Started: Jan. 1
Finished: Jan. 11
Notes: Evidence I'll read just about anything? Stop your laughing. My late wife left this one behind, and she didn't have good things to say about it though she did like the movie. A lot of people have not had good things to say about this one, but I prefer to judge it myself. With all its sales and popularity, this book and series must have done something right, even if it might be something in which I myself am not interested. Either way, if I do have bad things to say, at least they will be based upon experience and not just because others have said so.
Mini review: Honestly, I'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but I found this a delightful read. No, it's not Faulkner or Hemingway or even King, not by a long shot, but it kept my attention more than a lot of modern novels I've read. And it was funny, making me chuckle more than once at some of the vampire humor. Nowhere near as pretentious or moody as the movie, though there's a touch of that here and there. Yes, it's somewhat juvenile, even immature in parts, but it's a first-person tale told by a 17-year-old girl who is experiencing her very first crush, though that crush happens to be a vampire, and I wouldn't expect it not to be juvenile and immature at times. I also feel the Bella character has gotten a bad rap (probably more because of the movie than this novel) because she actually shows a fair amount of bravery here, though by no means is she an action-driven character. Some of the things from the movie which did not make sense to me were better explained here, especially concerning the character motivations of the vampires. And then there's the sparkling. I freely admit the notion of sparkling vampires is downright silly, but it's actually a very small portion of this book, maybe three pages, so I can overlook that to some extent. Will I read on to other books in this series? Hmm, probably not, or at least I won't go out of my way to do so, for this really isn't my kind of thing, but if somehow I ended up with free copies, yeah, I might give them a go. Okay, you can start laughing again.
A friend of mine, who will read any and all fantasy books, read these. When he told me he was disappointed with them and I asked why, it was because he said he expected more bloodshed and mayhem. When I reminded him they were written for teen girls by a nice Mormon woman, he still expressed dismay at the lack of monster on monster violence. Some people just are never satisfied.
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