As an avid book reader, I really do not understand why the Twilight series became such a big hit. It was such an easy read that I was able to finish each book in one sitting.
Around July 2008, my bedside book was Witch of Portabello by my favorite author – Paulo Coelho. I have not been reading for quite some time then that I was able to read only one chapter every night. There was so much information in it that I find it difficult to take them all in.
Then, my sister came home with three hardbound books. She told me that people are saying that it was going to be the next Harry Potter. Out of curiosity, I tried reading the first book – Twilight. I read New Moon and Eclipse the following nights.
I personally did not find anything special about the story except that it is entertaining. I apologize to all the Stepanie Meyer fans reading this but her writing skills is not that impressive. The plot has a lot of twists and turns but predictable nonetheless. Every detail is a give-away, leaving no space for the reader’s imagination to wander about even just for a while. Also, instead of building up the personalities of the characters, they are described up front. Some of the dialogues are intriguing, but not meaningful enough to be quoted.
Then came the movie, everybody was excited about it. As expected, it was a shortened version of the book. Though some parts were omitted, it was OK. I did not miss them much. Either the screenwriter and/or director did a very good job taking out the parts. Or, these parts are not significant to the wholeness of the story in the first place.
I have read Breaking Dawn as well. I confess that I skipped some parts because it was too dragging.
Having read all four, I realized that the books can not be independent from each other. It is highly recommended that people read the four books in chronological order. If you read the latter books before the first ones, then you would get lost on the characters.
