The Maven

My Twilight Fixation

You only have to be in my company for five minutes before you realize that I have a Twilight fixation.

It’s not a crush, a fad or even an obsession. My attention is literally “fixed” on anything that is Edward and Bella related. Like the dog in Up whose attention is promptly diverted by a squirrel, my response to anything Twilight is just as uncontrollable. I was a little late jumping on the proverbial bandwagon. Considering that Twilight debuted in 2006, I am way behind. But I am glad to have done it this way since waiting for the next installment of the four book series would have been excrutiatingly painful. This very reason was why I let the Harry Potter series fall by the wayside after book three. So in three days, I finished four books, practically ignoring my dear husband, my ever rambuctious dogs and letting the laundry pile, well…pile up.

Enough about me, let’s talk about Edward and Bella. I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go in book one, Twilight. But it didn’t take long for me to care about the characters. Mind you, I have been reading books since I was eight, romance novels (thanks to my already adult sisters) since I was in my early teens and everything else thereafter. And even after meeting all those characters and learning their stories, I can’t think of another couple who —-through print—- made me deliriously interested in what they would do, say, or think next.

Edward to me is the epitome of a hero. The easy confidence, the charismatic personality, the good looks and high level of intelligence. And his sense of humor was hilarious throughout the book. This was one of my biggest gripes with the movie. He was really witty in the book and then seemed so tormented and serious in the movie. What makes him less superficial and more real are his personal demons. How many great people amaze us because of their own life struggles? Probably the most impressive people in our lives are who they are because of their own internal battles.

It took a few reads for Bella to grow on me. And I can’t say that she didn’t irritate me from time to time throughout the saga. She came across as a little dense and much too stubborn during a few episodes of the story. But her awkwardness and little quirks made for a heroine that any woman who was once a teenager can relate to. In New Moon, she had a line where she tells Edward “I feel like I’m not enough to hold you.” No woman/girl or even guy out there can say that at some point they didn’t feel that niggle of self doubt once upon a time. Before you know it, you’re internally cheering for Bella to believe Edward when he tells her, “Your hold on me is strong and absolute.”

I will tell you right now that I didn’t like the Edward + Bella + Jacob = Love Triangle dynamic. Rather, I would have preferred it had sorted itself out before Breaking Dawn. Truly, it would have been so much better if Leah had imprinted on Jacob. THAT would have been a story! However, like a game of chess, pieces were strategically moved so that, in the end, everyone fell into their rightful places. I would even go so far as to say that I didn’t care for Jacob, except that his POV in Breaking Dawn was money! He replenished his brownie points (just a couple) with me after I read Book Two of Breaking Dawn.

You only have to spend 10 minutes with me to know that I have read these books over and over again, to the point where it’s embarrassing. No, really. I have. I loved Twilight, the last third of New Moon, and all of Eclipse. With Breaking Dawn, I have a bit of a mixed review. I felt rushed. Like the author was trying to jam pack all of life’s rites of passage into 700 pages while still making sure the happy ending was all sorted out.

I wouldn’t have minded a fifth book.

Perhaps, Stephanie Meyer wanted it to end, too. I mean, I can only imagine what it’s like to have publishers breathing down your neck while you write about characters you have been saturated in for five years, if not more. How can you love them so much for so long? At one point, she must have just wanted to say “Enough!” And that’s how I felt Breaking Dawn was written. As if she wanted to give Edward and Bella their happy ending but, internally her own conscience was screaming, “Wait! This has to happen! Now this and hang on, one more fight with the Volturi…”

I have to get a word in about the supporting characters. In the books, Alice was my favorite. She just seemed to be the one to bridge the gaps between Bella and Edward that no one else would have been able to. In the movie, Rosalie did it for me. Something about Nikki Reed’s channeling of that character made me want to know more about Rosalie. As the saga progressed, Esme became a prop to the story and I wish she had a bigger part. In Breaking Dawn, she was little more interesting than milk toast. And again, with Jacob, it was just too much. Just when you thought there would be another sweet moment between Edward and Bella, Bella would ruin it by making some inane comparison to Jacob or even mentioning his name. I guess vampire gets girl, but girl still gets to fantasize about wolf.

Will there be more books? I can only hope. There is so much potential for stories about Jacob and Renesmee or Renesmee and Nahuel or Jacob and Leah. Even thinking outside the box and letting Tanya get some of her own action. So many possibilities. But we’ll have to see if Meyer is up to the challenge.

Is it magic? My experience with Twilight reminds me a lot of the classic movie Neverending Story. I feel like Bastian, stuck in an attic, not sure where to draw the line between reality and that of Fantasia, or in my case, Forks. What is it about these 2,000 plus pages of the Twilight Saga that captivates me? What makes me pull out my computer and start a blog entry about it when I have neglected this site for so many weeks at a time? It seems so silly for me, a 33-year-old, to be excited about a set of books that is vigorously being marketed toward 13-year-olds. As a wise co-worker of mine once said “Twilight is Gossip Girl with fangs.” I can go on and on and try to analyze the “why” but in actuality, I really don’t care. However I arrived here, I am stuck in this attic for a while and might as well enjoy my stay.

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear what you think about the Twilight Saga —- love itor hate it! Feel free to post comments.