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Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephenie Meyer
Creator: Ilyana Kadushin
Publisher: Listening Library
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Rating:  2974 reviews
Sales Rank: 3402319
Media: Audio Cassette
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
ISBN: 0307282953
EAN: 9780307282958
ASIN: 0307282953
Publication Date: December 2005
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Amazon.com Review
The book that started the phenomenon is now available in a deluxe collector's edition! Featuring a ribbon bookmark, cloth cover, ragged edges, new chapter opener designs, and a beautiful protective slipcase, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.
Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.
Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.
Product Description
About three things I was absolutely positive:
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him–and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be–that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
“I’D NEVER GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT TO HOW I WOULD DIE– I’d had reason enough in the last few months –but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. . . . Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of something else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.”
When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret.
What Bella doesn’t realize is the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back. . . .
Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight will have readers riveted right until the very last page is turned.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2969 more reviews...
 Overrated Trash December 4, 2008
Eileen L. Fay (Rochester, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I mean, I don't even know where to begin here. As a long-time Anne Rice fan (I first read "Interview with the Vampire" when I was thirteen) I was intrigued by the excitement surrounding Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga, which is said to be bigger than Harry Potter in some circles. However, I was also wary. According to several online reviews I had read, the series is also alarmingly sexist, maybe even misogynist, especially given Edward's controlling nature. I entered the first book with an open mind, but all too soon realized that the criticism was well-deserved. In fact, I will venture to say that the fact that I even finished all 498 pages of that tripe is surely a testament to my tenacity as a reader.
Now I'm not such a literary snob that I think all YA novels are mere fluff. Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy and Diane Duane's Young Wizards series are challenging, philosophical, and composed of flowing lyrical prose. Duane's "High Wizardy," for example, tackles themes of entropy and redemption against a sci-fi backdrop that rushes from one fantastic planet to another with an ancient, demonic enemy in hot pursuit. So in other words, to excuse poor writing and weak plot by saying, oh, it's only a teen book, what do you expect, you're too old to understand. . . That's insulting to teens and insulting to the writers who write for them. So no, I am not going to walk away from "Twilight" and its sequels and dismiss them as a lower literary form not worth my time. There are real problems with these books that need to be addressed.
The meteoric celebrity of cheesy boy bands, trashy reality shows, and Paris Hilton is more than enough evidence to prove that popularity does not always indicate quality. To me, the hype surrounding the "Twilight" saga is equally mystifying. Thematic issues aside, if the first book is any indication, they're not even good. The story is overly drawn-out and needlessly meandering, while the characters have no character at all: they're dull, flat cardboard props that merely people a plot. Take protagonist Bella Swan (and yes, that is her name), for example. When we first meet her, she's nothing but a sullen child transplanted to a town she hates. "It was to Forks that I now exiled myself - an action that I took with great horror. I detested Forks." (Oh the DRAMA, the sweeping FLOURISH.) From there she never develops, never exhibits anything but perpetual disdain for her surroundings despite the two boys who immediately fall in love with her and the group of friends she effortlessly joins. But then she meets undead Adonis, a.k.a Edward Cullen: "He was too perfect, I realized with a piercing stab of despair. There was no way this godlike creature could be meant for me." It's as though the existence of this flawless being alone lifts her from her interminable grumpiness to a blindly blissful stratosphere beyond the reach of such lesser beings as her classmates and father.
And yet, paradoxically, it is also the proverbial gilded cage. She's lost in him. He has become her whole world: "I wondered where we would have gone. North somewhere, so he could be outside in the day. Or maybe somewhere very remote, so we could lay in the sun together again. I imagined him by the shore, his skin sparkling like the sea. It wouldn't matter how long we had to hide. To be trapped in a hotel room with him would be a kind of heaven. So many questions I still had for him. I could talk to him forever, never sleeping, never leaving his side." (Oh yeah, he sparkles. For a REALLY good example of Meyer's bad writing, read the section where Bella first sees him sparkling in the sun. My friends and I had ball doing "dramatic readings" of it.)
Now obviously, that's how love often is for teens, there's no denying that. But the simple fact that we're talking about a guy whose sole asset seems to be his utter physical perfection leads the reader has to wonder if this is only a case of the other L-word: lust. And it isn't so much that Edward lacks a personality (as some have charged) - it's that the personality he has is so damn disturbing. I mean, he sneaks into her room at night and watches her sleep? And she's cool with this?
