After a whirlwind month, I landed on the couch with a cold and read all four of the Twilight books my twelve year-old daughter has been obsessed with. I must confess, I enjoyed them more than I expected, though that shouldn’t necessarily be taken as a recommendation. I was in the mood for mindless.
Last night my daughter asked what I thought of them, so I gave her the list of things I liked and the things I didn’t, which she more or less agreed with. For the benefit of those wondering whether they should let their vampire obsessed daughters read the books, or for those who are just curious how Stephanie Myer sold 42 million copies in 2008 alone—Well, frankly, I can’t answer that one—here’s my take:
I like the underlying premise that it’s not who you are but what you choose to do that makes you good or bad. For those unfamiliar with the series, a seventeen year-old human falls in love with a vampire from a family that has chosen to be good and not kill people. They quench their thirst by hunting wildlife (without permits, an issue I’ll overlook here) and practice a great deal of self-control so that they can live among regular folks. The dad is so self-disciplined that he became a doctor, which naturally exposes him to human blood, something most vampires would not be able to stand without turning violent. Because he can control his baser instincts, he is able to do tremendous good.
The value of self-control runs throughout the series, especially in regards to sex, a message I have to say is welcome as we approach the teen years. Edward, the vampire, puts tight constraints on their sexual relationship because he doesn’t want to hurt (i.e. accidentally kill) Bella. So the first three books include a lot of careful kissing, holding hands, and looking into each other’s eyes—when the young lovers are not separated by bitter misunderstanding. When they marry in the forth book, they consummate their relationship in a very vaguely worded scene that my daughter showed me when the book came out to assure me there was nothing inappropriate. On reading the whole book, however, I was surprised to see just how much sex there was after the wedding. Vampires, because they don’t need to sleep, are able to get quite a bit more action than most mortals, a fact my daughter never mentioned. The scenes are not very explicit and always take place within a loving relationship, but realizing how much of this my daughter has read leaves me feeling a little behind in the preparing for adolescence department. (She officially becomes a teenager in less than two months.)
Other things I liked: the vampires and werewolves overcome deep-seated prejudices in order to work together and eventually become friends. The “it’s not who you are but what you do” theme repeats here, so that in the end vampires, humans, and werewolves are living in harmony. (If only humans could learn that lesson.) Compassion and peaceful resolution of conflicts are also valued, though there is at least one violent scene per book, usually when the unrepentant human-killing vampires show up. (As my son told a Quaker father about the film Twilight, “It’s not violent, except when they rip the bad vampire’s head off.”) Still, the grand finale of the last book, which looks like it might turn into a Lord-of-the-Rings type blood-bath, resolves with only one fatality because of skillful negotiation and Bella’s passion to protect the people she loves.
In terms of messages, the thing I liked the least was the way the two main males treated Bella. At least in the first three books, they were possessive, bossy, and controlling—a fact that might be excused in the story because they were trying to protect her from bad vampires, but which I think sets a bad example for male-female relationships in the real world. It is refreshing in the fourth book, when Bella becomes a vampire herself, and doesn’t need these guys protecting her every minute any more. She says herself that she is relieved to finally be in an equal relationship, and I found that a relief, too.
In terms of the writing…well, it’s not Harry Potter or, for that matter, The Historian, a beautifully written vampire novel by my friend Elizabeth Kostova. Thinking about the vampire novels that have sold so well leaves me wondering what it is about these tales that intrigues people so. Like Harry Potter or the Percy Jackson series, there is an invisible world of magic that most people are oblivious to. There’s struggle between good and evil. There is love and friendship. But 42 million copies in one year? It’s a mystery.
You might consider reading (and letting your daughter read) Octavia Butler’s final book, Fledgling. She was a sci fi writer until this vampire book (after it was published, she died). Butler was a feminist, womanist writer and she gets the power relationships right. It’s a different kind of vampire mythos.
I take very big issue with the gender stuff in Meyer’s books–they just reinforce what’s all around us about gender relationships and victimhood and power. By the fourth book, it’s ingrained that she has a place and a way to teach her children, and it teaches all the readers their place in the world.
Thanks for the Fledgling recommendation, Jeanne. I read Kindred, but don’t know Butler’s other work. I’ll check it out.
I agree that there is much sexism in the Twilight books–which provided an opening to give my daughter a "how not to let a date treat you lecture–but I’m not sure the messages are quite as simplistic as you suggest. In our society, female sexuality is used to market everything from shampoo to cars, but usually female sexuality is portrayed as a ploy to catch or please a man. (I’m thinking of the argument of Naomi Wolfe’s book Promiscuities, as well as the magazines in the supermarket aisle.) Maybe I’m just remembering the coming of age stories I was exposed to, but I found it kind of refreshing that Bella is so blatent and insistent about her own desires. Over the series, Edward gives up bullying Bella because he realizes it doesn’t work, and they both embrace compromise. She gives him (and Alice) the wedding they want, but otherwise, Bella gets everything she wanted from the beginning, not by batting her eye lashes (which she tries once in book 1), but by being forceful. She wants the power of being a vampire and pretty much demands it. I couldn’t help wondering if Stephanie Myer felt more powerful herself by the time she wrote the fourth book, as apposed to the first, which she wrote as a stay at home mom. It seems to me that Bella becomes less and less of a victim throughout the series, and Edward is happy to see the change in her.
This being said, I’m totally prepared to be wrong and could just be looking for the bright side since my daughter has already read them. In fact, I was prepared to really hate these books, which is why I was surprised to enjoy parts of them. I also read them in an absolute head cold fog and am only now trying to make sense of them. For example, I’m still trying to figure out what the girls like so much and would love to hear people’s theories on that.
