09 April 2010
Friday Ramblings: OME! I WAS BELLA SWAN
I've been reading a book for over week now that I'm having a hard time getting into. So, instead of finishing that book, I re-read Twilight and Eclispe this past week. I didn't re-read New Moon as their is only so much teenage angst I can take. Quite honestly, I feared I would reach through the pages and b--ch slap Bella and scream at her to snap out of it.
Anyhoo, while I re-reading the series I kept asking myself this time honored question.
Why do I, a woman who's a little too close to forty-years-old for my personal comfort read these books. Seriously, not only do I read them, I re-read them more often than I'd like to admit. Why do I do this when I can see every single flaw in them?
WHY, WHY, WHY! What is wrong with me people???????????? Am I an adult or a tween?
In despair, I racked my brain looking for answer . . .
Then, the skies opened up, angels began to sing, and I realized to my horror what drew me to these books.
DRUMROLL PLEASE!
OME! I WAS BELLA SWAN WHEN I WAS YOUNGER!
Let me count the ways . . . .
I ignored my friends and always had my face stuck in a book.
My parents were only blips in my existance.
I never realized how amazing I was and how many people admired me.
I tossed over boys who really cared about me for the wrong man with the nice packaging.
I sat in my room forever reading books and listening to music, ignoring the world around me.
I whined, bitched, and moaned about everything. ( . . . Umm, sometimes I still do this one!)
I took everything for granted.
I expected a man to swoop down and save me.
I thought my life was worse than what it was.
I didn't have any direction in my life until my cousin (who's my age) got pregnant at Senior Prom and didn't go to college. I was horrified because she got accepted to MY dream school. I thought she was a fool and I had a 'oh hell no, that is so not going to be me' moment. So I got my life together and joined the Army. (Side note: Umm, the baby is now a senior in high school, super smart, has all the little girls chasing after him, and is built like a defensive back though he's never played football. And my cousin went back to school and works for the public school system as an administrator.)
Now, I realize reading these books takes me back to that time. So, I guess I can't snark on Bella anymore, because I think I was worse than her when I was a teenager!
If you haven't read them, why not? I can promise you, they're like crack, once you get started you can't stop no matter how bad you know it is for you! Seriously!
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16 people posted their 2 cents:
Oh, hehe, that's brilliant :D I think there's a Bella Swan inside us all, LOL, and I think that's why we just can't get enough of these books :)
I feel your angst! Hey, who wouldn't want the boy of your dreams: He's incredibly beautiful, crazy about you, loves you till the end of time...it's every girls fantasy. Enjoy it :-)
P.S. I re-read my favorite parts too!
With what I'm about to say, I may be in the minority and I'm okay with that. I haven't re-read any of the Twilight books since I first read them and I don't plan to. I haven't watched the movies and don't plan to. Scratch that - I watched (fast forward) through Twilight. The acting was so awful that I vowed to not watch the rest of the movies. As for Bella, she irritated the crap out of me in each book. To me, she never matured or grew as a character and that was disappointing. I guess didn't like Bella because I was the complete opposite at that age. I had my head in a book but that was because I wanted to get into a good college. Boys were not on my radar because I had things I needed to do and I wasn't going to let a boy distract me. I was all about school, after school activities and sports and my friends. So I was extremely frustrated with Bella because I couldn't believe how whiney and sulky she was. And how her entire universe centered around HIM. Especially when the shimmery one left and she completely lost it. I'm like, snap out of it! It's just a "boy"! Life isn't over! In 4 long books, Bella never came into her own. And that's sad.
I think Edward once described Bella as "his own personal brand of heroine." and that's kind of what these books are for me. I think that while we may not want to admit it, we all have a little Bella inside us which makes this series addicting. Well, that and the fact that Edward and Jacob are totally dreamy. :)
Excellent post!!! I am 36, so feel your angst as I, too, love this series and many similar. I think for me, it brings those feelings of young and passionate love. That overwhelming sense of "newness" I guess. In any case, Edward sets my heart thumping *did I say that out loud?!?! lol
Hahaha, so funny! :P I too ask myself why I bothered when I know what I'm in for. (I've read them all, but I doubt I will reread any of them). And you're right, they're addicting~
@bella
I was ashamed to realize how much like Bella I had been as a teenager. LOL.
