A good friend passed on this hilarious take on Twilight on NPR. The gist? Author Brad Meltzer pulls out the big guns and defends his glee over Twilight because he should be allowed to openly love the famous vampire love triangle. Even if he's not *supposed* to. After all, he's heterosexual and other big men might call him a pansy.I love Meltzer's argument. It's sweet, articulate manna from a kindred spirit. Dude, I can so relate. Twilight is a guilty pleasure for me too because I'm
~ a librarian
~ an educated feminist
~ a twenty-something looking into my thirties.
I'm supposed to leer at Meyer's simple writing style. I'm supposed to scoff at Bella's weaknesses and insecurities. My girl parts shouldn't melt when-- *Eclipse spoiler*-- Jacob keeps Bella warm with his body heat and Edward has to suck it up.
It's really the second book that cemented my bond with this series. *New Moon spoiler* When Edward abandons Bella and she does idiotic things to bring his voice back... I was sincerely touched. I lost my mother to breast cancer a few years ago and I still hear her inside me sometimes. I still cry when I see round women with the familiar Mexican hips and big booty. I suppose my only consolation is the memories and the fact that my body seems to be headed in the adorably rotund direction too.
I recently looked back at my old MySpace profile that I haven't updated in months. In the section where you get to list the books that mean a lot to you, Twilight is right there, big and bright. You see, I read the book long ago, before the characters were associated with movie actor faces and before avid teen fans turned their backs on it when it became too popular. I saw it there on my profile and cringed. I even thought about editing it away so that it no longer bears shame on me.
But why should I? Yes, in a way, the series' phenomenal popularity has spiraled out of control. And yes, I absolutely despised the ending, which lessened my love for it significantly. Still, the books capture a little something that many books can't fake. For me, these were the books I was reading when I was studying to be a librarian and I was getting ready to get married. They're like songs that remind you of your youth. The Twilight series will forever be tied to my mid-twenties through love and backlash and whatever the future holds for it.
