Twilight...Reality check,

Alright so I'm an asshole. We have all come to terms with this, so help me out. Twilight was huge, people keep raving about the books and the movies. Since the new movie is coming out soon I figured I'd give it a shot. So I started watching the movie. 15 minutes later I turned it off. I started reading the first book. A couple chapters in I put it down. I know I'm a hateful person but all I could think was...this is Dawson's Creek with fangs, and twisted values. Apparently the books are about a pedophile vampire that's psychologically abusive to a 17 year old girl that can't do anything without a man. Where the hell is Lestat? I need him to come kill Edward. In the bloodiest way possible.

So the plot is dicey at best. That isn't the worst part to me. The worst part is the writing. I've know 10 year olds with better writing skills than this woman. Seriously it reads like an a.d.d. kid with a thesaurus who's reading a harlequin while writing. It's bad.

I take it back actually. The worst thing is her fans. They turned me off to the whole series when it first came out. OMG BeSt BoOk/MoViE EVAR!!!! I have yet to meet a fan that didn't sound like that. I'm sure they exist, but I just haven't found one. Generally when teenagers are THAT excited about something it's either really bad or it doesn't live up to the hype. Point in fact: Halo, most over rated first person shooter ever. Not that bad in and of itself, but made a million times worse by its fans who quickly declared it the best game ever (without ever have playing another fps.)

So am I just being too hard here, I'm I being my usual cynical self or is this series really that bad. I think I'm being fair. I love vampires, I love fantasy novels, hell I love Harry Potter for that matter regardless of its hype, but this series seems ...Terrible.

I haven't tried to read the books yet, and probably wont, just bedause of a llack of interest. My wife however has. And since she read the books, when the first movie came out on DVD we she ordered it on netflix. We'll being the trooper of a husband that I am, I decided to give it a try... It did not understand the hype at all. I guess I could see how a teenage girl could like it, but adults? Come on... My wife claims that she actually does not like them all that much either, and has also comented on the lack of writing skill in the books, but she does keep reading them as they come out. But she is a nook jumkie too, reading everything that she can get her hands on. So I'm with you, I just don't get it... Vampires that sparkle in the sunlight.... Oh no I'm glittering! You'll never understand my curse!

The Dude wrote:

I haven't tried to read the books yet, and probably wont, just bedause of a llack of interest. My wife however has. And since she read the books, when the first movie came out on DVD we she ordered it on netflix. We'll being the trooper of a husband that I am, I decided to give it a try... It did not understand the hype at all. I guess I could see how a teenage girl could like it, but adults? Come on... My wife claims that she actually does not like them all that much either, and has also comented on the lack of writing skill in the books, but she does keep reading them as they come out. But she is a nook jumkie too, reading everything that she can get her hands on. So I'm with you, I just don't get it... Vampires that sparkle in the sunlight.... Oh no I'm glittering! You'll never understand my curse!

lol

My 13 year old daughter and all of her friends talked non stop about it until the zombie craze started to pick up and now they are into that. I don't have time to try and keep up with the flavor of the week myself but my wife does like to see what my daughter is reading (some of that crap is not really for kids) and the only good thing she could say about the book was "well, at least she's reading".

It doesn't really bother me that people enjoy the movies and books. I know that I enjoy lots of things that others would turn their nose up at. That said, I think Twilight is horrendous, though I have only read a couple of the books.

Die-hard Twilight fans remind me of die-hard Harry Potter fans. Each have read little if anything outside of their respective series thus they think it is the best "literary" work ever created. Both Rowling and Meyer are rubbish writers, but at least Rowling has a sense of plot structure and character---even if they are slightly 2D.

