Hello everyone!
I first read the Twilight Saga in 2009 right after the New Moon movie came out. I only knew about this series because my little sister was OBSESSED with it. I had purchased the books for her but never read them myself. One night, we rented the New Moon movie. That ending was horrible! I couldn't believe they were going to make us wait to find out if she chose Edward (yuck) or Jacob (yum). I promptly requested her books. I started with Twilight (because the book is always different than the movie) and devoured the whole saga. I absolutely loved them. I have never been an analytical reader. I set out reading them with the intent of finding out what happened net. I wasn't part of any type of book-related social media or groups, and I missed out on all of the opinions about whether Twilight was the best thing ever or the most atrocious garbage in the world.
Fast forward to the beginning of May. Stephanie Meyer released a countdown timer with a link to Midnight Sun. I now belong to a couple of book-related social media groups, and people went wild. Some hoped it was Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's POV), others hoped it was a continuation of the saga involving Jacob and Renesmee. People who were not fans of the series were hoping for a sequel to The Host. The timer ran out and the announcement of the release of Midnight Sun on August 4th had people buzzing.
All over social media sites, you had people talking about this saga. Some of it was positive, but some of it was really negative. People were posting about how the relationship between Edward and Bella was abusive, how there was pedophilia, how Bella's depression was unhealthy, Bella's parents were pretty much nonexistent, and a lot of other social issues were mentioned. There were also mentions of how the writing was really bad, the storyline was problematic there was a lack of diversity, and how the books had religious undertones.
As I admitted before, I am not an analytical reader, and I binge read these in like three days. I never noticed any of that. I am a firm believer that reading is subjective, and people have different opinions and I totally respect that. I wanted to understand where the people with these opinions were coming from and see things from their POV.
I decided to do a blog series on these books and give you an unbiased opinion on what I feel and how I see things. You may be wondering, "how can you give a non-biased review if you are a fan?" my answer to that is: I have a 14-year-old daughter, and I hardly censor what she reads. If there is something in a book, on a movie or show, or that she hears about, she knows she can come to me and talk it over. If it is a book I have read, I will tell her some of the social issues that are in the book, and let her decide if she wants to read it.
I decided now was a perfect time to re-read the entire saga, with an objective mind, to see if I could locate the issues that people were talking about. I am not going to break down the writing style (or lack of), because I have already re-read Twilight and drove myself nuts trying to write down all of the problematic things I found there. I am only going to point out things I found in the situations and with the characters.
I hope you guys follow me on this journey, and please feel free to add comments and tell me what you think. The only thing I ask is that you please respect other people's opinions. Reading is subjective. There is no right or wrong way to feel about a book.
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