@june
I think that's the draw. Stephanie Meyer hit the romance writer's holy grail. She managed to explain why these two people were perfect for each other, even with all their crap. Why only the other person could complete them.
@marq
LOL. I'm not mad at you. I see all those things too, but I still can't stop. It's an addiction I tell you.
@whitney and @april
The grunge look RPatz has going doesn't do it for me, but I must admit that I feel guilty looking at Taylor L. Kinda the same feeling of awed horror I had when I saw Daniel Radcliffe's sexy shots from that play he did!
@aloi
I am so proud of you. LOL. I wish I could stop re-reading them. I want to be cured of this addiction!
My attraction to the books is the love story between Edward and Bella. I'm a sucker for the love/loss/love/loss angle repeated and in some ways for the unrequited love too.
Lynette,
You are not alone. I think that is why the 30+ group can relate, we all feel like we are Bella.
I fell in love in HS with an extremely handsome boy who I felt had superhuman powers (huge jock). I always thought he was more handsome than myself. I was a bookish, non-athletic, clumsy, but he adored me. We broke up for a summer when he went into the service, but he came back for me. He wrote the most romantic letters for two years, because we were separated while he served his country, And, in the end he we got married. We have been happily married for 17 years. He still takes my breath away and I still think he is superhuman.
I love it! I've not read these books because I typically don't get into YA or paranormal -- but that was, maybe still is, me!! Thanks for the awesome review/commentary.
That was awesome! Now I feel there is a bit of Bella Swan in me too..... Yikes!
Not a fan of the teen angst books (haven't read any in this series), but I tend to gravitate towards those types of TV shows - Gossip Girl, 90210, One Tree Hill etc, so I think the same theory applies. Maybe just compensating for my own dull youth!
I was never Bella -- but I wanted to be! I bought the books, read them and donated them to my HS Media Center. After seeing the movies (and buying them) I decided to buy the books again. I haven't read them again but they are now part of my home library.
@Alie - Yes, they have the type of relationship where most of what they do is talk and talk about their relationship. What woman wouldn't love that. LOL.
@Stacy - What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
@Gina - I didn't read much YA before Twilight either. Now I do occasionally and found a lot of good stuff. I didn't read YA when I was a teenager. LOL. It seems much different of course then when I was growing up.
@Sheila - At least I'm not alone. LOL
@The Book Pimps - Yes that counts. LOL. I can't watch those television shows, yet I can read the books!
@Kathy - I did something similiar with Harry Potter. Bought the first book b4 the first movie came out 'cause of the hype. Was like huh, I don't get it, then gave it away. Saw it in a store again, bought it on impulse then went back and devoured all the books in the series (at that time four).
ummm yes. i wait until just enough time has passed and i may have forgotten a scene or two and then i read them again. it is the inevitability of it all that draws me. bella has giant angst over this or that supernatural entity and the morality of it all but the big questions of her life are settled and done before she leaves highschool. the who of it is never in question. seriously addicitng. found you at the blog hop! great blog!
I have to agree with Marq here. Bella annoyed the crap out of me. I was not Bella. It's not unusual for a teenage girl to choose the wrong guys or focus on the wrong things, and I'm not saying I didn't do those things sometimes, but this girl is like a culmination of everything angsty and immature. She essentially loses the will to live when a guy leaves her and then risks death just to hear his voice in her head again. That's not romantic, it's mentally unstable. And again, those things would be forgivable if Smeyer has been able to make it a real coming of age story, but she didn't. Bella is infuriatingly static. And when you're talking 4 books worth of a stagnant character, it gets old.
And yet, at almost 24 years old, I still read the books, and have re-read them, and have seen the movies. What is wrong with us? :/
Also, totally sorry if I came across as snarky there, just few things get me more riled up than a mopey female protagonist :)