Breaking Dawn: My Grade: D is for DISAPPOINTMENT (WARNING: SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT!!)
Ok, Twilight fans, I FINALLY finished Breaking Dawn last night. The fact that I haven't been glued to the book since midnight on Friday already says something about the content of the book. The only reason I finished the book was because I started it, not because I liked it, or loved it. It was really more of a loathing, eye-rolling, muttering-in-disgust-to-Stephanie-Meyer experience.
Critique #1: Jacob-Bella-Edward love triangle
Seriously, Stephanie? SERIOUSLY? You REALLY tried to resolve the whole Bella-Jacob story line by having Jacob "IMPRINT" WITH HER DAUGHTER? Not only was that the easy way out, but it's just plain CREEPY. WAY CREEPY. And way to make it easy on Bella. She SHOULD have had to choose between Jacob and Edward and it should have been hard. Because that's what made the other books so likable... they were BELIEVABLE. But you just made it into this mushy-happy-La La Land fairytale where everything works out. I would have rather Jacob died saving Bella.
Critique #2: Renesmee
Having Bella become pregnant with Edward's child was a good story line. That, I could live with. And then, she HAD to become a vampire, otherwise she would die. And that was okay, too. But the Renesmee character was so underdeveloped that by the time she was talking, what, 2 days after her birth, I was over it. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, she was this poised and articulate little child, who I had no emotional connections to, because Ms. Meyer didn't develop the character at all. Every time that child spoke, I was thoroughly irked. Really. The baby talked. In perfect sentences. (Why I kept reading at that point, I don't know.)
Critique #3: Jacob's character took a sharp nose-dive south.
Jacob is supposed to be this tall, brooding werewolf who loves Bella and will never be able to get her and your heart is supposed to break for him. But then, somewhere in the whole "imprinting with a baby" thing, Jacob lost his anger towards Bella because Renesmee was the one he's "destined" to be with, and then he was getting along with vampires . And at that point, I wanted to throw my book across the room. Or into the ocean. And start gagging. No offense, but Jacob should have died. Someone always has to die if you want the book to be good. Come on, Stephanie, take a hint from J.K. Rowling.
Critique #4: Have Alice be gone for most of the book, only to come save the day at the end, with no fight with the Volturi. Seriously. There was no action scene.
Alice was taken out for most of the book because she supposedly didn't want to die from the Volturi, and thus ran away from death. And then she shows up right before there would have been a good fight scene, and manages to make peace between the good and bad vampires. Now, that's just bad writing. And her reasoning behind leaving the family is so "perfect" and everyone is happy they don't have to fight and no one dies and Bella and Edward live happily ever after. The end.
The point is, everything worked out so sickeningly well at the end of the book, that I just wanted to throw up. I was very disappointed with the plot AND characters.
GRADE: D
Feel free to tell me what you thought in the comments section.
12 people have something to say about this:
Ok, I won't pretend I know anything about Breaking Dawn, although your review now has been intrigued.
I'll keep checking back, as I've definitely had a void in the attractive Mormon blogging category that you fill nicely.
Glad you like my stuff, and even more that you cared enough to comment. Keep checking back. Crazy stuff always happens to me.
Oh, and if you ever want to co-blog about SYTYCD one day, let me know. Cat is my future wife, she just doesn't know it.
I even saw them on tour last year, which has not helped my bid to keep women believing I'm straight.
I started reading the book, and almost puked about 3 pages in.
I agree with every single thing you said. I refuse to even finish it...THAT'S how much I hate it.
And what's with the sex obsession theme? I think Stephenie Meyer is sexually frustrated, and taking it out on her book.
BAD WRITING. BAD CHARACTERS. BAD AUTHOR.
Thanks, you told me everything I needed and saved me the time reading the forward in the book cover. ( not that it is my type of book) but I have been reading your blog...so I was wondering. Now the auther sounds like she writes as good as I do, which is why I post mostly photo's!. I know my limmets.
lyb (loved your blog)
Ok, I'm going to do it. I'm going to have the audacity to disagree. So, here it goes: I disagree... on some points.
Critique #1: I can definitely agree that Bella should have CHOSEN rather than have the easy way out, but that always bothered me. What I disagree on though, is that I was happy that the triangle was finally over. I didn't even care that it was the easy way out. For me, I was happy to just have this constant struggle between Edward and Jacob, even after she was married, over. As far as imprinting, it would have creeped me out too, if they hadn't gone into more in Eclipse. I didn't mind that everything worked out, I'm a happy ending type person. Although, there were more than a few parts that made me get the corny chills.
Critique #2: I can more or less agree with this. Renesmee was a very underdeveloped character. I wasn't irked when she spoke, I just didn't care. I don't know what's worse?
Critique #3: I would have totally been fine if Jacob had died too, but I don't mind that he did live. He definitely took a back seat in this book though. As I said before, I was just happy that the triangle was over. He was never my favorite character.
Critique #4: Alice also got a bit of the shaft in this book, she must have joined Jacob in the back seat.
For me, it seemed almost like this was written by a different author. It didn't have the same feel as the other books and, although I hate to admit it, I found myself bored... a lot. At some points I had to mentally will myself to keep reading just to see how it ended. All in all though, I was still happy to read it, and would (and will, I'm sure) read it again. I like that at least the series feels completed. Twilight, for me, is still the best of the 4 though.
TWILIGHT IS THE BEST OF THE 4!!!!!!!! I loved your detailed response, thanks Steph!!
tlk- alright, we're doing the SYTYCD co-blog for a night. I'll write up my thoughts on the final four and the season as a whole, and post it tonight. Check it later, since you're West Coast. Add your own thoughts on your blog/or in my comments, and I'll mesh them together for a co-blog and re-post. Deal?
Just as soon as I sweep up all that shatter glass...
JOSHUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol, I just couldn't get over the name Renesmee, every time I read it I'd think "seriously?" I though it was uber-cheesy, reminded me of "Albus Serverus" and the rest of Harry's ridiculously named kids...
The Jacob part was boring, and the ending leaves doors wide open, but we are supposed to believe this is the end of the series, at least, from Bella's point of view. It all just didn't quite seem to click, like the previous 3 books were thrown out the window in a lot of ways. The newborn vampire thing conveniently going away, vampires not being able to live together, that's not an issue anymore, and many more issues...
But it gave me something to do for a couple days and I was at least glad to see where Bella's story would end up.
Love the post, I have to say I was severely disappointed myself. Your rating seems to agree with Entertainment Weekly: http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/26652714.html
The other thing I cannot understand: I see how Bella got over the fact that getting married to Edward was a necessity, but it took her a long tim e to come to terms with the wedding. Then she's suddenly ok with becoming a mom the minute she finds out she's pregnant?!
ok, i liked this book, and i'm glad she turned vampire, but I have to say that considering the target demographic for her book, stephanie meyer hit it right on. As the last book in her series, all she had to do was finish the story and her publishers knew she would make them a ton of money because no matter what happened people would read it.
Of course, considering the type of fiction written right now and the percentage of people that actually read a book cover to cover, I think Meyer did a great job at capturing the attention of her public and creating a story that got people reading. Of course I could pick and critique all the finer fallacies and faults in her story/character development, even the semantical errors, but sufficeth to say that I got out of this book what was put into it. It wasn't supposed to be a literary accomplishment, it was supposed to entertain and the entertainment industry will not please everyone. Look at all the stupid movies out there. An 8 year old could read and understand this book and enjoy it, so I say it's a success.
I completely agree with all of your points. My entire love for the series stemmed from the love triangle and really the relationship between Bella and Edward. And neither of those were existent in Breaking Dawn. I'll agree with the D.
Post a Comment