Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Title: Twilight

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Year: 2008

ISBN -13: 978-0316038379

Age: 14 and up

Genre: Fiction

Subjects / Themes: high school, forbidden romance, fantasy & magic, vampires, relationships

Awards: Publishers Weekly’s “Best Children’s Books of 2005”, School Library Journal’s “Best Books of 2005”, 2008 #26 in USA Today’s list of “Bestselling Books of Last 15 Years”, bestselling book of 2008 and second biggest selling of 2009

Plot Summary:

When 17-year-old Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington she unwillingly becomes the center of attention in her new peers eyes, except one. Bella is mystified by the alluring and handsome Edward Cullen who spends little time socializing with his classmates and most of the time with his family. The Cullens have managed to keep their vampire identity a secret in the small community of Forks but everything changes when their existence and Bella’s life is threatened.Can Bella and Edward’s love survive their biological differences and will Edward be able to protect everyone he loves?

My Take:

This wouldn’t be a teen book review blog if I didn’t include the “hottest” book since Harry Potter and before the Hunger Games. I’ve put off this review because I’m not sure I can be completely unbiased. Let me explain …

The first time I read this book I was in college and recently single. I never really fit in with any of my classmates so I was totally feeling like Bella Swan. The idea of falling in love with a good-looking but dangerous boy? Enticing. I devoured every page and didn’t sleep a wink that entire week because I JUST HAD TO READ THE WHOLE SERIES.

The second time I read the book I hated every minute of it. Coming out of a tough break-up probably didnt’ help but all I could think was Bella was an idiot. I couldn’t understand what had appealed to me the first time I read the book but this second time I was definitely not Bella. How could she put herself in danger and not think or care about how it would affect her family or few friends? Or my biggest annoyance, how could their love be so deep and true if they hardly knew one another?!

Not too long ago I reread this book for a third time. I can honestly say, I don’t understand the hype around this book or movie. Sure the story is fun and a little daring but I found too many flaws and inconsistencies in Meyer’s writing to really enjoy the book. For example in one paragraph it’s the beginning of the week and Bella is getting ready for finals, the next paragraph finals are over but in the paragraph after that Edward is walking her down the hall after Bella finishes her first final. What the heck? I found myself having to reread certain passages over and over again before I could move on which made this third reading rather tedious. I found the characters to be rather shallow and poorly developed. How could Bella an honor student act so stupid sometimes? And if Edward has lived for a hundred years, why isn’t he smarter?

All in all … if you are thinking about reading it after a break-up, don’t. You really won’t like it. If you are thinking about reading it for fun, then enjoy. If you have an analytical brain who likes a story to have a consistent flow, I’d think twice.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. Those inconsistencies really bug me!

Similar Read: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

 Title: The Arrival

 Author: Shaun Tan

 Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books     Year:  2007

 ISBN -13: 978-0439895293

 Genre: Graphic Novel, Fiction

 Age: 12 and up

 Awards: 2006 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year ; 2006 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards Premier’s Prize ; 2007 Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year

 Themes / Subjects: Graphic Novel, social situations – immigration

 

Plot Summary:

From the School Library Journal …

Tan captures the displacement and awe with which immigrants respond to their new surroundings in this wordless graphic novel. It depicts the journey of one man, threatened by dark shapes that cast shadows on his family’s life, to a new country. The only writing is in an invented alphabet, which creates the sensation immigrants must feel when they encounter a strange new language and way of life. A wide variety of ethnicities is represented in Tan’s hyper-realistic style, and the sense of warmth and caring for others, regardless of race, age, or background, is present on nearly every page. Young readers will be fascinated by the strange new world the artist creates, complete with floating elevators and unusual creatures, but may not realize the depth of meaning or understand what the man’s journey symbolizes. More sophisticated readers, however, will grasp the sense of strangeness and find themselves participating in the man’s experiences. They will linger over the details in the beautiful sepia pictures and will likely pick up the book to pour over it again and again.—Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT
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 My Take:

Normally I write my own plot summary but I found it exceptionally difficult with this book. This was my first experience “reading” a graphic novel and quite honestly, not the most pleasant experience. I expected to have to use my imagination to create the story based on the illustrations but without any prior knowledge of what it was supposed to be about I had no idea where the story was going. On Tan’s website he explains that in this book “the absence of any written description also plants the reader more firmly in the shoes of an immigrant character.” In my case, the absence of written description left me thoroughly confused. So I passed the book on to my eleven year old friend Josh. When he finished reading it, Josh turned to me and asked what is it about?

The illustrations are beautifully drawn and I understood that I was following the trials and travels of an immigrant, but the little alien creatures and strange language really threw me off. After reading the artist’s note at the end, I finally understood what the artists was trying to portray. With that said, I think the complexity of the story will go over many young kids heads, heck even older kids. This book is an excellent way for parents or educators to open up a discussion on immigration but I strongly suggest giving kids an idea of what they are about to read.

Rating: 1/5 stars … needs some sort of preface or text to help guide readers

Similar Read: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (“…not exactly a novel, and it’s not quite a picture book, and it’s not really a graphic novel, or a flip book, or a movie, but a combination of all these things.” – from Brian Selznick’s website)