SPOILER alert and OT: can someone please explain Twilight to me? - YouLookFab Forum

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SPOILER alert and OT: can someone please explain Twilight to me?

agrace

Never seen it or read the books....but would love a good old fashioned spoiler to determine if I should! Please do share.

Thanks!

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39 replies

Latest reply was from yublocka

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Basicly, it's a vampire lovestory. Girl from Arizona moves to a cloudy Washington town where she meets a 17 year old vampire. Not knowing that he is a vampire, she falls in love with him. He falls in lvoe with her- knowing it's a bad situation for them both. It's the age old story of star crossed lovers with a vampire twist. It's a whole lot of teen angst, and a little bit of macabre.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Oh, and further into the series there is a bit of a love triangle with a second boy- who also happens to be a werewolf. Yes, it really *is* that ridiculous.

agrace

Chewyspaghetti - Thank you....I am just so curious but obviously not curious enough to read them and I don't want to pay for them I don't think I could snag them at the library though I have not tried.

So do the vampire and the werewolf fight? Does the werewolf character want to kill the girl he is in love with (as I just read)?

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is making these such a phenomenon! Sounds like a good old fashioned love story that touches on good vs. evil which is always a hit bc people have to take sides....

is there more?

Thanks everyone!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Yes, the deal with the werewolves is they are mortal enemies of the vampires. They are Native Americans, and the vampire's proximity causes them to become werewolves (a genetic anomoly in their tribe). Although, this family of vampires do not prey on humans, and the werewolf pack teams up with them against other vampires. The vampire *does* have a desire to kill the girl- but that is also part of what attracts him to her (a particulalry delicious scent). A lot of the story has to do with conquering your desires, and I don't think that's a bad thing for young people to hear.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Oh and if you can go online with your library system, you can request it. We can never find anything in stock at the library, but we request what we want online and place it on hold. You can also get the paperback versions pretty cheap now- I think I paid $6 or $7 at Costco.

agrace

I have that feature at my library but i need to pay off my overdue fines before I can do that

So which character is it we constantly hear people are in love with? Is it the male vampire? The werewolf? I don't even know names that is how out of it I am!!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

BOTH!
The vampire is Edward, and the werewolf is Jacob (the girl is Bella). There is a 50/50 split with the young ladies. Personally, I am on Team Jacob- but only because he's seriously less annoying to me.

Louise

Veteran

The whole story does seem ridiculous- warewolves and vampires but i find the whole thing strangely addictive! Not sure why.
It is basically a passionate love story though the passion is not graphic as it's aimed at teens.
As chewy said bella falls in love with a vampire- Edward. He tries his hardest to keep away knowing that she is his "own personal brand of heroin". The inevietable happens and they fall in love. She gets kidnapped by another vampire, he saves her and they can't be apart.
It really is an old fashioned love story just a bit mythical x

Louise

Veteran

Team edward (vampire) for me! Though Jacob (warewolf) has an impressive 6 pack!!!!! in the film

marianna

Veteran

agrace, we're on the same page. Never read the books, never seen the movies... never cared at all.

shiny

Veteran

Hopping over from the blog...

There are multiple conflicts in the book. The main conflict is that Bella wants Edward to turn her into a vampire, so they can live happily ever after...and after...and also consummate their relationship. Whereas Edward is torn about this, because he knows being a vampire isn't all its cracked up to be. In the second book he leaves her so she can have a normal life. Jacob is there to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. Enter Bella's conflict between Jacob vs Edward.

Also you should know that Edward is a "vegetarian" vampire. He only kills animals, not humans. And he can read minds (except for Bella's).

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Marianna and agrace, I was just like you. Completely disinterested in all the hype. But the actress was compelling in “Adventureland”, which I happened to see on a flight coming back from Africa in August. So I netflixed Twilight. It is SUCH A GOOD STORY. So original. Very captivating. Their love is so restrained yet so passionate. Very, very different. It really stood out from all the rubbish-y plots and stories that play at the cinemas these days. It’s the best story line since “Ratatouille” and “Battle Star Galactica” I think.

Even if the books are badly written, all a compelling story needs is a killer plot (pun intended). For me, the Twilight saga has several killer plots.

