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Kimberly R
155 of 267 members found this review helpful.
  • Rated 1 stars

Fluff....that's what this book is. This book was CLEARLY written for young adult girls who fantasize about their knight, or in this case, their vampire, in shining armor. Blach..... So many things irritated me about it including how on earth could an OLD, and you would think wise, vampire fall in love with a goofy teenager. Give me a break!!!!! And, I thought the author was beating a dead horse with the constant talk from Edward about not wanting to put his human girl in danger and the girl's constant talk about not caring if she was in danger. Edward has all the power and control over his little woman. Ugh..... But, even after bashing this book, I still finished it!!!! So, I admit that I enjoyed it on a teenage girl level! If you want to read purely for entertainment, because we all need books like that sometimes, go for it. If you're looking for something that goes beyond entertainment and the usual male/female roles, avoid it. I would love to see young girls (and grown women!) reading books that empower them and challenge stereotypical male/female roles instead of upholding the status quo.

Kimberly R wrote this review Sunday, January 11 2009. ( reply | view 196 replies | permalink )
  • Shilpa  S

    shilpa s said:

    Thanks Kimberley I was just planning to read this . But now I better skip reading this

    posted Thursday, June 26 2008 ( | view 38 replies )
  • Heather H

    heather h said:

    "Serious intellectual fiction" is great and has its place, but sometimes you just want a book that is a quick, easy read, with a story that doesn't require you to think too much, just enjoy the ride. I like the other kind too, but I have to admit that the more stressful my life gets, the more I enjoy the escape of the "fluff".

    posted Saturday, June 28 2008 ( | view 9 replies )
  • Nicole R

    nicole r said:

    I agree with Heather H. I would never put this book on the same level as the great classics but it was a fun, entertaining read. I, as an adult, agree to an extent with kimberly r also; I found myself getting frustrated with some of the parts but had to keep reminding myself how I would have felt or reacted 10 years ago.

    When I got past trying to make the book fit my CURRENT life, and stopped trying to take it too seriously, I really enjoyed it for what it was: a ya romance.

    posted Saturday, June 28 2008 ( | view 2 replies )
  • englishteacherchick

    englishteacherchick said:

    Heather and Nicole, you're absolutely right. This book is not meant to be highly intellectual, rather it is a YA romance as someone said. Heather, I totally agree with you that the more stressful my life gets, the more I want to read something that doesn't require me to think too much, just read and enjoy.

    posted Monday, June 30 2008 ( | view 8 replies )
  • Heather H

    heather h said:

    I agree, Nicole. Most of the complaints seem to be from adults trying to take it all too seriously. Your comment about trying to make the book fit your current life is right on, and I'd bet a lot of other readers with complaints probably did the same thing, but never got over it. It's all good, people. Relax and enjoy it and don't take life and literature too seriously. There are tons of great books out there that don't need to send a political, or moral, or whatever message. Of course, I'm probably the weird one.

    posted Wednesday, July 2 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Genni

    genni said:

    You are obivously unhappy about the astounding sucess rate of this book, and I agree that some individuals go way overboard with their belief in this fantacy book, but must you really insult teenage girls (assuming that you were one once) but refering to their collective taste as 'mindless and goofy'? Must you really downplay the desire that almost ever teen female has for someone to sweep them off their feet? Do you also go around scoffing at Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty? Classic fariytales? You graciously admit to some level of enjoyment, but have all adult really become so cyinical and realistic as to not believe in the power of true love and timeless romance, even if it is only the product of a fellow adult's imagination? If you have, then I pity you and those who your comments will pull away from a good, if not educational or rational, book.

    posted Thursday, July 10 2008 ( | view 10 replies )
  • Ashley C

    ashley c said:

    True love isn't the excessive, I-need-to-be-with-him-all-the-time kind of feeling. What Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty each have in common is that they and their princes each overcame some great evil in the course of their falling in love. For Edward and Bella, it's just Bella seeing Edward, and refusing to rid herself of him from that moment onward.

