Hatin' on Twilight - Page 3

[sapphire_chan]

http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com...-moon-chapter/

Chapter 23 of New Moon. Why I stopped reading the series and why I will never let my dd read the series without supervision.

Edward gets angry at Bella for forgetting him when he used vampire mind tricks to make her forget him.

And he's 'perfect'.

[Oriole]

I know this is a bit late, but hey!.. This is a general comment, not directly to the poster.

Originally Posted by elanorh

My cousin who is a junior in high school told me *absolutely don't read the books, they're awful* when I asked her about them - she read them because all the other girls on the cross-country team had read the books, and she said it was all they talked about so she needed to read them just to communicate with them. (!) So - I sent her the link to the blog, too.

Finishing over 1000 pages she hated just because she wanted to communicate with other girls on the team? I don't buy it. :P

I DO believe that some of us might be embarrassed of liking Twilight.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Oriole

Finishing over 1000 pages she hated just because she wanted to communicate with other girls on the team? I don't buy it. :P

I've known people who have done that kind of thing. And, I don't know what the girl in question's reading habits are like, but 1000 pages for me is usually only about a week's reading...with kids. I regularly read 2,000-3,000 pages a week before I had kids.

Reading this thread has actually reaffirmed my intention to skip Twilight (unless one of my dds wants me to read it some years down the road, but I'm hoping that won't happen). As someone who loves Jean Auel's Earth's Children series, but frequently wants to hit Jondalar upside the head with a stick for his irrational, control-freakish, creepy idea of love, I think the Twilight books would make me beat my own head against a wall. I like a lot of urban fantasy...but I don't like vampires much.

Thank you all. I may have eventually been sucked in by the hype, and I think I'd have wished I hadn't been.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

I've known people who have done that kind of thing. And, I don't know what the girl in question's reading habits are like, but 1000 pages for me is usually only about a week's reading...with kids. I regularly read 2,000-3,000 pages a week before I had kids.

Plus how well you read something can depend on what you need to get out of it. You can get a pretty good grasp of basic plot and character names for understanding fans of a series with some pretty fast reading. Mind you, she could've saved herself a week or so by just reading one of the dozens of Twilight synopsis sites, but being seen to be reading the books gives her more cred with her teammates.

[EFmom]

I recently came home to a total mess in my family room to find the dog had eaten a hard cover copy of New Moon. She has terrible taste in literature.

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by EFmom

I recently came home to a total mess in my family room to find the dog had eaten a hard cover copy of New Moon. She has terrible taste in literature.

And I will actually read 1000+ pages of a subpar book. Case in point, I read the entire Twilight series.

[Altair]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl

It's ok, it's ok. I was the same way. I wanted to hate them, too. Heck, I'm a lesbian and I still loved Edward!

Ha, ha, ha!

Loved seeing this thread on New Posts... as I had seen this thread months ago when it was current and it re-affirmed my decision NOT to read Twilight. Then I started wondering how on earth it could shake up a smart, level-headed mom so much...

So I read it.

OH WOW was I sucked in from the first look at Edward! Wooooooo *great* dream that night, *great* jump on my guy the next night...

If anything, reading these books took me out of my Mom Funk for a few weeks. Thank you, thread, for that.

[Monarchgrrl]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

http://markreadstwilight.buzznet.com...-moon-chapter/

Chapter 23 of New Moon. Why I stopped reading the series and why I will never let my dd read the series without supervision.

Edward gets angry at Bella for forgetting him when he used vampire mind tricks to make her forget him.

And he's 'perfect'.

I know this is a hatin' on Twilight thread, but did you read all of New Moon? Edward didn't do any mind tricks on her. They can't do "mind tricks". These vampires can't do that. All he did was lie to her and tell her he no longer wanted her. She believed him so easily because it never made sense to her why someone like him would love someone like her (and same for him that he doesn't understand someone as amazing as her would want someone like him- it goes both ways). She was pretty much always waiting for the shoe to drop and for him to someday say that. So she believed it. And he wasn't angry at her for "forgetting him", which she never did. He didn't understand how she could believe him so easily. That's all. All of that is actually stated in New Moon. So, if that's why you don't want to finish the series, then that's not good, because that info you got is wrong. My opinion is that one should read the entire thing for themselves and then form opinions. And I gotta say, that is just about the least credible site for anything Twilight-related. You really can't take what that guy is saying as real or true to the books.