I'm 32 years old and I usually read John Grisham, Dan Brown, and similar authors. Very rarely do I read romance or anything even close but my kids got the Twilight movie and I saw it and decided to read the book. After that I decided to read the second book too. Now I plan to read the whole series. Needless to say, I thought they all were really good. I'm not going to have Twilight posters hanging all over my walls nor am I going to get a t-shirt with Edward on it but I do see why some young girls would. Yes, it may be vampires but at the heart of it is a really great love story and the way the story is created is very good. I wouldn't go as far as to say Meyer is some kind of literary genius but she is a very good writer and apparently she knows how to grasp the attention of teens. What we have is a fad. A fad starts with something just a little better than good that gets so over saturated in the public that it goes bad. I'm sure if the only music you ever heard about was Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor you would hate it and think it wasn't so great either.

bki wrote:

I'm 32 years old and I usually read John Grisham, Dan Brown, and similar authors. Very rarely do I read romance or anything even close but my kids got the Twilight movie and I saw it and decided to read the book. After that I decided to read the second book too. Now I plan to read the whole series. Needless to say, I thought they all were really good. I'm not going to have Twilight posters hanging all over my walls nor am I going to get a t-shirt with Edward on it but I do see why some young girls would. Yes, it may be vampires but at the heart of it is a really great love story and the way the story is created is very good. I wouldn't go as far as to say Meyer is some kind of literary genius but she is a very good writer and apparently she knows how to grasp the attention of teens. What we have is a fad. A fad starts with something just a little better than good that gets so over saturated in the public that it goes bad. I'm sure if the only music you ever heard about was Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor you would hate it and think it wasn't so great either.

If you like it that's fine. But I read. A lot. And I'm sorry she's a terrible writer. I was mostly talking about the plot before which I thought was retarded. But I will never agree that she's a good writer. Dan Brown is alright but I can't back you up on John Grisham either.

Springheeljac wrote:

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If you like it that's fine. But I read. A lot. And I'm sorry she's a terrible writer. I was mostly talking about the plot before which I thought was retarded. But I will never agree that she's a good writer. Dan Brown is alright but I can't back you up on John Grisham either.

Twilight wasn't written for adults. It was written for teens and preteens. Apparently you just don't understand that. The plot line wasn't written for a 20 something male. It was written for a teen/preteen girl. If you can't factor that into you opinion that just goes to show how narrow minded you really are. Taking that into consideration, she IS a good writer. Funny how those who think they are so smart and open minded will bash anyone that does better than them in life. How many best selling books have you written lately?

bki wrote:

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How many best selling books have you written lately?

Two. One of which was Hugo nominated. How about you?

However, I hope you are not saying that one must be an accomplished writer in order to have an opinion about a book or an author.

I tried to read the Twilight books to see if they were worth the craze. I really struggled through the first two books. I felt like I was in high school again. Halfway through the third I put it down. I couldn't take them anymore. The plot is completely recycled and unoriginal, not to mention the writing is pretty bad and clearly took no skill whatsoever. I was younger when the Harry Potter books came out and loved them, they weren't that original either but at least the quality of writing was better (didn't say it was the best, just better).
The movie wasn't that great either, but I can honestly say that, it was the first time that I thought a movie was better than the book.

My niece loves the Twilight books. I watched the first movie and enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as I'd expected from all the hype. I have the second book on my Kindle but haven't had time to start reading it yet.

I recently read a great book entitled "The Strain" by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. There is lots of suspense in this book and it is a real page turner. It was for me anyway. I couldn't put the book down. I can't wait for the second part of the trilogy to come out!

http://www.thestraintrilogy.com/

Gadget Freak wrote:

My niece loves the Twilight books. I watched the first movie and enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as I'd expected from all the hype. I have the second book on my Kindle but haven't had time to start reading it yet.
I recently read a great book entitled "The Strain" by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. There is lots of suspense in this book and it is a real page turner. It was for me anyway. I couldn't put the book down. I can't wait for the second part of the trilogy to come out!
http://www.thestraintrilogy.com/

I'll have to pick that up.

bki wrote:

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Twilight wasn't written for adults. It was written for teens and preteens. Apparently you just don't understand that. The plot line wasn't written for a 20 something male. It was written for a teen/preteen girl. If you can't factor that into you opinion that just goes to show how narrow minded you really are. Taking that into consideration, she IS a good writer. Funny how those who think they are so smart and open minded will bash anyone that does better than them in life. How many best selling books have you written lately?

