Beacon Press, publisher of Fanpire, says:
Why have the Twilight saga’s representations of romance and relationships enchanted millions of fans and generated millions in revenue, selling everything from Barbie-type dolls to blockbuster films? Tanya Erzen-herself no stranger to the allure of the series-explores the phenomenon of Twilight, books and films influenced by conservative Mormon religious ideas, by immersing herself in the vibrant and diverse subculture of “Twi-hards” to understand why so many love the series (sometimes in spite of themselves). She attends Edward-addiction groups, Twi-rock concerts, and fan conventions, and looks at the vast world of online fandom that Twilight has generated. Part journalistic investigation and part cultural analysis, Fanpire will appeal to obsessed fans and haters alike.
Oh a subculture. How I love a book where the author reports from the trenches (war metaphor not intended to suggest any negative connotation about any individual subculture). Subculture books must be tempting to write because I can imagine they would look easy to do: You just talk about all the things that build that subculture’s Normal; you interview people who are Just Like Us, and ta-da, you have a book! (Supposably.)
To an extent, this is right, and subculture books mostly will interest me at least three stars. But here are the things it’s very easy to forget about when you are writing your subculture book: 1) Contextualizing the subculture; and 2) being nice about the people in it.
On the second front, Erzen clearly succeeds. The people she interviews tend to be romantic in their views, but they are not a monolith, nor are they (uniformly) unaware of the problems with the series. The women (it’s mostly women) she interviews will say, hey yeah, Edward’s a stalker and this is just a fantasy, but what appeals to us is X. Maybe it’s that Bella thinks of herself as nothing special, yet to Edward she’s everything. Maybe it’s that Bella has near-perfect clarify about where she wants her life to go, while the rest of us are often, to say the least, struggling to find any kind of clarity at all. I liked seeing this stuff articulated by the fans.
(It made me think about my own feelings about Jane Eyre. I know Mr. Rochester is in some ways a huge prat who jerks Jane around, but I find his and Jane’s shared sense of humor so delightful that I root for them anyway. They’re funny! They have jokes together! Jane Eyre is a better book, can we agree?, and yet still I can see the similarity between my excusing-Rochester-for-that-Blanche-Ingram business and the above-described mechanism by Twilight fans.)
It is fun to see, in short, all the ways that fans of a book interact with the text, even if it’s not a text I personally have any interest in except to stare in horror. Erzen shows us conventions, opening nights of movies, Twilight-themed tours of Forks, Twilight-themed bands, and more. She resists poking fun and instead focuses on what the books and the fandom have given to the fans, an escape or a new sense of community or a multimillion-dollar porny book trilogy if you happen to be EL James. (I kid. She mentions the fanfiction that Fifty Shades of Grey began its life as, but not the books themselves.) Which is just fine.
HOWEVER. (Y’all knew there was a however in the offing, right?) The book doesn’t make much effort to put any of this in any kind of context. There are nods to the fact that context exists, but none of that gets developed much. For instance, Erzen mentions that Twilight fans — a group that is overwhelmingly female — come in for plenty of media mockery in a way that, says, sports fans do not. This in spite of similar rhetoric (I’m talking now, not Etzen) by football fans — Twilight fans say OME (oh my Edward) for OMG; Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has the nickname “Purple Jesus.” Things are the same! Let’s wade into that! (But no.)
Or, this fandom versus a closer and more gender-balanced equivalent, Harry Potter fandom. Or Erzen mentions a red state / blue state divide in levels of affection for Twilight — more on that! Or more on the “destiny” theme and how it relates to choice and feminism for Bella and for her fans. Or on attitudes to sexuality. Or gendered violence stuff! Or a million things! Erzen mentions them and then drops them instantly, and I wanted to know more. Context matters. Descriptions of kooky events can only take you so far.
In sum: Good in the way of subculture books, though I’d have liked this one to explore more deeply the relationship of Twilight fandom to the wider world in which it exists.
I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher for review.
