Stages & Pages: BOOK: "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer

BOOK: "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer

Posted on 8:16 PM comments (1)
Labels: book review, Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

The young adult pop-culture sensation Twilight and its subsequent series of three more vampire romance novels may seem silly and sad to any novice.

I, too, was once a naysayer, but I succumbed to the intrigue of frenzied young readers. How could anything that made so many teenagers want to actually pick up a book and read rather than play video games or watch TV be anything less than exciting?

Sure, the books aren't literary inspirations, but the story lines and the characters are entertaining; shouldn't those be qualities of a great book?

Sometimes I don't feel like deciphering a Joycean stream of conscious. Sometimes I just want to escape real life, and what farther place is there than the romantic plight of a mortal girl and her vampire boyfriend?

Breaking Dawn is the fourth and final installment in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Her first three, Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse all sat pretty on best-seller lists and this one followed suit. The hype alone was enough for critics to compare the series to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.

I, for one, was ready to read through the book as quickly as possible so I could embrace a social life once again. But to Twilight fans everywhere, prepare to be disappointed.

I don't know if by this point I realized how far-fetched the plot was, or if I just craved a little bit of realism, but Breaking Dawn finally made me embarrassed to say, "I like the Twilight books."

Without giving too many surprises away, which there are a lot of in this book, Meyer addressed several topics which I no longer cared to experience vicariously through Bella Swan, her main character and narrator of the series. Bella has met her soul mate vampire, Edward Cullen.

She's met and survived his entire vampire family, as well as several close encounters with other more dangerous vampires. She's been heartbroken and left alone, become best friends with a werewolf, and then reunited with her one true love, and now fiancé.

That's the juice I like to read. The sensational fantasy filled with action scenes and topped off with an innocent, young-love story. Breaking Dawn moves beyond everything Meyer's written about thus far and all of a sudden Edward and Bella are adults, dealing with adult problems, problems I'm trying to escape from.

You're not helping me out here, Meyer.

I found this book much easier to put down than the others, almost as if it were intended to ease me back into normal society life. But to give credit where it's due, Meyer wraps up the series nicely with the ending of Breaking Dawn.

She reverts to her tried and true method of nail-biting conflict, a method perfected by fantasy writers because they can essentially create any outcome with the invention of characters and powers that would be impossible for the reader to predict, thereby increasing the thrill. But beware; the thrill doesn't come until about 500 pages into the book. The first chunk focuses on weird vampire "problems" that I'm not sure I wanted to consider.

The bottom line is that Twilight fans will read this book regardless of even the most scathing review. And if you haven't read the Twilight series yet, only curiosity or an obsessed friend will drive you to read it now, and then you'll be sucked in and have to finish the series.

But for the fans, the ones who choose to escape with a guilty pleasure of teen-romance, mystery and fairy-tale-monster-turned-prince charming, Breaking Dawn might not be what you expected, or hoped for. If you're looking for your Twilight fix, re-read the first book and call it a day.

- by Lauren Flemming

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Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Interview with the author:

1 comments:

Dana Zelman said...
December 11, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I just don't get this fad. Harry Potter, I understood: he's a jolly little boy with mischevious but adorable friends who go to a really cool school in a really cool pseudo-world. There is whimsy, there is fantasy, there is a lightness about it that makes it appropriate for children to read. But vampire romance novels? I would hope that my children wouldn't read this. Are vampires making a comeback? The "Twilight" series and now movies and then True Blood on HBO? I don't know about anyone else, but the combination of blood and sex really makes me uncomfortable, and so I am at a loss as to why they are popular. "Interview with a Vampire" was enough to satisfy my lifetime's desire for vampires.

L's Critic's Manifesto

L's critic's manifesto:

Everyday we are critics. Whether we like that fact or not, we are and always will be critical people. Our brains allow us to think about things critically, not only to decide on a snap judgment about which things are good and bad, but to analyze why something is good or bad. It's a quality so ingrained in us that most people aren't even aware that they're criticizing.

But The Critic, the one who gets paid to publish his or her own opinions, are always aware of the critical process. I think that once you are made to think critically about something, you can never look at it again without the wheels turning in your head, trying to subconsciously type out what's good and bad and why or why not.

For instance, a movie critic who has to review each week's premiere movies can probably never again see a movie without elaborating on those initial snap judgments that we all make. He can never just leave it at that. There's always more to be said.

I think that's exhausting. I loved writing my own reviews of things, but I found myself so absorbed in the pop culture I was reviewing that I couldn't just take whatever I was reviewing at face value.

If the burger sucked, then the burger sucked. So be it. The sucky burger stays in the past until I conjure up a concise way to warn other people about it. Then, my relationship with the burger that sucked is so much more involved. All I really wanted was a one-night-stand. I didn't want to think about the burger again.

I'm not saying the life of a critic is bad. I had always wanted to be a food critic myself, and probably more so after this class. I just think that the job is so much harder and so much more demanding than most people think.