    How could you describe that kind of unrequited emotion beyond anything that isn't 'goofy'or 'mindless'? Sure, we've all felt it at some point and it's nice to re-visit a *kind-of* of similar scenario, where there can be no one else and nothing else.

    But to say that adults have become 'cynical and realistic' in not viewing Edward and Bella as the true lovers of fairytales, is a stretch. Love takes a moment of meeting, then of developing many moments afterward - it grows and it builds, see? Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy are the perfect example of the kind of love that conquers all; believable in its boundlessness and beauty.

    These books aren't. A love story of any kind (to be truly successful) needs some kind of testing; to be shaken and the foundations strengthened. In Meyer's books there is never any real danger to do just that for Bella and Edward; nothing at all to test this instantaneous love they feel. And if there is, it's all over so quickly it mightn't have happened anyway.

    posted Sunday, July 13 2008 ( | view 5 replies )
  • .:~Mirah~:.

    .:~mirah~:. said:

    Well yeah there sorta is like the Volturi,the newborn vampires,Laurent,Victoria,and James,the werewolves which aren't evil...but I'm just saying

    posted Monday, July 14 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Clementine

    clementine said:

    but you must have liked it?! I mean even tho it's a young adult book you must have liked it in some way? I'm a 14-yr-old girl who is a twilighter and I think you should go back and read the book again and don't think about how bad it maybe just read and try to enjoy it made it higher then harry potter and will continue to rise above those kinda books!!!!

    posted Saturday, July 19 2008 ( | view 4 replies )
  • Nithy

    nithy said:

    how correct & apt ! esp this " So, I admit that I enjoyed it on a teenage girl level! If you want mindless, goofy fluff - go for it. If you want serious intellectual fiction, this is definitely one to AVOID" i thought it was a basically good plot gone awry. i the style isn't so good either (twilighters may contradict but nevertheless its my view) its cluttered up with conversations that r meaningless nothings. and this isn't one bit my stuff. there is basically no proper sound logical reason why they love each other. if being perfectly beautiful is d reason...rolling eyes

    posted Wednesday, July 23 2008 ( | view 2 replies )
  • Anita W

    anita w said:

    i definitely agree that parts of this book are total fluff (i think that's what makes it so fun for me to read because sometimes you just don't want to think too hard!) but i just wanted to comment on edward being an old vampire in love with a teenager. i think edward is controlling and obsessive and i'm not sure how much of his feelings are "love" and how much are a need to control and keep bella connected to him. from other classic vampire stories i've read (and watched) that is a common vampire trait: the need to control his/her victim and keep them under a spell. i'm not sure if that's what the author was going for in her attempt at writing this love story or if she's really trying to depict a romance to end all romances, but my interpretation is edward and bella's relationship is more obsessive and controlling than healthy. her friendship with jacob was healthier until he too turned monster and became obsessive and controlling. i guess the girl just needs some monster in her man and she needs someone to boss her around so she can sometimes disobey them and still prove she's an independent woman. i've known many teenagers and a lot of them are like that: trying to prove they are independent, yet still wanting someone "in control" and to give them boundaries. bella has never had a strong parental figure - her mother is a flake and her father walks eggshells around her - so edward seems to fill these shoes sometimes.

    posted Thursday, July 24 2008 ( | view 4 replies )
  • Elizabeth G

    elizabeth g said:

    It's not meant to be real thats why it is called Fiction. Your not supposed to always understand the relationship between all characters your just supposed to get that it is there. Since Vampires dont exist is the reason that you cant understand why edward is doing what he is doing. You Older people think too much into how a relationship should be, you cant see past the excitment of it. Since everything in your lives is long past excitment and moved to the more dull and boring every day mundane life. Bella is also very older than she really is her soul is what people might consider a old soul one that has lived many lives and is wiser than her age, Edward is a vampire who's human life had been locked inside him and as he allows himself to fall more in love with bella he allows his human emotions that lingerd come back to him. It dosn't make since because its not supposed to their relationship is so much more than an ordinary human can understand. But i guess if you've never fallen head over heals in love if you've never experienced the passion all the excitment all the love in your life than you will never come close to knowing what edward and bella have or feel. It has nothing to do with Teenage girls It hads to do with love and life everything that anyone has ever felt for the person they cant live their lives without. I'm only assuming that you have never found your soul mate, just some mundane human relationship no mor than compainionship.

