The Book Lover's Den #4: In Defense of One Much-Malgned Contemporary Author

Welcome to my new Friday feature!

In each bi-weekly post, I will be 

exploring my thoughts on several 

book-related topics.  

I first encountered Twilight, the first book in The Twilight Saga, on Amazon sometime in 2006. When I opened the Amazon reader and dove in, I was immediately hooked! Fast forward to 2008, when I attended the midnight party for Breaking Dawn, in a local bookstore, even though I had already bought the novel.

It's more than obvious from the above that I have had "Twilight fever" since 2006, and I love this series as much today as when I first began to read it.

In light of all this, it really hurts and puzzles me to see Stephenie Meyer's writing, especially her prose style, being criticized. Most fans are aware of the vitriol with which author Stephen King has unfairly attacked her.

I find it hard to understand these criticisms. For instance, I have heard about her prose style being described as 'simplistic'. This charge is leveled by those who state that Meyer doesn't use 'advanced vocabulary' in these books. Well, I beg to differ. 

There's a series of four books whose sole aim is to help high school students acquire vocabulary in preparation for several important exams, such as the SAT, ACT (these two are college entrance exams), GED, and SSAT. The first of these books is titled Defining Twilight. The series was authored by Brian Leaf, M.A., who is currently Director of the New Leaf Learning Center in Massachusetts.

 

Book Review: New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon
Stephenie Meyer
Hardcover, 608 pages
First Edition
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
August 21, 2006
Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, YA

This was my third re-reading of the novel, which is the second one in Meyer's beloved series.   I read it as avidly as I did the first two times!  I know there will be future re-readings, as well.

I had not posted a review of the book before because so much has been said about it, in other reviews -- on Goodreads, Amazon, and countless blogs, although not everyone likes this book, (nor do they like the entire series).  Still, I felt it was time for me to post my thoughts about this installment in the Saga, since I have embarked on a third reading of all four books.

This is a very bittersweet novel, due to the introduction of the love triangle of Bella, Edward, and Jacob.  In the first novel, Twilight, the intense relationship of Bella and Edward was the main focus throughout.  In this one, Jacob makes it clear to Bella that he has fallen in love with her, even as he realizes she only considers him her best friend. 

The story opens with a deceptively happy event -- Bella's eighteenth birthday.  Bella is hypersensitive about celebrating this event, because Edward is eternally seventeen, of course, and she has been pleading with him, since the first book, to make her a vampire so that she can be as young-looking as he is, forever.  She's terrified of growing old and being mistaken for his grandmother in the future.

Not to be deterred by Bella's reluctance to acknowledge the big day, the irrepressible Alice plans a party for her.  And this is where the novel's emotionally-wrenching, unexpected plot twist takes place....At the party, Bella cuts herself when opening her birthday card, and Jasper, suddenly crazy with bloodlust, attempts to attack her.  Although the other Cullens do restrain him, Edward makes a fateful decision -- to leave Bella, for her own good.  He doesn't want to place her in any more danger because of his vampire nature, and also wants her to have a chance at a normal human life.