Opinion: "I Hate Twilight!"

Wait! Before you start firing at me in the comments! This is only something I hear a lot; not what I actually think.  In fact, I decided to write this post because of a discussion I had on Twitter last weekend about the teen romance-series by Stephanie Meyer.

 

I admit, I judged Twilight before I even read it; something I regret now. I thought it would be a silly romance story with glowing-vampires because, it seemed 'cool' to dislike it. This is a similar scenario as you would find in a school! Although - when I finally decided to read the novels last summer - I loved the whole series and immediately regretted the misconceptions I'd made. I understood why people liked this series, why people wanted to get involved in the whole 'Team Edward' or 'Team Jacob' debate and why it has such a huge fan-base.

 

Twilight receives a lot of criticism; all of which I feel is not thought-out before it is said. Just like every-book on the shelf at your local bookstore, there's a chance it will either enjoy it or it will fail to live up to the expectations you had when you first read the synopsis. The Twilight Saga got teenagers and young people reading, especially after Harry Potter came to the end or those readers were looking for something different. You can make any comments you want about how 'silly' Twilight is, or come to the realisation, like I did, that most of us bloggers are here today because of books like Twilight. These books saw teenagers hurrying to the library to grab copies, purchasing them at local shops and more than anything, supporting YA and making this genre popular.

 

The Love Triangle Begins(Eclipse)

One thing I find I spend a lot of time discussing is love-triangles, and whether you love or loathe them, Twilight was the book that started this era! I don't think any of us can resist the urge to pick a 'Team' and, in a way it's a guilty-pleasure of mine! When Stephanie Meyer started these novels, the 'love-triangle' was un-heard of in teen-fiction and when girls got their hands on a copy, they were excited! I even remember, when I hadn't heard of 'Twilight', seeing mentions of Edward and Jacob in magazines that I would read. If Twilight got people reading, it should be celebrated! I feel like it's stereo-typed and shouldn't be.

 

 

I mentioned above how it's seen as 'cool' to make jokes about Twilight but, I can't help but think about, "What if a person who wanted to read Twilight felt they shouldn't?" What if all books were made out to be one huge joke, when actually they're not that bad? Looking at how successful the books and movies have been, it makes you realise how many people have decided to read them - and as a book-blogging community, some of us may have gotten involved through the franchise.

 

This post isn't to say you can't have an opinion; we're not all going to love every book we read. Of course, I think as a reviewer I understand more than anything how important it is to respect another person's views - I can't count how many times I've read a review of a book where points I don't agree on completely have been made. Although, the book based in the rainy-town of Forks has lead a huge pathway for not only YA but other Vampire-filled pages(let's not mention Fifty Shades of Grey here!).  To sum my argument up, despite being full of 'sparkling-vampires', it got people reading! I, for one, will always appreciate Stephanie Meyer's imagination and work for that!

 

For the record, I am Team Jacob!