Teen Reviews
Review by: Explodeahippie
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Let's be honest. To give this book (the last in a quartet of progressively awful vampire romances)one star is generous. If you would like evidence of the work's inferior nature, simply observe its popularity among teen and preteen girls. Not to offend any teenage girls on the site--but if there's one quality that unites at least 75% of all adolescent females in our society, it's an irrational obsession with romance and all of its soggy accouterments. The ridiculously unsubstantive Breaking Dawn pours gasoline on a flame. Kudos to Stephenie Meyer for a brilliantly calculated marketing ploy second only to the cleverly plagiarized Eragon of 2003. It's no surprise that the American public has lapped it up. The American public tends to enjoy not thinking, something quite easy to do while flipping through the 2000-odd pages of low-quality writing that compose the series. The books are written in the style of most fanfiction--pure fluff garnished with the occasional sex scene and/or pathetic death. Post them on fanfiction.net and they'd blend right in, save for the lack of a domain. But then--what would you expect from an English major who graduated from Brigham Young University? I mean, give me a break.
Speaking of Brigham Young University, I'd like to point out how blatantly the Twilight Series promotes conservatism. Please don't blink and whimper "But...Bella isn't religious, she's a normal teen..." Sure. Bella isn't religious or conservative. But Stephenie Meyer sure as heck is,as evidenced by the strong female role models in her work. Or, rather, the UTTER LACK THEREOF. That's right, girls. Take a look back through the series. Consider the character traits of every individual with two X chromosomes. If you manage to realize that every female in the book is defined soley by their affection/liason/previous attachment to a MALE (no diversity of sexual orientations around here, folks), then there's hope for you yet. If not, I look forward to reading your angry letters. Because, like it or not, the world of Stephenie Meyer is a world in which woman is simply a shapely ornament hanging off of man's right arm. Oh, sure. They have cute abilities. They can tell the future, play dress-up, and go through entirely darling temper tantrums lovingly disregarded by the omnipotent males in their lives (you're so cute when you're angry) who (of course) take care of everything. But their entire characters are defined by their sexual attraction to the men in their respective piddly lives. There's a name for these attitudes in a writer. Stephenie Meyer is a member of the Cult of Domesticity, a century and a half too late. Unfortunately, no Edith Whartons have stepped up to point out that women are NOT delicate housepets. The only thing remotely progressive about the books is the cold marketing strategy that went into them. I don't know anything else that would cause the women of today to slurp up such blatant stereotypes. The attitudes evident in Meyer's work aren't just sexist, they're dangerous. Teenage girls are already far too obsessed with romance and body image. To feed them this kind of work--to teach them that their ultimate happiness will come from men and sex is nothing short of cruelty. Low self-esteem is already a problem among girls in this nation. Meyer has turned it into a trend. Don't go back to the 1800's, girls. It's not a nice place. Let's put the vampires to rest six feet under. It's where they belong. |
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Review by: response to explode a hippie
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i agree with you almost completely, except id like to add even the male's don’t have a particularly strong role. well except the main vampire coven where the men rule and jane is the super weapon.
edward is an overly sensitive overly dramatic angsty boy. (idiot)
i've never liked bella
i thought jacob would be above that...
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Review by: :-)
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Best book Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Review by: briana
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this book was my second favorite of them all. it deserves 5 stars. it wouldn't be generous enough to give the book 10 stars.
