Summer Reading Thing 2007: Twilight~spoilers

I bought this book a month ago, and my 13 year old hijacked it, read it in two days, and sent me to the store for New Moon. I then took Twilight on vacation to read--and my sister hijacked it. She then lent it to my mother, who then lent it to another sister (Big families suck sometimes), who returned it to my mom and by that time my mom thought it was hers. No worries, I wrestled it away from her thieving fingers last week, and I finally read it.

Jeff Savage posted about the morality dilemma that many people are debating about this book, if you want to read it, and some great comments, go here. I'm not going to debate the morality, mostly because I didn't have a problem with it. Yes, they spent the night together--BUT they did not have sex, they didn't even really make-out. And, the hero is a vampire that's trying to keep himself from killing her, so not only did they not have sex but he didn't kill her either--that's good stuff. To me, the story was fantastic (as in fantasy) enough that I did not feel it handed out any 'go to hell' cards. As I said before, my 13 year old read it before I did, then I heard the debates and I worried about what she'd been exposed to. But I've now read Twilight and New Moon, and it's just not an issue for me. They did not have sex. I don't think a teenager is going to read it and then think it's okay to do what Bella and Edward do--but they still did not have sex. Watch just one MTV video, or a shoe commercial for that matter and ask yourself if sex was on the agenda--I bet it was. In my opinion, the fact that there is a moral compass, the fact that such restraint is showed is a good thing. And the fact that it's a fantastic story (again, as in fantasy driven) I'm cool with it. I also told my daughter that if a vampire showed up in her room she was to tell me and not let him stay. She agreed that would be an appropriate response. We might need to come up with a signal.

So outside of liking the non-sex that took place, what did I think of the book? I liked it. Now, I have some complaints (of course, anyone that's ever had a conversation with me about any book I've read knows I always have complaints) and for me the problem with the book was that the story was boring. The precept was great, the hook was powerful, the writing was fabulous, the characterization wonderful, and the building climax was intense--but that whole 150 pages in the middle--yawn. I liked learning about the vampire stuff, and that nearly fooled me into thinking there was a plot, but then I'd read 18 pages of pure telling dialogue and realize that nothing was happening. The best books have good internal and external conflict that leads to ACTION, and there was tons of opportunity for action, it just didn't happen much. And yet, because of all the good stuff I liked, I read it anyway and, as I said, I liked it.

I picked up New Moon yesterday and finished it today. I liked it better than Twilight because stuff happened all the way through. As soon as my house recovers from my neglect, I'll read Eclipse as well.

And, I only have one book left on my summer reading thing 2007--Peace Like a River, which I can't seem to find anywhere in my two bookstore town. Annoying. But I am hunting it down tomorrow so I can finish my list.

I'd love to know what anyone else thinks of the series, and don't worry about spoilers for Eclipse. I basically know what happens, and I'll read it anyway. Also, according to Meyer's website there will be a book four, and a fifth book in the series that deals with some already written scenes from Edward's point of view--very cool idea.