*Sigh* That's really the whole book - sour girl mopes around, then becomes trapped in the orbit of possessive, threatening sexy vampire dude. Oh, there's some action involving a "tracker" who wants to kill her, but it's still not enough to raise "Twilight" as a whole from its own banality. I think the real losers here are all those teenyboppers and bored middle-aged housewives who, for whatever reason, have fallen head over heels for these books. Please, for the love of God, I beg you, read Anne Rice instead. Even the worst novel of the Vampire Chronicles ("Blood Canticle" comes to mind) is better than this trash. If you like anime and manga, I would also recommend Kouta Hirano's "Hellsing" series.
Welcome to Dullsville December 3, 2008
Severen (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Alrighty then....after all the hype I caved and bought "Twilight" with the full intent of giving it a fair shot. And I did. I'm about a third of the way through it now (just past the part where Edward rescued Bella from the thugs on the street) and have to say that (a) I'm just a tad bit underwhelmed, and (b) I'm bored out of my skull. Good grief, if I read one more sentence about how beautiful Edward is or what Bella is cooking for dinner I'm going to have a stroke.
Speaking of Bella, my bathmat has more depth and personality than she does. Calling her a waste of oxygen would be the understatement of the century. I know why Edward can't read her thoughts...because she doesn't have any!! If he could read her mind, he'd die of boredom. It's Edward this, Edward that, Edward Edward Edward. Does this chick have any plans for her life after high school? Any plans for college? Any hobbies? Any dreams, wishes, or hopes of her own? A single firing of a brain cell inside her pretty little thick skull that doesn't revolve around Edward? Nope. Thanks to the less-than-subtle sexism and misogyny Meyer pounds us over the head with, this girl's only purpose in life is to have a boyfriend, and she's nothing without one. Since the clumsy Bella can't walk down the hallway without tripping and nearly decapitating herself, Edward must swoop in and 'protect' her. See, women are weak, stupid and frail and therefore must be 'rescued' from themselves by the big, strong man. And now because of Meyer there are about a million 13-year-old girls out there who think they must be 'protected' and need a boyfriend to survive in the big bad world.
Don't even get me started on Edward the Creepy Stalking Control Freak or I'll be here typing all day. Okay, I'll start...a little bit. Can someone explain why a 100-year-old vampire is enrolled in high school? And why he's actually doing the assignments? High school? High. Freakin'. School. No wonder he's so tortured. Is this Washington state or one of the outer circles of Hell? Jeez, Edward, you're filthy rich and immortal. Buy a house in the middle of nowhere, hide out there and stop whining about having to "blend in" already.
I bought another hyped-up book, "The DaVinci Code", and can honestly say it's Pulitzer material compared to the "Twilight" trash. At least TDC characters had something that resembled a personality and the book actually had a *plot*, not page after page after page of Robert and Sophie or Leigh and Silas making goo-goo eyes at each other.
So...um...I didn't like "Twilight". The End.
 Love it December 3, 2008
Frances Posnanski (Charlotte, NC USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I cannot understand some of the terrible reviews here. The book is what it is. It is geared towards teenagers but us older folks are enjoying it as well. Cannot wait to read the second book in the series.
 a fantastic book December 3, 2008
A. M. Molloy
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am reading the book Twilight. I love it. I did not think I would like this book because it involves vampires and I automatically thought it would be a lot of blood and gore but it is a different kind of story.
My sister-in-law and my two nieces introduce me to this book and I am glad they did. I cannot wait to read the series of books. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a great story. It is a great read
$20 Down the Drain... December 3, 2008
C. Mong
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book about a year ago, buying it for a friend as a gift. I heard it was good, and decided to borrow one to check it out.
It feels like I am the ONLY teenage girl that not only does not like the book/series, but absolutely hates it. There are many well-written reviews about this book here, and they can get more in-depth than I care to.
Keeping it short:
- Cliche and boring
- Insult to human intelligence
- Essentially an allusion to Mormonism (I can provide links to anyone who would like to read up on this)
- Horrible plot holes
Just a filler for the female Harry Potter fans that don't know what good fiction is.
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