:) |
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Review by: grace
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though I agree that some of the characters in this series are quote "cutesy" is there anything wrong with that? explodeahippie seems to believe that because the female characters aren't totally butch they become the damsels in distress, a totally helpless band of male oriented housewives. However, this simply isn't true. Bella is in love with a man, Edward, who loves her back. The reason that Breaking Dawn is so popular is that many girls and woman want a story like that. A story in which the good guy really is a good guy, where there are families, related by blood or not, where a mothers love for her child is seen as the beautiful thing it is, not an obstacle to becoming a career woman. Yes, Stephenie Meyer is religious, but does that matter? She writes a compelling, interesting and simply good read that you can enjoy. As for sexual diversity, do we have to pander to every group, every race, culture, sexual orientation or religious group to write a good book? No, that would be a real case of marketing, rather than a book that people enjoy! It is impossible to please every reader, to sooth every nitpicking critic that has to disagree with the "deep symbolism" and "oppressive stereotypes" that don't actually exist. Also, the apparent "blatant sexuality" that you think this book contains, simply isn't there: it doesn't delve into the nitty gritty sex scenes that most teen reads have, holding each others hand becomes so much more romantic than more than half the sex scenes I've read. I am a teenager myself, 13, who has been absolutely shocked by most of the literature that is in the teen section. The violent, horrific and perverse books that we are reading. Twilight was a welcome escape. finally i was being told that having a family was okay, that I was aloud to fall in love, that there was such a thing as true love and that sometimes good people are actually good. Instead of the self absorbed shallow world of teenage passion most teen reads have, I was getting a glimpse of love. I realized that I had a choice. instead of going with the first person that asked me out, I could have high standards and wait for a guy I actually liked. This book might actually cause my generation of men to shape up and stop acting like depraved idiots, which seems to be the common version I see. I know that they're being boys, but maybe they should act like gentlemen instead!
Explodeahippy- I enjoyed writing this review very much, I enjoyed reading yours as well. Remember, the point of feminism is choice, so if someone makes the choice to have a family, that's fine :)
Read the series again, try to get past any stereotypes you see and enjoy it for what it is, a book !
^-^
PS If you would like to restate your argument I look forward to reading it! |
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Review by: hannah
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Stephenie Meyer, her agent, attorney and Summit Pictures have been served a Cease and Desist notice of copyright infringement for Breaking Dawn.
Seems she took certain stories, particularly the birth scene, from a teen author who wrote her book several years before Ms. Meyer’s allegedly wrote Breaking Dawn.
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Review by: moo moo
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blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
And by the way i have not read this book and am not planning on it because it gets very sexual. |
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Review by: ryan
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come on the book is great i think it's the best in the series you either like it or hate it i like it. |
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Review by: Caitlyn
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This book doesn't deserve any stars. The characters in the books were flat and uninteresting. If you couldn't tell me three things that Bella loves to do in her spare time that doesn't involve reading or Edward, then obviously this character isn't detailed enough. Her relationship with Edward is abusive as well. That promotes abusive relationships between teens, because most girls are going to look for their 'Edward'. Another problem is that Bella has no flaws. Sure, she can't walk 4 steps without falling. But tell me, please, how this affects her in any action scene (if any) in the book. Against any of them, it does nothing. She is a Mary-Sue, for those with thick heads that means the character is perfect in every way. She does her homework before it's due, she cooks dinner for her dad, she does chores around the house without complaining, she doesn't wear makeup, she believes she is plain like everyone else, she has thousands of boys at school drooling over her. There's no way NOT to see that! C'mon guys, this book is sexist, it promotes getting married out of high school. It promotes abusive relationships. It tells girls the only way a guy will like you is if you are weaker and petite and clumsy, which half the time isn't the case, and it tells them that leaving all your friends to be with your boyfriend and sacrificing your life to be beautiful is a GOOD thing.
This book is a nightmare to many parents who wish their child a good education in college. Parents who want their childeren to do SOMETHING with their life. Obviously, whoever THINKS that this is a good book obviously hasn't read any classic vampire books like 'Vampire Diaries' or a book with ACTUALLY real vampires 'Salems Lot' by Stephen King.
Please, think about the things I've told you and rethink the series. S Meyer is a terrible writer who abuses the thesaurus in her work. Don't let that fool you. |
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Review by: Smirkyraven
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I'm graduating from BYU this winter with an English minor. While I agree that there are some people in this major that love Twilight, there are many more that hate it all the more. The book is cliche, horribly written, and you're absolutely right in that it portrays women as nothing more than helpless sots. It makes me sick.
