The reason I waited so long is to give all of the diehard Twilight readers a chance to read the book and form their own opinions. So if you haven't read it yet, you are not a diehard and probably won't mind the spoilers. And if you haven't read it yet but intend to, I'm letting you know now that I'm going to bring up some serious plot spoilers. You have been forewarned.
Let's just start out by saying that a lot of people (bloggers, Amazon reviewers, angry Twilight haters in my ward) have bashed on this book and have really killed my Breaking Dawn buzz. I was completely thrilled with the way the series went and 100% satisfied with the way it ended. I can't help it...I'm a sucker for happy endings. So for those of you that didn't like it in any degree, you can shut up and post about it on your own blogs. This is MY post!!!
Bella's "happily ever after" is a perfect ending to the intense fairy tale that Stephanie Meyers gave us from the beginning, albeit with quite a bit more blood and (tastefully described) sex. Many negative reviews criticize the happy ending, the early marriage, and motherhood in place of a college education, among various other complaints. I'm suspecting these reviewers would be much happier with an independent Bella who marches off in her human form to get a Masters degree in Psychology before marrying Edward. Or heck, not marrying Edward at all, and eschewing the idea of something so base and demeaning as becoming a wife or parent. Though perhaps it's more the youth of the heroine that causes their lament.
I, however, like happy endings and am thrilled she gets to be a mother. Yes, GETS to be a mother. Many people I spoke to who were on "Team Jacob" expressed their reason: "Because she could have a family with Jacob". Well surprise, she had a family with Edward. And then Meyers, aiming to please everyone, doesn't leave Jacob to wallow in his misery for eternity, but gives him a love of his own. Yes, Jacob imprints on Bella's daughter (Which Dani and I totally called about 150 pages before it even happened!!!!), but because imprinting on babies/children had previously been introduced in the series, I didn't find this at all unsettling. All this shouting about pedophilia is a little...intense for what really happens. Jacob makes it clear that it isn't a sexual thing at all while the object of affection is still so young. Jacob imprinting on "Nessie" means they all stay a family, which is what Bella wanted all along.
Which brings me to another common complaint: Bella gets everything. Well it's about freaking time! After fighting for it, tooth and nail, yes, she does. Isn't that what makes most of us smile at the end of any other fairy tale? And speaking of fairy tales, to those critics that have a problem with the relationships, the technicalities of vampire life (special abilities for some, sex, conception of children, the Volturi empire), etc, keep in mind that, like a fairy tale, THIS IS FICTION. OF COURSE IT ISN'T ALL GOING TO BE FLAWLESS...SO STOP OVER-THINKING IT! IT'S NOT REAL! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO MAKE SENSE!!!!
Hmm, what else? Ah, yes. The sex. News flash: that's what people do when they get married. I thought it was awesome that Meyers gave Edward a strong opinion on pre-marital sex and made it known in Eclipse. And then for tastefully writing about it after the wedding, props. It wasn't explicit ...heck, it wasn't even descriptive. She left it up to the imagination of the reader and if people think it was distasteful, then it was their own imagination filling in the gaps. If anything, I found the "morning after" scenes funny. Come on, broken headboards, destroyed down pillows, and shredded lingerie? I want vampire sex!!!
So now that I've defended what I needed to, I do have some complaints. First of all, Renesmee. Ugh. What a hideous name. Sure it's cute combining their moms names, but EEWWW. Thank goodness for Jacob's nick name and the fact that Bella finally embraces it at the end. I'm also not sure how I felt about the "battle" scene. I was kind of hoping for a little bit of fighting, at least. But I'm glad it gave Bella a chance to shine and be helpful, instead of a hindrance like she so often was in the past. And let's see...oh. I hated how Edward kept calling Bella "love." It just seemed so...forced and fake. Meh.
That being said, I liked Breaking Dawn. I still think New Moon is my favorite of the four books, but all in all, the series is probably my favorite series of all time. I love how real the characters are (and have been throughout), I love how each of them has changed and progressed through the series and how real they feel to me. The storyline throughout both this book and the series has had my rapt attention from page one. I don't feel the story was lacking in any way and I'm so thankful for the way Meyers presented her creativity and shared it with the literary world.
Oh, and I feel really lucky to be in the exact same program as she was in at the exact same university she attended. Perhaps I will have the exact same luck with my personal writing career? I can only hope...
5 comments:
Yay! I've been waiting to talk to someone who has read it (I don't think it's as big out here, and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. thanks for the post. I wish you the same success as Meyers (I'll read your stories!).
I AGREE!
I feel terrible that I am not there to hang out on your side of the bench during the debates over the book in the quad! I thought the book was wonderful and would have loved to support it with you.
I just finished today! I agree with all of your points. Very well said! I hope you are the next "Stephenie Meyers." That would be SWEET!
I haven't read it yet, so I didn't read the post. But when I do, I'm calling you first thing. Remeber the good old days when we chatted about New Moon for half of our American Lit class before the teacher had the heart to stop us and give her unprepared dronings on some book that no one in the class actually read?
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