Exquisite Vampire

I finished Twilight several days ago and thought it was a great book.  The only thing that I didn’t really care for was the fact that I couldn’t distinguish between any of Bella’s male and female friends.  Mike, Tyler, Eric…who was who again?  Same for the girls.  Jessica, Angela, Laura or Lauren?  I really couldn’t tell the difference.  It’s more of a minor gripe than anything and plus, I’ll admit maybe I wasn’t paying the best attention when they were around.  Plus, I’m bad at remembering names so when an unfamiliar name would pop up I’d get confused but then again I was too lazy to go back and try to find them.  Whatev.

I thought it was a good book but not astounding.  I guess I just don’t understand the immense popularity.  You know how bookstores always pull out every book that’s related to a popular genre at the time?  Like when Harry Potter was big news, I constantly saw all of these other wizard kid books that were on display.  And now that vampires are all the rage, all I’m seeing are books with pretty girls with holes in their necks on the cover.  And I have to think to myself, “Why is Twilight so huge and these books aren’t?  What makes Twilight better than these books?  And I wonder if the authors are ticked off that they haven’t had that much success writing basically the same kind of book.”  I don’t know, perhaps it’s just timing or luck or the fact that the right person got their hands on it at the right time.

What I really liked about Twilight was the fact that it really captured that sense of high school teenage puppy love.  It’s that kind of love that is so fresh and pure and everything is so new and every sensation is a revelation.  I really felt that between Edward and Bella.  I like how they both became consumed by each other and how their lives melted together.  ‘Cause isn’t that the way it always is when you first fall in love?  I’ve always really enjoyed that kind of innocent romance and to read about it in the book was nice.  Also, because I never had that kind of romance in my life, it’s nice to feel it vicariously through fictional strangers.

Another thing that struck me as a pinch odd was the fact that Bella wasn’t freaking when she found out Edward was a vampire.  Was she so consumed by love that she never gave a thought to the fact that Edward is the stuff of legend?  Perhaps her heart was too full for her mind to be blown like that.  I mean, I didn’t have a problem with it.  There are plenty of books out there about strange happenings and the characters treat these odd occurrences as nothing more than everyday fodder.  The Metamorphosis, for example.  When Gregor wakes up to find out he’s turned into a peculiar and inhuman creature, does his mind automatically gravitate to the absurdity of his condition?  Heck no.  He’s more worried about being late for work.  And does his family wonder what happened to him?  No, not so much.  They just freak out and keep him locked in his room, never wondering how something so supernatural could have occurred.  So, I think it works.  But it was just interesting to me that she never took a moment to realize how unearthly and odd the whole situation was.

I saw the movie two nights ago with my friend Morgann and although I knew the movie would pale (get it?) in comparison to the book, I was still slightly disappointed.  First of all, I love the visual style of the film.  The colors were muted and everything took on a blue-ish hue, especially in the woods.  It looked great.  Special effects, on the other hand, not so much.  When Edward first stepped into the light I had to laugh a little bit at how ridiculous he looked.  I have to say the reason why he can’t step into the light did NOT transfer very well to the screen but really, how could it?  The whole reasoning is kind of lame to begin with but the book did manage to pull it off in a romantic, girly kind of way.  You know, I accepted it and moved on but the movie…hmmm.  Which brings me to the special effects, which weren’t that special.  The movie wasn’t made on a huge budget and the company that made the film isn’t a huge company so I let it slide.  I guess I just felt the film was like one giant synopsis for the book.  If you’ve seen the previews for the movie, then you’ve seen the movie.  I don’t remember hardly any shot in the film that wasn’t advertised on television at one point or another. 

But still, I have to say it was nice to see these characters in the flesh.  There’s always something a bit special about seeing characters in a book come to life before your eyes, whether you agree with the interpretation or not.  And what can I say about Robert Pattinson that hasn’t already been said?  Wow, he’s an odd looking fellow!  When he first showed up in the movie, I couldn’t help but notice he’s got some unusual features.  Not to say that I think he’s ugly but he’s definitely different looking.  And as the movie progressed, I realized these differences really worked for him, especially considering he’s supposed to be the most unique and beautiful looking guy Bella has ever seen.  If you were to throw any old supermodel in his place, that uniqueness wouldn’t be there ‘cause you’d swore you’d already seen him on the cover of Men’s Health or something.  But you don’t see many guys like Robert Pattinson running around so I think it helped with the look of Edward and with the mysteriousness of him.  Heck, by the end of the film I wanted to be Robert Pattinson.  What a smooth guy!  I wanna be like that one day.

I also felt like there wasn’t enough of that romantic magic in the movie as there was in the book.  I mean, I bought that they liked each other and there was some chemistry there.  I couldn’t keep the grin off my pasty face when they would kiss or snuggle in the woods.  I guess I just wanted more of that, but then again, there is a story to be told and a time limit for it to be told in so they couldn’t stay mushy for too long.  There’s a bad vamp to vanquish! 

All in all, I’d say it’s worth a rental.  Plus, Morgann saw the movie before reading the book, which I normally wouldn’t agree with.  But she explained her reasoning and I think I like her way of thinking.  She said instead of reading the book and then being disappointed at how it’s not as good as the book, she saw the movie, took it for what it was, and then read the book and was pleasantly surprised at how much better it was than the movie.  Makes sense to me!

I definitely want to read the rest of the books but I’m afraid I’ll have to put that on hold until I’m finished with my writing class ‘cause I already have four books to read in there, which w

on’t leave any more time for extracurricular undead romance.