You’Ll Be Reading ‘Til the Breaking Dawn
She’s no Harry Potter, but Isabella Swan has a legion of rabid fans, too.
The main character of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling Twilight series isn’t just a heroine for teen agers around the world. Grown women like Bella, too.
Older adults might not have been the ones in line at midnight one day last week to buy the fourth and last book in the series, “Breaking Dawn.” More likely they were patient enough to wait for stores to open today or for the postman to arrive. But why all the fuss?
When my sister called to tell me about the series some time back, I didn’t get it. My sister’s a teacher, so she often reads teen books to stay in tune with her students. But a vampire book?
That is so not her style.
Yet she compared Meyer’s books to Harry Potter and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, especially how they appeal to women and children alike.
So all right already. After several calls and an e-mail, I realized she wasn’t going to let up until I bit (so to speak).
Just a week ago I borrowed a copy of the first book, Twilight .Within hours, I devoured almost half of its 512 pages. It didn’t take long to realize how wrong my initial judgment was and how understandable it was thatso many women are devouringthis teenybopper book :
It’s all because of Isabella Swan.
She’s incredibly ordinary. Unlike many romances, she’s not a jaw-dropping beauty. She’s cute, with her oddly pale skin, chocolate eyes and straight brown hair.A jeans-and-T type of girl, she gets ready in minutes.
And she doesn’t move with style or grace. Accident-prone and anxious, Bella is the kind of girl who trips over her own feet and is on a first-name basis with emergency room doctors . She’s lucky if she makes it through the day without a bump or bruise.
Yes, Bella is beautifully human, and it makes her so very likable.
I can relate to her, well, at least up to the love affair with a vampire.
Like many women in their 20s and 30s, she is a little jaded. Her divorced and emotional parents gave her mixed feelingsabout marriage. At the same time, everything she feels isintense and extreme. A kiss can send her into hyperspace, and a short argument can drive her to tears.
To put it simply, Bella has issues. The kind of issues a lot of grown women have experienced. The kind of issues some of us still face .
We may not all find ourselves in the hospital on a weekly basis or at the heart of a scandalous affair amongvampires and other creatures of the night. But strip it all away, and this is a simple story about a girl in love.
A story that has kept me up until the sun rises, or breaking dawn, as she puts it.
In the last few days I have read more than 1,500 pages of the Twilight series_all three books so far. I’m captivated by Bella’s situation, the highs and lows of love, self-discovery, the impact of her choices and the transition from selfish to selfless.
I’m a little hesitant toread the final book. I’m not sure I’m ready to see whether she takes her love for a vampire all the way.
Because for Bella, this isn’t just any love. It could be her first and maybe final love.
Jenee Osterheldt’s column runs in FYI on Tuesday and Saturday. To reach her, call 816-234-4380 or e-mail josterheldt@kcstar.com.
JENEE OSTERHELDT
JOSTERHELDT@KCSTAR.COM
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