The recent obsession with everything vampires may be a tad bit too much for most humans to swallow, but let’s face it, Edward, Bella and Jacob have brought a whole new meaning to vampires, werewolves, co-ed friendships and most of all, love.
Before the big-screen phenomenon, it all started about five years ago with the first book of the series—Twilight. Fast forward to 2010—four books and two movies later—The Twilight Saga is well on its way to the most anticipated movie of the summer—Eclipse.
So, what is it about The Twilight Saga that has everyone from teens to people in their 30’s hooked? It has to be the unconventional love that is shared between Isabella “Bella” Swan and Edward Cullen.
With her words, New-York Times best seller Stephanie Meyer takes a storyline that people have heard over and over again and transforms it to something spectacular. You know the drill: boy meets girl, they fall madly in love, male best friend loves girl, girl chooses and girl and her choice live happily ever after. This series is not anything like the typical love story. Meyer throws in a little twist—a family of vampires and a pack of werewolves. This technique has proven to be quite effective.
In Twilight, 17-year-old Bella moves to gloomy Forks, Wash., to live with her dad. She meets Edward, and her mundane everyday life is suddenly filled with a series of unpredictable events. Her romance with vampire Edward proves to be an issue for her werewolf best friend Jacob. Meyer does an exceptional job at establishing the three main characters. She shows readers the extent of the affection that is shared among them all.
In New Moon, Meyer’s words come to life through vampire attacks, werewolf hostility and much more. Edward and Bella’s relationship is tested. Jacob’s true feelings toward Bella are revealed, which proves to be an issue for Edward.
In Eclipse, everything intensifies. In other words, the plot thickens. In what I would deem the best book in the series, Meyer exposes the characters in a way that by this point, it would be virtually impossible to not identify with at least one of them.
It all comes together in Breaking Dawn. Readers get the luxury of having this fourth and final book of the series broken into three parts. Two parts are told from Bella’s perspective and one part from Jacob’s perspective. Bella and Edward’s relationship is “upgraded” to a marriage, and an interesting twist of faith brings the three main characters even closer.
The success in print comes to life in the visual version of each book. After Bella, Edward and Jacob hit the big screen, The Twilight Saga took on a whole new meaning. People, who have never read any of the books, became obsessed and let’s just say that those who were avid readers were a lost cause. The real life people do a good job of portraying the characters that we have already come to love. Robert Pattison makes vampires look heavenly, Kristen Stewart embodies all things Bella and Taylor Lautner takes teenage werewolf to another level.
This summer, Eclipse hits the big screen and once again, viewers can see just how far Edward and Bella are willing to go for each other.
Word of advice: If you decide to give The Twilight Saga a chance—the books and the movies—you will be hooked!
