*Note: This is a review of Twilight, the first novel by Stephenie Meyer. This is NOT a review of the entire series – which is even more problematic.

I remember how popular Twilight was back when I was in school. After its publication in 2005, the novel by Stephanie Meyer was THE book everyone talked about. And when the movie was released in 2008, the vampire romance captivated teens worldwide.

But I was one of the few teens who didn’t read the book. I couldn’t read the novel or watch the film because I was unbelievably busy at the time. So despite the hype and frenzy around Twilight, I went about my life not knowing much about it. (Besides the fact that girls were torn between “Edward” the vampire and “Jacob” the werewolf.)

Now that I have the time, I finally read the novel that everyone was obsessed with 17 years ago. And… I’ve got stuff to say about it.

I’m sure most people already know the basic plot of Twilight from reading the book or watching the film. But if you haven’t done either of the two, here is a detailed summary:

Summary

Bella Moves to Forks, WA

Isabella “Bella” Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her dad so that her mom can live with her boyfriend. She leaves her dear mother and hometown out of self-sacrifice and dreads living in the gloomy small town of Forks with her dad, who she rarely talks to. On the first day at her new school, she sees the “devastatingly beautiful” Cullens in the cafeteria and later finds out that her lab partner is one of the Cullens named Edward. But to her surprise, he glares at her with furious eyes and moves to the edge of his seat to stay as far as he can from her.

Edward Rescues

Despite his bizarre behavior and following absences, Bella and Edward eventually exchange a few words when he comes back to school. But one day, after he saves her from a deadly car accident, Bella realizes that he possesses superhuman strength and speed. They get to know each other more, with Edward looking out for her and giving her rides.

During her visit to Port Angeles with her school friends, Bella encounters a shady group of men who try to hurt her. She’s magically rescued by Edward who take her away in his car. That night, Bella finds out that Edward is a mind reading vampire who, with his family, refrains from drinking human blood.

Love & Danger

Being the “monster” that he is, Edward is unwilling to endanger Bella with his presence and tries to warn her to stay away from him. But regardless, the two grow very close, spending time alone with each other and learning everything about one another. Bella learns that the reason behind Edward’s strange behavior on her first day of school was the delicious “floral” scent she was giving off unintentionally to vampires.

They officially date, with Edward visiting Bella’s dad and Bella visiting his vampire family. But while Bella and the Cullens are playing “vampire baseball,” they encounter other vampires who feed on human blood. One of the vampires named James sets his eyes on Bella, so the Cullens set a plan to thwart his hunt. Bella gets tricked, falls into James’s trap, and faces imminent death.

Edward comes to the rescue, James the bloodthirsty vampire is killed, and long story short, Edward and Bella go to prom together. The novel ends with Bella wanting to become a vampire to live forever with Edward and with Edward, knowing the pains of becoming a vampire and living as one, adamantly against Bella’s wishes.

Twilight Book Review: The Good

Relatable

To start with the positives, I personally think Stephenie Meyer did a great job writing about/for her teen audience. She starts with a strong hook with Bella facing her death and goes into the story with her dreaded first day of school, which is something every teen can relate to.

Bella is also very self-conscious, not wanting to stand out at all, just as most teens are when they’re in middle/high school.

Likeable Protagonist

On top of making her protagonist relatable, Meyer describes Bella as someone who’s modest despite being very pretty. Bella realizes her beauty for the first time when Edward the mind reading vampire tells her that lots of guys find her attractive.

She’s also mature for her age, caring more about her mother’s happiness than her own. All of these traits of Bella Swan make her a pretty likeable protagonist. At least in the beginning.

Teenage Dream Come True

But what Meyer did best was introducing the first hot Italian vampire to teen literature. There are lots of vampire romance novels out there, and perhaps there was already a tale about a sexy teen vampire before Twilight. But Meyer’s Edward Cullen was the first to really become popularized to the point where legions of fangirls cried over him.

