Twilight Again

I actually finished the Twilight series a few weeks ago and right away went on a Stephenie Meyer detox by reading some non-fiction and prize-winning literature.

But while I was on the Stephenie Meyer ride, it was a lot of fun. And I suspect in a few months I'll start desiring that high again and I might even return to the series again.

New Moon may have been my favourite of all the books in the series. Stephenie brilliantly captured a teenagers first heartbreak. The unremitting pain, the feeling like you are watching your life from behind a pane of glass, and then the gradual coming back to life, the salvation coming in a new friendship with a member of the opposite sex. Even the way Bella clung to Jacob, even though she knew he was falling for her, reminded me of how I behaved after my first broken heart. She couldn't stay away from Jacob because she needed someone to love her so badly.

Plus there was so much Jacob hotness in New Moon. Much to my former assistant's joy, I rather fell for young Jacob. He never wavers in his love for Bella, he is 16 (not 100 and something) and he is very much ALIVE. I was very conflicted throughout New Moon and Eclipse, wishing sometimes that the love triangle could resolve itself in another way, while knowing full well it wouldn't.

Eclipse didn't advance the series very far plot wise, and the early part of the book frustrated me somewhat as Bella became pretty annoying at times (for a character that inspires so much adoration from others, her lack of self esteem and insipidness was a little bit incongruous), but the latter half of the book really amped up the tension. Who would Bella choose? How would the Cullens and the werewolves defeat her enemies? And would she become a vampire?

And then there was the final book, Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn really divided fans of the series. Some people I spoke to thought it was the best book of the lot, while others thought it was the weakest. From my point of view Meyers writing improved over the series. The dialogue in particular was much better in Breaking Dawn as compared to Twilight, where some exchanges were embarrassingly cheesy. But as Meyers plotting thickened - and she was certainly fantastic at maintaining momentum - I felt like the fantasy world she had created splintered a bit. Some of the plot developments just didn't make sense to me.

I didn't have a problem with the increasingly fantastical stuff she came up with, but the pieces didn't fit together quite right for me. The other big issue I had, and which some other Twilight fans had too, was that the central thrust of the series was actually solved in the middle of Breaking Dawn and the second half felt like a kind of coda to the books, albeit a really long one. I was still really interested in what was happening, but I had lost that loving feeling.

My darling friend Louisa sent me a copy of the Twilight Movie Companion which I absolutely love. Daggy but true. For your viewing pleasure, I've included the above shot of Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson as Bella and Edward. That Rob Pattinson is such a spunk. And seeing as I've seen the film twice now and drooled over the movie companion, I should know. I can't wait to see the transformation of Jacob's character in the film of New Moon, out this November worldwide I believe.