[Storm Bride]

What I'm getting from your post is that he was angry at her for believing him. I don't think that's a whole lot better.

I seem to be freakishly drawn to this thread. I think I'm trying to understand the appeal of Twilight, without having to actually read them. I've never heard anything about them, from fans or haters, that makes them sound even remotely appealing, and yet they're...HUGE.

[Monarchgrrl]

Nope, I never said he was angry. He wasn't. He was probably a little hurt (just my opinion- reading into it) that she believed him so easily, but really, it was just that he was confused. He thought it would take HOURS to just get the glimmer of the idea that he wasn't lying through to her, so it confused him when she believed him after about 3 minutes. That's all. No anger.

I'm not saying he never got angry with her for other things. She did with him too. When he got angry, it was mainly because she made decisions that put her life into real danger (or in some cases, perceived danger on his part). I still don't get the idea that it's not "perfect" (whatever that is!) or he's not "perfect" if they get mad at eachother every so often? Isn't that normal? Whoever said you can't get mad at eachother when you're in a relationship?

[Storm Bride]

No worries - I misunderstood your post and thought you meant he was angry.

I don't think he's perfect, because I don't think anyone is perfect. But, I find the idea of "perfect" really off-putting, anyway.

[Alyantavid]

He was angry, but not at her. He was upset with himself for lying and leaving her when he didn't want to. There are no vampire mind tricks and she definitely didn't forget him.

I so don't get the Twilight hate. Read them or don't, whatever. There are lots of books that disturb me or books I don't like, but I don't "hate" them. They're books, made to be entertaining or thought provoking or just fun. Twilight's one of the fun ones.

I really think if you haven't read them or have read them and didn't enjoy them, you don't understand the way they suck people in. But if you haven't read them, I think it's a little strange to hate them so passionately you'd never let your child read them.

[Monarchgrrl]

Yeah, and I wasn't referring to you about the perfect relationship/guy=no anger thing. I was just referring to up thread the talk about it. And Edward definitely isn't perfect! He was depressed (before Bella), brooding, stubborn as heck, hated himself, morally and spiritually opposed to what he was, scared of accidentally hurting her, etc. Definitely not perfect, but he had some great qualities, too. I think that concept of him being so-called perfect is floating around because Bella referred to him as being perfect (more than she should have- I think the author didn't use her thesaurus enough- hehe). Perfect looks, smell, kiss, etc. But that's just because she was all in love and he was much "more" than her. He was inhuman and grander than anything human. But he thought she was perfect too. You know teenagers!

[raksmama]

I don't think anyone has ever maintained that Edward is an angel.

The Twilight Saga is simply a really fun read!

All of you who are curious should just try it, but be careful you might actually get hooked!

[tinybutterfly]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl

I think that concept of him being so-called perfect is floating around because Bella referred to him as being perfect (more than she should have- I think the author didn't use her thesaurus enough- hehe). Perfect looks, smell, kiss, etc. But that's just because she was all in love and he was much "more" than her. He was inhuman and grander than anything human. But he thought she was perfect too. You know teenagers!

Yea, and I thought some of her thinking he was so perfect had to do with him being a vampire and part of the super-predator package is that the vampires seem inhumanly BEAUTIFUL to humans, they smell good to humans, etc. so they naturally draw humans ( their natural prey) towards them...like a venus flytrap attracts it's prey.

I wish she had used her thesaurus more often, too. There was WAY too much chuckling going on! It seriously bugged me!

It is a fun read, though.

[annakiss]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

He was angry, but not at her. He was upset with himself for lying and leaving her when he didn't want to. There are no vampire mind tricks and she definitely didn't forget him.

I so don't get the Twilight hate. Read them or don't, whatever. There are lots of books that disturb me or books I don't like, but I don't "hate" them. They're books, made to be entertaining or thought provoking or just fun. Twilight's one of the fun ones.

