Twilight

Yes, Sam has found yet another person to draw into the growing nest of people who have read this book. In fact, I recently found out that almost the whole UGS gang has read it, making me one of the last ones to do so. Drats.


And she (or rather, the book) has made a fan out of me.

I wonder if any of you (other than those who were caught in Sam's honeyed webs have read the book, of course) know of this book?

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. This happens to be her debut novel, by the way. Those of you who have been monitoring the landscape of book releases will undoubtedly have heard of news of this novel that took the world by storm.

The world simply loves her take on a well-trodden plot - about a vampire in love with a human. Pretty standard stuff: pretty girl moves into a gloomy town, meets a mysterious and handsome guy, falls hopelessly in love, finds out that he loves her back, trouble begins, yada yada yada.


However, the story doesn't bore simply because it is written in a very wonderful style! She sets the tone just right for every plot point, leaving the reader (me, anyway) always wanting to read just one more page, one more chapter. I was so caught up in it that I couldn't stop till I've finished it! These probably aren't the right words for it, but the best description I can give for the writing style is that is 'intriguingly seductive'. The novel went to the extremes of graphic descriptions, which undoubtedly induced many 'high' moments in the readers without ever crossing into obscene territory. ;)

And the characters. Don't even get me started on the characters in the novel.

Sam would probably put it in two words: "oh gawd". And Johnson's version, "Oh man!"

The characters introduced in the novel are simply breathtaking. In fact, one of them was so wonderful that Sam fell in love with him. Just this morning, Sam was confessing her feelings for Edward Cullen (the hero of the novel). From her side of the table, she turned towards me, eyes opened up wide, longing expression on her face. From her lips came out a slow drawl, carefully flavoring each syllable with affection.

"He's soooo hotttt~" There was extra emphasis on "hot". I'm so gonna get killed.


Anyways. Fan obsession aside, there is something that I did not like about the novel. The introductory part of the book was too long! It took up the first quarter of the whole book to detail Bella's slow adjustment to her new life and a whole first half of the book to reveal the fact that Edward is a vampire. Is that really necessary, when all this has already been revealed in the plot preview at the back cover of the book?

This early dragging part almost turned me off. To be honest, I stopped reading for around a week after struggling to get through this rut. However, last night I picked up the book again and continued from where I left off. And I reached the good part.

And I couldn't stop reading after that. Not till I've finished the book! Which I did, at around 3am this morning ;)

Conclusion: I'd recommend this book to anyone. Just be patient in getting through the early part of the book. Trust me, the good stuff later is well worth it!

Plus, you'll be contributing to increasing Malaysians' average read of two pages a year.

Malaysia boleh!

Side order: Happy Birthday, Cedric! Remember what I said: just because you're now of legal age don't mean that you should exercise all of your new-found 'rights'! =P