To be honest, I've always found vampires a bit dull. I came to Twilight knowing nothing about it apart from the fact this is a huge, huge bestseller about vampires; and, of course, the inspiration for the adult novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
Twilight has got me vaguely more scared and interested in vampires than I was before, but I still don't really get what teenage girls find so exciting about either vampires or this novel.
I haven't seen the films or read the sequels, so my knowledge is limited, but here were my impressions.
Twilight is, to me, worryingly conventional. My main irritation was the heroine Bella - she's so vacant and insipid. She's obviously a beautiful boy-magnet, but apart from that, she appears to have no personality (just like Ana in Fifty Shades).
All she does is go to 'trig' classes and make dinner. Apart from her beauty, she's so boring that I can't fathom what the vampire Edward sees in her to fall in love with. Sorry, but I prefer my heroines plain and profound, like Jane Eyre.
As for Edward, again, there's little substance to him apart from good looks and dashing ways. Even more oddly, the fact he's a hundred years old doesn't put Bella off.
I found the story very slow to get going, and the style absolutely wooden (again, like Fifty Shades), but once we start to find out more about vampires - especially how they are born - and Bella is actually put in danger in the final quarter, it becomes a page-turner.
I quite enjoyed the read and can see why it's popular, but what I can't understand is why it's such a phenomenon. Published in 2005, Twilight was a record-setting bestseller, followed by sequels New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, the film of which came out in November. Together the saga has sold many millions worldwide.
Can anyone else shed any light on what all the hype is about?
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