Can't get through Twilight


Elphaba
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To call someone with standards as high as "Edward's" a pedophile is bound to give someone the wrong impression about the book. I wish I could be that committed to doing the right thing under such extremely difficult circumstances, without the benefit of Gospel principles or practice.

Edward's committment to Bella is such that marriage is the only way for him. In addition, sex outside of marriage is something he does not belive in, and about which he exercises great self control.

Age to an immortal becomes somewhat irrelevant, and a hundred year difference doesn't matter much when you are physically frozen to within a couple of years apart. Additionally, Bella is accused of being too old for her age anyway.

So much for defending the character of a fictional character.

I find the entire series to be very well thought out, although the movies appear to be having a real struggle doing them justice. I don't care much for Twilight the movie, but the books are great in my opinion.

They touch on such concepts as choice, lust, pre-marital sex, fidelity, addiction, insight into addiction recovery, individual responsibility, limitations of mortality, improvements of immortality, individual perspective (check out the Midnight Sun version of Twilight told from Edward's perspective available online) spiritual gifts, family commitment, and many other principles all weaved in a completely non-preachy way into the rather unlikely theme of vampires and werewolves.

I have to give Stephanie Meyers 2 thumbs up.

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To call someone with standards as high as "Edward's" a pedophile is bound to give someone the wrong impression about the book. I wish I could be that committed to doing the right thing under such extremely difficult circumstances, without the benefit of Gospel principles or practice.

Relax, the comment was strictly tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously. I'm pretty sure anyone reading this thread would be able to tell the difference.

And legally speaking, Edward would technically be a pedophile in certain states and countries. In some places, an adult just kissing a minor in a romantic way can bring charges of statutory rape, believe it or not.

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No attack intended. Directed more to someone making a decision to read or not to read rather than toward the comments themselves. I think there is value to the book which may be overlooked by some based on the creepiness of the vampire theme. The pedophile image sounds even creepier. The vampire creepiness, such as "vegetarian" vampires being associated with friends who regulary dine on humans, and whether or not they have to do so or should choose otherwise, is part of the delimma of the story. For those who might not know, I was clarifying that pedophilia is not really part of the story.

The werewolves do have some rather odd matchmaking going on sometimes which in some cases could appear very similarly creepy, but in context is completely innocent.

The theme of becoming a vampire appears to me to be similar to the Fall on one hand. Not really your fault, but you have to choose how you are going to deal with it. Things that really shouldn't be a temptation now become seemingly almost irresitable. Like an addiction. On the other hand, in some ways it is like falling up, or the resurrection and offers an opportunity to consider the possible benefits of becoming immortal. Some of the descriptions in book 4 are very cool.

By the way, the 4th book is my favorite, but I really liked the glimpse of the same world Bella lives in through the eyes of Edward in the Midnight Sun manuscript, which offers the same chapter names and situations as Twilight, as far as it goes, but viewed from within the mind of the vampire.

And it was kind of refreshing to have the chance to get out of Bella's head into someone else's. There are 2 other viewpoints, Edward's being the most interesting. Actually, there is a 4th viewpoint, from yet a different angle.

Orson Scott Card did something similar by following Ender's Game with Ender's Shadow, covering the same story from someone else's head.

I have not read the Harry Potter books, having some of the similar resistance to "not following the crowd" mentioned by a few others, but since most of my family has read them, and love them, I guess I need to try one. I have actually gone to sleep during some of the movies (I have seen them all).

What people like in stories is very subjective, but for me, the Twilight series seems to get me thinking more.

Edited by LDSTaoBro
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No attack intended. Directed more to someone making a decision to read or not to read rather than toward the comments themselves. I think there is value to the book which may be overlooked by some based on the creepiness of the vampire theme. The pedophile image sounds even creepier. The vampire creepiness, such as "vegetarian" vampires being associated with friends who regulary dine on humans, and whether or not they have to do so or should choose otherwise, is part of the delimma of the story. For those who might not know, I was clarifying that pedophilia is not really part of the story.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that anyone reading this thread could tell that our comments were tongue in cheek. I honestly don't see anyone being turned off from the book by our pedophile comments. I'm betting the actual reviews of the book on this thread and in other places would have far more of an impact.

And I didn't feel you were attacking anyone or anything, so no worries there. I just wanted to make sure you knew that our comments were meant to be purely comical.

