What's All This Fuss Over Vampires?

Since I enjoyed the movie, I decided to give the book a try. I'm talking about Twilight, of course. I haven't finished reading all of it (I'm half-way through), but I know enought to give a review.

Let's start with the author, Stephanie Meyer, who gets a little verbose in some of her descriptions (how many times are you gonna describe what the beach looked like? And stop talking about the clouds, for God's sake). Then again, I've never been one for long landscape/weather descriptions (that includes you, John Steinbeck). Some of her descriptions of Edward, for instance, are laughable:

"His hair was dripping wet, disheveled--even so, he looked like he just finished shooting a commercial for hair gel."

Really, Stephanie...really? But the same quote that makes me roll my eyes is also where the author gets it right.

As much as I think this excerpt is stupid, juvenile even, this is how girls think. Stephanie is a master at unveiling a girl's mind. That is what makes Twilight addictive to tweens, teens and twenty-somethings alike. Heck, even a middle-aged woman could appreciate this book. Because internally, girls revert back to their 14-year-old giggly, pathetic selves when they have a crush on a boy. In other words, boys make us stupid.

And Bella, the main character, is everywoman, if you will. She is ordinary, clumsy, sarcastic, unsure and insecure. Yep, that about sums up a lot of girls.

What makes this book more than addicting is the fact that Edward (the perfect vampire boy) is madly in love with the ordinary girl. It's a fantasy that plays out in every girl's head.

So, it's no Jane Austen. And Edward is no Mr. Darcy. Meyer's characters are not as multi-dimensional as an Austen novel. However, the book is endearing in its own way. And it's a story where the underdog triumphs in life...hey, I can't complain about that.

Am I slightly addicted? Yeah, I'll admit this guilty pleasure of mine.