Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, reviewed by Abigal

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Reviewed by
Name: Abigal (12 years)
School: Golden Heights School, Gurgaon, Haryana

“Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. ‘Be very still’, he whispered, as if I wasn’t already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat.”

As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephanie. Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.

Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar young adult premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olypic Peninsula to be with her father. She wonders about a group of five remarkable beautiful teen, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat anything. As she grows to know, and then love Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, a part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired then to renounce human prey. For Edward’s sake they welcome Bella, But when a roving group of trackers vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst.

The Precision and delicacy of Mayer’s writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to place among the best of young adult.