Why I Can't Stand Twilight
This book played a rather large role in the bookish world. It's a book that is special to people and that is totally fine! Great even! But for me, I found myself more MEH over it. I read the series out of curiosity since everyone was buzzing about it. This was during the wait for the final book to be released, so the series wasn't too old or anything.
Let's also note that while the YA genre hadn't quite taken off just yet, there were still a good handful of Paranormal YA books to be had, if you only spent a good hour or two or three at the store looking through the shelves aka how I spent my time off at Borders! Lol!
So I read these books and really, just felt a kind of meh. They weren't anything special but they were entertaining at the time. Let's also note that this was just before my TBR pile would come into fruition, after all Borders was still open and I was still living in happy bliss as I scanned the aisles of my favorite bookstore! It wasn't until later that I started to feel an animosity to these books.
I guess because suddenly EVERYONE was wanting to read a YA book with vampires or werewolves. They couldn't get enough of it. Then publishers even went so far as to reprint The Vampire Diaries--a series I read and adored years ago (I have the retro 90s covers to prove it!) and it might have just been one person or a murmur within the blogosphere. Some comment that pretty much said that The Vampire Diaries was just trying to be like Twilight or something to that fact. Just because the reprints were coming out AFTER Twilight, some people just assumed that meant they were "new" books.
And again, I want to say that I know that this doesn't apply to everyone. It was just something I observed around me at the time.
Now having read and ADORED The Vampire Diaries before Twilight and wayyyy before the TV show came to light, I was bit miffed...or you know, totally outraged. Think of it like this: say ten years from now there's something NEW and Harry Potter like---another story of a young kid who learns he/she is a wizard! And then Harry Potter is reprinted again with snazzy new covers and then some uniformed kid says, "Harry Potter?! That is sooo trying to be like Betty Cotton--yeah I'm making up a random name here, lol!--!"
Us Harry Potter generations would be pretty "miffed" right? Of course we would. Heck, I'm feeling the old rage bubble up again over my pretend scenario.
And honestly, I think the movies didn't really help me much either. I thought the first movie was pretty good, but it was when I was sitting in the theater for the second one that I suddenly wanted to burst out laughing...it was probably during Bella's moping period or something else that was serious and I just thought...I think I'm done with this.
It also didn't help that I was also watching the MTV Movie Awards during these years because there were tons of movies that I loved that were in the nominees...but then Twilight won EVERYTHING. It drove me nuts! I mean EVERY SINGLE award that it was up for, it won. No matter how awesome and amazing the other movies were. I couldn't stand it. So it was in that year where the second one kept winning everything that I had to give up watching the award show as well, because I knew for the next three years Twilight would continue to win. Then The Hunger Games came out and I knew it would start all over. So I haven't actually watched the award show in a very looooong time now.
The reason why I can't stand Twilight anymore is because it just got soooo hyped up. I could get in a laundry list of other reasons but that's really not the point anymore. I guess because all of sudden people were wanting "vampire" books and I was kind of teased for liking the same thing for years before this book came out, I felt kind of betrayed too.
Though again, I just want to stress this is only my opinion and what I observed around me in my daily life and neck of the woods. If you loved this book--GREAT! If it brought you back to reading--AWESOME! I have no ill feelings towards people who like something I don't. As I was always told, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just found myself in a somewhat ranty but moreso chatty mood today and thought DISCUSSION TOPIC!! Lol!!
Great discussion, Jessica! My reason for not loving Twilight is because I don't think it's well written, Bella and Edward are terribly written, and the whole romance is extremely sexist.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, it is over hyped. I guess that's because when it arrived on the scene, it was revolutionary in the YA genre paranormal genre - heck, it basically started the genre, and I suppose that's worth something.
P.S. I love the Vampire Diaries! I hated what I read of the books, but I adore the TV series <3
Amy @ A Magical World Of Words
I never really compared the Vampire Diaries to Twilight beyond the vampire connection. I certainly didn't like the series as much as Twilight, but that was after the books' reprinting. With the idea of books/movies existing before the new popular thing, I found such a problem with Eragon and its inspired thoughts from Star Wars. I loved the books and then realized it had all these similar plot points from Star Wars (a set of movies I don't like) that drove me mad. I wanted to be mad at solely Star Wars, but I couldn't because I acknowledged which came well before the other.
ReplyDeleteI read Twilight back when EVERYBODY was reading it. All my real-life friends were raving about it. I read it and was completely baffled. I thought it was a poorly written book about abusive vampire relationships. I guess it’s not my kind of series.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
The funny thing is these books actually did get me into reading again after a relatively long break, so I have some nostalgia for them, even if I know they're not necessarily perfect.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I never even read Twilight! But that's because, even at the time, I felt like it wasn't worth my time and I wouldn't enjoy it. It plays on the very basic dramatic needs we have in a story. Like bodice rippers. It's nothing complex, it just tugs on your emotions in situation contrived to eke out more reaction from you. That works for a lot of people, and that's okay if they want to be put into that state of mind and if that's what they enjoy, but I felt like it just wasn't for me. So while I can't judge like I would had I read it, but I agree with you. That business with the Vampire Diaries? Oh man, I would have been so enraged :D annoying, huh.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, I sort of still have "a YA allergy" at times due to the boom of cheap Twilight and Hunger Games copies that flushed the stage for years and years. When I was an actual teen, I swore I would never read anything like that, because it was obvious the millions of copycats were just there for the quick buck. I feel like it was a very bad time for teen books, although many people feel like it was a very good time.