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rafacolog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
0.25
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Cultural appropriation
sav_22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
beccalove's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
0.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting
I read this to do an annotated hate-read of the book as a gift for one of my sisters because she finds my disdain for the series hilarious. It took me like two years to get through this 500 page shitshow.doriandelioncourt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
vagrantheather's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual harassment
Minor: Cultural appropriation
a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
lisa_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I was so ready to be done with it I listened to the last half of the audiobook at 2,55x speed.
Giving Twilight a 1star rating somehow feels so incredibly misogynistic..? I promise I'm not just shitting on something teenage girls love. It is not a good book and I won't fully get into why exactly here, because I just can't be bothered. I already wasted too much time reading this book...
If you like Twilight, maybe do not read this review. I don't want to make you mad, but I really did not have a good time reading it.
It's quite similar to the movie but so much less entertaining. It's just really irritating.
I know I'm not the target audience but I honestly do not think I would have liked it if I read it when I was younger.
I still hate Edward and Bella is boring. We got some more backstory for Alice which was interesting. Besides that though nothing much is new.
The kind of obsession portrayed in this book is ridiculous and honestly not warranted. I don't understand WHY Edward and Bella like each other, except for the fact that they are both 💫different💫...? Bella is so obsessed with Edward pretty much from the first time she sees him and I do not understand it!
I was quite surprised that reading this book actually felt like reading any other mediocre fantasy book. It is truly nothing special. I thought it would at least make me angry, if not make me laugh. It did neither. I got annoyed and bored and sometimes disgusted. That's it.
If you haven't read this book yet, don't. The movie shows you everything you need to know. I promise you're not missing out on anything.
I honestly feel like this was a waste of my time, but at least now I can brag (?) about having read Twilight?
Definitely won't be continuing the series though or reading anything else by Stephenie Meyer. I assume it's only going to get worse.
I feel like Twilight deserves 1.5 stars simply for being such a cult classic that I felt like I missed out on a great experience by not having read it. I thought I could hate-love this like I do the Twilight movies,... but I don't.
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting
denisesbookstory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting
morenowagain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Cultural appropriation
soundlysmitten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think I was ten or eleven when a friend let me borrow her copy of Twilight. The suspense kept me turning pages through church, lmao. Putting myself in Bella’s place, I remember feeling really frustrated at times, but also like the swoon worthy moments absolutely made up for all the unfairness.
This time around, I felt more detached. Which is to be expected, lol. But while I still found Edward’s patronizing chuckle irritating, I was unimpressed by his “musical voice”, and did not so much as sigh. I couldn’t overlook how controlling he is in every little matter or how he talks down to Bella like she’s completely incompetent when she got by just fine on her own before she met him. Moreover, I couldn’t make allowances for how various other characters also take away Bella’s agency at his discretion (i.e. Emmett restraining her, Jasper manipulating her emotions, all of them keeping her in the dark/making decisions without her). And I couldn’t deny the fact that Bella often responds to toxic behavior in unhealthy ways (i.e. being flattered when Edward spies on her and stalks her, feeling like it’s a commendable thing for him to give her the occasional choice in a matter, not breaking up with him when he threatens to get her nurses to drug her into unconsciousness...)
Basically, Edward is obsessed with Bella in the scary sense and Bella’s got major blinders on. He watches her sleep and wants to drink her blood, and she thinks it’s a romantic display of trust not to let anyone know when she plans to be alone with him. In my opinion, she isn’t a great heroine, nor he a great hero. I get that the danger, intensity, and singularity of their love is supposed to make their story epic, but as an adult, insta love can be hard to find compelling regardless. And the way it plays out in this saga seems a bit foolish to me. Of course forgetting about the rest of the world and valuing your relationship over your wellbeing is not unheard of. But the concept in and of itself is obviously not something to celebrate, and most people would hopefully draw a line before sacrificing their humanity to bank on forever with somebody they met at seventeen 😅
Despite everything mentioned above, I’d say the writing style is alright for a YA novel meant to be accessible to younger audiences. It’s not exactly gorgeous prose, and there is some annoying and inconsistent characterization as well as a few nonsensical lines of reasoning, but everything that made me cringe had to do with content rather than delivery. In general, the language flows pretty well. The pacing seems odd at times, though. And I’m not sure whether the little twists pull any weight cause I’m too familiar with the story at this point to fairly evaluate.
However, something I haven’t considered since my first read through is the novel’s misrepresentation of Native American culture and the author’s appropriation of the Quileute tribe. The number of problematic attempts at humor—which include Bella saying she’s so clumsy she’s “almost disabled” and trying to make a joke out of albinism—also previously went over my head. And there’s a stupid part I didn’t recall in which Bella takes “unnecessary cold medicine” cause she’s too hyped on Edward to sleep. Like, I know a kid could get into a lot worse both drug and activity wise... but really?
Okay, that’s all from me.
Just kidding—back to pose a question on the incident in Port Angeles. Bella almost gets snatched and Edward tells her: “Only you could get into trouble in a town this small. You would have devastated their crime rate statistics for a decade, you know.” Anyone else think his comment is a little blame-the-victim, and that it’s messed up to fabricate attempted assault just to support the notion that a woman is incapable of taking care of herself?
Yes, fiction is fiction. But the media we consume plays a role in shaping our culture, and we consume a lot of it, so I’d personally like to see better standards set in fictional works. Especially when a piece is marketed towards young readers. I think books with controversial content should be examined and discussed, though, rather than put on a black list. And I don’t think it’s right to judge anyone for the way a story resonates with them. So if you like Twilight cause nostalgia or cause fiction is fiction and the story just gives you the feels—I hope you do so shamelessly. (Fuck misogynistic hate).
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment