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Question: Advice for parents of readers of the Twilight series!?
My daughter and her friends are all big readers of the Twilight novels!.
For current readers of Twilight, can anyone offer me some idea of why you find the books so intriguing!? What is it about them that makes them such a hit!?
For parents or other adults familiar with the stories, what are your thoughts about why these books are so popular!?
In the interest of disclosure, I've read all the Anne Rice stories!. I feel pretty familiar with the romanticized vampire myths, but these Twilight stories sound like they might be addressing different dimensions of the myth!.
All thoughtful replies are welcome!. Glib comments will be ignored/blocked!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
First off, great question!. It is so wonderful to see parents taking an active interest in what their children are reading/doing!. I personally feel too many parents are not as aware of their children as they should be!. I don't know if I will be of any help to you but here it goes!. I am a 25 year old married mother of 1 and I have read the books!. I loved them so much I have all of my friends (who are adults as well obviously lol) reading them and they are equally in love with this enthralling series!. I know it is so silly but I am just in love with these books, there are a lot of people out there who think these books are crap and thats fine, but here is why I love them!. Total romance, no smut! Its great to have a true romance novel out there that is truly about LOVE and not only about SEX! Edward and Bella's relationship goes far beyond sexual desires!. Second off, you cannot stop reading them! You are aching every second to know what happens next, a true page turner!. Believe me I never expected that I would love a young adult novel about vampires and warewolves, I am more used to reading!.!.!.shall I say!.!.!.more intellectual books!. But there you have it, great entertainment for all ages! I would recommend reading them if you are into reading!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Well, here's from a 12 year old!.
When you read it, it just gives you so much creativity!. My mom is the one that actually got me into the books!!!!
My friend Emily's mom dosent want her reading Twilight because she's wary!. Twilight is a perfectly good book!. I'd say best ever!.
also the whole things about "dymention &myth" BLAH! Twilight is a touching love story between a human and a vampire!. It does not have any "bad" vibes at all to it!.
Hop I helped
-MarianneWww@QuestionHome@Com
I like it because Edward Cullen is the dream of every single girl in the world!. People that don't have their own Edward Cullen read it, because when they do, they dream!. It gives you hope, hope that someday you will find your own soul mate!. That's what I think anyway!.
My mom can't understand why I like a vampire book, even if it is a romance!. But, she knows she can't stop me from reading them and doesn't try!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Okay!.
These books are crap, but strangely addicting!. I read them just becuase i am interested in finding out what happens next, but it ends up failing harder each time!.
If I were you I would advise your daughter to get rid of that trash and read some good books!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
14 yera old-
mostly cause the characters are hot!.attractive
'there is fun, thrill, horrish, funnyish,
the charcters becoem alive! cough cough 0- JACOBWww@QuestionHome@Com
They are great books except for eclipse the last one!. it gets pretty intimate!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I'm an avid reader of Twilight, and I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the final book in the saga this weekend!.
I think that what i find most intriging about them is how closely girls can relate to Bella!. Not in the sense that we all have vampire boyfriends, but that most girls feel!.!.!.ordinary!. Like we're all just wall flowers!. It's easy to relate to her in a few ways!.
Another reason is that it isn't your average romance novel!. It's not all just gooey fluffy love scenes!. It's got an actual plot behind it!. It's got danger, drama, action, thirlls, and of course, the mythology behind it!.
That's another thing!. These vampires put a whole new twist on your average folklore!. Personally, i found vampires to be weak!. The original ones that burned up in the sun like an ant under a magnifying glass!. That's sad!. And ANYONE will die if a chunk of wood gets shoved through your chest!. Same with having your head cut off!. But these vampires, these are the really intriguing ones!. The ones with the perfect looks, no weaknesses and every want to just be good!.
As for parents, i know that my best friends mom reads them!. She loves them!. I had to lend her my copies of the books so she could read them, even!. My mom is starting too!. Its not just the appeal of it being about an ordinary girl!.!.!.it's!.!.!.i guess I'd have to say that it's the spin of it!.
And in a way, Twilight does address a different dimension of myths!. It shows a whole new side of vampires that we never considered: Maybe they're the misunderstod creatures of the night, trying to fit into our world by repressing the monster buried within them!.
It's terribly addicting if you ask me!. I love the series, personally!. I can see why your daughter does!. This is from a teenagers viewpoint!. :)
?Graceful Little Alice?
EDIT:
Unlike what Selentic said, this series isn't based on raw sexuality!. It's meant to appeal to the look of vampires!. It's not sex every turn of the page!. In fact, there isn't any until towards the middle of Eclipse, and that didn't even go far!. It was, at most, a very hot make out session that Bella wanted to be more!. The forbidden fruit is NOT meant to portray any form of sex!. It's an icon of the forbidden love between Edward and Bella!. It symbolizes how wrong their relationship is, being different in "species", but how it's worth the effort, just because they have each other!. The only form of 'sexuality' in this series is the description of the vampires!. All vampires are supposed to be good looking, sexually appealing and overall, sex gods!. This is totally different!. While their ever-so-good looks play a major part in their physical make-up, theres actual reasoning behind it!. It's meant to lure in prey, as it's always been, even in the original myths!. Sex is not the main topic in this series, i promise!. I'm barely seventeen!. I wouldn't be allowed to read these, and neither would my best friend if it had anything like that in it!.
?Graceful Little Alice?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Alright, here's the perspective from a 19-year-old English major, psychology minor, and published author!.
The Twilight Series is garbage!. Where Anne Rice's stories were written thematically as Shakespearean dramas using vampires simply as an interesting twist on character development, Twilight uses them for sex appeal!. It's not gothic romanticism, as the great Frankenstein or Dracula archetyped!. It's not drama, as the characters are flat except when Meyer wants them to act sexually so that the kiddies reading along think they've snuck some forbidden fruit from their parents!. Cutely enough, that's actually on the cover of the first book!.
Case in point, there are good manias and bad manias!. The good ones are usally more understated, but the problem with Twilight and the bad ones is that they have a way of overriding the good ones!. All I see now is that these obsessed girls salivate over the varying sexiness of individual vampire hunks, meanwhile they're not reading anything else, which is just as bad as not reading at all!. And even if they are reading, Twilight sets them down the wrong track!. Suddenly the classics aren't entertaining anymore because they tend to lack much of the vampire-sex so prevalent in Twilight!. There goes The Count of Monte Cristo!. There goes Huckleberry Finn!. There goes Jane Eyre, the Bible, and even better-written childrens' books like A Series of Unfortunate Events!. The problem self-perpetuates!.
Please, for concerned writers everywhere, try to steer your daughter clear of trashy teen popfic!. Make the right impact in her life!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
join the fight for truth, justice, and good books! war plans are every Wensday from 4-6:00, bring a stake and silver bullets!. snack optionalWww@QuestionHome@Com