Jenny's Books 
Eeek *kicks self* I completely forgot to review this! Thanks for the reminder, and I will come back to read your post properly when I’m done 😛
You are welcome! I’m looking forward to hearing what you think too. 🙂
The similarities between Bronte fans and Twilight fans are a little sobering. I love Jane and Rochester, too. I even love Cathy and Heathcliff. Yes, there’s always a “but.” Perhaps it’s the age at which you fall in love with these in-some-ways-objectionable characters.
Well, if it helps (it helps me anyway!), I didn’t fall in love with Mr. Rochester exactly. I fell in love with Jane and Rochester as a couple. Because they are funny together. But I also did fall in love with that book when I was eight and very uncritical.
It sounds like she only briefly hit on the topics that I would have found most interesting. I don’t have a high regard for the Twilight books, but so many people do that I find myself fascinated and asking myself what it’s all about. I wish this book had better explored the fringe issues.
Me too! To everything you said but especially to not having high regard for the Twilight books. :p
I used to blog often back when I first stumbled upon the Twilight books, so I have written evidence of their powers to suck you in. Well, not you, me. And I find that fascinating, but I think I would have read them and move on immediately had it not been for the fandom. It had groups for everything! People who loved Edward, people who hated him, people who liked to make fun of Edward but-secretly-loved-him-anyway, people that only liked secondary characters, or just the vampires, or the werewolves, or, you know, Bella… and the only thing in common between them were the books, which were some sort of shared language.
So I really appreciate when someone tries to show the rest of the world that a group of fans, even the twi-hards, is not necessarily uniform. Having said that, I wouldn’t read a book focused mainly in humanizing fans without a dose of other stuff to make it more interesting.
BTW, I would have loved to read a comparison between the composition of the Harry Potter and the Twilight Fandoms.
I enjoyed the first Twilight book because I didn’t realize that anyone took it seriously. Everyone being all crazy and serious about it made it harder for me to enjoy the books as goofy total nonsense fiction. (Which is what they are really.)
But yeah, I agree that a fandom is often painted as being one monolithic thing, to the exclusion of all else. I would LOVE to see a comparison of HP and Twilight fandoms! That would be cool! Or other fandoms also.
Gosh, they could have gone into really interesting territory about Twilight in the context of previous fan communities—while fandom is traditionally female dominated, are the women of the Twilight fandom tied to that or grow more out of the Harry Potter generation (i.e., discovering fandom from there or not)? But no. Boo.
I know! And then I would have tagged you in this post because I would know that you would love the book.
Gah, I love subculture books too, but without context I’m not sure this one would be as interesting to me.
Yeah, unfortunately! I kept feeling frustrated when she would pick up a thread I found really interesting, then immediately drop it.
Twilight….*narrows eyes, twitches hand at gunbelt level*
I’m glad some of the fans know why it’s shitty. Back when it was hugely popular, my MAIN grievance was that it was influencing idiots to be much bigger idiots. However, I have seen all the movies. All of them.
Bella’s the worst.
I’ve seen the movies too. But while drinking, which is the best way to see them. My heart is completely broken that I am several thousand miles from my usual drunken Twilight screenings friends.
The lack of context would put me off, from what you’ve said I could see myself agreeing with everything needing more detail. It’s an interesting concept for a book, though.
It definitely is, and there were parts of it I liked! I just wanted more from it.
Oh, this sounds interesting! But I agree, more on all of the things you mentioned, that would definitely make me read the book. (As in: someone go write that book!)
Hahaha, yes! It’s that phenomenon where I keep thinking that damn! now nobody will write the book I want to read about Twilight subculture because this book will already exist, filling in that gap! :p
Now I’m curious about the red state/blue state breakdown in Twilight fans, but in general way more interested in anything having to do with Harry Potter fans since I am one. 🙂
Yeah, also very true. And because Harry Potter fandom has this additional dimension of everyone having grown along with the books, which is extra interesting to me.