Around The Table: The Twilight Saga

We love to get together as a team and discuss all manner of book related subjects. On the 3rd Sunday of the month we take a transcript of one of these discussions or copy and paste a Facebook thread (which has been corrected for spelling and typos) and post it on our site. We welcome your contributions and comments related to the featured discussion.

Warning this post contains spoilers.

Jane: Most of us have all read and enjoyed The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyers and with Breaking Dawn: Part One, about to hit the Big Screen, a discussion about these cult books seemed extremely timely and justified! I think it goes without saying that this series provided extremely enjoyable reading and the love triangle between Bella, Jacob and the mysterious Edward kept us all enthralled till the very end. As far as vampire stories go, this one was certainly different and fairly action packed, with some interesting characters and plot lines along the way.

Karen: Twilight will always have a special place in my heart and the series took me completely by surprise.

Caroline: The Twilight Saga was important for me because it opened up my reading habit. Without it I probably would have gone on discovered Maggie Stiefvater’s or Cassandra Clare’s work, read The Hunger Games and generally got the YA bug.

Helen: Aah Twilight, yes I really enjoyed them, vampires without the gore, it was great!

Jane: What characters did everyone like (or not!) and were there any that you changed your mind about as the story progressed? Did everyone enjoy all of the books, or was there a particular one you favored more than another? And of course, no discussion would be complete without finding out what we really thought of Bella and the choices she made – Jacob or Edward and whether she should have become a vampire or not? …

Karen: When Jacob started to ‘evolve’ for want of a better word, I really went off him. It was to the point that in Breaking Dawn I would curse in disappointment when I came across ‘his’ chapters.

Helen: I was on the team Jacob, finding Edward irritatingly perfect (apart from being a vamp of course!) and I was annoyed at Jacob’s story development too Karen, but mostly because I found the way Stephanie tied all those ends together just a little too convenient and I felt she changed Jacob a bit to do this.

Caroline: I have to say that I found Jacob so irritating the first time I read Breaking Dawn. On the second reading (yes I admit it I’ve read them all twice…and listened to the audio books), once I knew how everything turned out I was able to tolerate him more. I have to say though, despite the explanations and examples of imprinting in the earlier books I still find the whole imprinting to the baby CREEPY!

Helen: Totally agree it was creepy; he should have stuck to liking Bella and had a bit of heartache when she got married! Maybe that was a little too realistic! In my opinion it’s all a bit convenient that they can all be immortal together forever and perfectly happy too!

Karen: I was not expecting Bella to become vampire. It kind of goes against the grain doesn’t it! I thought that Edward would somehow become human.

Helen: I began to think Bella would have to be ‘changed ‘from quite early on, I just couldn’t figure out how this might happen without making perfect Edward into a bad guy! When Bella does change I felt she dealt with it all too well and was far too in control. However these gripes don’t mean I didn’t enjoy all the books. The twist on the usual vampires (being ‘vegetarian’) was interesting, and all the stories and connections with the Native Americans and the Wolves, were intriguing. I do like a good bit of teenage angst as well, and although I never really felt that Bella was interested in Jacob (that was the film angle not the book) I did like their relationship.

Karen: It’s been awhile but one thing that still bugs me is that you have a girl who is willing to give up her human life, never see her family etc to become a vampire yet would be so hesitant with agreeing to marry Edward?!

Caroline: I agree, Karen. I would have married him like that *clicks fingers* sod how it looked to everyone else! Going back to what you were saying about the ending…It was all just a little perfect. At the time as a fan I was really please with how it turned out. I’m a sucker for a happy ending and it tied everything up, oh so neatly with no possibility for more installments and their futures mapped out. But having read a lot more YA and looking at it from the perspective as an adult reader the ending is starting to bug me

Helen: Going back to the films, they made it out to be much more of a love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob. I always felt that it was obvious in the books who would end up with Bella. Jacob didn’t stand a chance.

Caroline: Just a little
bias then!

Helen: He just seemed so much nicer and friendlier and all that, maybe I’m not into brooding vampires!

Caroline: I think the idea of immortality is an interesting one, who would really want to live forever? What would you do with yourself? Would you really value life? Sorry feeling philosophical over my cornflakes!

Helen: I agree with you about the whole immortality thing, forever is a long time, and there must be a limit to how long you want to keep going to high school too.

Caroline: OMG being surrounded by all than angst and drama for eternity!

Helen: Yep, there is only so much teen drama you can take when you are 3009 years old!!!

To Be Continued…