Bite O' Twilight

Ok, so if you don’t know it already, I am admittedly a “Twi-hard”, that is to say, a die-hard fan of the works of Stephenie Meyers, especially in her Twilight series. Judge me if you will, but I figure when you read as many books as I do (and subsequently pursue and achieve graduate degrees in literature) you can like whichever books you want to like. I actually do know a thing or two about literature and Meyer’s works have good value to them, once the haters put away their automatic aversion to the series and look at the works with more depth. And P.S., if you have only seen the movies, you are NOT qualified to debate the series.

Now, that being said, I am not here to debate the series with haters either. If you don’t like Meyer’s works, move on to the next post, this one isn’t for you. I had made a promise with myself that I would not be able to count re-reading any of the Twilight series for this blog unless it was read in a non-English language. However, when Meyer decided to put out a new novella, well, that is something else entirely and legitimately counts for the project! So, here are some thoughts, however brief, on the latest things to be swept up in Twilight fever.
Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little Brown & Co
Publishing Date: 2010
My start date: 7/1/10
My finish date: 7/1/10

So, I am not going to spend a lot of time on this one. People pretty much fall into two camps. There are those who just plain don’t like the series, and as I indicated, I am not going to debate the entire series today. Although I could, and have in a graduate-level paper. :-D Those people aren’t going to be won over to the series by this one novella, no matter how good or bad it is. Then there are those who are already hopelessly addicted to the series and for those people this newest addition could be utter trash and they would still devour it. There doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground for Meyer’s works. So, obviously, my opinion on this little novella isn’t going to make the news.

That being said, I will make a few notes on the reading experience, with the general assumption that if you are still reading, you are a fan. I really enjoyed this little bite-sized dose of Twilight. While the main series is told from the perspective of protagonist, Bella Swan, with occasional tidbits told from the side of teen-wolf Jacob Black, this novella is entirely told from a new character’s perspective. The only other attempt Meyer has made to step entirely out of Bella’s mind for a work was the ill-fated (but hopefully not forgotten) project, Midnight Sun which retells the events of her first novel from the view of vampire Edward, but this book has yet to make it to the publisher intact. So this novella is a very fresh experience for fans because it shows you Meyer’s fantasy world from new eyes. And not just new, but technically, enemy eyes. The story is told from the vantage point of Bree, one of the newborn vampires created during the third novel with the intention of killing Bella and the Cullen family. This is no veggie vamp, but a good old-fashioned, human hunting vampire. Yet Meyer somehow manages to make even this vampire loveable. Despite the fact that we all know Bree’s fate,(again, I am assuming that if you are going to read this, you have already read the others)I found myself hoping that things would somehow turn out differently. It is like how each time I watch Romeo and Juliet (the DiCaprio/Danes version, of course) I find myself certain that this time it could end differently. I love it when that happens because it means the author has created a world so great that you, as a reader, believe it is still a moving part and can still change. But alas…

The novella was written with the intention that you should read it before going to see the recently released third installation in the film series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I didn’t. I have been very busy and when I actually got a chance to see the movie, I jumped at it, regardless of the fact that I had yet to read the new novella. In retrospect, the novella would have helped explain a few of the tweaks the directors made to the story when capturing it on film, however, it didn’t ruin the experience for me or anything. However, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again now, after having read the novella.

Of course, all of this is probably a pointless conversation because if I know a good Twi-hard, those of you even interested in reading this novella were probably waiting in line to buy it when it released and then waited in line to watch the film at the midnight opening.

So I guess all that is left for me to do is rub in the fact that I spent last weekend at La Push beach and can “twilight it up” in just four hours any day I want. Ahh, Seattle.

And that is officially your Twilight blog post for the year.

Keep Reading!
Sarah