The life of a critic on the web who posts a three sentence comment on some user review blog is so very different from that of a critic who must invest in their review and meet certain literary standards and social expectations. No one really cares if they read a good movie review on "Rotten Tomatoes" and are then disappointed because they think the movie was actually bad. It's just "Rotten Tomatoes", what do they know?

But people have become so hostile with newspaper and magazine critics. If those critics steer us wrong with a glowing review that we don't agree with, well we'll never trust them again. They're not humans, they're critics—they should have the exact same opinions as me so I never have to form any of my own; so I never have to decide for myself whether or not I disagree. So I never have to invest so much mental and creative energy into thinking why that burger sucked so much in the first place.

So the way I see it, critics actually save us a lot of hard work. Without those critics, I'd have to form an established and informed opinion about virtually everything, and then remember that opinion at another place and time to compare it with something else so I don't make the same mistakes. Life would be exhausting for a lot of us if critics didn't exist, but they take on the burden for us.

A's Critic's Manifesto

A's critic's manifesto:

After taking this course I have learned to see things from a variety of viewpoints beyond my own. I also feel that I have become more aware of and capable of expressing my personal preferences in all aspects of life.

If I follow the path of critical writing there are a few things that I have learned from this class that I feel are of utmost importance. Foremost, I think it is important to consider the audience you are writing for and their needs and interests. While doing so, I believe that it is still possible to stay true to yourself and your personal biases as long as you present them clearly to your readers. Furthermore, I think it is important to do reporting, not just criticism. It is one thing to give your opinion on some work, but it takes a truly talented person to step back from their opinion and write the facts and acknowledge opposition to their personal opinion. Overall, I have learned that straightforward, honest and confident work is the best thing that I can put forth as a writer/critic.

From my perspective, I see the role of today’s critic simply being a point of reference. As younger generations begin to take on a larger role in society, prominent critics may take a backseat to peer reviews. Currently, many people refer to big name critics that they can relate to and have found to be cohesive with their own opinions. With the evolution of blogging and iReporting type methods in mainstream media outlets, the general population has become the critic. I find that criticism and reviewing are not very different because it is near impossible for any one person to write about an event without some personal bias being included. The influence that citizen journalism has on the world will continue to increase as more people turn to their peers for the news and opinions rather than mega media outlets.

I believe the face of arts and culture criticism will change drastically over the coming years. With the popularity of citizen journalism and blogging, I believe that more people will turn to familiar names and faces for opinions rather than faceless media outlets. By this, I mean that I expect smaller markets to prosper because hyperlocal criticism will be more popular. It is my understanding that people read the reviews of people they can relate to and trust. This means more local reviews from critics that are part of the community, rather than ones from big cities. I also see this being the path of criticism because of the tendency we each have to know what the locals think when we travel to some new city. Even now, I would never rely on someone from NY to tell me about the cuisine of south Georgia, so why would I be interested in their review? It is my belief that readers seek out the people they respect and acknowledge as being familiar with specific areas of culture.

B's Critic's Manifesto

Everyone has an opinion.

And if there is anything the blogosphere has taught traditional journalists and critics in the past decade, it is just that.

With the advent of blogs, the role of the critic has changed and probably will never be the same. Now, there is a wealth of differing opinions on almost any subject imaginable at the click of a button.

Some have greeted this form of citizen journalism with disdain, whereas others have embraced it with open arms. It is natural for critics to be leery of this technology that now lets anyone and everyone infringe on what was once considered to be only for “professionals.”

But there is a distinction between a mother blogging about the Lifetime movie she watched over the weekend and a serious student hoping to use thoughtful criticism to begin a career.
Thoughtful criticism entails more than just a quick review of who, what, when and where. Critics must dig deeper.

Yes, reporting the who, what, when and where is important, but it is not everything. An understanding of what is being reviewed is necessary and in many cases some kind of appreciation for the subject is needed.

I found book reviewing a much more rewarding experience than reviewing a musical performance. For me, reviewing a book is an intimate, personal experience that can relate to so many other things, making it much easier to draw on personal experiences or societal truisms.

To be a successful critic it is important to be aware of one’s surroundings and to have a watchful eye. This is especially important in settings such as concerts, theater performances and sometimes even movies.

Biases must always be apparent, which I found an easy task to accomplish. It is much easier to have an open dialogue with the reader if you are completely and utterly honest. I think it is the honesty and sense of passing on a type of wisdom that is the real appeal to being a critic.

It means something when you tell someone else that a particular event or product is or is not worth the time and money being asked for it. But it also means something to those responsible for that event or product.

Being a critic means you must be sensitive to the fact that behind every work is a person, and sometimes the critic must step back and realize the impact he or she could make in publishing their criticism.

Although traditional criticism in newspapers and magazines may one day be something of the past, I believe the need for thoughtful criticism will never die.

Technology changes many things, but normally it is just the vehicle to which thoughts and ideas are transmitted. Blogs may one day become the vehicle of choice for criticism, or some unknown technological advance may take over in its place.

Whatever the means, criticism and those who can thoughtfully criticize are and always will be needed.

-Brittany Cofer

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BOOK: "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer

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