Twilight

Sorry about the double poetry posting. Couldn't help it. I wrote some more poems, but I don't know if I want to post them just yet. Not that it matters, because I have like 3 followers, but someday, this blog will be more awesome.

Anyway, back to the job at hand, and why I decided to make this blog. Basically, I love reading because it makes you think, you know, besides all the other awesome benefits of an escape and all that. But it really makes me think about life. Which is why Twilight makes the list of books I will discuss.

Now, at first, I didn't want to read it, because it had been my experience in middle school, whenever I was looking for a new book to read (this is when I discovered Madeline L'Engle), if ever I picked up a vampire story, it was completely saturated in sexual overtones with lots of things my little 12-year-old mind didn't comprehend. But I never actually read any beyond the summary or the little tag lines, because even they were dirty. So I started hearing about this Twilight book when I moved up to Snow College, and there was this girl in my ward who was reading it, and then I heard that the author, Stephanie Meyer, was LDS. And then my roommates read them and really liked them, so I thought, hey, what the heck, right?

The first book...well, let's just say that I'm not a mushy romance kind of person. And at least 80% of the book is spent detailing Edward's perfect features. Bleh. It's not that I didn't imagine a very attractive man in my mind, which is fine, I mean, I like attractive men, but that was it. He was just good-looking, and had this weird chemical attraction to the main character.

The following two books were much better. Partly because in the second book, Jacob actually had a personality, unlike Edward (hence why I was always a Jacob fan), and then also because Stephanie Meyer upped the action--which I love. I mean really, if I'm reading a story about werewolves and vampires, there better darn well be some sweet action scenes. I love a good romance, but only if it's more like an accessory to the overall outfit of action and adventure.

Anyway, mostly I wanted to focus on the Edward phenomenon. Why are so many girls attracted to him? He is the world's most boring character--you know, except for the part when he's super creepy and watches Bella sleep. The protectiveness he feels for Bella is attractive, I'll give him that, but seriously, that's it. And I hate that everyone idealizes him as "the perfect man." Because there is no universal "perfect man." There's the man that's best for you, but your perfect man should in no way align with my perfect man.

Perfection is boring to me. I mean, if the person you met was already perfect, then how could you learn and grow together? After all, "love is what you go through together."

I was talking to my really good friend the other day, and he said that if you don't think someone has faults, then you don't know them well enough. The trick is, once you learn what their faults are, you love them anyway. And he's a really good example of that. I really never approved of the romance between him and his girl, but since he told me that, I just couldn't help but feel happy for them. That is beautiful.

Everyone has faults, so Edward is completely unrealistic and flat as a character. And why would you ever want to fall in love with someone like that? True love is knowing that someone is imperfect, but loving them anyway.

And that, my friends, is why Twilight is not better than Harry Potter. Ha ha.