A truly good book is a difficult thing to find. Books are “good” for different reasons. What one may seek in their reading material may not peak another’s interests. How often has someone recommended a new tome to you, and once you delved in you found it lacking the proclaimed allure? It is likely Best Sellers lists have had this same effect. This is most true for books deemed the “next” book of a certain kind. Take Cuck Palahniuk novels, true they are darkly humorous, and often perverse but they claim a substantial following. The topics are not for the general public, they may be too abrasive for many, but I will admit to being a fan. His characters are both approachable and off-limits. I will admit that it is difficult to offend me with written word. Profanity doesn’t grate so much on the eye as the ear in my opinion.
However misrepresentation smarts in any medium.
Take for example “The Twilight Saga”.
Inhale now little fans, for I will provide you some ammunition against me in the next sentence. Think of this as me airing my dirty laundry if you will but, I was once a fan myself.
Now I will take you’re defense away from you. Within a week of the first book’s appearance on the shelves, I was delving into the first chapter. And I was hooked, “Oh what a revolutionary idea!” My little teenage heart exclaimed. I waited longingly for the second novel, my best friend and I bought matching fan shirts, oh how our little middle school minds wrapped themselves loyally around this new series. We recommended them to all we met and those others fell in love too.
Fast forward to the end of the second book with me please.
The books were taking off now. But My illusion was shattered. The part of the novel where the heroine who I had so envied falls into a depression fueled coma-like state, hardly noticing life around her disgusted me enough that I dropped the book for a few days. But I picked it up again determined to see her heal herself.
Which she failed to do until the hero re-entered the story.
This stung. Even pre-high school I was so revolted by the idea of relying on someone else for happiness. How could the newest idol of young girls do that too us?! How could the author justify her means? I began to question the series that day. I began to question myself.
What did it mean that a girl could only be worth something if the right guy gave her the time of day? What message were we sending young girls?? They need to know how kind and smart and important they are, as Abileen of “The Help” so eloquently put it.
I finished the “Twilight” series, I watched the movies. I keep trying to see some hidden meaning in it, but even in the end the heroine is only worth something when the hero makes her EXACTLY LIKE HIM.
If this is what our world is coming to, if this is what love means, society can keep it. I’m doing perfectly well on my own.
thecyanofiles 
Haha great post! You are such a strong woman you don’t need a man, and since I know you personally I understand why you would have problems with this book. I also read the series before it got real big, but I didn’t really see the problem with the main character until the movie.
Honestly my post wasn’t originally about defaming Twilight, but I have such bitter memories over the series I couldn’t help myself. It hurts to see something you were so passionate about personified in such a disturbing way. The obsession was so al-engrossing that it was inescapable for awhile. But yes the middle-aged moms in “team” shirts was revolting. I spent the whole time praying they only had sons.
It’s so funny looking back on the Twilight Saga now! I too was obsessed with the series. My sister and I made shirts for book premieres and argued about which was better Team Edward or Team Jacob. It’s pathetic. I look back on it now and cannot believe how obsessed I was with these books. Actually, I was probably more excited about participating in a nationwide phenomenon than I was about the actual books. I didn’t really get it until the movies came out. I would see 40-year-old women wearing Team Jacob shirts at amusements parks and shopping malls and think, “Is this real life? Why are women so obsessed with this character who needs someone else to be with her before she felt like she was worth anything?” It is beyond me. Thanks for the post! It brought back so many great (and not so great) memories.
I have heard numerous arguments against the morality and healthiness of the Twilight series, as well as against its literary quality. The most convincing, certainly, was my own personal experience with the work itself. It consisted of a single paragraph of Breaking Dawn that I read on the internet. I had to take a moment to confirm that it was indeed from the book itself, and not from a piece of fanfiction. It is astoundingly poor writing.
That quality of writing should not be rewarded with millions of dollars. It goes against Aristotle’s virtue ethics, and writing the book series itself goes against the categorical imperative (if we hold that it is categorically wrong to publish a terrible book series–which I would, because if everyone did it, the literary world would be impoverished) and finally it goes against the utilitarian principle because Stephenie Meyer would have brought far more joy to the world by going back to writing school and preparing herself to write a better book series. I know she could have pulled it off.
I can’t comment on anything without going off on a pretentious tangent.