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No problem. I'm pretty literal sometimes.

But I am puzzled a bit. Normally, if I like something, no way is it going to be very popular. My favorite flavors get "improved" or discontinued, etc. Sometimes I think investors could improve their odds just by avoiding the things I like. So I am a bit thrown off that this series is so popular.

But I guess in my own defense, my reasons for liking the books are not what is making the series popular. The movies' popularity backs that up, as it only skims the surface. I am absolutely fascinated by the placing of so many spiritual analogies in such an unlikely setting as a vampire story, but have come to believe that the dream that started the books was inspired. I am particularly fascinated by the reality of the Fall of Adam, so I think that is where it begins for me. I have been quite inspired by reading the books, and I think they have motivated me to try to be a better husband, and to dig deeper into the gospel and focus more on the Temple. To me, Twilight vampirism is to mortality as mortality is to the pre-existent state, and yet at the same time, a hint of real immortality. Especially when "the fall" is by choice. So, somehow, I find myself wanting to more fully accept and do a better job with the mortality I am handicapped by, with a greater assurance that the effort will be worth it. No one can write a better story than the one we are currently living.

In the Twilight series, yeah, there are times that I see plot inconsistencies, or I want to move through the books a bit faster, and skip some of the things (especially early in New Moon) that become tedious for me, but then I will catch a different set of parallels I hadn't thought of before.

I have read the entire series twice (I have read very few books twice), and saw even more the 2nd time through. My wife and I have had many conversations about the whole story, and it all started at the insistence of our daughter who wanted us to read Twilight. But I am really not expecting a thunderous round of "me too's" agreeing with my perspective. I am kind of used to being an "out in left field" type of guy.

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I have absolutely NO DESIRE to read these books at all. It's partly the vampire theme, partly the sci-fi theme, and partly that I don't like reading books just because everyone else does. In fact, I'm less likely to read a book (or series) that is fanatically popular because of its fanatical popularity. As such, I've never read the Harry Potter books, either.

I know I'm a book snob.

I tend toward a "hype aversion" problem myself (one reason I haven't checked out "Twilight" yet, another being what I've heard about how bad the writing is), but do enjoy HP (once I was given mental breathing room to check it out while feeling like I was choosing to, not being pressured by the hype).

Very amusing cartoon about the "Twilight" craze in the Church

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[...]Or am I just being a total book snob?

Elphie

Not necessarily. ^_^

I loved Twilight, but I also love C.S. Lewis, Stephen King, Cornelia Funke, Michael Scott, Dan Brown, Elizabeth Haydon, Sheri Dew, H.G. Wells, Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, and Tolkien.

Strange mix, huh?

Maybe I just lack reading standards altogether!!! :lol:

I like a good story. As much as I hate poor writing, I can be quite forgiving if the story grabs me. For some, the story cannot compensate for poor writing. That is purely perspective! ^_^

Personally, I think it is AWESOME that so many people are talking about books! Literature is art, and art is subjective. In which case, there should always be talk about literature...and whether the literature is good or bad rests with the individual reader!

If you are a "snob" when it comes to reading, then does that mean that I am "easy" when it comes to reading????? :lol::lol:

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Not necessarily. ^_^

I loved Twilight, but I also love C.S. Lewis, Stephen King, Cornelia Funke, Michael Scott, Dan Brown, Elizabeth Haydon, Sheri Dew, H.G. Wells, Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, and Tolkien.

Strange mix, huh?

Maybe I just lack reading standards altogether!!! :lol:

I like a good story. As much as I hate poor writing, I can be quite forgiving if the story grabs me. For some, the story cannot compensate for poor writing. That is purely perspective! ^_^

Personally, I think it is AWESOME that so many people are talking about books! Literature is art, and art is subjective. In which case, there should always be talk about literature...and whether the literature is good or bad rests with the individual reader!

If you are a "snob" when it comes to reading, then does that mean that I am "easy" when it comes to reading????? :lol::lol:

I'm pretty much an omnivore reader, except for Westerns, romances, and anti-Mormon propaganda (already seen all the spurious claims, thanks, guys, that's why I'm now LDS). I do have a lot of trouble getting past bad writing, though.

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I was this way with HP and I was this way with Twilight. I caved in on both eventually.

