25 June 2008

Twilight




I had noticed in recent years the rise in popularity (especially among teenage girls) a book series by Stephenie Meyer about vampires. The cover art was compelling, but I'm not a vampire book kind of girl. One might note that I'm also not 15, but I find adolescent fiction to be the perfect books to get lost in on summer days - I call it "cotton candy reading" because it generally has little nutritional (critical) value and is gone so quickly. I know I'm not the only one because of the multi-generational popularity of the Harry Potter series.


It's usually just fun to get lost in a story for a while, but I really connected to this Twilight book. It wasn't for any literary reason: the plot is a bit contrived in places, most characters have little depth to them and the prose was sometimes repetitive and weak. It was just that I felt like the story reflected so well the romantic fantasies I had as a teenage girl myself. Not that I dreamed of vampires, but my little heart did swell with hope every time I watched Sense & Sensibility or Meet Joe Black. I had the yearning and desire for that romantic sensation that I knew was part fairy tale, part possible. As a grown-up, with most romantic ideals come and gone, it was really fun to reconnect with those flutterings that were so compelling when I was younger.

I'm gonna be honest here: I pre-ordered the next book in the series, I'm considering going to the release party at B&N when it comes out, I've already got someone else committed to going with me to the movie (December 18), and I'm now a member of the TwilightMoms group online. I'm sure this phase will pass, but I'm going to revel in my teenagery infatuation for just a little bit longer.

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