This book is an epic fail. Please don't condemn the rest of us because of one sour egg. It's not our fault that she became popular, after all. |
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Review by: SmirkyRaven
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Oh. And the above was supposed to be 1 star, not 3.
I can't believe the movie based off the second book beat out Dark Knight's first day. What is the world coming to? |
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Review by: team emmet
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THIS BOOK IS THE BEST BOOK EVER. I LOVE IT. BELLA LOOKS SO CUTE WITH A BELLY:) CANT WAIT FOR THE MOVIE TO COME OUT THOUGH. |
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Review by: breaking dawn
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To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both a fantasy and a nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, she has endured a tumultuous year of temptation, loss and strife to reach the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice, to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or pursue a fully human life, has become the thread from which the fate of two tribes hangs.
Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating and unfathomable consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella’s life – first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse – seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed… forever?
Breaking Dawn is the fourth and final novel in Stephenie Meyer’s hugely popular Twilight saga. Since Breaking Dawn came into the charts even before it was released I doubt there is anyone who doesn’t know about the book’s existence. However, readers who haven’t read any of the previous books in this saga should not be tempted to start here – you really need to read these books in order since the story continues over the series.
For readers who have read Stephenie Meyer’s previous offerings, Breaking Dawn is the long awaited and highly anticipated end to the compelling tale of vampire Edward and human Bella’s impossible romance. Beginnings can be tricky but Twilight got this series off to a fantastic start with its modern day fairy tale quality and heart-stopping romance. New Moon further built on that with Bella and Edward’s bleakly painful separation and subsequent happy reunion - but since the end of New Moon the romantic tension that had been driving the story into the heady heights compelling reading has been lacking.
As a result Eclipse was a different novel – it was clear that, whatever happened in Eclipse, Edward and Bella would be together forever – and the stresses on their relationship came from outside forces rather than from within the relationship itself. Breaking Dawn is similar. The romantic tension between Edward and Bella is non-existent – it is clear that whatever happens to them (death, Jacob, mutant vampire baby) their love is non-negotiable and to a certain extent this alters the feel of the story, losing some of the romantic magic of Twilight in the process.
If beginnings are tricky, endings are fraught with difficulties. At the beginning readers have no expectations but by the end everyone seems to have an opinion on how they would have finished the book if they were writing it. Thankfully Stephenie Meyer was writing the ending so the resulting story is a good one and in my opinion a fitting end to this fantastic series.
In Breaking Dawn Stephenie Meyer addresses one of the major issues that some readers had with Bella’s character – namely that she wasn’t independent enough. This novel sees Bella coming into her own power and proving that she is more that capable of independent thought and action. While the Cullen family vampires have always been kind to Bella, it has been clear that she was no match for this talented bunch - but Bella’s character gains strengths that make her just as unique and talented as the rest of her new family.
Breaking Dawn is a weighty novel, weighing in at over 750 pages but it doesn’t feel like a long read. The story is well paced and well balanced, with a mixture of exciting supernatural action as well as good character development and romance. The strength of Stephenie Meyer’s writing as ever lies in her exploration of love in its many guises and Breaking Dawn gives her the opportunity to examine the relationships between mother and child, father and daughter, husband and wife and the bonds of friendship.
Breaking Dawn is a different novel to Twilight (and New Moon) and some readers may be disappointed by this but I’m not one of them. I don’t want to keep buying the same story over and over again just with a different title and cover picture – I enjoy seeing the development of the characters as well as seeing the development of the author’s writing. Breaking Dawn is more like Eclipse, Edward and Bella are sure of their love for each other but outside forces, this time it’s the Volturi (Volturi is the royalty of the vampires) may tear them apart as the story reaches its thrilling climax.
The only small gripe I have about this novel is that in wrapping up the story every loose end has been neatly tied into a pretty bow - sometimes it’s good to leave something dangling in the breeze! But apart from that, this book is all that I was personally hoping it would be.
Full of Forks goodness, Breaking Dawn is recommended reading for any self-respecting Stephenie Meyer fan. |
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