Uwie Bowl has made several movies and they all suck. Making it into mainstream media doesn't equal talent.

Guillermo del Toro the movie guy? I didn't know he had written any books. Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1904237

Oh, and bki - if you like Dan Brown, it doesn't surprise me at all that you like the Twilight series. While Dan Brown's concept was mildly interesting, he is a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE author. I mean really godawful.

Liar, is your life really so bad that you feel the need to slam BKI for LIKING an AUTHOR?

Like what you want. Tell others about it. Dislike what you want. Tell others about it.

But that "it doesn't suprise me" snitty crap... THAT is awful!

FOXP2-84 wrote:

Guillermo del Toro the movie guy? I didn't know he had written any books. Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies.

Yep, the same guy! I meant to say that "The Strain" is about vampires but forgot. The beginning of the book is sooooo creepy and good! I really hope that a movie gets made from the book series.

Liar wrote:

http://www.collegehumor.com/vi deo:1904237
Oh, and bki - if you like Dan Brown, it doesn't surprise me at all that you like the Twilight series. While Dan Brown's concept was mildly interesting, he is a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE author. I mean really godawful.

Just curious, what defines a good author to you? Just because you don't like something doesn't make it bad. If no one likes it then it's bad. Being that millions of people like both Brown and Meyer makes me think that you have a skewed perspective on what is good and what is bad. If a world class Italian chef made you dinner but you don't like Italian food therefore don't like the meal does that make him a bad chef? No, it just means your taste is different. To say that you don't like an author is one thing but to accuse someone of being a terrible author despite the fact that millions will disagree with you makes you wrong. It's okay to have your own opinion but don't try to pass it as false fact.

plant eater wrote:

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Just curious, what defines a good author to you? Just because you don't like something doesn't make it bad. If no one likes it then it's bad. Being that millions of people like both Brown and Meyer makes me think that you have a skewed perspective on what is good and what is bad. If a world class Italian chef made you dinner but you don't like Italian food therefore don't like the meal does that make him a bad chef? No, it just means your taste is different. To say that you don't like an author is one thing but to accuse someone of being a terrible author despite the fact that millions will disagree with you makes you wrong. It's okay to have your own opinion but don't try to pass it as false fact.

Millions of people watch Jerry Springer. Does that make his show "good"? Millions of people listen to Hannah Montana. Does that make her show "good"? Millions of people voted for (insert politician you don't like here). Does that make him/her a good leader? Are you seriously trying to make the argument that Dan Brown is a good author because millions of people read his drivel?

Liar wrote:

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Millions of people watch Jerry Springer. Does that make his show "good"? Millions of people listen to Hannah Montana. Does that make her show "good"? Millions of people voted for (insert politician you don't like here). Does that make him/her a good leader? Are you seriously trying to make the argument that Dan Brown is a good author because millions of people read his drivel?

Actually...it does. Jerry Springer isn't a good drama, sit-com, or even talk show but it is a good shock factor show. Most people will stop for at least a minute or two to watch as evidenced by the length of time he's been on TV. Hannah Montana, whether you are talking about her music or her show is great for it's target audience which is young girls. But to compare an election to this topic is like comparing apples to oranges. People vote for who they feel is the best potential leader. Even the mass public can't predict the future so how they ultimately perform can't be closely correlated to the number of votes they receive. I'm pretty sure I've made my point and I'm also pretty sure you will still argue that your opinion is fact but the true fact is, your opinion is still just your opinion and really means nothing except that you refuse to acknowledge your own narrow mindedness. What makes something good is whether it lives up to the expectations of the majority of it's target audience, not whether or not it lives up to your expectations.