What I Didn’t Hate About the Twilight Saga
My last blog pointed out the things I actually didn’t mind in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. This one is going to be what I didn’t love. It may be a little bit longer than the last post…
What Ruined It For Me (In No Particular Order)
Bella
I found Bella to be a weak, unlikeable protagonist. She is whiny and complains about everything. Outside of Edward, the only identifying traits that Meyer gives Bella as a character is that she cooks and is generally good at school.
She has barely any friends and treats the ones she has (outside the Cullens) terribly. She has no confidence, considers herself worthless, and plain in every sense of the word. I could not stand her obsessive behavior or her disrespect of the people around her, especially Charlie.
Jacob
A character I liked in the first two books turned into one of my least favorite characters in the last two books.
Jacob goes from being warm, friendly, and a relatively good influence on Bella to being arrogant, rude, and just plain snarky. I hated reading his perspective in Breaking Dawn and found him incredibly unpleasant.
Edward (Are You Sensing a Pattern?)
While I appreciated some of his manners and eloquence, he was kind of a ridiculous dude as a whole. I did not appreciate his constant downplaying of Bella’s intelligence or autonomy.
And I did not appreciate his lack of support for her wishes when she chooses to keep their baby in Breaking Dawn.
Be a man, Edward, and support your wife instead of asking her best friend to sleep with her so she can have a normal baby. I just… I can’t.
Imprinting. Enough said.
Bella and Edward’s Relationship
Perhaps I am an old crotchety mother now, but I could not stand how unbelievable this romance was. They barely knew each other at all before professing undying love for all of eternity to each other, while Bella was still in high school. I certainly don’t dismiss feelings you can have while you’re young – heck, I married at 21! – but this was a relationship plagued with red flags.
Edward repeatedly makes Bella question her own sanity, tries to control her, and doesn’t listen to what she wants. Bella ignores the fact that he is over 100 years old (because he’s gorgeous, so that’s cool), has killed people, that she has to essentially condemn her soul to hell to be with him, and abandon everyone she’s ever known and loved in order to be with him forever. And she is ready to do all of this within the first like, five encounters she has with Edward.
Look: I love romance. I love drama. I love fluff and a little bit of spice. But I do not love abusive, dangerous relationships that are modeled as perfect and idyllic to impressionable teenagers. Not okay, Meyer.
Length & Pacing
Each book is just a little too long. There is so much unnecessary filler that could have been cut. I found myself skimming entire chapters because nothing was happening.
Inconsistent POVs
I have made this complaint before (Allegiant), but I truly dislike it when an author changes their style half-way or at the end of a series. It feels like a lazy choice to accomplish an end goal. After four books of Bella’s POV only, suddenly we have Jacob dropped in and wolf-telepathy happening; it didn’t feel right. And it made me seriously hate Jacob.
Jake, I think you’re a terrible friend.
Unrealistic Dialogue
This mostly came in the way of Bella and Edward’s lovey-dovey speeches. I’ve never met anyone who speaks the way they did, especially an eighteen year old girl. I can excuse Edward given he was born in a different era, but it read rather unbelievably to me.
Anticlimactic Finale in Breaking Dawn
The entire last novel is completely crazy and definitely entertaining, but the ending felt pretty lame. They have this big face-off with the Volturi where nothing really happens, and then it’s just, “Great. And we lived happily ever after.”
How Superficial the Entire Twilight Saga Is
Throughout the series, Bella yearns to be a vampire with Edward because she loves him, right? But all the vampires are portrayed as unbelievably beautiful, incredibly wealthy, and extremely gifted in everything they do (from running to having special gifts like mind reading).
Bella is terrified of aging because she doesn’t want to be older than her hot vampire boyfriend. I really just didn’t like this tone and how it can come across – again – to the impressionable target audience.
Aging, adulthood, wisdom, being “average” or “normal” is just despised by these characters. I can’t help but think of how problematic that narrative is for teenagers to absorb. Not everything is about beauty, wealth, and possessions.
I like to believe one can be happy without being a supermodel and driving a Porsche.
What Was the Point?
As I concluded the series, I found myself wondering what Meyer was really trying to convey in this series. Yes, it’s supposedly a love story for the ages (though it isn’t, nor should it be).
Outside of that, there is a clear lack of respect for:
- Authority (i.e. Charlie)
- Friendships (outside of the Cullens and Jacob),
- and arguably even for human life (New Moon).
So, I was left with the question: “What are you trying to say, Ms. Meyer?”
Falling in love with a dangerous person does not suddenly make one become godlike in physical perfection, so…
What is the takeaway for the reader? I struggle to find a worthwhile one.
As an author myself, there should always be a purpose in why you’re writing. When I wrote my novel Shift, my goal was to provide an escape. A book that doesn’t shy away from difficulty but also doesn’t glorify toxic behaviors, commentate on present social issues, and one that can just be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
Final Thoughts…
I think I’ve said enough. I don’t have anything clever to end with, except that I really can’t recommend this series to anyone.*
It gave me a laugh over sheer ridiculousness at times, but it mortified me with its blatant abusive, red-flagged, materialistic, unrealistic teen relationships. I didn’t find Meyer’s writing to be impressive enough to counter some of the subject matter. I can’t say I’m glad I finally read them, but it was quite an experience – I’ll give it that.
*I do want to add: if this is a guilty pleasure kind of series for you, I totally get that, nor do I have a problem with it! So do not take this as a criticism on the guilty pleasure side of a series like Twilight, especially for adult women. My concern simply comes in where it is taken seriously, where the characters are viewed as role models, et cetera, by the very audience it targets.
Copyright Stephanie Meyer and Brown Publishing. Image from Amazon.
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