Same here. I didn't read HP until after the second movie came out, and even then it took me two tries to get into it. Then I couldn't put the books down.

Same with Twilight. I think the third book was out before I started reading them, and I did it mostly to shut up my oldest daughter who kept bugging me about them. And again it took me a couple of tries, but once I got into them I couldn't stop. I enjoyed The Host as well. In fact, I think I like it better than the Twilight series.

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I enjoyed The Host as well. In fact, I think I like it better than the Twilight series.

I can't say which I liked better. The Host was SOOO strange at first, but once I got past the first chapter I was SO drawn to the story of survival and love.

The weird factor and the surviving against the odds theme reminded me of some of King's books (The Stand in particular). I was in middle school the last time I read The Stand, so I hope I am attributing it correctly. LOL I think King would be highly offended to have one of his books compared to Meyers, but I only compared the THEME, not the books themselves. King can get over himself. LOL LOL

Right now I am waiting for Inkdeath (by Funke) and The Sorceress (by Michael Scott) to arrive in the mail. Both series are---in my opinion---wonderful reads. Michael Scott reminds me of Dan Brown in the way he weaves fact and fiction seamlessly into an exciting story. The major difference is that Scott's current series is mostly fantasy type stuff reminiscent of Harry Potter.

Holy cow, I am just making comparisons all over the place. I think I need to go to bed. It is 1:16 a.m. here in southern GA.

~TG

Edited by Tough Grits
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  • 1 year later...

I have to admit I felt the same way about it. When something is THAT hyped up, it really lifts your expectations--to where you feel like you'll be reading the next Great American Novel. I've decided to put it aside and read it later. Much later. Maybe then I'll be able to see it with a different eye.

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When something is THAT hyped up, it really lifts your expectations--to where you feel like you'll be reading the next Great American Novel.

I find that when something is hyped up to that level that I'm so far from wanting to read it because I know it's probably not very skilled writing, but rather cheap pulp fiction.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I read the Twilight books and should say enjoyed some of them. The third book is full of near-sexual scenes. This was kind of shocking. I did not expect something like near-adult content in there. So, I definately won't recommend it to teenagers and not even sure whether it is okay to recommend it to the members of the Church in general.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I started reading the first book, and I got about 2/3 the way through it (quite a page turner, don't really remember what happens, though, but I don't recall anything big happening) before leaving it. I don't really have any interest in finishing the series for several reasons: there's a lot of 'near-sex' stuff going on like ldsflower mentioned (one other person put it as 'pyscho-sex'), there's a lot of annoying fanbase going on, and I just get the impression that it's a really corny love story. I laughed through almost the entire first movie (the make-out scene was getting on edge) and have no desire to see the other ones, although the trailer for the 3rd one was hilarious. I've read a few good reviews for some Twilight stuff and the entire thing just throws me off.

I'm kinda shocked myself that an LDS author (she is LDS, right??) did write some of that stuff, and how she got published with Shadow Mountain, which is supposed to maintain the same standards for publishing as Deseret Books (since SM is under DB) just boggles my mind.

I Wikied the book summaries and that was good enough for me. There's better stories out there.

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I'm kinda shocked myself that an LDS author (she is LDS, right??) did write some of that stuff, and how she got published with Shadow Mountain, which is supposed to maintain the same standards for publishing as Deseret Books (since SM is under DB) just boggles my mind.

Just because you are LDS doesn't mean that you can't write things that are not LDS in nature. I have an LDS friend who is writing a book about a couple that have an affair, none of the characters in her book are LDS, so why would they act like LDS? What a person writes does not always reflect what they believe, and what a person writes does not comment on their character. Sometimes stories come to you and sometimes that are not all sweet and happy.

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William James, the great Harvard psychologist, once asked this question, how would you like to create your own mind? But isn’t that about what usually happens? Professor James explains that the mind is made up by what it feeds upon. He said that the mind, like the dyer’s hand, is colored by what it holds. If I hold in my hand a sponge full of purple dye, my hand becomes purple. And if I hold in my mind and heart great ideas of faith and enthusiasm, my whole personality is changed accordingly.

If we think negative thoughts, we develop negative minds. If we think depraved thoughts, we develop depraved minds.

Elder Sterling W. Sill - The Poetry of Success Edited by ryanh
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