Outside Reading Book Review (1st Quarter)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown and Company.2005 Genre: Fantasy

1st Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

The book Twilight has become a national phenomenon in only a few short years. Many have even refereed to it as the new ‘Harry Potter’ series. This is a book by a new writer, Stephenie Meyer, and it tells the story of a 17-year-old named Bella. After moving in with her father to a rural town in Washington, she doesn’t know if she made the right decision to leave her mother in Phoenix . She then meets her high school Biology lap partner, Edward Cullen, and he may just be the most mysterious person she’s ever met. Edward’s family is a family of immortal vampires, and as Bella learns of Edward’s dying need for her blood, they fall in love with each other. And as they spend more time together, they must fight for their lives in trying to protect Bella from three other evil vampires.
Found on the back of the book itself, are some book reviews. Publisher’s Weekly says that Twilight is "Propelled by suspense and romance in equal parts, [this story] will keep readers madly flipping through the pages of Meyer’s tantalizing debut", while the School Library Journal said "The novel’s danger-factor skyrockets as the excitement of secret love and hushed affection morphs into a terrifying race to stay alive...Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it.
Twilight is a new kind of book in my opinion. It is at first assumed to be a scary thriller, with gory vampire-death scenes, but it’s really not that at all. It is a teenage love story in one of the most unexpected settings, that has many different parts of action, suspense, and lust. The story is told in the first person through Bella Swan, so as she goes through things in the story, you go through them with her. Though the first 3/4 of the book establishes and develops Edward and Bella’s relationship, the ending had me- and I’m sure other readers too-not being physically able to part with the book! The ending of this was probably the most exciting ending in any book I’ve ever read! Stephenie Meyer was smart to do this, because this left readers satisfied with the story, but wanting to find out more in future books for what awaits for Bella, Edward, and the rest of the Cullens family.
This quote from page 345, really stood out for me through out the book. I didn’t know if this was a turning point for the whole book, or just a little scene that in the long run didn’t mean anything. But it was good to keep guessing and find out what really happened.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but you’re really not as scary as you think you are. I don’t find you scary at all, actually," I lied casually. [Edward] stopped, raising his eyebrows in blatant disbelief. Then he flashed a wide wicked smile. "You really shouldn’t have said that," he chuckled. He growled, a low sound in the back of his throat; his lips curled back over his perfect teeth. His body shifted suddenly, half-crouched, tense like a lion about to pounce."
Although they were just rough-housing in this scene, you always had the though of "Oh my God-is he going to attack her? Did she release the monster in him?" It was a very intense point in the book, and I thought that Edward and Bella’s young love for each other showed in this part.
My aunt Jill is a English teacher herself, and she was reading this book on the request of some of her students. She immediately called me to tell me that it was one of the best books she’s ever read and that I had to read it right away before the movie came out, and to be different from the rest of the teenage population, and just wait for the movie to come out in December! As soon as I was past the preface in the book, I was hooked! I was so glad it only got better as I went along. You really don’t find any books like this, and it’s a book that people defiantly love and can’t wait to read the next book in the series the moment they flip through the last page.