But recently, several people (I literally mean at least 4 adults, including my own mother) have told me how much they enjoyed reading the series. I heard in turns that it was a good afternoon read, a cute romance, an easy, fun story. So...when I got a kindle 2 for Christmas last year and saw the kindle editions of the books were available for around 4$ a piece, I decided to give it a try.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
For those of you not familiar with the story, here's a quick synopsis of the plot: Bella, a high-school girl from Phoenix moves to Forks, a small town in Washington, to live with her Dad when her Mom decides to remarry. Bella quickly falls in love with Edward, a brooding, dramatic sort of fellow who at first glares at Bella and then is consumed with her. (And I do mean consumed in a very unhealthy sort of way.) Edward is mysterious because he and his entire family are incredibly beautiful people, as well as filthy rich, and they never come to school on those rare sunny days in the Northwest. Of course, we soon learn that's because they are a coven of vampires. Oh, they're nice vampires - the kind that hunt for animals rather than eat people, but vampires all the same.
So at this point it sounds like a fun and harmless sort of young romance, right? Well, I have to say I that I am strangely angry at this series because it is a good story and I generally find myself eager to find out what will happen next. But, and this is a huge but for me...Bella is the poorest excuse for a heroine and Edward the poorest excuse for a man in love with a woman I've ever read about! Let me explain. One of the major defining characteristics about Bella is that she is clumsy. She falls down, stumbles over furniture, and generally can't be trusted walking around on her two legs. Which has the potential to be cute and make her more likable, except that it basically sets the scene for her to be completely helpless...making it necessary for Edward to protect her at all times.
Not only does Bella have this clumsiness issue, but both Bella and Edward have this horrible, "I can't possibly live without Bella/Edward" issue that makes both characters come off as weak, whiny, and annoying. Edward has an insatiable need to protect Bella both from herself and from any other danger that could possibly come her way. He literally saves her life at least twice in the first book alone. And this is before an evil vampire coven entires the picture! Bella is rendered a sort of object within the book, something to be coveted and adored, but who basically has no power in her own life.
To make matters worse, Edward, as I mentioned earlier, is a brooding and dramatic vampire, meaning that he mostly is in a bad mood and scowls at Bella often, especially if she may possibly be in any sort of danger. This is supposed to be a mechanism for making it clear how very much he is in love with her, but constantly referring to her as though Bella belongs to him and him alone is frankly a little offensive in this day and age. Of course Bella doesn't mind, she can't possibly live without Edward, moody/brooding or not, so she's happy to have him, no matter how much he scowls or constricts her freedoms.
This all came to a horrible head in the second book. Edward and his family have left town, presumably to protect Bella because it has become dangerous for her to be around them. Edward in particular, since he is strong as an ox and may kill her (literally) with his brute strength every time they kiss. There are also evil vampires around, but I forget now whether they have entered the picture at this point. If so, that would be another reason Edward and family would have left town. Anyway, this sets the stage for Bella to spend 80% of the second book moping around, waiting to die because her precious moody vampire boyfriend has left and she now has nothing left to live for. Disgusting!
Now, I am not that old and of course I remember being a teenager in love. So, I am well aware that young straight girls do tend to think that young boys are everything and that without them life is not worth living. I get that. But this is too much! Bella literally starts to hallucinate hearing Edward's voice while performing life-threatening stunts, which only causes her to perform more life-threatening stunts so that she can hear his voice again. She completely falls apart and is really just a shell of a girl wandering around Forks. She has abandoned all of her friends and mopes hopelessly about while her father looks on stunned.
The only thing that brings her out of this months-long depression is...you guessed it...another boy! This is sweet Jacob, a local Native American boy who lives on a nearby reservation and has known Bella since they were children. They quickly become best friends, and of course this and this alone has the power to lift Bella from the depths of her depression. Eventually of course it is revealed that dear, sweet Jacob is a werewolf, an enemy to vampires, and is also in love with Bella. Which opens the door to lots of fighting over who owns Bella with not a lot of respect or even wondering what Bella wants. This is because Bella is not a real person, of course. Bella is just an object in this twisted love story for vampires and werewolves to fight for and over.
I'll spare you the remaining details of the story. This post was not supposed to be about the plot so much, but about my anger toward the story - the fact that Bella is useless as a woman and has no power within her life, Edward has control issues bordering on the abusive, and Jacob...well, Jacob is sweet but he too has too much power over Bella in this story. I guess my problem is really that it's too hard to identify with these people. And I worry that teenage girls do identify with Bella, and with a love story that involves ownership over another person. I can remember thinking how powerful that was, how awe-inspiring it seemed to have someone want you in that way. But as a grown woman it's painful to read. For me, in any case. The problem, of course, at this point, is that the story is quite compelling. I mean, there are vampire wars and everything! So I want to keep reading to find out what's going to happen. I just spend a lot of time gritting my teeth against the main characters.
So I am wondering, what do you all think? If you've read the series, do you agree with my assessment? Or are you thinking I'm taking this all just a little too seriously? Please comment!
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