I’ve never heard of the Stregoni Benefici (Italian vampires on the good side who fight against evil vampires) before, and I thought Meyer did a good job on her research to create the ultimate teen fantasy: a handsome, superhuman Italian teen vampire boyfriend who doesn’t drink human blood. Who goes against his instincts to be with the one and only girl he loves. (Click HERE for more on Edward Cullen.)

Twilight Book Review: The Bad & Ugly

Despite Meyer’s strengths and her successful launch of the perfect vampire boyfriend, Twilight is full of disturbing details.

🚩Red Flag #1: Edward Cullen is 100 years old.

Even though he is stuck being 17 forever, he was “born in Chicago in 1901” (Meyer 287).

So… Edward, a hundred year old man, falls in love with Bella, a seventeen year old girl. Edward says himself:

For almost ninety years I’ve walked among my kind, and yours…all the time thinking I was complete in myself, not realizing what I was seeking. And not finding anything, because you weren’t alive yet.”

From Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (pg 304).

😬

🚩Red Flag #2: Bella is OBSESSED with Edward.

When you fall in love, it’s normal to sometimes fall hard and obsess over your girlfriend/boyfriend to some degree. But Bella Swan takes her obsession with Edward Cullen to the next level.

She’s so excited and stressed for her trip with Edward that she “deliberately [takes] unnecessary cold medicine” to knock herself out for a good night’s sleep. So that her day with Edward will go smoothly next morning.

She even says that her life was about Edward since she’d come to Forks (251).

Not to mention the fact that she’s willing to die for him. She’s willing to leave behind her mom, dad, everyone she’d known, and even herself to go through excruciating, unbearable pain in order to become a vampire. Just to be with this handsome vampire she’d just met for a few months.

By the time I finished reading Twilight, my regard for Bella Swan plummeted to the point where I didn’t want to read the next sequel.

🚩Edward Cullen is a stalker.

Not only is he a 100 year old man calling himself a “sick, masochistic lion” that “fell in love with the lamb,” but also he’s a stalker (274). He confesses to Bella that he’d been spying on her in her house “almost every night” listening to her sleep talk (293).

Oh my God… Hot Italian vampire or not, this is beyond creepy!

If I found out that my crush at school had been following me, sneaking inside my home to watch me sleep every day… I would call the police.

But Bella, being the obsessed girl that she is, just feels embarrassed for having said Edward’s name in her sleep. She goes straight back to obsessing over him.

And it’s implied that this creep of a vampire tastes her teardrop:

He touched the corner of my eye, trapping [a tear] I missed. He lifted his finger, examining the drop of moisture broodingly. Then, so quickly I couldn’t be positive that he really did, he put his finger to his mouth to taste it.”

From Twilight page 329.

I think, like what Robert Pattinson (actor who played Edward Cullen) said in one of his interviews, Edward would be a serial killer in real life…

Conclusion

As the first author to skillfully catapult a hot vampire boy into teen fiction, Stephenie Meyer enjoyed enormous commercial success. She knew exactly what her teen audience wanted/would like in her vampire romance novel.

But it glosses over and condones obsessive, disturbing and unhealthy behaviors. Twilight is a problematic teen romance novel about a stupid human girl and her creepy vampire boyfriend who she can’t live without.

I would recommend Twilight if you…

1. are an upcoming author who wants to write the next bestselling teen romance novel like Stephenie Meyer.
2. want to know why girls around the world fell in love with Twilight‘s Edward Cullen back in the late 2000s. (If you want to know why teens fangirled over Jacob Black, then you’d have to read the sequel, New Moon).

P.S. Here is the official website of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.

P.P.S. I heard and read that the series become worse and worse. Apparently Bella tries to kill herself to see Edward, Edward tries to kill himself thinking that she died, they marry, Bella gets her wish and becomes a vampire, and Jacob the werewolf falls in love with Bella and Edward’s baby?! 🤢

I’m not going to read the sequels… but the covers are quite aesthetic: