The Twilight Saga (in four volumes)
by Stephenie Meyer
Published 2005-2008

This is a report, not a review!

The Twilight Saga is in the news today because the movie for the first volume is now out. The books and movie have created quite a sensation. Some people are comparing its popularity level to Harry Potter, but actually it doesn’t come close. It’s appealing to females only, as far as I can tell. So it might be more like the following for the movie Titanic.

Many people call Twilight a fantasy series, but it doesn’t fall within what I am looking for–books that appeal to my 16-year-old sons. It’s not my intention to read the Twilight books, so I am just going to pass on a little info about them today.

The Twilight Saga is a fantasy series about a girl, Bella, who falls in love with a vampire. The erotic vampire Edward has super-human strength and immortality. He proves irresistible to her. He’s got great self-control and doesn’t do vampirish things to Bella, resulting in a heroic feat of self-denial for the sake of love–a tried and true chick-lit theme.

It’s my impression that the resulting story doesn’t have much depth. But then, neither did the love story in Titanic. It doesn’t take a lot of depth to draw the bow across the heartstrings.

I asked E., a Christian, age 16, what she thought of it. “I think it’s a great role model for love,” she said. “They don’t have premarital sex. They are really committed to each other.”

Here’s a blog post about it from a girl who doesn’t like it: http://anoxfordcomma.livejournal.com/2491.html

And from a woman who does like it: http://faithwebbin.net/teenz/#169 She compares the “star-crossed” lovers to Romeo and Juliet.

And from a Catholic Christian who doesn’t like it: http://spesunica.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/the-twilight-saga-a-critique/

—Phyllis Wheeler