Confessions of my Crippling Curiosity

*Twilight secrets revealed during the duration of this post 

ok so I am reluctant to share this next confession with the world but I have been thinking way too much commentary on the subject that I just have to tell the world about it. I am reader of the Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" series.  I don't call myself a fan, because I'm not, just a helpless, sickly addicted reader.  I was a sceptic from the beginning- just ask my mom who got me to read the series in the first place.  I am almost done reading the fourth and final (I think) book of the series and I 100% share the opinion of the books as my sister.  As my sister puts it- "it's another (albeit cleaner) version of a harlequin romance." 

The first book was GREAT!!! Don't get me wrong. I looked past the few sickening, overly descriptive declarations of "love" Bella thinks, says, and acts on in "Twilight" to get to the cool fight scenes and intriguing plot. Which of course addicted me to the series.

Then with each book it got more descriptive, and mushy. I know I have a few friends and family out there that might read this who are fans so let me give you an example: The end of "Eclipse"..... were Bella and Edward almost have SEX!!!!! yeah, I almost threw up! (sorry if I ruined that for anybody out there in the internet world).

Now, thats all "Breaking Dawn" has been for me, honestly I can't believe this is a young adult book, it made me blush a time or two and I'm a married women! THAT is why I don't like to call myself a fan or tell other people I'm reading the series other than my family.  I wonder if Stephenie Meyer is proud of these books being her (most likely) literary legacy?

I do have to give attention to a couple of Steph's good moves in the books other than her amazing ability to get me reading things I don't think I should (maybe thats her Vampire talent ;). Being Mormon my self (also called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) I can identify some underlying intentions of Meyer's that other might not see.  For instance she goes into great detail of how wonderful it is for Bella to be in love with Edward (gag, *see the first part of this post), a kind, respectful, honest, vampire with integrity.  I can see how Meyer is trying to tell girl (teenage) readers: this is is the kind of guy you are trying to find, THIS is what to look for! She also secretly encourages marriage to such a person. I would also like to add that the main character Bella only has sex with one person in her life- and thats is HER HUSBAND! (bravo).  Another hidden theme in the book is Meyer's clever and repetitive use of the word "forever" when Bella dreams about her and Edward's life together.  This, I am sure, is a connection with our shared Mormon beliefs ofeternal marriage (read more here).  So Meyer is also in her own little way telling that THAT is what readers should be striving for also, which I totally agree with.  One last thing I realized this morning after reading was her message against abortion- Bella becomes pregnant in "Breaking Dawn" and is urged to get rid of it by her vampire family because they have no idea what kind of monster it could become or how it could hurt her.  Even though their intentions are in the right place Bella still decides to go along with the unplanned pregnancy, even though it almost......well does, kill her.  Meyer shows that we all need to honor  the sanctity of life no matter how inconvenient, unplanned, or life threatening it might be. 

So in a nut shell- I HATE my strange curiosity to read these books (and most likely see the dumb movie thats coming out too) but I guess I'm glad at the same time.  Other than the high-quality of the Graphic Design found in her books, which I enjoy, I'm glad that her books have become so popular so that she can share whole-some, happiness-for-the-rest-of-your-life perspectives and goals to a generation crippled with meaningless and hurtful practices, directionless lives, and misguided sexual obsessions (wether she might added to this is still in question).