I was wrong, she's not Ford. Ford at least had some insight into himself. (He also, IIRC, tries to sacrifice Buffy.) Bella isn't nearly that cool. She's one of those loser poseurs that Ford hangs out with who think that vampires are just misunderstood...right up until they get eaten.
Maybe this is asking too much, but I expect my YA literature to have characters actually grow up a little. I mean, isn't that the point of having a teen as a main character?
What irks me so much about this is not that Bella is a self-involved brat, it's that if you asked the author to describe Bella, I bet she'd say she was plucky, strong and independent. I don't hold this type of writing against teens. I do hold it against adults. Grow up already. Jesus christ.
I don't even think I'd've liked this as a teen. True, at that age, I little UST could hook me good (how else do you explain my compulsive watching of the Nanny), but the lack of perspective (not to mention plot) would probably still have bothered me. I railed against that stuff. I called it "TTA"--typical teenage angst. By comparison, I should probably reread my teenage supernatural romance of choice, Kissed by an Angel (http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Angel-Collectors-Power-Soulmates/dp/0671023462/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218511957&sr=8-1). But even if the writing's crap, it at least has this on the Twilight series: -a plot -at the end, she does not end up with her tragic epic love, the angel (her dead ex-boyfriend). She realizes she can't live in that fantasy and moves on to a living, average boyfriend. She grows the heck up.
Also--I read that review. Yeargh. Uh...Miss Meyer? Your readers are tweens. They're just going through puberty. It was a great idea to gross the fuck out of them with implied abusive first time sex (I don't think "covered in bruises" counts as good practices in BDSM) and a graphic, horrific pregnancy. Go you.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:36 am (UTC)Maybe this is asking too much, but I expect my YA literature to have characters actually grow up a little. I mean, isn't that the point of having a teen as a main character?
What irks me so much about this is not that Bella is a self-involved brat, it's that if you asked the author to describe Bella, I bet she'd say she was plucky, strong and independent. I don't hold this type of writing against teens. I do hold it against adults. Grow up already. Jesus christ.
I don't even think I'd've liked this as a teen. True, at that age, I little UST could hook me good (how else do you explain my compulsive watching of the Nanny), but the lack of perspective (not to mention plot) would probably still have bothered me. I railed against that stuff. I called it "TTA"--typical teenage angst. By comparison, I should probably reread my teenage supernatural romance of choice, Kissed by an Angel (http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Angel-Collectors-Power-Soulmates/dp/0671023462/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218511957&sr=8-1). But even if the writing's crap, it at least has this on the Twilight series:
-a plot
-at the end, she does not end up with her tragic epic love, the angel (her dead ex-boyfriend). She realizes she can't live in that fantasy and moves on to a living, average boyfriend. She grows the heck up.
Also--I read that review. Yeargh. Uh...Miss Meyer? Your readers are tweens. They're just going through puberty. It was a great idea to gross the fuck out of them with implied abusive first time sex (I don't think "covered in bruises" counts as good practices in BDSM) and a graphic, horrific pregnancy. Go you.