BlogHer - New Moon - Comments

Strong female...mental muscles

april32may — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:36:33 -0500

I found myself so frustrated with Bella from the middle of the first installment on. I love the idea of a female who doesn't take crap from anyone but she is definitely not that female...or is she? I have yet to finish Breaking Dawn but still continue to see Bella get the things she wants without the "female tantrums". She uses her feminine charm and let's face it, intelligence to compromise and manipulate a lot of the situations. Perhaps manipulate isn't the correct term, but what else is it when we make nice in order to get our way? This isn't the most captivating prose I've ever read, but it has drawn me in in a most indescribable way. I feel like a giddy teen again. I've realized, through reading this series, that the reason teens love this book is because of the prevalent feminist culture that has taken over. It's funny that the divorce rate is higher than ever, teen pregnancy, violence, etc...I'm not blaming that on feminism, but the lack of acknowledging the careful balancing of male/female relationships(amongst zillions of other complex reasons). Through our strength and empowerment, I often see us, the woman, denying men of their own. I realize it's been a patriachal society for so long that we often feel the need for extremes. But to be a truly democratic, empowered and respectful society we must acknowlege the need for understanding and acceptance of variations in both genders. Yes we are all capable of doing the same or similar things, but to deny that there are strengths in different areas is obviously taking a toll on society. I feel that Bella is strong, willing to allow herself to be coerced and compromised, because Edward's intentions for her are truly noble. As are hers for him. I don't find it to be dangerous that our children are seeing two people working together, cooperating, to keep peace and love the prevailing theme. What is self reliance as it applies to marriage, an international perspective, or a democracy? I like the words character and self respect. If we all cared for others before ourselves we would each be fulfilled in ways that are inconceivable. Could you imagine what our marriages/relationships would be if each of us were more concerned with the other's happiness. THen we would all find ways to decompress, to relate, to honor the differences that there are, and be independantly happy while totally dependent upon one another. Oh, in a perfect world...*SIGH*

Sorry for my hippy rant. This is my first post here and OBVIOUSLY, my own opinion...:)

YES!

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:50:56 -0500

"It's not the author's job to teach my daughter about self-reliance and independence. It's my job. And it's how she sees me and her other female family members that is going to shape her."

Yes, yes, yes!

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

I was at the same place after New Moon

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:48:48 -0500

And I can honestly say that I did not enjoy Eclipse. That, however, did not stop me from staying up until 2am to finish it. Afterwards I swore I wouldn't read Breaking Dawn until I saw how others were reading it. And now I'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on a copy!

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

You must come back after you read it

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:43:56 -0500

And tell us all how you like (or do not like) it.

Completely off topic...love that you have a "goal for the week" in your blog sidebar. It's giving me crazy ideas!

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Crackliture! I like it.

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:41:32 -0500

Meg Cabot's books would fall into that category for me too. I don't necessarily want to read them all but I can't stop myself.

I think that Meyer takes her role as a young adult literature seriously. What I was (attempting) to say that it's not her responsibility to discuss why the decisions that Bella has made up to this point are not ones we'd like to see them make. We have our personal responsibilities there too.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

I told you that you wouldn't like Eclipse!

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:34:34 -0500

heh! Sorry, had to throw that in.

I agree Meyer did a great job of creating a world and characters that people can get passionate about. After all, none of us would want to kick Bella in the pants if we didn't feel something for the books!

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

YA vs Adult is all about marketing

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:32:18 -0500

It's really very subjective and fluid. By my understanding it depends on which market the senior editor thinks they can market the book best in. Some books go back and forth like the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

I think that the Twilight series was definitely better off being put into the YA market though.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

I loved Hermione

sassymonkey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:28:24 -0500

Strong smart character and Harry would have been completely lost without her.

I also hope Bella toughens up in Breaking Dawn. I'd like to see her go up to Edward and actually say "No!" to something.

Enjoy your reading next week. I'll be the person trying desperately to wait for a library copy and trying to avoid spoilers!

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Edward is my "yummy"

whymomdrinksrum — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:48:48 -0500

I can see both sides. It's not a faultless story line. The characters are flawed. The characters sub-plots are flawed. And the messages that are being sent are not always the ones we'd want to hear. A stronger female heroine, etc.

I for one don't want a perfect message. It's not the author's job to teach my daughter about self-reliance and independence. It's my job. And it's how she sees me and her other female family members that is going to shape her.

I think Meyer has created a great story line, and anything that sucks me to the point where I tell my husband, "Make.dinner.feed.the.kids.do.the.laundry.go.away.I'm.reading" and gives me a fun escape for a few hours is priceless.

