July 22, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Calif.
Hailey Paquette
Walking into the bookstore one day, I saw an ominous book cover with a picture of white hands holding a red apple. The book was titled “Twilight”. Even after reading the blurb on the back of the book, which foretold the book was about a romance between a 17 year old girl and a 106 year old vampire, I still wasn’t sure that I wanted to read it.
What appeared to be just another teenage love story in actuality contained some of the most realistic characters and a compelling plot line that completely submerges the reader in its world.
“Twilight”, by Stephenie Meyer, is the story of Bella Swan, a teenager from Phoenix, Ariz., who moves to a small town in Washington to live with her father. While there, she meets Edward Cullen, a boy who she falls hopelessly in love with. After trying to stay away from her for weeks, he confesses that the feeling is mutual, and that he is a vampire frozen at age 17. Much of the story’s attention is then focused on their struggle to make their love work, as Edward finds Bella particularly hard to be around.
The real beauty of the story, though, is the clarity in which Meyer describes her characters. While reading the story, I could almost imagine the characters walking in the front door.
“Twilight” is first novel in a saga of four. The second two books have been published, and the fourth, titled “Breaking Dawn” is set to be released on August 2nd.
The book has a cult-following online that rivals Harry Potter fan sites. Sites with names such as “The Twilight Lexicon” and “Twilighters.org“ receive thousands of hits and are updated several times a day.
The film version of the book, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, is currently in post-production and is set to open in December.
Links:
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com
http://www.twilightlexiconblog.com
http://www.twilighters.org
http://www.twilightthemovie.com
