I bought my copy of Twilight last Tuesday at a Barnes and Noble in Spokane, Washington. My first impression of the book immediately upon purchase was an intense and profoundly emotional one: "I just bought a book that was in the Teen Paranormal Romance section???" Not really able to believe what I was doing, I actually (this is true) was so embarrassed by my purchase that I felt compelled to also buy a copy of BBC Music. With Georg Solti on the cover of this month's issue, I felt a little bit safer about combining that purchase with Twilight.
The friendly sales lady, apparently under the impression that the teen paranormal romance novel wasn't for me, naturally assumed I would want a gift receipt. I think it should be an indication of just how comfortable I am in my mature masculinity that I declined.
Anyway, after four days of furious reading I have managed to get almost halfway through the first chapter of Twilight, and in that time I have formed some very developed opinions of the book that are at least slightly more informed than simply judging it by its cover.
Things begin with a bible verse, Genesis 2:17, in which we read that "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The death that verse speaks of has generally been interpreted as a spiritual death - the separation of humankind from God. The Geneva Study Bible, for example, has this commentary on the passage: "By death he means the separation of man from God, who is our life and chief happiness: and also that our disobedience is the cause of it." Vampire traditions change from book to book, but in most cases vampires are viewed as the embodiment of rebellion against God. The laws of physics and of mortality don't apply to them; they live outside the ordinary constraints of the universe. I assume that is the parallel Meyer is drawing with that particular bible verse, though as yet I don't really have much to go on.
Moving on to first chapter, we encounter a heroine by the name of Bella Swan, who has just moved from Phoenix to live with her father in the small, rainy town of Forks, Washington. I know what you're thinking: what kind of name is Bella Swan? Last night I asked my wife what her reaction would have been if I were writing Twilight and had decided to name my heroine Bella Swan. "I would have told you writing's not your thing," she said. Sage words, indeed. Yet I felt compelled to continue reading all the way to page 14, when I decided I would rather go to bed. But I was intrigued at the choice of Forks, Washington as the primary locale for Twilight, and that may keep me interested enough to finish the book someday.
I recall reading a few years back that Meyer had never been to Forks, and chose it only because it gets more rain than any other town in the continental United States. I have not been to Forks either, but I am quite familiar with the Olympic Peninsula, where Forks is located. While I was growing up my family would regularly vacation at Lake Quinalt Lodge, which is not far from Forks. The lodge is located in a temperate rainforest where moss seems to cover everything. "Like something out of Avatar," was how my wife described it. Bella's description of the region is a little less charitable: "too green, an alien planet." Something tells me I'm not going to like Bella.
I stopped reading right at the point where Bella is about to leave for her first day of high school in her new town. Perhaps I should read a little more before I comment further, but I can't say my initial impressions are favorable. We'll see comes next.
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