Over the last 20 years of Twilight fandom and popularity, I will admit to knowing very little about it besides a messy love triangle and being on team vampire or werewolf, but I am ready to change that! To celebrate the anniversary of this iconic piece of literature, I am reading Twilight for the very first time and I invite you to read along with me this month as part of the Online Book Club (Huge shoutout and thank you to Erin who is letting me take over this space for the month of October!)
Whether you are a first time Twilight reader, like me, or have been a fan since the beginning in 2005, I want to hear from you in the comments! My plan is to break down the book, chapter by chapter, with my thoughts, first impressions, and questions. For our first week, we will look at the epigraph through chapter 6.
Epigraph & Preface:
I was unprepared for the start of this book! The epigraph and the preface provide a dark and serious tone that is different than my presumptions of this story. An epigraph is a quote at the beginning of a piece of writing that helps set up the tone and theme of the work for the reader. Twilight’s epigraph is from the book of Genesis and sets up the themes of good versus evil, what is forbidden, and death.
The preface is relatively short but is intense! It immediately starts with the death of the narrator, while she is contemplating her life and her imminent, sacrificial death by someone called “the hunter”. I have some suspicions of what this could mean, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself!
Chapter 1: First Sight
I love how all of the chapters have names! This one is called “First Sight” and Meyer does the work to give the reader a good introduction (or first sight, haha) to the setting, characters, and themes. We meet Bella Swan, our protagonist, as she narrates unhappy feelings about her move to Forks, Washington. There was one point where she was giving herself a pep talk before going to her new school for the first time and she says to herself, “No one was going to bite me.” I think I actually laughed out loud here at this vampire joke a few pages before we are introduced to the Cullens.
Edward Cullen is immediately unlikeable, in my opinion. He doesn’t say a single word to Bella when they are biology partners and then tries to get assigned to a different class period because of her. What do you think about this introduction to Edward? Do you have a good first impression of him?
Chapter 2: Open Book
In this next chapter, we learn more about Bella’s personality and interests as she is adjusting to her new school and her life in Forks. (Shoutout to Bella for reading Wuthering Heights for fun!) We also learn more about her thoughts about Edward—which she has a lot of thoughts about him and all of the Cullens. I noticed the contrast in descriptions between Edward and Bella. She describes herself as awkward and clumsy while Edward is beautiful, dazzling, and flawless. I’m curious about this juxtaposition and how is continues throughout the story and how we might tie it into the themes of good versus evil from the beginning of the book.
We also get the first conversation and real interaction between Bella and Edward and I am wondering if we are supposed to like him at this point? I’m not sure if I do…
Chapter 3: Phenomenon
Wow this chapter is wild!! Edward saves Bella from a car accident and then gaslights her about his actions and speed. I am glad that he took some action to save her but the gaslighting afterwards is not quite helping my low opinion of him at this point in the story.
Chapter 4: Invitations
I am continuing to notice the contrast between Bella and Edward as she describes herself and her fascination with Edward as pitiful, pathetic, and unhealthy while she describes him as interesting, brilliant, and mysterious. What do you think about these descriptions? Do you agree with her assessments?
There is something endearing about Bella’s experience of having every boy ask you to the dance except the one you have a crush on, it seems like a quintessential teenage girl feeling. When Edward finally offers to give her a ride to Seattle on the day of the dance, I will admit that I felt giddy for Bella and am seeing that Edward is starting to seem slightly charming and likeable.
Chapter 5: Blood Type
Edward says, “I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.” And then gives Bella several warnings about how he is not good for her and that she should avoid him—like that is going to work on her at all…she is obsessed with him! But the warnings are dark and ominous and I am feeling very curious and intrigued about what is going to happen between them. Should we believe Edward's warnings? Is Bella in danger by being around him?
I really liked this chapter and the banter between Bella and Edward as they get to know each other and are both clearly interested in the other. I am also enjoying all the little hints we are getting to the fact that he is a vampire (even though we don’t officially know that, yet!)
Chapter 6: Scary Stories
This might be my favorite chapter so far. So much happens! We are finally introduced to some new characters when Bella and her friends go to La Push. We meet a group of teenagers from the reservation and are introduced to the youngest of them, Jacob Black. I was immediately charmed by Jacob and how nice and sweet he is, which is a stark contrast to the introduction of Edward. I did not like how Bella intentionally manipulates Jacob to get information about the Cullens, but, as a reader, I am glad she did it because we got so much lore and information! I found it shocking that Jacob so quickly and freely gives away all of this information to her about vampires and werewolves. Shouldn’t this be more of a secret?! Even though Bella is intentionally manipulative, it also seems like she has natural chemistry with Jacob.
Even though this is my very first read of Twilight, I know that people are very much either Team Edward or Team Jacob. I do not have enough information yet to make my decision on this—but I want to know what team you are on and why!
Thank you for reading this far into my blog post and joining me on this Twilight journey. I am pleasantly surprised at how much I am enjoying the reading experience, especially after so many years of deliberately not reading this book. I am looking forward to chatting with you in the comments—I have so many more thoughts and opinions to share!
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