But I just read this and threw up in my mouth a little. I can’t help feeling like this person has to be being sarcastic. Because nobody could say these things seriously, right? I mean everyone has noticed that Bella is a cipher, right? Even if you have overlooked Edward’s tendency to stalk and make decisions for Bella and you think he’s the perfect man, you’ve noticed that Bella has no personality. I mean, right?
Twilight centers on a boy who loves a girl so much that he refuses to defile her, and on a girl who loves him so dearly that she is desperate for him to do just that, even if the wages of the act are expulsion from her family and from everything she has ever known. We haven’t seen that tale in a girls’ book in a very long time. And it’s selling through the roof.
This paragraph encapsulates the essential thing about this series that I find so creepy and upsetting. Defile her? Are we really still in the mindset that sex (premarital sex particularly) is defiling a girl? Defile. Jesus.
Oh, yeah, and here’s the other thing about this damn book that makes me angry. Stephenie Meyer says she sort of based Edward on Mr. Rochester, and named him after Mr. Rochester. I mean you do realize that means that Stephenie Meyer thinks that Edward is like Mr. Rochester? Half of my favorite literary couple ever? Anyway, this article has also totally failed to get why Jane and Mr. Rochester are so good:
In short, Edward treats Bella not as Count Dracula treated the objects of his desire, but as Mr. Rochester treated Jane Eyre. He evinces the most profound disdain and distaste for this girl. Even after they have confessed their love for each other, he will still occasionally glare at and speak sharply to her.
What. Ev. Er. Mr. Rochester does not evince profound disdain and distaste for Jane. He teases her and she plays up to him. That is why I love them. They share a sense of humor. I love that scene where Mrs. Fairfax is telling Mr. Rochester how good Jane is, and he’s all “Whatever, I’ll decide for myself. She began by felling my horse,” and Mrs. Fairfax has no idea what he’s on about. Profound disdain and distaste indeed. Makes you wonder whether this person has actually read Jane Eyre.
Oh, society, please stop it with the creepy attitudes towards sex. You are giving me a headache.
Jenny's Books 
Argh. See, this is why I say “thanks but no thanks” when people tell me “you have to read this series, you love vampires, you’ll love it for sure!”. I have no doubt the books are highly readable, and that they can be enjoyable if you’re okay with, or manage to overlook, certain things. But I know myself, and that kind of subtext would just drive me CRAZY.
Everyone at my mother’s work has started reading them, and they all LOVE them. She keeps trying to introduce everyone to Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, instead, but she’s having limited success.
This reminded me of how much I love the word ‘defile’. So Victorian! And, good Lord, how confusing to turn Mr. Rochester into a brooding stalky teenage vampire. Have you read the whole series? Does Edward have an insane foreign vampire wife hiding in the attic? That would be kind of awesome, now that I think about it.
Oooh, Sunshine. I loved McKinley’s Sunshine. 😀
Sunshine was cool, but I haven’t been able to stomach any other vampire stories. I don’t want to ever read the Twilight books.
I always want to like vampire stories, but a lot of them are way creepy, and unoriginal as well. At this point I’m just waiting for Robin McKinley to do a sequel.
Ella – Actually I think everything would have been better if Edward had had an insane vampire wife in the attic. But no, his heart beats only for her. And he’s nothing like Mr. Rochester at all. Like, at all.
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