Review by
Caroline
Perfect or a Disappointment?
I sincerely believe this is the hardest review I have ever written, and I have written my fair share this summer. Breaking Dawn, as pretty much every teenage girl knows, is the finale to the bestselling Twilight series, and was written by the very talented Stephenie Meyer. Oh, yes, the finale: the last book, the ending of a much beloved series. Before reading the book, I attended a release party at Barnes and Noble, and I can assure you that hundreds of teenagers, decked out in prom dresses, vampire attire, bite-tattoos, makeup, and Breaking Dawn T-shirts, flocked to stores in the pursuit of the release of the much-awaited novel at 12:01 AM.
To describe the degree of anxiety I felt Friday night before reading Breaking Dawn … . I couldn’t eat I was so nervous, I couldn’t sleep very well due to extreme anxiety, and my stomach was tied up in knots. Almost empty I felt, as if I couldn’t function properly because of fear: fear of my unhappiness in the ending, fear of sadness at its ending, fear of positively hating the book. I am unsure as to whether other people felt the same way, but I certainly did. Thankfully, my anxiety proved unnecessary.
I started the book at 3:00 A.M. Saturday morning after trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep. The book is organized into three parts. Bella voices books one and three, while Jacob is the speaker of book two. I preferred neither voice to the other. What I found most amazing about this book-- no, phenomenal-- was that there was never down time. There was always something crucial to the story taking place. Admittedly, I was worried Stephenie Meyer wouldn’t be able to fill seven hundred some odd pages with a love triangle. Once again, but happily, I was mistaken. The only break I took in the book was around page 550, because by that point I had been awake for over twenty-four hours and could barely keep my eyes open, so I had to sleep.
Saturday afternoon I finished the book, and like I always do after I finish a book, I had to sit still for about twenty minutes, thinking about what I just read. Once I finished, I sat in silence-- replaying the book in my mind-- attempting to decide whether or not I was content with the ending. The ending was happy, just like Stephenie Meyer promised, and for that I bow down to her-- honestly, I did not think she could do it. The book was exciting and surprising and unpredictable (mostly) and wonderful and just all around fantastic. It was long, but it wasn’t lengthy (does that make sense?). I was never bored or annoyed with her pace.
As far as her writing style goes, she sticks to her long sentences that flow effortlessly and steadily across the page. Also, she refrains from describing all of the romantic scenes, and leaves the imagining to the reader-- which I appreciated. Humorous dialogue sprinkles the drama and danger, allowing the reader to escape for just a moment.
I have thought quite a bit about this book, and, honestly, it hasn’t gotten me very far. What I can say with certainty is that the characters, our beloved characters, Edward, Bella, Alice, Charlie, Jacob, and, hey, everyone severely change in Breaking Dawn. This alone made it seem less like home, because I realize that I had grown accustomed to them behaving the same way, had grown accustomed to consistency in them. (Suddenly, my refusal to give away any spoilers has become exceedingly difficult to comply to, for I feel specific examples are necessary to describe the alterations of the series and why they have affected me so completely.) Perhaps this can all be accredited to the fact that they are growing up, which sounds lame and euphemism-y, but is true.
From numerous other fans of the book, I have now learned that many readers are terribly annoyed with the ending. Calling it a disappointment, a book resembling moronic and uncreative fan fiction, a horrible ending, an embarrassment; thousands, no millions, of people have resorted to insulting a book they awaited for nearly a year. My best friend thinks the ending was too convenient and a huge disappointment, although she does admit that she now wants another series about Jacob (I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who haven’t yet finished the book). On the other side of the Twilight spectrum, I have heard it described as marvelous, brilliant, fantastic, “the best book I have ever read,” and many other wonderfully positive descriptions. From what I have discerned from these fan-written reviews, people evaluate the book in extremes; it is either hate or love the book, and the ending, and apparently there is no middle ground … possibly because in the time it took for the book to release, fans had time to develop the perfect ending in their minds, to form a happily-ever-after their own way.
