Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I came to read this book rather against my will.  I had no desire to read it, maybe one day in the future, but the pile of books next to my bed waiting to be read is far too big to allow something as fickle as this offering to slip onto the top of the pile.
Yet slip on it did.

My 12 year old daughter swears by this series, proclaiming that they are rather brilliant and that I must read them. I love that we are starting to read the same books now but it still wasn't enough incentive for me to give it a go.  Then a work colleague also swore by the books and convinced me to give it a try, despite all of my misgivings, and so that was it then.
I began to read.

The style of writing is very basic, very simple, and very much aimed at younger readers.  I felt I had really lowered my standards by reading it.  The characters are quite flat and the lead female, Bella, is really incredibly infuriating - you just want to give her a good slap every other page, just because.

To be fair, the lead vampire, Edward, is also very annoying and I think perhaps this is a reflection of the limitations the author imposed on the characters themselves for writing a love story written for young teens. I swear the middle 150 pages alone deal solely with how many different ways he can stroke the side of her cheek with his cold fingers and how many different ways she can shiver in response.  It's a wonder I have any hair left after pulling out major tufts of it just to get through that middle sector.

Finally, towards the end of the book something interesting happens, a persistent vampire is trying to kill Bella and I found myself getting into the story at last, albeit slightly cheering for the naughty fella to rid us of the girl for good.  Yes, she is that cringe-worthy.

Of course the good guys win, the bad guy gets ripped apart ferociously by the good guys, and annoying Bella gets saved although cursing her bad luck that she didn't become a vampire from the bite she sustained.  It is a light read, more entertaining in the last third by an arms length and you are pre-warned as to the middle lovey-dovey cheek stroking action.

What intrigued me more is the impact the movie has on how you perceive the book and whether the order you read/view them has an outcome on your own assessment.  Both my friend and daughter read the book before seeing the movie and immensely enjoyed both.  I on the other hand, saw the movie twice before tackling the book and I guess I came at the novel from a more cynical view.

You see, the Bella character is just as annoying in the movie, you just want to slap her all over again, but in my opinion the movie was far better than the book - probably because they condensed those terrible middle 150 pages to a mere one minute of screen time.  Bless those little screenwriter gremlins and all their little gremlin friends.

Initially I actually thought that the Bella actress was a really bad actress and made a hash job out of the character given to her to portray, but it turns out she was pretty true to the book much to my horror.  Who writes characters like that?

So, to conclude, a light read full of annoying people both human and other, and way too much shivery cheek touching.  Go watch the movie instead, it will be over much quicker and it's actually quite an enjoyable wee flick despite the silly characters.