Twenty years ago, Stephenie Meyer wrote a story of teenage love and changed everything we know about vampires. Edward is a vampire with a conscience, and Bella is a human with no sense of self-preservation. He is the most dangerous thing on Earth for her, and they can’t stay away from each other. Young love has never been so perilous as it is for this modern-day Romeo and Juliet, and Twilight has never been so beautiful.
[Warning: My review of Twilight contains some spoilers!]
From the Valley of the Sun to the Land of Rain
Bella has lived most of her life in Phoenix, but now she’s moving to Washington state to live in the rainiest town in the United States. Bella hates everything about Forks, but she loves her mom, so she’s going to live with her dad (I know, that doesn’t make sense to read, but I promise it does make sense in the story) anyway. She’s expecting to be miserable, but it turns out life in Forks isn’t too bad if you ignore the weather. Bella is settling in and making friends. Then she meets Edward.
At first, she thinks he hates her, but soon she learns that he actually likes her a little too much for her own good. You see, Edward is a vampire. But don’t worry, he and the rest of his family are good vampires! They don’t feed on humans; they drink the blood of animals instead. But that doesn’t make them safe. Most of the time, they can ignore the desire for human blood. But Bella’s blood smells so good to Edward that it’s like his own “personal brand of heroin”. He is constantly fighting the desire to taste her. And if he ever did, he knows he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.
Then things get even more complicated. Being around Bella is the most dangerous thing for both Edward and Bella. But he is so drawn to her he can’t help himself, and then something amazing happens: he falls in love with her. More amazingly, instead of being terrified of Edward, Bella falls in love with him too. Even Romeo and Juliet had better odds than these two. Edward is determined not to hurt Bella, Bella is determined not to leave Edward, but the truth is that there is most likely only one way this story ends, and it isn’t all that different from Shakespeare’s version.
Twilight started an obsession
When Twilight hit stands twenty years ago, it was like a bomb had gone off in the YA universe. Suddenly, teenagers were reading again! They all wanted to be lost in the world of Edward and Bella. Forbidden love has always been tempting, but something about how Meyer portrayed it really hit home with young readers. Personally, I think it’s because of the intensity. When teenagers fall in love, it is so quick and so intense. The hormones pumping through their young brains, combined with the novelty of new emotions, make young love like nothing else. While many authors write about young love, they often tone down (or maybe forget) the pure ferocity of the emotion.
Even when young people have the awareness to see that a relationship might be bad for them, they don’t yet have the reasoning or impulse control to act on that realization. That’s what leads to tragedies like Romeo and Juliet. Meyer captures that push and pull, the realization that the situation is bad, and the inability to walk away, perfectly with Edward and Bella. Both desperately want the other. Both know that their relationship is not only dangerous but doomed. Yet neither can walk away. Shakespeare may have done it first (I know, he stole his version, too; let’s say he did it most notably), but Meyer’s does it very well, bringing the classic conflict into modern times.
Does it have to end in tragedy?
Everyone loves to label a love story as a “Romeo and Juliet” tale. But I think they must all forget what happens at the end of that story: a bunch of pointless deaths. Still, for some reason, the idea of star-crossed lovers is appealing (I can’t say much, I love this book too). Now we know that there are four books in the series, so obviously Edward and Bella survive Twilight, but does that mean they escape all tragedy? It’s hard to see a way forward for the couple; they’re caught in a real catch-22. No matter how it ends, someone, probably multiple someones, is hurt or dead. There really can’t be another way when a mortal and a vampire fall in love. Especially when Edward is dead set against the obvious solution: turning Bella into a vampire.
This probably confuses most people; it seems like such a simple and elegant answer. But the thing is, Edward hates himself. He despises the monster that he sees himself as, to the point that he can’t see himself as anything else. And who wants to turn the person they love into a monster? I see both sides of the argument completely. Edward hates himself, and he assumes that if Bella became a vampire, she would eventually hate herself and then hate Edward for allowing her to become a monster. He can’t put her or him through that. But it is the only possible way for their love to survive because, as Bella slowly ages and dies, she will start to resent him and possibly even hate him anyway, which will kill him. Either solution is untenable right now, so they are in a stand-off until outside forces tip their hands one way or the other. Which is why there are three more books! If you missed the Twilight train in the early 2000s and need some teenage angst, I highly suggest checking out Twilight ahead of the movie rereleases (the books are always better, I promise).
Rating: 8/10
Twilight is now available to purchase at your retailer of choice.
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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