For the record, I too am on team Edward. I like Jacob, but Edward is where it’s at.

agrace

Angie, I am actually very intersted. But I guess I've been holding out thinking surely it CANNOT be that good. I didn't get into Harry Potter. I absolutely do not think I am above that - if I were to list some of the stories I did get into as a teenager especially it would be obvious I am not. But it didn't scream 'MUST READ' to me. However, more and more people I respect are giving them a try and liking them so I am thinking of trying them out. This is typical of me - as with clothing I am a late trend adapter but then when I give things a whirl, I usually love them and wonder what took so long.

So all of these spoiler assists are helping warm me up for when I do give them a try.

okay...is Edward the skinny actor or the more muscular one? The one who is real skinny seems to be getting all the attention. I guess the skinny guy is the vampire?

agrace

I apologize for all my typos - typing mostly one handed with a wiggly baby on lap...sorry!

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

I must admit, the quality of the writing in the Twilight books turned me off, and that's what I need to get really hooked on a series. The movies never have quite the same power to suck me in, for obvious reasons. I found the writing in the Harry Potter novels to be superior, so I got totally immersed in that whole world and have since read all the books/seen all the movies to date. That's some fine story-telling going on there. But maybe I should give the Twilight series another go to see if I can zero in on the narrative.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

It has been *really* interesting hearing everyone’s take on Twilight – both on the forum and back on the blog post. It’s very clear that what is fably entertaining for one person is wildly boring and annoying to another.

Michelle, agrace and Shiny, I could not get into the Harry Potter books, but I loved all the movies because of “Hermione”. She made the entire series. It was also really fun to see the 10 year old actors grow up to become ravishing 18 year olds over all the time span of 6 movies. Also, a lot of their school environment was like my own (minus all the spells) which made it even more delightful.

I did not get a sense of badly written dialogue in the Twilight movies which makes me think it might be better to see the books on film?

sinead

Angie, I highly recommend you give the books a try. My reading is eclectic- Zadie Smith, LeCarre, Patrick O'Brian- and I found them totally captivating. But I understand they aren't for everyone.

Louise

Veteran

I think as long as you remember that the books and to a certain extent the films are aimed at teens and are total fantasy you'll find them great escapism x
Edit- I think that the films are the best place to start as they are more consice than the books

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

Angie: I totally agree that Hermione rocks, and I swear she's even better in the books! There are whole subplots about her developing social conscience that had to be excised from the movie scripts, which is too bad because they just emphasize how much she rules. Too bad you couldn't get into the novels. I admit the first one in particular does take awhile to get going.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I was hooked on Harry Potter right from the first sentence, and the books are so much better than the movies. We love listening to the series of books on tape in the car on long drives. They have an excellent narrator.
I agree with Louise that the Twilight series is better in movie form, though. Watch the movie first, and then read the book. It will fill you in once you know the story.

Ele

(website)

While I think I made my feelings about Twilight clear yesterday (and I hope I didn't offend anyone- would never want to!), I'm happy to "come out" as a *huge* Potterhead. I've read all the books many times over, and adore the whole series, though I think the books are far better than the films.

It's funny, because I think JK Rowling is similar to Stephenie Meyer in that she's more of a storyteller than a writer. While I think her writing is loads better than Meyer's, I'm the first to admit that there are way more talented children's authors out there. But it was her incredible imagination, and all the wonderful detail of the "wizarding world" that completely drew me in. It doesn't hurt that she's a personal hero of mine, also- the story of how she was a single mum in council housing, and was pretty much living in poverty when she wrote HP1 is so inspiring to me. There was a mini documentary on her about 2 years ago in the UK, and I cried while watching it. She's such a talented, intelligent woman.

(TBH, it was probably the boarding school factor that clinched HP for me. I devoured Enid Blyton as a kid and routinely begged my parents to send me away for school! I wanted nothing more than to wear a uniform, have "midnight feasts" with the girls in my dorm, and be looked after by a strict-but-kindly woman called Matron. Yup, I was really weird.)

shiny

Veteran

As I said yesterday, I could never get into the HP books. I would loathe having to read them out loud to my kids when they were young, and rejoiced when they were old enough to read the books on their own! I also have never been able to stay awake in any of the movies. I'm out like a light half way through.

My DD15 and I have discussed why this is (she also prefers the Twilight series over HP). Our theory is that HP appeals to those who enjoy more action/adventure, whereas Meyers appeals to those who like more relationship-oriented novels. What do you think? Going along with this theory, if you enjoy the movie version of Twilight more than the book, it may be because you prefer action/adventure, as this part of the series is played up since it works better on film. Unfortunately, for me, the movie did not seem to capture the relationship between Bella and Edward as well as the book does; I think that's because the acting wasn't all that great.

