Review of "Twilight"

As most of my middle schoolers had been reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, and it was recommended by several friends, I decided to read through the series (This is something I've been doing for awhile now-reading the books that my students are reading). I knew it would be feminine as I was going into it, and my expectation proved correct. It was quite a girly book, but I did still enjoy it. It was a quick read, but suspenseful and thought-provoking as well.

Yep, thought-provoking. As Liz Holst pointed out to me, it is a very interesting study about self-control. For those of you who are not aware of the premise of the book, here's a quick rundown. A human girl falls in love with a vampire. He wants to drink her blood, but to do that would almost certainly mean killing her and if not, turning her into a vampire. So he refrains. And therein lies the most potent role model for self-control that I've read about in a young adult book in quite some time. Though Edward (the vampire) wants desperately to drink Bella's (the girl) blood, he has to have the will power to resist his strongest urge. How many times do we (as Americans especially) give in to what our flesh desires? How often do we need not only gratification for our desires, but instant gratification? I really enjoyed that this book causes our young people to think about their desires in light of other people and especially in light of what is right and wrong.

Anyways, that being said, I would give the book about a 7.5 out of 10 (marks being taken off for writing style and believability within the Twilight universe, ex/ Bella doesn't really have a strong reaction to the fact that Edward is a vampire, and I find that just a little odd).