"I watched the morning dawn upon your skin . . ." -Josh Groban, "Now or Never"
Although I rarely consume romance literature, I found Twilight easy to read. I remember sitting at the breakfast table in Mesa, Arizona looking over a newspaper. I saw a column about a woman who dreamed of a vivid forest in which sat a glittering vampire and longed to write about it. Later, when popularity spread the book like a swarm of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, I wanted to read it in spite of friends' criticism.
Stephanie Myer attended Brigham Young University and owns a degree in literature. She writes with a clipped style. I like how this influences her Bella--"bella" being the Italian word for "beauty"--to give us her perspective straight. However, she does reiterate a lot of details already noted. Perhaps these are the ones she enjoys most.
Bella seems self-conscious, especially about her facial expressions, her faults, and her differences from others. She faces a lot of internal conflict. It's moving that in certain ways I relate to Bella, and I think this is probably what a high school audience who reads the romance feels.
The character of Edward is profound in that he loves a dark girl who feels like an outcast enough to pursue her and feel jealousy over her. This speaks well of him and implies that he saw a value in her that other people failed to realize, and I think he is brilliantly cultured with hundreds of years of reading and music and Italian interests.
However, Jacob seems more real to me. He turns buff and really cares about Bella, inviting her into his gritty culture. He has golden skin whereas Edward shows glittering pale skin. Whom do you prefer?
In spite of a lot of cheap vampire follow-ups and the presence of Jane Eyre which truly terrifies the weak at heart, I think Twilight is a romance story worth feeling. True love is never blind, but motivating, for it gives to the recipients what is good for them, not only what they want. Curious, enticing and intense, this book did not disappoint visually my expectations.