Wow, thanks for this review. My niece was really, really into these books last year. (She was 13 last year — need I say more?) My own daughter is only 9 and has not shown interest in them yet, but she likes that kind of fantasy genre, so I figure it’s only a matter of time. I’m very glad to have your thoughts as a jumping-off point for when that time comes.
I listened to a book by Octavia Butler on tape once. It was really powerful — I still think about it. I can’t remember the title though. (Pretty sure it wasn’t Kindred.) It was about a young woman who survives the apocalyptic downfall of the United States and comes to form her own religion as a kind of prophet. If I ever get around to finding the title, I might get to the sequel, lol! One of these days…
Well I was a Anne Rice fan and now I am totally hooked on True Blood on HBO.(books are terrific too) The characters are really well written and the sub plots are fascinating. I just caught an episode I missed from last year. Its the one where Bill the vampire "saves" Sookie the human. He’s falling in love with her and the way he looks at her..Love, tenderness, acceptance..
its what all women want in a partner
Stephanie: You’re talking about "Parable of the Sower" and it was followed up with "Parable of the Talents".
I’d be curious to hear what girls and young women think about the series too. I’m thirty years (cough) beyond that age when I loved Stephen King books and things like Amityville Horror and Flowers in the Attic and the exploits of James T. Kirk. I don’t know if I could have told you why I liked them then, but I know now what impact it has had on me and my sexuality and desire over my lifetime.
That’s probably what’s coloring my critique of Meyers’ books. I’m glad you’re in conversation with your daughter about Bella and her story.
After more reflection, I see another way that the power structure of our culture is reinforced in her books: the men (vampires) are the ones almost entirely responsible for sexual restraint–and Bella’s the one that needs to be protected from her desires. That mirrors what the most conservative churches believe about male and female sexuality.
Thanks for the title Jeanne — that was it! I’ll have to put the Parable of the Talents on hold at the library.
I asked my daughter tonight what she liked or what she thought other girls liked about the books. First, she said she didn’t know. Then she said she thought everyone could relate to Bella because she seemed so average–not spectacularly pretty or good at sports. I said there were other stories about "average" girls and asked if she would be as interested if it was a love story only without the vampires. She said, "Well, without the vampires it would be BORING, just Romeo and Juliet all over again." Hmm.
Yes, Jeanne, we are in conversation all the time about everything, it seems, and Twilight has just provided more fodder. That may be part of the reason I find myself defending the books a bit, even while I have my concerns about them. I feel like it’s completely impossible to shield my children completely from all the sexism/racism/classism/materialism/homophobia/bad nutrition…(the list goes on) that is in our culture without just locking them in the basement. I find I spent a distressing amount of time moving through the world, pointing out things I don’t approve of, often including things that my children really like. It emotionally exhausting and not necessarily good for our relationships. So I was aware when first responding to my daughter–the thing that prompted this post–of looking for what I liked and didn’t like in the books and using them as a chance to talk about values. It’s been interesting to observe the anxieties these exchanges here have prompted, like whether I’m doing enough to protect them or being judged.
I’ll be curious to hear what you think about Butler’s Fledgling when you have a chance to check it out. If it’s vampires your daughter likes, she might very well like it…
I once taught Adolescent Literature at university. It was mostly enrolled with non-traditional-age students preparing for their certification as middle-school or high-school teachers. And it was very difficult to get them to talk about books as anything other than moralistic literature, as though kids read books only for hints on How To Live.
I first read Stephen King’s THE SHINING in 7th grade (13 years old), and it had descriptive sex in it. I didn’t go out and have sex… I didn’t think it was OK for me to have sex because I’d read about sex… My decisions had more to do with how sex got talked about at home than with what I read about it.
I read TWILIGHT not long ago. Though the plot of TWILIGHT kept me reading (even though I’d already seen the movie), I was disappointed in the characters of Bella and Edward. My 12-year-old niece likes the narratives because the girl is "popular" though, as someone mentioned above, not overly "good at anything." She’s just naturally popular; the boys fight over who’s going to take her out. Well, who wouldn’t want to be that, at 12 years old? 🙂 People love you without your having to do anything about it.
And Edward: well, Edward is terrifically gorgeous AND mysterious AND he knows what other people are thinking without having to be told (a divine thing for a boy to be able to do, and I mean that in all senses), AND: he’s immensely strong. <sigh> AND: he has a reallyreally fast car. Plus his family is rich. PLUS: he wants to bite you! (Because when a girl reads TWILIGHT, she IS Bella.) He wants to bite you, but he doesn’t. What’s there for a hormonally-challenged 17-year-old not to want about Edward? … I’ve read that a lot of hormonally-challenged 45- and 50-year-olds are in love with Edward.
I must say, the fact that his skin is cold and white wigged me out. But I think some 13-year-old girls might not yet be wigged out by this.
I’ll offer something here, as a mom and a writer, and it might not be welcome… I think adolescent sexuality is not portrayed realistically enough in YA literature. There’s so much hiding and moralizing that goes on. I would like to write a book (another book, because Judy Blume’s pre-Aids FOREVER is one) that offers a realistic view of a girl, say 17 years old (like Bella), who actually possesses sexuality, and needs to learn to deal with it, without strictly repressing it Victorian-style, or letting it all hang out à la bodice-ripper style. If you know of other books like this, please let me know. I’d be interested in reading them.
Thanks for your thoughts on vampires, Eileen!
Months later now–I’ve read Fledgling and though I liked it and found it compelling, I wouldn’t give it to my now 13 year old anytime soon. It is much more explicit than Twilight in ways that I’m pretty sure would gross her out, among other things.