No, I am not a fan of Edward Cullen. At all. Twilight should not count as a novel. This is my view and if you don't like it, you won't like what else I have to say.
Edward Cullen, from what I understand, is a sparkly vampire who has an unhealthy obsession with a blatant Mary-Sue and, being over a hundred years old, is very possessive. He is also quite stupid. Perhaps someone can explain to me why this is "sexy?" Let's break this down, shall we?
Sparkly: That doesn't make a man attractive to me. It makes him appear homosexual, or at least metrosexual. Homosexuals obviously are not interested in women. That really makes them less attractive to me. Metrosexuals are fantastic, but I don't know of many who "sparkle." I liked sparkles when I was six, but even then I didn't like them on my men.
Vampire: Oh, yes, who wouldn't want a man who turns you into a damned, soulless creature? Vampires are seductive, yes, but they aren't mortal. I have never known a vampire who fell in love, but then again, Bella IS a Mary-Sue. That excuses everything.
Unhealthy Obsession with a Mary-Sue: Let's pretend for a moment that Bella is not a Sue. Difficult, I know, but let's try. The fact that he watches her when she sleeps is extremely unnerving. They hardly know each other and already he wants her? I don't care about her "special" blood; that doesn't give him the right to stalk her. This is generally frowned upon by bitchy girls like Bella.
Possessive: This is what I have the most issue with. Meyer is teaching young teen girls everywhere that it's "sexy" for a guy to freak out whenever you don't worship him. He orders Bella around and is generally very annoying. And Bella's such a bitch that you'd think she'd stand up for herself, but nooooo; Edward Cullen is a different matter entirely. My young cousin finds him attractive. That is just not right. This is a borderline masochistic relationship; Breaking Dawn sex scene, anyone? Bella even subjects herself to harm just to hear her loser boyfriend's voice. That's just not right. She is now a weakling, a bitch, a Mary-Sue and an even bigger idiot than before.
Quite Stupid: Well, think about it; anyone who falls for Bella is stupid. Out of all the girls in the world, he chooses HER. He tells her to avoid him and then orders her to see him soon. She's dumb and complains all the time and hates everyone, but he LOVES her?! I don't think so. Let's not forget his "vegetarianism." Um, no. That's not how vampires work. They don't choose to become vampires. Give them a break, Meyer.
Thus concludes my current rant. More will most likely be up later.
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lazychestnut- lazychestnut
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About Edward being a vampire. Almost the entire time, Edward is completely against Bella being turned into a vampire. He believes (or believed) that vampires are, indeed, soulless creatures and he was expressly against Bella turning into that. As for vampires falling in love…every vampire universe is different. From Bram Stoker to Anne Rice to Stephenie Meyer. Vampires didn’t originate from one source. In Meyer’s world, vampires are capable of falling in love, and it’s hard to say her interpretation is wrong. Just different.
Regarding Edward supposedly being possessive. He very rarely acts out in any possessive ways. Most of the time, Edward is decidedly un-possessive. He loves Bella a lot, and because he thinks of himself as a monster, he feels he’s a bad thing for her. An example of him being very un possessive is with Jacob. Jacob was ardently pursuing the girl he loved, but Stephenie Meyer has commented that though Edward is jealous, part of him wants Bella to choose Jacob because he feels he may be a better, healthier choice.
What he is, is fiercely protective. He knows that Bella is just a fragile human and humans get hurt easily, so Edward is very much concerned with her safety (both physical and mental), therefore protective.
It’s safe to say Edward has Bella’s best interests in mind. When young girls who have read Twilight eventually mature and fall in love, I hope that they choose someone who is protective of their safety and well-being.
As for Bella putting herself in danger to hear Edward, I doubt Stephenie Meyer would say that Bella acted in a healthy way. But what can you do? Readers don’t want perfect characters, but complain when they do things they don’t like. Can we say Bella is a Mary Sue and then hate her for not doing the “perfect” thing? She was hurting and still loved Edward. She reacted in a human way. She really isn’t a perfect character.
Anyway…I really hope I didn’t offend you, that wasn’t my intent. Like I said, I respect your right to your own opinions. I just wanted to throw that out there =)
Okay...I realize this ridiculously long message makes me looks obsessive...I'm just going to go now...
Oh, I'll do it anyway - she's got an inner ear infection. There are so many mentions of how clumsy she is that it becomes a substitute for her having a personality. Excuse me, she's AFRAID TO RUN when threatened with GANG RAPE because she KNOWS she's GOING TO FALL. Jeez, SMeyer. Could you make Bella any more pathetic, inept and stupid? Wouldn't it have been better to have that scene illustrate that her clumsiness is more in her head and that she was able to run away? Of course not, because then Edward wouldn't have been able to ride to the rescue on his white horse, er, grey Volvo, save her sorry ass, and then segue into yet another scene where he is happy/angry/chagrined and she is dazzled/breathless/gobsmacked by his purtiness. I mean, there'd only been a dozen such scenes already. We absolutely needed another one. ABSOLUTELY.
And then there's the klutzy komedy during every gym class where she not only managed to clip some guy with the racket but also hit herself in the head with it on the same serve. She's one of those Too Stupid To Live heroines from the 1970s romance novels, and Edward is one of those old-style Alpha Male Heroes who is obnoxious and controlling. There's a reason why Kathleen Woodiwiss and Johanna Lindsey are laughed at nowadays more than read with bated breath. The style sucks and it was tossed over for something less insulting to the reader. SMeyer's books tap into that weird mindset of the 70s that still rears its head occasionally and still has its pitiable fans. Seriously, I've read a Woodiwiss book and apart from the hero raping the heroine out of love, the whole controlling/dominant behavior between Edward and Bella is the same. It's sickening. Some of the most critical people of these books are hardcore romance fans because they know their genre history.
Your other points are well made, except my opinion on the sparkling and vegetarianism...SMeyer, they're not freaking VAMPIRES if they do that crap. Why rewrite scads of vampire "fact"? Just so Twilight can be SPECIAL? Call them something else if you want to have them glitter like glam rockers or munch on Bambi. NOT. VAMPIRES. Stoker would not approve and he's frowning at you right now.
Sorry. TL;DR, but this book seriously pissed me off.
Meyer must have heard that strong characters need flaws, but she didn't bother to find out more; hence the reason Bella's clumsiness is brought up perpetually. That's not a flaw if Meyer brags about it. It's Meyer trying and FAILING to create a well-rounded character.
*sighs* I could go ON AND ON, but I won't. Your comment said what I forgot to say :)
What is she? DEAF???!!?!???!?! (as well as stupid)
Or when Bella and some of the good vampires hie off to get away from the bad vampires. They go to Phoenix. Oh, brilliant! A place that is sunny all the time and you'd be forced to stay indoors so you won't be sparkling like a disco ball. Considering the whole "have to be in a rainy place so we don't get found out by mortals" idea is hammered into the reader repeatedly, this decision to go to a super sunny place instead of, oh, COASTAL MAINE makes no sense at all.
It's crap like that just made it all too clear that SMeyer didn't give a rat's ass about logic and just wanted to beat a thesaurus black and blue over Edward's physical attributes. It's 75% of the freaking book.
I have a feeling the suckitude of this book will never fade for me. :P
Seriously, SMeyer? Did you ever read that out loud to see how it sounded? You did? And it STILL sounded like a good idea?
The writing is about as skilled as the worst, deluded self-pubbed toilet paper.