The Twilight Saga Complete Collection
My rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
No Spoilers! Definitely colorful language abound!
Ok. Deep, breaths. I can do this. Now, before you unfriend me for this rating, hang in there till the end, please? I started this series of reviews back in 2014, and I've been putting this one off ever since. Who we once were, is not always how we would like to remember ourselves, and this hard truth is one I often keep to myself. Twilight was truly instrumental in me falling in love with reading. Take a walk with me and let me tell you a story.
It was my 22nd birthday, and my boss always gifted us an usually long lunch break, so I decided to pop into the book store for an iced coffee. I was listening to my iPod, at most only casually aware of all the books around me. I hadn't loved to read in years, and since the last Harry Potter book wasn't due out till the end of the year, I was just biding my time in the warm heat and quiet of B&N. I had picked up a glossy black cover with porcelain white hands holding a perfect red apple. I wondered if this was a new take on Snow White, so I flipped the back over and read the synopsis.
“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 potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”
I had sat on the ground, only to be pulled from the pages when my phone buzzed. It was my boss, he wondered why I hadn't come back and if everything was ok. How much time had passed? The ice had melted in my coffee and it was time to head back into real life.
When I got home that evening, I was utterly consumed. I had never read anything like this before, in fact my knowledge of otherness in books was so limited, I knew of no other than Anne Rice, who never had been able to ensnare my attention. Suddenly the possibilities overwhelmed me, this was a genre, I had so much to explore!
Twilight hit so close to a place in my mind that I had long ago walled off, the memories too vivid and painful to be allowed free reign. However, amongst the pages, he came to life and I had fallen in love with him all over again. My first love was one that had burned so intensely it transformed who I was. My devotion to him was near child-like in its purity. I saw his face, I heard his voice, I felt his skin, I was transported into another time and place, but he was only accessible as Edward. It gutted me, but made me feel alive at the same time. Again, I had never felt anything quite like this before, it was visceral, it had swirled around me like magic. Reading was magic, if you found the right book.
Now, nearly 11 years later to the day, I picked up Twilight and read it again in one sitting. Except this time, I didn't see him, I saw what I had gloriously outgrown. I didn't feel gutted, I feel charmed by my own innocence. I feel a fondness for that time, that place, for that version of myself. Mostly however, I feel a deep gratitude, Twilight opened a door I hadn't even known existed, and I've been joyfully escaping to this wonderful wold of other ever since. This book isn't a 5 star book, but then again, I owe it so much that perhaps it is?
Is there a book that defined your love of reading? I would love to hear your experiences!
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