And HELLS BELLS do I wish I had a vampire that in love with me. Rawr.

http://whymomdrinksrum.blogspot.com/

Conventional motherhood? You bet it includes rum!

Eclipse is next on my TBR

KatieBeez — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:55:45 -0500

mostly because the next one is coming out this week. After book 2 I'm not sure where I stand with Bella. I like her gift, and I hope they go somewhere with that in the next two.What I say next is only with book 1 and 2 under my belt:

I like the idea of a super rich vampire family with the doctor father figure, sexy cars, and glamour. Especially set in a small sleepy town on the edge of the wilderness. And I am a team Edward fan; Jacob's "pack mentality" is weird to me, and the morphing is kind of a turn-off (did anyone see that old movie, Teenwolf, with Michael J. Fox??).

I agree, objectively the whole Edward/Bella thing could definitely be taken as creepy - I think the only way to not get creeped is to think of from a Romeo and Juliet type perspective. Their love is like no other love, it's the one-in-a-million type love. I think this is the major appeal of the series - is it or isn't it meant to be?

Twilight

krissy — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:11:08 -0500

I have just heard of this series from some customers of mine, travelling from Canada through Forks, the tiny town of this series. I love your reviews and will have to read it to see for myself! Thanks for this post!

Krissy

http://krissy-mylittleworld.blogspot.com/

Crackliture

Sitsgirls — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:02:20 -0500

That's what I call Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. Crackliture.

I, like many others, am on Team Edward.

However, I do believe that Stephenie Meyer takes her responsibility as a young adult author seriously. As it stands at the end of Eclipse, to have Bella end up with Edward and essentially "give up" everything, would shirk this duty.

So, my guess is that somehow, Edward will be the one who has to make the choice....(insert suspenseful music)

I have a post on Crackliture: Twilight form a Thirty-Somethings Perspective.

http://therfamilydiaries.blogspot.com/2008/04/crackliture.html

Twilight was fun, the rest a big yawn...

beyondelsewhere — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:14:08 -0500

Hmm, that unintentionally, sorta rhymed there. Oops.

I do not get the fuss over this series. Yes, I was completely smitten by Twilight when I read it, but the rest of the books made me grind my teeth (and you KNOW how long it took me to read Eclipse!). I do not see it as a Harry Potter-esque phenomenon. I don't know why I don't, but it's true. I AM a fan of anything that gets young people reading - especially when it's a book longer than 100 pages or so.

Meyer did created a pretty interesting world and whereas I actually grew to hate many of the characters rather than like them as I read (Jacob needs a bigger kick than Bella does. Maybe a push off a cliff or something.) I did think her world was pretty well put together.

I'll admit I never looked at the Edward/Bella relationship quite in the manner that others have (naive, me, yes.) and I see it the more I think about it. But it was nice to read a Teen book and not have it littered with sex and whatnots.

I am Team Edward only because I hate Jacob and I am SO Team Kick-Bella-In-The-Pants!!

Beyond Elsewhere and Beyond Books

(they really should reverse the Insert and Cancel buttons on the link inserty thing.. argh!)

YAYA

Norma156 — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:09:18 -0500

I read someplace that Stephanie Meyers submitted the series as adult fantasy and was rejected, but the editors saw its potential as Young Adult. The line between young adult and adult is blurring rapidly. Think Harry Potter.

Hoping Bella toughens up in Breaking Dawn

Doris — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:17:31 -0500

I love this series. Not to the point that I walk around dreaming of Edward (Yuk, don't want to be a vamp) but the series, the characters and the author intrigue me.

I also find the way we tend to love he "anti-hero" fascinating. I've always recognized this as a trend, but being an administrator an a large Harry Potter site I found the love of Snape fascinating, and a bit disturbing. Why do we love these complicated characters? Sounds like a doctoral thesis to me!

One of my favorite characters of the Harry Potter series was the Hermione character. A strong female character who was in love with books and education, yet she was central to the plot. We need more female characters like her. Scout, in To Kill a Mockingbird, is another strong female character. Both girls are strong, smart and independent. Meyers' newest novel The Host has a stong female lead character. Hopefully girls reading the Twilight series will also be introduced to these characters.

Next week I'll be that crazy woman reading the book to the point of exhaustion and staying away from the internet so I don't get spoiled. In the meantime - I'm Team Edward baby, but I don't want Bella to have to die for that to happen. I'm hoping love conquers all and Bella kicks some butt!

Doris

The Leaky Cauldron

Reading and Writing and Chocolate

Fit, Fabulous and Forty the Natural Way