I finished reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer last night. Why Twilight? U2’s PopMart tour in 1997 included an outrageous stage set including a huge mirror-ball lemon. When asked “Why a lemon?” by reporters, The Edge replied, “Why not a lemon?” Why Twilight? Why not Twilight?
One of the reasons I read Twilight is to see why it is so compelling for so many people—particularly women kind of people. There is a strange energy about it. Some have talked about it in such addictive terms, like Diet Coke or European chocolate. Others, wanting to raise themselves above the common folk, look down their noses at it. Better to read Jane Austin or Emily Bronte.
Am I comparing Meyer to these seasoned standards of literature? No, not comparing or contrasting, I will leave that discussion for the academics. And such discussion rages on. There are Web sites and blogs galore that defend and critique, praise and put down the morality, the academic validity, and so forth. And then you add the Mormon spin to the whole business and it doesn’t take too many Googles on the Web to see that folks are pretty exercised about these tales.
But in the end, that’s what they are. They are tales. They are stories, and we all like to read or listen to a great story. And we need a good story to give our heads a rest from the reality of our own lives sometimes. I read Twilight to see what all the fuss is about. And now I get it. It is a compelling read, and in my view, a great story. Was it the Great American Novel? I wasn’t looking to read the Great American Novel. Did it take into consideration and treat well all the moral issues of the day? I don’t know.
Should we who are trying to be perfect by the weekend spend our time here, or much rather in the scriptures or an LDS historical novel where we at least get credit for studying Church History? I think it is possible to read Stephanie Meyer and still obtain the highest degree of the highest glory.
And actually I don’t wish to spend any more time analyzing it. There are thousands of sites doing just that. I would rather read than write about reading, so I shall quit writing and get started on New Moon, which I have already heard isn’t as good as the others, so I will start liking it from the first page.