I really think if you haven't read them or have read them and didn't enjoy them, you don't understand the way they suck people in. But if you haven't read them, I think it's a little strange to hate them so passionately you'd never let your child read them.

I read them, got totally sucked in, "enjoyed" them, and still loathe them. LOATHE. I've had Edward dreams for cripes sake. It's terrible. The writing's terrible, the message is terrible, both of the main characters are vacuous at best and have zero character at worst, the plot twists tend to be lacking, the endings are all flat, the bad guys are bland, all the characters are immature, um... and still, I got sucked in. So much so that I loathe that I liked it. I loathe that I got sucked in. I still can't figure out what that draw was. Not at all. It baffles me. For realsies.

[joensally]

Originally Posted by annakiss

I read them, got totally sucked in, "enjoyed" them, and still loathe them. LOATHE. I've had Edward dreams for cripes sake. It's terrible. The writing's terrible, the message is terrible, both of the main characters are vacuous at best and have zero character at worst, the plot twists tend to be lacking, the endings are all flat, the bad guys are bland, all the characters are immature, um... and still, I got sucked in. So much so that I loathe that I liked it. I loathe that I got sucked in. I still can't figure out what that draw was. Not at all. It baffles me. For realsies.

I haven't had the Edward dreams , and spent a whole lot of the time I read them rolling my eyes and questioning what the heck I was doing, but your post reflects my feelings pretty well.

I've chalked it up to the internal conflict and convoluted psychology inherent in being a 21st century woman and feminist. They appeal to something we intellectually reject but maybe emotionally crave in some way. And that's about as far as I want to think about it .

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by jalilah

I don't think anyone has ever maintained that Edward is an angel.

The Twilight Saga is simply a really fun read!

All of you who are curious should just try it, but be careful you might actually get hooked!

I doubt I'd get hooked in the sense you mean, but I'd get hooked. I'm pretty compulsive about finishing any book I start (there have only been about 3-4 in my whole life that I didn't finish - and I went back and did two of those years later). I'm just fairly sure they'd get on my nerves.

ETA: Just came back to make sure I'd cleared the air with Monarchgrrl.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl

I know this is a hatin' on Twilight thread, but did you read all of New Moon? Edward didn't do any mind tricks on her.

I read up to that point and then stopped, but it was nearly a year of toddler parenting ago.

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

What I'm getting from your post is that he was angry at her for believing him.

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl

Nope, I never said he was angry. He wasn't. He was probably a little hurt (just my opinion- reading into it) that she believed him so easily, but really, it was just that he was confused. He thought it would take HOURS to just get the glimmer of the idea that he wasn't lying through to her, so it confused him when she believed him after about 3 minutes. That's all. No anger.

Bother, no way for me to look up the passage.

My memory of the meaning of what I read is basically:

"I tried to make you believe I didn't love you, you resisted more than I imagined, I had to work really really hard to convince you. You still believed in me. I tried even harder. I could see in your eyes when my lies worked. Even though I was trying really hard to make you give up on me, I couldn't believe it when it worked." Edward looked sad in a really pretty way.

Nada about how fast it worked.

I don't actually hate the Twilight books. That emotion is reserved for evil books like BabyWise.

However, just because I don't hate a book doesn't mean my kid's going to get to read it without a HEAVY dose of reality. Obviously, where she's at if/when she wants to read them would make a difference. I just figure Twilight's big enough that it might still be hugely popular when Lina's 8 or so.

Heck, plenty of the books I've read and liked will come with a "don't be that girl" discussion. I read shoujo manga, and if ever a genre had some totally relationships, that one does.


The other reason I stopped reading Twilight is that Bella figured out that Ed was a vampire and Jay was a werewolf. It's like when you get sucked into a serial comic plot point. Keep on reading until the plot hook is resolved and then move on. In the excerpts I've been seeing of Twilight, I've realized that I hadn't realized how bad the writing was as writing because I was reading too fast. Once I got through to where the foreshadowing resolves itself, I started reading too slowly to gloss over stuff that would've made me give up on the books long before.