Speaking of bad writing, what did you all think of Bridges of Madison County? I could never understand the appeal of that novel. The writing was total drek. The movie, however, was fantastic. I love Meryl Streep. And Brokeback Mountain was the opposite: great writing but the movie (while visually appealing) was interminably long and they missed an opportunity (IMO) to develop the minor characters.

If you enjoyed Twilight, I highly recommend the Hunger Game series. Anyone else read those yet?

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

Actually Shiny, I respectfully but whole-heartedly disagree re. the action appeal of the Potter books. I thought the primary strength of those books came from watching Harry's various relationships develop over time (with Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dumbledore, Lupin, Luna etc). There's no movie I'll walk out of faster than an action flick and nothing that bores me more than most so-called adventures, but I found Rowling was able to make me care about Harry's escapades because of the emotional backdrop they took place against. I also thought that most of Harry's relationships evolved in a realistic way, which I appreciated. I'll say this, though... Rowling handles romance pretty poorly, so Meyer may well have the edge there.

Ele, I agree that Rowling is by no means a brilliant writer (as Steven King put it, she never met an adverb she didn't like), but also agree that it leaves Stephenie Meyer choking in her dust.

Oh and Agrace, since we've all temaed up to hijack your thread and turn it into a literary debate (which I personally love), I wanted to suggest wikipedia if you wanted a really hardcore spoiler for the Twilight books. Their plot summaries are super detailed.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I have to agree with Michelle about character development and relationships in HP verses Twilight (and the romance- but that's also age appropriate). I don't know, I think that Rowling is a brilliant storyteller . She created this whole world down to every minute detail in history. Meyer seemed to just cobble together a bunch of old stories and archetypes to me. Sure, she's wrapped them all together in a new way, but they are still pretty thinly veiled. For instance- Bella's clumsiness. Ok, she's clumsy- we get it. We don't need an incident every 5 pages to reiterate that, and I don't think that her clumsiness is fatal like Edward acts. Good grief- talk about a guy with a Hero Complex. It's just the age old damsel in distress/knight in shining armor story. *yawn* I'll take spunky, brainy Hermione any old day.

agrace

Thank you thank you everyone! Michelle, I will definitely be checking out that Wikipedia entry! Love me some Wikipedia!

I am going to give these a try. Tried to see if I could get them last night but no luck (on demand cable) but I will try to see if Red Box has them. Or, I might read the book first. Truly, 'spoilers' don't spoil anything for me so I think I will enjoy them either way.

Shiny - I like your summation of why Harry Potter appeals to some and not others. I was a Nancy Drew girl myself, not to mention Anne of Green Gables and many others. Liked Nancy Drew and always wanted to be her!

Now I'm really off topic!

But anyways, thanks again for all the spoiler help

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

OOOOH Anne of Green Gables! Mad love to the original book and *some* of the later ones too!! This isn't just a Canadian thing is it?

Ele

(website)

Michelle, I really want to hear about the books you liked when you were younger! I imagine that we *might* have liked some of the same things, being that we're both Canadian and close in age.

Actually, I'm curious about your reading habits in general, what format you read most books in, etc. My mum is a librarian and worked at the National Library of Canada for most of her career, where she spent several years working to improve library services/collections for the blind all across the country. We used to have random books in braille lying around the house!

Perhaps I should bring this to a new thread, though?

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Anne of Green Gables is not just a Canadian thing. DD has my original paperback set and has read them almost as many times as I have myself.

hanna

(website)

ooo, you know i had to chime in on a discussion about BOOKS!

on twilight: i liked the books enough to complete the series, and i liked the movie enough to want to keep watching the rest to see what the filmmakers end up doing with it. i'm not hardcore the way a lot of twilight fans seem to be, but i can appreciate the storyline -- it's not the best writing by any means, but the plot really sucks you in! i'm all about team jacob, especially the buff new taylor lautner, and i have to, er, keep reminding myself that he's SEVENTEEN. sigh. dreamy.

on hp: i am much more into the harry potter books than i am into twilight -- i think part of that is what shiny articulated, that i prefer adventure over romance -- but i also prefer magic and wizards over vampires and werewolves in general. except for buffy the vampire slayer, but that's a whole 'nother thing.

on other books: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES! omg i love that book. and the tv miniseries they made of it. so i can most definitely say it is not a canadian thing, and that those made it all the way to malaysia -- my sister and i still have plans to visit prince edward's island someday!

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