    posted Thursday, July 24 2008 ( | view 7 replies )
  • dog l

    dog l said:

    i odnt care what you say. if you didnt like it from the beginning you should have just stopped reading it!!!!!! and uhhh it doesnt take a genius to figure out that it was written for teenage girls!!

    posted Friday, July 25 2008 ( | view 6 replies )
  • aphroditesings

    aphroditesings said:

    i completely agree with kimberly. this book has corny written all over it. i always wondered why people are so crazy about this book... the answer: because it's all lovey-dovey, mushy story of teenagers. i was looking for somewhat a climactic adventure, but i didn't get any. but if you're a a sucker for romance, this book might be worthwhile. but for me, it wasn't.

    posted Saturday, August 2 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Mari

    mari said:

    I read an advanced copy of the book before it came out...and I wasn't too impressed. Of course it could be because my mum snagged it from me when I wasn't looking and then told me I was reading soft p*rn. That kinda ruined it for me. Haha! But I never thought it was something special. Could have been much better. I was very surprised to see it become popular, no doubt. I was like, "What did I miss?"

    posted Saturday, August 2 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • cloverkite

    cloverkite said:

    I understand what others say about this being one of those books that you don't need much thinking to read. It's nothing intellectual, we all know that. Teenagers read this to feed their fantasies and others as a guilty pleasure. However, guilty pleasure or not I just can't bear this book. It would've been okay if, plainly, there's nothing to learn from it, at least it's still a form of entertainment but the problem is not the absence of anything intelligent. The problem is it's so stupid (the juvenile story and the 13-year old style of writing) you have to try not to be influenced by its stupidity. Every page is just painful you just want to edit every sentence as you read.

    posted Thursday, August 7 2008 ( | view 5 replies )
  • sef

    sef said:

    Fans of this series should stop being so freakin' sensitive and defensive. It's a novel, for Christ's sake, not their mothers. Every novel is bound to be criticized and this book happened to be highly so. It is ridiculous for fans to atrociously respond to bad reviews; for one thing, the critic bashed the book not you--the fan, then why are you bashing the reviewer? Doesn't it just prove the allegation that fans of this series are mindless? Why not write a good review instead? If you want to read about Bella and Edward's lovey dovey goo in peace then stop defending it with your 'duh'. 'uhh', cuz-u-don't-undahstand-luv comments, it makes you guys look stupid. Stop saying that grown-ups can't relate because it's for teenagers. Grown-ups were teenagers and that's why they enjoy Harry Potter so much and other YA books. Most of all, stop saying it's love, love, love. We get it. You're swept away with your blood-sucking knight. It's not the first of it's kind and it's not the greatest love story ever. Countless books have been written about love and this just doesn't count as one of the best for many of us including me. Just accept that.

    posted Tuesday, August 12 2008 ( | view 8 replies )
  • Word Warrior

    word warrior said:

    I agree with Heather, sometimes you just want to soothe your mind. After reading Philip Pullman's series of some serious stuff this was a nice breather before moving onto more "serious intellectual fiction". Kimberly is right though, there were conversations that kept coming back... an enjoyable read nonetheless:)

    posted Tuesday, August 12 2008
  • Spurious Generalities

    spurious generalities said:

    Bitter old women shouldn't write reviews about books clearly geared towards young adult women.

    posted Thursday, August 14 2008 ( | view 13 replies )
  • vjanis

    vjanis said:

    I love the classics and can relate to all books. The beauty of reading is being able to put yourself into the lives and minds of the charcters you are reading. I enjoy being taken to places I would never go and I loved all of the books in this series and can not imagine anyone feeling negative about this novel. I think anyone who picks up this book knows that this is not a Leo Tolstoy classic and is not looking for that type of gratification from this book.

    posted Thursday, August 14 2008 ( | view 2 replies )
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