULOUS but also very addictive, obvs. so you share my opinion! lisa doesn't. she kind of loves them, which i don't blame her. the author did her job, to a certain extent, although i could get into that conversation.
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